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<p>Senate Democrats sought to force election-year votes as Trump - who holds a commanding lead in national polls for the Republican presidential nomination - has called for barring Muslims from coming to the United States. Republicans wanted similar votes on politically fraught amendments.</p>
<p>The Senate fell short of the three-fifths needed to move ahead. The vote was 55-43.</p>
<p>Both of New Mexico's senators, Democrats Martin Heinrich and Tom Udall, voted against the bill.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>The House legislation would require new FBI background checks and individual sign-offs from three high-ranking federal officials before any refugee from Syria or Iraq could come to the United States. The American Security Against Foreign Enemies Act cleared the House in November in the aftermath of the Paris attacks. It received 289 votes, a veto-proof margin that included 47 Democrats - despite President Barack Obama's opposition.</p>
<p>"This bill is just another step in the absolute wrong direction, the direction of Donald Trump," Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., told reporters before the vote. "The Democrats are committed to opposing the hateful views of Trump and his Republican enablers."</p>
<p>But Senate Republicans who backed the House bill said it is difficult to effectively vet immigrants from war-torn countries like Syria and Iraq, where record keeping is poor - or may not exist at all. They also said senior U.S. intelligence and law enforcement officials have expressed concern that the Islamic State terrorist group may try to exploit the refugee screening program.</p>
<p>"So is it any wonder that the citizens we represent are concerned?" Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., asked. "No wonder dozens of Democrats joined with Republicans to pass this balanced bill with a veto-proof majority over in the House."</p>
<p>Three of the Republican presidential candidates - Ted Cruz of Texas, Marco Rubio of Florida and Rand Paul of Kentucky - left the campaign to return to Washington to vote for the measure.</p>
<p>Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders of Vermont missed the vote, as did Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who was campaigning for Jeb Bush in New Hampshire.</p>
<p>Two Democrats from GOP-leaning states - Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota and Joe Manchin of West Virginia - voted with Republicans to approve the legislation.</p>
<p>For Democrats facing tight 2016 elections, opposing the bill may put them in the difficult position of rejecting what many consider to be a reasonable anti-terror measure. Those concerns surfaced ahead of the House vote in November, when White House aides went to the Capitol to win over Democrats in a private meeting. Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, D-N.Y., told them, in a forceful exchange, that voting "no" could hurt Democrats at the polls, according to aides in attendance.</p>
<p>Reid said Democrats also wanted to propose an increase in anti-terrorism money for local police forces and airport security and banning the sale of guns and explosives to people on federal terrorism watch lists.</p>
<p>This House bill, Reid said, "scapegoats refugees who are fleeing war and torture instead of creating real solutions to keep Americans safe."</p>
<p>House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said the bill is a security test, not a religious one. "This reflects our values," Ryan said. "This reflects our responsibilities."</p>
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<p /> | Senate Democrats block refugee bill from advancing | false | https://abqjournal.com/709653/senate-dems-block-refugee-bill-from-advancing.html | 2 |
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<p>LAS VEGAS — Government prosecutors stumbled again Monday in a bid to gain convictions of armed protesters in a case arising from skirmishes in a decades-old battle over control of public lands in the western United States.</p>
<p>A federal jury in Las Vegas found two gunmen guilty of some charges in a 2014 armed standoff that stopped federal agents from enforcing court orders and confiscating cows belonging to Cliven Bundy from public rangeland near his Nevada ranch and melon farm.</p>
<p>But the same jury deadlocked on charges against four other defendants, prompting the judge to declare a mistrial and schedule a new trial June 26 — the same day 70-year-old Cliven Bundy, sons Ammon and Ryan Bundy, and two other alleged conspiracy leaders are set to be tried.</p>
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<p>“They split our way, anywhere from 10-2 to 7-5, not guilty,” Jess Marchese, attorney for defendant Eric Parker, said after prosecutors and defense lawyers met behind closed doors with the judge and several jurors to talk about the case.</p>
<p>Acting Nevada U.S. Attorney Steven Myhre and three other prosecutors in the case didn’t immediately respond to messages.</p>
<p>“Intent. They said the government did not prove intent,” Todd Leventhal, attorney for Scott Drexler, said of the jurors. “They felt there was a lot of evidence that didn’t go anywhere.”</p>
<p>The jury also failed to agree on guilt or innocence for Richard Lovelien of Oklahoma and Montana, and Steven Stewart of Idaho.</p>
<p>Gregory Burleson of Phoenix was found guilty of eight counts, including assault and threats against federal agents and extortion — crimes of violence carrying the possibility of 57 years of mandatory prison time at sentencing July 26. His attorney, Terrence Jackson, said Burleson will appeal.</p>
<p>Todd Engel of Idaho was convicted of obstruction and traveling across state lines in aid of extortion. He could face up to 30 years in prison at sentencing July 27.</p>
<p>It wasn’t immediately clear whether the trial for Cliven Bundy and his sons will be pushed back. Defense attorneys and family members complain that they have already been in federal custody and away from their families for more than a year.</p>
<p>The split verdict was a setback for the government in a case where evidence clearly showed the six men brought assault-style rifles to the standoff near Bunkerville.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>When government agents backed down and states’ rights advocates declared victory, it reverberated in areas where Bundy is admired for declaring that property belongs to the people, not the government in Washington, D.C.</p>
<p>Myhre had characterized the six as the least culpable of the 17 to be tried in the case, and their trial was seen as a test-run of a key conspiracy charge alleging that Bundy and his two eldest sons headed a conspiracy to wage a “range war” against the government.</p>
<p>The outcome echoed an Oregon case, where a federal jury last year acquitted Ammon and Ryan Bundy and five other defendants of all charges related to a 41-day occupation of a U.S. wildlife refuge — including that they conspired to impede federal officers from doing their work.</p>
<p>In Las Vegas, one conspiracy count alleges a plan was made to commit an offense against the United States, and that defendants then took part in it. A second count alleges that conspirators agreed to impede and injure a federal law enforcement officer.</p>
<p>“The only thing more powerful than the U.S. government is a fair and impartial jury,” Cliven Bundy’s attorney, Bret Whipple, declared Monday. “This gives us confidence that the primary witnesses against him are of limited value.”</p>
<p>Whipple noted that it took two years to bring charges in the Bunkerville case and three years to bring it to trial, which took two months. The government presented 35 witnesses, including police officers and federal agents who sometimes became emotional describing fears that they wouldn’t make it home from the standoff alive.</p>
<p>The six defense teams provided four witnesses, including Parker. He was the only defendant to testify. He was famously photographed lying on a freeway overpass during the standoff, looking with his AK-47-style rifle through a seam in a concrete barrier toward heavily armed federal agents guarding a cattle corral below.</p>
<p>The agents had been enforcing court orders to get Bundy cattle off public lands for his refusal to pay grazing fees.</p>
<p>But Parker testified he came to Nevada from Idaho with friends and co-defendants Drexler and Stewart after seeing accounts of Bundy family members met with police dogs, knocked down, stun-gunned and arrested in earlier scuffles with federal agents.</p>
<p>He was asked by prosecutor Nicholas Dickinson about comments he made on the overpass about needing to “keep matching the show of force” against federal authorities.</p>
<p>“Just like Cliven Bundy told you to do, correct?” Dickinson asked.</p>
<p>“Nobody told us to do anything, sir,” Parker answered.</p> | Feds stumble again with split verdict in Bundy standoff case | false | https://abqjournal.com/992416/jury-resumes-deliberating-in-vegas-ranching-standoff-trial.html | 2017-04-24 | 2 |
<p>ALLEN PARK, Mich. — <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Jim_Caldwell/" type="external">Jim Caldwell</a> was one of the most successful <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Detroit-Lions/" type="external">Detroit Lions</a> coaches in the Super Bowl era, but general manager Bob Quinn said he made the difficult decision to fire him early Monday morning because he did not believe Caldwell could take the organization to a Super Bowl.</p>
<p>“We didn’t get there,” Quinn said. “We worked at it for two years and we didn’t get there. So that’s the decision that I came to.”</p>
<p>The Lions went 36-28 in Caldwell’s four seasons as head coach, but failed to win a playoff game.</p>
<p>Quinn said he was swayed to try to find new leadership in part because of the Lions’ struggles against good teams. Under Caldwell, they went just 5-23 against teams that finished with winning records, and had bouts of major sloppiness in this season’s final month.</p>
<p>Quinn inherited Caldwell when he took over for Martin Mayhew as Texans general manager in January of 2016, and was never part of a coaching search in his previous stint with the <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/New_England_Patriots/" type="external">New England Patriots</a>.</p>
<p>Now, the third-year general manager will make the first coaching hire of his career, and he said he has several traits in mind for Caldwell’s successor.</p>
<p>“Leadership. Situational <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/John_Walker/" type="external">football</a>. Willingness to adjust and adapt scheme to players. Really just someone that can lead this team with the players we have and the players that we will acquire and put them in the best position to win,” Quinn said. “Being a head coach in the National Football League is not an easy job, so they come in all shapes and sizes. Offensive coordinators, defensive coordinators, special teams coaches, so it’ll be something that’s going to spend a lot of time researching, that I’ve started to do this morning, and we’ll continue down that road.”</p>
<p>The Lions’ search so far has focused on mostly defensive-minded assistants.</p>
<p>Teryl Austin, who was kept on staff as defensive coordinator, will interview Tuesday, according to ESPN, and the Patriots’ <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Matt-Patricia/" type="external">Matt Patricia</a>, the Panthers’ Steve Wilks, the Texans’ Mike Vrabel and the Packers’ Winston Moss also are expected to interview for the job.</p>
<p>The Lions also have requested permission to speak with <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Minnesota-Vikings/" type="external">Minnesota Vikings</a> offensive coordinator <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Pat-Shurmur/" type="external">Pat Shurmur</a>.</p>
<p>As for Caldwell, Lions players said they were sad to see him go, but understand the nature of the business.</p>
<p>“Obviously we didn’t do what we needed to do and obviously we wish something would have happened differently to create a different outcome,” wide receiver <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Marvin-Jones/" type="external">Marvin Jones</a> Jr. said. “But the fact of the matter is we didn’t, so it’s always tough.”</p>
<p>–Despite Monday’s coaching dismissal, Lions quarterback <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Matthew_Stafford/" type="external">Matthew Stafford</a> said he hopes the Lions maintain some continuity on their staff and keep Jim Bob Cooter as offensive coordinator.</p>
<p>“Jim Bob and I have a great relationship and ever since he’s had the opportunity to take the reins, this offense has moved in the right direction in my opinion,” Stafford said. “I feel like I’m playing some of the best football of my career, so I would love to have the opportunity to keep working with him. He’s been good for us and good for me.”</p>
<p>Since Cooter replaced Joe Lombardi as offensive coordinator midway through the 2015 season, Stafford has completed 66.3 percent of his passes and cut down dramatically on his turnovers.</p>
<p>He completed just 60.1 percent of his passes before Cooter took over as play-caller, and this year the Lions finished seventh in the NFL in points scored.</p>
<p>“I think continuity is important in this league to a certain extent and I voiced my opinions earlier just a second ago on our guys on the offensive staff,” Stafford said. “I think they do a good job, I think our offense is going in the right direction, I think our team is close so we’ll see what happens.”</p>
<p>–Defensive end <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Ziggy-Ansah/" type="external">Ziggy Ansah</a> made quite the contract push to close the season.</p>
<p>Ansah, who struggled through knee and back injuries much of the year, had six sacks in the Lions’ last two games. He finished with 12 on the season, tied for eighth most in the league.</p>
<p>Ansah is scheduled to be an unrestricted free agent in March, though the Lions can use the franchise tag on him at a cost of around $18 million.</p>
<p>Quinn called the decision on Ansah one of the most “critical decisions” facing the team this offseason.</p>
<p>“But that’s something that once the new staff is in place, the new head coach, the scheme, all that’s figured out, that’s going to be factored in to what we do with Ziggy,” he said.</p>
<p>NOTES: DE Kerry Hyder, who missed the season with a torn Achilles tendon, said Monday that he is not yet back to running but that his rehab is going well and he’s “extremely confident” he will return to 2016 form. Hyder had a breakout season with eight sacks last year. … TE <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Eric-Ebron/" type="external">Eric Ebron</a> will be back in 2018, general manager Bob Quinn said Monday. Ebron is under contract on the fifth-year rookie contract tender of $8.25 million. Ebron had a disappointing first half of the season, but he closed the season on a strong note with four or more catches in six of the last seven games. His contract becomes fully guaranteed in March. … TE <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Michael_Roberts/" type="external">Michael Roberts</a> was suspended for Sunday’s season finale for what then-head coach Jim Caldwell called “conduct detrimental” to the team. According to the Detroit Free Press, Roberts went AWOL after checking into the hotel, missed meetings and was sent home and fined when he was finally located.</p> | Detroit Lions GM: Jim Caldwell not Super Bowl caliber | false | https://newsline.com/detroit-lions-gm-jim-caldwell-not-super-bowl-caliber/ | 2018-01-02 | 1 |
<p>At the annual awards dinner of the Congressional Black Caucus on Saturday, President <a href="http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/44652642/ns/today-today_news/t/obama-tells-blacks-stop-complainin-fight/#.Tn9VRK7-Rsg" type="external">Barack Obama</a> told black leaders that have criticized him for not doing enough to address black unemployment to quit complaining and focus on supporting him.</p>
<p>Black unemployment is nearly double the national average at 16.7 percent, The Associated Press reports. Black leaders have questioned why lowering it is not more of a priority for Obama, and they have also taken the president to task for giving in to Republican demands.</p>
<p>During the summer, CBC chairman Rep. Emanuel Cleaver of Missouri called the compromise deal on raising the federal debt ceiling that Obama reached with GOP leaders a "sugar-coated Satan sandwich," the AP reports. And last month, Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., complained that Obama's Midwest bus tour had bypassed black districts. She said the CBC is "supportive of the president, but we're getting tired."</p>
<p>The AP reports that, at the CBC dinner, Obama said, "It gets folks discouraged. I know. I listen to some of y'all?. So many people are barely hanging on. And so many people in this city are fighting us every step of the way."</p>
<p>But, he added, the way forward is to support him. "Take off your bedroom slippers. Put on your marching shoes," he said. "Shake it off. Stop complainin'. Stop grumblin'. Stop cryin'. We are going to press on. We have work to do."</p>
<p>Obama also used his speech to highlight how his <a href="http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2011/09/25/cbc-members-react-to-obamas-speech-on-jobs-the-black-community" type="external">jobs bill</a> would help struggling African American communities, CNN reports. He said 100,000 black-owned businesses would get a tax cut for hiring a new worker or giving workers a raise, and noted that the bill includes programs to help low-income youth get summer jobs.</p>
<p>Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, told CNN she thought the president struck the right tone with his speech.</p>
<p>"This is the first day of the beginning of a season of pressure" on Republicans in Congress, Jackson Lee said. "I think that this is now, for his own sake, a sense of reckoning that although his temperament as president of the United States for everybody - is to include everyone - there's a time now that the marching has to begin, because he's got to save this country and we're willing to save it with him."</p>
<p>The president will also need African American voters to vote at similar levels to the historic 2008 election if he's to win a second term, the AP notes.</p> | Obama to black leaders: "Stop complainin' " | false | https://pri.org/stories/2011-09-25/obama-black-leaders-stop-complainin | 2011-09-25 | 3 |
<p>JAYESS, Miss. (AP) — Former Mississippi lawmaker Clem Nettles of Jayess has died at age 87.</p>
<p>Nettles served as a Democrat in the state House from 1988 to 2004, representing a district in Pike and Walthall counties.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.jonesfamilyfuneralservices.net/obituary/clem-nettles" type="external">Hartman-Jones Funeral Home</a> in McComb says Nettles died Tuesday at home. Services are 4 p.m. Sunday at Union Primitive Baptist Church.</p>
<p>Nettles was a Korean War veteran. He was a dairy farmer and served on the North Pike School Board before being elected to the Legislature. While in the House, he became chairman of the Game and Fish Committee.</p>
<p>Nettles was known for speaking against proposals he thought would infringe on people’s rights. In 2000, he opposed a bill prohibiting adults from using tobacco at school events, arguing the ban would hurt attendance at sporting events.</p>
<p>JAYESS, Miss. (AP) — Former Mississippi lawmaker Clem Nettles of Jayess has died at age 87.</p>
<p>Nettles served as a Democrat in the state House from 1988 to 2004, representing a district in Pike and Walthall counties.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.jonesfamilyfuneralservices.net/obituary/clem-nettles" type="external">Hartman-Jones Funeral Home</a> in McComb says Nettles died Tuesday at home. Services are 4 p.m. Sunday at Union Primitive Baptist Church.</p>
<p>Nettles was a Korean War veteran. He was a dairy farmer and served on the North Pike School Board before being elected to the Legislature. While in the House, he became chairman of the Game and Fish Committee.</p>
<p>Nettles was known for speaking against proposals he thought would infringe on people’s rights. In 2000, he opposed a bill prohibiting adults from using tobacco at school events, arguing the ban would hurt attendance at sporting events.</p> | Cattleman, former Mississippi Rep. Clem Nettles dies at 87 | false | https://apnews.com/f4ff88adc8d1481ba6caddf00fdd65c4 | 2018-01-18 | 2 |
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<p>There will be an $8 application fee.</p>
<p>Youth hunters will need a game-hunting license and proof of passing a hunter education class, and to be eligible, youth hunters must be younger than 18 on the opening day of the hunt, according to a New Mexico Department of Game and Fish news release.</p>
<p>Purchasing a hunting or fishing license online requires the purchaser to have a Customer Identification Number account.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Go to <a href="http://www.wildlife.state.nm.us/" type="external">www.wildlife.state.nm.us</a> to apply.</p>
<p>Successful applicants should pick up their permits at the department’s Roswell office by 5 p.m. Friday. Phone number for the Roswell office is (575) 624-6135.</p> | Youth Pheasant Permits Available Today | false | https://abqjournal.com/149569/youth-pheasant-permits-available-today.html | 2012-11-28 | 2 |
<p>This post originally ran on Robert Reich’s Web page, <a href="http://robertreich.org" type="external">www.robertreich.org</a>.</p>
<p>Unemployment is still above 8 percent, job gains aren’t even keeping up with population growth, the economy is barely moving forward. And yet, according to most polls, the Romney-Ryan ticket is falling further and further behind. How can this be?</p>
<p>Because Republicans are failing the central test of electability. Instead of putting together the largest possible coalition of voters, they’re relying largely on one slice of America — middle-aged white men — and alienating just about everyone else.</p>
<p>Start with Hispanics, whose electoral heft keeps growing as they become an ever-larger portion of the electorate. Hispanics now favor President Obama over Romney-Ryan by a larger margin than they did six months ago.</p>
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<p>Why? In last February’s Republican primary debate Romney dubbed Arizona’s controversial immigration policy – that authorized police to demand proof of citizenship from anyone looking Hispanic — a “model law” for the rest of the nation.</p>
<p>Romney then attacked GOP rival Texas Governor Rick Perry for supporting in-state tuition at the University of Texas for children of undocumented immigrants. And Romney advocates what he calls “self-deportation” – making life so difficult for undocumented immigrants and their families that they choose to leave.</p>
<p>As if all this weren’t enough, the GOP has been pushing voter ID laws all over America, whose obvious aim is to intimidate Hispanic voters so they won’t come to the polls. But they may be having the opposite effect – emboldening the vast majority of ethnic Hispanics, who are American citizens, to vote in even greater numbers and lend even more support to Obama and other Democrats.</p>
<p>Or consider women – whose political and economic impact in America continues to grow (women are fast becoming better educated than men and the major breadwinners in American homes). According to polls, the political gender gap is widening.</p>
<p>Why? It’s not just GOP senatorial candidate Todd Akin’s call to ban all abortions even in the case of “legitimate rape” (because he believes women’s bodies somehow reject violent sperm). The GOP platform itself seeks to bar all abortions, with no exception for rape or incest. And on several occasions Paul Ryan has voted in favor of exactly such legislation.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, Republican legislators in Virginia, Pennsylvania, Idaho, and Alabama have pushed bills requiring women seeking abortions to undergo invasive vaginal ultrasound tests. All told, over 400 Republican bills are pending in state legislatures, attacking womens’ reproductive rights.</p>
<p>Republicans have repeatedly voted against legislation giving women equal pay for the same work as men. Republicans in Wisconsin have even repealed a law designed to prevent employers from discriminating against women.</p>
<p>Or consider students – a significant and growing electoral force, who voted overwhelmingly for Obama in 2008. What are Republicans doing to woo them back?</p>
<p>Paul Ryan’s budget plan – approved by almost every House Republican and enthusiastically endorsed by Mitt Romney – would have allowed rates on student loans to double, adding an average of $1,000 a year to student debt loads. (Under mounting political pressure, House Republicans came up with just enough money to keep the loan program going safely past Election Day by raiding a fund established for preventive care in the new health-care act.)</p>
<p>Now Romney wants to hand the federal student loan program over to the banks, which will charge even more. Earlier this year he argued subsidized student loans were bad because they encouraged colleges to raise their tuition, and suggested students ask their families for money.</p>
<p>Republicans have even managed to antagonize seniors by seeking to turn Medicare into vouchers whose value won’t keep up with rising healthcare costs, and cutting $800 billion out of Medicaid (which many seniors rely on for nursing home care).</p>
<p>And, of course, they’ve come out against equal marriage rights for gay couples.</p>
<p>Romney, Ryan, and the GOP don’t seem to know how to satisfy their middle-aged white male base without at the same time turning off everyone who’s not white, male, straight, or middle-aged. Unfortunately for Romney and Ryan, the people they’re turning off are the majority.</p>
<p /> | Why Romney and Ryan Are Going Down | true | https://truthdig.com/articles/why-romney-and-ryan-are-going-down/ | 2012-09-17 | 4 |
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<p>ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Albuquerque police are investigating a fatal shooting during a robbery gone awry at a smoke shop on Friday.</p>
<p>Police were called out to the Full Spectrum Smoke Shop on Sage and 98th Street SW shortly before 4 p.m. Friday after shots were fired. When they arrived, a man belived to be the robbery suspect was dead, police said. Police said it’s unclear who shot the suspect and a homicide investigation is taking place.</p>
<p>Police also did not know whether there were any customers in the store at the time of the shooting.</p>
<p>More updates to come.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | BREAKING: APD Investigates Deadly Robbery Shooting | false | https://abqjournal.com/139937/breaking-apd-investigates-deadly-robbery-shooting.html | 2 |
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<p>Former APD Chief Ray Schultz supported a $1.9 million Taser contract while chief, and then became a company consultant shortly after stepping down. City Council members have demanded an inquiry. (Pat Vasquez-Cunningham/Albuquerque Journal)</p>
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<p>IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Taser International, the stun-gun maker emerging as a leading supplier of body cameras for police, has cultivated financial ties to police chiefs whose departments have bought the recording devices, raising a host of conflict-of-interest questions.</p>
<p>A review of records and interviews by The Associated Press show Taser is covering airfare and hotel stays for police chiefs who speak at promotional conferences. It is also hiring recently retired chiefs as consultants, sometimes just months after their cities signed contracts with Taser.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Over the past 18 months, Taser has reached consulting agreements with two such chiefs weeks after they retired, and it is in talks with a third who also backed the purchase of its products, the AP has learned. Taser is planning to send two of them to speak at luxury hotels in Australia and the United Arab Emirates in March at events where they will address other law enforcement officers considering body cameras.</p>
<p>The relationships raise questions of whether chiefs are acting in the best interests of the taxpayers in their dealings with Scottsdale, Arizona-based Taser, whose contracts for cameras and storage systems for the video can run into the millions of dollars.</p>
<p>Retired Cincinnati Police Chief Tom Streicher discusses the benefits of body cameras during a conference hosted by Taser International at the California Highway Patrol headquarters in Sacramento, Calif. on Feb. 19, 2015. Streicher was hired as a consultant by the City of Albuquerque to assist in its negotiations with the Department of Justice. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)</p>
<p>As the police chief in Fort Worth, Texas, successfully pushed for the signing of a major contract with Taser before a company quarterly sales deadline, he wrote a Taser representative in an email, “Someone should give me a raise.”</p>
<p>The market for wearable cameras that can record arrests, shootings and other encounters has been growing fast since the killing last August of 18-year-old Michael Brown by a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri. President Barack Obama has proposed a $75 million program for departments to buy the cameras to reduce tensions between officers and the communities they serve.</p>
<p>City officials and rival companies are raising concerns about police chiefs’ ties to Taser, not only in Fort Worth but in such cities as Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Salt Lake City.</p>
<p>“Department heads need to be very careful to avoid that type of appearance of an endorsement in a for-profit setting,” said Charlie Luke, a Salt Lake City councilman. “It opens up the opportunity for competitors of these companies to essentially do what we’re seeing here — complaining about that public process.”</p>
<p>He said he was surprised when he learned last year that the city’s police department had purchased Taser cameras using surplus money, bypassing the standard bidding process and City Council approval. The department declined to say how much it has spent acquiring 295 body cameras and Taser’s Evidence.com video storage program and hasn’t responded to a month-old public records request.</p>
<p>The city’s police chief, Chris Burbank, said that his relationship with Taser, which includes company-paid travel to Taser-sponsored conferences, is appropriate. He recently recorded at the company’s request a promotional video in which he praised Evidence.com.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Burbank said he does not receive speaking fees and believes he hasn’t violated a city code prohibiting paid product endorsements on public time. He said he accepts Taser’s speaking invitations to promote the best ways of using body cameras. But Luke, the city councilman, questioned what value Salt Lake City gets from Burbank’s trips.</p>
<p>A Taser spokesman said the company has no control over how cities decide to award contracts. Taser says early adopters of technology are the best ones to discuss its benefits and drawbacks and share their experiences with colleagues.</p>
<p>“This is a pretty normal practice for police chiefs and other recently retired individuals to speak on behalf of the industry,” Taser chief marketing officer Luke Larson said.</p>
<p>Taser’s competitors say its cozy relationships are hurting their ability to seek contracts. They complain they have been shut out by cities awarding no-bid contracts to Taser and are being put at a disadvantage by requests for proposals that appear tailored to Taser’s products.</p>
<p>“Every time I do a presentation, as I’m standing there looking through the room, I wonder, ‘Who is tainted by Taser?'” said Peter Onruang, president of Wolfcom Enterprises, a California body camera maker.</p>
<p>Taser reported Thursday that orders for body cameras and Evidence.com soared to $24.6 million in the final three months of 2014 — a nearly fivefold increase from the same quarter in 2013. The company said it had contracts with 13 major cities and is in discussions or trials with 28 more.</p>
<p>A no-bid contract in Albuquerque and Taser’s relationship with the police chief prompted an investigation by the city’s inspector general.</p>
<p>City Council members demanded the inquiry after learning that Chief Ray Schultz, who had supported the $1.9 million contract for Taser cameras and storage, became a company consultant shortly after stepping down. A U.S. Justice Department investigation last year blasted Albuquerque’s rollout of the body cameras, saying it had been so hasty that officers had not been properly trained.</p>
<p>Today, Schultz speaks in an online promotional video about Albuquerque’s experience with Evidence.com. Although he has recently been hired as assistant chief in the Houston suburb of Memorial Villages, Schultz said he will be paid by Taser to speak at the international conferences in March.</p>
<p>Former New Orleans Police Superintendent Ronal Serpas confirmed he signed a Taser consulting agreement after he stepped down in August and has spoken at company-sponsored events in Canada and Arizona. Less than a year earlier, in December 2013, the city agreed to a $1.4 million contract with Taser for 420 cameras and storage.</p>
<p>In an interview with the AP, Serpas declined to detail how the consulting deal came about but said it did not violate a state ethics law because he is not lobbying his former employer. He also said he was not on the committee that recommended Taser for the contract.</p>
<p>Serpas said his role is to speak about how technology affects policing and not to promote products. Taser marketing materials reviewed by AP, however, quote him as calling the company’s Axon cameras and Evidence.com “a game changer for police departments here and around the world.”</p>
<p>In Fort Worth, emails obtained by the AP under Texas’ open records law show that then-Police Chief Jeffrey Halstead was seeking 400 more body cameras for officers last year and that Taser promised a discount if the deal could be approved before the end of the company’s sales quarter.</p>
<p>“Close of the month? I do not wear a cape or have x-ray vision you know,” Halstead wrote a Taser representative.</p>
<p>But over the next three weeks, Halstead successfully pushed the city to approve a no-bid contract worth up to $2.7 million. He kept Taser representatives aware of his progress, adding at one point that he deserved a raise.</p>
<p>In the following months, Taser had Halstead speak at events in Phoenix, Miami and Boston, covering his airfare and lodging, records show. The four-day Boston trip for Halstead and a companion cost Taser $2,445.</p>
<p>Halstead said he reached an oral agreement during the contract negotiations to travel to three other cities at Fort Worth’s expense to talk about his experience with Taser cameras. In one email, he told a Taser representative he believed he could persuade San Antonio to buy its cameras, “but my fee is not cheap! LOL.”</p>
<p>Halstead, who retired from the department in January, said he hopes to become an official consultant before he travels to speak at overseas events in March. He said he discussed such an arrangement during the end of his city employment, but had nothing promised.</p>
<p>He defended his ties to Taser as a “good business relationship” with a company that supports law enforcement.</p>
<p>Fort Worth City Manager David Cooke said he does not believe Halstead violated rules that prohibit employees from accepting job offers or other benefits that might influence the performance of their official duties. But he said the episode might reveal “gaps that we need to fill” in the code.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Associated Press writers Brian Bakst in St. Paul, Minnesota, and Don Thompson in Sacramento, California, contributed to this report.</p> | Body-camera maker’s ties to police chiefs raise conflict-of-interest questions | false | https://abqjournal.com/549303/body-camera-maker-has-financial-ties-to-police-chiefs-including-former-abq-chief-schultz.html | 2 |
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<p>CASA GRANDE, Ariz. (AP) — A 27-year-old man accused of killing a Casa Grande man has pleaded guilty except insanity.</p>
<p>The Casa Grande Dispatch <a href="http://www.pinalcentral.com/casa_grande_dispatch/area_news/man-pleads-insanity-in-bizarre-cg-murder-first-believed-a/article_9c2cda28-dcb9-58d1-8e62-b30d990f5d42.html" type="external">reports</a> Jason West pleaded guilty on Thursday to shooting 53-year-old Jeffery Zimmerman in the head as he slept on Feb. 25, 2015.</p>
<p>The men were neighbors.</p>
<p>Officials initially believed Zimmerman took his own life.</p>
<p>West has been ordered to undergo psychiatric treatment at the Arizona State Hospital for the next 25 years.</p>
<p>After three years of mental health treatments and evaluations, West was diagnosed with a mental disease that prevented him from understanding that what he did was wrong.</p>
<p>Deputy Pinal County Attorney Matt Reed says nothing excuses Zimmerman’s killing.</p>
<p>Zimmerman’s family say they wish West well during his court-ordered treatment and will try to move forward with their lives.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Information from: Casa Grande Dispatch.</p>
<p>CASA GRANDE, Ariz. (AP) — A 27-year-old man accused of killing a Casa Grande man has pleaded guilty except insanity.</p>
<p>The Casa Grande Dispatch <a href="http://www.pinalcentral.com/casa_grande_dispatch/area_news/man-pleads-insanity-in-bizarre-cg-murder-first-believed-a/article_9c2cda28-dcb9-58d1-8e62-b30d990f5d42.html" type="external">reports</a> Jason West pleaded guilty on Thursday to shooting 53-year-old Jeffery Zimmerman in the head as he slept on Feb. 25, 2015.</p>
<p>The men were neighbors.</p>
<p>Officials initially believed Zimmerman took his own life.</p>
<p>West has been ordered to undergo psychiatric treatment at the Arizona State Hospital for the next 25 years.</p>
<p>After three years of mental health treatments and evaluations, West was diagnosed with a mental disease that prevented him from understanding that what he did was wrong.</p>
<p>Deputy Pinal County Attorney Matt Reed says nothing excuses Zimmerman’s killing.</p>
<p>Zimmerman’s family say they wish West well during his court-ordered treatment and will try to move forward with their lives.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Information from: Casa Grande Dispatch.</p> | Man enters insanity plea in 2015 Casa Grande murder | false | https://apnews.com/da6112bb01e84b08b9dff549e54bbf42 | 2018-01-19 | 2 |
<p />
<p>The Nation magazine sports columnist Dave Zirin and Danielle Walker, leader of “Racism Lives Here” events at the University of Missouri, talk about the significance of the strike by the school’s football team that led to the ousting of President Timothy Wolfe.</p>
<p>— Adapted from “Democracy Now!” by <a href="" type="internal">Alexander Reed Kelly</a>.</p>
<p /> | VIDEO: How Black Football Players at the University of Missouri Changed the Game on Racism | true | https://truthdig.com/articles/video-how-black-football-players-at-the-university-of-missouri-changed-the-game-on-racism/ | 2015-11-11 | 4 |
<p>LONDON (AP) — Ten seasons ago, the Boston Celtics came to London and won. They went on to win the NBA title.</p>
<p>As they repeated the first half of that feat with a comeback victory over the Philadelphia 76ers on Thursday night, the Eastern Conference-leading Celtics provided more evidence that they can emulate that 2007-08 squad.</p>
<p>Kyrie Irving had 20 points, seven assists and six rebounds and Boston overcame a 22-point deficit to beat the 76ers 114-103 in the eighth regular season NBA game played in England.</p>
<p>“It’s always great to believe in fate,” Irving said. “But for us we have to be dogged in every moment we’re afforded. It’s great for that to happen for that past team but it’s the past. We have to be very present. Winning an NBA championship is one of the hardest things you can do in life.”</p>
<p>Jaylen Brown added 21 points, and Marcus Morris had 19 points and eight rebounds to help the Celtics extend their winning streak to seven games.</p>
<p>JJ Redick had 22 points and hit five 3-pointers for Philadelphia, but the 76ers were unable to take advantage of their fast start as the Celtics’ NBA-best defense tightened at O2 Arena.</p>
<p>Joel Embiid had 16 points, and fellow All-Star hopeful Ben Simmons added 15 for the 76ers.</p>
<p>“This team that we just played today is the best defensive team in the NBA and we felt all of that,” 76ers coach Brett Brown said. “When you look at their individual defensive players to a man, they’re as strong positionally as any team in the NBA.”</p>
<p>Irving and Embiid struggled early, going a combined 1 for 10 from the field in the first quarter. Despite ending the quarter pointless, Embiid was able to make an impact on defense, notably swatting away Irving’s attempted layup.</p>
<p>Embiid and Simmons helped out Redick at the start of the second and the 76ers made their first nine shots of the quarter to open the 22-point lead with 6:56 remaining in the quarter.</p>
<p>However, Irving finally made a 3, sparking a strong Celtics finish to the half as they closed to 57-48.</p>
<p>Having been outshone by fellow Rookie Of The Year contender Simmons in the first half, Jayson Tatum began the second half hot, making his first five shots to bring the Celtics within a point.</p>
<p>The Celtics took their first lead midway through the third quarter, and soon took control as Morris and fellow reserve Marcus Smart stretched the lead.</p>
<p>Irving returned early in the fourth and was fouled making a trademark driving layup and made the free throw to give the Celtics a 105-88 advantage midway through the quarter, all but ending the contest.</p>
<p>PLAYOFF PREVIEW?</p>
<p>With the Celtics top of the Eastern Conference with a 34-10 record and the 76ers (19-20) ninth and fighting to make the post-season a first round playoff meeting between the two is a possibility.</p>
<p>Despite having lost all three games to the Celtics this season, Embiid is confident the 76ers could compete in a seven-game series.</p>
<p>“If we end up meeting in the playoffs, I feel like we got a pretty good chance,” Embiid said. “We just need to correct whatever has been careless the whole season and that’s turnovers and fouling a lot.”</p>
<p>TIP-INS</p>
<p>Celtics: The Celtics held Philadelphia without a field goal for the final 4:37 of the second quarter to trim the halftime deficit to nine points</p>
<p>76ers: Embiid was the only player on either team to finish with a double-double, adding 10 rebounds to his 15 points.</p>
<p>UP NEXT:</p>
<p>Celtics: Host New Orleans on Tuesday night.</p>
<p>76ers: Host Toronto on Monday night.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>For more NBA coverage: <a href="" type="internal">https://apnews.com/tag/NBAbasketball</a></p>
<p>LONDON (AP) — Ten seasons ago, the Boston Celtics came to London and won. They went on to win the NBA title.</p>
<p>As they repeated the first half of that feat with a comeback victory over the Philadelphia 76ers on Thursday night, the Eastern Conference-leading Celtics provided more evidence that they can emulate that 2007-08 squad.</p>
<p>Kyrie Irving had 20 points, seven assists and six rebounds and Boston overcame a 22-point deficit to beat the 76ers 114-103 in the eighth regular season NBA game played in England.</p>
<p>“It’s always great to believe in fate,” Irving said. “But for us we have to be dogged in every moment we’re afforded. It’s great for that to happen for that past team but it’s the past. We have to be very present. Winning an NBA championship is one of the hardest things you can do in life.”</p>
<p>Jaylen Brown added 21 points, and Marcus Morris had 19 points and eight rebounds to help the Celtics extend their winning streak to seven games.</p>
<p>JJ Redick had 22 points and hit five 3-pointers for Philadelphia, but the 76ers were unable to take advantage of their fast start as the Celtics’ NBA-best defense tightened at O2 Arena.</p>
<p>Joel Embiid had 16 points, and fellow All-Star hopeful Ben Simmons added 15 for the 76ers.</p>
<p>“This team that we just played today is the best defensive team in the NBA and we felt all of that,” 76ers coach Brett Brown said. “When you look at their individual defensive players to a man, they’re as strong positionally as any team in the NBA.”</p>
<p>Irving and Embiid struggled early, going a combined 1 for 10 from the field in the first quarter. Despite ending the quarter pointless, Embiid was able to make an impact on defense, notably swatting away Irving’s attempted layup.</p>
<p>Embiid and Simmons helped out Redick at the start of the second and the 76ers made their first nine shots of the quarter to open the 22-point lead with 6:56 remaining in the quarter.</p>
<p>However, Irving finally made a 3, sparking a strong Celtics finish to the half as they closed to 57-48.</p>
<p>Having been outshone by fellow Rookie Of The Year contender Simmons in the first half, Jayson Tatum began the second half hot, making his first five shots to bring the Celtics within a point.</p>
<p>The Celtics took their first lead midway through the third quarter, and soon took control as Morris and fellow reserve Marcus Smart stretched the lead.</p>
<p>Irving returned early in the fourth and was fouled making a trademark driving layup and made the free throw to give the Celtics a 105-88 advantage midway through the quarter, all but ending the contest.</p>
<p>PLAYOFF PREVIEW?</p>
<p>With the Celtics top of the Eastern Conference with a 34-10 record and the 76ers (19-20) ninth and fighting to make the post-season a first round playoff meeting between the two is a possibility.</p>
<p>Despite having lost all three games to the Celtics this season, Embiid is confident the 76ers could compete in a seven-game series.</p>
<p>“If we end up meeting in the playoffs, I feel like we got a pretty good chance,” Embiid said. “We just need to correct whatever has been careless the whole season and that’s turnovers and fouling a lot.”</p>
<p>TIP-INS</p>
<p>Celtics: The Celtics held Philadelphia without a field goal for the final 4:37 of the second quarter to trim the halftime deficit to nine points</p>
<p>76ers: Embiid was the only player on either team to finish with a double-double, adding 10 rebounds to his 15 points.</p>
<p>UP NEXT:</p>
<p>Celtics: Host New Orleans on Tuesday night.</p>
<p>76ers: Host Toronto on Monday night.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>For more NBA coverage: <a href="" type="internal">https://apnews.com/tag/NBAbasketball</a></p> | Celtics overcome 22-point deficit to beat 76ers in London | false | https://apnews.com/db248deb0bad4739ad0bf0d077ffab96 | 2018-01-12 | 2 |
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<p>SANTA FE – The number of overtime hours worked by rank-and-file New Mexico state government employees has risen steadily in recent years, while the number of workers has decreased.</p>
<p>The state paid out nearly $36.7 million in overtime – representing nearly 1.6 million overtime hours – during the 2013 budget year, according to a State Personnel Office report released earlier this month.</p>
<p>Those figures were up significantly from previous years. Just three years earlier, in the 2010 fiscal year, a total of $24.4 million in overtime – the cost of roughly 1 million in overtime hours – was paid to classified state employees.</p>
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<p>Rep. Luciano “Lucky” Varela, D-Santa Fe, said he’s concerned about the trend. He questioned why some state agencies in Gov. Susana Martinez’s administration have not been using the full amount of money appropriated to them by the Legislature for filling vacant jobs.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal" />You can only run overtime for an individual for so long before they start burning out,” said Varela, chairman of the Legislative Finance Committee.</p>
<p>State Personnel Director Gene Moser, however, said the rise in overtime cost and usage is attributable to an aging state workforce and a spike in retirements.</p>
<p>Although Moser said the Martinez administration is concerned about the burnout factor and trying to keep pace with the high rate of retiring state workers, he added that some employees welcome the chance to make extra money.</p>
<p>“What we’re seeing in some areas is the overtime isn’t spread evenly,” he said. “Some folks just want to work the overtime for extra cash.”</p>
<p>He pointed out that the 3,090 classified employees hired by the state during the 2013 budget year marked a big jump from the previous year, when 2,193 employees were hired.</p>
<p>But the number of workers leaving also increased, from 2,332 in the 2012 budget year to 2,962 last year, according to the Personnel Office report.</p>
<p>Vacancies, overtime</p>
<p>The State Personnel Office said in its report that there is a direct link between state government vacancy rates and overtime.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>“If an agency has a vacant position, someone may be required to do the work that would normally be done for that position by working additional hours in response to special circumstances,” the Personnel Office report says.</p>
<p>“This is acceptable in the short term. However, when this occurs regularly or for extended periods of time, it could be an indicator of other issues in the organization.”</p>
<p>The report described overtime as an “unbudgeted liability” that is usually paid with savings generated from vacant jobs. Most employees receive 1.5 times their regular salary for overtime, which is defined as any time in excess of 40 hours a week.</p>
<p>High vacancy rates</p>
<p>With some state agencies having vacancy rates higher than 20 percent, because of the elevated retirement rates and other factors, money intended for hiring employees can be used instead for overtime. That’s despite the fact that not all vacant state government positions are funded by the Legislature.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, New Mexico union leaders say they have heard about many state employees leaving their government jobs specifically because of the heavier job burdens.</p>
<p>“It’s great to earn overtime once in a while, but at the end of the day we’d rather see us staffed fully,” said Miles Conway, communications director for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union in New Mexico.</p>
<p>Carter Bundy, AFSCME’s political director in the state, said the high overtime and vacancy rates can lead to longer wait times for members of the public and potentially dangerous conditions in state-run prisons.</p>
<p>“The services aren’t being provided efficiently, and our members end up overworked,” Bundy said. “This isn’t government working the way it should.”</p>
<p>Employment drops</p>
<p>The $36.7 million spent by the state on overtime during the 2013 budget year occurred while the number of rank-and-file state workers was decreasing.</p>
<p>New Mexico had 17,795 rank-and-file employees spread across the state’s various agencies as of Sept. 30. That’s down from 18,253 workers as of December 2012.</p>
<p>Those employees are also known as classified workers; they are hired through the state’s classified personnel system and can only be hired under state personnel rules and fired for cause. They make up the majority of the total state government workforce, which also includes so-called “exempt” employees, who are appointed to their jobs.</p>
<p>In all, the state had about 22,700 workers as of Sept. 30.</p>
<p>In addition to the increase in overtime, the Martinez administration during the 2012 budget year spent more than $30 million the Legislature had appropriated for salaries and benefits on contractual services and other expenditures.</p>
<p>The administration has defended such funding shifts as important to running government efficiently and not out of the ordinary.</p>
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<p /> | State overtime increases; cost was $36M in 2013 | false | https://abqjournal.com/327627/overtime-expenses-rise-as-number-of-workers-falls.html | 2 |
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<p>Although Delta Air Lines(NYSE: DAL)is a familiar name in airports around the globe, there are plenty of investors who don't know everything about the airline. Since the best investors are well-informed investors, let's look at some things that help provide a more complete view of the company.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Today, Delta is recognized as one of the world's largest airline carriers, but it comes from much more meager beginnings. Delta Air Lines can trace its history to 1924, when the Huff Daland Dusters crop-dusting organization --the world's first commercial agricultural flying company -- was founded. In 1928, Huff Daland Dusters was sold and renamed Delta Air Service, after the Mississippi Delta region it served.</p>
<p>Image source: Getty Images.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Delta Air Linesis gaining plenty of recognition recently,ranking No. 31 onFortune's list of The World's Most Admired Companies for 2016. It also appeared on another of Fortune's lists for 2016: 100 Best Companies to Work For, where itrankedNo. 63. According to Fortune, this is the first time the airline has made the list and the first time in more than 10 years that any airline has made the list.</p>
<p>Among other reasons for such high accolades, the company is committed to rewarding its employees. In fiscal 2016, Delta reported $8.85 billion in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA), andreturned about $1.12 billion to employees through its profit-sharing program -- about 12.6%. United Continental (NYSE: UAL), on the other hand, returned $628 million to employees through its profit-sharing program -- about 9.5% of the $6.34 billion it reported in EBITDA for fiscal 2016.</p>
<p>Demonstrating its commitment to providing a superior in-flight experience, Delta became the first U.S. airline to offer free in-flight entertainment to its passengers in the summer of 2016. The onboard entertainment suite, Delta Studio, offers passengers up to 300 movies, 750 TV shows, more than2,000 songs, and 18 channels of live satellite TV on select aircraft.</p>
<p>It didn't take long, however, for competitors to follow suit. Weeks after Delta announced the launch of Delta Studio, American Airlines Group (NASDAQ: AAL) issued a press release revealing its plan to "elevate the customer experience by adding complimentary premium movies, TV shows, music and games in the Main Cabin on domestic flights offering seatback entertainment systems or Wi-Fi streaming."</p>
<p>In September 2005, Delta filed for reorganization under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. Completing its restructuring plan one year ahead of schedule, Delta emerged from bankruptcy on April 30, 2007. Since the stock was relistedon the New York Stock Exchange on May 3, 2007, it has handily outperformed the S&amp;P 500, climbing more than 120%.</p>
<p><a href="http://ycharts.com/companies/DAL" type="external">DAL</a> data by <a href="http://ycharts.com" type="external">YCharts Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
<p>Bankruptcy was far from the only adversity with which Delta Air Lines contended during 2007; the company fended off a hostile takeover bid by US Airways. Valued at nearly $10 billion, the offer from US Airways (which has subsequently merged with American Airlines) was rejected by Delta Air Lines' creditors.</p>
<p>Between replacing older aircraft, maintaining upkeep of aircraft in service, and keeping its facilities in good shape (among plenty of other requirements) running a successful airline doesn't come cheap. In 2016, for example, Delta Air Linesreported that it had invested over $3 billion in improved products, including 38 new aircraft and new terminals in New York, Los Angeles, and Salt Lake City. Consequently, maintaining a healthy balance sheet is imperative for any airline.</p>
<p>Having emerged from bankruptcy, Delta has proved that it's adept at managing its debt. In the company's 10-K for fiscal 2016, management reported that the company "received upgrades to [its] credit ratings by all three major rating agencies, including investment grade ratings from Moody's and Fitch."</p>
<p><a href="http://ycharts.com/companies/DAL/financial_debt_to_ebitda_annual" type="external">DAL Financial Debt To EBITDA (Annual)</a> data by <a href="http://ycharts.com" type="external">YCharts</a>.</p>
<p>A quick peek at its peers' performance provides another perspective on Delta's impressive management of debt. The company maintains a total debt-to-EBITDA ratio under 1.0 and a debt-to-equity ratio under 0.6. Both metrics suggest the company is in a far more secure position than American Airlines and United Continental.</p>
<p>Besides being committed to returning cash to employees through its profit-sharing program, Delta is also committed to returning cash to investors. Between its dividend and share-buyback program, Delta maintains a target of returning at least 70% of free cash flow to shareholders. In fact, the company allocated more than $3 billion to dividends and stock repurchases in fiscal 2016, exceeding its target of a 70% return of free cash flow to shareholders.</p>
<p>Delta's dividend currently represents a 1.62% yield, while American Airlines' stock offers a 0.95% yield. United Continental, meanwhile, doesn't currently pay a dividend.</p>
<p>10 stocks we like better than Delta Air LinesWhen 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=328aa5b2-b19a-49af-a642-31fa9711b751&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">10 best stocks Opens a New Window.</a> for investors to buy right now... and Delta Air Lines 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 February 6, 2017</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/scott81236/info.aspx" type="external">Scott Levine Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> | 7 Things You Probably Didn't Know About Delta Air Lines, Inc. | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/04/09/7-things-probably-didnt-know-about-delta-air-lines-inc.html | 2017-04-09 | 0 |
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<p>ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — New Mexico is contributing $1 million in Local Economic Development Act funding to allow a Roswell manufacturer to create 70 jobs, according to an announcement from Gov. Susana Martinez.</p>
<p>Gov. Martinez said the money will go toward the renovation of Dean Baldwin Aircraft Painting’s 165,000 square-foot facility at Roswell International Airport.</p>
<p>“Creating good private-sector jobs like these are key to decreasing our reliance on the oil and gas industry and the federal government,” said Martinez in a statement. “That’s why we will continue to do all we can to make New Mexico more competitive and business friendly, because it creates jobs for our families and communities.”</p>
<p>The facility, which will be upgrading its roof and fire suppression systems during the renovation, currently employs 130 people. The Florida-based company opened its Roswell operations in 1999.</p>
<p>Economic developers say LEDA funding is one of the most powerful tools they have to convince businesses to choose New Mexico for expansions and relocations. But in the midst of an estimated $300 million projected budget deficit for the coming fiscal year, lawmakers have refused to promise they will keep the funds intact.</p>
<p>Matt Geisel, the state’s Economic Development secretary, said in the statement that the Dean Baldwin announcement proves the value of programs like LEDA.</p>
<p>“This expansion shows how our tax cuts and incentives are working for our rural communities,” said Geisel. “The governor’s commitment to making New Mexico more competitive has allowed companies like Dean Baldwin to grow and thrive, bringing private sector jobs to our state.”</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | State provides $1 million for Roswell firm’s expansion | false | https://abqjournal.com/924127/state-provides-1-million-for-roswell-firms-expansion.html | 2 |
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<p>China&#160;stocks ended Friday slightly higher, reversing initial losses, as the banking sector regained some composure in late afternoon trading.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>The blue-chip CSI300 index rose 0.2 percent, to 3,018.28, while the Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.2 percent, to 2,810.31 points.</p>
<p>But the for week, CSI300 was down 2.4 percent while the SSEC was off 2.2 percent, as the recent rally petered out.</p>
<p>The banking sector fell over 1 percent at one stage but narrowed their losses in the afternoon amid expectations that&#160;China's securities regulator would provide some market-friendly comments at a press conference to be held in Beijing on Saturday.</p>
<p>(Reporting by Samuel Shen and Nathaniel Taplin; Editing by Shri Navaratnam)</p> | China Shares Reverse Losses but Down for the Week | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/03/11/china-shares-reverse-losses-but-down-for-week.html | 2016-03-11 | 0 |
<p>We now know that the U.S.&#160; <a href="http://www.usccb.org/prolife/index.shtml" type="external">Conference of Catholic Bishops</a>&#160;(USCCB), which in the end run reports to Rome, was&#160; <a href="http://crooksandliars.com/susie-madrak/stupak-amendment-written-because-cath" type="external">involved</a>in the crafting and <a href="http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/66815-bishops-support-stupak-amendment" type="external">promotion</a>&#160;of the Stupak Amendment, the provision that transformed a tepid health care victory for the Democrats into a <a href="" type="internal">serious loss</a>for women’s reproductive rights. Hard as it is to believe, this sober conclave seems to have outstripped even the screaming fundamentalist Protestants&#160;in&#160;wielding influence over Congressional policymaking in this instance.&#160;</p>
<p>The Stupak Amendment was promulgated by a devout Catholic Democrat from Michigan,&#160;who is now <a href="http://www.catholic.org/politics/story.php?id=34440" type="external">being celebrated</a>as a pro-life hero.&#160;He&#160;and&#160; <a href="http://www.catholicsforchoice.org/CatholicsSupportHealthcareReform.asp" type="external">63 other Democrats&#160;</a>insisted on&#160;the anti-choice measure, under threat of&#160;crushing the whole bill, and they&#160; <a href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1109/29214.html" type="external">reportedly worked</a>with the USCCB to come up with “acceptable” language for the amendment.&#160;The bishops apparently had a direct line to the Repubican leadership, as well:&#160;&#160;According to&#160; <a href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1109/29305.html" type="external">Politico</a>, “Cardinal Francis George, archbishop of Chicago and president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, called Republican leader John Boehner to make sure the GOP didn’t play any games with the Stupak (abortion) amendment, sources said.”&#160;&#160;</p>
<p>Jon O’Brien, president of <a href="http://www.catholicsforchoice.org/CatholicsSupportHealthcareReform.asp" type="external">Catholics for Choice</a>, despairs of what he calls the American bishops’ “obsession” with sex and sexual politics.&#160;In an interview today,&#160;O’Brien said these bishops are&#160;supposed to be&#160;dedicated to the sick, poor, and vulnerable, all of whom desperately need decent health care. Yet they&#160;have shown themselves willing “to burn health care reform” over the abortion issue–a postion that places them out of line with the majority of lay Catholics.</p>
<p>O’Brien points out that a <a href="http://www.catholicsforchoice.org/CatholicsSupportHealthcareReform.asp" type="external">recent poll</a>commissioned by the organization shows that “while Catholic voters are split on President Obama’s ideas for healthcare reform, they do want to see costs lowered and overwhelmingly support a government plan that would make health insurance available to the uninsured.” In addition:</p>
<p>Catholic voters believe the US Catholic bishops are wrong on healthcare reform. Sixty-eight percent disapprove of US bishops saying that all Catholics should oppose the entire healthcare reform plan if it includes coverage for abortion and 56 percent think the bishops should not take a position on healthcare reform legislation in Congress.</p>
<p>Despite what many conservatives argue, Catholic voters are against refusal clauses for institutions that take taxpayer dollars. Sixty-five percent said that hospitals and clinics that take taxpayer dollars should not be allowed to refuse certain procedures or medications based on religious beliefs. In addition, 60 percent believe that hospitals and clinics that take taxpayer dollars should be required to include condoms as part of HIV prevention.</p>
<p>The poll also found that “large majorities of&#160;Catholic voters support health insurance coverage for abortions, either in a private or a government-run scheme” in order to protect the life or health of the mother, in cases of rape and incest, or when tests show a fetus has a severe abnormal condition.&#160;This makes them somewhat more liberal than the Stupak Amendment, which imposes narrower restrictions. Catholics are even split 50-50 on “whether insurance plans should cover abortion whenever a woman and her doctor decide it is appropriate.”&#160;</p>
<p>So American public policy on health care and reproductive rights is being&#160;shaped not by a majority of voters or even a majority of Catholic voters, but by a bunch of celibate men in robes, answering&#160;to a&#160;reactionary 82-year-old German in the Vatican. Does this mean that in addition to the insurance industry, Big Pharma, and other health care profiteers, we must now wait for His Holiness to weigh in?</p>
<p />
<p>Ad from the USCCB</p> | Catholic Bishops Call the Shots on Health Care Reform | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2009/11/catholic-bishops-call-shots-health-care-reform/ | 2009-11-09 | 4 |
<p>WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Leaders of the U.S. Senate Finance Committee said on Tuesday they reached an agreement to finance a federal insurance program for millions of lower-income children and pregnant women that was due to expire at the end of the month.</p>
<p>Republican Senator Orrin Hatch, chairman of the finance committee, and the panel’s top Democrat, Senator Ron Wyden, said in a statement the agreement would provide money for the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) for five years.</p>
<p>CHIP reauthorization is not typically contentious as the program receives bipartisan support. But lobbyists and industry officials have said any healthcare-related legislation has become more complicated following the failure of Republicans to repeal and replace Obamacare.</p>
<p>“I am hopeful we can move forward swiftly to ensure no lapse in care for our nation’s most vulnerable children,” Hatch said in a statement, calling the agreement “a good first start.”</p>
<p>Wyden said in a statement he hoped to get the extension of CHIP into law “as soon as possible.”</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> | Key U.S. senators reach deal on funding children's health program | false | https://newsline.com/key-u-s-senators-reach-deal-on-funding-children039s-health-program/ | 2017-09-12 | 1 |
<p>Screenshot &lt;a href="http://www.pbs.org/mark-twain-prize/video.html"&gt;courtesy of PBS&lt;/a&gt;</p>
<p />
<p>So Tina Fey gets this award Sunday night, the Kennedy Center’s Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, which is kind of a big deal. In fact, they wrap an entire PBS&#160;Kennedy Center TV&#160;special around her, with special guests and happy clapping crowds. And when she gets this award, she gets to talk onstage, as awardees are wont to do. And according to <a href="http://joemygod.blogspot.com/2010/11/quote-of-day-tina-fey.html" type="external">Joe.My.God.</a> and the <a href="http://voices.washingtonpost.com/arts-post/2010/11/by_paul_farhi_tina_fey.html?hpid=topnews" type="external">Washington Post</a>, here’s part of what she says:</p>
<p>And, you know, politics aside, the success of <a href="" type="internal">Sarah Palin</a> and women like her is good for all women—except, of course, those who will end up, you know, like, paying for their own rape kit ‘n’ stuff. But for everybody else, it’s a win-win. Unless you’re a gay woman who wants to marry your partner of 20 years—whatever. But for most women, the success of conservative women is good for all of us. Unless you believe in evolution. You know—actually, I take it back. The whole thing’s a disaster.</p>
<p>Except if you were watching the thing on PBS Sunday night, you didn’t see or hear any of that. According to the Post‘s Paul Farhi: “The part about rape kits and evolution was gone, leaving only Fey’s more harmonious—and blander—comments about Palin and politics: ‘I would be a liar and an idiot if I didn’t thank Sarah Palin for helping get me here tonight…'”</p>
<p>For its part, PBS&#160;told Farhi the selective editing “was not a political decision…We had zero problems with anything she said”:</p>
<p>But with the 90-minute show running about 19 minutes long after the taping Tuesday night, a few things had to give, Kaminsky said. “We took a lot out,” he said. “We snipped from everyone.”</p>
<p>Uh huh. Anyway, a video of Fey’s full acceptance speech is below; skip to about 12:30 for her invective on Alaskan dystopia. Oh, and by the way, also on TV&#160;Sunday?&#160;The premiere of Sarah Palin’s Alaska on TLC, which <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/sarah-palins-new-reality-show-breaks-tlcs-ratings-records-2010-11" type="external">hooked in 5 million viewers</a>. Apparently she <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/nov/14/sarah-palin-bears-alaska-television" type="external">illegally molested a bear with her fishing tackle</a>. But that didn’t get edited out.</p>
<p />
<p>Watch the <a href="http://video.pbs.org/video/1645426185" type="external">full episode</a>. See more <a href="http://www.pbs.org/mark-twain-prize/" type="external">Mark Twain Prize.</a></p>
<p /> | Tina Fey’s Censored Palin Joke (VIDEO) | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2010/11/tina-fey-censored-sarah-palin-joke-video/ | 2010-11-16 | 4 |
<p>MCBRIDE, British Columbia (AP) — A "very large" avalanche in the western Canadian province of British Columbia left five people riding snowmobiles dead, the provincial coroner's service said.</p>
<p>Barb McLintock of the B.C. Coroners Service said the avalanche took place Friday in an area where several groups were snowmobiling. She said two coroners were dispatched from Prince George and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police were investigating.</p>
<p>The McBride RCMP said Friday evening it was coordinating the search for a number of snowmobilers involved in the avalanche in the Renshaw area east of McBride, which is about 210 kilometers (130 miles) southeast of Prince George.</p>
<p>A helicopter was dispatched to the area to assist and two search-and-rescue technicians were on the scene almost immediately because they were already in the area, police said.</p>
<p>Rescue crews quickly learned that at least three separate groups of snowmobilers were caught in the avalanche, and they assisted with the rescue of several people throughout the afternoon and searched for people believed to have been buried, RCMP said.</p>
<p>Karl Klassen of Avalanche Canada said the "very large, significant" avalanche appeared to be human-triggered. He did not elaborate.</p>
<p>"There are layers of concern in the snowpack in many parts of this region (and others) and a fairly significant weather event added rain and snow to the snowpack over the last few days followed by clearing and cooling today," he said in a statement. "This may have produced stresses in the snowpack capable of producing large avalanches and this condition could take several days to settle and bond."</p>
<p>MCBRIDE, British Columbia (AP) — A "very large" avalanche in the western Canadian province of British Columbia left five people riding snowmobiles dead, the provincial coroner's service said.</p>
<p>Barb McLintock of the B.C. Coroners Service said the avalanche took place Friday in an area where several groups were snowmobiling. She said two coroners were dispatched from Prince George and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police were investigating.</p>
<p>The McBride RCMP said Friday evening it was coordinating the search for a number of snowmobilers involved in the avalanche in the Renshaw area east of McBride, which is about 210 kilometers (130 miles) southeast of Prince George.</p>
<p>A helicopter was dispatched to the area to assist and two search-and-rescue technicians were on the scene almost immediately because they were already in the area, police said.</p>
<p>Rescue crews quickly learned that at least three separate groups of snowmobilers were caught in the avalanche, and they assisted with the rescue of several people throughout the afternoon and searched for people believed to have been buried, RCMP said.</p>
<p>Karl Klassen of Avalanche Canada said the "very large, significant" avalanche appeared to be human-triggered. He did not elaborate.</p>
<p>"There are layers of concern in the snowpack in many parts of this region (and others) and a fairly significant weather event added rain and snow to the snowpack over the last few days followed by clearing and cooling today," he said in a statement. "This may have produced stresses in the snowpack capable of producing large avalanches and this condition could take several days to settle and bond."</p> | Coroner: 5 dead in avalanche in British Columbia | false | https://apnews.com/amp/40528da70b794a6bb0a6acfae8e5f5b4 | 2016-01-30 | 2 |
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<p>A growing number of companies combine vacation and sick time into one bucket called paid time off, or PTO. Staffers decide whether they’re going to use the days for vacation, when they or a relative is ill, or for family events.</p>
<p>“You’re saying to staffers, it’s PTO, just take it; if you have a sick kid, need a personal day, you’re really stressed out,” says Gretchen Van Vlymen, a vice president at StratEx, an HR consulting firm based in Chicago.</p>
<p>Forty-three percent of companies offered PTO in 2016, up from 28 percent in 2002, according to a report from World at Work, an association of human resources professionals. The report said 51 percent of private companies, which would include small and midsize businesses, offered PTO last year. The report was based on a survey of the organization’s members.</p>
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<p>One of the biggest pluses about PTO for small-business owners is eliminating the administrative chore of tracking how many sick days versus vacation days their employees have used. That can be particularly helpful in the growing number of states, counties and cities where employers are required to allow staffers to accrue sick time, usually up to 40 hours a year depending on how many hours they work. With PTO, there’s no need to track hours worked or accrued.</p>
<p>For Will Gadea, offering PTO to his five staffers means he doesn’t have to be the arbiter of whether workers are really sick when they call him in the morning, coughing and asking for a day off.</p>
<p>“I don’t want to make employees lie to me in order to use those days up,” says Gadea, owner of IdeaRocket, an animated video company in New York.</p>
<p>But PTO isn’t a panacea for time-off problems. It may not stop those workers who habitually call in on Mondays or after long holiday weekends. And some staffers may decide to work when they’re sick rather than use days they want to set aside for a vacation.</p>
<p>Employers need to deal with such situations from a performance perspective, says Kate Zabriskie, CEO of Business Training Works, an employee development consultancy based in Port Tobacco, Md. That means talking to workers if they come in sick and letting them know they’re probably better off at home.</p>
<p>“If they’re not performing well because they’re ill, I’d say, ‘You’ve got to be here and ready to do the job,'” Zabriskie says.</p>
<p>Van Vlymen suggests starting a conversation with the staffer who tends to call in after weekends, noting there’s a pattern and letting them know that if they have a problem of some kind, help is available.</p>
<p>Another problem can arise if an employee runs out of time. It can happen if the worker takes vacation time, personal days for school events or to be home with sick children, and then comes down with the flu at the end of the year.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>When a staffer is running out of days, especially if it’s a highly valued employee, it can be tempting for the boss to say, “Don’t worry; we’ll pay you for the days you missed.” But unless other employees also get extra days, the boss’s leniency can be seen as unequal treatment, something that can become evidence in a discrimination lawsuit.</p>
<p>“You need to remain consistent. You can’t look the other way for one person,” says Eric Cormier, a consultant with the Houston-based human resources provider Insperity.</p>
<p>One solution is that if staffers are able to work from home and aren’t too sick, they can telecommute to avoid using PTO.</p>
<p>Companies where employees don’t have that option can also be creative. At Motev, a Los Angeles-based limousine service, employees accrue PTO as they work. If staffers use up their time and need more days, owner Robert Gaskill will structure the work schedule so they can accrue more hours. If drivers are sick and come to work, the law prohibits them from driving, so Gaskill assigns them to work in the office.</p>
<p>Some companies award top performers PTO as a kind of bonus. Under a bonus system, companies are allowed to reward staffers with different amounts of money or time off depending on how well they have performed.</p>
<p>“We’ll consider either advancing PTO (from the next year) or granting additional days the way we also have employee spot bonuses for doing an awesome job,” says Grace Carr Lee, executive director of Hoge Fenton, a law firm based in San Jose, Calif.</p>
<p>Conversely, underperformers may just have to lose pay. Ben Friedman has had employees who didn’t seem to care about their work and who used up their PTO.</p>
<p>“If they use all their time, we wouldn’t pay them for the day” they miss, says Friedman, co-founder of All Set, a Boston-based online service that helps homeowners find cleaning and lawn services.</p>
<p>Owners can create other types of leave, Van Vlymen says. For example, giving employees paid leave for personal matters. Or allowing staffers to work flexible hours so they can take care of errands or appointments and still get their work done.</p>
<p>“There are a lot of ways to do it without expanding the PTO you give,” she says.</p>
<p>At some companies, especially those where staffers are not on set schedules, the solution is unlimited PTO; staffers can take as many days off as they need for whatever reason.</p>
<p>“Employees are much more comfortable if they need to be out with a sick child or need to be at an appointment,” says Carol O’Kelley, CEO of Salesfusion, an Atlanta-based marketing software manufacturer that offers unlimited PTO. “That has relieved a lot of unnecessary pressure and burdens on employees and managers.”</p>
<p>With unlimited PTO, companies should still have policies that spell out when time off can be taken, how many people can be off at any time and the factors to decide who gets priority when there are multiple requests for the same days. Bosses can declare no-time-off periods for busy seasons, or if there’s a project that needs to be finished.</p>
<p>“If we have a major product release, vacation is less likely to be approved,” O’Kelley says.</p>
<p /> | Paid time off gains small-business adherents | false | https://abqjournal.com/1033788/paid-time-off-gains-smallbusiness-adherents.html | 2 |
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<p />
<p>American Express (NYSE:AXP) reported a 12% increase in its first-quarter earnings, as the credit card giant benefited from increased spending by its members.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>The company said Wednesday its profit climbed to $1.43 billion, or $1.33 a share, from $1.28 billion, or $1.15 a share, in the same period a year earlier. Revenue was up 4% at $8.2 billion.</p>
<p>Analysts projected earnings of $1.30 a share on revenue of $8.36 billion.</p>
<p>Increased consumer spending has lifted American Express in recent quarters, while credit indicators have remained near historic lows. In the latest period, card member spending rose 6% worldwide, or 7% when adjusted for foreign currency translations.</p>
<p>Total provisions for losses climbed 17% year-over-year to $485 million, reflecting a larger reserve release in the comparable quarter.</p>
<p>Expenses dropped 1% to $5.5 billion. A 4% decline in operating expenses was partially offset by higher rewards costs.</p>
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<p>“We are off to a good start to 2014, thanks to disciplined expense control, credit metrics near their historic low, higher revenues and a strong balance sheet that allows us to return a substantial amount of capital to shareholders,” chairman and CEO Kenneth I. Chenault said in a statement.</p>
<p>The New York-based said its U.S. card services generated revenue of $4.3 billion, up 5%. Domestic card member spending was up 7%. Net income grew 9% to $876 million.</p>
<p>International card services revenue climbed 3% to $1.4 billion, and the segment’s profit fell 11% to $159 million.</p>
<p>Shares of American Express slipped 1.5% to $86.10 in after-hours trading.</p> | AmEx Posts Mixed 1Q Results | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2014/04/16/american-express-reports-earnings.html | 2016-03-05 | 0 |
<p>PORTSMOUTH, N.H. (AP) — The Pease Development Authority and Conservation Law Foundation are closing in on a settlement in a lawsuit over polluted stormwater runoff.</p>
<p>The Portsmouth Herald <a href="http://www.seacoastonline.com/news/20180115/pease-water-pollution-lawsuit-near-settlement" type="external">reports</a> that a pre-trial conference was put on hold after a motion filed in federal court reported that both sides are now working a new draft of a document that "would memorialize settlement terms."</p>
<p>The Conservation Law Foundation filed a $100 million lawsuit alleging Pease International Tradeport and its Board of Directors violated the federal Clean Water Act by allowing stormwater runoff to pollute area waterways.</p>
<p>Both parties have asked the court for a 90-stay of the case to finalize an agreement, the terms of which are not disclosed.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Information from: Portsmouth Herald, <a href="http://www.seacoastonline.com" type="external">http://www.seacoastonline.com</a></p>
<p>PORTSMOUTH, N.H. (AP) — The Pease Development Authority and Conservation Law Foundation are closing in on a settlement in a lawsuit over polluted stormwater runoff.</p>
<p>The Portsmouth Herald <a href="http://www.seacoastonline.com/news/20180115/pease-water-pollution-lawsuit-near-settlement" type="external">reports</a> that a pre-trial conference was put on hold after a motion filed in federal court reported that both sides are now working a new draft of a document that "would memorialize settlement terms."</p>
<p>The Conservation Law Foundation filed a $100 million lawsuit alleging Pease International Tradeport and its Board of Directors violated the federal Clean Water Act by allowing stormwater runoff to pollute area waterways.</p>
<p>Both parties have asked the court for a 90-stay of the case to finalize an agreement, the terms of which are not disclosed.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Information from: Portsmouth Herald, <a href="http://www.seacoastonline.com" type="external">http://www.seacoastonline.com</a></p> | Parties closing in on settlement in Pease pollution lawsuit | false | https://apnews.com/amp/1cdd7424654644bf9bd7fdfbb6b1b090 | 2018-01-15 | 2 |
<p>Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl is choosing be tried by a judge — not a military jury — on charges that he endangered comrades by walking off his post in Afghanistan.</p>
<p>Bergdahl’s lawyers told the court in a filing last week that he’s choosing to have a trial by judge alone, rather than a panel of military members.</p>
<p>He faces charges of desertion and misbehavior before the enemy at his trial scheduled for late October.</p>
<p>Defense lawyers have questioned whether Bergdahl could have gotten a fair trial by a military jury because of negative comments made by President Donald Trump when he was campaigning.</p>
<p>Bergdahl is from Idaho. He walked off his post in Afghanistan in 2009 and was subsequently held by the Taliban and its allies for five years.</p> | Bergdahl Chooses to Have Trial Heard by Judge and Not Jury | false | https://newsline.com/bergdahl-chooses-to-have-trial-heard-by-judge-and-not-jury/ | 2017-08-21 | 1 |
<p>Crude futures eased further Friday after the International Energy Agency revised its historical demand figures lower, indicating oil supplies might not be as tight as previously thought.</p>
<p>U.S. crude futures fell 34 cents, or 0.7%, to $48.25 on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent, the global benchmark, fell 28 cents, or 0.54%, to $51.62 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>In its monthly report published Friday, the IEA said revisions to 2015 data saw it cut its global oil demand estimate by 330,000 barrels a day for 2015-2018. However, it said demand growth in 2017 was beating previous expectations.</p>
<p>"The main change is the historical revisions to past demand in non-OECD [countries], which makes the oil market less tight than the IEA expected before, although the demand increase in the second quarter was quite strong," Giovanni Staunovo, commodity analyst at UBS Group AG, said.</p>
<p>Analysts at Simmons &amp; Co. International echoed that.</p>
<p>"The IEA's balances do not inspire confidence in meaningful inventory draws," they wrote in a note Friday.</p>
<p>Oil prices sold off Thursday -- the U.S. benchmark briefly topped $50 a barrel but the gains weren't sustained.</p>
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<p>"That $50 level just seems like a massive brick wall," said Tariq Zahir, managing member of Tyche Capital Advisors.</p>
<p>Also weighing on the market was the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries report from Thursday, which said the cartel's July production rose 0.5% from June to 32.9 million barrels a day. That was mostly due to Libya and Nigeria, the two suppliers exempt from the production-curtailment pact. The cartel implemented production cuts starting January, with the aim of reducing global stocks.</p>
<p>The IEA said stockpiles in Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development countries fell by around 0.2 million barrels a day in the second quarter of 2017, but remained 219 million barrels above the five-year average.</p>
<p>It noted that OPEC members' compliance with the agreed cuts had slipped to 75%.</p>
<p>"If you assume that this July OPEC production figure will be maintained throughout the year, it means there will be no rebalancing in the second half of the year--global stocks would actually build by 40,000 barrels per day," said Tamas Varga, analyst at brokerage PVM.</p>
<p>Gasoline futures edged up 0.31% to $1.6077 a gallon. Diesel futures ticked down 0.12% to $1.6294 a gallon.</p>
<p>Alison Sider contributed to this article.</p>
<p>Write to Sarah McFarlane at [email protected] and Jenny W. Hsu at [email protected]</p>
<p>(END) Dow Jones Newswires</p>
<p>August 11, 2017 10:58 ET (14:58 GMT)</p> | Oil Falls After IEA Data Casts Shadow | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2017/08/11/oil-falls-after-iea-data-casts-shadow0.html | 2017-08-11 | 0 |
<p>Brazilian animal rescue organization <a href="http://www.quatropatinhas.com.br/4Patinhas/" type="external">Quatro Patinhas</a> (Four Paws) knows that most people looking for a pet in the area pass up the crowded, broke shelters to buy a new puppy at the pet store instead. To change the way customers look at shelter pets, the organization secretly swapped the very pricey pet store animals with rescues, who are free to adopt. After planting hidden cameras, they watched&#160;the magic unfold — and tried to somehow keep their eyes dry as the rescues walked away with new loving homes. [ <a href="https://www.thedodo.com/pet-store-replaces-pets-with-rescues-1118723269.html" type="external">The Dodo</a>]</p> | It’s Time To Cry: This Pet Store Secretly Replaced The Animals For Sale With Lovable Rescues | true | http://thefrisky.com/2015-05-01/its-time-to-cry-this-pet-store-secretly-replaced-the-animals-for-sale-with-lovable-rescues/?utm_source%3Dsc-fb%26utm_medium%3Dref%26utm_campaign%3Drescues | 2018-10-02 | 4 |
<p>On Thursday, Baltimore police officer&#160;Caesar Goodson Jr. was acquitted on charges of second-degree murder,&#160;manslaughter, second-degree assault, reckless endangerment, and misconduct in office. He was the third of six officers to stand trial, and so far,&#160; <a href="http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/freddie-gray/bs-md-ci-goodson-verdict-20160623-story.html" type="external">no one has been convicted for Freddie Gray’s death</a>. Goodson was driving the van Gray was transported in, where it’s believed he sustained the neck injury that led to his death in April 2015, and therefore faced the most serious charges, but Circuit Judge Barry Williams found him not guilty on all counts.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/23/us/baltimore-goodson-verdict-freddie-gray/index.html" type="external">Gray’s death spurred protests and riots</a> throughout Baltimore last year, helping ignite a nationwide conversation about police brutality toward people of color, but the criminal justice system hasn’t held a single officer responsible for the 25-year-old’s death. Because Goodson chose a bench trial over a trial by jury, Judge Williams got to decide his fate and found Goodson innocent of any wrong doing, despite the prosecution’s argument that the officer (who’s also black) gave Gray a “rough ride” in the van and intentionally put him in harm.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/local/baltimore-riots-recap/" type="external">Edward Nero was also acquitted</a> by Judge Williams last month, and&#160;William Porter’s trial ended in a mistrial due to a hung jury in December. Three other officers still face trials for Gray’s death, but if the same judge presides over them, they’re likely to walk.</p>
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<p>“The court finds <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/24/us/verdict-freddie-gray-caesar-goodson-baltimore.html" type="external">there is insufficient evidence</a> that the defendant gave or intended to give Mr. Gray a rough ride,” Judge Williams’&#160;ruling said. He also explained that no evidence proved Goodson intended for any crimes to take place when Gray was arrested and taken to the police precinct. Gray was arrested after fleeing from officers in a&#160;West Baltimore neighborhood and was put in the back of a police van with shackles and handcuffs on, but no seatbelt. He was found unresponsive with a bad spinal cord injury when the van finally arrived at the station and died the following week.</p>
<p>Goodson’s acquittal is a major blow to the Black Lives Matter movement that called for the officers to be held responsible for Gray’s death. Because Goodson faced a more serious charge of second-degree depraved heart murder (the technical term in Maryland) while the other officers were charged with manslaughter, second-degree assault, and reckless endangerment, his&#160;conviction would have set a stronger legal precedent that black lives do matter and law enforcement has to treat them accordingly.</p>
<p>For those who worked tirelessly to garner attention around the issue and celebrated when the six officers were actually charged with criminal offenses, it’s disappointing to watch as nothing comes of it.</p> | Officer Caesar Goodson Jr. Was Acquitted For Freddie Gray’s Death, And No One Has Been Held Responsible Yet | true | http://thefrisky.com/2016-06-23/officer-caesar-goodson-jr-was-acquitted-for-freddie-grays-death-and-no-one-has-been-held-responsible-yet/ | 2018-10-03 | 4 |
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<p>GUNNISON, Colo. — A western Colorado county in the heart of Gunnison sage grouse habitat took the first step toward suing the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for listing the bird as a threatened species, officials said Monday.</p>
<p>Gunnison County filed a formal notice of intent to sue, arguing the listing wasn’t necessary because the population is growing and local conservation efforts are working.</p>
<p>The notice, dated Dec. 22, is required by federal law before a lawsuit can be filed.</p>
<p>About 5,000 Gunnison grouse live in Colorado and Utah. The bird was listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act last month, which could result in restrictions on oil and gas drilling, agriculture and other land uses.</p>
<p>The chicken-sized bird is related to the more common greater sage grouse, which is at the center of a separate and larger debate over federal protection across 11 Western states.</p>
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<p>The states of Colorado and Utah and environmental groups also have notified the Fish and Wildlife Service that they intend to sue over the Gunnison grouse.</p>
<p>Colorado and Utah argued the listing was unnecessary and improper, while the environmental groups said the bird should have been given the more protective endangered status.</p>
<p>Such lawsuits are often filed after Endangered Species Act decisions.</p>
<p>Congress this month restricted spending on rules to protect both types of grouse. Federal officials said that could keep them from implementing protections for the greater sage grouse if they do designate the bird as threatened or endangered. The deadline for that decision is September.</p>
<p>The officials said the legislation does not reverse the threatened listing for the Gunnison grouse but could interfere with work on landowners’ exemptions from restrictions.</p> | Colorado county signals plan for sage grouse suit | false | https://abqjournal.com/518947/colorado-county-signals-plan-for-sage-grouse-suit.html | 2 |
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<p>Michael Crowley excerpts a portion of Bob Shrum’s memoir on <a href="http://www.tnr.com/blog/theplank?pid=110480" type="external">The Plank</a> today. Shrum, for those who have managed to keep their minds unpoisoned by the insanity of Washington’s consultant circles, is a man who has consulted for eight Democratic presidential candidates. All eight have lost. You might think after the fourth, fifth, or sixth loss Shrum would be out of work. You obviously don’t know anything about politics.</p>
<p>Shrum writes at length about his experience as a consultant for John Kerry’s 2004 campaign. Crowley highlights a disturbing passage about Time columnist and world class blowhard Joe Klein:</p>
<p>Klein himself was trying to play many parts. He was not only reporting on the campaign and preparing to write a book about consultants; he was also a constant critic and yet another sometime adviser. After the Kerry appearance at the Iowa Jefferson-Jackson Day dinner, he told [Kerry spokesman] David Wade: “Great speech, but it’s too late” — then turned around and stalked away. With Klein, it was almost always too late for us, in part because we didn’t always take his persistent advice. He would chastise Kerry on the phone when he didn’t like a speech, counseling both Kerry and me about what the candidate should say and what our strategy should be.</p>
<p>Okay, so it’s weird (and probably unethical) that a famous journalist who writes regularly about the presidential campaign is advising one of the candidates. But here’s something even more odd:</p>
<p>Rejecting [Klein’s] advice was uncomfortable for Kerry, who liked Joe, craved his approval, and worried what his columns would say when we didn’t take his recommendations.</p>
<p>Jesus! I’m not even angry that I supported a guy so insecure and unsure of his convictions that he considered how a egomaniacal columnist would evaluate his actions before he took them. I’m angry that I work in a profession where writers and their subjects become so intertwined that it affects the subjects’ behavior. How can one reasonably argue that it doesn’t affect the writers’ also?</p>
<p>I’m not one of the bloggers who criticizes journalists and their sources for running in the same social circles. I’ve always assumed that these people can separate their personal feelings and professional responsibilities. But if this is how journalism works inside the beltway, good heavens, count me out.</p>
<p /> | Joe Klein and John Kerry: Gross | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2007/05/joe-klein-and-john-kerry-gross/ | 2007-05-23 | 4 |
<p>RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) _ The winning numbers in Friday evening's drawing of the North Carolina Lottery's "Pick 4 Evening" game were:</p>
<p>8-5-8-7, Lucky Sum: 28</p>
<p>(eight, five, eight, seven; Lucky Sum: twenty-eight)</p>
<p>RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) _ The winning numbers in Friday evening's drawing of the North Carolina Lottery's "Pick 4 Evening" game were:</p>
<p>8-5-8-7, Lucky Sum: 28</p>
<p>(eight, five, eight, seven; Lucky Sum: twenty-eight)</p> | Winning numbers drawn in 'Pick 4 Evening' game | false | https://apnews.com/amp/ef71e97a524946b680fe762a34ffe483 | 2017-12-30 | 2 |
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<p>The finding is good news for the county, which is developing a pilot program to enroll all eligible inmates in Medicaid, he said.</p>
<p>The ultimate goal is to prevent inmates from returning to jail by enrolling them in medical, mental health and substance abuse services from the day they leave custody, Swisstack said.</p>
<p>"Fifty-eight percent of 1,748 is a large number," said Swisstack, referring to the total inmate population on June 18, the day the snapshot was taken. "It means the system is doing a pretty good job of enrolling people" in Medicaid, he said.</p>
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<p>Lawmakers this year approved a bill that allows the state Human Services Department to enroll jail and prison inmates in Medicaid while they are in custody. Gov. Susana Martinez signed it into law in April.</p>
<p>The law, which took effect July 1, also ended the practice of terminating Medicaid coverage when an inmate enters jail or prison.</p>
<p>Now, a person's Medicaid coverage is suspended during incarceration, and resumes the day of release.</p>
<p>As of Friday, 805,607 New Mexicans were enrolled in Medicaid, the state and federally funded medical insurance program for the poor.</p>
<p>A goal of the pilot program is to enroll inmates within three days after they are booked in jail, Swisstack said. MDC has identified 13 staff members to serve as case managers responsible for enrolling inmates and connecting them to services at the time of release, he said.</p>
<p>A key part of the program will be a closer working relationship between MDC and the four insurance companies that manage the state's Medicaid program, said Loretta Cordova, director of behavioral health services for Molina Healthcare.</p>
<p>Molina is one of four managed care organizations under contract to manage New Mexico's Centennial Care Medicaid program.</p>
<p>The others are Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Mexico, Presbyterian Health Plan and United Healthcare.</p>
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<p>Some inmates released from MDC will be assigned care coordinator by the insurance companies, Cordova said. Care coordinators are responsible for enrolling Medicaid clients in appropriate services, which could include medical and behavioral health care, dental and vision, Cordova said.</p>
<p>Care coordinators also are responsible for helping Medicaid patients navigate the health care system and ensuring they have transportation to appointments, she said.</p>
<p>The program is likely to bring additional Medicaid clients into the system and may require Molina to hire additional employees, she said.</p>
<p>"Our goal is for our members to get the right care at the right time at the right place," she said.</p>
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<p /> | County officials pleased by MDC Medicaid enrollment | false | https://abqjournal.com/615170/county-officials-pleased-by-mdc-medicaid-enrollment.html | 2 |
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<p>Thyssenkrupp AG (TKA.XE) on Monday said it received a large order for a new plant in Brunei from state-owned Brunei Fertilizer Industries.</p>
<p>The Germany-based engineering and steel company said the new complex will produce nitrogen fertilizer using Brunei's large natural gas reserves and forms part of the country's efforts to diversify its economy.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>The plant will have a daily production capacity of 2,200 tons of ammonia and 3,900 tons of urea, Thyssenkrupp said, adding that it is scheduled to be completed in 2021.</p>
<p>"This major order will further strengthen our market position and growth in the Asia-Pacific region," said Peter Feldhaus, chief executive of Thyssenkrupp's Industrial Solutions.</p>
<p>Write to Max Bernhard at [email protected]</p>
<p>(END) Dow Jones Newswires</p>
<p>August 28, 2017 05:18 ET (09:18 GMT)</p> | Thyssenkrupp Wins Order for Fertilizer Plant in Brunei | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2017/08/28/thyssenkrupp-wins-order-for-fertilizer-plant-in-brunei.html | 2017-08-28 | 0 |
<p>This vehicle looks like a preview of the one liners in&#160;Obama’s upcoming speech to a Joint Session of Congress.</p>
<p>Thanks to commenter Stark who writes:</p>
<p>I figured you’d get a kick out this one. This is one of the finer examples of what not to do to your car. I live in Cape Canaveral but I saw this in Cocoa Beach, FL.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal" /></p>
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<p>Update:&#160; Stark mentioned in the comments that part of the photo was cut out. I cropped it so it would fit better in the post, and at top is what was cropped out:</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal" /></p> | Obama’s Speech to a Joint Session of Bumper Stickers | true | http://legalinsurrection.com/2011/09/obamas-speech-to-a-joint-session-of-bumper-stickers/ | 2011-09-06 | 0 |
<p>Away in a manger, no bun or a spread, The little Lord Sausage, rolled in his sweet bread!</p>
<p>The U.K. bakery chain Greggs has come under heavy fire from Christians for replacing the baby Jesus with a sausage roll on their Christmas 2017 Advent calendar.</p>
<p>According to <a href="http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/15660326.Greggs_says__sorry__after_Advent_calendar_launch_replaces_baby_Jesus_with_sausage_roll/" type="external">The Northern Echo</a>, the company releases an Advent calender each year where they invite fellow Britons to enjoy a different "sweet and savoury" treat each day as they countdown to Christmas. "Each door reveals a tear-off token that can be taken into Greggs’ shops and exchanged for items from the Christmas and wider menu, including the Festive Bake, flavoured lattes, sweet mince pie and a sausage roll," reports the outlet.</p>
<p>Some of the images provided in the Advent calendar were just harmless Christmas fun, like the one of Santa with pastry flakes sprinkled on his snowy beard, but it was the image of the three wise men away in a manger as they all bowed in reverence of their newly delivered "sausage king" that set off some Christians.</p>
<p>Simon Richards, CEO of the libertarian pressure group Freedom Association, called Greggs "cowards" for the calendar and demanded people protest.</p>
<p>"Please boycott @GreggsOfficial to protest against its sick anti-Christian Advent Calendar," he tweeted. "What cowards these people are: we all know that they would never dare insult other religions! They should donate every penny of their profits to @salvationarmyuk."</p>
<p>Rev. Mark Edwards of St Matthew's Church in Dinnington and St Cuthbert's Church in Brunswick called the calendar "disrespectful" of Christmas. "It goes beyond just commercialism, it's showing a total disregard and disrespect towards one of the greatest stories ever told, and I think people of all faiths will be offended by this," he said.</p>
<p>A Catholic priest in Ireland became so incensed by the ad as an indictment of how far commercialization of the sacred holiday has become that he called on the faithful to stop saying "Christmas" altogether.</p>
<p>"We've lost Christmas, just like we lost Easter, and should abandon the word completely," he told the <a href="https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/northern-ireland-priest-says-church-should-abandon-word-christmas-36327677.html" type="external">Belfast Telegraph</a>. "We need to let it go, it's already been hijacked and we just need to recognize and accept that."</p>
<p>Feeling the heat, Greggs has since apologized for the calendar, saying they meant no offense.</p>
<p>"We’re really sorry to have caused any offence, this was never our intention," said a Greggs spokeswoman.</p> | UK Bakery Chain Replaces Jesus With Sausage Roll; Outrage Ensues | true | https://dailywire.com/news/23788/uk-bakery-chain-replaces-jesus-sausage-roll-paul-bois | 2017-11-20 | 0 |
<p>LIMA, Peru (AP) — Mourners carried a coffin holding a 61-year-old farmer through the streets of a southern Peru port city Thursday after the man became the first fatality of a monthlong protest against a Mexican-owned copper mining project.</p>
<p>Agriculture Minister Juan Manuel Benites, the chief government negotiator in the dispute, said the widening protest against the Tia Maria project put at risk Peru’s reputation as a top foreign investment destination.</p>
<p>Farmer Victoriano Huayna was killed Wednesday and 12 other protesters were wounded when police opened fire on a demonstration, authorities said.</p>
<p>A forensic exam determined a bullet killed Huayna, said a local doctor who agreed to reveal the information only if not quoted by name for reasons of personal security. The other 12 were wounded by shotgun pellets, local health director Walter Vera said. He said six were hospitalized and six treated and released.</p>
<p>A police statement said 11 officers were injured during the protest and added that officers had orders not to use lethal force.</p>
<p>Mine opponents marched with Huayna’s coffin in the city of Mollendo, some carrying green banners reading: “Farming, yes. Mine, no.”</p>
<p>Farmers and local leaders fear the $1.3 billion Tia Maria open-pit mine will contaminate irrigation water in the rice farming-rich Tambo valley on Peru’s desert coast. Thousands have mobilized against the project, which is owned by Southern Peru Copper Corp., a subsidiary of Grupo Mexico.</p>
<p>Southern calls the crop damage fears unfounded, saying it plans to use desalinated Pacific Ocean water to process the copper and then pipe the water back into the ocean.</p>
<p>Benites, the agriculture minister, told RPP radio that the Tia Maria conflict puts “at risk not just a single mining project but Peru’s reputation as a country that can attract responsible investment.”</p>
<p>President Ollanta Humala’s government has pushed hard for Tia Maria, which would yield 10,000 tons of copper daily over 18 years. Its environmental impact plan was approved last year.</p>
<p>The Andean nation depends on mining for 62 percent of its export earnings, and Peru’s leaders have offered region-leading incentives over the past two decades to attract investment. The country is now the world’s No. 3 copper producer and No. 5 in gold.</p>
<p>Total investment in mining last year in Peru amounted to $8.6 billion, according to official figures.</p>
<p>But Peru’s poorest tend to live in the shadow of its biggest mines, and contamination fears fuel protests. In 2011, three farmers were killed during protests against Tia Maria. Another major mining project stalled since 2011 is Conga, majority owned by U.S.-based Newmont Mining Co. Police killed five people in 2012 during protests against that open-pit gold project.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Associated Press writer Frank Bajak contributed to this report.</p>
<p>LIMA, Peru (AP) — Mourners carried a coffin holding a 61-year-old farmer through the streets of a southern Peru port city Thursday after the man became the first fatality of a monthlong protest against a Mexican-owned copper mining project.</p>
<p>Agriculture Minister Juan Manuel Benites, the chief government negotiator in the dispute, said the widening protest against the Tia Maria project put at risk Peru’s reputation as a top foreign investment destination.</p>
<p>Farmer Victoriano Huayna was killed Wednesday and 12 other protesters were wounded when police opened fire on a demonstration, authorities said.</p>
<p>A forensic exam determined a bullet killed Huayna, said a local doctor who agreed to reveal the information only if not quoted by name for reasons of personal security. The other 12 were wounded by shotgun pellets, local health director Walter Vera said. He said six were hospitalized and six treated and released.</p>
<p>A police statement said 11 officers were injured during the protest and added that officers had orders not to use lethal force.</p>
<p>Mine opponents marched with Huayna’s coffin in the city of Mollendo, some carrying green banners reading: “Farming, yes. Mine, no.”</p>
<p>Farmers and local leaders fear the $1.3 billion Tia Maria open-pit mine will contaminate irrigation water in the rice farming-rich Tambo valley on Peru’s desert coast. Thousands have mobilized against the project, which is owned by Southern Peru Copper Corp., a subsidiary of Grupo Mexico.</p>
<p>Southern calls the crop damage fears unfounded, saying it plans to use desalinated Pacific Ocean water to process the copper and then pipe the water back into the ocean.</p>
<p>Benites, the agriculture minister, told RPP radio that the Tia Maria conflict puts “at risk not just a single mining project but Peru’s reputation as a country that can attract responsible investment.”</p>
<p>President Ollanta Humala’s government has pushed hard for Tia Maria, which would yield 10,000 tons of copper daily over 18 years. Its environmental impact plan was approved last year.</p>
<p>The Andean nation depends on mining for 62 percent of its export earnings, and Peru’s leaders have offered region-leading incentives over the past two decades to attract investment. The country is now the world’s No. 3 copper producer and No. 5 in gold.</p>
<p>Total investment in mining last year in Peru amounted to $8.6 billion, according to official figures.</p>
<p>But Peru’s poorest tend to live in the shadow of its biggest mines, and contamination fears fuel protests. In 2011, three farmers were killed during protests against Tia Maria. Another major mining project stalled since 2011 is Conga, majority owned by U.S.-based Newmont Mining Co. Police killed five people in 2012 during protests against that open-pit gold project.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Associated Press writer Frank Bajak contributed to this report.</p> | Month-long protest over Peru copper mine claims first life | false | https://apnews.com/d9c4f858750c42b6bf05b3221eee1046 | 2015-04-23 | 2 |
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<p>Economists disagree on many things, but one thing you’ll find a near-consensus on is the idea that President Obama’s frequent use of a teleprompter is slowly destroying the American economy. Because of President Obama’s frequent reliance on the teleprompter, credit agencies have warned that the United States’ AAA credit rating could soon be downgraded, causing Americans’ interest rates to soar. Unemployment, meanwhile, is stuck at upwards of 9 percent—again, because of President Obama’s repeated use of the teleprompter.</p>
<p>There are few issues more critical to the nation’s well-being, which is why we’re happy to report that Rep.&#160;Michele Bachmann&#160;(R-Minn.) has promised to ban teleprompters from the&#160;Whiten House if she’s elected president. Via <a href="http://blogs.citypages.com/blotter/2011/07/president_obachmann_video.php" type="external">Gregory Pratt</a>:</p>
<p>“I know you’re not used to seeing a president without Teleprompters,” she told an Iowa crowd. “But I’m just here to tell you President O’Bach — President Bachmann will not have teleprompters in the White House.”</p>
<p>Oof. Maybe those teleprompters wouldn’t be such a bad investment after all.</p>
<p>WATCH:</p>
<p />
<p /> | Bachmann Vows to Ban Teleprompters From White House | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2011/07/michele-bachmann-vows-ban-teleprompters-white-house/ | 2011-07-27 | 4 |
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<p>Imagine that a legally-elected body representing an entire country passes a law. Then the legally-elected leader of that country signs it, and for 20 years individuals, courts, businesses and other entities dutifully follow “the law of the land.”</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Then it is suddenly struck down.</p>
<p>What happens to the people who were affected by this law for the past two decades? What about the companies and people who obeyed this law when it was in effect? Can they be sued today? Is there a statute of limitations? What is it?</p>
<p>We’re probably going to find out before the end of the year.</p>
<p>In June, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the case of U.S. v. Windsor that the federal definition of “marriage” was unconstitutional. The court said, in essence, that restricting “marriage” to the legal union of a man and a woman violated the Constitution. This set in motion a flood of lower-court case filings by same-sex couples,(1) and decisions are starting to come out.</p>
<p>The case of O’Connor v. Tobits examined the question of who was entitled to inherit the retirement account of a same-sex spouse.&#160;Sarah Farley and Jean Tobits were legally married in Canada, which recognizes same-sex marriage, and repeated the ceremony in Illinois, where they were living when Sarah died of cancer in 2010. Illinois is among the 13 jurisdictions (12 states plus the District of Columbia) that recognize same-sex marriage. Sarah had named Jean as her spouse beneficiary on her company profit-sharing plan.</p>
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<p>According to attorney Michelle Ward, a partner in the tax advisory firm Keebler and Associates, under ERISA, the federal law that governs this type of retirement plan, when an employee with an account in the plan dies, “benefits must be paid to the surviving spouse unless she or he signs a waiver.”(2)</p>
<p>In an additional twist to this case, Sarah's parents alleged that their daughter had had a change of heart of who should get her benefits: The day before she died, she supposedly signed a Change of Beneficiary form directing that her parents receive her retirement assets instead of Jean.</p>
<p>Sarah’s employer filed a motion with the court to decide who should receive her account.</p>
<p>Although the authenticity of the Change of Beneficiary form was questioned, “That wasn’t the issue,” says Ward. Jean had never waived her spousal right to Sarah’s account; without this, ERISA prohibits retirement assets from going to anyone other than a spouse. The case came down to whether Jean was, in fact, Sarah’s legal spouse.</p>
<p>The U.S. District Court for Eastern Pennsylvania ruled yes, stating: "Windsor makes it clear that where a state has recognized a marriage as valid, the United States Constitution requires that the federal laws and regulations of this country acknowledge that marriage."</p>
<p>Although this case has been settled, it raises additional questions. For instance, what if Jean and Sarah were married in Illinois, but at the time of Sarah’s death, were living in a state that does not recognize same-sex marriages? Would this have changed the outcome?</p>
<p>Or, suppose an individual in a same-sex marriage died in 2009, before the recent Supreme Court decision. Based upon the federal definition of marriage in effect at the time, the retirement plan would not have been required to recognize his partner as his “spouse.” If there is no valid spouse, then ERISA specifies that assets in the decedent’s retirement plan must be paid to his/her parents.</p>
<p>In the wake of the Windsor decision, could the spouse of the decedent in such a case retroactively file suit against the parents demanding that they turn over the money? What if they spent it? What if they have also passed away? What is the statute of limitations?</p>
<p>Until we have answers to these questions, Ward recommends that same-sex couples review the beneficiary designations on all retirement plans, IRAs, annuities, etc.</p>
<p>Also note that for each partner to be considered a “spouse” under federal law, Windsor specifically states that, for purposes of federal law, the couple must have been legally married in a jurisdiction that recognizes same-sex unions.</p>
<p>Coming Up Next week: Strategies an individual in a same-sex couple should consider regarding filing their federal income tax return.</p>
<p>1. For purposes of federal law, the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) defined “marriage” as the legal union of a man and a woman. This was declared unconstitutional in the case of U.S. v. Windsor on the ground that it violated both the equal protection and due process principles embodied in the Fifth Amendment.</p>
<p>2. Under ERISA, in order to qualify as a “spouse,” you have to be married to the individual who owns the retirement account (a.k.a. the “Participant”) for at least one year.</p> | Same-Sex Marriage Cases Now Hitting State Courts: Who Inherits Your 401(k)? | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2013/08/26/same-sex-marriage-cases-now-hitting-state-courts-who-inherits-your-401k.html | 2016-03-06 | 0 |
<p>Photo by &lt;a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/gageskidmore/6148672539/sizes/m/in/photostream/"&gt;Gage Skidmore&lt;/a&gt;/Photoshop by Kate Sheppard</p>
<p>If you didn’t catch&#160; <a href="http://minnesota.publicradio.org/features/npr.php?id=160357612" type="external">Mitt Romney’s acceptance speech</a> at the Republican National Convention on Thursday night, you really missed an amazing snapshot of how he’ll treat environmental issues as president: as a laugh line.</p>
<p>Here’s the line from his speech last night. The stage directions are mine:</p>
<p>President Obama promised to begin to slow the rise of the oceans … (Pause for effect, look of mild, mocking amusement on your face. Audience will chuckle here.)</p>
<p>And heal the planet. (Another pause for comedic effect.)</p>
<p>My promise (Pause) is to help you and your family. (Cheers.)</p>
<p>And here’s the video:</p>
<p />
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<p>Did you get the joke? It’s hilarious that President Obama cares about climate change and promised to do something about it. Mitt Romney will totally not give a crap about that at all, aren’t you glad?</p>
<p>The Gulf Coast is, of course, just starting to recover after <a href="" type="internal">yet another major storm</a> hit earlier this week. Climate change <a href="" type="internal">makes bad storms worse</a>, and higher sea levels—due to both thermal expansion and the melting of the polar ice caps—also makes <a href="" type="internal">storm surge</a> and the resulting flooding way worse, too. And Mitt Romney <a href="http://nationaljournal.com/2012-presidential-campaign/romney-changes-plans-to-visit-new-orleans-20120831" type="external">adjusted his schedule</a> to go to New Orleans on Friday to check out the damage. I’m sure everyone there will finds his remarks really funny.</p> | Climate Change Is a Great Punchline, Mitt | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2012/08/climate-change-great-punchline-mitt/ | 2012-08-31 | 4 |
<p>The Dow Jones Transportation Average plunged Thursday toward its worst day in 13 months, with all 20 components contributing to losses. The index dropped 327 points, or 3.5%, the biggest point and percentage declines since it tumbled 351 points, or 4.6%, on June 24, 2016. The biggest decliner on Thursday was transport management company Landstar System Inc.'s stock which shed 7.9% after reporting a second-quarter profit that were in line with analyst expectations, but came as recent share strength suggested "heightened" investor expectations, according to KeyBanc Capital analyst Todd Fowler. Provider of marine transport products Kirby Corp. reported late Wednesday earnings that matched the FactSet consensus but revenue that missed, sending the stock down 5.6%. And United Parcel Service Inc. shares slid 4.3% after the company beat profit and sales expectations, but provided a somewhat downbeat earnings outlook. The Dow transports' selloff come in contrast to the rise in the Dow Jones Industrial Average , which tacked on 19 points.</p>
<p>Copyright © 2017 MarketWatch, Inc.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p> | Dow Transports Tumble Toward Biggest Selloff In Over a Year | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/07/27/dow-transports-tumble-toward-biggest-selloff-in-over-year.html | 2017-07-27 | 0 |
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<p>Top prosecutors from several U.S. states are looking to bolster relationships with their counterparts in Mexico to tackle a rise in human trafficking and money laundering.</p>
<p>New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas says drug running and weapons smuggling continue to be dangers along the border, but organized crime is becoming more sophisticated and is seeing higher profits from human trafficking.</p>
<p>Balderas joined attorneys general from Arizona, Colorado, Utah, Rhode Island and Kansas for a special gathering in Mexico City last week. A grant from the U.S. Department of Justice funded the visit.</p>
<p>The focus was on improving the sharing of information among law enforcement agencies on both sides of the border as well as more training for prosecutors.</p>
<p>Balderas says Mexico will be a critical partner in the effort.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | Prosecutors hone in on human trafficking, money laundering | false | https://abqjournal.com/662135/prosecutors-hone-in-on-human-trafficking-money-laundering.html | 2 |
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<p>By Edward Krudy</p>
<p>NEW YORK (Reuters) - The S&amp;P 500's 200-day moving average is the line in the sand as the bulls and the bears fight over the U.S. stock market's direction. It will face one of its stiffest tests next week with Greece's debt crisis appearing to reach a climax.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>After setting its closing high for the year on April 29, the S&amp;P 500 has lost 7 percent. <a href="" type="internal">Wall Street</a> typically defines a drop of 10 percent or more from a recent peak as a correction.</p>
<p>The benchmark S&amp;P 500 hit its lowest point right on its 200-day moving average in volatile trading on Thursday. The index then rallied 1 percent from that session low to close on Friday at 1,271.50. It also scored its first weekly gain in the last seven weeks.</p>
<p>At Friday's close, the S&amp;P 500's 200-day moving average was around 1,259. If the level holds, it could be a springboard for stocks to rally.</p>
<p>"We seemed to have bounced off that level of concern that people were watching," said David Joy, chief market strategist at <a href="" type="internal">Ameriprise Financial</a>, where he helps oversee $571 billion in assets. "At least for now, that is a little bit of evidence that these problems are solvable and markets could move higher."</p>
<p>The <a href="" type="internal">Nasdaq</a>, which often leads market moves, has not fared so well, and that is a worry to investors. It has closed below its 200-day moving average and kept falling on Friday when other indexes stabilized. It ended the week down 1 percent. From its 2011 closing high on April 29, the Nasdaq has tumbled nearly 9 percent -- getting close to a correction.</p>
<p>Bond markets remain anxious about a Greek default.</p>
<p>Most economists are overwhelmingly skeptical that Greece can ever repay its mountain of debt, which has reached 340 billion euros -- or 150 percent of the country's annual economic output.</p>
<p>Reuters' calculations using 5-year credit default swap prices from Markit show an 81 percent probability of Greece eventually defaulting, based on a 40 percent recovery rate.</p>
<p>SOME SAY IT'S TIME TO BUY</p>
<p>But for now, it seems stock investors are sanguine. They believe the <a href="" type="internal">European Union</a> will rescue Greece without major disruption to markets and are using the drop in equity prices as a buying opportunity.</p>
<p>Bob Doll, chief equity strategist at <a href="" type="internal">BlackRock</a>, says he has been using the pullback to reduce his underweight in cyclical stocks such as a <a href="" type="internal">Alcoa</a> Inc , <a href="" type="internal">Applied Materials</a> , and <a href="" type="internal">International Paper</a> .</p>
<p>He has also been cutting his overweight in defensive areas such as healthcare, trimming positions in stocks like United Health and <a href="" type="internal">Aetna</a> .</p>
<p>Doll believes the S&amp;P 500 will rally to 1,350 by the end of the year.</p>
<p>"We're going to find Band-Aids and we're going to muddle through these credit problems," Doll said. "The consequences of not following that route could be pretty dire, and I think the interested vested parties are going to step up."</p>
<p>BlackRock is one of the world's largest money managers with $1.56 trillion in equity assets under management. Doll is also lead portfolio manager of BlackRock's Large Cap Series Funds and advises on $317 billion that is actively managed.</p>
<p>TUNING IN TO <a href="" type="internal">THE FED</a></p>
<p>A slew of data showing the United States is on the verge of a slowdown has already done its damage to the market. After the heavy selling of the past several weeks, it seems investors are taking a wait-and-see approach -- for now.</p>
<p>Joy is waiting until after the summer before making big moves.</p>
<p>"There is so much uncertainty that it is probably not wise to make big long bets, but I think that opportunity may well arise toward Labor Day," he said.</p>
<p>In the meantime, any sign that fears may have been overblown could spur a rally. The final reading on U.S. gross domestic product for the first quarter is forecast to come in at an annualized growth rate of 1.9 percent -- slightly higher than the first two estimates. But investors will be on the lookout for a surprise.</p>
<p>"People are not expecting a lot from GDP so should it come a little better than expected, you could see a pretty decent rally," said King Lip, chief investment officer of Baker Avenue Asset Management in San Francisco.</p>
<p>Some analysts attribute much of the market's turmoil to the end of the Federal Reserve's asset-purchase program, known as quantitative easing, or QE2. That will come to a close at the end of the month.</p>
<p>Investors will be looking to Chairman <a href="" type="internal">Ben Bernanke</a> to reassure markets after the Fed's two-day meeting ends on Wednesday.</p>
<p>"What investors are really looking for is not a QE3 but a QE2.5, where (the Fed) continues to reinvest the coupons they get from the bonds they purchased," Lip said. "If that's the case, investors will look well on that."</p>
<p>"If the economy is slowing as much as people are thinking, should there be more risk to second-quarter earnings? That's a real question we have to ask," Doll said. "There is risk of complacency -- no question."</p>
<p>(Reporting by Edward Krudy; Additional reporting by Angela Moon and Rodrigo Campos; Editing by Jan Paschal)</p>
<p>Advertisement</p> | Wall Street Week Ahead: Line drawn in stocks' battle | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2011/06/18/wall-street-week-ahead-line-drawn-in-stocks-battle.html | 2016-01-29 | 0 |
<p>In order to increase the global dominance and “lethality” of the US military, the Air Force is moving to modernize its space capabilities and to secure the “freedom to attack and maneuver” in their new “warfighting domain,” top officials have stated.</p>
<p>“We are moving forward with modernization in space, so we’re increasing our lethality in all of our areas of endeavor,” Air Force Secretary Heather A. Wilson told reporters Thursday. “And we are shifting to space as a warfighting domain.”</p>
<p>In 1967, the United States and the Soviet Union signed the Outer Space Treaty which prohibits signatories from placing nuclear weapons or any other weapons of mass destruction in outer space. The accord, however, stopped short of limiting the deployment of conventional weapons.</p>
<p>Wilson said Congress has proposed to increase the funding of space-related military programs even beyond the levels sought by the Air Force. Section 1605 of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2018 also classifies space as a potential “combat domain.”</p>
<p>Read more</p>
<p><a href="https://www.rt.com/usa/409510-space-corps-ndaa-air-force/" type="external" /></p>
<p>“It is the policy of the United States to develop, produce, field, and maintain an integrated system of assets in response to the increasingly contested nature of the space operating domain to [among other things] deter or deny an attack on capabilities at every level of orbit in space,” as well as to “defend the territory of the United States, its allies, and its deployed forces across all operating domains,” Section 1605 <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/2810/text" type="external">reads</a>.&#160;</p>
<p>“Everyone agrees that space needs to be integrated, normalized as a part of a joint warfighting effort. This year’s budget… The FY18 budget proposal increases what the Air Force is proposing to spend on space by 20 percent,” Wilson added.</p>
<p>Defense Secretary James Mattis has made modernizing America’s capabilities in space one of his priorities in his efforts to make US Air Force “more lethal every day.” He earlier <a href="https://www.defense.gov/News/Article/Article/1318291/mattis-dod-lines-of-effort-include-building-a-more-lethal-force/" type="external">called</a> on Congress to pass the NDAA so the Pentagon can “invest in critical warfighting capabilities, including in space.”</p>
<p>“Secretary Mattis has been very clear in his guidance to all the services that we are to go look at how do we increase lethality and readiness,” Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David L. Goldfein, sitting next to Wilson, told reporters. “The nation expects its Air Force to own the high ground, the ultimate high ground and achieve space superiority which is like air superiority – freedom to attack and freedom to maneuver.”</p>
<p>Most of America’s space strategy is coordinated from the National Space Defense Center (NSDC) at Schriever Air Force Base in Colorado. Its experts are already devising potential space fighting scenarios.</p>
<p>“We do our best as a department when we follow a logic trail that actually goes from a threat, to eventually, an acquisition. And the steps are no different for space. Access the threat. From the threat, you define a strategy. From the strategy, you define a concept of operations, or what we call Conops… From those Conops you derive requirements, and then from those requirements you then acquire,” Goldfein said. “The Secretary and I also spent an entire day with all the four and three-star leadership of the Air Force, doing a full-day tabletop exercise on warfighting in space. So we are moving forward.”</p>
<p>Read more</p>
<p><a href="https://www.rt.com/op-edge/209027-outer-space-arms-un-resolution/" type="external" /></p>
<p>Wilson announced that the Air Force awarded a $100 million contract to the Space Enterprise Consortium last week. Under the <a href="https://www.defense.gov/News/Contracts/Contract-View/Article/1361386/" type="external">agreement</a>, the South Carolina firm is to work on prototypes for the Department of Defense for broad “space-related technologies,” such as “ground segment, launch segment, space segment, software and processes.”</p>
<p>“The most important thing is to integrate and normalize space, as part of a joint operation. The US Air Force has about 70 percent of what is in space, and my authorities are to organize, train and equip airspace forces for the conduct of combat operations when they go to the combatant commander,” Wilson said.</p>
<p>“And as we transition from a benign domain from which we monitor and report to a warfighting domain, this is a significant shift that we are leading as we go forward,” Goldfein added. “And so, as the Secretary said, normalizing space as a warfighting domain means we integrate all those capabilities, tried and true principles of joint war fighting in this domain as we go forward.”</p> | ‘Increasing lethality in all areas’: US Air Force declares space a new ‘warfighting domain’ | false | https://newsline.com/increasing-lethality-in-all-areas-us-air-force-declares-space-a-new-warfighting-domain/ | 2017-11-11 | 1 |
<p>BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Former Catalan president Artur Mas announced Tuesday he is resigning as head of his regional pro-independence party, saying he wants to clear the way for a new generation of leaders pushing for secession from Spain.</p>
<p>Pro-independence parties including Mas’ PdeCat won the most seats — 70 out of 135 — in the Catalan parliamentary election in December. Mas said that result was “very good” and brought a new phase in the secession drive.</p>
<p>“(We need to ) clear the way for new people to lead a project for the future” in Catalonia, Mas, 61, told a news conference.</p>
<p>Mas was Catalan president between 2010 and 2016 before stepping aside, handpicking Carles Puigdemont as his successor. Puigdemont became the independence movement’s leader but is currently a fugitive in Belgium.</p>
<p>Differences between the two have grown since Puigdemont led separatist lawmakers in unilaterally declaring Catalan independence from Spain on Oct. 27. Spain responded by sacking Puigdemont and his government, dissolved the local parliament and called a new election Dec. 21.</p>
<p>Puigdemont fled to Brussels to avoid a judicial investigation into suspicions of rebellion by him and his Catalan government for pressing ahead with the independence bid. However, Puigdemont is demanding to be re-instated as Catalan president and continuing with his independence drive after his strong election showing.</p>
<p>Mas has argued that the secessionists need to win broader support before moving on with the secession effort.</p>
<p>Mas also cited legal reasons for his decision to quit.</p>
<p>Mas was last year banned from holding public office for two years after being found guilty of disobeying Spain’s Constitutional Court by holding a mock Catalan independence referendum in 2014. His party and its members are also bracing for court rulings later this month into corruption allegations.</p>
<p>BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Former Catalan president Artur Mas announced Tuesday he is resigning as head of his regional pro-independence party, saying he wants to clear the way for a new generation of leaders pushing for secession from Spain.</p>
<p>Pro-independence parties including Mas’ PdeCat won the most seats — 70 out of 135 — in the Catalan parliamentary election in December. Mas said that result was “very good” and brought a new phase in the secession drive.</p>
<p>“(We need to ) clear the way for new people to lead a project for the future” in Catalonia, Mas, 61, told a news conference.</p>
<p>Mas was Catalan president between 2010 and 2016 before stepping aside, handpicking Carles Puigdemont as his successor. Puigdemont became the independence movement’s leader but is currently a fugitive in Belgium.</p>
<p>Differences between the two have grown since Puigdemont led separatist lawmakers in unilaterally declaring Catalan independence from Spain on Oct. 27. Spain responded by sacking Puigdemont and his government, dissolved the local parliament and called a new election Dec. 21.</p>
<p>Puigdemont fled to Brussels to avoid a judicial investigation into suspicions of rebellion by him and his Catalan government for pressing ahead with the independence bid. However, Puigdemont is demanding to be re-instated as Catalan president and continuing with his independence drive after his strong election showing.</p>
<p>Mas has argued that the secessionists need to win broader support before moving on with the secession effort.</p>
<p>Mas also cited legal reasons for his decision to quit.</p>
<p>Mas was last year banned from holding public office for two years after being found guilty of disobeying Spain’s Constitutional Court by holding a mock Catalan independence referendum in 2014. His party and its members are also bracing for court rulings later this month into corruption allegations.</p> | Ex-Catalan leader Mas quits as pro-independence party chief | false | https://apnews.com/14a500f37ce84f28b5c9e860289e8a4f | 2018-01-09 | 2 |
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<p>“I want to tie Tim (Madigan) and win three in a row,” says two-time defending champion Patrick Beyhan, who tees off at 11:48 a.m. today. “That’s the goal.”</p>
<p>“I want to keep Pat from getting a three-peat,” says Sam Saunders, who plays in the same group. “I finally broke through with a win last week, and the goal is to win another this week.”</p>
<p>Patrick Beyhan, hitting in last year’s tourney at Los Altos, is seeking his third win in a row. (Greg Sorber/Albuquerque Journal)</p>
<p>Come fall, Beyhan will be a senior at New Mexico State and Saunders a senior at the University of New Mexico. They have had some epic battles over the years – against each other and as teammates at La Cueva High School, from where they graduated in 2010. Both used redshirt seasons in college, giving them a final run at NCAA fame in the coming season, and they could be two of the nation’s best.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>But this weekend, it’s about being Albuquerque’s best.</p>
<p>The 54-hole event moves to Arroyo del Oso for Saturday’s second round and concludes Sunday at Los Altos.</p>
<p>“I know he’s been playing well, and he knows I’ve have been playing well,” said Beyhan, who had three top-10 finishes, including winning the Western Athletic Conference tournament individual title, this past season in college.</p>
<p>Saunders – like Beyhan – has qualified for the Public Links Amateur National Championship in Newton, Kan., later this month, and last week snapped a string of runner-up finishes by winning the New Mexico-West Texas Amateur at The Canyon Club.</p>
<p>The Sun Country Golf Association reports that Sam and older brother Steve are the only siblings to ever win the New Mexico-West Texas event. Steve also won the city meet in 2006, giving Sam a chance to put both Saunders names on that trophy, as well.</p>
<p>“Winning last week gets me over that hump of all those second-place finishes,” said Sam Saunders, who finished second in the New Mexico-West Texas Am two straight years and was second in the city event in two of the past three years. “You always tell yourself you think you can win, but it’s a big difference when you finally do win.”</p>
<p>When Saunders and Beyhan were teammates at La Cueva High, they helped the Bears to state titles in 2008 and 2010. Saunders won the 5A individual title in 2009, and Beyhan won the crown in 2010.</p>
<p>Last year, Beyhan set the City Championship record at 23 under – breaking the mark of 22 under set by Steve Saunders in 2006.</p>
<p>But before Beyhan and Sam Saunders can make it a mano a mano affair Sunday, they will have to distance themselves from a strong field that includes three-time champ Tim With, Hope Christian’s state 1-3A champion Sean Carlon – who also is qualified for National Publinx – James Lee, Jason Myers and Justin Knauber.</p>
<p>Rio Rancho’s Madigan, who won in 2008-10, is the most recent player to win three in a row. Ray Cragun has the record with five straight from 1972-76.</p>
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<p /> | Strong field set for 73rd Albuquerque Men’s City Amateur | false | https://abqjournal.com/424922/strong-field-set-for-73rd-mens-city-amateur.html | 2 |
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<p>The package meant the car came with a 6.2-liter V-8 gasoline engine delivering a maximum 426 horsepower and 420 pound-feet of torque. That was bad enough. But the folks at General Motors, maker of all things Chevrolet, loaded this one with enough bait to attract all but the most inattentive of traffic police.</p>
<p>The car’s super-sleek body was painted what GM’s designers call “summit white” – a brilliant finish that alone would have given the Camaro SS a needed touch of innocence. But that would have betrayed the bad-boy DNA of the high-performance Camaro SS.</p>
<p>So the designers fixed it with a matte-black hood, a black rear air spoiler and 20-inch-diameter, 10-spoke forged-aluminum wheels painted black. Behind those black spokes were flaming-red Brembo brake calipers.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>The car, well, “looks mean” – that’s how many spectators described it. And that wasn’t all. The Camaro SS had four chrome-tipped exhaust outlets that emitted a high-decibel “varrrooommm, pop-pop-pop!” in second or third gear.</p>
<p>“Why is that thing so loud?” asked my wife, Mary Anne, while we were staying in Cornwall. “I could hear you coming all the way up the hill!”</p>
<p>I wasn’t trying to be a bad actor. Aware of the naturally boisterous, raucous, police-taunting demeanor of the Camaro SS with the black-and-white 1LE performance package, I was trying to play it cool, deliberately keeping the car within 10 mph of all posted speed limits, running mostly in third and fourth gear.</p>
<p>Other motorists, as even Mary Anne noted, were “running all over” me, zooming ahead at 75, 85 and 90 mph.</p>
<p>At an average speed around 70 mph on the New Jersey Turnpike, still in violation territory, I was being outrun by much faster traffic. No law enforcement officer bothered to stop me.</p>
<p>I figured I could lag behind the high-speed leaders ticket-free until I reached home in Northern Virginia, where I vowed to park and forget the Camaro SS.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal" />No such luck. My comeuppance came at the behest of a Baltimore County traffic officer who cited me for moving 80 mph in a 55-mph zone. I told him that I was accelerating at 75 mph, trying to evade yet another tailgater. He wasn’t buying it.</p>
<p>I graciously accepted the $160 speeding ticket, apologized to the officer and thanked him for his service. I drove off – “varrrooommm, pop, pop, pop!” Smiling, I said to myself: “It doesn’t matter … it was preordained.”</p>
<p /> | TICKET MAGNET: There’s no attempt made to disguise Chevrolet Camaro SS’ bad-boy DNA | false | https://abqjournal.com/468889/ticket-magnet-theres-no-attempt-made-to-disguise-chevrolet-camaro-ss-bad-boy-dna.html | 2 |
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<p>Capt. Aric Wheeler said police have a weapon and DNA evidence that links Martinez, 53, to Boyer’s home in the 1100 block of West Alameda. He would not share details of the evidence.</p>
<p>Two men with criminal records who face charges in Martinez’s death, including Martinez’s brother, are now persons of interest in Boyer’s death, Wheeler said.</p>
<p>Police speculated since early in the case that Boyer, 34, a screen printer and digital design artist, was likely shot when he interrupted someone in the middle of a burglary on Feb. 23.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Boyer lived a few blocks away from Torreon Park, where Martinez’s body was found March 12.</p>
<p>Suspicion in Martinez’s death quickly focused on his brother, Felix Martinez, 42, and their acquaintance, Sam Leyba, 43. A subsequent search of Leyba’s home turned up several suspected stolen items from area burglaries.</p>
<p>Police previously declined to make a connection between the two deaths, but Wheeler said evidence processed at the state crime laboratory provided a link.</p>
<p>“DNA evidence links (David Martinez) to the Boyer residence,” Wheeler said. “Obviously, he can’t give us a statement.”</p>
<p>But that does not mean police are pinning Boyer’s death on the late David Martinez.</p>
<p>Wheeler said Friday that Leyba and Felix Martinez are persons of interest in the Boyer case. Wheeler said further investigation would include comparing evidence in the Boyer murder to DNA taken from the two men.</p>
<p>There are no other persons of interest or suspects in the Boyer homicide, Wheeler said.</p>
<p>“We’re not looking for outstanding individuals involved in this case,” Wheeler said. “…. Are we looking for an armed and dangerous subject? Not really.”</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Felix Martinez has been charged with the murder of his brother and with tampering with evidence. He was released from Santa Fe County jail June 6. He posted a $50,000 surety bond and was placed on electronic monitoring, online court records indicate.</p>
<p>Leyba is being held in the Santa Fe County jail. He faces two cases in state District Court for a felony tampering with evidence charge and four charges of receiving stolen property. He was initially also charged with murder, but the murder charge dropped off as the case moved up from magistrate court to district court.</p>
<p>Leyba has a criminal record that includes two misdemeanor convictions for domestic violence, but no felonies. Wheeler said in March that David Martinez had a lengthy criminal records in other states.</p>
<p>Felix Martinez reportedly told police he acted in self-defense by shooting his brother during an argument when it looked as though David Martinez was reaching for a gun.</p>
<p>Leyba told police that on March 11 at his home on Ephriam Street, he and the Martinez brothers were drinking shots of alcohol and he went into his bedroom to watch TV. He said he heard the Martinez brothers arguing and dishes shattering, so he told them to stop destroying his property, and David Martinez left.</p>
<p>Police found a bullet hole in the glass and screen of a window on the south side of Leyba home. Police reports suggest David Martinez was shot in the chest and his body was dumped in Torreon Park by his brother and Leyba, who used a dolly to transport him.</p>
<p>Boyer ran his own business, worked as an art director for Licked Magazine and worked as screen printer and instructor at the Warehouse 21 teen arts center.</p> | Police: Clues Link 2 Killings | false | https://abqjournal.com/117098/police-clues-link-2-killings.html | 2012-07-07 | 2 |
<p>Global stock and commodity prices continue to drop, as the threat of a long recession looms. Fear casts a shadow that threatens the viability of democratic capitalism and threatens a wholesale breakdown of the economy into a depression.</p>
<p>Conventional mortgages and business loans remain scarce, four million homeowners face foreclosure by 2010, and plummeting demand for goods and services throughout the economy is destroying more than 100,000 jobs a month. Construction and manufacturing jobs are disappearing at an alarming pace.</p>
<p>Bank bailout efforts by the Treasury, Federal Reserve and their counterparts abroad are failing because those address symptoms not the systemic ills that caused credit crisis. While global investors and traders may not articulate their fears in such esoteric terms, failure to address systemic problems are driving down corporate sales and profits and destroying stocks values.</p>
<p>At the banks, the national officials have provided liquidity, injected equity and guaranteed over night and other short-term borrowing. However, large money center banks simply are not interested in using the massive funds provided them to make sound loans to consumers and businesses on the scale needed to get the economy going. These money center banks are no longer interested in providing liquidity to regional banks by bundling their loans into bonds for sale to insurance companies, pension funds and other fixed income investors that sit on vast pools of capital.</p>
<p>The bonus systems and compensations structures at large banks permit executives to earn much larger sums doing other things—engineering mergers, currency and derivatives trading and the like. Money center banks have become part of larger financial conglomerates over the last 25 years. These are run by executives that believe they should be able earn millions of dollars each year doing deals and creating exotic securities rather than by making loans and providing helping smaller banks raise needed funds.</p>
<p>The compensation restrictions put in place by Treasury when it injected capital into the largest banks only apply to a few top officers and are easily circumvented. They simply change little in what is wrong with executive incentives at the large money center banks.</p>
<p>Beyond that, demand for goods and services in the United States and Europe are being driven down by the undervalued currencies and massive purchases of dollars and euros by China, oil exporters like Saudi Arabia, and other emerging economies. Their huge trade surpluses translate into trade deficits in the United States and Europe and the need for massive borrowing to keep up demand for goods and services in western economies. That caused the housing bubble and over borrowing in the first place, and without a policy to realign currencies to redress trade imbalances, we simply can’t get beyond the current credit crisis without ruinous government deficits, reckless consumer borrowing and indenturing our children to foreign creditors.</p>
<p>Congress is talking about another stimulus package but tax rebates would only give the economy a temporary lift. As we saw last spring and summer, those gave consumption a boost that slipped back after a few months. That gave GDP growth a sugar high late in the second quarter and helped growth from slipping too much in the third quarter. Now, flagging construction and retail sales are taking the economy into an abyss.</p>
<p>The best purpose for another stimulus package would be to help get the economy through the first half of next year while the Treasury and Federal Reserve take even more assertive steps to straighten out the banks and address other structural problems such as the trade deficit, energy development and inadequate public facilities.</p>
<p>Infrastructure spending that fired up projects already in the pipeline would leave a more lasting legacy than facilitating a few more restaurant meals and trips to the mall. Such spending would also have a greater multiplier effect on GDP than tax rebates as it would result in fewer imports.</p>
<p>In parallel, we need aggressive programs to straighten out management at money center banks, assertive steps to correct currency misalignments with China and other countries with huge trade surpluses, and efforts to reduce oil imports through reduced gasoline consumptions and investments in both conventional and alternative energy sources and conservation. The latter includes incentives to build more hybrid automobiles quickly, more offshore drilling and onshore natural gas development, investments in nonconventional energy projects, and more energy efficient buildings.</p>
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<p><a href="" type="internal">Your Ad Here</a> &#160;</p>
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<p>&#160;</p> | Strategies to End the Crisis | true | https://counterpunch.org/2008/10/23/strategies-to-end-the-crisis/ | 2008-10-23 | 4 |
<p>Office Depot, Inc. (ODP) will report its next earnings on Feb 08 BMO. The company reported the earnings of $0.14/Share in the last quarter where the estimated EPS by analysts was $0.13/share. The difference between the expected and actual EPS was $0.01/share, which represents an Earnings surprise of 7.7%. Many analysts are providing their Estimated […]</p> | Analysts Showing Optimistic Trends For Office Depot, Inc. (ODP) | false | https://newsline.com/analysts-showing-optimistic-trends-for-office-depot-inc-odp/ | 2018-01-09 | 1 |
<p>After headlining two movies that debuted on the fall festival circuit — “Suburbicon” and “Downsizing” — <a href="http://variety.com/t/matt-damon/" type="external">Matt Damon</a> has found a new project. He’s set to star as John R. Brinkley, a real-life 20th century doctor who conned his patients into thinking that he had discovered the cure to impotence, in the drama “ <a href="http://variety.com/t/charlatan/" type="external">Charlatan</a>,” Variety has learned.</p>
<p>The movie marks another collaboration for Damon as a producer with <a href="http://variety.com/2016/film/features/manchester-by-the-sea-producer-kimberly-steward-1201746301/" type="external">Kimberly Steward</a>, who worked together behind-the-camera on the Oscar-winning drama “Manchester by the Sea.” Steward’s company K Period Media, which she launched in 2013 with a mandate to tell <a href="http://variety.com/2017/film/news/k-period-media-to-produce-gay-conversion-therapy-drama-exclusive-1202391100/" type="external">edgy stories</a>, will co-produce the movie with Damon’s Pearl Street Films alongside Jennifer Todd.</p>
<p>The independent film is based on a best-selling 2008 non-fiction book, “Charlatan: America’s Most Dangerous Huckster, the Man Who Pursued Him, and the Age of Flimflam,” by Pope Brock. The screenplay will be adapted by the writing team of Brian Koppelman and David Levien (“Ocean’s Thirteen,” Showtime’s “Billions”).</p>
<p>Brinkley started up a clinic in Kansas in 1918 with the promise of restoring male virility (among curing other ailments) using a quack surgery involving the implantation of goat testicles. The scheme quickly made him rich, until he was accused in court of the deaths of several of his patients from botched procedures.</p>
<p>WME negotiated the deal and will handle the worldwide sale of the film.</p> | Matt Damon to Star as Con-Man Doctor in ‘Charlatan’ (EXCLUSIVE) | false | https://newsline.com/matt-damon-to-star-as-con-man-doctor-in-charlatan-exclusive/ | 2017-09-19 | 1 |
<p>Kei Nishikori is pulling out of the Australian Open because his right wrist is not fully recovered enough from a torn tendon to withstand the rigor of best-of-five-set matches at a Grand Slam tournament.</p>
<p>Nishikori's agent, Olivier van Lindonk, announced the 2014 U.S. Open runner-up's withdrawal in an email Wednesday.</p>
<p>The Australian Open, the first Grand Slam tournament of the new season, begins Jan. 15.</p>
<p>Nishikori has been sidelined since August because of his wrist. That kept him out of the U.S. Open, snapping a streak of appearing in 21 consecutive major tournaments.</p>
<p>Now he will miss his second major in a row.</p>
<p>"The Aussie Open is my favorite Slam," Nishikori said, via his agent.</p>
<p>Nishikori added: "My rehab is going well but I am just not ready 100 percent to come back yet in best of 5 set matches."</p>
<p>He is one of several top men dealing with injuries at the moment - and he might not be the last to decide he can't play at the Australian Open.</p>
<p>Earlier Wednesday, Novak Djokovic posted a statement on his website saying he is still not sure whether he will enter the field at Melbourne, where he has won six of his 12 major championships.</p>
<p>Djokovic hasn't competed anywhere since July because of an injured right elbow. He will test his elbow at two exhibition events in Australia next week before figuring out whether to go to the Australian Open.</p>
<p>No. 1-ranked Rafael Nadal, the runner-up to Roger Federer at the Australian Open last year, withdrew from this week's Brisbane International tuneup tournament because of a bothersome right knee. Nadal won the French Open and U.S. Open in 2017 to raise his major count to 16.</p>
<p>And three-time major champion Andy Murray also pulled out of the Brisbane International because of a bad hip and might opt to have surgery. Like Djokovic, he last competed at Wimbledon, nearly six months ago.</p>
<p>Nishikori, out nearly as long, has been a top-10 player and was the first man from Japan to reach a major final when he made it that far at the U.S. Open in 2014, losing the title match to Marin Cilic.</p>
<p>Nishikori also reached the semifinals at Flushing Meadows in 2016.</p>
<p>He plans to return to competition at lower-tier Challenge events in Newport Beach, California, beginning Jan. 22, and at Dallas a week later.</p>
<p>The first ATP tournament on Nishikori's schedule as of now is next month's New York Open.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Follow Howard Fendrich on Twitter at <a href="http://twitter.com/HowardFendrich" type="external">http://twitter.com/HowardFendrich</a></p>
<p>___</p>
<p>More AP tennis coverage: <a href="" type="internal">https://apnews.com/tag/apf-Tennis</a></p>
<p>Kei Nishikori is pulling out of the Australian Open because his right wrist is not fully recovered enough from a torn tendon to withstand the rigor of best-of-five-set matches at a Grand Slam tournament.</p>
<p>Nishikori's agent, Olivier van Lindonk, announced the 2014 U.S. Open runner-up's withdrawal in an email Wednesday.</p>
<p>The Australian Open, the first Grand Slam tournament of the new season, begins Jan. 15.</p>
<p>Nishikori has been sidelined since August because of his wrist. That kept him out of the U.S. Open, snapping a streak of appearing in 21 consecutive major tournaments.</p>
<p>Now he will miss his second major in a row.</p>
<p>"The Aussie Open is my favorite Slam," Nishikori said, via his agent.</p>
<p>Nishikori added: "My rehab is going well but I am just not ready 100 percent to come back yet in best of 5 set matches."</p>
<p>He is one of several top men dealing with injuries at the moment - and he might not be the last to decide he can't play at the Australian Open.</p>
<p>Earlier Wednesday, Novak Djokovic posted a statement on his website saying he is still not sure whether he will enter the field at Melbourne, where he has won six of his 12 major championships.</p>
<p>Djokovic hasn't competed anywhere since July because of an injured right elbow. He will test his elbow at two exhibition events in Australia next week before figuring out whether to go to the Australian Open.</p>
<p>No. 1-ranked Rafael Nadal, the runner-up to Roger Federer at the Australian Open last year, withdrew from this week's Brisbane International tuneup tournament because of a bothersome right knee. Nadal won the French Open and U.S. Open in 2017 to raise his major count to 16.</p>
<p>And three-time major champion Andy Murray also pulled out of the Brisbane International because of a bad hip and might opt to have surgery. Like Djokovic, he last competed at Wimbledon, nearly six months ago.</p>
<p>Nishikori, out nearly as long, has been a top-10 player and was the first man from Japan to reach a major final when he made it that far at the U.S. Open in 2014, losing the title match to Marin Cilic.</p>
<p>Nishikori also reached the semifinals at Flushing Meadows in 2016.</p>
<p>He plans to return to competition at lower-tier Challenge events in Newport Beach, California, beginning Jan. 22, and at Dallas a week later.</p>
<p>The first ATP tournament on Nishikori's schedule as of now is next month's New York Open.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Follow Howard Fendrich on Twitter at <a href="http://twitter.com/HowardFendrich" type="external">http://twitter.com/HowardFendrich</a></p>
<p>___</p>
<p>More AP tennis coverage: <a href="" type="internal">https://apnews.com/tag/apf-Tennis</a></p> | Kei Nishikori out of Australian Open because wrist not ready | false | https://apnews.com/amp/952fd7a9e6c1495ab3ae44f555521438 | 2018-01-03 | 2 |
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<p>“To look out at this kind of creation and not believe in God is to me impossible,” Glenn told reporters in 1998, just after returning from his final trip to space at age 77. “It just strengthens my faith.”</p>
<p>On his spaceflights, he said, he prayed every day. On solid ground, he was a devout Presbyterian who attended National Presbyterian Church in Washington while he was in the U.S. Congress.</p>
<p>As the first American to orbit the Earth, Glenn was an example to those who came after him not just for his bravery and scientific acumen but also for his faith, Mark Shelhamer said Thursday.</p>
<p>“John Glenn is always used as that paradigmatic example of somebody who had a strong faith before becoming an astronaut, and for him it was reinforced by his experience in space,” said Shelhamer, a Johns Hopkins University medical professor who recently served as the chief scientist for human research at NASA’s Johnson Space Center.</p>
<p>There have been many astronauts who followed Glenn who found their experiences in space to be singular moments that deepened their faith in God. James Irwin came back from walking on the moon convinced that he should dedicate his life to his religion and founded the evangelizing High Flight Foundation. He died in 1991 at the age of 61.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Buzz Aldrin, who was an elder at his Presbyterian church, decided as one of his first acts during man’s first landing on the moon to serve himself Communion. “In the one-sixth gravity of the moon, the wine slowly curled and gracefully came up the side of the cup,” he said later, describing the moment.</p>
<p>“You will hear this from astronauts not infrequently – that they have felt the kind of oneness of humanity,” Shelhamer said.</p>
<p>In an interview last year, Glenn advocated for lessons on evolution in public schools. He told the Associated Press, “I don’t see that I’m any less religious by the fact that I can appreciate the fact that science just records that we change with evolution and time, and that’s a fact. It doesn’t mean it’s less wondrous and it doesn’t mean that there can’t be some power greater than any of us that has been behind and is behind whatever is going on.”</p>
<p>Science and faith could coexist at the very highest levels, he insisted – just as they had in his life.</p>
<p>glenn-faith</p> | In space, John Glenn saw the face of God: ‘It just strengthens my faith’ | false | https://abqjournal.com/905846/in-space-john-glenn-saw-the-face-of-god-it-just-strengthens-my-faith.html | 2 |
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<p>Instead, we reined in runaway spending. We prioritized. We didn’t simply cut across the board. And we worked to make government more efficient.</p>
<p>While legislators and I don’t always see eye-to-eye, we recognize our mutual responsibility to find solutions to difficult challenges. We must pay our bills, work to grow the economy and create jobs and strive each day to act as good stewards of taxpayer dollars.</p>
<p>We have seen some encouraging signs in New Mexico’s economy, such as booming business development on our southern border, exploding growth of foreign exports from New Mexico companies, and major companies once again considering making our state their home.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>I recently returned from Washington, D.C., where the discussion was dominated by sequestration and the overall dysfunction that has plagued the federal government.</p>
<p>Congress struck a deal with the president at the end of 2012 to avoid the “fiscal cliff” but instead were left with across-the-board cuts beginning this month. This reduction will take effect over the next decade and will total $1.2 trillion in cuts applied to both defense and discretionary spending.</p>
<p>Instead of dealing with Washington’s spending addiction, the plan is to enact broad cuts with little to no flexibility to set priorities. If Congress and President Obama could identify $85 billion in targeted cuts in a 3.6 trillion dollar budget, they would offset the sequester this year. That means cutting less than three cents out of each federal dollar spent by the government.</p>
<p>Most Americans have had to tighten their budget by more than 3 percent in these difficult economic times. Why can’t the federal government do the same?</p>
<p>Unfortunately, these across-the-board defense cuts disproportionately hurt New Mexico. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the federal government spent $28 billion in our state in 2010. That constitutes one third of New Mexico’s gross domestic product. We are a sparsely populated state with two national laboratories, three Air Force bases and White Sands Missile Range. The cuts we face could cost New Mexico 20,000 jobs.</p>
<p>Given what’s at stake, it is very troubling that the president did not meet with congressional leaders until the day the sequestration cuts were to take effect. Imagine if I refused to meet with our legislative leaders in Santa Fe about the budget until the day the session was concluding. It is downright shameful those elected to serve their constituents have failed so miserably.</p>
<p>As New Mexicans, we must put aside partisan differences and fight to protect ourselves from these indiscriminate federal cuts. I met with the National Nuclear Security Administration while in Washington to discuss funding for the critical missions undertaken by our labs, and my staff has met dozens of times with the agency’s leaders since I took office.</p>
<p>Our congressional delegation and I have met on various issues and we’re committed to working together. It’s good for New Mexico that former Republican Rep. Heather Wilson was appointed to the NNSA committee, just as it is beneficial for our state that Democratic Sen. Tom Udall has been appointed to the U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations where he will have increased influence on our nation’s finances.</p>
<p>New Mexico faces serious challenges. Our reliance on federal spending and the likelihood of further federal budget cuts makes recovering from the national recession more difficult.</p>
<p>We will continue to fight tooth-and-nail to protect our labs and bases. But we have to also recognize that Washington is showing no signs of changing its troubled ways, so we must seize this opportunity here at home, demonstrate leadership and continue to work together toward diversifying our state’s economy in order to insulate us from the gridlock in our nation’s capital.</p> | N.M. will fight for labs, bases | false | https://abqjournal.com/177582/nm-will-fight-for-labs-bases.html | 2013-03-13 | 2 |
<p>Joke:</p>
<p>Q: What’s the hardest part of being a child molester?</p>
<p>A: Getting the blood out of your clown suit.</p>
<p>Mr. St. Clair of this paper recently supplied me with <a href="" type="internal">a list of sex crimes</a> committed by prominent conservative Republicans. The list originated on Wikipedia, and he found it here, probably while surfing the Internet for Lolita pictures.</p>
<p>It is replete with cross-references and is genuine. Mr. St. Clair, being high on dope, thought I would find the list interesting. He probably did not think I would read the entire thing aloud to my co-workers at the Philistine Worker’s Daily, to heartbreaking cries of horror and implorations that I stop before their minds were so tainted they were rendered unfit for wedlock. I now bring you a mere sample of the list of crimes, all of them heinous, so that you might begin to see a pattern among them. I know I did. (A similar and more comprehensive list, including crimes can be found at the <a href="http://www.dkosopedia.com/wiki/Examples_of_Republican_hypocrisy_on_moral_values" type="external">web address</a> It will make your hair curl, uncurl, crawl under the sofa, and die.) You can’t make this shit up.</p>
<p>My subject is the so-called conservative male, by which I mean the social conservative, not the fiscal conservative; fiscal conservatives are mean-spirited sons of bitches, but are not necessarily psychotic. Both groups should stop breathing, but while one of them would be performing a courtesy in so doing, the other would be securing the future of the species. The depravity of the conservative male is in exact counter-proportion to the degree of righteousness towards which that conservative pretends. Or to put it another way, show me a pillar and I will show you a pervert. These are not healthy people. They repress the thoughts and feelings that the rest of us let drift unheeded into the ether, raising little more reaction from the well mind than ‘where the hell did that come from?’ I spent years driving my kid to school on a route (the shortest route, you swine) that took us past a Catholic high school. Every morning, swarms of teen girls in plaid kilties, knee socks, and white oxford shirts –a costume second only to the French Maid in terms of prurient association– could be seen on the school lawn, methodically rolling up the waistbands of their skirts to reveal as much thigh as possible before Morning Mass.</p>
<p>Did I harbor unclean thoughts as I drove past? Hell yes. Did I suppress these thoughts, ashamed lest God or offspring should glimpse them like a subscription-only cable channel through the slightly protuberant windows of my eyes? No, I did not. Why? Because they were just thoughts. I knew I would never dally with these young plaid-girt she-scholars, having no real desire to do so, nor access to a supply of GHB. The same cannot be said for conservative males. They are ravening sex fiends on a hair-trigger, doomed to act out their polluted fantasies because thought and deed are the same to them. (There’s something else wrong with conservative females, a subject I will not treat here. Mainly because they don’t seem to get caught as often as the males. I deal in facts, not speculation.)</p>
<p>Crushing to extinction our inner reptile response to stimuli of any kind, whether it is fear, hunger, or erotic desire (I can’t actually think of any other stimuli), is impossible. We are nothing more than ambulatory sacks of glandular secretion. Nature has decreed that life must replicate itself; it has no other innate purpose. One of the strategies for self-replication involves a thing we scientists like to call ‘urges’. That’s when a male gets a boner, for example. Organisms that attempt to suppress these urges quickly go mad and behave like Auntie Mildred’s Pomeranian, humping the vicar’s shoe until beaten senseless with a rolled newspaper. In contrast to this aberrant-suppressive approach to urges, the ‘normal’ response (that is, the response that is most efficient and least interruptive to an organism’s survival-oriented behaviors, such as holding down a day job or eating termites) is to allow such urges to pass. They are, after all, just urges. They do not exist.</p>
<p>I often have an urge to blacken my face with burnt cork and sing Mammy at the intersection of Wilmington and El Segundo in Compton, just to see what will happen. But I do not act on the urge. I allow the urge to come and go, just as I allow the palm trees to sway, the infinity pool to sparkle, and the polo ground to exhale dewy mist in the morning when I step out onto the balcony of the chateau. Things go on within us and without us, unbidden and unremarked-upon. To imagine one can control either one is madness. Could I cut the trees down, to make them still? Drain the pool? Pave the lawns? Yes, I could, overlooking certain zoning restrictions. But why would I? Somewhere there will be a swaying palm tree. It is inevitable that a person seeking such absolute control over the involuntary universe, whether it is inside his head or outside his French doors, will go insane. An urge is just like the swaying of a tree. It is only what it is, and harmless. An urge that is acted upon is no longer an urge. It is an action. Not harmless.</p>
<p>The real trouble comes when a human attempts to utterly quash a pervasive urge, such as the urge to mate, past the built-in tolerances of the organism to deny such behaviors. Your basic conservative male (Ann Coulter, for example) is a boiling cesspool of repressed urges. They see liberal types and imagine we are all fucking and sucking in some vast, sweaty daisy chain, just around the corner so they can’t see it happening. They think we’re all smoking pot and jamming cocaine-floured dildos up each other’s asses and listening to Negro Music. The conservative imagines all this, and immediately has to stuff these imaginings down in a dark inner place, because even imagining them is verboten. They are repressed, they are half-insane with paranoid delusions about what normal, open-minded people are getting up to-and most of all, they’re jealous as hell they weren’t invited to participate, if only so they could self-righteously say ‘no’. Liberals, meanwhile, are not necessarily getting laid any more than conservatives (probably we are, though), but we experience without judgment the passing fancies that occur to us, rather than dwelling upon them, half-nauseated, half-aroused, until they become detailed fantasy scenarios that beg to be put into action, presumably on someone too young to be familiar with the concept of sexual predators.</p>
<p>I have often posited in the past that most serious conservative males are latent homosexuals. They are tormented, according to this thesis, by knob-gobbling hobgoblins that were awakened during some fetishistic hazing ceremony back at the fraternity and have since been locked up in an inner love dungeon where they metamorphosed into demons of dingle-dandling depravity that would make even the most debased patrons of such establishments as The Manhole and the White Swallow (tragically defunct gay bars in Chicago) blench with horror. But this theory does a disservice to homosexuals. I reject the premise. Conservative males are not latent homosexuals, they are common perverts. It’s the tendency towards penny loafers and Georgian Revival that got me confused.</p>
<p>Homosexuality is, contrary to right-wing hate-think, not particularly unusual or unnatural in the natural world. Many species, particularly when there is some kind of population pressure (overgrazing, for example, or living in a Hassidic neighborhood) exhibit a rise in homosexual behavior that remains consistent in individuals throughout their lives. There is a famous example involving herds of bison, the details of which I have forgotten but I think there was a whole band of young bulls that ended up making their own slipcovers. Homosexuals that are open about their sexual identity are healthy and normal. They’re just healthy and normal in a revolting way if you’re not homosexual. The same thing could be said about corporate lawyers or the Swiss. Homosexuals that cannot accept what they are, do generally become right-wing cranks, and sometimes get caught testing the waters in the ole swimming hole, as it were. It can be said that all latent homosexuals are conservative, but all conservatives are not latent homosexuals. The ones in the latter category are dangerous freaks.</p>
<p>See, a conservative is somebody threatened by the quality of being different. As in: different race, gender, income bracket, ethnicity, religion, nationality, sexual inclination, language, philosophy, educational background, lifestyle, wardrobe, age group, taste in music, drugs, or literature, different ideas, spending patterns, abilities, politics, friends, entertainments, and hairstyle. Threatened by all of those things, usually. Conservatives are xenophobic to a degree that normal people cannot imagine. To be homosexual is to be not just different, but way different; this is intolerable, and leads many otherwise useful human beings into conservativism, hence the latency. But the latter category of conservative, the sexual deviant (it seems to me based upon my extremely well-reasoned examination of the above list), is the one that causes all the trouble, and should not be conflated with the homosexual. Queers (males, anyway) are born that way, like southpaws and redheads. On the other hand, sexual deviancy (as psychologists never tire of reminding us) is not inherited, but learned.</p>
<p>It’s always someone older. An adult gets at a child, teaches him or her the Way of the Willy, and slinks off into the night. Or the child is told again and again by an authoritarian parent full of bile and Bible that sex is dirty, that Jesus died a virgin, that sexual thoughts or feelings are the Devil turning the crank on your personal erector set. If Uncle Gerald made you play hide-the-salami every night for ten years, or if you feel erotic urges of any kind, you are not, these tragic youngsters learn, like normal people. You are –wait for it– different. Not only different, but exposed to ridicule, calumny, obloquy, and probably (assuming these conservatives actually believe the Biblical vitriol they’re forever spewing, which I am inclined to doubt) eligible for the Eternal Burning Torments Of Hell. Voila! A conservative perv is born: one that will eventually succumb to nasty deviant behaviors, unable to keep the lid on those early traumatic experiences, like Laocoön wrestling with his snakes and little boys.</p>
<p>If God is watching, why do these crackpots keep on buggering youngsters cross-eyed? Surely their bitter old God frowns on that as much as homosexuality, if not more so, and in many New England states it’s also illegal. If God can tell they’re thinking something off-color while driving past the Catholic school (the one that was on the shortest route to my kid’s school, for example), surely He can tell they’re plundering some press-ganged juvenile bottom in the cloakroom of the local ministry? I cannot say what logic supports this behavior. It is hypocrisy of the basest kind, certainly. It may be that the alpha-conservatives convince themselves it’s the children’s fault, for dressing up in those sexy terrycloth pyjamas with feet. Or maybe they are so drunk with power they imagine what they do isn’t wrong, channeling God’s authority first-hand, teaching the little naughties a valuable lesson.</p>
<p>But I think it comes down to conflating urges and actions, in the end (or ‘actions in the end’, if you prefer). These conservatives have spent their lives denying themselves and others various things: they deny themselves the mustachioed sailor of their dreams, and they deny black people basic civil rights. They deny themselves a furtive glance at an early-period Britney Spears video, and they deny women the right to reproductive freedom. The conservative doesn’t understand that an urge is only an urge, nothing more, and doesn’t understand that people who are different are not a threat to them personally, nor to their house-of-cards moral apparatus. They live in terror of being perceived to be different, of succumbing to their urges, and that terror, amalgamated with those simmering, repressed urges, manifests itself at last in vile, deviant behavior that strikes out at the world, wounding its most defenseless citizens and creating in the process a new generation of secret guilt and shame and fear of being different. I guess. Who knows. Maybe conservatives are just born fucked up in the head.</p>
<p>But a list like the one excerpted above is certainly thought-provoking. It reveals in miniature a pattern of behavior that can be found in people of all stripes and inclinations. There are plenty of liberal sex criminals, too, and deviants in every walk of life. The thing that is so repulsive about social conservatives (other than everything) is that they make it the central point of their lives to decry this stuff, calling down blood and thunder against such abomination, and then they do it. They abhor abortion because it is murder, and then they kill abortion providers on their doorsteps. They rant and rave about the dangers of gay marriage, and then they get caught gnawing on some 9th-grader’s weenie. The conservative male is a creature that wants to destroy everything that is different, everything that threatens to tickle an urge into a full-blown offense. He wants to create a world where there is no temptation, no opportunity that could incite his inner monster to erupt and embarrass him at some schoolgirl’s expense. It is of course insanity. I would almost pity the conservative male, except he’s destroying mankind and the world –the real world– in order to keep his imaginary world in order. He wants nothing more than absolute oppression of us sinners, libertines, and free thinkers, imagining in his feverish, gristly mind that if he oppresses us, he can somehow repress himself.</p>
<p>BEN TRIPP, author of <a href="http://books.lulu.com/content/86922" type="external">Square in the Nuts</a>, is a hack in many mediums. He may be reached at <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a>.</p>
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<p>&#160;</p> | The Socially Conservative Male | true | https://counterpunch.org/2006/10/01/the-socially-conservative-male/ | 2006-10-01 | 4 |
<p>After a year of haggling (and not much to show for it), the Screen Actors Guild has agreed to a two-year contract with the major studios. SAG President Alan Rosenberg dismissed the deal as "devastatingly unsatisfactory." So dramatic.</p>
<p>BBC:</p>
<p>The SAG said the deal raised actors' minimum pay by 3% as part of a $105m package of improvements.</p>
<p>But there appeared to be no significant pay increase for internet appearances - a key sticking point in the talks.</p>
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<p><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/8092484.stm" type="external">Read more</a></p> | Actors Reach 'Devastatingly Unsatisfactory' Agreement with Studios | true | https://truthdig.com/articles/actors-reach-devastatingly-unsatisfactory-agreement-with-studios/ | 2009-06-10 | 4 |
<p>Congress: Keeping balloon Hello Kitty alive since 2013.&lt;a href="http://www.shutterstock.com/gallery-80276p1.html?cr=00&amp;pl=edit-00"&gt;gary718&lt;/a&gt;/Shutterstock</p>
<p />
<p>The world is <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/why-the-world-is-running-out-of-helium-2059357.html" type="external">facing a helium crisis</a>. Helium is a finite and rapidly diminishing resource, one we could run out of in the next 25 years. And here we’ve been blowing up giant Snoopy balloons and making ourselves sound like pre-pubescent boys for all these years.</p>
<p>The shortage is causing helium prices to, well, <a href="http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/77ae69d6-3945-11e2-8881-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2K9VrW3Fi" type="external">balloon</a>. And apparently it’s <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/why-the-world-is-running-out-of-helium-2059357.html" type="external">all Congress’ fault</a>:</p>
<p>Scientists have warned that the world’s most commonly used inert gas is being depleted at an astonishing rate because of a law passed in the United States in 1996 which has effectively made helium too cheap to recycle.</p>
<p>The law stipulates that the US National Helium Reserve, which is kept in a disused underground gas field near Amarillo, Texas – by far the biggest store of helium in the world – must all be sold off by 2015, irrespective of the market price.</p>
<p>But now the House of Representatives—in a rare bipartisan effort—is trying to change that. On Wednesday, Democratic Reps. Ed Markey (Mass.) and Rush Holt (N.J.) and Republican Reps. Doc Hastings (Wash.) and Bill Flores (Texas) announced that they are working together on the <a href="http://naturalresources.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=318987" type="external">Responsible Helium Administration and Stewardship Act</a>. The bill would change how the Helium Reserve, which provides half of all helium used in the United States and a third of the helium used all over the world, works and extend its life beyond 2015. It would auction off most of the helium in the reserve at market value (which will be determined by the Secretary of Interior), instead of selling it at cut rates. It&#160;will also require that we keep the last 3 billion cubic feet of helium in the reserve for use for research purposes.</p>
<p>Helium isn’t just necessary for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, as the lawmakers point out. It’s also used in computer chips, MRI scans, fiberoptic cables, and NASA’s rockets.</p>
<p /> | Saving Helium: Something Lawmakers Actually Agree On | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2013/02/saving-helium-something-lawmakers-actually-agree/ | 2013-02-06 | 4 |
<p>(ABP) — After a decade of steady decline, attendance at the Southern Baptist Convention is expected to jump this year, amid ripples of unrest with the current leadership and perhaps the first openly contested presidential election since 1994.</p>
<p>Several estimates suggest at least 10,000 Southern Baptist messengers are charting a course for Greensboro, N.C., where the SBC annual meeting will be held June 13-14. But if interest continues to grow in the final weeks, there could be several thousand more.</p>
<p>Fewer than 10,000 messengers registered between 2001 and 2004 before attendance jumped to 11,641 for the 2005 convention in the SBC's headquarters city of Nashville, Tenn. That's a far cry from the 40,000 that attended during the height of the conservative-moderate conflict of the 1980s.</p>
<p>Since the Nashville meeting, however, Southern Baptists have witnessed the top executives of one mission board resign amid mismanagement controversy, the other mission board president has experienced conflict with trustees, the threatened first-ever removal of one of those trustees, a statistical decline getting progressively worse, and the emergence of a network of reform-minded bloggers protesting the “exclusionary” tactics of the SBC leadership.</p>
<p>Southern Baptist leaders rightfully claim some positive momentum too, such as the national recognition that followed the SBC's disaster-relief work after Hurricane Katrina.</p>
<p>But there's no denying the growing unrest stirring among some Southern Baptists, who expected more from the conservative movement that has held the convention's reins for 27 years. Now, for the first time since moderates withdrew more than a decade ago, there is talk of party politics and busing church members to the convention next month.</p>
<p>Statistics released following the Nashville convention showed that nearly 83 percent of the messengers drove to the meeting last year. Greensboro, like Nashville, is located in an area that is thick with Southern Baptist churches and linked by several major highways. A large number of drive-in messengers could easily make the trip, and their response is likely to determine whether the attendance is one to remember.</p> | Unrest among SBC conservatives may swell convention attendance | false | https://baptistnews.com/article/unrestamongsbcconservativesmayswellconventionattendance/ | 3 |
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<p>CRANSTON, R.I. (AP) _ The winning numbers in Saturday evening's drawing of the Rhode Island Lottery's "Wild Money" game were:</p>
<p>12-16-22-32-34, Extra: 3</p>
<p>(twelve, sixteen, twenty-two, thirty-two, thirty-four; Extra: three)</p>
<p>Estimated jackpot: $174,000</p>
<p>CRANSTON, R.I. (AP) _ The winning numbers in Saturday evening's drawing of the Rhode Island Lottery's "Wild Money" game were:</p>
<p>12-16-22-32-34, Extra: 3</p>
<p>(twelve, sixteen, twenty-two, thirty-two, thirty-four; Extra: three)</p>
<p>Estimated jackpot: $174,000</p> | Winning numbers drawn in 'Wild Money' game | false | https://apnews.com/amp/6871ec9de3b3472faf1a8306a1abbdc2 | 2018-01-07 | 2 |
<p>Photo by United Nations Photos, &lt;a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/un_photo/4305132258/"&gt;via Flickr&lt;/a&gt;.</p>
<p />
<p>In the days since the January 12 earthquake pummeled Haiti, aid has poured in from around the world through governments, the United Nations, and non-governmental organizations. And while the immediate relief work has been difficult and at times frustrating, workers on the ground there have made one thing clear: We should be thinking in terms of decades, not days, when it comes to assisting the tiny nation.</p>
<p>In a call with reporters on Thursday, staffers for a number of NGOs in the country emphasized the need for long-term support. The outpouring from private citizens has been substantial; InterAction, a coalition of U.S.-based NGOs focusing on global poverty, this week reported that Americans have <a href="http://benchtobedside.posterous.com/350-million-dollars-raised-interaction-launch" type="external">given $350 million</a> to support relief work. Much of that is helping meet immediate needs for food, water, medical supplies, and shelter. But with the devastation already retreating from the headlines, the needs for the next months, years, and possibly decades should not be forgotten, they said.</p>
<p>“We’re not talking years as in 2, 3 or 5… but more of the long-term solutions for Haiti,” said Amy Gaver, director of international response and programs at the Red Cross. “Haiti has needed a global solution for systemic problems for a very long time.” The relief work, said Graver, should include planning for sustainability, with a focus on the long-term and a plan for organizations within the country to assume control of rebuilding.</p>
<p>Mario Flores, director of disaster response field ops at Habitat for Humanity International, said as many as 200,000 houses were severely damaged, and 1.2 to 1.5 million people face displacement. “Haiti had a lot of problems before the earthquake; the earthquake has only exacerbated those problems,” said Flores. NGOs and governments working in the country, he said, should take the time “to really think through what the long-term recovery is going to look like.”</p>
<p>The quake and resulting exodus from Port-au-Prince is also stressing other areas of the country as an estimated <a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Americas/2010/0129/Haiti-earthquake-jolts-a-million-city-dwellers-to-head-for-home" type="external">one million</a> city dwellers return to the countryside. George Packer explains the country’s long-term needs vividly in a <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/talk/comment/2010/01/25/100125taco_talk_packer" type="external">piece in the</a> <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/talk/comment/2010/01/25/100125taco_talk_packer" type="external">New Yorker</a> this week as well.</p>
<p>The country’s extreme poverty and fraught politics, of course, have both intensified the impacts of the natural catastrophe. “The situation before earthquake was quite precarious,” said Kathryn Bolles, director of emergency health and nutrition at Save the Children. Relief, then, must also seek to address the bigger challenges in the nation. And it’s also compounded by concern that this recent quake <a href="" type="internal">may be a prelude</a> to more extreme seismic catastrophes in the region, and the ever-present danger of severe tropical storms.</p>
<p>As the long-term challenges begin to become clear, the <a href="" type="internal">greatest need</a> is still for monetary donations. Here’s a <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2010-01-13/how-to-help-haiti/" type="external">list of some of the most effective NGOs</a> to give to.</p>
<p /> | Beyond the Immediate Needs in Haiti | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2010/01/beyond-immediate-needs-haiti/ | 2010-01-29 | 4 |
<p>FBN’s Lou Dobbs on the Obama Justice Department and former Attorney General Loretta Lynch giving the Russian lawyer Donald Trump Jr. met with a waiver into the U.S.</p>
<p>A few thoughts now on what is inarguably the most politically corrupt department in the history of the American government.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>I'm speaking of course, of the Obama Justice Department led by two attorneys general....Eric Holder, who ultimately became the first sitting cabinet officer ever to be cited for contempt of Congress and his successor Loretta Lynch. Who, according to the fired director of the FBI, obstructed justice in ordering [former FBI Director] James Comey to refer to the Clinton email investigation as a matter rather than an investigation. For the purpose of allowing the Clinton campaign to deny that the Democratic nominee was under federal investigation.</p>
<p>Today we learned of the prospect of additional corruption on the part of the Obama Justice Department. At issue, why AG Lynch went to almost unprecedented lengths to permit a Russian attorney to enter the country without a visa......long before meeting Donald Trump Jr. and Jared Kushner not the first scandal to plague the agency.</p>
<p>That meeting took place on June 9th of last year....but it is unclear now not only why AG Lynch would have given her an extraordinary waiver of U.S. immigration laws, but how the Russian attorney could have been in the country five months after the so called immigration parole waiver expired.</p>
<p>The Senate Judiciary Committee now investigating Lynch's efforts to protect Hillary Clinton and the role of not only AG Lynch, but the fired FBI director as well.</p>
<p>There is much to learn about the collusion between the Russian attorney and the Obama administration, but the political motivations of the Obama DOJ are readily recognized...it's all about politics.....in fact... Of the more than $400 thousand in donations to Clinton and Trump during the election from DOJ employees... 97% went to Hillary Clinton.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Special Counsel Robert Mueller isn't even looking at the obvious misdeed of the Obama Justice Department itself..., and it is clear the Washington swamp will never be drained unless we the people demand the truth, and yes, justice.</p> | Dobbs: Obama Justice Dept is the most politically corrupt in U.S. history | true | http://foxbusiness.com/politics/2017/07/13/dobbs-obama-justice-dept-is-most-politically-corrupt-in-u-s-history.html | 2017-07-13 | 0 |
<p />
<p>Companies usually start out with noble intent: An idea, a product, or a culture that its founders hope will be different--the one that stands out among the many. They hope to be the kind of company that others seek to emulate and the most talented people want to work for.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>And while every entrepreneur and business owner knows how important it is to focus on the job at hand, to take one step at a time, somewhere in the back of their minds, they can envision their venture becoming one of the great ones that stands the test of time.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, it doesn't usually turn out that way. What seem like brilliant concepts just don't pan out. Even viral successes often fizzle out in time. The truth is that markets are brutally competitive. We simply can't all win. And we certainly can't all be great.</p>
<p>Which begs that question: What distinguishes the few companies that make it over the long haul from the thousands that don't? What are the actions that entrepreneurs can take early on to set the stage for success down the road?</p>
<p>Here are nine fundamental blueprints for business success. These strategies enable companies to rise above.</p>
<p>Products that consistently provide a superior customer experience. Apple didn't build the first MP3 player, online music site, smartphone, or tablet computer. Amazon wasn't the first online retailer. Trader Joe's wasn't the first specialty grocer. But their products and services consistently delight customers by giving them what they want or need in ways that competitors can't even come close to.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Breakthrough intellectual property that competitors can't design around. We know that Qualcomm makes processors and software for smartphones. But this technology giant quietly built its company on breakthrough patents for CDMA and other core wireless technologies that, today, are used in most of the world's cell phones. It spent many years and big bucks developing its breakthrough technology, bringing it to market, and defending its intellectual property.</p>
<p>Insanely great marketing. You may think that marketing is all about Super Bowl ads and B2B email campaigns, but the kind of marketing that makes or breaks companies is a whole different ballgame. According to venture capitalist and former Intel executive Bill Davidow, "Marketing must invent complete products and drive them to commanding positions in defensible market segments." Indeed, Steve Jobs was a genius at market segmentation, product positioning, masterfully controlling the message, and most importantly, figuring out what people wanted before they even knew it themselves. That's marketing.</p>
<p>Becoming the de facto standard. If you can get customers addicted or locked into your proprietary software, interface, or applications, you can reach critical mass and become a de facto standard. At that point, the cost and pain for customers to switch is prohibitively high. That's how Cisco routers, Texas Instruments DSPs, and of course, Microsoft--Intel PCs became standards.</p>
<p>A unique concept executed so quickly and flawlessly that nobody can catch you. Google probably doesn't have better search algorithms than anyone else, but its unique combination of search and advertising was executed so well that it came to dominate the market and nobody can catch up. Apple did the same thing with iPod and iTunes. The same is true of Starbucks, Skype, Facebook and Twitter.</p>
<p>A self-replicating culture that develops great managers and motivates employees to do great work. It's no coincidence that we find company names like Procter &amp; Gamble, PepsiCo, and IBM on the resumes of hundreds of CEOs. Likewise, it isn't surprising that certain successful companies, from Intuit and Intel to Wegmans and Whole Foods, show up time and again on annual lists of best companies to work for.</p>
<p>A truly trouble-free sales and customer service experience. Some companies manage to consistently rise above the competition by offering customers what they really want most: a relatively care free, easy way to buy what they need that doesn't try their patience or waste their precious time. If you've ever shopped at Zappos, Trader Joe's, or Nordstrom, you know what I'm talking about.</p>
<p>A culture that fosters innovation. Some mistakenly define innovation as invention. It's not. Innovation can also be turning inventions into products people can use. That's a core competency at IBM and 3M, among others. It's almost criminal when companies known for invention never seem to be able to productize them. Xerox PARC is the most famous example--and it's still working to change that reputation.</p>
<p>Flawless operations, supply chain management, logistics. As markets and manufacturing have become more complex, so have supply chains and logistics. It's hard to win on just this capability alone, but when coupled with one of the other categories--consistently superior products, for example--it can amount to an unbeatable combination. That's certainly been the case with Toyota, Samsung, and once upon a time, Sony and Dell.</p>
<p>One more thing. Keep in mind that none of these strategies are popular fads. They're all fundamental and, therefore, resilient. Even as markets change, technology advances, and competitors rise, these fundamental strategies will stand the test of time.</p>
<p>This column originally appeared on Inc.com.</p> | 9 Musts for Business Success | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2013/09/03/fundamental-blueprints-for-business-success.html | 2016-04-08 | 0 |
<p>FBN's Charlie Gasparino on the $6M Donald Trump says he pledged from a charity event in Iowa for veterans last month.</p>
<p>Several of the nearly two-dozen veterans charitable organizations that were promised donations by Republican presidential front runner Donald Trump have yet to receive any money nearly a month after Trump first made the pledge, the FOX Business Network has learned.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Trump made the pledge at a January 28 press conference after he announced he was not attending a debate sponsored by the Fox News Channel, the sister network of FOX Business. Trump said he had received pledges to raise $6 million for 22 charities focused on veterans, including $1 million of his own money.</p>
<p>“Our Veterans have been treated like third-class citizens and it is my great honor to support them with this $1 million dollar contribution – they are truly incredible people. We are going to strengthen our military, take care of our Vets and Make America Great Again,” Trump said in a <a href="https://www.donaldjtrump.com/press-releases/donald-j.-trump-raises-millions-for-veterans-organizations" type="external">press release Opens a New Window.</a> at the time.</p>
<p>But nearly a month after Trump made the pledge, at least three, and possibly more, of the 22 charities haven’t received any money yet, according to interviews conducted by FOX Business. Meanwhile, seven of the 22 charities told FOX Business they have received checks totaling $650,000, while the remaining organizations either declined to say whether or not they received the money or didn’t return repeated calls for comment.</p>
<p>“Mr. Trump personally contributed $1 million dollars to the cause and raised an additional $5 million before the one-hour event concluded, totaling more than $6 million dollars,” the press release added. “The night benefited twenty-two different organizations, a number of which are Iowa based Veterans groups. Mr. Trump has been a major supporter of Veterans organizations throughout his life and has made strengthening our military, reforming the VA and taking care of our great Veterans cornerstones of his campaign.”</p>
<p>Still, the failure to deliver some of the promised money after a well-publicized press conference where Trump touted the fact that fellow billionaires like financier Carl Icahn would contribute as well, has raised some eyebrows among watchdogs that follow charities. Michael Thatcher, president of Charity Navigator, a non-profit that evaluates charities, said “it’s reasonable to be expecting that all the money would be delivered by this time” because Trump made a “highly publicized promise.”</p>
<p>“It is totally reasonable to question why some have gotten money and some haven’t,” Thatcher said. “When you make a promise like he has there is an expectation for timely delivery.”</p>
<p>Thatcher said much of the delay in disbursing funds to charities often involves vetting organizations’ non-profit status and other issues. But Trump appeared to have vetted the veterans’ charities beforehand and provided a list of organizations that would receive the money.</p>
<p>“With that, there’s even less reason for any money to be delayed,” Thatcher said.</p>
<p>In a telephone interview, Trump Campaign Manager Corey Lewandowski maintains that Trump has and will fully deliver on his promise to deliver the $6 million to the veterans groups. He added that the $650,000 that FOX Business has determined was distributed to charities is significantly below the actual number, but he declined to provide a full accounting of how much of the pledged money has been distributed or how many of the 22 charities have received cash.</p>
<p>Lewandowski added that it isn’t unusual for charities to receive such pledges even a month after being promised the money.</p>
<p>"He's distributed multi-millions of dollars…It was money that was pledged, and we are still collecting it,” Lewandowski said. "We are continuing to follow up with people who pledge donations.” Additionally, he said: “We've added another couple dozen organizations to the list of veteran organizations that will receive donations.”</p>
<p>Some of the charities contacted by FOX Business agreed with Lewandowski’s assessment on the timing of when they should receive their money.</p>
<p>“We haven’t received any money yet, but [we] do expect to get it. It’s not unusual when someone or an organization has an event, for it to take weeks or even months before we receive a check, “ said Kerri Childress, vice president of Fisher House, one of the 22 veterans charities on the Trump list that hasn’t received money as of publication of this story.</p>
<p>Childress added: “We haven’t heard how much or when we might be receiving the money.”</p>
<p>Trump’s charitable donations have become a campaign issue as he has solidified his lead for the 2016 GOP presidential nomination. Speaking to Neil Cavuto on the Fox News Channel, 2012 GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney criticized Trump for not releasing his tax returns, and questioned his charitable giving.</p>
<p>“I think in Donald Trump’s case, it’s likely to be a bombshell [in not releasing his tax returns],” Romney said. “Perhaps he hasn’t been giving money to the veterans or to the disabled like he’s been telling us he’s been doing. I think that’s the reason there’s a bombshell [in his returns].”</p>
<p>Hank Sheinkopf, a political consultant who advises Democrats including former President Bill Clinton, said failure to live up to charitable promises can be deadly for most politicians, but Trump’s campaign is unique in that he has been able to side step various controversies and remain ahead in the polls with his take-no-prisoners approach to campaigning.</p>
<p>“Trump may be the first presidential candidate in history to go unpunished for not meeting his charitable promises,” Sheinkopf said. “He’s a phenomena; there’s no rational explanation for any of it.”</p>
<p>Advertisement</p> | Some Trump Charities Waiting on Funds | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2016/02/26/some-trump-charities-waiting-on-funds.html | 2016-02-26 | 0 |
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<p>The Los Angeles suburb Huntington Park made history, as the first city in the United States to official appoint undocumented, <a href="" type="internal">illegal immigrants</a> as city officials.</p>
<p>Some locals are infuriated after a city councilman made the announcement, sounding a sharp cry of opposition, but even so, the point of no return has been crossed — <a href="" type="internal">illegal immigrants</a> are becoming an official part of the government.</p>
<p><a href="http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2015/08/04/tempers-flare-when-huntington-park-appoints-2-undocumented-immigrants-to-city-commissions/" type="external">CBS Los Angeles</a> reported:</p>
<p>Councilman Jhonny Pineda announced at Monday night’s city council meeting the appointment of two undocumented immigrants as commissioners…</p>
<p>“You are out of order!” one woman in the crowd yelled at the council members during the meeting.</p>
<p>Some critics say Pineda, who joined the council in March, specifically picked Medina and Zatarain because they worked on his campaign. Others say they don’t believe undocumented immigrants should serve the government this way.</p>
<p>“We’re sending the wrong message: you can be illegal and you can come and work for the city,” a woman told Finnstrom.</p>
<p>[…]</p>
<p>Frank Medina will join the health and education commission and Julian Zatarain will be working with the parks and recreation commission.</p>
<p>[Pineda] promised voters on the campaign trail he’d create opportunities for the city’s sizable undocumented immigrant demographic.</p>
<p>Officials defending the decision say that the appointees will be unpaid, in accordance with federal law, and will have no say over policy.</p>
<p>Nonetheless… the appointments are another milestone in what many see as the undoing of the United States, and respect for its Constitution and laws.</p>
<p>The move is indeed historic — a snapshot of a larger fall of the empire, with barbarians officially in the gate, with hoards and <a href="" type="internal">gangs</a> within government and in the populace more powerful than institutions it is in the midst of sacking. The nation seems to be in a period of dissolution, where racial and ethnic enclaves are breaking off into fragmented areas.</p>
<p>Putting citizens with a shaky legal status in an official position of authority in a local government is a bold move beyond even <a href="" type="internal">amnesty</a> for undocumented workers with controversial status in an economically challenged and politically divided.</p>
<p />
<p>Many in the Huntington Park community have vowed to challenge the legality of the appointments, but City Councilman Jhonny Pineda claims he ran it by city <a href="" type="internal">lawyers</a>, and feels confident that appointments will stand, and the broader community served by including a sector not generally recognized by the political process.</p>
<p>Just imagine what millions of now-documented immigrants, granted amnesty and a path to citizenship, can do with <a href="" type="internal">a massive voting bloc</a> big enough to swing both local and national elections.</p>
<p>Just imagine how big this change will be, and how much more dangerous promises it could bring through big government programs.</p>
<p>Courtesy of <a href="http://www.shtfplan.com/headline-news/illegal-immigrants-appointed-to-city-government-in-california-were-sending-the-wrong-message_08052015" type="external">SHTFplan.com</a></p>
<p />
<p /> | Illegal Immigrants Appointed to City Government in California: “We’re Sending the Wrong Message” | true | http://dcclothesline.com/2015/08/06/illegal-immigrants-appointed-to-city-government-in-california-were-sending-the-wrong-message/ | 2015-08-06 | 0 |
<p>The brother of a jailed former hedge fund boss will be barred for at least five years from the securities industry and pay about $841,000 to settle a civil insider trading case against him.</p>
<p>The Securities and Exchange Commission announced the settlement Thursday with Rengan Rajaratnam. He was acquitted in July in a criminal trial of conspiring with his brother, one-time billionaire hedge fund boss Raj Rajaratnam, to cheat on Wall Street. The SEC filed related civil charges against Rengan Rajaratnam in March 2013.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Raj Rajaratnam is serving an 11-year sentence In one of the biggest insider trading cases mounted by federal prosecutors. The government said he earned up to $75 million illegally by trading on secrets provided by corrupt employees of public companies.</p> | Brother of jailed hedge fund boss Rajaratnam barred for 5 years, paying $841,000 in SEC deal | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2014/10/23/brother-jailed-hedge-fund-boss-rajaratnam-barred-for-5-years-paying-841000-in.html | 2016-03-06 | 0 |
<p>PHILADELPHIA (AP) — As the East Coast continues its slog through chilly temperatures and general winter dreariness, the Philadelphia Flower Show offers a colorful sneak peek into warmer, longer days. This year, visitors can dive into spring at the “Wonders of Water” themed show, which runs from March 3 to March 11.</p>
<p>The annual floral extravaganza promises to “celebrate the beauty and life-sustaining interplay of horticulture and water.”</p>
<p>A sample of what to expect:</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>RAINFORESTS, WOODLANDS, DESERTS</p>
<p>Some of the top floral designers in the country will converge on the Pennsylvania Convention Center, transforming it into a mix of rainforests, temperate forests, woodlands and arid landscapes, showcasing the plants that thrive in each environment. Expect everything from orchids and flowering vines to desert blooms.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>DRAMATIC ENTRANCE</p>
<p>Guests will enter the show under a canopy of exotic flowers and come face-to-face with a multi-level, bamboo waterfall. An ever-shifting rain curtain will guide visitors over a suspended rope bridge, through a brilliant green rainforest.</p>
<p>“We want to capture all the sensory elements of the rainforest — its fantastic colors, scents and sounds — and demonstrate its unique and vital role in purifying water and sustaining our environment,” said Sam Lemheney, who heads up the society’s shows and events.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>HIGHLIGHTING CONSERVATION</p>
<p>The show will explore the innovative ways green infrastructure is used to protect and conserve water sources. One exhibit will show how plant systems cleanse and sustain the Delaware River Watershed through mountains, fields, marshes and streams. A “Water Summit” will feature environmental and industry experts from around the United States, including former astronaut Mary Ellen Weber, on freshwater issues and real-world solutions. Gardeners of all skill levels can learn water-saving techniques.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>THE BACKYARD</p>
<p>A new attraction called “The Backyard” will offer inspiration for outdoor living and give conservation tips for home gardeners. It will also showcase programs that are integral to the Philadelphia Horticultural Society’s mission. They include the City Harvest program of urban farmers, who grow fresh organic produce and give a portion of their harvest to local food pantries. The Pennsylvania Horticultural Society has sponsored the show each year since 1829. The show’s revenues support the Horticultural Society’s programs.</p>
<p>PHILADELPHIA (AP) — As the East Coast continues its slog through chilly temperatures and general winter dreariness, the Philadelphia Flower Show offers a colorful sneak peek into warmer, longer days. This year, visitors can dive into spring at the “Wonders of Water” themed show, which runs from March 3 to March 11.</p>
<p>The annual floral extravaganza promises to “celebrate the beauty and life-sustaining interplay of horticulture and water.”</p>
<p>A sample of what to expect:</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>RAINFORESTS, WOODLANDS, DESERTS</p>
<p>Some of the top floral designers in the country will converge on the Pennsylvania Convention Center, transforming it into a mix of rainforests, temperate forests, woodlands and arid landscapes, showcasing the plants that thrive in each environment. Expect everything from orchids and flowering vines to desert blooms.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>DRAMATIC ENTRANCE</p>
<p>Guests will enter the show under a canopy of exotic flowers and come face-to-face with a multi-level, bamboo waterfall. An ever-shifting rain curtain will guide visitors over a suspended rope bridge, through a brilliant green rainforest.</p>
<p>“We want to capture all the sensory elements of the rainforest — its fantastic colors, scents and sounds — and demonstrate its unique and vital role in purifying water and sustaining our environment,” said Sam Lemheney, who heads up the society’s shows and events.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>HIGHLIGHTING CONSERVATION</p>
<p>The show will explore the innovative ways green infrastructure is used to protect and conserve water sources. One exhibit will show how plant systems cleanse and sustain the Delaware River Watershed through mountains, fields, marshes and streams. A “Water Summit” will feature environmental and industry experts from around the United States, including former astronaut Mary Ellen Weber, on freshwater issues and real-world solutions. Gardeners of all skill levels can learn water-saving techniques.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>THE BACKYARD</p>
<p>A new attraction called “The Backyard” will offer inspiration for outdoor living and give conservation tips for home gardeners. It will also showcase programs that are integral to the Philadelphia Horticultural Society’s mission. They include the City Harvest program of urban farmers, who grow fresh organic produce and give a portion of their harvest to local food pantries. The Pennsylvania Horticultural Society has sponsored the show each year since 1829. The show’s revenues support the Horticultural Society’s programs.</p> | Flower show’s focus on water lets visitors dive into spring | false | https://apnews.com/c2dd0571d89e4fe2b91471b49e389a22 | 2018-01-21 | 2 |
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<p>Secretary of state nominee Rex Tillerson on Wednesday said he believes “the risk of climate change does exist, and the consequences could be serious enough that action should be taken.” But while the Obama administration and other world leaders have aggressively pursued efforts to slash carbon dioxide emissions and stave off global warming, the former ExxonMobil chief executive expressed little such urgency when testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Capitol Hill.</p>
<p>Asked by Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., about his personal position on climate change, Tillerson said he formed his views “over about 20 years as an engineer and a scientist, understanding the evolution of the science.” Ultimately, he said, he concluded that increasing greenhouse-gas concentrations in the atmosphere are having an effect on the earth’s climate. But he added, “Our ability to predict that effect is very limited,” and precisely what actions nations should take “seems to be the largest area of debate existing in the public discourse.”</p>
<p>Tillerson’s statements on climate change were in line with views he has expressed in the past: In short, that climate change is real and could pose problems for humans, but the degree of threat remains unclear. Tillerson sees climate change primarily through the eyes of an engineer, as something that must be solved largely through innovation and ingenuity.</p>
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<p>Scientists, though, would dispute his claim that we have a “very limited” ability to predict what is happening to the planet’s climate due to our emissions — it is warming and unless action is taken will warm well beyond 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. And they’d also dispute his refusal to firmly link climate warming to specific weather events, an area where the research is becoming increasingly clear that some attributions are possible, in a statistical or risk-based way.</p>
<p>At another moment, he said that when it comes to climate change, “I don’t see it as the imminent national security threat that perhaps others do.”</p>
<p>Tillerson shared his views – which run counter to President-elect Donald Trump’s brazen skepticism, but also fall far short of a cry of urgency – in multiple segments of questioning as the subject surfaced repeatedly during his lengthy confirmation hearing on Wednesday.</p>
<p>At one point, he had a testy exchange with Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., the former vice presidential candidate, about whether ExxonMobil had for decades concealed from investors and the public what it knew about the science of climate change – going as far as paying outside groups, Kaine said, to raise doubts about the growing scientific consensus around the problem.</p>
<p>“I’m in no position to speak” on behalf of company executives, Tillerson said, dodging the senator’s questions about the company where he worked for 40 years. “You would have to speak to them.”</p>
<p>Kaine continued to press Tillerson about his knowledge of ExxonMobil’s history on climate change. Tillerson continued to refer him to the company he led until recently.</p>
<p>At one point, Kaine asked, “Do you lack the knowledge to answer my question, or are you refusing to do so?”</p>
<p>“A little of both,” Tillerson responded.</p>
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<p>Kaine later tweeted, “It’s shameful Tillerson refused to answer my questions on his company’s role in funding phony climate science. Bottom line: #ExxonKnew .”</p>
<p>Early in the hearing, Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., asked Tillerson if he thought the United States should continue to play a leading role in a global climate agreement signed in Paris in late 2015. Trump has vowed to “cancel” U.S. participation in the accord, in which hundreds of countries collectively agreed to slash carbon emissions to help mitigate the effects of global warming.</p>
<p>“It’s important that the U.S. maintains its seat at the table about how to address the threat of climate change, which does require a global response,” Tillerson said. “No one country is going to solve this on its own.”</p>
<p>It was a brief exchange, with little new information about how the incoming administration might actually approach the issue. But Tillerson said multiple times Wednesday that the incoming president, who in the past has called climate change a “hoax,” had solicited his opinion on the subject.</p>
<p>“The president-elect has invited my views on climate change, and he has asked for them, and he knows that I am on the public record with my views,” Tillerson said. “And I look forward to providing those, if confirmed, to him, and in discussion around how the U.S. should conduct its policies in this area.”</p>
<p>Ultimately, Tillerson said, he would carry out the new president’s policies, “but I think it’s important to note that he has asked, and I feel free to express those views.”</p>
<p>Sen. Edward Markey, D-Mass., also pressed on whether the United States would continue to be a primary player in the Paris accord. Tillerson echoed Trump’s position that any international agreement would above all need to benefit the United States.</p>
<p>“I’m sure that there will be opportunity. . .to do a fulsome review of our policies around engagement on climate issues through global accords, global agreements,” he said. “I also know the president as part of his priority in campaigning was America first. So there’s important considerations. . .as we commit to those accords, are there any elements of that that put America to a disadvantage?”</p>
<p>“While Tillerson is admitting the role of greenhouse gas emissions in causing climate change, his circumlocutions about climate policy and the Paris agreement so far leave the impression that as Secretary of State he will be to the somewhere to the right of Exxon on these key issues,” said Paul Bledsoe, a former Senate staff member and Clinton White House adviser, of the performance.</p>
<p>In the past, Tillerson has articulated a more nuanced position on climate change than other Trump cabinet nominees. He repeatedly has acknowledged the potential consequences of climate change and the impact of CO2 emissions in the atmosphere, but has questioned the reliability of climate models and suggested humanity has bigger problems to tackle.</p>
<p>Still, Tillerson and ExxonMobil generally have supported the Paris climate accord in the past, calling it an important international framework for tackling the problem.</p>
<p>“At ExxonMobil, we share the view that the risks of climate change are serious and warrant thoughtful action. Addressing these risks requires broad-based, practical solutions around the world,” he said in a speech last year in Abu Dhabi. “Importantly, as a result of the Paris agreement, both developed and developing countries are now working together to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions, while recognizing differing national responsibilities, capacities and circumstances. The best hope for the future is to enable and encourage long-term investments in both proven and new technologies, while supporting effective policies.”</p>
<p>That’s a far different position than that of Tillerson’s predecessor at ExxonMobil, Lee Raymond. On the Charlie Rose show in 2005, for instance, Raymond said “natural variability” could affect climate and said the science wasn’t sufficient to determine whether climate changes amount to anything more than that. Such statements help explain why many scientists and environmentalists have continued to criticize ExxonMobil’s past record on climate change.</p> | Tillerson doesn’t deny climate change – but dodges questions about Exxon’s role in sowing doubt | false | https://abqjournal.com/925745/trump-wants-out-of-paris-climate-deal-thats-not-what-his-secretary-of-state-pick-is-saying-on-capitol-hill-today.html | 2017-01-11 | 2 |
<p>NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A health care forum Friday illustrated the partisan split in the Tennessee governor's race over Medicaid expansion, with Democrats ranking it their top priority and Republicans opposing it or espousing other priorities.</p>
<p>The Democrats, former Nashville Mayor Karl Dean and state House Minority Leader Craig Fitzhugh, called for expansion of Tennessee's Medicaid program, TennCare, to 280,000 more low-income patients. The Republican-led General Assembly killed the plan in 2015.</p>
<p>"Frankly, I think the vote or non-vote on Medicaid expansion was sort of a high point of partisanship, and sort of ideologue politics," Dean said at the forum where candidates came on stage one at a time to answer questions. "I don't think that's what works."</p>
<p>Both Democrats cited recent closures of rural hospitals in their expansion pitches.</p>
<p>"It is my opinion, shared by many of my colleagues in the legislature, that an expansion of Medicaid would prevent that," said Fitzhugh, of Ripley.</p>
<p>Most of the Republicans dismissed the idea of Medicaid expansion, an option under former President Barack Obama's health care law, as potentially too costly, too government-dependent or both.</p>
<p>House Speaker Beth Harwell noted that TennCare already had to shrink by 170,000 enrollees in 2005 to control costs. Former Sen. Mae Beavers of Mount Juliet said states should be able to freely manage federal money.</p>
<p>Bill Lee, a construction company owner from Franklin, opposed a bigger government program.</p>
<p>"If the government doesn't engage in a more meaningful way with our faith-based community, with our nonprofit community, with those that are doing the work on the ground much more effectively than the government can do it, we're not going to really curb what I see as an unsustainable challenge going forward," Lee said.</p>
<p>Knoxville businessman Randy Boyd didn't take a stance on Medicaid expansion and instead voiced support for the federal government to give states block grants to run health care programs through whatever plan Congress ultimately passes.</p>
<p>Boyd served as the state economic development chief under Republican Gov. Bill Haslam, who pushed the plan to expand Medicaid that failed.</p>
<p>"There's so much that's not in our control," said Boyd, who founded a company that makes invisible fences. "We're waiting for Washington, D.C., and so it's probably not that useful to speculate on speculation and wondering what they're going to do there."</p>
<p>Harwell said the state's "hands are a little behind our back and tied" until the federal government acts.</p>
<p>U.S. Rep. Diane Black, who has registered the highest name ID in recent polling, didn't participate in the Healthy Tennessee and Lipscomb University forum. The Gallatin Republican candidate tended to congressional votes and the March for Life in Washington on Friday, campaign spokesman Chris Hartline said.</p>
<p>The Republican candidates mostly turned their focus away from possibly growing the TennCare rolls and toward personal responsibility, wellness education, private sector innovation and other topics.</p>
<p>Both the Democrats and Republicans said there needs to be a focus on making healthy choices in a state that ranked 45th in the 2017 health ratings by the United Health Foundation. Boyd pointed out that he ran 537.3 miles (865 kilometers) across the state as he campaigned.</p>
<p>Harwell said small changes can also make a difference.</p>
<p>"Sometimes we have a misconception that to be healthy you're either a marathon runner or the other opposite, of a couch potato," said Harwell, a Nashville Republican.</p>
<p>The health discussion also gave way to some personal stories. Beavers said she's particularly excited about holistic treatments because she's a cancer survivor.</p>
<p>"We can find some other cures for things besides going through all of the toxic chemotherapy and radiation that I had to go through, that weakens your immune system," Beavers said.</p>
<p>NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A health care forum Friday illustrated the partisan split in the Tennessee governor's race over Medicaid expansion, with Democrats ranking it their top priority and Republicans opposing it or espousing other priorities.</p>
<p>The Democrats, former Nashville Mayor Karl Dean and state House Minority Leader Craig Fitzhugh, called for expansion of Tennessee's Medicaid program, TennCare, to 280,000 more low-income patients. The Republican-led General Assembly killed the plan in 2015.</p>
<p>"Frankly, I think the vote or non-vote on Medicaid expansion was sort of a high point of partisanship, and sort of ideologue politics," Dean said at the forum where candidates came on stage one at a time to answer questions. "I don't think that's what works."</p>
<p>Both Democrats cited recent closures of rural hospitals in their expansion pitches.</p>
<p>"It is my opinion, shared by many of my colleagues in the legislature, that an expansion of Medicaid would prevent that," said Fitzhugh, of Ripley.</p>
<p>Most of the Republicans dismissed the idea of Medicaid expansion, an option under former President Barack Obama's health care law, as potentially too costly, too government-dependent or both.</p>
<p>House Speaker Beth Harwell noted that TennCare already had to shrink by 170,000 enrollees in 2005 to control costs. Former Sen. Mae Beavers of Mount Juliet said states should be able to freely manage federal money.</p>
<p>Bill Lee, a construction company owner from Franklin, opposed a bigger government program.</p>
<p>"If the government doesn't engage in a more meaningful way with our faith-based community, with our nonprofit community, with those that are doing the work on the ground much more effectively than the government can do it, we're not going to really curb what I see as an unsustainable challenge going forward," Lee said.</p>
<p>Knoxville businessman Randy Boyd didn't take a stance on Medicaid expansion and instead voiced support for the federal government to give states block grants to run health care programs through whatever plan Congress ultimately passes.</p>
<p>Boyd served as the state economic development chief under Republican Gov. Bill Haslam, who pushed the plan to expand Medicaid that failed.</p>
<p>"There's so much that's not in our control," said Boyd, who founded a company that makes invisible fences. "We're waiting for Washington, D.C., and so it's probably not that useful to speculate on speculation and wondering what they're going to do there."</p>
<p>Harwell said the state's "hands are a little behind our back and tied" until the federal government acts.</p>
<p>U.S. Rep. Diane Black, who has registered the highest name ID in recent polling, didn't participate in the Healthy Tennessee and Lipscomb University forum. The Gallatin Republican candidate tended to congressional votes and the March for Life in Washington on Friday, campaign spokesman Chris Hartline said.</p>
<p>The Republican candidates mostly turned their focus away from possibly growing the TennCare rolls and toward personal responsibility, wellness education, private sector innovation and other topics.</p>
<p>Both the Democrats and Republicans said there needs to be a focus on making healthy choices in a state that ranked 45th in the 2017 health ratings by the United Health Foundation. Boyd pointed out that he ran 537.3 miles (865 kilometers) across the state as he campaigned.</p>
<p>Harwell said small changes can also make a difference.</p>
<p>"Sometimes we have a misconception that to be healthy you're either a marathon runner or the other opposite, of a couch potato," said Harwell, a Nashville Republican.</p>
<p>The health discussion also gave way to some personal stories. Beavers said she's particularly excited about holistic treatments because she's a cancer survivor.</p>
<p>"We can find some other cures for things besides going through all of the toxic chemotherapy and radiation that I had to go through, that weakens your immune system," Beavers said.</p> | Medicaid expansion splits governor hopefuls in health forum | false | https://apnews.com/amp/6376cbdf65664504939617d571751111 | 2018-01-19 | 2 |
<p>OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Firefighters say two people have died after being pulled from a burning home in northwest Oklahoma City.</p>
<p>Battalion Chief Benny Fulkerson says a man and a woman were found in the kitchen area of the home Tuesday morning and both were dead at the scene.</p>
<p>Their names and ages have not been released.</p>
<p>Fulkerson says firefighters were called shortly before 4 a.m. to check on reports of smoke in the area and found the home on fire.</p>
<p>Fulkerson says the cause of the fire has not been determined.</p>
<p>OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Firefighters say two people have died after being pulled from a burning home in northwest Oklahoma City.</p>
<p>Battalion Chief Benny Fulkerson says a man and a woman were found in the kitchen area of the home Tuesday morning and both were dead at the scene.</p>
<p>Their names and ages have not been released.</p>
<p>Fulkerson says firefighters were called shortly before 4 a.m. to check on reports of smoke in the area and found the home on fire.</p>
<p>Fulkerson says the cause of the fire has not been determined.</p> | 2 dead following house fire in northwest Oklahoma City | false | https://apnews.com/e6281dd2ac9b433187173bb616a8cf78 | 2018-01-09 | 2 |
<p>In a Facebook <a href="https://www.facebook.com/topic/CJ-Pearson/323695844420906?source=whrt&amp;position=10&amp;trqid=6195885560797153552" type="external">video</a> that has gone viral, a conservative black teen, C.J.Pearson, slammed President Barack Obama for <a href="https://twitter.com/potus/status/644193755814342656" type="external">inviting</a> Ahmed Mohamed to the White House while ignoring the families of Kate Steinle, the marines gunned down in the Chattanooga shooting, and the growing number of police officers targeted by Black Lives Matter "terrorists."</p>
<p>"What is this world that you’re living in?" Pearson fumed.</p>
<p>Pointing out that it took Obama longer to lower the flags at the Chattanooga military base at half-mass for the deaths of the marines from the shooting, Pearson challenged the president on his priorities.</p>
<p>"Mr. President, what are your priorities here? What are you priorities? Because in all honesty, I think you’re being ignorant, I think you’re incompetent and I think you don’t understand reality," he said.</p>
<p>"The reality of the situation is that you don’t get invited to the White House for building a clock," he continued. "I'm sorry… I hate to be harsh but it's the blatant truth. He's a Muslim kid, he fits into your agenda so you're going to go ahead and invite him. That's great for you, but Mr. President, these people were gunned down."</p>
<p>Pearson put the blame squarely on Obama for the murder of Steinle because of his support of sanctuary cities and put him at fault for the Chattanooga shooting as well.</p>
<p>"It was because of you, Mr. President, that these brave men and women aren’t able to carry their guns on a military base," Pearson said. "Once again, your fault Mr. President."</p>
<p>Pearson then accused Obama of appeasing the "terrorists" in the Black Lives Matters movement, which he said resulted in police officers being murdered.</p>
<p>"How am I going to respect you when you don’t respect the brave men and women and innocent people who lost their lives because of your incompetence?" Pearson asked. "I'm sick and tired of it, and I think the American people are too."</p>
<p>Ahmed was <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/17/us/texas-student-is-under-police-investigation-for-building-a-clock.html" type="external">arrested</a> for making a clock that appeared to be a hoax bomb. When he brought it to school, his engineering teacher instructed him not to show it to anyone else. After the clock beeped in his English class, Ahmed showed the clock to his teacher. When police questioned him, he was described as being "passive aggressive" and was arrested. Charges were dropped when it was clear that the black case-enclosed device was a clock (image below).</p>
<p>After what CNN calls Ahmed's "pretty terrible" week, his family has announced he will be <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/17/us/texas-student-ahmed-muslim-clock-bomb/index.html" type="external">transferring</a> to a different school.</p> | Black Teen Blasts Obama: 'What is This World That You’re Living In?' | true | https://dailywire.com/news/69/black-teen-blasts-obama-what-world-youre-living-aaron-bandler | 2015-09-20 | 0 |
<p>Via <a href="http://www.repost.us/article-preview/hash/51f7310b77fe0a76802dd8be5c39e5f3" type="external">AFP</a>:</p>
<p>A federal investigation is probing whether a top-ranked professional golfer and a high-stakes gambler got illegal stock tips from billionaire investor Carl Icahn, US media reported Friday.</p>
<p>The Federal Bureau of Investigation and US Securities and Exchange Commission are investigating the stock trading patters of champion golfer Phil Mickelson and Las Vegas gambler William "Billy" Walters, alleging they may have gotten inside information from Icahn about his investment plans, according to the reports.</p>
<p>The probe is focused in particular on investments the men made in cleaning products ma...</p>
<p><a href="http://www.repost.us/article-preview/hash/51f7310b77fe0a76802dd8be5c39e5f3" type="external">Continue reading...</a></p> | US 'Probes Possible Insider Trading' By Icahn, Mickelson | true | http://crooksandliars.com/2014/05/us-probes-possible-insider-trading-icahn | 2014-05-30 | 4 |
<p>In the immediate aftermath of Haiti’s 2010 quake, many relied on Twitter for news about what was going on in the country. One of the more prominent Haitian tweeters was <a href="http://twitter.com/#!/ramhaiti" type="external">@RAMhaiti</a>, a.k.a. Richard Morse, a.k.a. front man of one of Haiti’s <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAM_%28band%29" type="external">most famous bands</a> and proprietor of the country’s <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hotel_Oloffson" type="external">most legendary hotel</a>.</p>
<p>In the last few days, Morse’s tweet stream has been a good source of info on another hard-to-access subject: conditions in a Haitian women’s prison. Below, check him out making some observations about what it’s like inside during a visit. Now that newly elected President Michel Martelly (Morse’s cousin) has appointed him an advisor, his time at the prison could influence his future advising focus—and so, his tweets imply, maybe the future of criminal justice in the country.</p>
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<p /> | Inside a Haitian Women’s Prison | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2011/10/haiti-women-prison-tweets/ | 2011-10-11 | 4 |
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<p>I had hoped to generate a reflective conversation among students: What happens when one person’s offense is another person’s pride? Should a costume-wearer’s intent or context matter? Can we always tell the difference between a mocking costume and one that satirizes ignorance? In what circumstances should we allow – or punish – youthful transgression?</p>
<p>“I don’t wish to trivialize genuine concerns about cultural and personal representation,” I wrote, in part. “I know that many decent people have proposed guidelines on Halloween costumes from a spirit of avoiding hurt and offense. I laud those goals, in theory, as most of us do. But in practice, I wonder if we should reflect more transparently, as a community, on the consequences of an institutional (which is to say: bureaucratic and administrative) exercise of implied control over college students.”</p>
<p>Some called my email tone-deaf or even racist, but it came from a conviction that young people are more capable than we realize and that the growing tendency to cultivate vulnerability in students carries unacknowledged costs.</p>
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<p>Many at Yale maintain that my email prompted widespread and civil conversation, and that the ensuing controversy was just a matter of competing expressions of free speech. I aired an unpopular opinion, which was answered by an equally legitimate response.</p>
<p>But these sanguine claims crumble on examination. The community’s response seemed, to many outside the Yale bubble, a baffling overreaction. Nearly a thousand students, faculty and deans called for my and my husband’s immediate removal from our jobs and campus home. Some demanded not only apologies for any unintended racial insensitivity (which we gladly offered) but also a complete disavowal of my ideas (which we did not) – as well as advance warning of my appearances in the dining hall so that students accusing me of fostering violence wouldn’t be disturbed by the sight of me.</p>
<p>Not everyone bought this narrative, but few spoke up. And who can blame them? Numerous professors, including those at Yale’s top-rated law school, contacted us personally to say that it was too risky to speak their minds. Others who generously supported us publicly were admonished by colleagues for vouching for our characters. Many students met with us confidentially to describe intimidation and accusations of being a “race traitor” when they deviated from the ascendant campus account that I had grievously injured the community. The Yale Daily News evidently felt obliged to play down key facts in its reporting, including about the two-hour-plus confrontation with a crowd of more than 100 students in which several made verbal and physical threats to my husband while four Yale deans and administrators looked on.</p>
<p>One professor I admire claimed my lone email was so threatening that it unraveled decades of her work supporting students of color. One email. In this unhealthy climate, of which I’ve detailed only a fraction of the episodes, it’s unsurprising that our own attempts at emotional repair fell flat.</p>
<p>But none of these examples captures the more worrying trend of self-censorship on campuses. For seven years I lived and worked on two college campuses, and a growing number of students report avoiding controversial topics – such as the limits of religious tolerance or transgender rights – for fear of uttering “unacceptable” language or otherwise stepping out of line. As a student observed in the Yale Daily News, the concept of campus civility now requires adherence to specific ideology – not only commitment to respectful dialogue.</p>
<p>The irony is that this culture of protection may ultimately harm those it purports to protect. The Yale imbroglio became a merciless punchline, leaving no one unscathed, because the lack of a candid internal reckoning emboldened partisan outsiders to hijack the story. In reality, these debates don’t fit neat ideological categories. I am a registered Democrat, and I applaud Yale’s mission to better support underrepresented students. But I also recognize the dizzying irrationality of some supposedly liberal discourse in academia these days.</p>
<p>I didn’t leave a rewarding job and campus home on a whim. But I lost confidence that I could continue to teach about vulnerable children in an environment where full discussion of certain topics – such as absent fathers – has become almost taboo. It’s never easy to foster dialogue about race, class, gender and culture, but it will only become more difficult for faculty in disciplines concerned with the human condition if universities won’t declare that ideas and feelings aren’t interchangeable. Without more explicit commitment to this principle, students are denied an essential condition for intellectual and moral growth: the ability to practice, and sometimes fail at, the art of thinking out loud.</p>
<p>Certain members of the community used me and my family as tinder for a mass emotional conflagration by refusing to state the obvious: that the content of my albeit imperfect message fell squarely within the parameters of normal discourse and might even have been worth considering on its merits as an adjunct to prevailing campus orthodoxy. There was no official recognition that the calls to have us fired could be seen as illiberal or censorious. By affirming only the narrow right to air my views, rather than helping the community to grapple with its intense response, an unfortunate message was made plain: Certain ideas are too dangerous to be heard at Yale.</p>
<p>The collective denial of responsibility risks shortchanging students’ intellectual maturation and gradual assumption of autonomy. Moreover, the university’s careless conflation of talking (of which we had plenty) with listening (not so much) has the unintended effect of creating an inhospitable learning environment for the entire community, not just those who had no problem with my Halloween advice.</p>
<p>It takes more than Yale’s admirable free speech code to ensure a healthy habitat for learning. My fear is that students will eventually give up trying to engage with each other, a development that will echo in our wider culture for decades. My critics have reminded me that there are consequences to my exercise of free speech. Now it’s Yale’s turn to examine the consequences of its own stance: the shadow on its magnificent motto, “Light and truth.”</p>
<p>– – –</p>
<p>Christakis is an early-childhood educator and the author of “The Importance of Being Little.”</p>
<p>halloween-comment</p> | My Halloween email led to a campus firestorm and a lesson about self-censorship | false | https://abqjournal.com/877394/my-halloween-email-led-to-a-campus-firestorm-and-a-lesson-about-self-censorship.html | 2 |
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<p>The US military shelling Lebanon in response to the April 1983 Beirut embassy bombing did not discourage an even deadlier attack on the US Marine barracks in Beirut in October 1983. (photo: US Army)</p>
<p>Displaying a remarkable faith in the power of violence, many media pundits blamed the destruction of the World Trade Center on the failure of the US government to behave aggressively enough after previous acts of terrorism. “We have been merciful in the past with the terrorist thugs who have attacked this country,” the Philadelphia Daily News editorialized (9/12/01). “We have condemned them and imposed economic sanctions, but we have not hunted them down with murder in our eyes.”</p>
<p>Conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer (Washington Post, 9/12/01) wrote:</p>
<p>One of the reasons there are enough terrorists out there capable and deadly enough to carry out the deadliest attack on the United States in its history is that, while they have declared war on us, we have in the past responded (with the exception of a few useless cruise missile attacks on empty tents in the desert) by issuing subpoenas.</p>
<p>The Washington Post‘s David Broder (9/13/01), considered a moderate, issued his own call for “new realism—and steel—in America’s national security policy”:</p>
<p>For far too long, we have been queasy about responding to terrorism. Two decades ago, when those with real or imagined grievances against the United States began picking off Americans overseas on military or diplomatic assignments or on business, singly or in groups, we delivered pinprick retaliations or none at all.</p>
<p>It’s worth recalling the US response to the bombing of a Berlin disco in April 1986, which resulted in the deaths of two US service members: The US immediately bombed Libya, which it blamed for the attack. According to Libya, 36 civilians were killed in the air assault, including the year-old daughter of Libyan leader Moammar Khadafy (Washington Post, 5/9/86). It is unlikely that Libyans considered this a “pinprick.” Yet these deaths apparently had little deterrence value: In December 1988, less than 20 months later, Pan Am 103 exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland, in an even deadlier act of terrorism the US blames on Libyan agents.</p>
<p>Likewise, a few months after a suicide bombing of the US embassy in Beirut in April 1983 that killed 63 people, the United States used battleships to pound hostile targets in Lebanon. This is hardly “issuing subpoenas,” but this violence did not deter another, more deadly suicide attack in October 1983, killing 241 US and 58 French military personnel.</p>
<p>More recently, in 1998, Bill Clinton sent 60 cruise missiles, some equipped with cluster bombs, against Osama bin Laden’s Afghan base, in what was presented as retaliation for the bombing of US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. One missile aimed at Afghan training camps landed hundreds of miles off course in Pakistan, while a simultaneous attack in Sudan leveled one of the country’s few pharmaceutical factories. Media cheered the attacks (In These Times, 9/6/98), though careful investigation into the case revealed no credible evidence linking the plant to chemical weapons or Osama bin Laden, the two justifications offered for the attack (New York Times, 10/27/99; London Observer, 8/23/98).</p>
<p>Despite the dubious record of retaliatory violence in ensuring security, many pundits insist that previous retaliation failed only because it was not severe enough. As the Chicago Tribune‘s John Kass declared (9/13/01), “For the past decade we’ve sat dumb and stupid as the US military was transformed from a killing machine into a playpen for sociologists and political schemers.” This “playpen” dropped 23,000 bombs on Yugoslavia in 1999, killing between 500 and 1,500 civilians, and may have killed as many as 1,200 Iraqis in 1998’s Desert Fox attack (Agence France Presse, 12/23/98).</p>
<p>One op-ed in the Washington Times (9/14/01), by retired Defense Intelligence Agency officer Thomas Woodrow, gave an indication of what some might consider an adequate level of violence:</p>
<p>At a bare minimum, tactical nuclear capabilities should be used against the bin Laden camps in the desert of Afghanistan. To do less would be rightly seen by the poisoned minds that orchestrated these attacks as cowardice on the part of the United States and the current administration.</p>
<p>The Wall Street Journal (9/13/01) urged the US to “get serious” about terrorism by, among other things, eliminating “the 1995 rule, imposed by former CIA director John Deutch under political pressure, limiting whom the US can recruit for counter-terrorism. For fear of hiring rogues, the CIA decided it would only hire Boy Scouts.” One non–Boy Scout the CIA worked with in the 1980s was none other than Osama bin Laden (MSNBC, 8/24/98; The Atlantic, 7–8/91)—then considered a valuable asset in the fight against Communism, but now suspected of being the chief instigator of the September 11 attacks.</p>
<p>–Jim Naureckas</p> | Retaliation: Reality Vs. Pundit Fantasy | true | http://fair.org/home/retaliation-reality-vs-pundit-fantasy/ | 2001-10-01 | 4 |
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<p>The Kingman Daily Miner reports ( <a href="http://bit.ly/2iu91U0)" type="external">http://bit.ly/2iu91U0)</a> that Al Blanco was taken into custody last week in Youngtown in the death of 40-year-old Sidney Charles Cranston Jr.</p>
<p>Cranston was seen on June 2015 when he was showing a property to an unknown client.</p>
<p>His remains were found on Jan. 7 east of Kingman.</p>
<p>Authorities have determined Cranston’s death was caused by a gun shot and ruled it a homicide.</p>
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<p>Blanco hasn’t yet been appointed a lawyer.</p>
<p>He made his initial court appearance Saturday in Cerbat/Kingman Justice Court.</p>
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<p>Information from: Kingman Daily Miner, <a href="http://www.kingmandailyminer.com" type="external">http://www.kingmandailyminer.com</a></p> | Man charged in real estate agent’s death to remain in jail | false | https://abqjournal.com/928752/man-charged-in-real-estate-agents-death-to-remain-in-jail.html | 2 |
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<p>Image source: Getty Images.</p>
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<p>Index funds have been around for more than 40 years, and they revolutionized the way that ordinary people invest. By making it affordable for investors to get diversified exposure to the stock market, index funds opened the door to what had been an exclusive province of the rich. Over time, index funds evolved to allow investors to broaden their investing horizons, and international index funds in particular offer a chance to invest around the world. Below, we'll look at five international index funds that are among the best at what they do.</p>
<p>Data source: Fund companies.</p>
<p>All five of the international index funds above have one thing in common: Their costs are among the lowest in the business. Some of the largest and mostly heavily traded international index funds have higher expense ratios, even though their portfolios in many cases closely mimic what you'll find in the funds above.</p>
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<p>The three Vanguard funds listed above are just a few of its extensive suite of index funds related to the international investing realm. The ticker symbols refer to the exchange-traded fund versions of these funds, but Vanguard also offers traditional mutual fund offerings in each of the three. With two of them -- the emerging market and developed market options -- the expense ratios for the Admiral class of mutual fund shares is exactly the same as the low-cost ETF option. For the small-cap international fund, however, Vanguard doesn't offer an Admiral class of shares, and the investor class has an expense ratio of 0.31% -- almost double the ETF's costs.</p>
<p>Schwab, on the other hand, doesn't have the same sort of setup that Vanguard uses, as its ETFs are distinctly separate entities from its index funds. The two Schwab ETFs listed above cover the bulk of the international investing universe, and it also has a small-cap international index fund that matches up well with Vanguard's offering.</p>
<p>The expense ratio of an index fund is the first place that most investors look to assess costs. However, another key aspect of efficiency for exchange-traded funds involves how easy it is to buy and sell shares in a liquid market. With traditional mutual funds, investors can make purchases or sales at any time of day, confident in getting the closing net asset value at the market close. With ETFs, however, the ability to trade throughout the day introduces the potential added cost of the bid-ask spread every time you buy or sell shares.</p>
<p>Both Schwab and Vanguard have reasonably solid followings, and their volume is high enough to maintain a fairly regular $0.01 per share bid-ask spread in most cases. The only exception is with the small-cap oriented index funds, in which wider spreads often predominate. That shouldn't prevent you from using the ETFs as appropriate, but it does mean being more careful with trading and considering the traditional mutual fund version of these funds when available.</p>
<p>Given the cost of trying to go directly to international markets to invest, many U.S. investors rely almost exclusively on index funds for their international stock exposure. By looking at these five low-cost alternatives, you can reduce the amount of drag on your performance that goes toward paying fees and expenses. That will let you keep as much of your hard-earned profits as possible while giving you market-matching performance in the international markets, and that can give you the diversification you'll need to enhance your returns over the long haul.</p>
<p>The $15,834 Social Security bonus most retirees completely overlook If you're like most Americans, you're a few years (or more) behind on your retirement savings. But a handful of little-known "Social Security secrets" could help ensure a boost in your retirement income. For example: one easy trick could pay you as much as $15,834 more... each year! Once you learn how to maximize your Social Security benefits, we think you could retire confidently with the peace of mind we're all after. <a href="http://www.fool.com/mms/mark/ecap-foolcom-social-security?aid=8727&amp;source=irreditxt0000002&amp;ftm_cam=ryr-ss-intro-report&amp;ftm_pit=3186&amp;ftm_veh=article_pitch&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Simply click here to discover how to learn more about these strategies. Opens a New Window.</a></p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFGalagan/info.aspx" type="external">Dan Caplinger Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services <a href="http://www.fool.com/shop/newsletters/index.aspx?source=isiedilnk018048&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">free for 30 days Opens a New Window.</a>. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that <a href="http://www.fool.com/knowledge-center/motley.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">considering a diverse range of insights Opens a New Window.</a> makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> | The Best International Index Funds for Smart Investors | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/10/12/best-international-index-funds-for-smart-investors.html | 2016-10-12 | 0 |
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<p>Best way to ignore global warming? <a href="http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2006/06/09/nasa_shelves_climate_satellites/" type="external">Cut funding</a> for satellite programs “designed to give scientists critical information on the earth’s changing climate and environment.” It sure is good to be president…</p>
<p>MORE: “The quality and credibility of government research <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/09/science/09research.html?ex=1307505600&amp;en=5ad0d0a7603c0989&amp;ei=5090&amp;partner=rssuserland&amp;emc=rss" type="external">are being jeopardized</a> by inconsistent policies for communicating scientific findings to the public, says an independent group of scientists that advises Congress and the White House.”</p>
<p /> | Head in the Sand | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2006/06/head-sand/ | 2006-06-12 | 4 |
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<p>US vs. China: a 'slap-fight,' not a trade war. So far</p>
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<p>WASHINGTON (AP) — First, the United States imposed a tax on Chinese steel and aluminum. Then, China counterpunched Monday with tariffs on a host of U.S. products, including apples, pork and ginseng. On Wall Street, the stock market buckled on the prospect of an all-out trade war between the world's two biggest economies. But it hasn't come to that — not yet, anyway.</p>
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<p>China raises tariffs on US pork, fruit in trade dispute</p>
<p>BEIJING (AP) — China's move to raise import duties on U.S. pork, apples and other products will hit American farm states, many of which voted for Donald Trump in 2016. But spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders says Trump isn't going to back down in the escalating trade dispute with China. She tells "Fox and Friends" that Trump is "going to fight back and he's going to push back." China's government says it's responding to a U.S. tariff hike on steel and aluminum.</p>
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<p>Tech woes, worsening tensions with China sink US stocks</p>
<p>NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks tumbled Monday after China raised import duties on a number of U.S. exports, bringing the two economic giants closer to a full-on trade conflict. Big technology companies, long investor favorites, suffered heavy losses. The worries over newly protectionist U.S. trade policies combined with blowback over Facebook's ever-widening privacy scandal have prompted investors to take money off the table. That has meant steep drops in former big winners including Netflix, Microsoft and Alphabet.</p>
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<p>EPA to ease back emissions standards</p>
<p>NEW YORK (AP) — Environmental Protection Agency has set a plan to roll back emissions standards for cars and trucks but it didn't specify details. The regulator said Monday standards set by President Barack Obama were inappropriate and too high.</p>
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<p>Facebook CEO defends advertising-supported business model</p>
<p>NEW YORK (AP) — The CEO of Facebook is defending its advertising-supported business model. Mark Zuckerberg's defense comes after Apple CEO Tim Cook said his company wouldn't be in Facebook's situation because Apple doesn't sell ads based on customer data the way Facebook does. Zuckerberg responded Monday that an advertising-supported business model is the only way that the service can survive because not everyone would be able to pay for Facebook if it charged a fee.</p>
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<p>Pace of US factory growth slipped in March</p>
<p>WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. manufacturers say they expanded at a slower pace in March. The Institute for Supply Management, a trade group of purchasing managers, reports that its manufacturing index slipped to 59.3 last month from February's reading of 60.8, which had been the highest since 2004. Any score above 50 signals growth. Multiple companies surveyed for the index said that the introduction of steel and aluminum tariffs by President Donald Trump were causing concerns about rising prices.</p>
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<p>EPA says Pruitt's condo lease didn't violate ethics rules</p>
<p>WASHINGTON (AP) — An agency ethics official at the Environmental Protection Agency says Administrator Scott Pruitt's lease of a Capitol Hill condo tied to a prominent fossil-fuels lobbyist didn't violate federal rules. A memo signed by the official concludes that Pruitt's $50-a-night rental payments constitute a fair market rate. Pruitt paid just for nights he occupied the unit, averaging $1,000 a month. Two-bedroom apartments in the neighborhood typically rent for three to four times that amount per month.</p>
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<p>Puerto Rico gov defies board, rejects reform, pension cuts</p>
<p>SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — The powers of a federal control board overseeing Puerto Rico's finances could soon be tested as the U.S. territory's governor defies its calls to implement more austerity measures amid an 11-year recession. Gov. Ricardo Rossello on Monday rejected demands that his administration submit a revised fiscal plan to include a labor reform and a 10 percent cut to a pension system facing nearly $50 billion in liabilities. He said the plan he will submit Thursday also will not contain any layoffs.</p>
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<p>French train strikes aim to disrupt travel, test Macron</p>
<p>PARIS (AP) — Trains around France are grinding to a stop as unions stage a mass strike to challenge President Emmanuel Macron's strategy for making his country more economically competitive. Passengers are sharing cars or canceling trips after national railway SNCF said the strike will halt 85 percent of France's high-speed trains and 75 percent of regional trains. A quarter of Air France flights will be grounded Tuesday by a separate strike over pay.</p>
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<p>The Standard &amp; Poor's 500 index gave up 58.99 points, or 2.2 percent, to 2,581.88. The Dow Jones industrial average lost 458.92 points, or 1.9 percent, to 23,644.19. The Nasdaq composite slumped 193.33 points, or 2.7 percent, to 6,870.12. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks fell 36.90 points, or 2.4 percent, to 1,492.53.</p>
<p>Benchmark U.S. crude lost $1.93, or 3 percent, to $63.01 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, used to price international oils, slid $1.70, or 2.5 percent, to $67.64 a barrel in London. Wholesale gasoline dropped 5 cents to $1.97 a gallon. Heating oil fell 4 cents to $1.98 a gallon. Natural gas slid 5 cents to $2.68 per 1,000 cubic feet.</p> | Business Highlights | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/11/03/business-highlights.html | 2018-04-02 | 0 |
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<p>♦ The Alexander Wang Vika Croco embossed wedge sandals, $743 from MyTheresa.com are perfect paired with cigarette pants or print dresses for spring.</p>
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<p>The Sue Devitt hydrating marine minerals destination eye palette, $30.75 from Dermstore.com, includes pearly white and different shades of green and is made with shea butter, sea butter, ceramides and vitamins.</p> | Going Green | false | https://abqjournal.com/511327/going-green.html | 2 |
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<p>Secretary of State Hillary Clinton stopped in South Africa yesterday and visited with former president Nelson Mandela, talked with Foreign Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane to shore up support for Syrian rebels, and will discuss AIDS programs tomorrow.</p>
<p>But Clinton hasn't mentioned the topic <a href="http://www.ohchr.org/EN/AboutUs/Pages/Robinson.aspx" type="external">former UN Human Rights Commissioner Mary Robinson</a> called the "enemy of truth": a bill that would punish journalists and whistleblowers who leak classified information by up to 25 years in prison.&#160;</p>
<p>The controversial Protection of State Information bill, colloquially known as the Secrecy Bill, is being considered by South Africa's leading African National Congress (ANC) party, and opponents say it's a huge affront to free speech and a thorn in the side of the on-going battle against corruption in the government.&#160;</p>
<p>The bill contains broad definitions of terms such as "national security" and would punish anyone publishing or accessing information the person "knows or ought reasonably to have known would directly or indirectly benefit" a foreign or non-state entity, including the press and legitimate whistleblowers.&#160;</p>
<p>More from GlobalPost: <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/africa/120806/hillary-clinton-swarmed-bees-malawi-africa-trip" type="external">&#160;Hillary Clinton swarmed by bees in Malawi, meets Mandela on Africa trip</a></p>
<p>The Protection of State Information bill is meant to be an update to an apartheid-era Protection of Information Act 84 of 1982, which is outdated and doesn't properly provide for 21st century security concerns.&#160;</p>
<p>However, many believe this new bill isn't the answer, and it should be either scrubbed completely or significantly rewritten.&#160;</p>
<p>Advocacy group <a href="http://www.r2k.org.za/" type="external">Right2Know</a> (a coalition of similar-minded groups) has been working against the adoption of the bill since its first iteration in 2008, and through its most recent draft, which was debated in the National Assembly in November 2011. Although some revisions were made to the bill, notably removing areas relating to the confusing terms "national interest" and "commercial interest," Right2Know maintains the bill is dangerous to South Africa's democracy.&#160;</p>
<p>"Effectively, parliamentarians are asking us to accept a bill that is the result of emergency surgery," said <a href="http://www.r2k.org.za/2011/08/29/the-secrecy-bill-still-fails-the-freedom-test/" type="external">a statement from Right2Know</a> after the last draft was released. "Through this process we may get a compromised version of a fundamentally flawed Bill but we can never expect it to produce a truly progressive piece of legislation that advances the democratic project in South Africa. This Bill needs to be withdrawn, and redrafted in its entirety!"</p>
<p>Human Rights Watch called on <a href="http://www.hrw.org/node/109225" type="external">Secretary Clinton</a> to broach the issue in an open letter published before she embarked for Africa, saying, "Ever since the bill was introduced in March 2010, it has been subject to serious criticism as being inconsistent with South Africa's constitution and human rights obligations.</p>
<p>More from GlobalPost:&#160; <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatches/globalpost-blogs/global-pulse/video-daughters-journey-cape-town" type="external">A Daughter's Journey: On the Ground in Cape Town, reflecting on HIV/AIDS</a></p>
<p>"The bill has been amended over the past few years, but the draft version still omits a public interest defense. The absence of this clause means that journalists, whistleblowers, and others could be imprisoned for up to 25 years for leaking or sharing information deemed classified by the government and which exposes corruption, mismanagement, or malfeasance, even in the face of a compelling public interest."</p>
<p>Mary Robinson, who acted as the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights from 1997 to 2002 and is the former President of Ireland, is also in South Africa this week, and has jumped at the opportunity to condemn the bill.</p>
<p>Robinson was the keynote speaker at the Tenth Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture at the Cape Town City Hall on Monday and said by passing such legislation that "cloaks the workings of State actors, that interferes with press freedom to investigate corruption, that stifles efforts by whistleblowers to expose corruption,&#160;you are sure to increase those levels of corruption tomorrow."</p>
<p>Although she lauded South Africa's recent history of demonstrable attempts to further democracy, Robinson said the ANC's "moral authority had been eroded in recent years," <a href="http://allafrica.com/stories/201208060917.html" type="external">according to AllAfrica.com</a>. "The public interest demands that basic truth, of having both transparency and accountability in government," she said.&#160;</p>
<p>For her part, Clinton has vaguely called on South African leaders to <a href="http://mg.co.za/article/2012-08-07-clinton-south-africa-leading-role" type="external">step up and be a greater example of democracy</a>on the continent - but she has yet to call out the Secrecy Bill specifically.&#160;</p>
<p>For more of GlobalPost's coverage of Africa, and AIDS specifically, check out our <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/special-reports/aids-turning-point" type="external">Special Report "AIDS: Turning Point."</a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.globalpost.com/special-reports/aids-turning-point" type="external" /></p> | Clinton stays mum on South Africa's 'Secrecy Bill' | false | https://pri.org/stories/2012-08-07/clinton-stays-mum-south-africas-secrecy-bill | 2012-08-07 | 3 |
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<p>The Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives voted on Monday to go to conference on tax legislation with the Senate, moving Congress another step closer to a final bill.</p>
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<p>The House voted 222-192 to go to conference with the Senate, setting up formal negotiations on the legislation that could take weeks to complete. Seven Republicans voted "no."</p>
<p>The Republican-led Senate was expected to hold a similar conference vote later this week.</p>
<p>House Speaker Paul Ryan named nine fellow Republican House members to the conference committee, including Kevin Brady, head of the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee, who will chair it.</p>
<p>The other Republican representatives Ryan appointed were: Rob Bishop, Diane Black, Kristi Noem, Devin Nunes, Peter Roskam, John Shimkus, Greg Walden and Don Young.</p>
<p>House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi appointed five members of her party: Kathy Castor, Lloyd Doggett, Raúl Grijalva, Sander Levin, Richard Neal.</p>
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<p>The Senate narrowly approved its version of the tax overhaul early on Saturday, moving President Donald Trump a step closer to realizing one of his main campaign promises. The House passed its bill last month.</p>
<p>The overhaul would be the largest change to U.S. tax laws since the 1980s. Republicans want to add $1.4 trillion over 10 years to the $20 trillion national debt to finance changes that they say would boost an already growing economy.</p>
<p>(Reporting by David Morgan and Amanda Becker; Editing by Leslie Adler)</p> | Congress moves closer to final tax bill with House vote | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/12/04/congress-moves-closer-to-final-tax-bill-with-house-vote.html | 2017-12-04 | 0 |
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<p>Through Thursday, GM had repaired almost 177,000 of the cars and shipped about 423,000 parts kits to dealers worldwide.</p>
<p>GM says the repairs have been delayed as Delphi Corp., the switch maker, ramps up production of a part for cars that the company is no longer making.</p>
<p>Initially Delphi had only one assembly line building replacement switches, which slowed parts distribution. Now the company has two lines running, and GM expects a third to be operational in late July or early August, spokesman Kevin Kelly said Monday.</p>
<p>“This part wasn’t in production anymore. It’s taken time to get production back up,” said Kelly. GM’s stated goal is to have all 2.6 million replacement parts produced by late October.</p>
<p>Also complicating the ignition switch recall was a separate ignition lock cylinder recall affecting the same vehicles. GM suppliers have had to make both parts, then the company ships them to dealers in a single repair kit.</p>
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<p>GM has offered free loaner cars to those afraid to drive their own vehicles. So far it has paid for almost 67,000.</p>
<p>GM began recalling the cars, mainly Chevrolet Cobalts and Saturn Ions from the 2004 through 2010 model years, in February. The ignition switches can unexpectedly slip from the “run” to “accessory” position, shutting off the engine. That shuts off the power steering and power brakes, making cars harder to control. It also disables the air bags, which won’t inflate in a crash.</p>
<p>GM says the problem has caused at least 54 crashes and 13 deaths, but trial lawyers suing GM say the death toll is more than 60. GM has acknowledged knowing about the problem for more than a decade, yet the cars weren’t recalled until this year.</p>
<p>GM CEO Mary Barra will testify in front of a House subcommittee about the matter for a second time on Wednesday.</p> | 4 months into GM recall, only 7 pct. of cars fixed | false | https://abqjournal.com/416438/4-months-into-gm-recall-only-7-pct-of-cars-fixed.html | 2 |
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<p>FILE – In this Nov. 6, 2013, file photo, a BNSF Railway train hauls crude oil near Wolf Point, Mont. The U.S. Department of Transportation ordered railroads last month to give state officials specifics on oil train routes and volumes so emergency responders can better prepare for accidents. North Dakota’s State Emergency Response Commission unanimously voted to release the state’s information Wednesday June 25, 2014. (AP Photo/Matthew Brown, File)</p>
<p>BISMARCK, N.D. — Dozens of mile-long trains loaded with crude are leaving western North Dakota each week, with most shipments going through the state’s most populous county while en route to refineries across the country.</p>
<p>The U.S. Department of Transportation ordered railroads last month to give state officials specifics on oil train routes and volumes so emergency responders can better prepare for accidents. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said a pattern of fiery accidents involving trains carrying crude from the Bakken region of North Dakota and Montana had created an “imminent hazard” to public safety.</p>
<p>Most notable of those was an oil train derailment last July in Lac-Megantic, Quebec, that killed 47 people.</p>
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<p>Railroads that fail to comply with the order are subject to a $175,000 fine per day and are prohibited from hauling oil from the Bakken region until they do so.</p>
<p>Officials in Montana, California and Florida also released information on oil trains Wednesday in response to requests from The Associated Press.</p>
<p>CSX Corp., Union Pacific and BNSF Railway sought to prevent states from turning over the information, saying details on the shipments are security sensitive. But officials in North Dakota and some other states refused, citing public records laws.</p>
<p>“There is no legal basis to protect what they have provided us at this point,” North Dakota assistant attorney general Mary Kae Kelsch said. “It doesn’t meet any criteria for our state law to protect this.”</p>
<p>Federal officials have said the notifications required of railroads under Foxx’s order are not security sensitive but may include proprietary details that should be kept confidential.</p>
<p>North Dakota’s State Emergency Response Commission unanimously voted to release the state’s information Wednesday.</p>
<p>Homeland Security Director Greg Wilz, who chairs the 18-member emergency panel, said “it doesn’t take a rocket scientist” to figure out how many oil trains are running through communities in the state, the nation’s No. 2 oil producer behind Texas. He said release of the data won’t come as a surprise to most residents.</p>
<p>“Joe can stand on a street corner and figure that out within a week’s period,” Wilz said. “They watch the trains go through their community each and every day.”</p>
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<p>Trains, each pulling more than 100 cars laden with about 3 million gallons of North Dakota crude, began running in 2008 when the state first reached its shipping capacity with existing pipelines and infrastructure. More than 70 percent of the more than 1 million barrels of oil produced daily from the Bakken region is being moved by rail, as producers increasingly have turned to trains to reach U.S. refineries not served by pipelines and where premium prices are fetched.</p>
<p>Railroads hauling Bakken crude in North Dakota — BNSF, Canadian Pacific Railway and Northern Plains, a regional short-line railroad — were ordered to submit information to the state. Data show that the three railroads combined are moving crude through about 30 of North Dakota’s 53 counties, including through the state’s biggest cities of Fargo and Bismarck.</p>
<p>Fargo is in Cass County, where BNSF says it has been averaging more than 40 oil trains a week this month.</p>
<p>Among other states, documents from Montana showed that BNSF oil trains have passed through 30 of the state’s 56 counties. Roosevelt County topped the list, with 20 trains in one week.</p>
<p>In California, documents provided by the state’s Office of Emergency Service showed as many as nine BNSF trains in a week through nine counties. In other weeks, just one BNSF train or none at all traveled through the state. Comparable details on Union Pacific’s operations in California were not yet available.</p>
<p>Florida’s documents showed three trains per week passing through Escambia County on the Alabama border, en route to a transfer station in Walnut Grove.</p>
<p>BNSF, a unit of billionaire Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc., hauls about 75 percent of the oil that leaves the Bakken by train, North Dakota officials said.</p>
<p>Some states have signed confidentiality agreements or otherwise pledged not to release the information, including New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Minnesota.</p>
<p>——</p>
<p>Brown reported from Billings, Mont. Josh Funk in Omaha, Neb., and Gosia Wozniacka in Portland, Ore., contributed to this report.</p> | North Dakota discloses oil train shipment details | false | https://abqjournal.com/420971/north-dakota-discloses-oil-train-shipment-details.html | 2 |
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<p />
<p>What:Shares of online retailerOverstock.com soared 23% last month, according to data from <a href="https://www.capitaliq.com/CIQDotNet/Login.aspx" type="external">S&amp;P Global Market Intelligence</a>, jumping on its fourth-quarter earnings report. As you can see from the chart below, most of the stock's gains came on Feb. 10, following the release of the earnings report.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p><a href="http://ycharts.com/companies/OSTK" type="external">OSTK</a> data by <a href="http://ycharts.com" type="external">YCharts</a></p>
<p>So what: For the fourth quarter, the retailer reported revenue of $480 million and net income of $110,000, or breakeven per share. No analyst estimates were available.</p>
<p>It was the fourth straight profitable year the closeout specialist reported, but while revenue increased 2% in the quarter, contribution profit from its retail segment fell by 4% to $47 million. Earnings per share was also down from $0.06 in the quarter a year ago, a deficit CEO Patrick Byrne blamed on the company's investments in blockchain, or the same technology used by Bitcoin.</p>
<p>What seemed to lift the stock was the CEO's comments about potentially separating its blockchain investment from the core retail business. CEO Patrick Byrne said, "I am exploring a possible synergy between these two wings of our business (retail and our capital markets innovation),but if it does not prove out they will be separated. Given our comfortable cash position, strong cash flow and consistent profitability, I would describe my approach to this as, brisk but not scrambling."</p>
<p>In December, Byrne announced that the SEC had granted him permission to issue stock through the blockchain.</p>
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<p>Now what:Byrne's odyssey into blockchain seems to have attracted Bitcoin enthusiasts and other fans of the new technology, but Overstock's core businesses is still in disrepair. The stock has traded sideways since its inception more than 10 years ago, and has rarely done better than break even. Based on that history, it's hard to make a convincing case for the stock especially with Amazon.com happy to operate near breakeven as well. Some may see value in the blockchain operation, but that remains an unproven business model. The retail operations, meanwhile, continue to sag.</p>
<p>The article <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2016/03/05/why-overstockcom-shares-jumped-23-in-february.aspx" type="external">Why Overstock.com Shares Jumped 23% in February</a> originally appeared on Fool.com.</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFHobo/info.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">Jeremy Bowman</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</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</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</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</a>.</p> | Why Overstock.com Shares Jumped 23% in February | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/03/05/why-overstockcom-shares-jumped-23-in-february.html | 2016-03-28 | 0 |
<p />
<p>By Tom Engelhardt</p>
<p>Let’s forget for a minute the recent <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6802629/site/newsweek/" type="external">Newsweek report</a> that the Pentagon is considering funding 1980s El Salvador-style “death squads” in Iraq, an article which caused enough of a stir to be addressed both by <a href="http://www.defenselink.mil/transcripts/2005/tr20050111-secdef1961.html" type="external">the Secretary of Defense</a> (“somebody has been reading too many spy novels and went off in flights of fancy, which I hope have been put to rest”) and <a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/01/20050110-8.html" type="external">by the White House press spokesman</a>; or the urge among administration hardliners to extend a failing war and occupation across a border in the next few weeks with <a href="http://www.washtimes.com/upi-breaking/20050111-105709-6329r.htm" type="external">strikes into Syria</a>; or the fact, just revealed in a front-page <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/13/politics/13intel.html?ex=1106646769&amp;ei=1&amp;en=858d42cbc04fe551" type="external">New York Times piece</a> that the “we don’t torture” administration sent Condoleezza Rice on a special mission to Capitol Hill to oppose the imposition of Congressional restrictions on, and oversight of, what the two Times reporters politely call CIA “extreme interrogation measures.” Instead, what stays in my mind is a single incident reported recently that caught for me the desolation the Bush administration is spreading in its wake: a desolation of place, of our military, of our values, of our language.</p>
<p>On January 7, an American plane dropped a 500-pound bomb on a house in a village near the northern Iraqi city of Mosul. The house, the military announced afterwards, was <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A59325-2005Jan8?language=printer" type="external">“not the intended target”</a> in what was called “a cordon and search operation to capture an anti-Iraqi force cell leader.” An argument promptly began as to whether, as the military claimed, 5 people had been killed or, as people on the ground claimed, 14 people, including 7 children. (This sort of argument has been a commonplace of such incidents in both Afghanistan and Iraq since 2001.) The military also issued an expression of regret — and it was a phrase in that statement which still hangs desolately in my memory. The military announced that it “deeply regretted the loss of possibly innocent lives.” Think of that. A 500-pound bomb hits what they themselves then believed not to be “the intended target” and what they regretted was the loss of “possibly innocent” lives. Was it simply assumed by now that so many Iraqis support the insurgency in areas like Mosul that even in the “wrong” house the odds of “innocence” were slim?</p>
<p>A homespun version of Iraqi desolation came my way recently via an e-mail sent in by an Iraqi exile from the Saddam years who is still in exile. She writes:</p>
<p />
<p>“I just finished reading Dahr Jamail’s article about Iraq and thought I might add my personal account of the situation there. Here is what I heard from my family (in Baghdad) in the last few weeks:</p>
<p>“1. As of last week, they have only two hours of electricity for every ten hours of black-out.</p>
<p>“2. Several female hairdressing salons have been bombed and the others are threatened by the fanatics. The result: Most salons are now closed for business.</p>
<p>“3. Male barbers were also given warnings not to do specific hair styles only God knows why!!</p>
<p>“4. One of my sister’s friends has been killed because he failed to stop at an American checkpoint. It was a bit dark and his eyesight wasn’t 100%. In his panic he just rushed past the checkpoint. It is one of the tragedies that are occurring every day and have been since the start of the war. The reason is so simple; no one educated the soldiers that the Iraqi, when faced with such a situation, accelerates instead of stopping. This habit had been instilled in the Iraqi mind during the terrorizing years of [Saddam Hussein’s] dictatorship. The last thing anyone would want was to be caught up at a checkpoint because this could lead to prison and possibly death, regardless of whether he/she was involved in anything suspicious. All that was needed was for someone to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.</p>
<p>“Unfortunately, I learned that the hard way when my husband was arrested at such a checkpoint. He was released one month later after the intelligence forces were satisfied he wasn’t involved in anything suspicious, but in that month he had gone through some horrible experiences, which to this day he refuses to talk about (even to me), and which still haunt his nights.”</p>
<p>Of course, there is now nothing more literally desolate in Iraq than the Carthage we’ve created in Falluja.</p>
<p>Tom Engelhardt is the writer and editor of <a href="http://www.tomdispatch.com" type="external">Tomdispatch.com</a>, where this piece first appeared as an introduction to Michael Schwartz’s essay, <a href="/news/update/2005/01/01_400.html" type="external">Falluja: City Without a Future?</a></p>
<p /> | Desolate Falluja | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2005/01/desolate-falluja/ | 2005-01-14 | 4 |
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<p>Jazz guitarist Peter White released his latest album, "Smile," in 2014.</p>
<p />
<p>ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - Peter White always looks forward to touring. It's a perfect time for him to relax.</p>
<p>"It's like a vacation," he says with a laugh. "Being on tour isn't really work. The work all comes beforehand in creating the music."</p>
<p>For nearly four decades, White has made music and been on tour. His latest effort is 2014's "Smile" and the jazz guitarist has slowed down a bit when it comes to writing.</p>
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<p>White spends a lot of time with his music these days.</p>
<p>"Writing is very lonely," he says. "I only write a song now when I feel it. I haven't written a new song in some time now. I've released three albums since 2009 and those were all songs I wrote 15 years ago."</p>
<p>White's guitar skills have taken him all over the world. It was his 20-year collaboration with Al Stewart that helped him gain some recognition around the world.</p>
<p>In 1990, White began to record as a solo artist, though he didn't stop working with others. In fact, he had a few albums working with Basia, Windows and Creed Bratton.</p>
<p>"I've always enjoyed collaborating with other musicians," he says. "I've been very fortunate to have a great career and bring along a lot of fans."</p>
<p>Over the course of his career, White still can't pinpoint where his inspiration for songs comes from.</p>
<p>"When my father passed away in 2000, the first song I wrote after his passing was about him," he says. "I didn't know it at the time. As time has gone by, I realized the song is about him. The inspiration just comes whether I recognize it or not. It's always been that way."</p>
<p>It's been a long time since White has performed in Albuquerque and he is looking forward to playing at the Rio Grande Zoo.</p>
<p>"Those types of shows are really fun because I get a chance to be a bit more free," he says. "I'll be performing songs from throughout my career and it's exciting to be able to get back and do those types of shows."</p>
<p /> | Peter White brings songs from his 'Smile' album and plays at the Rio Grande Zoo | false | https://abqjournal.com/613708/smile.html | 2 |
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<p />
<p>They’re frequently asked during mayoral forums what they would do to get a handle on the problem. In their responses, several of the candidates have relayed to voters how crime has personally impacted them or members of their family.</p>
<p>What follows is the mayoral candidates’ views — in their own words — regarding how they would address the city’s crime issue. The answers are in response to two questions on Journal questionnaires sent to the candidates, who were restricted to 40 words for each answer.</p>
<p>1. What is the biggest issue facing the city, and how would you address it?</p>
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<p>Ricardo Chaves</p>
<p>Other cities have solved the crime problem. It’s not unsolvable. It comes down to leadership. I’d find a new chief and review the command staff, individually. We need more police on the beat, where they can fight crime effectively.</p>
<p>Brian Colón</p>
<p>Undoubtedly, crime. Our crime epidemic has spiraled nearly into a state of lawlessness. This is the current administration’s failure. Our community deserves trust in its police department, rebuilt through an appropriately-staffed and highly trained police force.</p>
<p>Michelle Garcia Holmes</p>
<p>Crime; I will take a multipronged approach to aggressively combat crime in our city by holding criminals and our criminal justice system accountable; collaboration with the DA’s Office, U.S. Attorney and federal partners widens our net to ensure repeat offenders are prosecuted.</p>
<p>Wayne Johnson</p>
<p>Crime — it affects everything from quality of life to job creation. We need to give back the keys to APD from DOJ; build better coordination with the DA; and demand judges send repeat offenders to prison where they belong.</p>
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<p>Tim Keller</p>
<p>Albuquerque is a strong, special place with immense challenges. We have the highest crime rates in a decade and fewer job opportunities. Few are getting ahead, many left behind. Let’s meet these challenges head-on and build a safe, inclusive, innovative city.</p>
<p>Dan Lewis</p>
<p>Albuquerque is plagued by an unprecedented rise in auto theft, property crimes, and violent crimes — with fewer officers on the streets, and fewer criminals in our jail. We will make our city the worst place to be a criminal.</p>
<p>Gus Pedrotty</p>
<p>Crime, but crime is a symptom of economics, health, and opportunity. We’ll address mental health and homelessness to decrease crime. In turn, we’ll create a larger and more invigorated workforce and business climate to bring jobs and opportunity to Albuquerque.</p>
<p>Susan Wheeler-Deichsel</p>
<p>Crime and public safety:</p>
<p>a. Complete DOJ agreement, meeting or exceeding terms.</p>
<p>b. Replace police chief.</p>
<p>c. Address issues related to: poverty (systemic); patterns of low educational outcomes (systemic); addiction; non-optimal job prospects (systemic); apathy of public toward sharing responsibilities for keeping neighborhoods safe and crime-free.</p>
<p>2. What would you do to tackle Albuquerque’s crime problem?</p>
<p>Ricardo Chaves</p>
<p>We need more police on the beat, and but we must address problems in the command staff, including the chief, which will help address morale problems in the department.</p>
<p>Brian Colón</p>
<p>Albuquerque needs targeted police units to reduce violent and property crime. Community policing and partnership efforts must be supplemented with stringent pretrial procedures, repeat-offender review with enhanced criminal prosecution, mental health training, treatment for individuals with addiction and gang prevention.</p>
<p>Michelle Garcia Holmes</p>
<p>By supporting my chief to work with technology and proven practices like the Albuquerque Regional Auto Theft Unit, to attack our metro-wide auto theft problem, and a Felony Case Review Team to ensure all investigated felony cases are complete, ready for prosecution and tracked.</p>
<p>Wayne Johnson</p>
<p>In the short term, I’ll look for resources, create partnerships and bring those resources to bear to stamp out our crime wave. One potential partner is the fully staffed Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Department. Use budgeted city dollars to strategically deploy sheriff’s deputies in the city.</p>
<p>Tim Keller</p>
<p>Our plan includes instituting real community policing; embracing and completing DOJ efforts; taking better care of our front-line officers by no longer waiting for others, pointing fingers, or making excuses for officer shortage; and addressing addiction, mental health and homelessness.</p>
<p>Dan Lewis</p>
<p>Keep repeat offenders in jail and out of our neighborhoods, put 1,200 officers on our streets performing community policing, and ensure they are well-led, better-paid, and well-trained with the resources to do their job effectively.</p>
<p>Gus Pedrotty</p>
<p>Finish the Department of Justice mandate, fully staff police and legal departments, and overhaul emergency service delivery. Through non-officer, service-based response to homelessness and addiction, we save money, reduce strain on officers, and provide better outcomes and services for all residents.</p>
<p>Susan Wheeler-Deichsel</p>
<p>See #1.</p> | Crime is top priority for ABQ mayoral candidates | false | https://abqjournal.com/1055481/crime-is-top-priority-for-mayoral-candidates-2.html | 2 |
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<p />
<p>This morning’s Column One feature in the Los Angeles Times is a terrific first-person <a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-letter20sep20,1,5922804,print.story" type="external">account</a> of life in Baghdad. It is written by an unnamed Iraqi reporter for the paper, and reading almost any random paragraph shows why he had to go unbylined.</p>
<p>I see my neighbors less and less. When I go out, I say hello and that’s it. I fear someone will ask questions about my job working for Americans, which could put me in danger. Even if he had no ill will toward me, he might talk and reveal an identifying detail. We’re afraid of an enemy among us. Someone we don’t know. It’s a cancer.</p>
<p>It’s a revealing look at the unspoken, and unreported, reality behind the news we do get from Iraq. Dexter Filkins, who has done terrific reporting for the New York Times from Iraq, recently said that 98 percent of Iraq, including most of Baghdad, is now off-limits to Western journalists, a startling figure that begs the question of why reports from Iraq don’t include such a disclaimer</p>
<p>Filkin’s talk at Manhattan offices of the Committee to Protect Journalists offered a revealing <a href="http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003122985" type="external">look</a> behind the scenes of Iraq reporting. Editor &amp; Publisher noted that the Times, employs “45 full-time Kalashnikov-toting security guards to patrol its two blast-wall-enclosed houses—and oversee belt-fed machine-guns on the roofs of the buildings.”</p>
<p>American journalists, [Filkins] said, spend their days piecing together scraps of information from the Iraqi reporters to construct a picture, albeit incomplete, of what life is like these days in the war-torn country. But he says that the work is slow and difficult, and it is hard in such an atmosphere for reporters to nail down specifics. “Five people doing a run-of-the-mill story takes forever,” he said.</p>
<p>Filkins’ reading of the situation overall raises the question of where to Bush administration is getting its optimistic assessments of progress in Iraq:</p>
<p>Most troubling was Filkins’ assessment that the U.S. military may not know much more than the Times does about what life is like on the ground in Iraq. Soldiers barely leave their bases and they don’t interact very much with average Iraqis, he said, so it is hard to say who, if anyone, has an accurate picture of the current situation.</p>
<p /> | The Other 98 Percent of Iraq | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2006/09/other-98-percent-iraq/ | 2006-09-20 | 4 |
<p />
<p>Are you prepared to spend more than a full day filling out your tax return? That's the IRS' estimate of how long it will take the average taxpayer to complete Form 1040.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Sure, that includes the time it takes to pull together and sort through all your necessary tax receipts and records, learn about the Form 1040, decipher its instructions, copy the completed form and send it in. But even discounting these ancillary duties, the IRS figures it still will take around four hours just to fill out this most popular income tax return.</p>
<p>And if you have additional schedules or tax credits to file, you might be measuring your tax time by the calendar instead of the clock.</p>
<p>Don't want to spend that much time with your 1040? Then tax-preparation software may be the answer. These packages promise to save you time and money by putting tax law and the forms you need at your fingertips. And some tax-prep devotees contend they can even save your sanity during tax season.</p>
<p>If you decide this year to join the millions who do taxes on a computer instead of paper, here are some ways to make the process go more smoothly.</p>
<p>Determine your needs Not too long ago, there were only a few choices when it came to doing your taxes by computer. But nowadays, a new tax-prep package seems to appear daily between Jan. 1 and the filing deadline. That means you must do some homework before you pick a program.</p>
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<p>First, evaluate your personal situation. Are your taxes relatively simple or do you have a lot of considerations, such as a freelance job on the side, that could add to or cut your tax bill and filing requirements? Not exactly sure? Then look for a program with lots of explanations that walk you through the process step by step.</p>
<p>If, however, you're an old hand at tax filing but want the software calculators that double-check your math, look for a package that lets you easily skip over sections.</p>
<p>And don't forget the technical requirements. Make sure your computer can handle the software: that it has enough memory, the proper operating system, etc. Nothing's more frustrating than getting a product home and finding out you can't use it.</p>
<p>Comparison shop Once you've decided what you need from a tax-prep package, shop around. Don't waste any potential tax savings by overpaying upfront. Look not only at the software's base price, but also at any costs for options and upgrades. Some TurboTax customers were surprised this filing season when the makers of the popular tax software made changes that required them to upgrade to more expensive versions.</p>
<p>Is the cost of electronically sending your federal return to the IRS included? Do you have state forms to file? Are they and their e-filing with your state part of the package or is there an extra fee?</p>
<p>Will the product let you complete more than one return, say the joint one you file with your wife, as well as your son's 1040EZ?</p>
<p>Does the program provide assistance by phone, chat or email to help answer any tax questions you might have? If so, is it available 24/7? You're likely to be working on your return on weekends or after usual business hours.</p>
<p>Be sure that as you evaluate the costs of different packages, you examine comparable options.</p>
<p>Start at the beginning You've loaded the perfect program onto your computer and are ready to knock out that pesky return. Stop! Read the introduction.</p>
<p>Even if you're an experienced filer and have used the same program in past tax years, companies invariably tweak their products, as noted in the TurboTax case. They also usually offer tips on ways to more easily maneuver the new features. By taking a few minutes to familiarize yourself with the program, you'll likely save yourself some frustration later in the process.</p>
<p>Find the 'help' link As you're learning about your new software, locate the "help" link. We're not talking the "tax tip" button, but rather the link that will take you to technical assistance staff. A sudden error message is never welcome, especially not when you're on line 57 of some detailed tax schedule.</p>
<p>Most software programs offer online and phone support for specific problems, as well as a basic troubleshooting guide as part of the package. Know how you can get to this help before you need it.</p>
<p>Run the final form check You're done! Not quite. Before you print out or e-file your return, run the "review" option. This feature is included on most packages. On some, it's automatic as soon as you fill in the last line of the last form.</p>
<p>Keep in mind, however, that what a software program flags may not necessarily be an error. Many times the reviews also point out reminders or suggestions related to certain entries. Run the review, consider whether the suggestions will help (or even apply to) you and correct any legitimate mistakes. You'll be glad you, rather than the tax examiner, caught them.</p>
<p>Save your work When you're finished, don't be in a hurry to shut down the software. Save your return as a file on your computer, as a printed copy or both. You'll want this confirmation in case the IRS doesn't get your return, or worse, has some questions about it. Most of us should keep our tax records for at least three years; hang onto them for six if you may have underreported income. That's how long the IRS has to take a closer look at your filings.</p>
<p>Check out other options Finally, consider the possibility that you may not need to buy tax software at all. Free File, for example, is a joint IRS and tax software company program that makes online tax preparation and e-filing free to millions of filers.</p>
<p>The free tax preparation and filing service is available to taxpayers whose incomes don't exceed a certain amount, which is $60,000 this filing season. If Free File appeals to you -- and you qualify to use it -- you'll definitely save some bucks, as well as time.</p>
<p>If you're not eligible for Free File, you still may be able to get a deal by filing online for a fee. You don't have to purchase the software; simply go to the software company's website and pay a fee to use the tax program. Your tax return then is filed electronically and your tax data is stored at the vendor's site.</p>
<p>But don't simply accept the first free (or discounted) tax-filing program you find. Even though you're not buying the software, you still need to make sure it fits your tax needs.</p>
<p>Veteran contributing editor Kay Bell writes Bankrate's tax stories from her Austin, Texas, home. She also writes two tax blogs, Bankrate's Taxes Blog and Don't Mess With Taxes. She is the author of the book "The Truth About Paying Fewer Taxes," and a co-author of the book "Future Millionaires' Guidebook."</p>
<p>More from <a href="http://www.bankrate.com" type="external">Bankrate.com Opens a New Window.</a>: <a href="http://www.bankrate.com/financing/taxes/turbotax-changes-could-cost-filers/" type="external">TurboTax changes could cost filers Opens a New Window.</a> <a href="http://www.bankrate.com/financing/taxes/free-file-2015-opens-jan-16/?ic_id=related_post" type="external">Free File 2015 opens Jan. 16 Opens a New Window.</a> <a href="http://www.bankrate.com/finance/taxes/6-tax-terrors-and-how-to-overcome-them-1.aspx" type="external">Overcoming 6 tax terrors when preparing your taxes Opens a New Window.</a></p> | What You Need to Know About Tax-Prep Software | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2015/02/16/what-need-to-know-about-tax-prep-software.html | 2016-03-06 | 0 |
<p>WASHINGTON (AP) — War is hell for wildlife, too. A new study finds that wartime is the biggest threat to Africa's elephants, rhinos, hippos and other large animals.</p>
<p>The researchers analyzed how decades of conflict in Africa have affected populations of large animals. More than 70 percent of Africa's protected wildlife areas fell inside a war zone at some point since 1946, many of them repeatedly, they found. The more often the war, the steeper the drop in the mammal population, said Yale University ecologist Josh Daskin, lead author of a study in Wednesday's journal <a href="http://www.nature.com/nature" type="external">Nature</a> .</p>
<p>"It takes very little conflict, as much as one conflict in about 20 years, for the average wildlife population to be declining," Daskin said.</p>
<p>The areas with the most frequent battles — not necessarily the bloodiest — lose 35 percent of their mammal populations each year there's fighting, he said.</p>
<p>Although some animals are killed in the crossfire or by land mines, war primarily changes social and economic conditions in a way that make it tough on animals, said study co-author Rob Pringle, an ecologist at Princeton University.</p>
<p>People in and near war zones are poorer and hungrier. So they poach more often for valuable tusks or hunt protected animals to eat, Pringle said. Conservation programs don't have much money, power or even the ability to protect animals during wartime, Pringle said.</p>
<p>Most of the time, some animals do survive wars. Researchers found animal populations completely wiped out only in six instances — including a large group of giraffes in a Ugandan park between 1983 and 1995 during two civil wars.</p>
<p>Other studies have looked at individual war zones and found animal populations that shrink and others that grow. For example, the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea is great for wildlife because it has "acted almost as a de facto park for almost seven decades," Daskin said.</p>
<p>The new study covered the entire continent over 65 years. The researchers looked at 10 different factors that could change population numbers, including war, drought, animal size, protected areas and human population density.</p>
<p>The number of wars had the biggest effect on population while the intensity of the wars — measured in human deaths — had the least.</p>
<p>By looking at the big picture, the research supports what many experts figured, that "war is a major driver of wildlife population declines across Africa," said Kaitlyn Gaynor, an ecology researcher on war and wildlife at the University of California, Berkeley. She was not part of the study.</p>
<p>Greg Carr, an American philanthropist and head of a nonprofit group working in and around Mozambique's Gorongosa National <a href="http://www.gorongosa.org/" type="external">Park</a> , said the findings are not surprising. The park's wildlife populations plunged during the country's civil war, but Carr attributes it more to poverty than war.</p>
<p>"With or without war, poverty is the threat to wildlife in Africa going forward," Carr said in an email.</p>
<p>Gorongosa is an example of how bad war is for wildlife, but also how quickly animals can recover, the researchers said.</p>
<p>The civil war that ended in 1992 decimated the area with both rebel and government soldiers hunting "their way through the wildlife in the park," Daskin said. Species came close to "blinking out," but not quite. Now wildlife is back to 80 percent of prewar levels, Daskin said.</p>
<p>"The effect of war on wildlife is bad," Pringle said. "But it's not apocalyptic."</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>AP reporter Christopher Torchia contributed to this report from London.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Follow Seth Borenstein on Twitter at <a href="https://twitter.com/borenbears" type="external">@borenbears</a> . His work can be found <a href="" type="internal">here</a> .</p>
<p>WASHINGTON (AP) — War is hell for wildlife, too. A new study finds that wartime is the biggest threat to Africa's elephants, rhinos, hippos and other large animals.</p>
<p>The researchers analyzed how decades of conflict in Africa have affected populations of large animals. More than 70 percent of Africa's protected wildlife areas fell inside a war zone at some point since 1946, many of them repeatedly, they found. The more often the war, the steeper the drop in the mammal population, said Yale University ecologist Josh Daskin, lead author of a study in Wednesday's journal <a href="http://www.nature.com/nature" type="external">Nature</a> .</p>
<p>"It takes very little conflict, as much as one conflict in about 20 years, for the average wildlife population to be declining," Daskin said.</p>
<p>The areas with the most frequent battles — not necessarily the bloodiest — lose 35 percent of their mammal populations each year there's fighting, he said.</p>
<p>Although some animals are killed in the crossfire or by land mines, war primarily changes social and economic conditions in a way that make it tough on animals, said study co-author Rob Pringle, an ecologist at Princeton University.</p>
<p>People in and near war zones are poorer and hungrier. So they poach more often for valuable tusks or hunt protected animals to eat, Pringle said. Conservation programs don't have much money, power or even the ability to protect animals during wartime, Pringle said.</p>
<p>Most of the time, some animals do survive wars. Researchers found animal populations completely wiped out only in six instances — including a large group of giraffes in a Ugandan park between 1983 and 1995 during two civil wars.</p>
<p>Other studies have looked at individual war zones and found animal populations that shrink and others that grow. For example, the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea is great for wildlife because it has "acted almost as a de facto park for almost seven decades," Daskin said.</p>
<p>The new study covered the entire continent over 65 years. The researchers looked at 10 different factors that could change population numbers, including war, drought, animal size, protected areas and human population density.</p>
<p>The number of wars had the biggest effect on population while the intensity of the wars — measured in human deaths — had the least.</p>
<p>By looking at the big picture, the research supports what many experts figured, that "war is a major driver of wildlife population declines across Africa," said Kaitlyn Gaynor, an ecology researcher on war and wildlife at the University of California, Berkeley. She was not part of the study.</p>
<p>Greg Carr, an American philanthropist and head of a nonprofit group working in and around Mozambique's Gorongosa National <a href="http://www.gorongosa.org/" type="external">Park</a> , said the findings are not surprising. The park's wildlife populations plunged during the country's civil war, but Carr attributes it more to poverty than war.</p>
<p>"With or without war, poverty is the threat to wildlife in Africa going forward," Carr said in an email.</p>
<p>Gorongosa is an example of how bad war is for wildlife, but also how quickly animals can recover, the researchers said.</p>
<p>The civil war that ended in 1992 decimated the area with both rebel and government soldiers hunting "their way through the wildlife in the park," Daskin said. Species came close to "blinking out," but not quite. Now wildlife is back to 80 percent of prewar levels, Daskin said.</p>
<p>"The effect of war on wildlife is bad," Pringle said. "But it's not apocalyptic."</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>AP reporter Christopher Torchia contributed to this report from London.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Follow Seth Borenstein on Twitter at <a href="https://twitter.com/borenbears" type="external">@borenbears</a> . His work can be found <a href="" type="internal">here</a> .</p> | African elephant, hippo, rhino populations shrink in wartime | false | https://apnews.com/amp/7af09be963e3494e878a74906fb1412d | 2018-01-10 | 2 |
<p />
<p>What happened to 14-year-old Jason Smith? His death was ruled an “accidental drowning” by the coroner in Eros, Louisiana, but his body was found with his organs missing… Either that, or as Smith’s family believes, somebody removed them. Smith’s family is convinced that he was murdered in a racially-motivated hate crime. Moreover, they are pointing the finger at the son of an FBI agent, suggesting that the crime is being covered-up because of his involvement.</p>
<p>Smith had been dead for hours before his body was recovered from a lake back on June 6, 2011.&#160;It is unreasonable to imagine, however, that the time his body was in the lake would have resulted in the decomposition or selective removal of organs by predators, while the rest of his body was not destroyed.</p>
<p>Could the organs have been removed for some other reason? Could have have been removed to rid the investigation of any evidence contrary to the coroner’s claim that Smith had died as the result of an accidental drowning? That is: no lungs, no proof that he&#160;didn’t drown.</p>
<p>Jason’s father also claims that his son was sexually assaulted before being murdered. He alleges that Jason’s murderers was the son of an FBI agent and that is why this case is being covered up. Mr. Smith claims that police tried to kill him and another son when they were leaving the&#160;Louisiana town where the murder happened.</p>
<p>After this murder happened, the story received so little attention that <a href="http://www.change.org/petitions/united-states-department-of-justice-attorney-general-eric-holder-to-reopen-the-case-of-drowning-black-teen-jason-smith-in-eros-louisiana" type="external">a petition calling for a federal investigation into Smith’s death</a>, only received a few hundred signatures.</p>
<p>Watch the video below and help change that by SPREADING THE WORD to anyone and everyone you know who believes there is something off about this story.</p>
<p /> | African American Teen Found Dead In Lake, Organs Missing | true | http://politicalblindspot.com/african-american-teen-found-dead-in-lake-organs-missing/ | 2014-03-04 | 4 |
<p>A federal judge is scheduled to hear arguments over a plan to open a tribal gambling hall on Martha's Vineyard.</p>
<p>Massachusetts, the town of Aquinnah and a local community association are suing to block the plan by the Aquinnah Wampanoags.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>The sides will make their case Wednesday in Boston.</p>
<p>The Aquinnah Wampanoags say federal law allows them to operate certain types of gambling because they are a federally recognized tribe.</p>
<p>Opponents counter that the tribe effectively forfeited its gambling rights when it reached a settlement for its ancestral lands on Martha's Vineyard in 1983.</p>
<p>The tribe wants to offer electronic, high-stakes bingo-style games but not familiar casino table games like blackjack or poker. It began building the facility last month, but a judge ordered the work to stop.</p> | Federal judge to hear arguments over plan to open tribal gambling hall on Martha's Vineyard | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2015/08/12/federal-judge-to-hear-arguments-over-plan-to-open-tribal-gambling-hall-on.html | 2016-03-05 | 0 |
<p>Published time: 6 Oct, 2017 14:44</p>
<p>Footage has emerged of far-right provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos singing ‘America the Beautiful’ in a Texas karaoke bar as admirers, including known white supremacists, raise their arms in Nazi salute.</p>
<p>The video, filmed in Dallas in April last year and obtained by BuzzFeed, was released alongside leaked emails from 2015 that show how Steve Bannon, the former editor of Breitbart News, which staunchly backed Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, allegedly used Yiannopoulos to court white supremacists and neo-Nazis for stories.</p>
<p>[embedded content]</p>
<p>Soon-to-be White House chief strategist Bannon wrote to Yiannopoulos, the website’s former tech editor, urging him to start a culture war with Islam and the left and “go help save western civilization.”</p>
<p>Bannon wrote: “Dude—we r in a global existentialist war where our enemy EXISTS in social media . . . U should be OWNING this conversation because u r everything they hate!!!”</p>
<p>Read more</p>
<p><a href="https://www.rt.com/uk/377954-milo-yiannopoulos-pedophilia-video/" type="external" /></p>
<p>The emails also allegedly show Yiannopoulos asked for input from extremist figures when writing an article on the so-called ‘alt-right.’</p>
<p>Those consulted are said to have included Andrew Auernheimer, a hacker who helps run the Daily Stormer, a neo-Nazi website, and Curtis Yarvin, a writer who has argued that black people have lower IQs than white people for genetic reasons.</p>
<p>BuzzFeed also found he had used passwords to private accounts with references to the Kristallnacht and the Night of Long Knives – a purge of German Jews and homosexuals by the parliamentary organization that helped Adolf Hitler rise to power.</p>
<p>When contacted for comment by BuzzFeed, Yiannopoulos claimed he finds “humor in breaking taboos,” adding that “everyone who knows me also knows I’m not a racist.”</p>
<p>As for the fact that well-known white supremacists, including Richard Spencer, were doing the ‘seig heil’ gesture, Yiannopoulos feigned ignorance based on his supposedly poor eyesight. He said his “severe myopia” made it impossible for him to see the Hitler salutes a few feet away.</p>
<p>“In a dark bar, I did not see these hand gestures. If I’d have realized white nationalist losers were hailing me as their leader, I’d have immediately walked off stage.”</p>
<p>He added: “I have been and am a steadfast supporter of Jews and Israel. I disavow white nationalism and I disavow racism and always have.”</p>
<p>[embedded content]</p>
<p>Yiannopoulos, 32, was born in Kent and worked as a technology blogger before reinventing himself in the US as a firebrand against feminism and political correctness.</p>
<p>It is the second time this year that an unearthed video has caused him embarrassment. He lost a $250,000 book deal and was forced to quit Breitbart in February when a clip emerged of him appearing to defend relationships between men and boys aged 13.</p>
<p>He retracted and apologized for the comments.</p> | Milo Yiannopoulos filmed singing ‘America the Beautiful’ while neo-Nazis salute him (VIDEO) | false | https://newsline.com/milo-yiannopoulos-filmed-singing-america-the-beautiful-while-neo-nazis-salute-him-video/ | 2017-10-06 | 1 |
<p>DETROIT (AP) _ These Michigan lotteries were drawn Tuesday:</p>
<p>Poker Lotto</p>
<p>AD-AH-7C-2H-3H</p>
<p>(AD, AH, 7C, 2H, 3H)</p>
<p>Midday Daily 3</p>
<p>9-6-7</p>
<p>(nine, six, seven)</p>
<p>Midday Daily 4</p>
<p>3-7-8-6</p>
<p>(three, seven, eight, six)</p>
<p>Daily 3</p>
<p>9-0-2</p>
<p>(nine, zero, two)</p>
<p>Daily 4</p>
<p>8-7-4-2</p>
<p>(eight, seven, four, two)</p>
<p>Fantasy 5</p>
<p>02-04-13-27-30</p>
<p>(two, four, thirteen, twenty-seven, thirty)</p>
<p>Estimated jackpot: $110,000</p>
<p>Keno</p>
<p>06-07-08-11-14-15-16-18-19-26-33-36-47-49-57-58-60-62-63-64-67-70</p>
<p>(six, seven, eight, eleven, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty-six, thirty-three, thirty-six, forty-seven, forty-nine, fifty-seven, fifty-eight, sixty, sixty-two, sixty-three, sixty-four, sixty-seven, seventy)</p>
<p>Mega Millions</p>
<p>03-11-23-29-59, Mega Ball: 18, Megaplier: 3</p>
<p>(three, eleven, twenty-three, twenty-nine, fifty-nine; Mega Ball: eighteen; Megaplier: three)</p>
<p>Estimated jackpot: $50 million</p>
<p>Powerball</p>
<p>Estimated jackpot: $62 million</p>
<p>DETROIT (AP) _ These Michigan lotteries were drawn Tuesday:</p>
<p>Poker Lotto</p>
<p>AD-AH-7C-2H-3H</p>
<p>(AD, AH, 7C, 2H, 3H)</p>
<p>Midday Daily 3</p>
<p>9-6-7</p>
<p>(nine, six, seven)</p>
<p>Midday Daily 4</p>
<p>3-7-8-6</p>
<p>(three, seven, eight, six)</p>
<p>Daily 3</p>
<p>9-0-2</p>
<p>(nine, zero, two)</p>
<p>Daily 4</p>
<p>8-7-4-2</p>
<p>(eight, seven, four, two)</p>
<p>Fantasy 5</p>
<p>02-04-13-27-30</p>
<p>(two, four, thirteen, twenty-seven, thirty)</p>
<p>Estimated jackpot: $110,000</p>
<p>Keno</p>
<p>06-07-08-11-14-15-16-18-19-26-33-36-47-49-57-58-60-62-63-64-67-70</p>
<p>(six, seven, eight, eleven, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty-six, thirty-three, thirty-six, forty-seven, forty-nine, fifty-seven, fifty-eight, sixty, sixty-two, sixty-three, sixty-four, sixty-seven, seventy)</p>
<p>Mega Millions</p>
<p>03-11-23-29-59, Mega Ball: 18, Megaplier: 3</p>
<p>(three, eleven, twenty-three, twenty-nine, fifty-nine; Mega Ball: eighteen; Megaplier: three)</p>
<p>Estimated jackpot: $50 million</p>
<p>Powerball</p>
<p>Estimated jackpot: $62 million</p> | MI Lottery | false | https://apnews.com/amp/c72cd8ae5c8e4bef90679ced8d5cdd06 | 2018-01-17 | 2 |
<p>ST. LOUIS (AP) - A St. Louis man is no longer facing criminal charges in a deadly car accident, after prosecutors learned he was not driving the car that caused the wreck.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/man-faced-manslaughter-charge-in-deadly-st-louis-crash-until/article_f93bb6c0-1271-5308-a1c0-2ce41cf01119.html" type="external">The St. Louis Post-Dispatch</a> reports that the circuit attorney's office on Thursday dismissed involuntary manslaughter and armed criminal action charges against 31-year-old Ronnie Spencer.</p>
<p>He was accused of driving drunk and while on drugs in the November 25, 2013, accident that killed 31-year-old Robert Gilbert, a passenger in the same car.</p>
<p>Three of the four men in the car were ejected. Spencer's attorney says all four were intoxicated as they were returning from clubs on the Illinois side of the St. Louis area.</p>
<p>Attorney Terence Niehoff says fire department records identified another man as the driver.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Information from: St. Louis Post-Dispatch, <a href="http://www.stltoday.com" type="external">http://www.stltoday.com</a></p>
<p>ST. LOUIS (AP) - A St. Louis man is no longer facing criminal charges in a deadly car accident, after prosecutors learned he was not driving the car that caused the wreck.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/man-faced-manslaughter-charge-in-deadly-st-louis-crash-until/article_f93bb6c0-1271-5308-a1c0-2ce41cf01119.html" type="external">The St. Louis Post-Dispatch</a> reports that the circuit attorney's office on Thursday dismissed involuntary manslaughter and armed criminal action charges against 31-year-old Ronnie Spencer.</p>
<p>He was accused of driving drunk and while on drugs in the November 25, 2013, accident that killed 31-year-old Robert Gilbert, a passenger in the same car.</p>
<p>Three of the four men in the car were ejected. Spencer's attorney says all four were intoxicated as they were returning from clubs on the Illinois side of the St. Louis area.</p>
<p>Attorney Terence Niehoff says fire department records identified another man as the driver.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Information from: St. Louis Post-Dispatch, <a href="http://www.stltoday.com" type="external">http://www.stltoday.com</a></p> | Charges dropped in deadly wreck: Wrong driver accused | false | https://apnews.com/amp/ceefbf70dc424573a531146fc04f35b2 | 2018-01-06 | 2 |
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<p>FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. — A clergy sex abuse lawsuit against the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament and an Arizona school has been settled.</p>
<p>The Gallup Independent reports Phoenix attorney Robert E. Pastor, who represents the woman who filed the suit, says “the agreement has been finalized.”</p>
<p>The lawsuit, which was filed in Coconino County Superior Court in 2015, centered on the childhood sexual molestation of the plaintiff, who filed the lawsuit as Jane L.S. Doe.</p>
<p>The plaintiff, a member of the Navajo Nation, says she was abused by Brother Mark Schornack, OFM, when she was a student at St. Michael Indian School and Schornack, a Franciscan friar, was her bus driver.</p>
<p>Peter C. Kelly II, the Phoenix attorney representing the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament and the school, declined to comment on the settlement.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | Arizona clergy sex abuse case ends in monetary settlement | false | https://abqjournal.com/1095950/arizona-clergy-sex-abuse-case-ends-in-monetary-settlement.html | 2 |
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<p>As young Americans trend toward socialism, we have real-life examples of just how destructive such an economic system is in practice as opposed to its romantic portrayal in the classrooms of liberal tenured professors.</p>
<p>After watching the economic <a href="http://www.heritage.org/markets-and-finance/commentary/greece-collapses-the-big-loser-socialism" type="external">collapse</a> of Greece, we're now witnessing the <a href="" type="internal">destruction</a> of socialist utopia Venezuela. Aside from chubby dictator Nicolas Maduro and his fellow elites, the Venezuelan people are running out of food and medical supplies. In their starving desperation, citizens have resorted to breaking into zoos to slaughter and eat the also malnourished animals; buffalo, pigs and horses are top choices on the menu.</p>
<p>But just like the <a href="" type="internal">communal food lines</a> preferred by Millennials, broadening your palate is just another perk of socialism. You might not have ever ventured out and tried horse meat unless your socialist-induced starvation drove you to it, right?</p>
<p>The Daily Beast <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/zoo-animals-on-the-menu-as-venezuelans-starve?via=newsletter&amp;source=Weekend" type="external">reports</a>:</p>
<p>In a country that once was rich, but where people are beginning to starve, few animals are safe. One morning in August at the metropolitan zoo in the torrid city of Maracaibo, workers were shocked to find the bones of a buffalo and some wild pigs inside their cages with clear signs of mutilation. Thieves allegedly stole the meat to eat what they could and sell the rest on the local market.</p>
<p>In west Caracas, at the zoo of Caricuao district, the same sort of thing happened. Watchmen found the bones and offal of a black horse inside its enclosure. Apparently the perpetrators only took the edible parts of the animal.</p>
<p>As <a href="https://hotair.com/archives/2017/11/06/starving-venezuelans-now-resorting-unexpected-food-source/" type="external">noted</a> by Hot Air's Jazz Shaw, the animals being killed for their meat are already in bad shape, malnourished from the dire economic situation in the country.</p>
<p>“[T]he animals are dying from malnutrition and some others are dying because of the lack of medicines for the treatments they require," said one local zoo employee.</p>
<p>Sadly, one of the most beloved and oldest zoo animals, Ruperta the Elephant, is currently starving to death. "She is currently going hungry and may not live much longer," notes Shaw.</p>
<p>This is socialism.</p>
<p>And, terrifyingly, this is what Americans are increasingly cozying up to. The Democrat Party has seemingly shifted their support more in the direction of the Bernie Sanders camp. Additionally, <a href="http://victimsofcommunism.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/YouGov-VOC-2017-for-Media-Release-November-2-2017-final.pdf" type="external">according</a> to a recent YouGov survey, nearly half of Millennials prefer socialism to capitalism.</p>
<p>If not even the reports of starving Venezuelans killing zoo animals for food can wake up Americans to the evils of socialism, what will?</p> | FRUITS OF SOCIALISM: Starving Venezuelans Are Slaughtering Zoo Animals For Food | true | https://dailywire.com/news/23257/fruits-socialism-starving-venezuelans-are-amanda-prestigiacomo | 2017-11-07 | 0 |
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<p />
<p>In the latest sign that the Egypt-backed understandings are moving forward, Hamas permitted more than 2,000 supporters of its former nemesis, Mohammed Dahlan, to stage a rally in Gaza City on Thursday. They held up banners with large photos of the ex-Gaza strongman and signs reading, “Thank you, Dahlan.”</p>
<p>Dahlan backers also opened an office in Gaza last month as a springboard for political activity and began disbursing $2 million in Dahlan-procured aid from the United Arab Emirates to Gaza’s poor.</p>
<p>All involved appear to benefit from the new deal for Gaza, described in detail by key players.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>— Egypt, which is battling Islamic extremist insurgents in the Sinai Peninsula next to Gaza, hopes to contain the Islamic militant Hamas through new security arrangements.</p>
<p>— Dahlan, forced into exile after falling out with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in 2010, is poised to launch a comeback and advance his Palestinian leadership ambitions.</p>
<p>— Hamas gets a chance to prolong its rule with a promised easing of Gaza’s stifling border blockade. Egypt and Israel had imposed the closure after Hamas seized Gaza in a violent 2007 takeover that included battles with forces loyal to Dahlan.</p>
<p>The three-way agreement aims to revive Gaza’s battered economy and restore a sense of normalcy for 2 million Gazans, who have largely been barred from travel and trade for the past decade and have endured rolling power cuts, most recently of up to 20 hours a day.</p>
<p>Yet a stable Palestinian “mini-state” in Gaza could undermine long-standing Palestinian ambitions to set up an entity that is also meant to include the West Bank and east Jerusalem. Israel, which captured those territories in the 1967 Mideast war, withdrew from Gaza in 2005, but keeps a tight grip on the rest.</p>
<p>Abbas, who administers autonomous West Bank enclaves, has tried to negotiate a broader statehood deal with Israel, but his internationally backed efforts ran aground almost a decade ago, in part because of continued Israeli settlement expansion in east Jerusalem and the West Bank.</p>
<p>Israel’s hard-line government has said it would not withdraw to the pre-1967 lines in the West Bank or give up Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem.</p>
<p>If Gaza stabilizes, Israel could argue that Palestinians already have a state there and face less international pressure to negotiate a broader peace deal. The Trump administration promised to try to revive statehood negotiations, but expectations are low and there’s no sign the U.S. found a way to break the long-standing diplomatic impasse.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>“The expected changes in Gaza are posing a big threat to the Palestinian national project,” said analyst Ali Jerbawi, a former minister in Abbas’ self-rule government.</p>
<p>The emerging Dahlan-Hamas agreement was made possible, in part, by the election of Yehiyeh Sinwar as the new Hamas chief in Gaza in March.</p>
<p>Dahlan, 55, and Sinwar, 54, have known each other since boyhood. Both grew up in the same neighborhood of southern Gaza’s Khan Younis refugee camp, attended the same U.N. school and later the territory’s Islamic University, said Ahmed Yousef, a former Hamas official who also grew up in southern Gaza.</p>
<p>Their paths diverged when they joined rival political factions, Hamas and Fatah, where both became known for their ruthlessness.</p>
<p>Sinwar helped establish the Hamas military wing in the late 1980s, while Dahlan rose through the ranks of Fatah, becoming chief of a feared Gaza security service that used to shave heads of Hamas prisoners to humiliate them.</p>
<p>Rumors of rapprochement began circulating in late spring. By early June, delegations led by Dahlan and Sinwar were negotiating in Egypt, and participants said the two men established an easy rapport. The recent shift of Hamas’ power from exile in Qatar to Gaza, a result of leadership elections, also helped the deal by speeding up decision-making.</p>
<p>Hamas spokesman Salah Bardaweel said this week that the deal with Dahlan and Egypt is moving forward.</p>
<p>Egypt has begun sending fuel to Gaza’s only power-plant, helping ease a debilitating electricity shortage.</p>
<p>Hamas, meanwhile, has been clearing brush to create a security buffer zone on the Gaza side of the border, and pledged not to give refuge to anti-Egypt insurgents from the Sinai.</p>
<p>Egypt is refurbishing the now largely closed Rafah crossing with Gaza, and is to reopen it by the fall for passengers and goods, Bardaweel said. The extent of future Rafah operations remains unclear.</p>
<p>Dahlan, who has strong ties with the United Arab Emirates, pledged to funnel tens of millions of dollars in Gulf aid to Gaza, Bardaweel said.</p>
<p>The money will be used to compensate the families of some 400 people killed in Fatah-Hamas clashes that preceded the 2007 Hamas takeover, he said. In June, a UAE-funded committee also began distributing aid to 30,000 needy families from a $2 million fund.</p>
<p>It remains unclear to what extent Dahlan would be involved in governing Gaza. Hamas will remain in charge of the security forces, while Dahlan is to serve as Gaza’s advocate abroad.</p>
<p>Dahlan has no plans for now to settle in Gaza. However, his top lieutenants are to return to Gaza as early as next week and join those who remained in rebuilding his political organization.</p>
<p>Last month, they opened a new headquarters in Gaza City. During a visit Wednesday, the office was still sparsely furnished, lacking phones and computers.</p>
<p>Hamas and Dahlan’s supporters will also try to revive the Palestinian parliament, defunct since 2007, in hopes of boosting their political legitimacy.</p>
<p>The 82-year-old Abbas has been watching the developments with alarm, seeking reassurances last week from Egypt in a hastily arranged trip to Cairo. If the deal goes forward, it would further undercut Abbas’ claim that he represents all Palestinians.</p>
<p>Despite the apparent progress, both sides are cautious, taking small steps.</p>
<p>“We and Hamas are political rivals, but at the same time, we have common ground,” said Sufian Abu Zaydeh, a pro-Dahlan lawmaker.</p>
<p>“There are obstacles on the ground, but we have to kick-start the reconciliation and cooperation to face the tough problems in Gaza,” he said. “We are making real progress.”</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Daraghmeh reported from Ramallah, West Bank. Associated Press writer Karin Laub in the West Bank contributed to this report.</p> | Power-sharing deal between former foes taking shape in Gaza | false | https://abqjournal.com/1035756/power-sharing-deal-between-former-foes-taking-shape-in-gaza.html | 2017-07-20 | 2 |
<p>HAMAD PORT, Qatar (Reuters) – Qatar inaugurated a new $7.4 billion port along its Gulf coast on Tuesday that officials said would become a regional transport hub and help shield its economy against sanctions enforced by neighbouring Arab states.</p>
<p>The Hamad port, 40km south of Doha, is one of the largest such facilities in the Middle East.</p>
<p>Since Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) severed ties with Qatar in June, the port has been receiving large quantities of food and building materials for construction projects including stadiums for the 2022 soccer World Cup.</p>
<p>The isolation of Qatar over Doha’s alleged support for militants has raised concerns that projects could be delayed if supplies from the Far East and South Asia are choked.</p>
<p>But officials on Tuesday said Hamad port would allow Qatar to get around the sanctions by importing goods directly from countries such as China and Oman instead of through a major re-export hub in Dubai.</p>
<p>“The port… will break the shackles of any restrictions imposed on our economy. We are not giving up on our hopes and ambitions,” Qatari Transport Minister Jassim bin Saif al-Sulaiti said at a ceremony held in a dome-shaped tent on the docks of Hamad port.</p>
<p>Fireworks exploded above the port on Tuesday as officials delivered speeches praising Qatar’s 37-year-old emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani for weathering the “siege”.</p>
<p>Closure of the Saudi border with Qatar and disruption to shipping routes via the UAE slashed Qatar’s imports by over a third from year-earlier levels in June and July. Institutions in Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain have begun pulling money out of Qatari banks, threatening their balance sheets.</p>
<p>Qatar has expanded shipping routes to India, Oman, Turkey and Pakistan and announced plans to raise its liquefied (LNG) output by 30 percent in an apparent effort to prepare for greater economic independence in the long term.</p>
<p>Hamad port spans 26 square kilometers and will have a capacity of 7.5 million containers a year with terminals built to receive livestock, cereals, vehicles and coastguard vessels, Sulaiti said.</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> | Qatar says new port will help circumvent Arab sanctions | false | https://newsline.com/qatar-says-new-port-will-help-circumvent-arab-sanctions/ | 2017-09-05 | 1 |
<p>(Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)</p>
<p>The Trump administration is pushing back against criticism over its vote at the United Nations against a resolution repudiating the death penalty, saying the move wasn’t about the application of the punishment to same-sex relationships.</p>
<p>A White House National Security Council spokesperson said Tuesday the vote against the measure is consistent with other U.S. votes at the United Nations against the death penalty resolution in previous administrations.</p>
<p>“The United States unequivocally condemns the application of the death penalty for homosexuality, blasphemy, adultery and apostasy,” the spokesperson said. “As in years past, we voted against this resolution because of broader concerns with the resolution’s approach to condemning the death penalty in all circumstances.”</p>
<p>The NSC spokesperson referred the Blade’s additional inquiries to the U.S. mission at the United Nations, which didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.</p>
<p>As reported by the <a href="" type="internal">Washington Blade</a>, the resolution&#160;condemns use of the death penalty for those found guilty of committing consensual same-sex sexual acts. The resolution passed by a 27-13 vote margin. The United States joined Saudi Arabia and others in voting against the measure.</p>
<p>But the measure also broadly condemns the death penalty — which is practiced in the United States, unlike many other developed countries — as unfairly used against marginalized groups. The multi-faceted resolution calls on countries to adopt protocol aimed at abolishing the death penalty, welcomes countries that have placed a moratorium on the punishment and condemns its use against the underaged, the mentally ill or pregnant women.</p>
<p>Susan Rice, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and National Security Adviser under President Obama, seized on the vote as evidence of declining U.S. standards on the world stage.</p>
<p />
<p>But an LGBT Republican group maintains characterizing the resolution as a measure against the death penalty for gays is off base.</p>
<p>Gregory Angelo, president of Log Cabin Republicans, said he spoke with U.S. staffers at the United Nations who informed him U.S. votes against resolutions repudiating the death penalty are nothing new.</p>
<p>“The gist of the resolutions is in opposition to domestic interests and even United States law when it comes to application of death penalty in all 50 states, and the United States has consistently voted against this resolution,” Angelo said.</p>
<p>Angelo cited additional U.S. votes against similar resolutions repudiating the death penalty: One in 2007 under the George W. Bush administration as well as two votes during the Obama administration — one in 2010, another in 2014.</p>
<p>As evidence previous administrations have taken similar positions, Angelo <a href="https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/node/5993" type="external">pointed to a news item from 2014 during the Obama administration</a>referencing a U.S. vote against a resolution calling for a moratorium on the death penalty</p>
<p>The only difference in the most recent resolution, Angelo said, was a reference to a new U.N. secretary general’s report saying the death penalty is used to target gays, people suspected of being gay and those in same-sex relationships.</p>
<p>“This was not a standalone resolution on whether or not the United Nations and its members supported use of the death penalty against gay individuals,” Angelo said. “My contacts at the United Nations have said were such a resolution to have been introduced or were it still to be introduced now, the United States would stand up and condemn the use of the death penalty to punish gay individuals or same-sex relationships, but that’s not what this resolution is getting at.”</p>
<p>Angelo is facing criticism for defending the U.S. vote on the resolution.</p>
<p>Zack Ford, editor of ThinkProgress, accused Angelo of “happily lying” and said his explanation ignores language in the resolution that specifically calls for an end of the death penalty for homosexual acts.</p>
<p />
<p><a href="" type="internal">Susan Rice</a> <a href="" type="internal">White House</a></p> | White House: Vote against UN death penalty resolution not about gays | false | http://washingtonblade.com/2017/10/03/white-house-un-vote-against-death-penalty-resolution-not-about-gays/ | 3 |
|
<p>Somali pirates have freed 22 sailors taken hostage nearly three years ago, following a siege by maritime police, authorities in the breakaway region of Puntland say.</p>
<p>The hostages were released after the maritime force began an operation two weeks ago to free the sailors and their ship, <a href="http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/12/23/somalia-piracy-idUKL5E8NN1GU20121223" type="external">Reuters reported</a>.&#160;</p>
<p>The Panama-flagged MV Iceberg 1 was captured off the coast of Yemen in March 2010.&#160;</p>
<p>The crew from the Philippines, India, Yemen, Sudan, Ghana and Pakistan were held for longer than any other hostages seized by pirates, the president's office of Puntland said in a statement, according to Reuters.</p>
<p>The ship originally had 24 sailors on board, but two died during the ordeal.</p>
<p>"After two years and nine months in captivity, the hostages have suffered signs of physical torture and illness," the statement said. "[They] are now receiving nutrition and medical care."</p>
<p>Pirate attacks in Somalia have decreased in the last two years, due to the use of private security guards on ships and better-coordinated naval patrols, <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-20832401" type="external">the BBC reported.</a></p>
<p>In late November, <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/asia-pacific/south-korea/121201/south-korean-sailors-freed-somali-pirates-afte" type="external">four South Korean sailors</a> who were abducted by Somali pirates and held for 19 months were released.</p>
<p>More from GlobalPost: <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/series/pirate-wars" type="external">Special Report: Pirate Wars</a></p> | Somalia: Pirates free 22 hostages after nearly three years of captivity | false | https://pri.org/stories/2012-12-23/somalia-pirates-free-22-hostages-after-nearly-three-years-captivity | 2012-12-23 | 3 |
<p>Star Shooter / MediaPunch/IPX via AP</p>
<p />
<p>Bernie Sanders won the Democratic caucuses in Wyoming on Saturday, adding to his winning streak over the past several weeks. Sanders captured 56 percent of the vote, to 44 percent for Hillary Clinton.</p>
<p>Small and <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=93608&amp;page=1" type="external">overwhelmingly</a> white, Wyoming fits the profile of a Sanders-friendly state. Sanders has also performed better in states that hold caucuses rather than primaries.</p>
<p>But Sanders’ margin of victory wasn’t enough for him to cut into Clinton’s lead in pledged delegates. Each candidate won seven delegates in Wyoming.</p>
<p>Both campaigns put in appearances in Wyoming during the past week. The Clinton campaign <a href="http://www.wyomingnews.com/news/bill-clinton-talks-energy-in-cheyenne/article_2d4c49b0-faeb-11e5-848b-fff3ad99ab1c.html" type="external">sent Bill Clinton</a> to stump for his wife. On Tuesday night, 1,800 people <a href="http://trib.com/news/state-and-regional/large-crowd-turns-out-for-bernie-sanders-rally-in-laramie/article_7b13e1b0-bbc4-5083-baa4-d471ecaee8c5.html" type="external">attended</a> a Sanders victory rally at the University of Wyoming in Laramie, after he won the Wisconsin primary that evening.</p>
<p>Wyoming will send 14 pledged delegates to the party’s national convention in Philadelphia this summer, as well as four unpledged superdelegates.</p>
<p /> | Sanders Extends Winning Streak in Wyoming | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2016/04/wyoming-democratic-caucus-results/ | 2016-04-09 | 4 |
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