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<p>New U.S. sanctions on Russia over the Ukraine conflict are hostile acts by the outgoing Obama administration and Russia will expand its sanctions lists against the United States in response, Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told TASS news agency.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>"We retain the right to choose the time, place and form pf our responsive actions in a way that suits us," Ryabkov told TASS.</p> | Russia Promises Response to New U.S. Sanctions | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/12/20/russia-promises-response-to-new-u-s-sanctions.html | 2016-12-20 | 0 |
<p>Drive down Route 49 as it takes you through the coalfields of southern West Virginia and into Kentucky, and what catches your eye before anything else is the beauty of the land. Even in the late summer the trees are dark green, and after a rain the mist rising out of the mountains hovers between the clouds and the tree line like smoke wrapped around long invisible strings.</p>
<p>This is a landscape of incongruities. A golf course close by a train yard. The white mansions and rolling lawns of coal executives not far from the trailer homes of coal workers. Then, just after the Sprouse Creek Processing Plant, the signs begin to hit you. "Americans are Free, Scabs Go Home." "Welcome to Poland." "Ayatollah Massey." Cross over to the Kentucky side of the Tug River, and the signs become small billboards. "Don't Sell Out Like a Fool," one says, and next to the inscription is a cartoon scab dressed in a green Santa Claus suit. Around his feet, a ball and chain. In his right hand, a skull and bones. In his left hand, dollar bills.</p>
<p /> | War in Tug River Valley | true | https://dissentmagazine.org/article/war-in-tug-river-valley | 2018-10-03 | 4 |
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<p>Email marketing used to follow a one-size-fits-all model, but now new technology is giving businesses the chance to take their campaigns to the next level.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Vivek Sharma, co-founder and CEO of email marketing technology provider Movable Ink, said there are numerous new ways businesses can help ensure their emails are not only read, but revisited multiple times.</p>
<p>Originally, email marketing was similar to direct mail in that everyone got the same message, Sharma said. Eventually, email messages could be targeted to different customer segments — for instance, one email could be sent to men, and the other to women.</p>
<p>Sharma said "agile marketing" takes things several steps further. "Agile marketing is actuality-based marketing — meaning, rather than creating a prefabbed message, the message is adapting to you based on when you are [reading it], where you are, what device you are opening it on and even the weather outside," Sharma said.</p>
<p>To help businesses better understand the capabilities of email marketing, Sharma has compiled a list of 10 ways retailers can use email marketing to generate excitement and boost sales:</p>
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<p>Sharma said email marketing makes the most sense for retailers because it has the largest return on their investment. He points to past research that shows that the return on investment for email marketing is $29 for every $1 spent.</p>
<p>"Dollar for dollar, out of all of the digital channels available to retailers, email simply performs the best," Sharma said. "It is incredibly effective."</p>
<p>Originally published on <a href="http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/5546-email-marketing-how-to-make-your-business-buzzworthy.html" type="external">BusinessNewsDaily Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> | Email Marketing: How to Make Your Business Buzzworthy | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2013/12/04/email-marketing-how-to-make-your-business-buzzworthy.html | 2016-03-23 | 0 |
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<p>Despite industry gains in both diversity among creative talent and heroes on the page, there are still some within the comic-book-reading community who enjoy being bullies.</p>
<p>On Wednesday, Cain removed herself from Twitter, citing the reaction to the cover of her final issue of “Mockingbird,” a Marvel Comics series that represented her first foray into writing superheroes at a mainstream comic-book publisher.</p>
<p>The cover, illustrated by Joelle Jones and featuring series star Barbara “Bobbie” Morse, aka Mockingbird, became the target of online trolls who didn’t like the shirt Mockingbird was wearing, which read, “Ask Me About My Feminist Agenda.</p>
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<p>As soon as the cover hit, Cain began receiving a slew of online harassment.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t be surprised if many of these “gentlemen” who thought they were big macho studs by tweeting their displeasure of the f-word even knew this series existed. Unfortunately, the very well-written “Mockingbird” has been canceled by Marvel. (The company rolls out new series multiple times a year, and if the sales aren’t there, they usually move on. It’s a good way to see what works and what doesn’t, but at times, great series such as “Mockingbird” are casualties.)</p>
<p>The character was most recently portrayed by actress Adrianne Palicki on ABC’s “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.,” and was known for fighting alongside Avenger archer Hawkeye in the ’80s. I roam the comic book-loving section of Twitter daily, and up until Wednesday’s release of “Mockingbird” No. 8, I wasn’t seeing tweets to “make comics great again” by getting the book off of shelves.</p>
<p>Certain comics aren’t for certain folks. If you don’t like a comic, or what it represents, or the artwork, or just aren’t a fan of the character featured, you’re more than welcome to not buy it. That doesn’t give you the right to harass an author online to the point that they feel it’s necessary to delete their social-media account because of a new lack of faith in humanity.</p>
<p>The comic-book industry as a whole isn’t completely innocent, either. For a very long time, comic books only catered to and were created by men — mostly middle-aged and white — who gave us tales of female heroines wearing next to nothing with certain exaggerated body parts. To this day, there are artists that remain famous not because of their visual storytelling, but because of their ability to draw sexy women.</p>
<p>There has been change since those “Mad Men” days of comics in the form of more diverse hires. Twitter, for all its faults, has also helped give a voice to women and fans of color, and the industry has responded.</p>
<p>But the trolls are still out there, and apparently an empowering book about a confident female superhero that does things on her own terms — who isn’t Wonder Woman or Captain Marvel — is just too much to bear.</p>
<p>Many within the comic-book industry came to the defense of Cain, including Marvel Editor-in-Chief Axel Alonso, as well as writers Brian Michael Bendis and Gail Simone.</p>
<p>If all those offended by Cain’s “Mockingbird” series would have taken time to actually read the comic instead of just reacting to the cover, they would have found a series that was sexy, packed a superhero punch, was beautifully drawn (seven issues were by artist Kate Niemczyk, and one issue by Ibrahim Moustafa), and humorous (at one point, Mockingbird claims to be allergic to Axe body spray, and another story finds her awaiting a S.H.I.E.L.D. physical, sitting near Tony Stark, who is reading a pamphlet entitled “Gonorrhea? Don’t panic!”).</p>
<p>The biggest tragedy in this is that comic books may have lost someone who could have given a lot more. Many will now flock to “Mockingbird” because of the headlines it has made after this Twitter scuffle, read it, and wonder what Cain could have done as the voice behind one of their other favorite female superheroes. We may never know, as it’s hard to see why someone would once again subject themselves to a readership that treats them poorly.</p>
<p>Cain is an established author; she can take her talents to other mediums. Many will hope she returns to comics, but can you blame her if she doesn’t?</p>
<p>Diversity in comics remains an ongoing fight. Battles have been won, but the war will rage on until some folks decide to grow up.</p>
<p>comics-bullying-comment</p> | Online bullying may have cost the comic-book industry its next great female voice | false | https://abqjournal.com/876388/online-bullying-may-have-cost-the-comic-book-industry-its-next-great-female-voice.html | 2 |
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<p>Anderson East, "Encore" (Elektra)</p>
<p>As a sign that Anderson East is an artist on the rise, he's been handed a tune for his new album by some pretty special songwriters — no less than two guys behind a little ditty called "Shape of You."</p>
<p>"All on My Mind" was co-written by Ed Sheeran and Snow Patrol's Johnny McDaid and it has wisely been turned into a soul-rock burner by East, whose voice is barely contained, ragged and roaring.</p>
<p>The song is a highlight on East's "Encore," which in turn, highlights an exciting singer-songwriter effortlessly able to blend elements of rock, blues, country and soul. East sounds both deeply classic and yet fresh. He's got sax and trumpets, tinkly keyboards and great guitar work. The stew is as American as a pair of old blue jeans.</p>
<p>"Encore" is expertly produced by Dave Cobb — who did the same with East's debut full-length "Delilah" — and Cobb doesn't just fiddle with switches. He plays bass, percussion, acoustic and electric guitars, arranges horn sections and even supplies hand claps. East also gets guitar and writing help from Chris Stapleton and Ryan Adams helps out on "This Too Shall Last."</p>
<p>For a relatively young man, East's voice is a thing of wonder, marbled like a slab of beef that's been drenched in bourbon. That doesn't mean the 30-year-old can't have fun: Another standout is the cheeky "Girlfriend," a foot-stomping confession that he's in love with a friend's fiancee ("Brother, we might have a problem/Cause she's staring me down and I'm tempted.")</p>
<p>East can wail, but he also knows when to contain himself. On "King for a Day," a song he co-wrote with Chris and Morgane Stapleton that recalls Curtis Mayfield's "People Get Ready," he's almost subdued, respecting the tight arrangement.</p>
<p>The 11-track album also includes two covers — East transforms Willie Nelson's exhausted ballad "Somebody Pick Up My Pieces" into a rollicking gospel-style triumph and turns Ted Hawkins' depressing ditty "Sorry You're Sick" into a full horn-driven finger-snapper, complete with his best Joe Cocker impression.</p>
<p>The album closes with the somber "Cabinet Door," in which East — who is dating Miranda Lambert — imagines himself an elderly widower eulogizing his dead wife. It's incredibly specific — "Molly got her braces off" and "How do you work this damn coffee pot?" — and somewhat indulgent, but it's a brave song for a young man with a bright musical future.</p>
<p>______</p>
<p>Mark Kennedy is at <a href="http://twitter.com/KennedyTwits" type="external">http://twitter.com/KennedyTwits</a></p>
<p>Anderson East, "Encore" (Elektra)</p>
<p>As a sign that Anderson East is an artist on the rise, he's been handed a tune for his new album by some pretty special songwriters — no less than two guys behind a little ditty called "Shape of You."</p>
<p>"All on My Mind" was co-written by Ed Sheeran and Snow Patrol's Johnny McDaid and it has wisely been turned into a soul-rock burner by East, whose voice is barely contained, ragged and roaring.</p>
<p>The song is a highlight on East's "Encore," which in turn, highlights an exciting singer-songwriter effortlessly able to blend elements of rock, blues, country and soul. East sounds both deeply classic and yet fresh. He's got sax and trumpets, tinkly keyboards and great guitar work. The stew is as American as a pair of old blue jeans.</p>
<p>"Encore" is expertly produced by Dave Cobb — who did the same with East's debut full-length "Delilah" — and Cobb doesn't just fiddle with switches. He plays bass, percussion, acoustic and electric guitars, arranges horn sections and even supplies hand claps. East also gets guitar and writing help from Chris Stapleton and Ryan Adams helps out on "This Too Shall Last."</p>
<p>For a relatively young man, East's voice is a thing of wonder, marbled like a slab of beef that's been drenched in bourbon. That doesn't mean the 30-year-old can't have fun: Another standout is the cheeky "Girlfriend," a foot-stomping confession that he's in love with a friend's fiancee ("Brother, we might have a problem/Cause she's staring me down and I'm tempted.")</p>
<p>East can wail, but he also knows when to contain himself. On "King for a Day," a song he co-wrote with Chris and Morgane Stapleton that recalls Curtis Mayfield's "People Get Ready," he's almost subdued, respecting the tight arrangement.</p>
<p>The 11-track album also includes two covers — East transforms Willie Nelson's exhausted ballad "Somebody Pick Up My Pieces" into a rollicking gospel-style triumph and turns Ted Hawkins' depressing ditty "Sorry You're Sick" into a full horn-driven finger-snapper, complete with his best Joe Cocker impression.</p>
<p>The album closes with the somber "Cabinet Door," in which East — who is dating Miranda Lambert — imagines himself an elderly widower eulogizing his dead wife. It's incredibly specific — "Molly got her braces off" and "How do you work this damn coffee pot?" — and somewhat indulgent, but it's a brave song for a young man with a bright musical future.</p>
<p>______</p>
<p>Mark Kennedy is at <a href="http://twitter.com/KennedyTwits" type="external">http://twitter.com/KennedyTwits</a></p> | Review: Anderson East shows his enormous talent on 'Encore' | false | https://apnews.com/amp/0883ec32745242168ca454ef2359975c | 2018-01-11 | 2 |
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<p>Americans finally got a raise last year after eight years of stagnating incomes.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>The Census Bureau says the typical U.S. household's income rose 5.2 percent in 2015 to $56,516. That is still below the median household income of $57,423 in 2007, when the Great Recession began. The median is the point where half of households fall below and half are above.</p>
<p>The proportion of Americans in poverty also fell sharply last year, as 2.4 million more people found full-time, year-round jobs.</p>
<p>The poverty rate was 13.5 percent in 2015. That's a drop of 1.2 percentage points from 2014, the largest decline in poverty since 1999. There were 43.1 million people in poverty, 3.5 million fewer than in 2014.</p> | Americans got raise last year for first time since 2007 | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/09/13/americans-got-raise-last-year-for-first-time-since-2007.html | 2016-09-14 | 0 |
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<p>Terry Lee White, 50. (Courtesy Navajo County Sheriff’s Office)</p>
<p>Copyright © 2017 Albuquerque Journal</p>
<p>Three months and three days after a former firefighter was found slain in his garage, police arrested his ex-wife’s husband at a truck stop outside of Holbrook, Ariz.</p>
<p>Terry Lee White, 50, is charged with murder and tampering with evidence in the death of 54-year-old Don Fluitt late last year. He was arrested at the Hopi Travel Plaza off Interstate 40 on Saturday.</p>
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<p>Two of Fluitt’s co-workers found him dead in his garage in late December after they went to his Northwest Albuquerque home because his 11-year-old daughter couldn’t reach him on the phone.</p>
<p>Fluitt, a former firefighter with the Bernalillo County Fire Department, and his daughter had returned to Albuquerque on Dec. 28 after visiting his mother for Christmas. He dropped his daughter off with her mother at a nearby Dion’s restaurant and then returned home alone.</p>
<p>The next day, he was found dead.</p>
<p>Don Fluitt, 54. (Courtesy of Dennis Fluitt)</p>
<p>After months of mulling over every possible suspect in his brother’s killing, Dennis Fluitt said the family is happy to have some answers.</p>
<p>“I still can’t believe it,” Dennis said. “Here’s a man living in the same house with my niece, consoling her during this time and he’s the one that did it. How deplorable and reprehensible is that?”</p>
<p>Dennis said after talking with Don’s ex-wife – White’s current wife – it’s clear she is shocked and horrified that her husband could have done something like this. She did not respond to a request for an interview.</p>
<p>“Until Friday, she didn’t know it was her husband,” Dennis said. “She didn’t have a clue, and police don’t have any reason to believe she had anything to do with it.”</p>
<p>Police haven’t said exactly what happened or why White allegedly killed Don. Dennis said although he has not met him, he has heard White disliked Don and was jealous.</p>
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<p>According to an arrest warrant filed in Metropolitan Court, detectives found Don had an ongoing custody dispute with his ex-wife, whom he had divorced in 2009. They had a court hearing scheduled for early January to discuss changes in child support payments.</p>
<p>Detectives got a big clue in the case by watching surveillance footage provided by Don’s neighbor. On the video, detectives say they could see a figure wearing a hooded sweatshirt outside Don’s home during the brief window of time when he was dropping off his daughter with her mother.</p>
<p>Then, when Don returned shortly before 8 p.m., the suspect was able to follow him into his garage, according to the affidavit.</p>
<p>Although White initially provided an alibi, detectives said they found discrepancies that led them to file a search warrant to test his DNA. A crime lab analysis found what is likely White’s DNA underneath Don’s fingernails, although he had told detectives he had not seen him in at least a month, according to the affidavit.</p>
<p>Dennis said he plans to attend every court hearing after White is extradited to Albuquerque. White has no criminal history in New Mexico, according to online court records.</p>
<p>“Nobody wins here,” Dennis said. “We’re happy they caught this person. I didn’t care who it was, all I wanted was for whoever did it to be held in custody and be held responsible for what they’ve done.”</p>
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<p /> | Husband of slain firefighter’s ex-wife arrested | false | https://abqjournal.com/981526/ex-wifes-husband-arrested-in-slaying-of-former-firefighter.html | 2017-04-03 | 2 |
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<p>NEW YORK — Amazon says it is selling debt in order to pay for its $13.7 billion deal to buy organic grocer Whole Foods.</p>
<p>Amazon.com Inc. did not say how much money it plans to raise when it sells the senior unsecured notes, but credit ratings agency Moody’s said Tuesday that the company is raising up to $16 billion.</p>
<p>The Seattle company announced plans in June to buy Whole Foods Markets Inc., a takeover that would give the e-commerce giant more than 460 physical stores.</p>
<p>The deal is expected to be completed by the end of the year.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | Amazon to sell debt in order to pay for Whole Foods deal | false | https://abqjournal.com/1048352/amazon-to-sell-debt-in-order-to-pay-for-whole-foods-deal.html | 2 |
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<p />
<p>The pandering in Iowa starts with candidates descending on the State Fair in Des Moines in August like earworms on sweet corn. Some highlights:</p>
<p>Mama’s Boy Fred Thompson introduced himself as an honest-to-goodness former prosecutor who’d once gone after “moonshiners,” referred to his “mama and daddy,” and repeatedly used the word “reckon”—but forgot to remove his Gucci loafers.</p>
<p>Flip-Flop Inside the Pork Tent, Mitt Romney declared that his favorite foods are “hot dogs and hamburgers.” He then flipped a pork chop onto the ground and tossed it back on the grill, to groans from fairgoers. “This is pork barrel the way it ought to be done,” he beamed, “not the way it is done in Washington!”</p>
<p>City Slicker Duded out in cowboy boots and blue jeans with a red hanky dangling from his back pocket, diplomatic frequent flier Bill Richardson grilled pork burgers and sneered at “the smarty-pants set in Washington.”</p>
<p>What a Boar In the Swine Barn, John McCain quipped, “We’ve made far more pork in Washington.” He repeated the line several more times before speaking to a crowd seated on hay bales.</p>
<p>Aw Shucks At Iowa Senator Tom Harkin’s September steak fry, 35-year Senate veteran Joe Biden assembled an enormous plywood display showing various candidates’ “ears” of experience in Washington.</p>
<p>Better Off Dead Looking for a spot for a rural rally, Rudy Giuliani’s campaign contacted Deb and Jerry VonSprecken, who own an 80-acre farm in Olin, Iowa. After going through security checks, the couple was informed that the event was off. According to Deb, Team Rudy said, “I’m sorry, you aren’t worth a million dollars and he is campaigning on the death tax right now.”</p>
<p>Stand by Your Ham Back at the State Fair, Hillary Clinton donned a personalized apron reading, “The Other White Meat.”</p>
<p /> | Blue Ribbon Brownnosers | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2007/12/blue-ribbon-brownnosers/ | 2007-12-21 | 4 |
<p />
<p>Americans for Financial Reform, a group putting the heat on Republicans for <a href="" type="internal">blocking</a> the <a href="" type="internal">Senate’s Wall St. overhaul</a>, has a <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=loUcjq4VWdA" type="external">new ad</a> out today in the Boston area targeting Scott Brown, the junior senator from Massachusetts who won the late Ted Kennedy’s former seat and took away the Democrats’ senate 60-vote supermajority. In the past two days, Brown has twice voted against beginning full debate on the Senate floor on the financial regulatory bill, joining GOPers in stalling an inevitable vote on reform. In the ad, AFR highlights the fact that the financial services industry was a major donor for Brown (the finance, insurance, and real estate, or FIRE, sector was the largest giver to Brown’s campaign at $972,800, <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/industries.php?cycle=Career&amp;type=I&amp;cid=N00031174&amp;newMem=N&amp;recs=20" type="external">according</a> to the Center for Responsive Politics), and says, “The Wall Street banks got their money’s worth with Senator Brown and bonus checks are no doubt in the mail.”</p>
<p>Here’s the ad in its entirety:</p>
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<p /> | Scott Brown: Truck or Wall St. Limo? | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2010/04/scott-brown-truck-or-wall-st-limo/ | 2010-04-28 | 4 |
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<p>By failing to receive blessing from the <a href="" type="internal">Federal Reserve</a> to return cash to shareholders, Citigroup (NYSE:C) and its management team separated themselves in a negative fashion from most of their peers.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>While the financial conglomerate suffered a post-stress test hangover on Wednesday, few believe the disappointing results alone will scuttle the banking giant’s lengthy comeback trail.</p>
<p>“They’ve come a long way from where they were in 2008. I don’t see this as necessarily a smack down of them. It’s a mixed bag of news,” said David Yermack, a finance professor at the NYU School of Business.</p>
<p>Late Tuesday the Fed said Citi’s capital action plan would leave it just below the crucial 5% level of Tier 1 common capital ratio, leaving the bank among just four of 19 that didn’t receive central-bank approval.</p>
<p>While Citi squabbles with those who say it “failed” the Fed-mandated stress tests, the disclosure can hardly be spun as good news.</p>
<p>That’s especially true because <a href="" type="internal">JPMorgan Chase</a> (NYSE:JPM), Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) and a slew of rival banks indisputably passed the tests with flying colors and topped it off by unveiling plans to sharply hike their dividends.</p>
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<p>“I don’t think investors are really giving much credence to their protests. You had a standardized test where everybody was looked at in a similar fashion,” Matt <a href="" type="internal">McCormick</a> of Bahl &amp; Gaynor Investment Counsel told FOX Business. “From an investment standpoint, why bet on somebody who has to prove a negative? Why not bet on somebody who is already exceeding?”</p>
<p>With that in mind, <a href="" type="internal">Wall Street</a> bid Citigroup’s shares 3.5% lower to $35.18 on Wednesday, though that left them above their Monday close of $34.29. By contrast, the KBW banking ETF rallied more than 1% and the Dow flirted with new multiyear highs. The pullback ate into Citi's 2012 surge of nearly 40%.</p>
<p>Citing the stress-test results, analysts at JPMorgan downgraded Citi to “neutral” from “overweight” Wednesday morning.</p>
<p>“We think this denial also hurts management credibility,” JPMorgan wrote in the note, placing the blame squarely on the C-Suite, which is led by <a href="" type="internal">Vikram Pandit</a>.</p>
<p>A credibility problem is never something Wall Street executives want to deal with as it can hamstring their interactions with shareholders, analysts and government overseers alike (see: Dick Fuld).</p>
<p>Citigroup’s rejected capital request also seems to hint at some of the high-risk attitudes that helped get banks like Citi into trouble before the crisis erupted.</p>
<p>“In our view, management was aggressive in its capital request given the still unstable operating environment. We view this negatively in terms of the firm's overall risk tolerance,” analysts at Standard &amp; Poor’s wrote in a note.</p>
<p>But Yermack said rather than focusing on the stress tests, shareholders should be pleased with the job that Pandit has done since becoming CEO in 2007.</p>
<p>“At first, he didn’t look like he was going to last six months on the job and it didn’t look like the firm itself was going to survive,” said Yermack.</p>
<p>With the help of billions of dollars of taxpayer aid, Pandit has led Citi back from the brink of collapse and worked to restore investor confidence in the company. He has also spearheaded an enormous effort to shed Citi’s non-core assets and bolster its previously-tattered balance sheet.</p>
<p>“Perhaps his true skill is at negotiating generous bailouts, but for the shareholders of Citigroup that’s a very valuable skill to have,” said Yermack. “Pandit has really exceeded expectations and couldn’t possibly be viewed as being in any kind of trouble because of this report...I think he deserves a lot of credit for holding the fort.”</p>
<p>Likewise, Dick Bove, a veteran banking analyst at Rochdale Securities, urged investors not to read too much into the Fed rejection of Citi’s capital plans, noting the dire economic scenario the tests spell out.</p>
<p>“We’re not in a depression. We’re not in a situation remotely close to a depression. Therefore, to assume that if in a depression Citigroup didn’t get 5% after the dividend payment…affects their business today makes no sense whatsoever,” Bove told FOX Business.</p>
<p>For the most part, the markets seem to be seconding that opinion.</p>
<p>Citi’s 3% slide is hardly severe -- it actually matched a retreat for Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) -- and so far no other major analysts have downgraded their ratings on the stock.</p>
<p>And while Citi’s stock price slipped, so did the cost to insure its debt, a sign of increased confidence. According to Markit, the cost to insure $10 million of Citi bonds against default receded to $202,000 on Wednesday, down 3.8% decline from Tuesday and 12% from March 6.</p> | Don't Panic Over Citi's Stress-Test Dud | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2012/03/14/dont-panic-over-citis-stress-test-dud.html | 2016-03-05 | 0 |
<p>He may not have drained the swamp, but President Trump sure is slashing some red tape.</p>
<p>The Trump administration has canceled more than 800 regulations that were proposed under former president Barack Obama's regime and is now getting rid of 16 rules for every new rule proffered.</p>
<p>In a new White House report, the Trump administration says it has "withdrawn 469 planned actions" that had been part of the Obama administration's regulatory agenda published last fall. Officials also reconsidered 391 active regulatory proceedings by reclassifying them as long-term or inactive "allowing for further careful review," <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-regulation-idUSKBN1A51O1?utm_campaign=trueAnthem:+Trending+Content&amp;utm_content=5970bf9604d301038623f405&amp;utm_medium=trueAnthem&amp;utm_source=twitter" type="external">Reuters</a> reports.</p>
<p>The steps to eliminate regulations makes good on a much-repeated Trump campaign promise to promote business-friendly policies. Investors have anticipated the action, helping to push share prices higher on hopes that fewer regulations will boost business growth and lead to higher corporate profits.</p>
<p>The Trump administration has identified nearly 300 regulations related to energy production and environmental protection it plans to rescind, review or delay across three agencies – the Environmental Protection Agency and the Interior and Energy Departments.</p>
<p>Trump had identified several of the regulations as targets in his March executive orders on energy, but they will now undergo a formal rulemaking process to be rescinded or revised.</p>
<p>White House budget director Mick Mulvaney said the administration was addressing "that slow cancer that can come from regulatory burdens that we put on our people."</p>
<p>Just a month into office, Trump enacted an executive order to install "regulatory reform" task forces inside federal agencies in what Reuters said "may be the most far-reaching effort to pare back U.S. red tape in recent decades."</p>
<p>Among the changes are:</p>
<p>The Interior Department</p>
<p>"The Interior Department is reviewing an Obama-era rule that directed companies to reduce venting and flaring and methane leaks from oil and gas production on federal and tribal land, according to a White House semi-annual government-wide regulation report."</p>
<p>The U.S. Transportation Department</p>
<p>"The U.S. Transportation Department said it would review a number of Obama administration proposals that were close to being finalized including making automobile event data recorders mandatory, requiring sounds for electric cars and updating some crash test dummy standards."</p>
<p>The Energy Department</p>
<p>"The Energy Department listed dozens of energy efficiency standards for commercial and household appliances that it would review."</p>
<p>The Agriculture Department</p>
<p>"Among the labeling requirements pushed back are Agriculture Department rules regarding production labeling on 'natural' for meat and poultry as well as the bioengineering disclosure standard."</p>
<p>The U.S. Labor Department</p>
<p>"The regulatory agenda calls for the U.S. Labor Department to rescind an Obama-era rule that prohibits restaurants and bars from forcing servers to share their tips with untipped employees such as cooks and dishwashers. That 2011 tip-pooling regulation is also the subject of a legal challenge by the National Restaurant Association, which has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review the rule."</p> | Trump Wipes Out 800 More Federal Regulations | true | https://dailywire.com/news/18848/trump-wipes-out-800-more-federal-regulations-joseph-curl | 2017-07-21 | 0 |
<p>Activists erect a tribute to melting ice outside the IPCC's meeting hall in Stockholm.Tim McDonnell/Climate Desk</p>
<p />
<p>Today, on a walkway above Stockholm’s Riddarfjärden bay, four activists in red jumpsuits wrestled with three 2,400-pound chunks of ice. The ice, which will melt onto the sidewalk over the next two days, is meant as a reminder of melting glaciers above the Arctic Circle some 700 miles north of here—although this particular ice was hand-delivered by the same company that maintains Sweden’s famous <a href="http://www.icehotel.com/" type="external">ice hotel</a>. A few steps away, dozens of top climate scientists from across the globe were sealed in a conference room inside an imposing brick compound that was once one of the city’s largest breweries. They’ve come to hash out last-minute details of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Fifth Assessment Report, the last day of a week of tweaks and edits to cap off over five years of work.</p>
<p>“We want to show that the climate change is real,” one of the activists, Valentina Restrepo, said. She’s not likely to face much resistance to that argument from the women and men behind the report: A <a href="" type="internal">leaked draft</a> stated that global warming is “extremely likely” (or 95 percent certain) to be caused by human activities. When the report is officially released tomorrow morning, it will be the IPCC’s first global assessment of the state of climate science since 2007,&#160;and it’s expected to include updates on everything from how long carbon dioxide hangs out in the atmosphere, to the&#160; dangers posed by sea level rise, to the alleged “ <a href="" type="internal">slowdown</a>” in warming many climate skeptics have trumpeted in recent weeks.</p>
<p />
<p>But one question we’ll be asking scientists tomorrow goes beyond the science itself: Is a report like this really necessary? A criticism voiced by many scientists, both within and outside of the IPCC, is that while early iterations of the report were essential tools for alerting policymakers to the dangers of climate change, this fifth report is unlikely to differ significantly from the last report six years ago (which won a Nobel Prize for laying “the foundation” for climate solutions), calling into question the value of dedicating time and resources to re-producing it in its current format.</p>
<p>“If it were up to me, there would not be an AR6 (Sixth Assessment Report),” atmospheric scientist Andrew Dessler <a href="http://www.climatecentral.org/news/experts-eye-ipcc-reform-as-report-nears-release-16520" type="external">told our friends at Climate Central</a>.</p>
<p>There is no original science conducted for these reports; instead, scientists meticulously aggregate, review, and summarize existing literature. While that sounds like a worthwhile endeavor in theory, the amount of time required means that some science (like, as my colleague Chris Mooney <a href="" type="internal">reported</a>, on the effects of warming on hurricanes) might be already obsolete by the time it comes out.</p>
<p>Of course, the policymakers who rely on the IPCC to inform their practical approaches to climate change aren’t suggesting that the group disband, but rather break the massive report into more manageable and regularly-issued chunks, according to a <a href="http://www.ipcc.ch/apps/eventmanager/documents/5/030920131000-INF_1_p37.pdf" type="external">survey</a> of participating countries the IPCC conducted earlier this year. This way, the government bureaus that deal with, say, ocean issues, wouldn’t have to sift through a stack of papers on volcanoes to find what’s relevant for them. A new format is one thing that’ll be on the table when members of the group re-convene in Batumi, Georgia, next month.</p>
<p>No matter what form the report takes in the future, its top-line findings tomorrow will form the backbone of climate talking points for at least the next five years, and in Stockholm the coffee is flowing as scientists gear up for a long night of finishing touches (into the “early a.m.,” one wrote to us). Climate Desk will be on the scene all day tomorrow, with live updates from IPCC scientists and other analysis, so stay tuned.</p>
<p /> | World Scientists Put Finishing Touches on Major Climate Report | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2013/09/what-look-tomorrows-new-ipcc-report/ | 2013-09-26 | 4 |
<p>Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSA.LN) said on Tuesday that it would be canceling its scrip-dividend program--dividends paid in shares in lieu of cash payments--from the fourth-quarter of 2017, as well as announcing a planned share-buyback program of $25 billion between 2017 and 2020.</p>
<p>The Anglo-Dutch oil-and-gas company added that it was raising its outlook for annual organic free cash flow to between $25 billion and $30 billion by 2020, at a Brent crude oil price of $60 per barrel in 2016 real terms.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>The company, which has undertaken a $30 billion divestment program, said it has made another $2 billion in divestments on top of the $23 billion completed, and has $5 billion in advanced progress. Once the program is completed, it will continue divestments at an average rate of more than $5 billion a year until at least 2020.</p>
<p>Shell said that reducing debt remains a priority and that it was approaching gearing--which is a measure of a company's debt levels--of 20% after more than $5 billion worth of divestments following the third quarter.</p>
<p>The company reported that it remains on track to deliver 1 million barrels of oil equivalent per day, and $10 billion of cash flow from operations of new projects by 2018 at $60 per barrel in 2016 real terms.</p>
<p>Annual underlying operational expenditure will be below $38 billion until 2020, the company said, while annual capital investment will continue to be between $20 billion and $25 billion, and if oil prices stay at current levels it will be managed towards the lower end of that range, or below it if needed.</p>
<p>Write to Carlo Martuscelli at [email protected]</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>(END) Dow Jones Newswires</p>
<p>November 28, 2017 02:54 ET (07:54 GMT)</p> | Royal Dutch Shell To Cancel Scrip Dividend Program; Announces $25 Billion Share Buyback | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2017/11/28/royal-dutch-shell-to-cancel-scrip-dividend-program-announces-25-billion-share-buyback0.html | 2017-11-28 | 0 |
<p>Upon his inauguration as Nicaraguan president in January 2007, Daniel Ortega asserted that his government would represent “the second stage of the Sandinista Revolution.” His election was full of symbolic resonance, coming after 16 years of electoral failures for Ortega and the party he led, the Sandinista Front for National Liberation (FSLN). The Sandinistas’ road to power was paved with a series of previously unthinkable pacts with the old somocista and Contra opposition. The FSLN’s pact making began in earnest in 2001, when, in the run-up to that year’s presidential election, Ortega forged an alliance with Arnoldo Alemán, an official during the Somoza regime who had been elected president in 1997.</p>
<p>But even with Alemán’s backing, Ortega was unable to win the presidency. So, before the 2006 election, he publicly reconciled with his old nemesis, Cardinal Miguel Obando y Bravo, a potent symbol of the counterrevolutionary movement in the 1980s. Ortega and his longtime companion, Rosario Murillo, announced their conversion to Catholicism and were married by the cardinal. Just before his election Ortega supported a comprehensive ban on abortion, including in cases in which the mother’s life is endangered, a measure ratified by the legislature with the crucial votes of Sandinista deputies. To round out his pre-election wheeling and dealing, Ortega selected Jaime Morales, a former Contra leader, as his vice presidential candidate.</p>
<p>Even with these concessions to the right, Ortega won the presidency with just 37.9% of the votes. Once in power, he announced a series of policies and programs that seemed to hark back to the Sandinista years. Educational matriculation fees were abolished, an illiteracy program was launched with Cuban assistance, and an innovative Zero Hunger program established, financed from the public budget and Venezuelan aid, that distributed one cow, one pig, 10 hens, and a rooster, along with seeds, to 15,000 families during the first year. Internationally, Nicaragua joined the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA), a trade and economic cooperation pact that includes Cuba, Bolivia, and Venezuela.</p>
<p>But the Ortega government’s clientelistic and sectarian nature soon became evident when Ortega, by presidential decree, established Councils of Citizen Power under the control of the Sandinista party to administer and distribute much of the social spending. Even more importantly, under the rubric of ALBA, Ortega signed an accord with Venezuela that provides an estimated $300 million to $500 million in funds personally administered by Ortega with no public accountability.</p>
<p>As Mónica Baltodano, the leader of Resacte, a dissident Sandinista organization, argued in a recent article, Ortega’s fiscal and economic policies are, in fact, continuous with those of the previous governments, despite his anti-imperialist rhetoric and denunciations of neoliberalism.1 The government has signed new accords with the International Monetary Fund that do not modify the neoliberal paradigm, while the salaries of government workers remain frozen and those of teachers and health workers are the lowest in Central America. According to the Central Bank of Nicaragua, the average salary has dropped the last two years, retrogressing to 2001 levels.2</p>
<p>Moreover, the government and the Sandinista party are harassing and repressing their opponents. During an interview in January, Baltodano told me the right to assembly has been systematically violated during the past year, as opposition demonstrations are put down with goon squads. “Ortega is establishing an authoritarian regime, sectarian, corrupt, and repressive, to maintain his grip on power, betraying the legacy of the Sandinista revolution,” she said.</p>
<p>***</p>
<p>The core of this legacy was the revolution’s commitment to popular democracy. Seizing power in 1979 from the dictator Anastasio Somoza, the Sandinista movement comprised Nicaragua’s urban masses, peasants, artisans, workers, Christian base communities, intellectuals, and the muchachos—the youth who spearheaded the armed uprisings. The revolution transformed social relations and values, holding up a new vision of society based on social and economic justice that included the poor and dispossessed. The revolution was muticlass, multiethnic, multidoctrinal, and politically pluralistic.</p>
<p>While socialism was part of the public discourse, it was never proclaimed to be an objective of the revolution. It was officially designated “a popular, democratic, and anti-imperialist revolution.” Radicalized social democrats, priests, and political independents as well as Marxists and Marxist-Leninists served as cabinet ministers of the Sandinista government. Images of Sandino, Marx, Christ, Lenin, Bolívar, and Carlos Fonseca, the martyred founder of the Sandinista movement, often hung side by side in the cities and towns of Nicaragua.</p>
<p>A central attribute of the revolution that has made its legacy so powerful is that it was a revolución compartida, a revolution shared with the rest of the world.3 As Nicaragua, a country with fewer than 3 million inhabitants, defied the wrath of the U.S. imperium, people from around the world rallied to the revolution’s support. In a manner reminiscent of the Spanish civil war half a century earlier, the Sandinista revolution came to be seen as a new political utopia, rupturing national frontiers. It marked a generation of activists around the globe who found in the revolution a reason to hope and believe.</p>
<p>With the deepening of the U.S.-backed counterrevolutionary war from military bases in Honduras, activists from the United States came to be the largest contingent to support the Sandinista revolution. An estimated 100,000 people from the United States visited Nicaragua in the 1980s, many as simple political tourists. Some came as part of delegations, but most of them arrived on their own. It was an experience totally different from that of Cuba, where the prohibition of U.S. travel to the island meant that only organized delegations arrived via Mexico or Canada with assigned accommodations and structured tours. But it was not just the travel arrangements that were different. Those going to Nicaragua found an “open door” society: They could talk with anyone, travel to the countryside, and stay where they pleased with no interference from the government.</p>
<p>The Sandinista revolution’s commitment to democracy led it down a new political path. This was not a revolutionary government conducted, in the classical sense, by a dictatorship of the proletariat. While the National Directorate of the FSLN oversaw the revolutionary process, it was not dictated by a single strongman but by nine people who reached consensus decisions with input from popular organizations. The Nicaraguan Revolution thus responded to internal and external challenges by deepening its democratic and participatory content, rather than by declaring a dictatorship.</p>
<p>In October 1983, when a U.S. assault appeared imminent in the aftermath of the invasion of Grenada, the National Directorate adopted the slogan “All Arms to the People” and distributed more than 200,000 weapons to the militias and popular organizations. I was there as U.S. aircraft flew over Managua, breaking the sound barrier, trying to “shock and awe” the populace. Bomb shelters and defensive trenches were hastily built as the country mobilized for war.</p>
<p>We may never know whether the threatened invasion was a ruse or if the popular mobilization forestalled a U.S. attack. But it did reaffirm the revolution’s commitment to democracy. In 1984, in the midst a deteriorating economy and the escalating Contra war, the country held an election in which seven candidates vied for the presidency. The election was monitored by “at least 460 accredited observers from 24 countries,” who unanimously described it as fair.4 A reported 83% of the electorate participated, and Ortega won with almost 67% of the votes.5 The election demonstrated that a revolutionary government can solidify its hold on power in the midst of conflict, not by adopting increasingly dictatorial powers but by building mass democratic support.</p>
<p>The adoption of a new constitution in 1986 marked yet another step forward in the democratic process. The constitution, which established separation of powers, directly incorporated human rights declarations, and abolished the death penalty, among other measures, was drafted by constituent assembly members elected in 1984 and submitted to the country for discussion.6 To facilitate these debates, 73 cabildos abiertos, or town meetings, were attended by an estimated 100,000 Nicaraguans around the country. At these meetings, about 2,500 Nicaraguans made suggestions for changes in the constitution.</p>
<p>But this bold Sandinista experiment in revolutionary democracy was not destined to persevere. As occurred in the Spanish civil war, the tide of history ran against the heroic people of Nicaragua, sapping their will in the late 1980s as the Contra war waged on and the economy unraveled. Often as I departed from the San Francisco airport on yet another flight to the Central American isthmus, I would look down on the Bay Area, with its population roughly the same size as Nicaragua’s and an economy many times larger, and wonder how the Sandinista revolution could possibly survive a war with the most powerful nation on earth.</p>
<p>Perhaps the die was cast in neighboring El Salvador with the failure of the guerrillas there to seize power as the United States mounted a counterinsurgency war. The inability to advance the revolution in Central America seemed to confirm Leon Trotsky’s belief that a revolution cannot survive and mature in just one nation—especially in small countries like Nicaragua with porous borders, which, unlike island Cuba, lend themselves to infiltration and repeated forays from well-provisioned military bases.</p>
<p>To end the debilitating war, the Sandinista leaders turned to peace negotiations. Placing their faith in democracy, they signed an accord that called for a ceasefire and elections to be held in February 1990, in which the Contras as well as the internal opposition would be allowed to participate. Once again the popular organizations mobilized for the campaign, and virtually all the polls indicated that Ortega would win a second term as president, defeating the Contra-backed candidate, Violeta Chamorro, whose campaign received generous funding from the United States.</p>
<p>Nicaraguans and much of the world were shocked when Chamorro defeated Ortega with 55% of the vote. Even people who were sympathetic to the Sandinistas voted for the opposition because they wanted the war to end, as the threat of more U.S.-backed violence remained looming. The day after the election, a woman vendor passed me by sobbing. I asked her what was wrong, and she said, “Daniel will no longer be my president.” After exchanging a few more words, I asked whom she had voted for. “Violeta,” she said, “because I want my son in the Sandinista army to come home alive.”</p>
<p>***</p>
<p>During the next 16 years, three Nicaraguan presidents backed by the United States implemented a series of neoliberal policies, gutting the social and economic policies of the Sandinista era and impoverishing the country. Ortega ran in every election, drifting increasingly to the right, while exerting an iron hand to stifle all challengers and dissenters in the Sandinista party. Surprisingly, Orlando Nuñez, with whom I wrote a book with on the revolution’s democratic thrust, remained loyal to Ortega while most of the middle-level cadre and the National Directorate abandoned the party.7 Many of these split off to form the Sandinista Renovation Movement (MRS), the largest dissident Sandinista party, founded in 1995.</p>
<p>When I asked Nuñez about his stance, he argued that only the Sandinista party has a mass base. “Dissident Sandinistas and their organizations,” he said, “cannot recruit the poor, the peasants, the workers, nor mount a significant electoral challenge.” Nuñez, who works as an adviser on social affairs to the president’s office, went on to argue that Ortega allied with Alemán not out of political cynicism, but for the sake of building an anti-oligarchic front. According to this theory, Alemán and the somocistas represent an emergent capitalist class that took on the old oligarchy, which had dominated Nicaraguan politics and the economy since the 19th century.8 A major thrust of Ortega’s rhetoric is bent on attacking the oligarchy, which is clustered in the opposition Conservative Party.</p>
<p>But it is also true that some of the most famous Sandinistas, many of whom are in the dissident camp today—like Ernesto Cardenal, Gioconda Belli, Carlos Fernando Chamorro, and others—are descendents of oligarchic families. Accordingly, Ortega and Murillo have accused them of being in league with conservatives in an effort to reimpose the old order on Nicaragua. While the dissident Sandinistas have yet to mount a significant electoral challenge, the Ortega administration has nonetheless gone after them with a particular vehemence. Case in point: Chamorro, the onetime director of the Sandinista party newspaper, Barricada. In June 2007, Chamorro aired an investigative report on Esta Semana, the popular news show he hosts. According to the report, which included tape-recorded conversations, FSLN functionaries tried to extort $4 million from Armel González, a partner in a tourist development project called Arenas Bay, in exchange for a swift end to the project’s legal woes, which included challenges from campesino cooperatives over land disputes.</p>
<p>The government’s response to the bad publicity was swift and ruthless. While the district attorney buried the case, González was charged and convicted of slander. National Assembly deputy Alejandro Bolaños, who backed the denunciation, was arbitrarily removed from his legislative seat. And Chamorro was denounced in the Sandinista-controlled media as a “delinquent,” a “narco-trafficker,” and a “robber of peasant lands.”</p>
<p>The harassment of Chamorro and other government critics continued during the run-up to Nicaragua’s November 2008 municipal elections, which were widely viewed as a referendum on the Ortega administration. The Ministry of Government launched a probe into NGOs operating in the country, accusing the Center for Communications Research (Cinco), which is headed by Chamorro, of “diverting and laundering money” through its agreement with the Autonomous Women’s Movement (MAM), which opposes the Ortega-endorsed law banning abortion. This agreement, financed by eight European governments and administered by Oxfam, aims to promote “the full citizenship of women.” First lady Murillo called it “Satan’s fund” and “the money of evil.”</p>
<p>Cinco’s board of directors were interrogated, and a prosecutor accompanied by the police raided the Cinco offices with a search warrant. Warned in advance of the visit, some 200 people gathered in the building in solidarity, refusing the police entry. Then as night fell, the police established a cordon around the building and, in the early morning, police broke down the door. After kicking out the protesters, the police stayed in the office for 15 hours, with supporters and onlookers gathered outside, shutting down traffic for blocks around. The police rummaged through offices, carting off files and computers. Since then, no formal charges have been filed, but Chamorro remains under official investigation.</p>
<p>Along with MAM, the broader women’s movement in Nicaragua, which firmly opposes the Ortega government, was among the first to experience its repressive blows. In 2007 the government opened a case against nine women leaders, accusing them of conspiring “to cover up the crime of rape in the case of a 9-year-old rape victim known as ‘Rosita,’ who obtained an abortion in Nicaragua in 2003.”9 In August, Ortega was unable to attend the inauguration of Paraguayan president Fernando Lugo because of protests by the country’s feminist organizations; from then on, women’s mobilizations have occurred in other countries Ortega has visited, including Honduras, El Salvador, Costa Rica, and Peru.10</p>
<p>Charges were levied against other former Sandinistas who dared to speak out against the Ortega government, including 84-year-old Catholic priest Ernesto Cardenal, the renowned poet who once served as minister of culture. In August, after Cardenal criticized Ortega at Lugo’s inauguration, a judge revived an old, previously dismissed case involving a German citizen who sued Cardenal in 2005 for insulting him.11</p>
<p>In addition to harassing critics, the Ortega government also displayed its penchant for electoral fraud during the run-up to the November municipal balloting. Protests erupted in June, after the Ortega-stacked Supreme Electoral Council disqualified the MRS and the Conservative Party from participation. Dora Maria Tellez, a leader of the renovation movement, began a public hunger strike that led to daily demonstrations of support, often shutting down traffic in downtown Managua.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, bands of young Sandinista-linked thugs, claiming to be the “owners of the streets,” attacked demonstrators while the police stood idly by. Then, to prevent more demonstrations, Ortega supporters set up plantones, permanent occupation posts at the rotundas on the main thoroughfare running through Managua. Those who camped out there were known as rezadores, or people praying to God that Ortega be protected and his opponents punished.</p>
<p>Besides the FSLN, two major political parties remained on the ballot, the Liberal Constitutionalist Party and the Nicaraguan Liberal Alliance. While independent surveys indicated that the opposition candidates would win the majority of the seats, the Supreme Electoral Council, which had prohibited international observers, ruled that the Sandinista candidates won control of 105 municipalities, the Liberal Constitutionalist Party won 37, and the Alliance won the remaining six. An independent Nicaraguan group, Ethics and Transparency, organized tens of thousands of observers but was denied accreditation, forcing them to observe the election from outside polling stations. But the group estimates that irregularities took place at a third of the polling places. Their complaints were echoed by Nicaraguan Catholic bishops, including Managua’s archbishop, who said, “People feel defrauded.”12</p>
<p>After the election, militant demonstrations erupted in Nicaragua’s two largest cities, Managua and León, and were quickly put down with violence. The European Economic Community and the U.S. government suspended funding for Nicaragua over the fraudulent elections. On January 14, before the election results were even officially published by the electoral council, Ortega swore in the new mayors at Managua’s Plaza de la Revolución. He declared: “This is the time to strengthen our institutions,” later adding, “We cannot go back to the road of war, to confrontation, to violence.” Along with the regular police, Ortega stood flanked by camisas rosadas, or redshirts, members of his personal security force. A huge banner hung over the plaza depicting Ortega with an up-stretched arm and the slogan, “To Be With the People Is to Be With God.”</p>
<p>“This despotic regime is bent on destroying all that is left of the Sandinista revolution’s democratic legacy,” Chamorro told me in January. “Standing in the way of a new dictatorship,” he continued, “are civil society organizations, the independent media, trade unions, opposition political parties, women’s organizations, civic leaders and others—many of whom can trace their roots back to the resistance against Somoza.”</p>
<p>As the Nobel-winning novelist José Saramago put it: “Once more a revolution has been betrayed from within.” Nicaragua’s revolution has indeed been betrayed, perhaps not as dramatically as Trotsky depicted Stalin’s desecration of what was best in the Bolshevik revolution. But Ortega’s betrayal is a fundamental political tragedy for everyone around the world who came to believe in a popular, participatory democracy in Nicaragua.</p>
<p>ROGER BURBACH directs the Center for the Study of the Americas (CENSA), based in Berkeley, California (globalalternatives.org). He was a “fellow traveler” during the Sandinista revolutionary years, collaborating with the FSLN Directorate of International Relations in analyzing U.S. political and military strategies.</p>
<p>Notes.</p>
<p>1. Mónica Baltodano, “El ‘nuevo sandinismo’ es de la izquierda? Democracia pactada en Nicaragua,” Le Monde diplomatique, Southern Cone edition (December 2008): 16–17.</p>
<p>2. Ibid.</p>
<p>3. The concept of revolución compartida is developed in Sergio Ramírez, Adios muchachos: una memoría de la revolución sandinista (Mexico City: Aguilar, 1999).</p>
<p>4. Rosa Marina Zelaya, “International Election Observers: Nicaragua Under a Microscope,” Envío 103 (February 1990), envio.org.ni/articulo/2582.</p>
<p>5. BBC, “1984: Sandinistas Claim Election Victory,” available at news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday.</p>
<p>6. Harry E. Vanden and Gary Prevost, Democracy and Socialism in Sandinista Nicaragua (Lynne Rienner Publishers, 1996), 84–85.</p>
<p>7. ROGER BURBACH and Orlando Nuñez, Fire in the Americas, Forging a Revolutionary Agenda (Verso, 1987).</p>
<p>8. Nuñez develops this argument in his book La Oligarquia en Nicaragua (Managua: Talleres de Grafitex, 2006). See also Nuñez, “La Agonía política de la oligarquia,” El 19 no. 14, November 27–December 3, 2008, available at sepres.gob.ni.</p>
<p>9. Human Rights Watch, “Nicaragua: Protect Rights Advocates from Harassment and Intimidation,” October 28, 2008, available at hrw.org.</p>
<p>10. Baltodano, “El ‘nuevo sandinismo’ es de la izquierda?”</p>
<p>11. CBC News, “Latin American Artists Protest Persecution of Nicaraguan Poet,” September 6, 2008, available at cbc.ca.</p>
<p>12. “How to Steal an Election,” The Economist, November 13, 2008.</p>
<p>*This article appears in the NACLA Report on the Americas, “Revolutionary Legacies in the 21st Century,” March/April, 2009. See the full Report for additional articles on Cuba, Mexico, Venezuela, Bolivia and Haiti. http://nacla.org/currentissue</p> | The Betrayal of the Sandinista Revolution | true | https://counterpunch.org/2009/03/01/the-betrayal-of-the-sandinista-revolution/ | 2009-03-01 | 4 |
<p />
<p>A fire in South Lake Tahoe, which began Sunday, has destroyed 2,700 acres of woods and 275 homes. Lake Tahoe's gorgeous blue waters are sprinkled with ashes. The blaze is just 40 percent contained at present, but firefighters expect to have it fully contained by Sunday. The Los Angeles Times <a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-fire27jun27,0,1072673.story?coll=la-home-center" type="external">called</a> the fire "one of the most destructive in memory." And California isn't in the clear yet: Low rainfall combined with the hotter temperatures brought by climate change have <a href="/blue_marble_blog/archives/2007/03/3844_weird_weather_w.html" type="external">intensified</a> the state's already menacing susceptibility to wildfire.</p>
<p /> | Weird Weather Watch: Tahoe Is Burning | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2007/06/weird-weather-watch-tahoe-burning/ | 2007-06-26 | 4 |
<p>And another third place finish for Ted Cruz. Via <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/23/politics/nevada-republican-caucus-results/" type="external">CNN</a>:</p>
<p>Donald Trump notched a resounding win in the Nevada caucuses Tuesday, channeling the roiling anger of Republican voters against the establishment and sweeping almost every category of the electorate to build his dominance in the delegate count.</p>
<p>It was a stunning show of momentum for his campaign, one that made it increasingly difficult to imagine a scenario where any other GOP candidate wins the Republican nomination.</p>
<p>“We love Nevada,” Trump said during his brief victory speech at his party in Las Vegas late Tuesday night. “We will be celebrating for a long time tonight.”</p>
<p>“We weren’t expected to win too much and now we’re winning, winning, winning the country,” Trump said. “And soon the country is going to start winning, winning, winning.”</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal" /></p> | Trump Coasts To Easy Win In Nevada Caucus | true | http://joemygod.com/2016/02/24/trump-coasts-to-easy-win-in-nevada-caucus/ | 2016-02-24 | 4 |
<p>After&#160;appearing on&#160;Late Night&#160;with Seth Myers earlier this week, we learned that <a href="http://www.people.com/article/aaron-paul-shares-gory-breaking-bad-prop?xid=rss-topheadlines" type="external">Aaron Paul stole props from&#160;</a> <a href="http://www.people.com/article/aaron-paul-shares-gory-breaking-bad-prop?xid=rss-topheadlines" type="external">Breaking Bad</a>&#160;— like, a lot of props. Among the bounty he made away with: Gus’ blown-up face. During Paul’s appearance on&#160;Late Night,&#160;Still Jesse Pinkman To Me explained how he keeps the mask hanging out in his house to freak out his friends:</p>
<p>“I have that head in my media room … Right away [people]&#160;don’t see it when they walk downstairs, but, then, you can tell when they see it. They’re just like ‘Oh, shit!'”</p>
<p>Just in case the visual of (stupid, totally glad he’s dead) Gus’ half-blown-off face isn’t permanently burned into your memory whether you like it or not, Paul gave us a <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BFFf8YWOIBO/" type="external">brutal refresher on his Instagram account</a>:</p>
<p><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BFFf8YWOIBO/" type="external">Just in case you caught me on @sethmeyers the other night talking about all of the stuff I stole from the breaking bad set and wanted to see what this head looks like…Well, this is what it looks like. Also, if you are not caught up on Breaking Bad guess what…Gus’s face blows up.💣💣💣💣💣 Love to you all. By the way, I stole every prop I could from this show. So happy I did.</a></p>
<p>A photo posted by Aaron Paul (@glassofwhiskey) on May 6, 2016 at 5:28pm PDT</p>
<p />
<p>I know that Breaking Bad&#160;ended a long time ago, but my gratitude for the endless gift that is <a href="https://www.express.co.uk/showbiz/tv-radio/546538/Breaking-Bad-Aaron-Paul-Bryan-Cranston" type="external">Aaron Paul and Bryan Cranston on social media</a> has not waned. I mean, this is&#160;a social media world where we all have to live with the fact that <a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/katienotopoulos/kim-kardashian-doesnt-really-understand-what-the-word-vibes" type="external">Kim Kardashian doesn’t know what “vibes” means</a>&#160;but still insists on tweeting it all the goddamn time, so when we are blessed with celebrities whose social media presence is so thoroughly likable that you can’t help but believe the beautiful dream that it&#160;might&#160;not be a carefully curated brand and that, for once, all the glittery, shiny <a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/jasminnahar/chrissy-teigen-completely-owned-twitter-in-2015" type="external">famous-person perks might have been bestowed on a legit Nice Person</a>. (I’m trying to think of an example beyond Aaron Paul, Bryan Cranston, and Chrissy Teigen, but I can’t. They might very well be the beginning and end of this conversation.)</p>
<p><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BDonOlluIAf/" type="external">#TBT To a time that feels like only yesterday but also feels like a lifetime away. My god how time flies. Having a new show premier last night got me thinking about the show that changed everything for me. Not only was I working on a show that would change the face of television but I was also working with people that would change me entirely. To quote the man himself “Drink that bottle of wine. Burn that special candle. You don’t know how long you will be here so you might as well enjoy the things that you have.” Bryan my beautiful friend…thank you for your wise words and thank you for your friendship. I have learned so much from you my friend. Hugs and kisses all over that beautiful face of yours. Until the next one.💣🔫💊🍗✈️⚖☠🚬⚗⚗⚗⚗⚗⚗💎</a></p>
<p>A photo posted by Aaron Paul (@glassofwhiskey) on Mar 31, 2016 at 3:42pm PDT</p>
<p />
<p>Anyway! The point is, Aaron Paul doesn’t seem like a dick on social media, and that makes me happy because, let’s be honest, he totally looks&#160;like someone who should be an asshole. But it doesn’t appear that he is. He routinely alludes to a presh-to-death <a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/elliewoodward/photos-of-aaron-paul-and-bryan-cranston-thatll-make-you-m?utm_term=.crxKwX5KjK#.bq20B1q0M0" type="external">friendship with former&#160;Breaking Bad&#160;co-star Bryan Cranston</a>…</p>
<p>Paul is also always supportive of his wife, and seems to generally not give a fuck but still doesn’t say anything horrible, which is a pretty clear sign that his soul isn’t filled with maggots (like, say, other <a href="http://mashable.com/2016/05/05/trump-taco-bowl-wtf-why/#FBoVNW2n3PqV" type="external">famous people on social media who similarly have no fucks to give</a> but say all manner of nauseatingly offensive things). All of which is to say, if anyone deserves to make people VERY UPSET AND NOT HAPPY with a very gross mask, it’s probably him.</p> | Aaron Paul: “I Stole Every Prop I Could” From ‘Breaking Bad’ Set — Including This Extra Disgusting One | true | http://thefrisky.com/2016-05-07/aaron-paul-i-stole-every-prop-i-could-from-breaking-bad-set-including-this-extra-disgusting-one/ | 2018-10-03 | 4 |
<p>ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Rory McIlroy’s patience was tested Thursday on his comeback and he needed three late birdies to register a 3-under 69 that left him three strokes behind first-round leaders Tommy Fleetwood and Hideto Tanihara at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship.</p>
<p>Starting on the 10th hole, McIlroy made 11 straight pars, which included a three-putt par on the par-5 18th.</p>
<p>Fleetwood, the defending Abu Dhabi champion and last year’s European Tour money-list winner, continued his excellent form by hitting all 18 greens in regulation.</p>
<p>There was a five-way tie for third place with Fabrizio Zanotti, Ross Fisher, Thomas Pieters, Bernd Wiesberger and Sam Brazel shooting 67s.</p>
<p>Top-ranked Dustin Johnson drove his ball into a lake at the ninth, his closing hole, to finish with a 72. Matt Kuchar was also on level-par while Justin Rose went one better with a 71.</p>
<p>McIlroy, who hit 17 greens in regulation, collected his first birdie of the day by making an uphill 15-foot putt at the third and made further birdies at the seventh and eighth.</p>
<p>“First competitive round in over 100 days so it’s a little bit different,” said McIlroy, who last played at the Dunhill Links Championship in Scotland on Oct. 8. “But I did well. I stayed patient.</p>
<p>“I gave myself loads of chances. Really pleased. I played very solid. I think I only missed one or two greens, drove the ball well and the iron play was pretty good. So just need to keep doing that over the next three days and I should have a chance.”</p>
<p>Fleetwood said he had control of his ball throughout.</p>
<p>“It was very good . very stress-free,” he said. “Played really well from start to finish.</p>
<p>“Felt like I did what you need to do well around this golf course, which is drive it well, hit your irons, but you can’t really be too greedy all the time. My pace putting was really good. (Hitting) 18 greens doesn’t happen very often so nice to do it around here.”</p>
<p>ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Rory McIlroy’s patience was tested Thursday on his comeback and he needed three late birdies to register a 3-under 69 that left him three strokes behind first-round leaders Tommy Fleetwood and Hideto Tanihara at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship.</p>
<p>Starting on the 10th hole, McIlroy made 11 straight pars, which included a three-putt par on the par-5 18th.</p>
<p>Fleetwood, the defending Abu Dhabi champion and last year’s European Tour money-list winner, continued his excellent form by hitting all 18 greens in regulation.</p>
<p>There was a five-way tie for third place with Fabrizio Zanotti, Ross Fisher, Thomas Pieters, Bernd Wiesberger and Sam Brazel shooting 67s.</p>
<p>Top-ranked Dustin Johnson drove his ball into a lake at the ninth, his closing hole, to finish with a 72. Matt Kuchar was also on level-par while Justin Rose went one better with a 71.</p>
<p>McIlroy, who hit 17 greens in regulation, collected his first birdie of the day by making an uphill 15-foot putt at the third and made further birdies at the seventh and eighth.</p>
<p>“First competitive round in over 100 days so it’s a little bit different,” said McIlroy, who last played at the Dunhill Links Championship in Scotland on Oct. 8. “But I did well. I stayed patient.</p>
<p>“I gave myself loads of chances. Really pleased. I played very solid. I think I only missed one or two greens, drove the ball well and the iron play was pretty good. So just need to keep doing that over the next three days and I should have a chance.”</p>
<p>Fleetwood said he had control of his ball throughout.</p>
<p>“It was very good . very stress-free,” he said. “Played really well from start to finish.</p>
<p>“Felt like I did what you need to do well around this golf course, which is drive it well, hit your irons, but you can’t really be too greedy all the time. My pace putting was really good. (Hitting) 18 greens doesn’t happen very often so nice to do it around here.”</p> | Mcllroy’s patience tested as he returns with 3-under 69 | false | https://apnews.com/41f8b806a5744c82bfa044b11911b446 | 2018-01-18 | 2 |
<p>The pros who make their living forecasting the economy overwhelmingly expect President Donald Trump and his fellow Republicans to push through tax cuts in time for next year’s congressional elections. They just don’t think that the reductions will do all that much to help the economy in 2018.</p>
<p>That’s the message from the latest Bloomberg monthly poll of economists, taken Aug. 4 to Aug. 9. Of 38 respondents, 29 expect Congress to pass tax-cut legislation by November 2018. The policy changes though are only expected to add 0.2 percentage point to the pace of gross domestic product expansion in 2018, according to the median figure from analysts penciling in an impact.</p>
<p>The Bloomberg survey&#160;forecasts growth in 2018 to be only slightly higher than this year — 2.3 percent versus 2.1 percent, according to median projections from a broader pool of 71 economists. What’s more, analysts see the economy losing momentum in 2019, with expansion falling back to 2 percent, contrasting with the Trump administration’s forecast of a further pickup.</p>
<p>“I think they’ll do something and it will probably be somewhat stimulative in the short run,” said High Frequency Economics Chief U.S. Economist Jim O’Sullivan, referring to Trump and Congress. “I don’t expect a huge impact from it.”</p>
<p>Cuts to individual and corporate rates would fall short of what GOP leaders and the Trump administration have promised — a once-in-a-generation permanent overhaul of the U.S. tax code, similar to what happened in 1986 under former President Ronald Reagan. If Republicans use a budget procedure for a tax bill to bypass Democratic opposition in the Senate, cuts would have to expire if they add to the long-term federal deficit.&#160;</p>
<p>First Half</p>
<p>The administration is betting that a mixture of corporate and individual tax cuts, along with other tax code changes, will eventually help lift annual economic growth to 3 percent, from the 2.1 percent average rate of the last eight years. In the first half of 2017, coinciding with Trump’s first six months in office, output rose at a 1.9 percent annual pace.</p>
<p>In order to win passage of a sweeping tax plan, the administration is holding a weekly, all-hands-on-deck meeting to coordinate strategy between the president and his allies, according to White House officials. The intensive discussions contrast with the at times haphazard approach the administration took in its failed attempt to repeal former President Barack Obama’s health-care law.</p>
<p>White House officials have said they’re still committed to a permanent tax revamp, and the plan is to start hearings and a markup of a tax bill after Labor Day so a version can get through the House in October and the Senate in November. Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell have sparred in recent days over the amount of time needed to pass&#160;complicated legislation, such as repealing and replacing Obamacare.</p>
<p>Trump officials see their policies accelerating GDP growth to 2.7 percent in 2019, on its way to 3 percent within the following two years. Economists beg to differ.</p>
<p>“The type of stimulus being talked about is temporary,” said Nariman Behravesh, chief economist at consultants IHS Inc. “It won’t deliver a sustained increase in growth.”</p>
<p>Texas Representative Kevin Brady, the Republican chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, said Friday that Congress is on track to deliver a tax bill to Trump in 2017. Brady, in a Bloomberg Television interview, acknowledged the goal is “aggressive” but said there’s “urgency” in terms of the economy and U.S. competitiveness.</p>
<p>Fed Action</p>
<p>As the administration aims to add fuel to the economy, the Federal Reserve is expected to be withdrawing it, according to the poll. Economists forecast that the central bank will raise interest rates once more this year and three times in 2018, each time by a quarter percentage point.</p>
<p>That’s in line with Fed policy makers’ own projections but significantly below levels implied in financial markets.</p>
<p>“To keep the economy on a sustainable path of growth, we need to gradually reduce the monetary stimulus put in place during the recession and recovery,” San Francisco Fed President John Williams said in an Aug. 2 speech in Las Vegas. “If we delay too long, the economy will eventually overheat, causing inflation or other imbalances to emerge.”</p>
<p>Policy makers last increased borrowing costs in June, when they boosted the target range for the inter-bank federal funds rate to a range of 1 percent to 1.25 percent.</p> | Trump Will Get His Tax Cuts, Vast Majority of Economists Believe | false | https://newsline.com/trump-will-get-his-tax-cuts-vast-majority-of-economists-believe/ | 2017-08-14 | 1 |
<p><a href="" type="internal">Joe Biden</a> appears to be itching for a fight with President Trump.</p>
<p>Appearing Tuesday evening at a University of Miami event, the former vice president declared that a younger version of himself would have had no problem resorting to fisticuffs to teach Trump a lesson about dignity.</p>
<p>“When a guy who ended up becoming our national leader said, ‘I can grab a woman anywhere and she likes it,’” Biden <a href="https://wsvn.com/news/politics/joe-biden-speaks-on-sexual-assault-at-um-for-its-on-us-campaign/" type="external">said</a> during the anti-sexual assault It's On Us event. “They asked me if I’d like to debate this gentleman, and I said no. I said, ‘If we were in high school, I’d take him behind the gym and beat the hell out of him.’”</p>
<p>Biden, who is often discussed as a frontrunner for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, went on to refer to Trump’s infamous “locker-room talk” excuse for his vulgar words about women.</p>
<p>“I’ve been in a lot of locker rooms my whole life,” Biden said. “I’m a pretty damn good athlete.”</p>
<p>He quipped: “Any guy that talked that way was usually the fattest, ugliest SOB in the room.”</p>
<p>This is not the first time Biden has spoken about Trump in these particularly aggressive terms.</p>
<p>In October 2016, shortly after the release of the infamous <a href="" type="internal">Access Hollywood tape</a>, the then-veep similarly said he’d fight Trump if the two were classmates.</p>
<p>“The press always asks me, don’t I wish I were debating him?" Biden <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2016/10/joe-biden-donald-trump-behind-the-gym-230174" type="external">said at a rally for Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton</a>. “No, I wish I were in high school. I could take him behind the gym. That’s what I wish.”</p>
<p>And then, while addressing Trump bragging about nonconsensually groping women, Biden was even more repulsed.</p>
<p>“What he said he did and does is the textbook definition of sexual assault,” he said at the time. “Think about this: it's more than wrong, he said because I’m famous, because I’m a star, because I’m a billionaire, I can do things other people can’t. What a disgusting assertion for anyone to make.”</p> | Joe Biden: I’d Have ‘Beat the Hell’ Out of Trump in High School for Disrespecting Women | true | https://thedailybeast.com/joe-biden-id-have-beat-the-hell-out-of-trump-in-high-school-for-disrespecting-women | 2018-10-03 | 4 |
<p />
<p>They say the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence, and the adage also applies to cubicle space.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>According to a recent Glassdoor survey, six in 10 employees say they’ve found aspects of a new job different than the expectations set during the interview.</p>
<p>If you find yourself in a situation where you’re unhappy in a new job, experts recommend taking steps immediately to find the root cause of the disappointment to remedy the problem.</p>
<p>The job may have different employee morale, responsibilities, hours, corporate culture or career projections than what was detailed in the hiring processes, but that doesn’t mean it’s time to start the job search again.</p>
<p>“Everyone has a little bit of mismatched expectations—the role they were told they were going to perform isn’t the reality,” says Amanda Augustine, job search expert at TheLadders. “Sometimes the role isn’t exactly figured or the project wasn’t as big as people thought.”</p>
<p>If you sitting in your new desk and are unhappy with your role, experts suggest the following tips on how to fix your less-than-ideal job:</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Know Why You Accepted the Offer</p>
<p>“If you’re in a scenario where you feel like you need to get something, then take the job but limit the number of surprises,” says Rosemary Haefner, vice president of human resources for CareerBuilder.com. “There’s always something that could be better at every company.”</p>
<p>Being adaptable to the situation is important, especially when the position is less than perfect. You can still learn from a bad environment and obtain skills that are transferable to later in your career.</p>
<p>“Try to turn it into something closer to your ideal and take control over your fate,” says Haefner. “This will help when looking for that next opportunity.”</p>
<p>Identify the Differences</p>
<p>“Reread your offer letter or contract to verify that it differs from your expectations,” says Scott Dobroski, community expert at Glassdoor.</p>
<p>“This is your best line of defense for job duties that may be different.” Even though there are situations where hiring managers verbally described aspects of position that aren’t outlined in the letter, listing the differences will&#160;help&#160;clarify the issue.</p>
<p>As you go through this process, decide whether you can adjust to these changes. “If you can, focus on your job but do what you can to improve the situation internally,” says Dobroski.</p>
<p>Make an Effort to Fix The Situation</p>
<p>Once you identify the problem, it’s now time to try and fix it and give the new position time to evolve.</p>
<p>“It’s really important to have done all of this because you joined this company for a reason,” he adds. “You should always do your best to work it out.”</p>
<p>Work to boost employee morale. Often times, worker morale may be different than your expectations. “One way to fix this is to work with HR to help raise morale, organize an office party or volunteering opportunities to bring the company together,” says Dobroski <a type="external" href="" />. These events are generally inexpensive and can help strengthen relationships within a team.</p>
<p>Talk to your boss. “Have a conversation with your boss as soon as you think it’s important,” says Haefner, and allow for an explanation. “If you feel that things are so different than you were told, then you need to give that manager a chance to fix it.”</p>
<p>Whether it’s the hours, responsibilities or role that’s not what you expected, Augustine recommends understanding what your boss expects. “Don’t make assumptions,” she says.</p>
<p>Be sure to remain tactful and professional during these discussions. “Work with them on how you can remedy the problem,” says Dobroski. “If the boss has a very bad attitude, take it from the perspective on how you work best and ask your boss how they work best.” Asking for more independent projects and responsibilities can also help improve your workplace happiness.</p>
<p>“If you believe your boss is incompetent and will hold you back but you’ve tried to communicate and this isn’t working, it may be time to look for something else internally or externally,” says Dobroski.</p>
<p>Look for internal opportunities. “It could be just that department and it’s always worthwhile to see if there’s a better fit somewhere else in the company,” says Haefner. Always keep your options open in your current company since finding new opportunities takes time.</p>
<p>Your colleagues will be curious why you want to switch so soon after starting, but you can still network and start to build the relationships. “Transferring is hard but you can get exposure and try to turn that into a transfer.”</p>
<p>Look for a new job. “Consider the first 90 days of any new job the extension of the interview period,” says Augustine. The first few months tend to be the ramp up period when you’re acclimating to the new position. “You can’t assume the job is like that in the long run. Give it time to see where it’s leading.”</p>
<p>If you’ve done all your due diligence and worked to repair the situation, start a fresh job search after six months. Review your financial situation before deciding whether to quit.</p>
<p>“The bonus is that at least you’re getting a paycheck while you’re searching,” says Augustine. Before restarting your search, clarify your goals so that you can avoid these problems in the future. “It’s being proactive and can save you some time and potential stress in the future.”</p>
<p>Be clear about your priorities and what you want in a new job, says Augustine. If you do decide to jump ship, it may be easier to land a new position while you’re still employed. Find the right opportunity so that you’re not just getting out of a bad situation.</p>
<p>Quitting without another offer is a personal choice, says Haefner. Know your own risk profile and take the time to think about what makes sense for you. “You don’t want to impulsively quit your job,” she adds.</p> | When Your Dream Job Turns Out to be a Nightmare | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2013/07/19/when-dream-job-turns-out-to-be-nightmare.html | 2016-03-04 | 0 |
<p><a href="//videos/37/66076" type="external" /></p>
<p>RUSH: Now, let’s go to C-SPAN because this is kind of funny. This morning on the show they call Washington Journal, they were doing a viewer call-in segment on the whole <a href="" type="internal">Stephanopoulos thing</a>. And the co-host, Peter Slen, S-l-e-n, reads from my website to set up the segment. And you know how things are at C-SPAN. “Tell us, James Carville, just exactly what was involved in the period of time it took you to pen your tome?”</p>
<p>(imitating Carville) “You know what, it was all about getting Ken Starr. Ken Starr, he’s out there, he’s poisoning our kids with cigarettes and this spaceman from Mars, Larry.”</p>
<p>“That’s a serious charge. We at C-SPAN take these things –“</p>
<p>“Of course it’s serious, what are you talking about?” So that’s the mentality. The NPR, very serious. So they go to my website where the Stephanopoulos story is headlined: “Fake Newsman Caught Giving 50 Large to the Clinton Crime Family Foundation.” That’s the headline. And here is the C-SPAN anchor reading it, and then they take calls. But here’s the reading first.</p>
<p>SLEN: Rush Limbaugh, here’s his report, or the transcript when he was talking about this issue yesterday. <a href="" type="internal">“Fake Newsman Caught Giving 50 Large to the Clinton Crime Family Foundation”</a> is the headline on this transcript. Rush Limbaugh said, “He’s not sorry for anything. The real question is how many other reporters have donated to the Clinton Crime Family Foundation. That’s what I want to know. I don’t think it stops at Stephanopoulos. You think he’s the only one of those guys giving to that foundation? Every damn one of these. The Clintons have let it be known, if you want them, you have to buy them. If you want access, you have to pay for it. You want to interview them, you have to pay for it, except for NBC because they hired Chelsea.” That’s Rush Limbaugh on George Stephanopoulos.</p>
<p>RUSH: Now, honestly, if you were here yesterday it didn’t sound that way when I did it, but that’s C-SPAN reading to their audience from my website this morning. So let’s go to the calls. First is a guy, Wayne, from Virginia.</p>
<p>WAYNE: I do not any it’s a conflict of interest. Look, reporters give money. They got Fox News, and you know what Fox News does and the “Grudge” Report and Rush Limbaugh. I’ve been listening to him for 25 years ago. I always know what my enemies are doing.</p>
<p>RUSH: Of course, see, it’s not a conflict, it’s not a conflict at all, because he’s on our side. Stephanopoulos, why, all of these reporters give money. He’s right about that. You think Stephanopoulos is the only guy donating to Democrats or the family foundation? Stephanopoulos, 75 grand, maybe more than most reporters give, but it doesn’t matter. They’re all doing it, folks, and it’s exactly as I said; they’re buying access or buying something, or they’re paying protection money. But this guy, this caller here, “Yeah, they got Fox News, and you know what Fox News does.”</p>
<p>No, what does Fox News do? It’s code language for other liberals watching this show. “You know what Fox News does.” What? What does Fox News do? And then, “they got the Grudge Report.” Not Drudge Report. (laughing) And of course, “they got Rush Limbaugh, been listening to him for 25 years. I always know what my enemies are doing.” He listens here because it’s a good show. You know it, Wayne, and I know it. And the next was Kimberly from Wisconsin.</p>
<p>KIMBERLY: There is no conflict of interest. He is a human being. He’s worked hard for Democrats. He’s been a Democrat. He’s open on that. This is a foundation. So you gonna sit here and criticize every human being, whether they’re a journalist or not, to help people? What, you gonna go after him if he donated to Special Olympics or to Children’s Miracle Network? Really? People have a right to spend their money on a foundation that they choose to. There’s no conflict of interest. He’s asking hard questions because he wants to know the truth and he wants the people to know the truth, unlike some people, like Rush Limbaugh.</p>
<p>RUSH: (laughing) They just can’t help mentioning me no matter what they’re talking about. They have to throw me in the discussion.</p> | C-SPAN Reads Our Transcript, Hilarity Ensues | true | http://rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2015/05/15/c_span_reads_our_transcript_hilarity_ensues | 2015-05-15 | 0 |
<p>Juneteenth – June 19, 1865 – is Emancipation Day. However, it is also only a reminder that Emancipation is still but a promise undelivered.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/declaration_transcript.html" type="external">Declaration of Independence</a> states: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.”</p>
<p>The work of Asamblea de Derechos Civiles is informed by this ideology, and we would like to see our representatives keep their work true to the Declaration of Independence and the values espoused in the Constitution. Last week, dozens of leaders, members and allies of Asamblea de Derechos Civiles [Asamblea] completed a national bus tour, visiting congressional offices and conducting actions, for a just immigration reform and for Emancipation.</p>
<p>Juneteenth marks the ending of slavery in the United States, when word finally reached Texas that all slaves were free. It occurred more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation and the legal end to slavery. Today, we are still seeking our own Emancipation.</p>
<p>Undocumented immigrants in this country are living under increasingly sophisticated conditions of slavery, and it is necessary to remember that Emancipation is the only path to freedom for more than 11 million undocumented immigrants.</p>
<p>We are Americans, and we are simply seeking a realistic, shortened and humane path to citizenship. We can no longer stand living in the shadows, being criminalized and prosecuted because we are deemed as subhuman by our current immigration laws. The immigration system that exists is unjust and oppressive. Congress must act now to pass a comprehensive immigration reform with a pathway to citizenship.</p>
<p>This bus tour also served as a reminder to Congress: we’ll be voting in November. The Latino vote will decide this election. We will vote, and if we cannot vote, we will get out the vote for immigration reform. As part of our bus tour, Asamblea representatives met with U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison.</p>
<p>As a representative who has worked closely with our organization in the past, and who is openly supportive of a humane and comprehensive immigration reform, he stated: “You are there to lift up human dignity.”</p>
<p>His words resonate with our work today more than ever.</p>
<p>Antonia Alvarez is co-founder and&#160;Cirien Saadeh is communications coordinator&#160;of Minnesota-based&#160; <a href="http://asamblea-mn.org/" type="external">Asamblea de Derechos Civiles</a>,&#160;a faith-based group that works on social justice&#160;issues with community members from Minnesota.&#160;The group works with <a href="http://www.gamaliel.org/Default.aspx" type="external">Gamaliel</a>, a Chicago-based network of faith-based groups.&#160;</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">Contact author</a></p>
<p>&#160;&#160; <a href="" type="internal">Asamblea de Derechos Civiles</a>, <a href="" type="internal">Chicago</a>, <a href="" type="internal">comprehensive immigration reform</a>, <a href="" type="internal">Emancipation</a>, <a href="" type="internal">Families</a>, <a href="" type="internal">Gamaliel</a>, <a href="" type="internal">immigrants</a>, <a href="" type="internal">Juneteenth</a>, <a href="" type="internal">Minnesota</a>, <a href="" type="internal">undocumented immigrants</a></p> | Juneteenth, Immigrants and the Meaning of Emancipation | true | http://equalvoiceforfamilies.org/juneteenth-immigrants-and-the-meaning-of-emancipation/ | 4 |
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<p>By Kieran Cooke, Climate News NetworkThis piece first appeared at <a href="http://www.climatenewsnetwork.net/2013/07/bank-curbs-wont-slow-coals-comeback/" type="external">Climate News Network</a>.</p>
<p>LONDON - For those concerned about the impact of coal-burning power plants on the world's environment, the good news seems to have been arriving thick and fast lately.</p>
<p>Coal is the most polluting of fossil fuels and, according to the International Energy Agency, accounts for about 45% of global energy-related CO2 emissions.</p>
<p>In mid-July, the World Bank announced it was significantly scaling back funding for coal-fired power stations due to concerns about emissions and global warming. In future, said the Bank, it would limit such financial assistance to "only rare circumstances." Then the US Export-Import Bank announced it had decided not to support funding for a multi-million dollar coal-fired power plant in Vietnam.</p>
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<p>A few days later the European Investment Bank (EIB) - the world's biggest public bank - followed the World Bank's lead, introducing new lending criteria which, if properly implemented, would rule out future financial support for lignite and so-called "dirty coal" power plants. There were also indications the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) could be bringing in coal-lending restrictions.</p>
<p>But, as a pessimist might say, every silver lining has a dark cloud attached to it.</p>
<p>A big test of the World Bank's resolve will likely be made early next year when it will decide whether to give funding guarantees to a highly controversial power plant using "dirty" coal in Kosovo.</p>
<p>Burgeoning growth</p>
<p>The EIB's new criteria on coal lending - tied to specified limits on fossil fuel power plant emissions - have been criticised as being too generous to polluters, while the US Ex-Im Bank continues to back coal-fired power stations in many parts of the world.</p>
<p>And then there's the bigger picture: the world is using coal for energy generation like never before, and projections are for consumption to grow by at least a third by 2040, possibly by a half if the worst case scenarios are fulfilled.</p>
<p>The US Federal Energy Information Administration (EIA) has just released its comprehensive International Energy Outlook 2013.</p>
<p>The EIA says world energy consumption is likely to grow by more than 50% over the period 2010 to 2040, with fossil fuels supplying 80% of the total, despite a growth in renewables and nuclear power.</p>
<p>It sees coal as remaining dominant in the electricity generation sector: global consumption will rise by 1.3% a year - from 147 quadrillion British thermal units (Btu) of energy in 2010 to 180 quadrillion Btu in 2020 to 220 quadrillion Btu in 2040.</p>
<p>While much of that growth will come from the rapidly growing economies of China and India, coal consumption is at present rising rapidly in other parts of the world.</p>
<p>Coal makes a comeback</p>
<p>The shale gas boom in the US means record amounts of relatively cheap US coal are now available for export. The EIA says US coal exports were more than 115 million tons in 2012, more than double the 2009 figure.</p>
<p>The EU is by far the biggest customer for US coal, with exports to the UK alone going up by about 70% in 2012. A big jump in UK coal use is deemed to be largely responsible for a 4% rise in UK CO2 emissions last year.</p>
<p>Meanwhile Germany, the EU's economic powerhouse and a country often regarded as a leader in cutting CO2 emissions, is gradually upping its coal use.</p>
<p>It all makes grim reading for those hoping to limit CO2 emissions and prevent runaway global warming. Even in the US - where much has been made of the switch away from coal to less carbon-intensive gas - coal is making a comeback.</p>
<p>With coal prices falling and natural gas prices rising, the EIA says coal's share of US power generation in the first four months of 2013 averaged 39.5%, compared with 35.4% in the same period last year.</p>
<p>US greenhouse gas emissions have been falling over the past four years: watch out for a rise this year.</p>
<p /> | Bank Curbs Won't Slow Coal's Comeback | true | https://truthdig.com/articles/bank-curbs-wont-slow-coals-comeback/ | 2013-08-01 | 4 |
<p>The Southside Baptist Association is seeking volunteers to help pour the footings and lay the foundation for a developmental home for men in Farmville, according to Jim George, project ministries and disaster relief coordinator for the Virginia Baptist Mission Board.</p>
<p>The home will be operated by the Virginia Baptist Children's Home and Family Services.</p>
<p>Volunteers are sought who will work one or two days a week. A site manager and volunteer coordinator will oversee the work.</p>
<p>For additional information, contact Hazel Harrison at (434) 392-9066 or at [email protected].</p>
<p>Special to the Herald</p> | Southside Association seeks volunteers | false | https://baptistnews.com/article/southsideassociationseeksvolunteers/ | 3 |
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<p>As Japan faces its biggest crisis since World War Two, here are two takes on self-censorship from those war years. A child survivor of Hiroshima explains why she kept quiet about her experiences for so long, through the pain and guilt of survival. And a Japanese examination of the self-censorship of American newspaper reporters and editors in the weeks after Hiroshima and Nagasaki.[...]</p> | Hiroshima, Nagasaki and self-censorship | false | https://pri.org/stories/2011-03-16/hiroshima-nagasaki-and-self-censorship | 2011-03-16 | 3 |
<p>Congressman Steve King took to Twitter late Wednesday to come to the defense of embattled Attorney General Jeff Sessions.</p>
<p>The Iowa Republican tweeted at President Donald Trump:</p>
<p><a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump" type="external">@RealDonaldTrump</a> No one in America can match the excellence of <a href="https://twitter.com/jeffsessions" type="external">@JeffSessions</a> as Attorney General. Trump agenda would be crippled wo him.</p>
<p>— Steve King (@SteveKingIA) <a href="https://twitter.com/SteveKingIA/status/887847120396570625" type="external">July 20, 2017</a></p>
<p>King was responding to the interview Trump gave to The New York Times expressing his <a href="http://www.newsmax.com/Headline/trump-jeff-session-times/2017/07/19/id/802668/" type="external">dismay that Sessions recused himself from all things Russia.</a></p>
<p>Trump called Sessions’ recusal “very unfair to the president” and said straight out that if he knew Sessions was going to do that, he would have chosen someone else to lead the Justice Department.</p> | Rep. Steve King: Trump 'Agenda Would Be Crippled' Without Sessions | false | https://newsline.com/rep-steve-king-trump-agenda-would-be-crippled-without-sessions/ | 2017-07-20 | 1 |
<p>On last night's Daily Show, Jon Stewart skewered Fox News personalities and other right-wingers who argue that the war on women is phony -- something concocted by Democrats for political gain (or something). Stewart played clips of conservative talking heads guffawing at the utter ridiculousness of a so-called "war on women"... followed by a clip that reminds us of the "war" that really concerns the right: the war on Christmas (dun dun duuuuuun!). It's actually a very smart segment, comparing the "evidence" for a war on Christmas ("No colored lights?! Noooo!") to the evidence for a war on women. You decide what the real war is!</p>
<p>Watch the full segment here:</p> | Jon Stewart to Fox News: "War on Women" Isn't OK Terminology, But "War on Christmas" Is? | true | http://alternet.org/newsandviews/article/900787/jon_stewart_to_fox_news%3A_%22war_on_women%22_isn%27t_ok_terminology%2C_but_%22war_on_christmas%22_is/ | 4 |
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<p>The Republican governor said during a recent interview with Fox News in Washington, D.C., that she has already cut taxes more than a dozen times since taking office as New Mexico’s governor in 2011.</p>
<p>“I’ve cut taxes 16 times since I’ve been governor – that’s been two years and five months,” Martinez told commentator Greta Van Susteren.</p>
<p>So, is the governor’s tax math correct?</p>
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<p>A closer look at a list of 19 tax cuts provided to the Journal by the Governor’s Office – three more than the 16 initially touted by Martinez – shows that at least seven of the “cuts” were actually extensions or expansions of existing tax incentives.</p>
<p>Several of those tax incentives, including a green building tax credit, were initially signed into law by Martinez’s predecessor, former Democratic Gov. Bill Richardson.</p>
<p>In all, at least 12 of the cited tax cuts are tax incentives, a definition that includes credits, deductions and exemptions.</p>
<p>Richard Anklam, president and executive director of the New Mexico Tax Research Institute, said it’s arguable whether extending a tax credit amounts to a tax cut.</p>
<p>However, he did not dispute the tax list compiled by the Governor’s Office , saying, “I think if they wanted to technically argue they’re correct, they could.”</p>
<p>Martinez, whom political analysts have identified as a rising star in the national Republican Party, has vowed not to raise taxes during her four-year term.</p>
<p>The massive tax package she signed into law in April includes a reduction in the state’s corporate income tax rate – from 7.6 percent to 5.9 percent – that the governor has touted in speeches to out-of-state business groups.</p>
<p>However, the tax package also contains a provision that will gradually eliminate state “hold harmless” payments to some New Mexico cities and counties, which some local leaders have said will likely force them to consider raising taxes.</p>
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<p>Some of the other tax cuts cited by the Governor’s Office include:</p>
<p>⋄&#160; A $1,000 tax credit for employers who hire returning veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan.</p>
<p>⋄&#160; A tax exemption aimed at bolstering the state’s manufacturing and construction sectors by alleviating what is known as “tax pyramiding.”</p>
<p>⋄&#160; A measure that reduced the amount of money New Mexico businesses had to pay into the state’s unemployment compensation fund in 2012.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, some lawmakers have questioned the state’s high number of tax breaks – more than 110 tax incentives are on the state’s books – and pushed for an overhaul of the state’s tax code. One such attempt, sponsored by a pair of GOP legislators, was unsuccessful during this year’s 60-day session.</p>
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<p /> | Martinez tax-cut claims include incentives | false | https://abqjournal.com/210522/martine-ztaxcut-claims-include-incentives.html | 2013-06-14 | 2 |
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<p>Leandro Sage, 23, was struck by a vehicle on Western Skies Drive, just west of the apartments where he had earlier been drinking and gotten into an argument with his girlfriend, Johanna Martinez, 24, Albuquerque Police Department spokeswoman Officer Tasia Martinez said in an update.</p>
<p>According to a preliminary investigation, Sage struck the woman on the face with his fist, and Johanna Martinez’s brother, 25-year-old Robert Martinez, intervened to help his sister and began fighting with Sage, who bit off the tip of the brother’s left pinkie finger, APD said.</p>
<p>Sage left the apartment and was running westbound from the scene when he was struck by a car and taken to a hospital where he was treated and later put under arrest, according to police.</p>
<p>Police said Robert Martinez is refusing to cooperate and press charges against Sage for the injury to his finger.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>11:53pm 2/27/13 — Hit-and-run victim found on Western Skies, near Central</p>
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<p>By ABQnews Staff</p>
<p>Officers were dispatched to Western Skies and Central, which is just east of Juan Tabo, around 11:30 p.m. today after it was reported a person was lying in the roadway, according to Albuquerque police.</p>
<p>The person, who has not been identified by name or any other details, was found on Western Skies, just south of Central.</p>
<p>“It appears the subject was the victim of a hit-and-run pedestrian crash,” police said.</p>
<p>The person was taken to University of New Mexico Hospital.</p> | UPDATED: Western Skies pedestrian victim of battery, not hit-and-run | false | https://abqjournal.com/173261/hit-and-run-victim-found-on-western-skies-near-central.html | 2013-02-27 | 2 |
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<p>Corrales had about 400 people turnout on Saturday during its Heritage Day 2012 event that celebrates the village’s culture and history, according to Barbara Williams, an archives committee member of the Corrales Historical Society.</p>
<p>This year’s celebration honored the 300th anniversary of the acquisition of the Alameda Land Grant by Corrales founder Juan Gonzales Bas.</p>
<p>The archives committee presented several new exhibits in honor of the land grant. A then-and-now display of historic Corrales buildings and a comparison of Corrales census data from 1910 and 2010 were part of the event held at Old San Ysidro Church, according to the Corrales Historical Society.</p>
<p>The historical society put its archived materials on display at the Old Church including historic photographs, videos of Corrales farming and interviews with long-time residents and historical exhibits.</p>
<p>Nearby at Casa San Ysidro, the city of Albuquerque through the Albuquerque Museum sponsored demonstrations of traditional New Mexican crafts such as paper-flower making, paper cut-out art, blacksmithing and weaving, according to the website.</p>
<p>“The history is amazing and we’ve always liked old buildings,” said Brenda Duggan, who attended the event with her two daughters Taylor Duggan, 9, and Kayla Berged, 3.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | ‘Amazing’ History | false | https://abqjournal.com/108556/amazing-history.html | 2012-05-24 | 2 |
<p>A Florida school district on Tuesday banned the distribution of religious materials from outside organizations after a Satanic group tried to hand out coloring books to students, according to the <a href="http://www.orlandosentinel.com/features/education/os-bibles-satanic-pamphlets-banned-20150210-story.html" type="external">Orlando Sentinel</a>.</p>
<p>The Orange County school district, which includes Orlando, had allowed religious groups to hand out materials each year on Religious Freedom Day. The Christian group World Changers distributed Bibles to students, and the board allowed the Central Florida Freethought Community to hand out atheist materials last year after the group won a lawsuit.</p>
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<p>But when the Satanic Temple, known for trying to build a <a href="" type="internal">Satanist monument</a> in the Oklahoma state capitol, <a href="" type="internal">tried to hand out coloring books</a> to students, the county board of education considered changing the rules. The <a href="" type="internal">district postponed Religious Freedom Day</a>, and then the school board on Tuesday voted to change its policy.</p>
<p>The board decided to ban the distribution of religious, political, and sectarian materials from outside groups.</p>
<p>“Frankly, I think, myself, that it was a mistake that we ever let World Changers distribute Bibles in our schools,” school board chair Bob Sublette (pictured above) said at the board meeting Tuesday.</p>
<p>The organizer for the Satanic Temple’s local chapter, who goes by Tabitha Burns, told the Orlando Sentinel she was disappointed that it took so long for the school district to change its policy</p>
<p>But the Satanic Temple made its point. Doug Mesner, co-founder and spokesman for The Satanic Temple, said in a <a href="" type="internal">September statement</a> under the pseudonym Lucien Greaves that the group tried to hand out materials in order to call attention to the school’s policy.</p>
<p>“We would never seek to establish a precedent of disseminating our religious materials in public schools because we believe our constitutional values are better served by respecting a strong separation of Church and State,” he said. “However, if a public school board is going to allow religious pamphlets and full Bibles to be distributed to students — as is the case in Orange County, Florida — we think the responsible thing to do is to ensure that these students are given access to a variety of differing religious opinions, as opposed to standing idly by while one religious voice dominates the discourse and delivers propaganda to youth.”</p> | Satanic Coloring Book Prompts Fla. School To Ban All Religious Materials | true | http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/satanic-florida-ban-religious-materials | 4 |
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<p>Anti-smoking advocates are hoping to strike out chewing tobacco at California baseball games.</p>
<p>The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids announced Tuesday that it will sponsor legislation to ban all tobacco products at baseball venues, including Major League Baseball and organized league games.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>MLB says it supports banning smokeless tobacco and the spirit of the proposal. Using chewing tobacco, known as dipping, is already prohibited in minor leagues.</p>
<p>The issue was highlighted by the death last June of former San Diego Padres all-star Tony Gwynn, who believed his oral cancer was linked to longtime chewing tobacco use.</p>
<p>"Our national pastime should be about promoting a healthy and active lifestyle, not a deadly and addictive product," said Matthew L. Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, in a news release.</p>
<p>His group's push is one of several proposals in the California Legislature this year to limit the use of tobacco products, including using e-cigarettes in public and increasing the legal age to buy cigarettes to 21. Public health advocates fear the rise of alternatives to traditional cigarettes undermines the success of anti-smoking campaigns.</p>
<p>Tobacco groups in recent years have successfully opposed less sweeping legislation in California. A bill to ban e-cigarette vending machine sales could not pass the Legislature last year.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Assemblyman Tony Thurmond, D-Richmond, will carry the proposed baseball tobacco ban, which would apply to players and fans for games across all levels.</p>
<p>Major League Baseball negotiates chewing tobacco rules with the players' union, which previously agreed to ban carrying tobacco tins during games and dipping during interviews. Union spokesman Greg Bouris says tobacco use is discouraged, but the union has no comment on the proposed legislation.</p>
<p>The union has signaled it's open to discussing a ban when it negotiates a new contract in two years.</p>
<p>San Francisco Giants manager Bruce Bochy, who resorted to hypnosis to break his chewing tobacco habit, credited internal efforts to reduce tobacco use in Major League Baseball.</p>
<p>"You learn to play with it," he said Tuesday during spring training in Arizona. "To force that, to ban it, it's going to be difficult. It's something you have to want to, you really do."</p>
<p>_____</p>
<p>Associated Press writer Janie McCauley contributed from Scottsdale, Ariz.</p> | California proposal would ban chewing tobacco at baseball parks, with MLB support | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2015/02/25/california-proposal-would-ban-chewing-tobacco-at-baseball-parks-with-mlb.html | 2016-03-09 | 0 |
<p>The Federal Reserve will need to keep gradually raising its benchmark interest rate over the next few years, but that rate won't need to rise to levels seen in previous cycles, Fed Chairwoman Janet Yellen said in congressional testimony Wednesday.</p>
<p>Ms. Yellen also updated lawmakers on the Fed's plans to start slowly shrinking its $4.5 trillion portfolio of bonds and other assets acquired during and after the 2008 financial crisis. Ms. Yellen said officials expected to set those plans into motion this year, but she wasn't more specific about the timing.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>"The committee currently expects that, provided the economy evolves broadly as anticipated, it will likely begin to implement the program this year," Ms. Yellen said in five pages of prepared testimony.</p>
<p>Fed officials next meet July 25-26. At their meeting last month, officials raised rates for the third time in as many quarters to a range between 1% and 1.25% and penciled in one more rate increase this year. Ms. Yellen gave no indication about the timing of its next increase in her testimony Wednesday.</p>
<p>Write to Nick Timiraos at [email protected]</p>
<p>The Federal Reserve will need to keep gradually raising its benchmark interest rate over the next few years, but that rate won't need to rise to levels seen in previous cycles, Fed Chairwoman Janet Yellen said in congressional testimony Wednesday.</p>
<p>Ms. Yellen also updated lawmakers on the Fed's plans to start slowly shrinking its $4.5 trillion portfolio of bonds and other assets acquired during and after the 2008 financial crisis. Ms. Yellen said officials expected to set those plans into motion this year, but she wasn't more specific about the timing.</p>
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<p>"The committee currently expects that, provided the economy evolves broadly as anticipated, it will likely begin to implement the program this year," Ms. Yellen said in five pages of prepared testimony.</p>
<p>Fed officials next meet July 25-26. At their meeting last month, officials raised rates for the third time in as many quarters to a range between 1% and 1.25% and penciled in one more rate increase this year. Ms. Yellen gave no indication about the timing of its next increase in her testimony Wednesday.</p>
<p>Ms. Yellen was set to begin two days of testimony, starting with the House of Representatives on Wednesday and the Senate on Thursday, in what are likely to be her final appearances on Capitol Hill before her term expires next February. The White House is beginning the process of considering who should be the next Fed chair. While Ms. Yellen isn't expected to be reappointed, President Donald Trump hasn't ruled it out.</p>
<p>Ms. Yellen's tenure as Fed chairwoman began in early 2014, as the Fed began to slow its purchases of Treasury and mortgage securities, the conclusion of the latest -- and broadest -- effort to spur household and business investment by pushing down long-term interest rates.</p>
<p>The Fed stopped adding to its holdings, also known as its balance sheet, in October 2014, but it has continued to reinvest the proceeds of maturing assets to maintain the portfolio's size. Since then, central bankers in Europe and Japan have ramped up similar bond-buying experiments, and the Fed slowly moved to raise interest rates from near zero.</p>
<p>Statements from Fed officials in recent weeks have highlighted a growing debate over whether a slowdown in inflation should lead them to hold back on additional rate increases for now. But even those who want to go slower on raising rates because of their doubts about inflation have shown no such qualms about announcing plans to implement the portfolio run-off in the next few months.</p>
<p>Excluding volatile food and energy categories, the Fed's preferred inflation gauge slowed to a gain of 1.4% over the year ended May, versus 1.8% in February. In her testimony, Ms. Yellen said the inflation slowdown partly reflects unusual one-off declines and officials would monitor inflation developments "closely" in the months ahead. "There is...uncertainty about when -- and how much -- inflation will respond to tightening resource utilization," she said.</p>
<p>More broadly, Ms. Yellen said the economy's performance was likely to warrant "gradual increases in the federal-funds rate over time" to achieve the Fed's goals of maximum sustainable employment and stable prices, measured relative to a 2% annual inflation target. Inflation has fallen below that target for most of the last five years.</p>
<p>"Additional gradual rate hikes are likely to be appropriate over the next few years to sustain the economic expansion and return inflation to our 2% goal," Ms. Yellen said.</p>
<p>Under the balance sheet plan announced last month, the Fed will allow its holdings to decline gradually by allowing a predetermined amount of bonds to mature every month without reinvestment. Allowing some of the holdings to run off could push up long-term rates, but markets haven't shown a significant reaction so far.</p>
<p>The Fed doesn't plan to use its portfolio as an active tool of monetary policy during normal times, Ms. Yellen said Wednesday. But it would be "prepared to resume reinvestments if a material deterioration in the economic outlook were to warrant a sizable reduction in the federal-funds rate," she said.</p>
<p>Ms. Yellen characterized the Fed's benchmark short-term rate as "somewhat below" its neutral level, one in which the Fed is neither trying to speed up or slow down the economy. Because that level is currently low by historical standards, "the federal-funds rate would not have to rise all that much further to get to a neutral policy stance," she said.</p>
<p>Ms. Yellen's outlook on the economy was little changed from the assessment she offered at a news conference last month after the Fed announced its most recent rate increase. The unemployment rate, at 4.4% in June, is near its lowest levels in 16 years.</p>
<p>Write to Nick Timiraos at [email protected]</p>
<p>(END) Dow Jones Newswires</p>
<p>July 12, 2017 08:58 ET (12:58 GMT)</p> | Yellen: 'Gradual' Rate Increases Will Be Needed to Sustain Economic Expansion -Update | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2017/07/12/yellen-gradual-rate-increases-will-be-needed-to-sustain-economic-expansion.html | 2017-07-12 | 0 |
<p>There’s an important bridge in this small town about a half-hour's drive from San Salvador. Locals say it divides the town between two rival gangs: MS-13 on one side and Calle 18 — the 18th Street Gang — on the other.</p>
<p>Both gangs started in Los Angeles and now control parts of El Salvador. On the day I visited the bridge, a man rode past me on his bike. He wore white Nikes, the kind favored by local gang members. It’s a subtle sign people here surely notice.</p>
<p>But some locals are sick of the gangs. “The way things are now, going out into the street means danger or death,” says José, a 16-year-old from this town who tried to escape to the United States twice this summer.</p>
<p>I meet José on a sunny day just 24 hours after he was deported back to El Salvador. Mexican immigration officials discovered José and his young cousin on a bus heading north. It was the second time the two boys were caught in Mexico trying to reach the US.</p>
<p>“We offered them 1,000 pesos each, but they wouldn’t take it,” José says. Five days later, he and his cousin were sent back home.</p>
<p>I can only use José's first name because he's now in hiding. Now that he's back, he's trying to keep it a secret from the MS-13 gang members, mostly other teenagers, who control the other side of the bridge. According to José, they’ve threatened to kill him because they think he belongs to Calle 18.</p>
<p>“If they find out I’m here, they might come to look for me and come to my house at night,” José says. “That’s what I don’t want to happen. It’s one thing if they want to hurt me, but they could hurt my whole family.”</p>
<p>José says his problems started two years ago when he had to cross the bridge into MS-13 territory to go to school. One day, José's classmate, who was linked with MS-13, brought a gun to school. The principal found out and the classmate accused José of ratting him out.</p>
<p>“They came looking for me with a shotgun and they told me to never come back,” José says “They said I was spying for the other gang.” His mother removed him from the school right away, and José switched to another one that only met on Sundays.</p>
<p>José’s biggest scare came a year later, when he says another boy — a neighbor who looked so much like José that everyone called them twins — was gunned down in the street by MS-13. That boy was actually a member of Calle 18, and José wasn’t. But José was told he would be next.</p>
<p>For the next month he was too scared to step outside his mother’s house. He went to stay with his grandmother in another town, and took up carpentry to help support his mother, a widowed seamstress.</p>
<p>José insists he’s never been in a gang. With his thin frame and shy smile, he looks younger than 16. He says he likes science and soccer, though he admits he’s never had a chance to play on a real team.</p>
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<p>A guard outside of a deportation processing center in San Salvador, El Salvador. José, a 16-year-old from a town near the capital, left the center in August after being caught and deported by officials in Mexico.</p>
<p>Jude Joffe-Block</p>
<p>It was hard to find a safe place to even interview José. He didn’t want to talk to me anywhere in public. Visiting his house in this small town just outside the country’s capital, San Salvador, would’ve drawn attention. So we meet at a hotel outside the town that caters to tourists.</p>
<p>“There aren’t people from here at this hotel, just people from other countries," José says. "It’s really expensive, so we’ve never even been inside here until now.”</p>
<p>If it sounds like José is paranoid, keep in mind that <a href="http://files.unicef.org/publications/files/Hidden_in_plain_sight_statistical_analysis_EN_3_Sept_2014.pdf" type="external">UNICEF</a> recently named El Salvador as the child murder capital of the world. It has a child murder rate of 27 per 100,000 residents, compared to 4 per 100,000 in the US. According to the same report, homicide is the leading cause of death among adolescent boys in El Salvador.</p>
<p>Now that he's back in El Salvador once again, José says he wishes his government would do more to help young people. “If the government put schools, workshops, or gave young people jobs, I think [violence] would go down a lot,” he says. But he knows change won’t come soon, and he's still determined to go to the US.</p>
<p>For now, his focus is on staying safe in El Salvador. Since our first interview, José has gone to stay with relatives in a place where criminals haven’t taken control. He hopes that the same gang problems he’s faced in the past won’t creep up there, too.</p>
<p>But the trouble may have already started. Within hours of coming back, José and his cousin were on their way home from the center that processes returning migrants. José's mom and other family members came to pick them up, and they all crammed into another relative’s pickup truck.</p>
<p>On the way, they stopped at an aunt’s house. There, a group of unknown gang members circled the truck and questioned José and his cousin. "It was just because we are young guys and aren’t from the area,” José says. “And when they see a young guy they don’t know, they assume he was sent by the rival gang.”</p>
<p>José said the gang members made some phone calls and decided he and his cousin weren’t a threat — but it could have ended very differently: “The same day that I returned to El Salvador, I also could have lost my life."</p>
<p>Ed Note: The second half of the audio for this story includes an interview with Jude about her reporting in El Salvador.</p>
<p>Also, reporter Kate Sheehy contributed to this story from the <a href="http://www.fronterasdesk.org/" type="external">Fronteras Desk</a>, a public radio collaboration in the Southwest. It was the second part of a two-part series. You can click <a href="" type="internal">here</a> to read and listen to the first part of the reporting team's coverage on migrants from El Salvador.</p>
<p>What do you want to know about migration to America? What stories do you want to see? Tell us in the <a href="" type="external">Global Nation Exchange</a> on Facebook.</p> | Gang violence awaits a teen from El Salvador after his failed attempts to reach the US | false | https://pri.org/stories/2014-09-18/gang-violence-awaits-teen-el-salvador-after-his-failed-attempts-reach-us | 2014-09-18 | 3 |
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<p>Pojoaque’s Cheyenne Law, left, and Kyra Gonzales jump for joy after the Elkettes clinched the state 3A volleyball championship in a match against Ruidoso on Saturday at the Santa Ana Star Center. (GREG SORBER/JOURNAL)</p>
<p>RIO RANCHO — There would be no perfect season, no claim to the “best team regardless of classification” designation, not even the first overall seed in the Class 3A state tournament — that was last year’s Pojoaque Valley Elkettes.</p>
<p>This year, heading into the season finale, Pojoaque Valley was widely considered to be just another team in the field. In fact, winning a fourth-straight state title seemed so farfetched for Kristen French that the Elkettes senior stood expressionless during much of the 3A championship trophy presentation Saturday at the Santa Ana Star Center.</p>
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<p>“I was just standing there thinking, ‘Did we just win?'” French said. “Then I burst into tears.”</p>
<p>Yes, the Elkettes (19-5) did win, topping Ruidoso, 3-1 — 25-15, 25-18, 18-25, 25-14 — to claim their fourth-straight title. And in doing so, Pojoaque Valley overcame numerous offseason coaching and personnel changes before the boys’ basketball coach, Joey Trujillo, stepped in to take the reins despite admitting that his volleyball acumen is low.</p>
<p>But, French added, it really wasn’t a case of disbelief in herself or her teammates — she said she simply needed a moment to take it all in.</p>
<p>GREG SORBER/JOURNALPojoaque’s Kyra Gonzales cries as she hugs coach Joey Trujillo after the Elkettes won the state’s 3A volleyball championship Saturday.</p>
<p>“We came from the bottom,” French said. “In the beginning of the season all we heard was, ‘You’re not going to win;’ ‘You’re not going to go very far.’</p>
<p>“Look at us now,” she added. “We are state champs.”</p>
<p>Erica Rendon led the way, recording six of her match-high 22 kills in game one, as the Elkettes broke a 3-all tie to cruise to the double-digit opening-set win.</p>
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<p>In game two, while the Elkettes only trailed briefly at 1-0, they still had to battle through five ties before pulling away near the midway point of the game. Kristen Woody recorded four of her eight kills during the set to help give the Elkettes the 2-0 lead.</p>
<p>But game three would be all Ruidoso.</p>
<p>The Warriors scored the first three points of the set before opening up their first double-digit lead of the match, at 20-10. Ruidoso would go up by as many as 11 before forcing game four.</p>
<p>“You can’t take anything away from Ruidoso — they battled us,” Trujillo said. “They took game three — they earned that game — and in game four, we had to work for everything. But we made sure to get the ball to Erica (Rendon) and she came through — if she doesn’t get 3A player of the year for her performance, there’s something wrong with the voting.”</p>
<p>Riding the wave of momentum, Ruidoso forced five ties and a lead change before Rendon indeed took center stage. The Elkettes’ outside hitter had nine kills to help Pojoaque Valley build a double-digit lead before teammate Kyra Gonzales took care of the rest, recording three of the final four kills to seal the win.</p>
<p>“Everything went perfectly today,” Gonzales said. “OK, we would have liked to have won in three (games), but besides that, it was perfect. We wanted to prove to everyone that even with all the changes, we are still Pojoaque.</p>
<p>“Last year, we dominated and everything went great. This year, I can’t even begin to explain how far we had to come and everything we’ve been through.”For Rendon, when asked which title meant more — last season or this one — she didn’t hesitate in replying: “This one, for sure,” she said. “This was a really hard season. This one took everyone coming together — the girls, the coaches. … But we did it — we pushed through it.”</p>
<p>When Trujillo was asked if he’ll be back next season to help try for a fifth-straight title, he smiled. “I’ve always been taught to never say never.”</p> | Elkettes Make it Four Straight | false | https://abqjournal.com/147254/elkettes-make-it-four-straight.html | 2012-11-18 | 2 |
<p>White House aides say they don't know anything about Joe Soptic, the former Missouri steelworker who appeared in a campaign ad this week suggesting Mitt Romney is to blame for his wife's death.</p>
<p>But <a href="http://www.politico.com/politico44/2012/08/team-obama-says-they-dont-story-of-man-who-stars-of-131462.html" type="external">Politico</a> is now reporting that the Obama campaign should check its own archives.</p>
<p>"Soptic, laid off from Bain Capital-owned GST Steel, stars in a Priorities USA Action spot this week in which he tells of how his wife died without health insurance after he lost his job. Soptic also appeared, wearing what appears to be an identical shirt, in a May television ad for the Obama campaign," Politico says.</p>
<p />
<p>Campaign spokeswoman Jen Psaki told Yahoo! News, "We don't have any knowledge of the story of the family." And Stephanie Cutter told CNN, "I don't know the facts about when Mr. Soptic's wife got sick or the facts about his health insurance."</p>
<p>However, it was Cutter who hosted the Obama campaign conference call in May that first allowed Soptic to tell reporters the exact same story now featured in the Priorities spot bashing Romney, Politico reports.</p>
<p>Both the campaign and the Priorities USA Action said there was no coordination about Soptic's appearances. Priorities USA Action senior strategist Bill Burton said the super PAC found shot its Soptic footage at a union hall in early February, Politico said.</p>
<p>"We didn't know that he was doing an [Obama campaign] ad," Burton told the publication</p>
<p>The separation between campaigns and super PACs is a "fuzzy line," said Kenneth Gross, a former associate general counsel for the Federal Election Commission</p>
<p>Politico has also posted the transcript from the May 14 Obama campaign call in which Soptic detailed his wife's illness and death:</p>
<p>"After we lost our jobs we found out that we were going to lose our health insurance and that our pensions hadn't been funded like Bain promised they would be," Soptic said then. "I was lucky enough to find another job as a custodian in a local school district. That gave me some health insurance but I couldn't afford to buy it for my wife. A little while later she was diagnosed with lung cancer. I had to put her in a county hospital because she didn't have health care. And when the cancer took her away, all I got was an enormous bill. That put a lot of stress on me. I thought I would be paying it off until I died myself."</p>
<p /> | Obama's campaign featured Joe Soptic in May, now insists they never heard of him | true | http://humanevents.com/2012/08/08/white-house-claims-never-heard-of-soptic/ | 2012-08-08 | 0 |
<p>Note: The Bill Maher 2012 video above contains expletives. Because we need them for this one.</p>
<p>Just when you thought it was safe to come out for the weekend. <a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/liz-cheney-runs-wyoming-s-u-s-house-seat-plans-n507706" type="external">AP reports</a>:</p>
<p>The elder daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney is running for Congress.</p>
<p>Campaign officials say she plans to formally announce Monday in Gillette, Wyoming. Cheney couldn't immediately be reached for comment.</p>
<p>She's busy, polishing her resume. You know, the "former State Department official" title that gave her unlimited shopping opportunities in Dubai and a permanent seat as a Fox News (and let's face it, ABC This Week) "foreign policy" panelist?</p>
<p>The good news is:</p>
<p>Cheney faces a field of eight Republican competitors including two experienced Wyoming state legislators.</p>
<p>Let's hope one of them is significant enough for her vile self to lose in the primary.</p> | Oh Hell, Liz Cheney's Running For Congress | true | http://crooksandliars.com/2016/01/oh-hell-liz-cheneys-running-congress | 2016-01-30 | 4 |
<p>In fall 2012, The New York Times shared a <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/25/us/california-cove-blessed-with-natures-beauty-reels-from-its-stench.html?_r=0" type="external">pathetic San Diego story</a> with the nation. The piece was headlined “California Cove Blessed With Nature’s Beauty Reels From Its Stench.” Sample:</p>
<p>“In beautiful La Jolla Cove, art galleries and coffee shops meet a stretch of unspoiled cliffs and Pacific Ocean. Home to former presidential candidates&#160;(Mitt Romney has been spotted pumping his own gas here in recent days) and seal colonies alike, the neighborhood provides one of this city’s primary tourist draws.</p>
<p>“But the smell, a pungent stench that emanates from the accumulation of bird feces on the rocks, has become a growing problem. And strict environmental regulations in the cove have stymied the city’s efforts to address the problem before it drives tourists and businesses away, effectively roping the rocks off with red tape.</p>
<p>“’I’ve lived here my whole life, and the smell from the birds has never, ever been as bad as it is now,’ said Megan Heine, the owner of Brockton Villa Restaurant, which overlooks the cove from a historic building that has been on the cliffs for more than 100 years. She said guests asked about the stench so frequently that her wait staff had become adept at explaining its cause.</p>
<p>“’If nothing is done and the smell becomes unbearable, I’m fearful of what that will really do to the business and the appeal of being in La Jolla,’ she said.”</p>
<p>Guess what? The problem is still horrible. I wrote about it in today’s U-T San Diego.</p>
<p>“Of all the advances achieved by the Roman Empire before its collapse in the fifth century, one of the most unprecedented was the infrastructure to ensure the efficient removal of animal and human waste from urban areas.</p>
<p>“Incredibly enough, some 1,600 years later, a city that is home to some of the most advanced scientific research on Earth finds itself unable to deal with disgusting conditions triggered by waste from seals, sea lions, pelicans, seagulls and other birds.</p>
<p>“That is the proper context with which to see the maddening saga of the stench emanating from the rocky areas and cliffs at La Jolla Cove. It has been 13 months since a New York Times story laid bare for the nation not just our local shame but the collapse of common sense in the Golden State — the idiocy of environmental rules so rigid and so far-reaching that removal of animal feces is somehow classified as a threat to nature.</p>
<p>“The odor problem ebbed for a time, but now it is back — a nauseating pall on an otherwise beautiful part of San Diego. And this time, it has prompted a lawsuit by the owners of the nearby La Valencia Hotel and George’s at the Cove, who argue — correctly — that city officials haven’t done enough to fix this stomach-turning problem.</p>
<p>“But that’s also true of state and federal regulators who pronounce themselves unable to act with any sort of urgency. If state and federal law governing nature is so all-powerful that it prevents the removal of animal waste from areas densely populated by humans, then, as a Charles Dickens’ character said, the law is an ass.”</p>
<p>Does anyone defend the bureaucratic sclerosis here? Can anyone with a straight face argue that it makes sense?</p>
<p>I didn’t think so.</p>
<p /> | San Diego’s law-driven stench problem: Dickens was right | false | https://calwatchdog.com/2013/12/30/56482/ | 2018-12-20 | 3 |
<p>This post originally ran on <a href="http://www.juancole.com/2015/02/encourages-counter-revolution.html" type="external">Juan Cole’s Web page</a>.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.voice-yemen.com/news88594.html" type="external">Yemen Voice reports that Wahhabi Saudi Arabia</a> has launched an all out political offensive against the Shiite Houthi rebels who have taken over the north of the country. The Houthis took the capital last September but kept the government in place until recently, when they made a full coup and established a governing council. Saudi Arabia sees the Houthis as cat’s paws of Iran, but this point of view is a vast exaggeration.</p>
<p>Zaidi Shiites in Yemen, about a third of the population, do not belong to the same branch of Shiite Islam as most Iranians, and they are a local Yemeni movement reacting against Sunni and secular dominance of politics. (About two-thirds of Yemenis are Sunni Muslims and they predominate in the south of the country.)</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, elected in a referendum in February 2012, was forced to resign and was placed under house arrest. This weekend, <a href="http://yemen-press.com/news43101.html%20" type="external">Mansour Hadi escaped to the southern city of Aden, which is not in Houthi hands.</a> In fact, several southern provinces have announced that they would not take orders from a Houthi government in the capital of Sanaa. The Houthis have subdued some nearby Sunni provinces by main force, but likely cannot forcibly take over the whole country. In the capital of Sanaa on Saturday, crowds demonstrated in favor of President Mansour Hadi.</p>
<p>Even before that happened, Yemen Voice alleges, Saudi Arabia’s new King Salman was trying to put together an anti-Houthi coalition. It would include the secular, nationalist General National Congress Party, which had ruled the country until last September, and its rival, the Islah (Reform) Party, a party of the religious right. Both have been sidelined by the tribal, rural Zaidi Shiites who flooded into the capital and have also taken other cities, including Ta’izz.</p>
<p>The Saudi-backed coalition also included Sunni tribal leaders in Maarib and Baida, oil-producing regions that are dead set against Shiite rule. One problem: some of the regions the Saudis are said to be encouraging to rise up against the Houthis have al-Qaeda cells, and if Yemen falls into civil war, they will reap the consequences.</p>
<p>Mansour Hadi has the support of provincial governors and their bureaucracies in the south, as well as of many in the public. Yemen has just been partitioned into a Shiite-dominated north and a Sunni-dominated south.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the Yemeni economy continued its collapse, with oil revenues down in the past year by one billion dollars, to $1.6 billion instead of last year’s $2.6 billion. Political unrest and the destruction of pipelines was the major cause of the fall, though the lower oil prices of recent months have also hurt.</p>
<p>Saudi Arabian interference in the domestic affairs of the Zaidi Shiite north of Yemen is widely held to have produced the militant Zaid movement as a local phenomenon. It began clashing with the nationalist government (which was allied with the Saudis) in 2004. After the 2011 revolution, which removed a president for life, the state institutions were weakened, including the Army, allowing the Houthis to take over last fall.</p>
<p>The struggle in Yemen is now joined, with two fairly clear camps. One side is the nationalists of Mansour Hadi and possibly a new alliance between them and the Sunni fundamentalist Islah. The other is the Shiite Houthis. One has the south, the other the north. The future of Yemen depends on whether they go to open war or negotiate, and who ultimately wins.</p>
<p>—</p>
<p>Related video:</p>
<p><a href="http://youtu.be/zobngTItqHY%20" type="external">Reuters: “Anti-Houthi protest in Yemen as former leader escapes house arrest”</a></p>
<p /> | In Yemen, Saudi Arabia Is Backing a Sunni Revolution Against Shiite Houthi Rebels Linked to Iran | true | https://truthdig.com/articles/in-yemen-saudi-arabia-is-backing-a-sunni-revolution-against-shiite-houthi-rebels-linked-to-iran/ | 2015-02-24 | 4 |
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<p>In wedding ceremonies, ministers legitimate marriages on behalf of the church and society. My seminary education reinforced this notion of marriage as God’s plan for society to grow and flourish. Churches, as guardians of families, assumed the societal role of caretaker. When I became an ordained minister in New Mexico, I officiated at marriage ceremonies as a duty to God and an obligation to the well-being of society. Several women asked me to officiate at their weddings because they wanted a woman minister. I already knew I was a novelty in 1975; a married woman with children who had worked very hard to become ordained to ministry in the Presbyterian church. I was a hospital chaplain, a teacher and a counselor before I became a parish pastor. I had crossed an invisible societal boundary that decreed male ministers to be the norm. I did not know why a woman would prefer a woman minister to preside at her wedding, but I agreed to do it. In New Mexico I had to adjust to being in the unusual situation of having clergy status but not in a traditional position.</p>
<p>Usually the persons whose weddings I consented to solemnize participated in Sunday school and were baptized or confirmed when they were children, but as adults they no longer participated in church activities. However, this feeling of attachment to their Christian upbringing led me to honor their request. I officiated at these marriage ceremonies because my belief in a loving God compelled me to give evidence of that love. The church was the instrument for mediating God’s love to these couples. Though a wedding ceremony performed by a justice of the peace was as legitimate in the eyes of the law as a ceremony presided over by a minister, I chose to be a pastor to these couples who asked me to marry them.</p>
<p>When a same-sex couple came to me and asked me to celebrate their love at a commitment ceremony, I honored the request. They wanted to make a public commitment of their love for one another in the presence of friends. I chose to show my support for the couple who wanted what I had if only it were available to them. After this first experience, several other couples came to me with the same request, and I presided at their ceremonies. These couples wanted the same acceptance that I had and the same recognition of their place in society as I had. I began to perceive that heterosexuality was one sexual identity and that human sexuality was more complex than a single societal norm. Dear friends whom I cared about fell in love and wanted to be together. They wanted to share the risks and the security of an open and honest relationship. They should have the right to marry.</p>
<p>The multiracial and multicultural society in the USA is evolving, as have I.</p>
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<p>When I was baptized in a Southern Baptist church in a small town in Georgia, I accepted as my responsibility the obligation to use my mind to interpret God’s word as I read it and to mature as a spiritual person. That was 75 years ago. My world has changed in so many ways. Each change has become an opportunity to deepen and expand my understanding of life in a secular society. Marriage enhanced my opportunities to grow emotionally, intellectually and spiritually. I want that to be available to all who wish to marry.</p>
<p>Brasfield resigned her ordination in 1993.</p>
<p /> | The chance to grow in a marriage should be for all | false | https://abqjournal.com/246741/the-chance-to-grow-in-a-marriage-should-be-for-all.html | 2 |
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<p>Jobs are being created across the 19-country eurozone at a pace not seen since the turn of the millennium thanks to stronger economic growth, particularly in a resurgent France, according to a closely watched survey Thursday.</p>
<p>In another sign that a robust economic recovery across the single currency bloc is gathering momentum, financial information company IHS Markit said its purchasing managers' index — a broad gauge of business activity across manufacturing and services — rose to 57.5 points in November from 56 the previous month.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Anything above 50 indicates an expansion and the index now stands at its highest level since April 2011.</p>
<p>Chris Williamson, the firm's chief business economist, said business across the eurozone is "booming," and noted jobs are being created at the fastest rate since the dot.com era in the early part of the new century.</p>
<p>The eurozone's fourth-quarter growth could even come in at 0.8 percent, he said, rounding off "the best year for a decade."</p>
<p>France, the eurozone's second-largest economy, was one standout. Its index rose above 60 for the first time since 2011 and hiring has picked up pace. Also, its growth, according to the survey, outpaced Germany, the eurozone's number one economy, for only the fourth time in over five years.</p>
<p>"For next year, we see stronger-than-expected falls in unemployment presenting a significant upside risk for GDP growth," said Cathal Kennedy, European Economist at RBC Europe.</p>
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<p>Even before the survey, the eurozone was already set to post its highest growth rate in ten years. Earlier this month, the European Union upgraded its growth forecast for the eurozone this year to 2.2 percent, which would be the highest since 2007.</p>
<p>The scale of the eurozone recovery this year, which is broad-based across countries and sectors, has caught many economists by surprise.</p>
<p>At the year's start, many feared that the region, already disturbed by Britain's vote last year to leave the European Union, ongoing concerns over the euro and a slew of key elections, would face a difficult time. Though uncertainty over Brexit remains, the Greek crisis seems contained and populist politicians failed to make the breakthrough many economists feared during those elections, notably in France.</p>
<p>"The broad-based nature of the upturn, and the rate at which rising demand is feeding through to the labor market, suggests the eurozone will see a strong end to 2017 and enter 2018 on a firm footing," said Williamson.</p>
<p>The strong growth and falling unemployment should in time help fuel price increases in the economy. That would be welcome news to the European Central Bank, which has enacted a series of stimulus measures over the past few years to get inflation up to its goal of just below 2 percent. In the year to October, inflation stood at 1.4 percent and is expected to dip in the coming months as last year's rise in energy prices falls out of the annual comparison.</p>
<p>However, IHS Markit said the faster pace of growth and jobs creation is helping to boost underlying inflation, with firms' selling prices for goods and services rising by more than at any time since June 2011.</p> | Jobs growth in eurozone at 'highest since dotcom era' | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/11/23/eurozone-economy-heading-for-strongest-quarter-since-2011.html | 2017-11-23 | 0 |
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<p>This undated photo shows author Samuel Clemens, who wrote under the pen name "Mark Twain." . (AP Photo/File)</p>
<p>SAN FRANCISCO - Scholars at the University of California, Berkeley have uncovered and authenticated a cache of stories written by Mark Twain when he was a 29-year-old newspaperman in San Francisco.</p>
<p>Many of the stories are 150 years old.</p>
<p>The San Francisco Chronicle reports ( <a href="http://bit.ly/1Pi8lG7)" type="external">http://bit.ly/1Pi8lG7)</a> Twain wrote some of the letters and stories at the newspaper's offices when it was called the San Francisco Dramatic Chronicle.</p>
<p>Twain's job included writing a 2,000-word story, or "letter," every day and sending it off by stagecoach for publication in the Territorial Enterprise newspaper in Virginia City, Nevada.</p>
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<p>He wrote about everything from San Francisco police to mining accidents, all with varying degrees of truth and humor.</p>
<p>Bob Hirst is editor of UC Berkeley's Mark Twain project and says the articles were found by combing through western</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Information from: San Francisco Chronicle, <a href="http://www.sfgate.com" type="external">http://www.sfgate.com</a></p> | Berkeley's Mark Twain project reveals cache of new writing | false | https://abqjournal.com/579317/berkeleys-mark-twain-project-reveals-cache-of-new-writing.html | 2 |
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<p>Jan 23 (Reuters) - Capital One Financial Corp:</p>
<p>* CAPITAL ONE REPORTS FOURTH QUARTER 2017 NET LOSS OF $971 MILLION, OR $2.17 PER SHARE</p> * Q4 LOSS PER SHARE $2.17
<p>* Q4 EARNINGS PER SHARE VIEW $1.87 — THOMSON REUTERS I/B/E/S</p> * Q4 REVENUE $7.0 BILLION VERSUS I/B/E/S VIEW $7.1 BILLION
<p>* QTRLY NET INTEREST INCOME $ 5,813 MILLION VERSUS $5,447 MILLION</p>
<p>* QTRLY ‍PROVISION FOR CREDIT LOSSES INCREASED 5 PERCENT TO $1.9 BILLION​</p>
<p>* QTRLY ‍NET INTEREST MARGIN OF 7.03 PERCENT, DOWN 5 BASIS POINTS​</p>
<p>* COMMON EQUITY TIER 1 CAPITAL RATIO UNDER BASEL III STANDARDIZED APPROACH OF 10.3 PERCENT AT DECEMBER 31, 2017 Source text for Eikon: Further company coverage:</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>LONDON (Reuters) - GlaxoSmithKline ( <a href="/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=GSK.L" type="external">GSK.L</a>) has quit the race to buy Pfizer’s ( <a href="/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=PFE.N" type="external">PFE.N</a>) consumer healthcare business, endangering an auction the U.S. drugmaker hoped would bring in as much as $20 billion.</p>
<p>It was not immediately clear whether there were other offers for the business, which includes Advil painkillers and Centrum vitamins, following this week’s deadline for binding bids.</p>
<p>GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), which announced its withdrawal on Friday, was seen as the frontrunner to buy the assets after Reckitt Benckiser ( <a href="/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=RB.L" type="external">RB.L</a>) left the race late on Wednesday. Johnson &amp; Johnson ( <a href="/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=JNJ.N" type="external">JNJ.N</a>) stepped away from the auction in January.</p>
<p>A source familiar with the matter said GSK declined to make a final bid for the assets in the end.</p>
<p>“While we will continue to review opportunities that may accelerate our strategy, they must meet our criteria for returns and not compromise our priorities for capital allocation,” GSK Chief Executive Emma Walmsley said in a statement.</p>
<p>GSK shares rose nearly 4 percent, as investors’ concerns about a potential dividend cut eased.</p>
<p>Pfizer said on Friday it continued to evaluate potential alternatives for the business, which include a spin-off, sale or other transaction, as well as retaining it.</p>
<p>“We have not yet made a decision, but continue to expect to make one in 2018,” a spokesman said.</p>
<p>Sources familiar with the matter said on Thursday it was possible there were other bids. On Friday, a source said that if not, Pfizer could try to tap private equity funds.</p>
<p>Pfizer is the world’s fifth-largest player in consumer health with 2.5 percent of a market bolstered by aging populations and growing interest in health and wellness.</p>
<p>The business, which also includes Chapstick lip balm and Caltrate supplements, is seen as attractive but has come to market at a bad time. GSK and Reckitt are under shareholder pressure to exercise financial discipline, while other potential suitors, such as Bayer ( <a href="/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=BAYGn.DE" type="external">BAYGn.DE</a>) and Sanofi ( <a href="/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=SASY.PA" type="external">SASY.PA</a>) are busy with other projects.</p> FILE PHOTO: The Pfizer logo is seen at their world headquarters in New York, U.S., April 28, 2014. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly/File Photo
<p>What is more, the global consumer health market has slowed, from 4-6 percent like-for-like sales growth to 0-3 percent growth, Morgan Stanley analysts said in December. Major players in the over-the-counter market have been grappling with pricing pressure stoked by online players such as Amazon ( <a href="/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=AMZN.O" type="external">AMZN.O</a>) and private label competitors.</p>
<p>Pfizer’s hope of fetching around $20 billion translated to a multiple of about 20 times the unit’s core earnings, according to Bernstein analysts, in line with past deals in the sector during faster growing times.</p>
<p>Differences in price expectations also hobbled German drugmaker Merck KGaA’s ( <a href="/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=MRCG.DE" type="external">MRCG.DE</a>) attempts to sell its consumer products unit, where a price tag of up to 4 billion euros ($5 billion) deterred initial suitors such as Nestle ( <a href="/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=NESN.S" type="external">NESN.S</a>), Perrigo ( <a href="/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=PRGO.N" type="external">PRGO.N</a>) and a private-equity consortium.</p>
<a href="/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=GSK.L" type="external">GlaxoSmithKline PLC</a> 1315.6 GSK.L London Stock Exchange +41.80 (+3.28%) GSK.L PFE.N RB.L JNJ.N BAYGn.DE
<p>Reckitt’s early interest in the Merck assets also waned as the Pfizer auction gained momentum.</p> SPLIT OPINION
<p>Buying the Pfizer business would have been the boldest move to date for Walmsley, who took over at GSK last April. But the wisdom of a deal split opinion among investors, with some worried about the risk to the company’s dividend.</p>
<p>Acquiring additional consumer health assets at a reasonable price could have been a fairly safe way to boost earnings, since scale is key in over-the-counter remedies, but it could have distracted from fixing GSK’s core pharma division.</p>
<p>That is a particular headache for Walmsley - a consumer products veteran who worked for 17 years at L’Oreal ( <a href="/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=OREP.PA" type="external">OREP.PA</a>) - since she has her work cut out to persuade the market she is the right person to lead Britain’s top pharmaceuticals company.</p>
<p>Last month, in a bid to reassure investors, she spelt out that her first priority was improving performance in prescription drugs, followed by dividend payments and only after that acquisitions.</p>
<p>The overhaul of the drugs business, which has produced fewer blockbuster medicines than rivals in recent years, is underway in both the commercial and research fields.</p>
<p>GSK runs its consumer healthcare business via a joint venture with Novartis ( <a href="/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=NOVN.S" type="external">NOVN.S</a>), which complicates any acquisitions. Novartis has the right to sell down its 36.5 percent stake, valued at around $10 billion, from this month, although it has previously indicated it is in no rush to do so.</p>
<p>Additional reporting by Paul Sandle and Ben Hirschler; Editing by David Goodman and Mark Potter</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>(Reuters) - Steve Wynn, the former chief executive of Wynn Resorts Ltd, has disposed his entire 11.8 percent stake in the firm for $2.1 billion in a dramatic exit of the casino and hotel enterprise he founded over 16 years ago.</p>
<p>In an unexpected separate move, Macau casino operator Galaxy Entertainment said it has agreed to buy 5.3 million primary shares of Wynn Resorts at $175 per share, giving them around a 5 percent stake in the operator which has resorts in Las Vegas and Macau.</p>
<p>Galaxy is one of six licensed operators in the world’s largest gambling hub of Macau and competes with Wynn along with Sands China, MGM China and Melco Resorts.</p>
<p>The casino mogul’s share sale comes a week after Wynn Resorts said Steve and Elaine Wynn, who has a 9.26 percent stake, had scrapped a shareholder agreement that prevented them from selling their stakes.</p>
<p>Steve Wynn resigned as CEO of the Las Vegas-based company last month, following claims he subjected women who worked for him to unwanted advances. He has denied the accusations.</p>
<p>In a joint statement by Galaxy and Wynn on Wednesday, Galaxy Vice Chairman Francis Lui said it was a unique opportunity to “acquire an investment in a globally recognised entertainment corporation with exceptionally high quality assets and a significant development pipeline.”</p>
<p>A Galaxy spokeswoman could not comment further on whether Galaxy would look to increase its holding in the future.</p>
<p>Wynn Resorts CEO Matt Maddox said Galaxy shared many of the same core “operating philosophies and values.”</p>
<p>The announcement also follows the settlement two weeks ago of long standing litigation between Wynn Resorts and Universal Entertainment Corporation.</p>
<p>Wynn said two long-term institutional investors, currently holding stakes in Wynn Resorts, have agreed to purchase the remaining eight million shares held by Steve Wynn also at $175 a share.</p>
<p>A Thursday filing showed the embattled founder sold 4.1 million shares of Wynn Resorts at $180 per share - effectively exiting his entire 12.1 million shares, or 11.8 percent stake in the firm, for a total of $2.14 billion.</p> Steve Wynn, Chairman and CEO of Wynn Resorts, speaks during the Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills, California, U.S., May 3, 2017. REUTERS/Mike Blake WYNN IMPACT
<p>Wynn, who started in Las Vegas casinos in the 1960s, created some of Las Vegas’ most iconic landmarks – the Mirage, Bellagio and Treasure Island.</p>
<p>He was forced to sell his multi-billion dollar operation Mirage Resorts to tycoon Kirk Kerkorian in a hostile takeover in 2000. Kerkorian then created MGM Mirage and Wynn went on to create Wynn Resorts with his ex-wife in 2002.</p> An exterior view Wynn hotel-casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S., February 7, 2018. REUTERS/Steve Marcus
<p>The 76 year old businessman, whose signature denotes the company’s logo, had built two lavish resorts in the former Portuguese colony of Macau where only six firms have licenses to operate casinos.</p>
<p>Vitaly Umansky, analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein in Hong Kong, said the implications of the Galaxy’s investment goes beyond what looks like a passive move at this stage.</p>
<p>“Wynn and Galaxy may be looking at collaborating on future development opportunities in Asia, with Japan being the critical development initiative.”</p>
<p>Galaxy’s octogenarian founder Lui Che Woo, one of Asia’s wealthiest billionaires, has a net wealth of $22 billion according to Forbes. Lui who started his career in construction has grown his casino company into one of Macau’s biggest operators over the past decade.</p>
<p>“There are other large gaming companies who do not have a presence in Macau, but who desperately want to be in Macau, and we would not be surprised to see them angling for a seat at the acquisition table too,” said Grant Govertsen, analyst at Union Gaming in Macau.</p>
<p>While Galaxy has been primarily focused on Macau with its three casinos, it this week received a license to operate a roughly $500 million resort in Boracay, the Philippines most famous holiday island.</p>
<p>Wynn, which operates a resort on Cotai and Macau’s main peninsula, focuses on premium and VIP customers, while Galaxy targets both the high end segment and the broader mass. Both companies have reported strong earnings growth in the fourth quarter with Galaxy posting a 67 percent surge in 2017 profit.</p>
<p>Shares in Wynn Macau and Galaxy dropped 3.9 percent and 2.9 percent respectively on Friday against the benchmark Hang Seng Index which was down 3.1 percent.</p>
<p>Reporting by Farah Master in Hong Kong and Philip George in Bengaluru; Editing by Shri Navaratnam</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>NEW YORK - The threat of a trade war sent many world stock markets broadly lower in choppy trading on Friday and boosted safer assets like the yen and government bonds, a day after U.S. President Donald Trump announced tariffs on up to $60 billion of Chinese goods.</p> FILE PHOTO: Traders work on the trading floor at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in Manhattan, New York City, U.S., March 14, 2018. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly
<p>Trump signed a presidential memorandum on Thursday that could impose tariffs on up to $60 billion of imports from China, although the measures have a 30-day consultation period before they take effect.</p>
<p>After another bruising week, a key gauge of world equity markets was broadly headed for their first quarterly loss since early 2016 as a spike in volatility, rising inflation and the specter of a trade war spooked investors who had enjoyed a multi-year bull run.</p>
<p>MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe shed 0.53 percent. The index has lost around 3.4 percent since Monday and was set for its worst week since early February when a spike in volatility had sent markets into a tailspin.</p>
<p>“The equity markets are getting clobbered, which is not that surprising with fears of a trade war breaking out,” said Paul Fage, a TD Securities emerging markets strategist.</p>
<p>On Wall Street, the benchmark S&amp;P 500 stock index and the Dow were buoyed by gains in Nike, but the tech-heavy Nasdaq was weighed by losses in chip stocks led by Micron Technology.</p>
<p>The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 67.35 points, or 0.28 percent, to 24,025.24, the S&amp;P 500 gained 2.12 points, or 0.08 percent, to 2,645.81 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 11.13 points, or 0.16 percent, to 7,155.55.</p>
<p>European stocks fell, with Germany’s Dax down 1.4 percent, the French CAC 40 1.3 percent lower and Britain’s FTSE 100 0.4 percent in the red.</p>
<p>That followed large declines in Asia, where the Nikkei tumbled 4.5 percent and the Hang Seng index lost 2.4 percent.</p>
<p>China urged the United States to “pull back from the brink,” but investors fear Trump’s tariffs are leading the world’s two largest economies into a trade war with potentially dire consequences for the global economy.</p>
<p>China disclosed its own plans on Friday to impose tariffs on up to $3 billion of U.S. imports in retaliation against U.S. tariffs on Chinese steel and aluminum products.</p> SAFETY
<p>Amid the uncertain world economic climate, investors seeking safer assets jumped into government bond markets in Europe and the United States.</p>
<p>U.S. 10-year Treasury yields, which fell almost 8 basis points on Thursday, rose on Friday but were still set for their biggest two-week fall since November.</p>
<p>In Europe, benchmark issuer Germany’s 10-year bond yields hovered close to 10-week lows struck a day earlier at around 0.52 percent. While German bond yields recovered in European trading, they were still on track for their biggest two-week drop since November.</p>
<p>Many investors also turned to the Japanese yen, a currency likely to benefit from a full-fledged trade war.</p> Related Video
<p>The currency gained as much as 0.6 percent against the dollar to 104.635 yen, the first time it has been below 105 since November 2016. Investors later booked profits to leave the yen up 0.1 percent at 105.19 yen per dollar.</p>
<p>The Swiss franc, another currency bought in times of market uncertainty, rose 0.2 percent versus the dollar, although it fell against the euro.</p>
<p>The dollar index, tracking it against other major currencies, fell 0.36 percent.</p>
<p>U.S. crude rose 1.62 percent to $65.34 per barrel and Brent was last at $69.44, up 1.55 percent on the day.</p>
<p>Editing by Bernadette Baum</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks slumped on Thursday as President Donald Trump’s move to impose tariffs on up to $60 billion of Chinese imports drove fears about the impact on the global economy, fueling the biggest percentage declines in Wall Street’s three major indexes since they entered correction territory six weeks ago.</p>
<p>Trump signed a presidential memorandum that will target the Chinese imports only after a consultation period. China will have space to respond, reducing the risk of immediate retaliation from Beijing.</p>
<p>But after equities recovered somewhat from earlier lows, selling pressure resumed on Wall Street heading into the close as investors fretted over the potential scale of U.S tariffs and possible impact on global trade.</p>
<p>“There’s too much negative sentiment right now,” said John Carey, portfolio manager at Amundi Pioneer Asset Management in Boston. “It’s possible that it will be rough sledding for a while. I don’t see anything on the horizon that will reassure people that things are just great.”</p>
<p>Major industrials slumped. Plane maker Boeing Co lost 5.2 percent, Caterpillar Inc dropped 5.7 and 3M Co lost 4.7. The three were among the biggest drags on the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The S&amp;P industrials sector plunged 3.28 percent.</p>
<p>The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 724.42 points, or 2.93 percent, to 23,957.89, the S&amp;P 500 lost 68.24 points, or 2.52 percent, to 2,643.69, and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 178.61 points, or 2.43 percent, to 7,166.68.</p>
<p>The losses marked the biggest daily percentage drop for each of the major indexes since Feb. 8, when the Dow and S&amp;P confirmed a market correction from their Jan. 26 highs.</p>
<p>Selling was broad, with only the defensive utilities 0.44on the plus side, up 0.44 percent, out of 11 major S&amp;P sectors.</p> Specialist trader Meric Greenbaum works at his post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, (NYSE) in New York, U.S., March 22, 2018. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
<p>The CBOE Volatility Index, the most widely followed barometer of expected near-term volatility in the S&amp;P 500, finished up 5.48 points at 23.34, its highest close since Feb. 13.23.34</p>
<p>U.S. treasury prices gained as investors sought out safe havens. Benchmark 10-year notes last rose 23/32 in price to yield 2.8244 percent, from 2.907 percent late on Wednesday.</p>
<p>The drop in yields weighed on financial stocks, which were down 3.70 percent, making them the worst performing of the major sectors.</p> Slideshow (7 Images)
<p>Another decline in shares of Facebook Inc, down 2.7 percent, continued to weigh on the broader market and the tech sector, the best performing S&amp;P group for this year. The S&amp;P technology index fell 2.69 percent on fears of greater regulation in the wake of the Facebook data leak.</p>
<p>Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg said he was open to additional government regulation and happy to testify before the U.S. Congress.</p>
<p>AbbVie Inc tumbled 12.8 percent after the drugmaker said it would not seek accelerated approval for its experimental lung cancer treatment based on results from a mid-stage study.</p> Related Coverage
<a href="/article/us-usa-stocks-futures/sp-500-futures-fall-after-trump-ousts-mcmaster-idUSKBN1GY3CG" type="external">S&amp;P 500 futures fall after Trump ousts McMaster</a>
<a href="/article/us-usa-stocks-analysts-instantview/instant-view-u-s-stocks-tumble-on-trade-worries-idUSKBN1GY2E9" type="external">Instant View: U.S. stocks tumble on trade worries</a>
<p>Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a 4.51-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 4.09-to-1 ratio favored decliners.</p>
<p>The S&amp;P 500 posted three new 52-week highs and 19 new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 36 new highs and 59 new lows.</p>
<p>Volume on U.S. exchanges was 7.77 billion shares, compared to the 7.17 billion average for the full session over the last 20 trading days.</p>
<p>Additional reporting by April Joyner; Editing by Leslie Adler</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a> | BRIEF-Capital One Reports Q4 Earnings Per Share $1.62 Excluding Items GSK pulls out of $20 billion race for Pfizer consumer assets Steve Wynn sells stake in company he founded, Macau casino Galaxy buys in Trade war fears roil equity markets while yen, bonds gain Stocks tumble to worst day in six weeks after Trump tariff action | false | https://reuters.com/article/brief-capital-one-reports-q4-earnings-pe/brief-capital-one-reports-q4-earnings-per-share-162-excluding-items-idUSASB0C1ZP | 2018-01-23 | 2 |
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<p>But in the weeks leading up to Nov. 8, the doomsday aura surrounding American politics seems to have most overwhelmed one state in particular – Texas.</p>
<p>Some counties there are using paper ballots; voters have blamed electronic glitches on nefarious, and unfounded, ballot-swapping schemes; and Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has made unsubstantiated conspiracy theories of voter fraud in Texas a talking point during some of his recent stump speeches.</p>
<p>Now, there’s this: somebody in the Dallas metropolitan area super-glued razor blades to the bottom of a Trump campaign sign this week and plunged it into the ground outside an early voting polling place.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>It was left directly in front of the official polling site sign, according to a statement obtained by ABC affiliate WFAA 8, blocking “vote here” directions, so a do-gooder decided to relocate it at about 6:15 a.m. Tuesday.</p>
<p>But in the early morning darkness, he didn’t see the sharp, shiny line protruding from the sign’s edge.</p>
<p>He lifted – and the blades sliced.</p>
<p>“Tampering a sign in this way. . . I have not seen that before,” Collin County Elections Administrator Bruce Sherbet told WFAA.</p>
<p>“I’m not even sure what the motivation to do something like that would be,” he said.</p>
<p>The incident was reported to the Texas Rangers, who are investigating, Collin College spokesperson Lisa Vasquez said in the statement. The sign was found on the college’s Spring Creek Campus in Plano, a Dallas suburb.</p>
<p>“All campaign signs on the college’s campuses are being inspected, and any sharps found on signage will be removed,” Vasquez said. “The college will be working with local election officials and both political parties to ensure safety.”</p>
<p>Officials told Fox 4 News that there are no cameras in the area and so far, no arrests have been made.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>The man declined to seek medical attention for the minor cuts on his hands, according to the Collin College statement, and chose to treat the wounds himself. The man was there that morning, the statement said, to drop off a friend who was volunteering as a poll worker.</p>
<p>“It wasn’t a prank as far as it looked to me. It looks like something intentional to hurt somebody,” Sherbet told Fox 4. “These things on the surface look one way, but you can’t jump to conclusions, which is why they need to be investigated thoroughly.”</p>
<p>Incidents of violence and vandalism have plagued this election cycle, and seem to have escalated in recent weeks. In mid-October, a Republican Party headquarters in North Carolina, a state bitterly divided this year, was firebombed and spray-painted with a swastika and the words: “Nazi Republicans leave town or else.”</p>
<p>On Tuesday night, the same day of the razor-blade incident, authorities say a fire was purposefully set at a historically black church in Mississippi, the outside of the sanctuary tagged with the spray-painted words “Vote Trump.” It’s being investigated as a hate crime.</p>
<p>A large pile of animal manure was dumped in front of a Democratic Party headquarters in Ohio. North Carolina Republican Sen. Richard Burr joked at a get-out-the-vote meeting that gun-rights supporters might want to put a “bull’s eye” on Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton – then later apologized.</p>
<p>At a rally on Monday in Florida, Trump supporters held up target practice signs of Clinton’s face.</p>
<p>And now federal and state law enforcement officials are concerned this bitter election might end in violence, reported NBC News, especially if Trump loses and refuses to accept the results.</p>
<p>“I will keep you in suspense,” he said at the third presidential debate when asked if he’d consider the vote legitimate.</p>
<p>“It’s terrible we’ve become so polarized in our politics,” Steve Spainhouer, the Democratic chair in Collin County Precinct 122, told CBS 11 News about the razor blade incident. “I think it’s deplorable. It just shows how far we’ve come in politics where people want to be so mean, so hateful to try and injure somebody who’s probably got no political party persuasion one way or another and is just working at a poll.”</p>
<p>He told the TV station it is the most heinous campaign-related incident he has seen in 16 years.</p>
<p>Local Republican leaders agreed – this act was intentional and disturbing.</p>
<p>“They were placed in front of a vote sign so someone would have to move it,” Collin County Republican Party executive director Neil Katz told Fox 4. “It’s obvious intent was for someone to get cut.”</p>
<p>texas-sign</p> | Someone in Texas lined a Trump sign with razor blades, then left it at a polling place | false | https://abqjournal.com/881239/someone-in-texas-lined-a-trump-sign-with-razor-blades-then-left-it-at-a-polling-place.html | 2 |
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<p>– Bernalillo County, N.M.</p>
<p>Summer, sandals, picnics in the park and other outdoor activities are upon us. So is the perennial pet poop problem.</p>
<p>There are over 80,000 licensed dogs in Albuquerque. The city estimates they create 20 tons of waste each day.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>We can’t blame our animals for doing what comes naturally, so all you pet owners better listen up. I am one of you, but we’re not all as responsible as we should be.</p>
<p>For more than a decade now, local governments have been reminding their citizens “there is no poop fairy” who magically disposes of your dog’s droppings. The law is clear that responsibility is ours.</p>
<p>Section 9-2-4-3 of the Albuquerque Code of Ordinances states: “(E) No person shall allow an animal to defecate upon public property or upon any private property other than the property of the animal’s owner without thoroughly removing and disposing of the feces.”</p>
<p>In addition to making sandal wearing and park picnics treacherous, unattended dog poop may carry disease, draws pesky flies and could net you a petty misdemeanor conviction and monetary fine. The mayor of San Marino, Calif., is in very hot water for throwing a bag of dog poop on a neighbor’s lawn last week; I guess he didn’t see the surveillance camera.</p>
<p>A recent civil case here in Albuquerque illustrates that believing in the Poop Fairy can cause big legal headaches.</p>
<p>The complaint for damages states that one fine day, Ms. Dogowner was walking her two dogs in her Northeast Heights neighborhood when one of them “did their thing” on a neighbor’s lawn, allegedly “unbeknown” to her. Proceeding on her walk, Ms. Dogowner was surprised when the Ms. Homeowner, followed her down the street cajoling: “Don’t you want this?” as she waved the plastic bag of dog poop she’d just scooped up from her lawn.</p>
<p>The verbal confrontation rapidly escalated and, allegedly, Ms. Homeowner smeared the dog poop all over Ms. Dogowner before hopping into a car for her getaway.</p>
<p>Ms. Dogowner had her husband take photos, then called the cops. Ms. Homeowner was charged with battery – “the unlawful, intentional, touching… of another when done in a(n)… angry manner” – which is also a petty misdemeanor. She was sentenced to anger management classes.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Ms. Dogowner then initiated a separate civil action for money damages against Ms. Homeowner claiming she had been “permanently emotionally scarred by the senseless attack.”</p>
<p>Faced with the allegations that her behavior was “beyond all possible bounds of decency,” Ms. Homeowner filed a counterclaim denying that she had smeared poop on her neighbor.</p>
<p>She further claimed that Ms. Dogowner had let her dogs poop on her lawn more than once in the past without cleaning up and challenged Ms. Dogowner’s claim that the dog had answered its call of nature “unbeknown” to her on the fateful day.</p>
<p>She sought money damages for Ms. Dogowner’s trespass, violation of the clean-up ordinance and creating a nuisance.</p>
<p>Since they lived only a few doors apart, Ms. Homeowner also sought an injunction to keep Ms. Dogowner and her dogs away from her home in the future.</p>
<p>The case was assigned to my court, and both parties requested a settlement conference. With the help of a skilled mediator, they have settled their dispute and the case has been fully and finally dismissed.</p>
<p>Neither party has admitted being wrong, but no one has tried to blame the Poop Fairy, either.</p>
<p>What if the case had not settled? I had it scheduled for a jury trial in mid-2015. You can “judge for yourself,” as a juror would have, whether Ms. Homeowner grossly over-reacted to the situation even if it was not Ms. Dogowner’s first time or whether Ms. Dogowner got exactly what she deserved for disrespecting both the law and her neighbors’ right to a poop-free zone.</p>
<p>In either case, cleaning up after your dog makes for a healthier community. And it’s the law. Because “there is no poop fairy.”</p>
<p>Alan M. Malott is a judge of the 2nd Judicial District Court. Before joining the Court, he practiced law throughout New Mexico for 30 years and was a nationally certified civil trial specialist. If you have questions, contact Judge Malott at PO Box 8305 Albuquerque, NM 87198 or email to: <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a>. Opinions expressed here are solely those of Judge Alan M. Malott individually and not those of the court.</p>
<p /> | 80,000 dogs live in ABQ, but we have no ‘Poop Fairy’ | false | https://abqjournal.com/418111/80000-dogs-live-in-abq-but-we-have-no-poop-fairy.html | 2 |
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<p><a href="" type="internal" /> <a href="" type="internal" />LAS CRUCES — Oklahoma State University is suing New Mexico State University, claiming the Aggies have plagiarized its pistol-packing mascot.</p>
<p>The federal lawsuit filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Western Oklahoma says the NMSU’s mascot is “confusingly similar” to OSU’s Pistol Pete Marks. The Oklahoma school wants NMSU to stop using the mascot known in Las Cruces as “Classic Aggie.”</p>
<p>OSU says it trademarked the mascot first and has used the image since 1930.</p>
<p>In a statement, NMSU says officials are confident that the two schools can come to an agreement.</p>
<p>Pistol Pete is based on a real cowboy from the 1800s named Frank Eaton. He got his nickname practicing his shooting skills in Oklahoma and is said to have won a legendary Albuquerque gunfight.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | OSU sues NMSU over pistol-packing mascot | false | https://abqjournal.com/484243/osu-sues-nmsu-over-pistol-packing-mascot.html | 2 |
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<p>On Tuesday, an Arlington County judge granted possession of the home to a firm managed by Jeong Kim, a former president of Bell Labs and a co-owner of Verizon Center, the Washington Wizards and the Washington Capitals.</p>
<p>Kim’s company, 201 Chain Bridge LLC, bought the 20,000-square-foot property earlier this summer after it had been sold at a foreclosure auction. But Hunt, still in bankruptcy proceedings, resisted relinquishing his trophy home, claiming the foreclosure auction was illegitimate.</p>
<p>In a bizarre hearing at Arlington County General District Court, the former multimillionaire served as his own attorney. Hunt, 56, told Judge R. Frances O’Brien that another entity, Crown Properties LLC, was the real owner and agreed to lease the home back to him in May, a month before the house was auctioned. He said he was providing technology consulting to another firm, Legal Investment Group, which was paying his rent to Crown Properties.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Hunt’s sudden claims – he never discussed these companies in his pretrial defense filings or pretrial hearings – prompted Kim’s attorney, Leon Koutsouftikis, to question the authenticity of those firms.</p>
<p>“I think he’s committing a fraud in this court. It’s ridiculous,” Koutsouftikis told O’Brien.</p>
<p>“I have not committed a fraud in this court,” Hunt countered.</p>
<p>The judge was skeptical. “I think there are issues of credibility,” she said, before ruling in favor of Kim.</p>
<p>For years, Hunt has been beset by legal and financial problems. He founded RS Information Systems in 1992 and built it into one of the country’s most prominent black-owned government contracting firms. By 2006, he finished building his Mediterranean-style home, which boasts a basketball court, a 15-space underground parking garage and five bedrooms. It was once featured on “MTV Cribs” and was known on social media as #RHPmansion.</p>
<p>The home’s size and location – around the corner from tech entrepreneur Steve Case and down the street from the CIA – symbolized Hunt’s perch atop Washington’s hierarchy.</p>
<p>In 2007, the year he sold his IT contracting company to a California aerospace firm, Northern Virginia Magazine estimated his net worth at $265 million.</p>
<p>But soon, Hunt began piling up astronomical debts. By 2012, Bank of America said Hunt had defaulted on a $9.4 million loan on the mansion. Court records also showed that he racked up more than $10 million on unpaid loans and shoddy business deals.</p>
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<p>Last year Hunt filed for bankruptcy, citing debts between $10 million and $50 million. One creditor, a Texas woman, alleges in his bankruptcy court documents that Hunt raped her in July 2009 at a Houston hotel and owes her more than $600,000 in court-ordered judgments stemming from a settlement in a civil suit she had filed against him. Hunt has denied the assault accusations in court, saying the woman was trying to extort money from him so that eventually he would settle to avoid tainting his reputation.</p>
<p>On June 16, Hunt’s mansion was sold in one of the largest foreclosure sales in the region’s history, for $7.3 million to an entity called GREI LLC, whose managing member is Alasgar Farhadov, a Realtor in Northern Virginia. Then, in July, Farhadov transferred his company’s interest in the house to 201 Chain Bridge LLC, the firm managed by Kim.</p>
<p>Hunt has been living on the property “on and off” since July, according to his close friend and business associate Danny Jones.</p>
<p>In July, Kim’s attorneys began sending letters to Hunt demanding that he leave or be charged rent for every day he stayed on the property after his ownership had ceased on the day of the auction. In phone interviews, Kim has refused to say whether he personally owns the mansion and plans on moving into it.</p>
<p>After Tuesday’s hearing, Hunt declined to comment. Sara Harris, who serves as the chief financial officer of Kim’s legal entity, declined to say whether Kim planned to move into the property; he did not attend the hearing.</p>
<p>In early August, Hunt was sentenced to three months in Arlington jail for violating his probation on a drug charge. While Hunt was incarcerated, a party held at the mansion was tied to a drive-by shooting that occurred about a mile away. Three people were wounded in the incident. Although Hunt’s then-attorney said his client had not authorized the party, his client was well known for throwing huge bashes at the house – often noted on Instagram with the hashtag #RPHMansion – that required attendees to park at a nearby church and take a shuttle bus onto the grounds of the property.</p>
<p>There still is a remote chance for Hunt to reclaim the house. He has 10 days to appeal Tuesday’s ruling. But if he wants to petition another judge, he must pay a $132,000 appeal bond to the Arlington court – a figure that represents a portion of unpaid rent for living on the property during the summer and fall.</p>
<p>Will Hunt go through with the expensive appeal? “That’s being discussed right now,” said Jones, his close friend. “We’re not 100 percent sure.”</p>
<p>Correction: An earlier version of this story inaccurately reported the year that RS Information Systems was founded. The story has been corrected.</p>
<p>virginia-eviction</p> | Bankrupt entrepreneur loses legal battle for trophy home | false | https://abqjournal.com/913846/bankrupt-entrepreneur-loses-legal-battle-for-trophy-home.html | 2 |
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<p>Slate "ADD" is the lamest hed about the budget and deficit ever imagined, says Jack Shafer. He writes: "The earliest 'Attention Deficit Disorder' headline -- or variant thereof -- that Nexis and Factiva exhumed for me came from the Palm Beach Post, which in 1996 personalized the concept with the headline: 'Bob Dole Has a Bad Case of "Deficit Attention Disorder." ' In 1997, Reason followed up with the plainer 'Deficit Attention Disorder.'"</p> | Enough with the "Attention Deficit Disorder" headlines! | false | https://poynter.org/news/enough-attention-deficit-disorder-headlines | 2006-02-09 | 2 |
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<p>A High Rolls mother is doing everything she can to find her son, who went missing earlier this month on what was supposed to be a quick trip to Alamogordo, the <a href="http://www.alamogordonews.com/ci_16738799" type="external">Alamogordo Daily News</a> reported.</p>
<p>Jordan Medina, 21, never returned from the trip to Alamogordo on Nov. 12, his mother, Andrea Medina, told the Daily News.</p>
<p>“He was at his dad’s house in Cloudcroft and left around 6:30 p.m. that night,” Andrea Medina told the paper. “He would usually do to Alamogordo to get something to eat. It’s not like him to disappear off the face of the earth.”</p>
<p>An Otero County Sheriff’s Office report says Jordan Medina’s 2003 silver four-door Pontiac Grand Am was found by Alamogordo Department of Public Safety officers around 8:18 p.m. Nov. 12 blocking a driveway at an Alamogordo address and the driver couldn’t be found, the Daily News said.</p>
<p>Andrea Medina said the last time she talked to her son was around 2 p.m. Nov. 12.</p>
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<p>“We kept in constant contact,” she told the Daily News. “He would just let me know what he was doing.”</p>
<p>Jordan Medina was convicted of a driving under the influence charge in August and was required to use an ignition interlock device, which was shut down around 7:56 p.m. Nov. 12, his mother told the paper.</p>
<p>A wallet containing Jordan Medina’s ID and $330 in cash were found inside the abandoned car, but missing from the vehicle, according to Andrea Medina, were a Compaq laptop computer, a Glock 9mm handgun and an undisclosed amount of ammunition, the Daily News said.</p>
<p>Jordan’s brother, Joshua Medina, said a live round was discovered near his brother’s abandoned vehicle, the paper reported.</p> | 7:55am — High Rolls Mom Looks for Missing Son | false | https://abqjournal.com/10443/755am-high-rolls-mom-looks-for-missing-son.html | 2 |
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<p>Last week the UN Security Council finally voted to end its military occupation of Haiti. Instigated by the US, France and Canada, MINUSTAH has been responsible for countless abuses during the past 13 years.</p>
<p>At the same time as the Security Council voted to draw down its military force (a police contingent will remain), the Associated Press published an in depth investigation confirming widespread sexual abuse by UN troops in Haiti. The foreign soldiers had sex with minors, sodomized boys and raped young girls. An internal UN report uncovered by AP implicated 134 Sri Lankan troops in a sex ring that exploited nine children from 2004 to 2007. None of the MINUSTAH soldiers were imprisoned.</p>
<p>In early 2012 video footage came to light of five Uruguayan soldiers sexually assaulting an 18-year old Haitian. In that case as well the soldiers were sent home, but no one was punished.</p>
<p>At the time Haïti Liberté complained, “there are also almost monthly cases of UN soldiers sexually assaulting Haitian minors, all of which have gone unpunished.” According to the Status Forces Agreement signed between the UN and Haiti’s 2004-06 coup government, MINUSTAH is not subject to Haitian laws. At worst, soldiers are sent home for trial. Despite committing countless crimes, very few MINUSTAH soldier have ever been held to account at home.</p>
<p>Beyond sexual abuse, the UN’s disregard for Haitian life caused a major cholera outbreak, which has left 10 000 dead and nearly 1 million ill. In October 2010 a UN base in central Haiti recklessly discharged sewage, including the feces of newly deployed Nepalese troops, into a river where people drank. This introduced the water-borne disease into the country. Even after the deadly cholera outbreak, UN forces were caught disposing sewage into waterways Haitians drank from. While they partly apologised for introducing cholera to the country, the UN has failed to compensate the victims of its recklessness or even spend the sums needed to eradicate the disease.</p>
<p>“Imagine if the UN was going to the United States and raping children and bringing cholera,” Mario Joseph, a prominent Haitian lawyer, told AP. “Human rights aren’t just for rich white people.”</p>
<p>These abuses aren’t an unfortunate outgrowth of a well-meaning peacekeeping effort. Rather, MINUSTAH was established to consolidate the US, France and Canada’s anti-democratic policies and usurp Haitian sovereignty.</p>
<p>As former Haitian soldiers swept through the country killing police officers in February 2004, the UN Security Council ignored the elected government’s request for peacekeepers to restore order in a country without an army. The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) called upon the Security Council to deploy an emergency military task force to assist the elected government and on February 26, three days before President Jean-Bertrand Aristide’s removal, the Organization of American States’ permanent council asked the UN Security Council to, “take all the necessary and appropriate urgent measures to address the deteriorating situation in Haiti.” This appeal for assistance was flatly rejected by the world’s most powerful nations, but immediately after US/French/Canadian troops ousted the elected government the Security Council passed a motion calling for intervention to stabilize Haiti.</p>
<p>Immediately after US marines whisked Aristide from the country on February 29, 2004, 2000 US, French and Canadian soldiers were on the ground in Haiti. For years a Canadian led MINUSTAH’s police contingent and for six months 500 Canadian troops were part of the UN mission that backed up the coup government’s (2004-2006) violent crackdown against pro-democracy protesters. The UN force also killed dozens of civilians directly in pacifying Cité Soleil, a bastion of support for Aristide. The worst incident was on July 6, 2005 when 400 UN troops, backed by helicopters, entered the densely populated neighbourhood.</p>
<p>Eyewitnesses and victims of the attack claim MINUSTAH helicopters fired on residents throughout the operation. The cardboard and corrugated tin wall houses were no match for the troops’ heavy weaponry, which fired “over 22,000 rounds of ammunition”, according to a US embassy file released through a Freedom of Information request. The raid left at least 23 civilians dead, including numerous women and children. The UN initially claimed they only killed “gang” leader Dread Wilme. (Graphic footage of victims dying on camera can be viewed in Kevin Piña’s Haiti: We Must Kill the Bandits.)</p>
<p>During the height of the violence Canadian diplomats pressured MINUSTAH to get tough. In early 2005 the head of the UN mission, General Augusto Heleno Ribeiro, told a congressional commission in Brazil that “we are under extreme pressure from the international community [specifically citing Canada, France and the US] to use violence.” Later Canadian Ambassador Claude Boucher openly called for greater UN violence in the pro-Aristide slum of Cité Soleil.</p>
<p>It is good UN soldiers will soon be removed from Haiti. Haitians, however, will continue to suffer the consequences of MINUSTAH for years.</p> | The Military Occupation of Haiti | true | https://counterpunch.org/2017/04/21/the-military-occupation-of-haiti/ | 2017-04-21 | 4 |
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<p>Hamid Karzai signed Afghanistan’s post-Taliban constitution into law on Monday and expressed the hope that the 162-article document, which paves the way for elections and provides protections for minority rights, would bring “prosperity for all and … ensure peace, equality and brotherhood” among Afghanistan’s fractious ethnic groups. The constitution is a great achievement in itself, but the gap between its ideals and the reality on the ground shows just how far Afghanistan has still to go.</p>
<p>The latest <a href="http://hrw.org/wr2k4/5.htm#_Toc58744954" type="external">annual world report</a> from Human Rights Watch, out this week, describes how many of the early gains made after the fall of the Taliban have been lost. Author Sam Zia-Zarifi explains that the U.S. approach to reconstructing Afghanistan, frequently offered as a model for Iraq’s reconstruction, has failed to empower civil society. Instead, regional warlords, armed in most cases by the United States to help allied troops fight the Taliban, preside over many rural areas, and Taliban remnants have regrouped in some parts of the country, mounting attacks against aid workers and government troops. The report explains:</p>
<p />
<p>“Warlords, militias, and brigands dominate the entire country, including the city of Kabul. Many women and girls, freed from the Taliban’s rule, have again been forced out of schools and jobs due to insecurity. Poppy cultivation has soared to new highs, providing billions of dollars to the Taliban, warlords, and petty criminals who resist the central government.”</p>
<p>A British and a Canadian soldier were killed in <a href="http://www.globeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20040128.wfoot0128/BNStory/International/" type="external">attacks</a> this week. The Taliban claimed responsibility and promised a new wave of violence.</p>
<p>Just one week ago, President Bush used his <a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/01/20040120-7.html" type="external">State of the Union</a> address to claim success in Afghanistan.</p>
<p />
<p>“As of this month, that country has a new constitution, guaranteeing free elections and full participation by women. Businesses are opening, health care centers are being established, and the boys and girls of Afghanistan are back in school. With the help from the new Afghan army, our coalition is leading aggressive raids against the surviving members of the Taliban and al Qaeda. The men and women of Afghanistan are building a nation that is free and proud and fighting terror — and America is honored to be their friend.”</p>
<p>The HRW report acknowledges that the fall of the Taliban opened up possibilities for Afghan society.</p>
<p />
<p>“When the United States and its Coalition partners helped oust the Taliban, they opened a window of opportunity for ordinary Afghans to resume their lives. In the first year after the fall of the Taliban, some two million Afghans who had fled their country returned (although millions more remain refugees); girls and children regained the possibility of attending school or holding jobs; and the voices of civil society, silenced by over two decades of repression and fighting, again emerged around the country.”</p>
<p>But according to John Sifton, the Afghanistan researcher for HRW, much of the opportunity has been squandered. Sifton told Mother Jones that Bush’s speech was “at best deeply disingenuous and at worst outright lying.” Sifton, who has spent much of the past three years in Afghanistan explains that while girls may have the right to go to school, the warlords in rural areas keeps many people in fear.</p>
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<p>“Bush talked about boys and girls going back to school, well here’s a fact: 1.4 million girls enrolled in Afghanistan. There are at least four million school age girls in Afghanistan, that means much less than half the school age girls in Afghanistan are back in school. 1.4 million sounds good, but percentage wise most girls are out of school. That’s because of the security, families are afraid to send their girls outside to play in front of their house let alone walk a few kilometers to a school. A lot of places schools haven’t even been built for girls because the security is so bad that the UN, and the international agencies, and the Afghan government forces to come in and build schools can’t even get there because there’s robbing and looting going on. Between the Taliban and the warlords, it’s just not happening on women’s education.”</p>
<p>The report explains that the international community has failed to provide the necessary funds to rebuild the country. In 2003 the U.S. gave less than $1 billion to Afghanistan, while $26 billion was allocated for Iraq. There are currently about 11,500 international troops in the country, 8,500 of them American, with an additional 5,000 NATO peacekeepers in Kabul. Zarifi argues that the U.S. has failed in its commitment to rebuild the country because the administration views Afghanistan as irreparable.</p>
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<p>“A major reason is that the United States, like previous foreign powers in Afghanistan, sees the country as endemically violent and thus excessively relies on a military response to the country’s problems. Viewing the country through a prism of violence has contributed to a number of erroneous policies in Afghanistan, to wit: focusing on the short-term defeat of Taliban and al-Qaeda forces with little regard for long-term security concerns; the resultant reliance on warlords on the national and local levels without regard for their legitimacy with the local population; and the shortchanging of nonmilitary measures. This skewed understanding of Afghanistan’s problems and their solutions has persisted despite recent indications that Washington policy-makers now recognize the continuing threats posed in Afghanistan and understand some of the mistakes of their past policies.”</p>
<p>The report concludes that if the international community commits to increased military and economic reconstruction efforts, and listens to the needs of Afghans, significant progress might be made. Whether the U.S. is prepared to take the lead on this is hard to say. With an election year in full swing, a major deficit, and Iraq to rebuild, the odds don’t look good. On Wednesday CNN reported that the U.S. Defense Department is planning a spring offensive against the Taliban and Al Qaeda in Afghanistan. But with the U.S.’s sights set on catching the elusive Osama bin Laden, it’s not clear whether an increased U.S. presence will keep the warlords in check. Ultimately, says the HRW report, the U.S. must work to support Democratic institutions, not corrupt warlords, in Afghanistan.</p>
<p /> | Progress and Peril | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2004/01/progress-and-peril/ | 2004-01-29 | 4 |
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<p>ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The Dona Ana County Sheriff’s Office is looking for witnesses who may have information about a homicide in Berino — the county’s first reported homicide in 2013, El Paso television station <a href="http://www.kvia.com/news/dona-ana-county-sheriffs-office-seek-witnesses-in-first-homicide-of-2013/-/391068/20263518/-/oj3d9wz/-/index.html" type="external">KVIA ABC-7</a> reported.</p>
<p>Juan Perez, 41, was found unresponsive on the afternoon of May 18, and witnesses told investigators that Perez had been drinking alcohol with several people throughout the day before allegedly getting into a fight, KVIA said.</p>
<p>Perez was taken to University Medical Center in El Paso with severe blunt-force trauma to the head, and was pronounced dead at the hospital early Wednesday, according to ABC-7.</p>
<p>Anyone with information is asked to call the sheriff’s office at (575) 525-1911 or the Mesilla Valley Regional Dispatch Authority at (575) 526-0795.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | Dona Ana Co.has 1st homicide of 2013 | false | https://abqjournal.com/202330/witnesses-sought-in-dona-ana-co-homicide.html | 2013-05-23 | 2 |
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<p>Speaking in television interviews, Perez indicated that an important first step was joining with vanquished rival Minnesota Rep. Keith Ellison, who agreed at Perez’s invitation to serve as the Democratic National Committee’s deputy chairman. Perez said the two would work hard to put out an affirmative party message while opposing President Donald Trump’s policies, adding that he and Ellison were already getting a “good kick” that Trump was stirred to tweet that the DNC election was “rigged.”</p>
<p>“We lead with our values and we lead with our actions,” Perez said, describing a party focus that will emphasize protecting Social Security, Medicare and “growing good jobs in this economy.”</p>
<p>“You know, our unity as a party is our greatest strength. And it’s his worst nightmare,” he said. “And, frankly, what we need to be looking at is whether this election was rigged by Donald Trump and his buddy Vladimir Putin.”</p>
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<p>The former labor secretary in the Obama administration acknowledged that swaths of the U.S. had felt neglected, saying he had heard from rural America that “Democrats haven’t been there for us recently.”</p>
<p>“That’s exactly what we’re going to do,” Perez said, stressing grass-roots efforts in all 50 states. He pointed to Democrats’ success Saturday in one of their strongholds, Delaware, where they found themselves in an unexpectedly competitive race. Stephanie Hansen won a special election for a state Senate seat after vigorous party campaigning that helped preserve Democrats’ control of the chamber.</p>
<p>As DNC chair, Perez must now rebuild a party that in the last decade has lost about 1,000 elected posts from the White House to Congress to the 50 statehouses, a power deficit Democrats have not seen nationally in 90 years.</p>
<p>“A lot of people feel forgotten, and we will not allow that to happen,” he said.</p>
<p>On Saturday, the DNC elected Perez as its chair in a competitive race that took two rounds of voting — unprecedented in recent memory for either major party. They picked Perez, who was backed by former President Barack Obama, over Ellison, backed by liberal Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont.</p>
<p>Sanders had pushed the party’s eventual nominee, Hillary Clinton, into a protracted 2016 Democratic primary fight, gaining strong support from young voters in particular as he described a primary process as “rigged” by party establishment.</p>
<p>Piercing cheers after Perez’s election were boos, yells and expletives from more than a few young Ellison supporters in the gallery, some of them in tears. Reaction wasn’t enthusiastic among the liberal groups that had embraced Sanders and have intensified their efforts since Trump’s stunning victory over Clinton in the November election.</p>
<p>“We don’t have the luxury of walking out of this room divided,” Ellison said Saturday over the jeers. Afterward, he told reporters he trusts Perez and that the burgeoning resistance movement aimed at Trump should do the same.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>On Sunday, Sanders praised Ellison’s strong bid to be DNC chair, taking on “Democratic insiders.” Describing the party as broken and urging a “total transformation,” the Vermont senator said Perez now “has a real opportunity on his hands. And I hope he seizes it.”</p>
<p>Sanders said the party has to open up to working people and youth, and “make it crystal clear that the Democratic Party is going to take on Wall Street, it’s going to take on the greed of the pharmaceutical industry, it’s going to take on corporate America that is shutting down plants in this country and moving our jobs abroad.”</p>
<p>Perez, the first Latino to be DNC chair, indicated Sunday that Democrats would continue to speak out forcefully against Trump’s policies, even if it meant at times coming across as a “party of no.” He referred to what he described as harmful policies, such as a “racist” travel ban affecting seven predominantly Muslim countries and administration efforts that he said would restrict overtime pay and make it harder to save for retirement.</p>
<p>“We’ve seen no evidence of anything constructive from this president,” Perez said. “He’s governed from the far right in everything he’s done.”</p>
<p>Besides Trump in the Oval Office, Republicans now control Congress and about two-thirds of statehouses, and they’re one Senate confirmation vote away from a conservative majority on the Supreme Court.</p>
<p>After Perez’s victory, Trump took to his preferred medium to rub it in. “Congratulations to Thomas Perez, who has just been named chairman of the DNC. I could not be happier for him, or for the Republican Party!” the president wrote on Twitter. Early Sunday, the president asserted that the Democratic contest was “of course, totally ‘rigged.’ Bernie’s guy, like Bernie himself, never had a chance. Clinton demanded Perez!”</p>
<p>Progressive Democrats reacted to Perez’s election with dismay. Jim Dean, chair of Democracy for America, called Perez’s election “incredibly disappointing” and said the “resistance will persist … with or without the leadership of the Democratic National Committee.” Dan Kantor, leader of the Working Families Party, said Democrats “missed an opportunity.”</p>
<p>The son of Dominican immigrants, Perez actually comes to the job with a demonstrably liberal record as a civil rights attorney and backer of organized labor. In the chairman’s race he carried the establishment label as a Maryland resident who’s spent years in the Washington orbit, working in the Justice Department and ultimately as an Obama Cabinet secretary.</p>
<p>Perez and Sanders spoke on CNN’s “State of the Union;” Perez also appeared on NBC’s “Meet the Press” and ABC’s “This Week.”</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Yen reported from Washington. Associated Press writer Michele Salcedo contributed to this report.</p> | New Dem Party chairman Perez pledges to repair, unite party | false | https://abqjournal.com/957490/new-dem-party-chairman-perez-pledges-to-repair-unite-party.html | 2017-02-26 | 2 |
<p>Led by the two principals who wrote editorials critical of CPS administration, the Chicago Principals and Administrators Association has formed a new committee aimed at advocating for policy and amplifying principal voice.</p>
<p>The committee is calling itself Administrators Alliance for Proven Policy and Legislation in Education or AAPPLE.&#160;</p>
<p>The committee plans to hold monthly forums, issue white papers and keep members better informed about what the CPAA is working on. It also has a discussion board on its <a href="http://www.aapplecpaa.com/" type="external">website</a>.</p>
<p>Topics for the first four forums are: Defining a successful school system; high quality teacher training and professional development; economics, poverty, segregation and education systems, and the role of schools and government in addressing the effects of poverty on school systems; and how do we build sustainable cities?</p>
<p>The first forum will be held on Aug. 21 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the University of Illinois-Chicago Pavilion.</p>
<p>Michael Beyer, principal of Morrill Elementary, said the forums are intended to help change the conversation and get at some core questions about the future of the CPS and the city. Blaine Principal Troy LaRaviere says he thinks it is important that the new committee broadens the conversation.</p>
<p>“On the surface, some of the forum topics don’t have anything to do with school, but they have everything to do with school,” LaRaviere says.</p>
<p>The moderators will include Terry Mazany, president of The Chicago Community Trust, and academics Charles Payne of the University of Chicago and David Stovall of University of Illinois – Chicago. &#160;Mazany served for about a year and a half as interim chief executive officer of CPS, bridging the Richard Daley and Rahm Emanuel administrations, and Payne was his chief education officer.</p>
<p>Beyer says the forum panels will include charter-school advocates, and the panel for the forum on sustainable cities will include mayoral candidates. “We want to have a professional debate on solutions,” he says.</p>
<p>LaRaviere has been outspoken in his opposition to Emanuel, and it would run contrary to standard political practice for an incumbent mayor to participate in a panel with opponents, particularly if it includes Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis, a frequent, harsh critic who is weighing a run.</p>
<p>LaRaviere and Beyer say they want the committee to be non-political and that inviting mayoral candidates is meant to influence them rather than give them a platform.</p>
<p>“Our contributions to policy discussions will come from the experiences of CPS principals and assistant principals as they provide feedback on the very real effects of district and state policies,” LaRaviere says.&#160; “Our contributions will also derive from an already large body of research on what has been proven to work for great school systems.”</p>
<p>While principals tend to be extremely busy, Beyer says organizers are hopeful that they will see the value of carving out a few hours a month to attend the forums, which will be open to the public.</p>
<p>The committee’s leaders are also working on white papers that outline some of the issues they are concerned about. The first one will be on implementation of the new physical education policy, which requires daily PE, and the second one will be on student-based budgeting.</p>
<p>Beyer says the group is hopeful that CPS leaders will take heed of the positions advocated in the white papers and eventually see the value in gauging the committee’s opinion before moving forward on policy. He notes that currently the CPAA is often informed about decisions a week before they are announced and has little chance of changing them.</p>
<p>Working with CPAA</p>
<p>LaRaviere and Beyer say they and a group of about eight other principals considered forming a new entity, but met with CPAA president Clarice Berry and decided that it would be best to work with the existing organization. “We saw no reason not to work with CPAA,” LaRaviere says.</p>
<p>LaRaviere <a href="http://www.suntimes.com/opinions/letters/27339293-474/under-emanuel-principals-have-no-voice.html#.U9vyvvldU1T" type="external">wrote an editorial</a> in May, criticizing Mayor Rahm Emanuel and CPS leaders for not listening to teachers and principals and for forbidding them from talking to the press about what is going on in their schools.Then, in Catalyst, Beyer laid out the <a href="http://catalyst-chicago.org/2014/05/proposal-give-school-principals-voice/" type="external">type of organization principals need to represent them</a>.</p>
<p>CPS spokesman Joel Hood did not want to comment specifically on the creation of the new committee, but says CPS CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett has a principals’ advisory committee and listens intently to what those principals have to say. “We greatly value working with principals,” he says.</p>
<p>But LaRaviere says he does not think the advisory committee, chosen by Byrd-Bennett, can fully represent principals. He says the advisory committee’s function is to offer thoughts on subjects that Byrd-Bennett wants feedback on, not necessarily to look at issues that affect schooling or advocate for policies principals are concerned about.</p>
<p>Beyer also says CPS’ principal advisory committee is problematic as the only voice delivering the principal point of view to CPS. For one, no one knows who is on it, he says, so if a principal wants to communicate a concern, he or she doesn’t know whom to reach out to. Also, he says, those on it might be afraid to say what they really think.&#160;&#160;</p>
<p>Berry, the CPAA president, says she has struggled to get principals to speak out on issues and welcomes the new committee. “First and foremost, the issue is fear. Principals are paralyzed,” she says.</p>
<p>Berry says she thinks the move to student-based budgeting sent principals “over the cliff.” “You have all these unfunded mandates and a mountain of accountability. It was like a volcano.”</p>
<p>&#160;“Their colleagues see them as beacons,” Berry says. “They have confidence in them.”</p>
<p>LaRaviere says the feedback he has gotten from CPS principals is that they are hungry for such an entity. “I am hopeful,” he says.</p>
<p>&#160;</p> | New principals group to weigh in on policy | false | http://chicagoreporter.com/new-principals-group-weigh-in-policy/ | 2014-08-05 | 3 |
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<p>The measure regulates the density of liquor stores and alcohol advertisements to ensure the southwest Santa Fe area isn’t “oversaturated,” bans the sale of individual liquor “miniatures,” and requires stores to segregate alcohol sales.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>“It is our opinion that the City of Santa Fe ordinance has overstepped their municipal authority in regards to the State of New Mexico Liquor Control Act,” wrote S.U. Mahesh, a spokesman for the state Regulation and Licensing Department, which includes the Alcohol and Gaming Division, in an email to the Journal.</p>
<p>Mahesh said that division officials will discuss the new rules with city officials.</p>
<p>Santa Fe City Attorney Geno Zamora said “the city respects the authority of the state, but we believe that through hard work, we’ve crafted an ordinance that complies with state law.”</p>
<p>City Councilor Carmichael Dominguez, the driving force behind the ordinance, and city staff have previously acknowledged there could be legal challenges to some of the alcohol regulations.</p>
<p>Dominguez has told the Journal studies have shown that the ordinance’s strategies help curb underage drinking, and that south side residents want the regulations.</p>
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<p>Under the ordinance, alcohol sold in containers of 8 ounces or less — also known as miniatures — will be banned from the district unless sold in packages of at least four. It also mandates that only one-third of a liquor retailer’s window and door space can be covered in signs.</p>
<p>Also, new liquor retailers will have to be at least 500 feet from an existing liquor establishment, schools, parks and play areas, nonprofit youth centers, places of worship, hospitals, county social service offices and alcohol or drug recovery program centers.</p>
<p>The ordinance stipulates that measurements are to be taken from property line to property line.</p>
<p>That references a continuing court battle between the city and state over the city’s denial in 2011 of a Western Refining request to transfer a liquor license to a Giant convenience store on Airport Road.</p>
<p>At issue is whether the Giant at S. Meadow and Airport Road is within 300 feet of a school. State law bars liquor sales that close to a school or church.</p>
<p>Western Refining, Giant’s owner, said the distance from the front door of the convenience store where the liquor is sold to the property line of an Airport Road parcel housing both Sweeney Elementary School and Sweeney Head Start is 377 feet.</p>
<p>The city argued that the distance should be measured from property line to property line, which puts the measurement closer to 155 feet and requires a waiver from the city.</p>
<p>The Alcohol and Gaming Division overturned the city’s denial, but a state District Court sided with the city in a decision issued this summer. The state has appealed.</p> | State disputes SF’s new rules for Airport Road liquor sales | false | https://abqjournal.com/161991/state-disputes-sfs-new-rules-for-airport-road-liquor-sales.html | 2013-01-21 | 2 |
<p>On Tuesday, <a href="https://t.co/k64W9lay6l" type="external">The New York Times</a>, in its ongoing quest to find and publish the worst op-ed of all time, unleashed a screed so stupid that it actually measured up against the regular work of Charles Blow and Paul Krugman. Today’s hottest take came courtesy of Baynard Woods, reporter and editor at the Real News Network, whatever that is. The title: “Charles Manson Was Not a Product of the Counterculture.” The piece says that instead, Manson was a forerunner to today’s conservatives.</p>
<p>Never mind the fact that the radical Left cheered Manson, including former Northwestern University professor and wife to Bill Ayers, Bernardine Dohrn. Never mind that Manson hung out with cultural figures ranging from Dennis Wilson to Neil Young to Jerry Rubin.</p>
<p>The piece begins by disowning Manson as a totem of the Left, though he clearly was:</p>
<p>The Manson murders — the seven killings committed by Charles Manson’s followers in two days in Los Angeles in August 1969 — are often thought to mark the end of the 1960s, as if those brutal slayings were the inevitable outgrowth of the counterculture, the dark consequence of long hair, free love, casual drug use and a general breakdown of authority and social norms. This sentiment was most famously expressed by Joan Didion in her book “The White Album.” She wrote that “in a sense” it was true that “the Sixties ended abruptly on August 9, 1969, ended at the exact moment when word of the murders on Cielo Drive traveled like brush fire through the community.”</p>
<p>Didion was right, of course. But Woods thinks that because Manson was a racist and a sexist, he was a right-winger — presupposing his own conclusions. Ignoring the presence of Leftist racism and Leftist sexism, though the evidence was rife of such thinking during the rabid 1960s, Woods writes, “Mr. Manson was not the end point of the counterculture. If anything, he was a backlash against the civil rights movement and a harbinger of white supremacist race warriors like Dylann Roof, the lunatic fringe of the alt-right.”</p>
<p>Now, it’s hilarious that Woods can’t actually take his thinking to the next level — if Manson was of the Left and Roof was like Manson . . . then is it possible that Roof might not have been a typical representative of the Right? Is it possible that the fascistic alt-right is actually closer to the radical identity politics of the Left in many major ways than it is to the Right? That would be true, given that alt-right thinkers explicitly reject the individualism and constitutionalism of the Right.</p>
<p>Never mind.</p>
<p>Woods isn’t wrong to lump in the alt-right with Manson’s perspective. But his notion that the alt-right and the Left are mutually exclusive leads him to precisely the wrong conclusion, all in an attempt to protect a radical Left that planted the seeds for the alt-right.</p> | NYT Op-Ed: Manson Wasn't A Product Of The Left, He Was Just Precursor To The 'Far Right' | true | https://dailywire.com/news/23835/nyt-op-ed-manson-wasnt-product-left-he-was-just-ben-shapiro | 2017-11-21 | 0 |
<p>EPPC Distinguished Senior Fellow and William E. Simon Chair in Catholic Studies George Weigel was interviewed on Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to the U.S. by the Polish daily Dziennik.</p>
<p>1. It’s the first visit of Pope Benedict XVI to the USA. In what terms would you describe the importance of this visit? What are the expectation of the American Catholics? Does this visit matter a lot to the Americans who do not belong to the Catholic Church?</p>
<p>Pope Benedict, like Pope John Paul II, is regarded as a moral reference point by many Americans, so his visit will touch people far beyond the Catholic community. What he says to the world about moral reason from the rostrum of the U.N. will be of importance globally. The United States is one of the few countries in the West in which religious and moral themes play a large role in public life, so the pope will be speaking a language that many Americans can understand.</p>
<p>2. What is the American Church like? If you see it as a divided one, is the Pope’s visit going to unite it?</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>The Catholic Church in the United States is the most vital and vibrant local church in what we used to call the First World. Its parish life, its schools, its colleges and universities, its social services, and its health care systems face many challenges; but they also exist, they’re full of vitality, and they play a large role in the national culture, beyond the boundaries of the Catholic Church. As for “division,” the Church has been “divided” since the Thursday night before Good Friday, so there’s nothing new in that; if the Church were a perfect communion of perfect souls, we wouldn’t have the Sacrament of Penance. Benedict XVI will challenge this vital and vibrant church to do more, and to do better.</p>
<p>3. The Pope is visiting&#160;a country that went through a very serious scandal several years ago. As pope, Benedict XVI has said and done little publicly about the abuse until now. Some victims are very bitter about it, saying there is&#160;a lot of words, but not enough deeds on his side. What do American Catholics expect from his visit regarding sexual abuse in the Church?</p>
<p>For the overwhelming majority of Catholics in the U.S., this issue is now past: seminaries have been reformed, malfeasant priests have been disciplined, aid has been offered to victims.&#160; The Pope made clear on his way to America that he deplores the abuse of anyone, and no one should doubt his word. At bottom, the crisis that came to light in 2002 was a crisis of fidelity, and the only answer to a crisis of fidelity is deeper fidelity. If misbehaving priests had followed the Church’s teaching, there would have been no “crisis” and no abusive priests; if bishops had acted like the shepherds they were ordained to be, there would have been no crisis. Both priests and bishops have learned from this: there can be no compromise in the defense of the Church’s sexual ethic.</p>
<p>4. Benedict XVI said he would like to address a number of issues like immigration, the&#160;war in Iraq or terrorism. Is he there to preach to the politicians?</p>
<p>He’s certain here to remind political leaders of every party that moral questions are the kernel of every great public issue. He’s not here to be a policy-maker, but a pastor and teacher.</p>
<p>On Iraq, it’s important to remember that this isn’t 2003; it’s 2008. The very real disagreements of 2003 are well-known; what is less known is that the Vatican and the U.S. Government are now agreed on the strategic goal in Iraq — a stable democracy that is safe for pluralism. That means, among other things, the effective protection of religious freedom for the Christian minority. Let’s remember that the U.S. Government is “for peace” in Iraq just as much as the Pope is, or any anti-war protester is; terrorists, anti-democratic thugs, and sectarian fanatics are the cause of Iraq’s suffering today. The Holy See understands this.</p>
<p>As for immigration, the Pope will urge America to be as generous in the future as it has been in the past, and his message will be a welcome one.</p>
<p>5. What impact will the papal visit have on the American politics, the presidential race in particular?</p>
<p>Very little, I expect. Serious Catholics will continue to support candidates who are in tune with the Church’s teaching on the dignity of human life. Less-serious Catholics will follow another path. Five days with the pope, however important that is, won’t change that reality. But I hope the Pope’s remarks on the true meaning of freedom make a few pro-abortion Catholic politicians think again — and perhaps squirm a little bit. Examination of conscience is always good for the soul.</p> | Benedict XVI and the Catholic Church in America | false | https://eppc.org/publications/benedict-xvi-and-the-catholic-church-in-america/ | 1 |
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<p>Ron Sachs/CNP/Zuma</p>
<p>In a dramatic late-night vote, three Republican senators joined every Democrat in narrowly defeating the so-called “skinny” repeal of Obamacare. Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.), Susan Collins (R-Maine), and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) cast the deciding votes, ending—for now—the GOP’s efforts to dismantle former President Barack Obama’s signature health care law. For several hours leading up to the vote, it was unclear what McCain would do. Democrats on the Senate floor applauded after he voted no.</p>
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<p>McCain, who has cancer, returned to the Capitol earlier this week while recovering from surgery. He cast the deciding procedural vote in favor of beginning debate on several Republican proposals to repeal Obamacare. All those proposals were voted down.</p>
<p>In the run-up to the vote on the skinny repeal early Friday, the GOP leadership kept an earlier vote open for more than an hour while Vice President Mike Pence appeared to be lobbying McCain to support the bill. It seems that whatever Pence said wasn’t enough.</p>
<p /> | Here’s the Exact Moment Obamacare Repeal Died in the Senate | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2017/07/heres-the-exact-moment-obamacare-repeal-died-in-the-senate/ | 2017-07-28 | 4 |
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<p>There's a Better Way, a collaboration between the city and St. Martin's Hospitality Center, received the largest amount of money in the Albuquerque Community Foundation's Great Grant Giveaway this year. The initiative was designed to pay homeless panhandlers for day work cleaning up weeds and litter, and offer them a chance to access social services. This crew worked last November. (Marla Brose/Albuquerque Journal)</p>
<p>ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - More than $126,000 was awarded to six New Mexico nonprofits this week during the Albuquerque Community Foundation's Great Grant Giveaway - exceeding by $30,000 the amount handed out during last year's giveaway.</p>
<p>The event, held at Hotel Albuquerque, sold out, with 710 people attending. What set this fundraiser apart was that atop each of the 70 tables was a $500 check.</p>
<p>Attendees sitting at those tables watched video presentations about the work of the nonprofits, representing six fields of interest, and then collectively agreed which of the organizations would get that table's $500 check.</p>
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<p>In addition, each of the nonprofits received a separate check for $5,000 from corporate sponsors.</p>
<p>Although all the nonprofits left a winner, with each of them bringing in more than $10,000, the big winner, with $43,020, was There's a Better Way.</p>
<p>An initiative of the city and St. Martin's Hospitality Center, the program, representing the field of human services, provides day work for homeless panhandlers and offers them an opportunity to plug into social programs and ultimately help them break the cycle of homelessness.</p>
<p>The other nonprofits and the awards they received were:</p>
<p>The Albuquerque Community Foundation was established in 1981 with $10,000 in seed money from 10 local business leaders. That money was invested in a permanent endowment that today stands at $69 million.</p>
<p>In the last 35 years, the Community Foundation has awarded more than $46 million in 6,500 grants to nonprofits, all of which came from the income generated by the permanent fund, said Kelli Cooper, the foundation's vice president of philanthropic services.</p>
<p>Last year, the Community Foundation awarded $5 million in grants to nearly 100 nonprofits in the Albuquerque area.</p>
<p>This year's Great Grant Giveaway was sponsored by Yearout Companies, Lovelace Health System, Nusenda Credit Union, Intel, Wells Fargo, Bank of the West, Bank of Albuquerque and Southwest Capital Bank.</p>
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<p /> | Work program for homeless gets foundation grant | false | https://abqjournal.com/754245/work-program-for-homeless-gets-foundation-grant.html | 2016-04-09 | 2 |
<p>Hillary Clinton says she would have left her church, were she in Barack Obama's position, because "We have a choice when it comes to our pastors."</p>
<p>Needless to say, Team Obama was disappointed "to see Hillary Clinton's campaign sink to this low."</p>
<p>You can read Clinton's original statement <a href="http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/breaking/s_558930.html" type="external">here</a>, and watch her defend the comment <a href="http://thepage.time.com/video-clinton-greensburg-presser/" type="external">here</a>.</p>
<p>The Obama campaign's response can be found <a href="http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/samgrahamfelsen/gGBS5p" type="external">here</a>.</p>
<p /> | Clinton Comments on Rev. Wright | true | https://truthdig.com/articles/clinton-comments-on-rev-wright/ | 2008-03-26 | 4 |
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<p>Remodeling your kitchen can be a great way to increase the value of your house before you put it on the market. Even if you’re not planning to sell your home any time soon, you may want to remodel your kitchen if doing so is in&#160; <a href="https://smartasset.com/mortgage/budget-calculator" type="external">your budget Opens a New Window.</a>. Updating the look of your kitchen is generally a pricey undertaking. Here’s our breakdown of costs and tips.</p>
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<p>The average cost to remodel a kitchen is $19,993 according to Homeadvisor’s user base. At the low end, the average cost to remodel a kitchen starts at $5,000. At the high end, the average cost to remodel a kitchen is $45,000. Most users report spending between $11,269 and $28,717.</p>
<p>Of course, the answer to the question “How much does it cost to remodel a kitchen?” depends on several factors. If you’re remodeling a big kitchen in a fancy neighborhood of Manhattan, you may pay upwards of $50,000 and as much as $100,000. If you’re able to do some of the labor yourself you may be able to remodel your kitchen on the cheap.</p>
<p>What are the expenses that go into the average cost to remodel a kitchen? Labor is a big one. Labor costs vary by state, city and zip code. Of course, as with any home remodeling project, you’ll have to balance the quality of the work with the size of your budget. The contractor with the most glowing reviews may be out of your budget, which means you’ll have to compromise in one way or another. You’ll either have to undertake a smaller project with the more expensive labor or a bigger renovation with cheaper labor, which may or may not be of the highest quality.</p>
<p>Another major component of the total cost to redo your kitchen is the materials you choose. Whether you go with the finest materials bought through a decorator, head to IKEA, or recycle materials you find at the dump, your choices will make a big difference to the overall cost of the renovation. Vinyl or granite? Ceramic or laminate? How you answer these questions will help determine the cost of the project.</p>
<p>If you’re buying a new refrigerator, sink, dishwasher and oven you’ll likewise pay more than you would for a more cosmetic upgrade. However, newer isn’t always more expensive. If you buy highly energy-efficient appliances you may save money on water and electricity over time.</p>
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<p>The scope of the renovation is another determining factor. Replacing the floors, repainting the walls and refinishing the cabinets may seem like a big task, but it’s modest compared to what some people do when they undertake a complete kitchen remodeling. If you have to redo electrical wiring, gas lines and plumbing to change the position of sinks and appliances, you can expect to part with considerably more cash. The same goes for adding built-ins, custom features or drawers to hide appliances. Keeping the existing layout of your kitchen can&#160;help you keep costs in check.</p>
<p>Once you have an idea of the scope of your renovations, you can start getting bids from contractors. If you’re frequently changing plans, you won’t be comparing like with like as the contractors’ bids come in.</p>
<p>Ask the contractors who are bidding to break their bids down line by line. That way, you can make a detailed comparison between the bids of a handful of different contractors. With a per-item cost breakdown from different contractors in hand, you may be able to negotiate your way into a better deal.</p>
<p>Shopping around isn’t just important when you’re choosing a contractor; it’s also a good idea when you’re shopping for materials, since some materials are installed by their suppliers, who may charge lesser or greater installation fees.</p>
<p>Taking your time to choose your materials and renovation plan carefully is wise because “change orders” (when you change your mind about what you want your contractor to do) will cost you big-time. And since you’ll already be committed to a contractor who has started to remodel your kitchen, the contractor&#160;can pretty much quote you any price on a change order and you won’t have much room to negotiate.</p>
<p>Setting a budget for remodeling your kitchen&#160;is&#160;a smarter move than embarking on a remodeling project without setting any financial limits. Some choose to finance the remodel with a tax-deductible&#160; <a href="https://smartasset.com/mortgage/what-is-a-home-equity-line-of-credit" type="external">home equity loan Opens a New Window.</a>. If you can plan ahead, you might be better off paying&#160;for the project with money you’ve saved up.</p>
<p>If you’re remodeling your kitchen because you plan to put the house on the market soon, it’s a good idea to stick to crowd-pleasing updates rather than wild embellishments or bold color choices. The risk with a kitchen remodel that’s designed to boost your home’s selling price is that you might spend more than you get back if the&#160; <a href="https://smartasset.com/mortgage/why-some-home-improvements-dont-add-value" type="external">renovation doesn’t boost the home’s market value Opens a New Window.</a>&#160;by much. If you’re planning to stay put in the home for decades, you can splash out a bit more and make changes to suit your taste, however eccentric.</p>
<p>Whether you’re renovating to sell or to stay put,&#160;it’s a good idea to decide on a firm budget before you embark on remodeling your kitchen and then take 15-20% of that budget and set it aside for any extras that come up during the project. For example, if the tile you selected is on back-order you might decide to go with a different, slightly more expensive tile for the sake of time and labor costs. That’s where your backup budget can save the day.</p>
<p>As with any home renovation, it’s wise to shop around for service providers who have a reputation for professionalism and charge a reasonable price for their work. You don’t want to have to redo a cabinet installation that goes awry or replace peeling flooring just a few years after you remodel your kitchen. It’s also important to work out your vision before your contractor or other provider starts charging you for his or her time.</p> | The Average Cost to Remodel a Kitchen | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2016/06/01/average-cost-to-remodel-kitchen.html | 2016-06-01 | 0 |
<p><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/denverjeffrey/" type="external">Jeffrey Beall</a> / <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/" type="external">CC BY-SA 2.0</a></p>
<p>The pension funds relied on for financial security in old age by millions of teachers, public sector workers, health care workers and academics are in jeopardy as the price of coal plumments and a global campaign to divest from businesses that deal in the fuel gains steam.</p>
<p>The Guardian reports:</p>
<p>The Guardian examined the ownership of the biggest 50 publicly traded coal companies, ranked by the reserves held which in total are equivalent to more than 11 years of global emissions. This alone could push the planet past beyond the 2C of climate change deemed dangerous by the world’s governments.</p>
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<p>A fast-growing, global fossil fuel divestment movement, backed by the Guardian’s Keep it in the Ground campaign, is having particular success in persuading investors to dump coal stocks. The world’s largest sovereign wealth fund, held by Norway, decided earlier this month to sell off more than $8bn of coal assets. …</p>
<p>The coal price has crashed by 60% since 2011, as gas, renewable energy and climate policies have damaged demand. Tom Sanzillo, a former New York State comptroller who oversaw a $156bn pension fund, said: “Coal is arguably the worst performing sector in the whole world. Pension funds, which have a fiduciary duty to make money, have no business owning any of these companies. It is not a prospective risk, it is a now risk.” …</p>
<p>The Guardian analysis has uncovered large coal holdings by some of the world’s largest pension funds, with the largest held by South Africa’s Public Investment Corporation (PIC), which provides government pensions for millions. It has an $8bn stake which represents a huge 6.1% of all its funds: most large funds have significantly less than 1%.</p>
<p>Other pension funds with significant coal stakes include: APG ($1.7bn), which provides pensions for one in five families in the Netherlands; TIAA-CREF ($838), the US pensions giant which serves 5 million teachers and the Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB – $590m), which provide the country’s state pension for 18 million people.</p>
<p>Read more <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jun/15/coal-crash-how-pension-funds-face-huge-risk-from-climate-change" type="external">here</a>.</p>
<p>— Posted by <a href="" type="internal">Alexander Reed Kelly</a>.</p> | Pension Funds Are Endangered by Plummeting Coal Prices | true | https://truthdig.com/articles/pension-funds-are-endangered-by-plummeting-coal-prices/ | 2015-06-15 | 4 |
<p>Fresno has long been a hotbed of bipartisan support for the California High-Speed Rail Authority’s plans to build a bullet-train network linking Northern and Southern California. The county Board of Supervisors endorsed the project five years ago, the Fresno Bee’s liberal editorial page has long been an ardent cheerleader and a fast-rising Republican who’s now mayor of Fresno — <a href="http://www.cahsrblog.com/2011/06/fresno-mayor-ashley-swearengins-great-pro-hsr-speech/" type="external">Ashley Swearengin</a> — has for years rejected the harsh criticism of GOPers in the Legislature and Congress and touted the bullet train.</p>
<p>Essentially, the Fresno establishment bought the idea of the project as economic salvation for a struggling region — even as evidence emerged that <a href="http://news.fresnobeehive.com/archives/2361" type="external">undercut the happy talk</a>.</p>
<p>But now — even as the project allegedly gains momentum because of new state funding from cap-and-trade fees — the Fresno consensus has vanished.</p>
<p>On Tuesday, county supervisors voted 3-2 to drop their support for the project and to file legal briefs supporting&#160; pending lawsuits vs. the project. This is from the <a href="http://www.fresnobee.com/2014/07/29/4045777/fresno-county-supervisors-vote.html?sp=/99/406/263/1256/" type="external">Bee</a>:</p>
<p>The Fresno County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday switched tracks in its position on California’s proposed high-speed rail project, voting 3-2 to oppose it.</p>
<p>Supervisors Andreas Borgeas, Debbie Poochigian and Phil Larson supported Poochigian’s resolution to oppose California’s bullet-train plans. Supervisors Judy Case McNairy and Henry R. Perea voted against the motion.</p>
<p>The action rescinds earlier county votes dating to at least 2009 to support high-speed rail, and asks that the state Legislature place the issue back on the ballot. California voters originally approved Proposition 1A, a $9.9 billion high-speed rail bond measure, in 2008.</p>
<p>You can expect a Fresno Bee editorial criticizing Fresno County supervisors before long. On July 14, the Bee’s editorial board <a href="http://www.fresnobee.com/2014/07/14/4024762/editorial-fresno-supervisors-should.html" type="external">ripped supervisors</a> for even considering ending support for the bullet train:</p>
<p>The supervisors have supported high-speed rail for seven years. Now the board majority is teetering. Shame on them if they lack the backbone to remain united so that Fresno County finally can break free from the shackles of double-digit unemployment and overreliance on bountiful rains to power its agriculture-based economy.</p>
<p>We agree with critics that the California High-Speed Rail Authority has made mistakes. But to those who contend that current plans aren’t what originally was passed by voters, we answer: Some of the changes, such as blending high-speed rail with commuter trains, came in response to critics’ concerns about escalating costs. Moreover, all major infrastructure projects change during planning and construction. Ideas are refined and adjustments are made in response to real-world challenges. …</p>
<p>Should the majority of supervisors bend in the wind and oppose high-speed rail, they should be called out for what they are — job-killing politicians.</p>
<p>But this hectoring won’t change the political realities for Gov. Jerry Brown and the California High-Speed Rail Authority.</p>
<p>Local governments in Silicon Valley don’t like the bullet train no matter what its configuration and <a href="http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052748704677404576285450932801680" type="external">haven’t for years</a> — and they have deep pockets for NIMBY lawsuits tying up construction for decades. Now another region — Central California — is unifying behind the idea that it’s time for the project to go away, as the Bee notes:</p>
<p>The vote aligns Fresno County with other San Joaquin Valley counties that have taken formal positions opposing the California High-Speed Rail Authority’s plans. Madera, Merced, Kings, Tulare and Kern counties are on record with opposition resolutions, and Kings and Kern are going to court with the rail authority.</p>
<p>The Bee coverage includes no comment from top bullet train officials, including Dan Richard, the board chair who’s been on a media blitz of late.</p>
<p>On Monday, he responded in <a href="http://www.foxandhoundsdaily.com/2014/07/yes-private-sector-will-invest-california-high-speed-rail/" type="external">Fox &amp; Hounds</a> to a Cal Watchdog story that F&amp;H picked up <a href="" type="internal">ridiculing the idea</a> floated by the rail authority that potential multinational contractors on the project are tantamount to potential investors.</p>
<p>On Saturday, he responded to a U-T San Diego editorial questioning whether the rail authority was meeting its legal obligations with an <a href="http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2014/jul/27/bullet-train-criticism-rebuttal/" type="external">unusual rebuttal</a> that focused much of its criticism on former state Sen. Quentin Kopp.</p>
<p>He’s also <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/07/7-ways-in-which-high-speed-rail-would-help-california-according-to-its-chairman/374408/" type="external">wrote a piece</a> for James Fallows of The Atlantic earlier this month rebutting a CalWatchdog post knocking Fallows for his <a href="" type="internal">glossing over</a> of bullet-train problems.</p> | Big blow to bullet train: Fresno County supes now oppose project | false | https://calwatchdog.com/2014/07/30/fresno-supes-drop-long-running-bullet-train-support/ | 2018-07-20 | 3 |
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<p>Bank of America Corp is looking to cut 3,000 mortgage jobs before the end of the year to cope with declines in refinancing and in its portfolio of delinquent home loans, according to the Wall Street Journal.</p>
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<p>About 1,200 mortgage employees received notice that their position would be eliminated on Thursday, the newspaper said, citing people familiar with the matter. A majority of the 3,000 cuts will come from temporary contractors, though full-time employees will also be laid off, the newspaper said.</p>
<p>A Bank of America spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.</p>
<p>The second-largest U.S. bank laid off more than 9,000 full-time employees in the third quarter. Finance chief Bruce Thompson said on an Oct. 16 conference call with analysts that the reductions were concentrated in the unit that collects payments on current and delinquent home loans, the unit that makes new home loans, and in many of the bank's branches.</p>
<p>Bank of America made $22.6 billion in home loans in the third quarter, down 11 percent from the second quarter. The number of mortgage applications the bank had received but not yet processed fell 60 percent from the end of June to the end of September.</p>
<p>Additionally, mortgage loans that were delinquent by more than 60 days fell by 94,000 to 398,000 in the third quarter. The bank expects delinquent loans to be below 375,000 by the end of 2013.</p>
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<p>Rising interest rates have curtailed customers' demand to refinance their mortgage since the spring. The interest rate on a 30-year mortgage stood at 4.39 percent in the week ending Oct. 18, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association, down from a high of 4.80 percent in September but above the 3.59 percent rate in early May.</p>
<p>Bank of America expects to make fewer home loans in the fourth quarter and will look to cut more mortgage jobs, chief executive Brian Moynihan said on the conference call.</p>
<p>The Charlotte, North Carolina-based bank is not the only lender to lay off staff in response to a slowdown in refinancing. Wells Fargo &amp; Co, the largest U.S. mortgage lender, said on Oct. 17 it is cutting 925 mortgage jobs. That comes on top of the 5,300 Wells Fargo mortgage employees that were notified that they would be laid off in the third quarter.</p> | BofA Slashes 1,200 Mortgage Jobs Amid Cost Cuts | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2013/10/24/report-bofa-looks-to-axe-3k-jobs.html | 2016-01-26 | 0 |
<p>Anyone who has traveled through Ben Gurion airport in Israel knows that it is a unique experience. For most Israeli Jews, the experience is comforting, a quick and accommodating entry into a nation created and developed for the Jewish people. For Palestinian-Americans and many activists working in occupied Palestine it is quite a different experience. Most of these travelers are held for hours and questioned repeatedly; some of who are stripped naked and in some cases (especially in the last two years) denied entry. As I write from Ramallah, I recall my and my brother’s experience in Ben Gurion just one week ago. After a sleepless 15 hour trip from New York, we arrived at the airport and went directly to the check-in booth. After waiting in a short line, a friendly woman asked for our passports, yet immediately turned sour once she viewed them. We were asked to step aside and after about 15 minutes a woman from airport security told us to follow her into one of the detainment rooms. Given the countless stories of harassment I had heard and read about before my trip, I wasn’t so foolish to think that my journey through Ben Gurion would be a walk in the park. I had initially anticipated a four hour wait, interrogation, and a thorough pat down by Israel’s finest.</p>
<p>When we arrived at the first detainment room, several young female security agents asked us where we were going, about our ethnic background and family history, whether we had family in Israel or the occupied territories (and if we would be staying with them), and if “there was anything they should know.” We were then taken to another detainment room, where a few other detainees were being held. Over the next three hours, several female security officers came into the detainment room we were being held in to question us, while at other times we were called into other detainment rooms for questioning. One African detainee, an elderly black woman, was not allowed into the country with her husband despite a seemingly innocent decision to visit her family.</p>
<p>After about four hours, pure exhaustion set in. At this time, we were taken to a large room with metal detectors, an x-ray machine and a coffee machine that looked like it wasn’t in use. Still, in a token attempt at friendliness, the security agent offered us a cup of coffee. But the offer was rescinded once he noted the machine was out of service.</p>
<p>About every ten minutes another member of airport security entered the room. After about 30 minutes we were taken into a back room, patted down, and scanned with a hand held metal detector. After being held for an hour, Sami, who claimed to be a higher up in the IDF and airport security, entered the room. He had apparently been called in by regular airport security because of certain “red flags” we had raised.</p>
<p>Sami didn’t look particularly happy to see us. He started to go through our bags, which had been checked by every member of airport security that previously entered the room. He had a determined look on his face as he sifted through my brother’s book on corporate law and became more agitated when he didn’t find the holy grail of information.</p>
<p>After about 15 minutes Sami looked up at us and told us that “something was missing;” we were “leaving out part of the story,” and he was going to find out just exactly what that “part” was. He was looking for what he called the “truth.” So I repeated what we had told the previous soldiers: we were staying our first two nights in East Jerusalem, we would be traveling to the holy sites (to see where baby Jesus was born), Haifa and Yaffa (the cities our grandparents were dispossessed from in 1948), Nazareth and Bethlehem. We told the truth, but kindly omitted Ramallah, Nablus, Hebron, Jenin, Dheisheh, and any other intended stops in the occupied territories that didn’t involve conventional tourism. In all honesty, we had only planned out our first two days in East Jerusalem, which made Sami increasingly annoyed.</p>
<p>Sami put it bluntly, as of the moment we were called in we were considered “terrorists” or people intending to “engage in terrorists activities” because we “lied” to airport security about the intention of our travels. Sami defined terrorism and terrorist activities as meeting up with the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), working in “terrorist” branches of the Alternative Information Center (AIC), and non-violently protesting against the Apartheid Wall in the village of Bil’in. He was trying to a strike fear in us that went well passed being denied entry. It had become a matter of whether he was going to tell the US government if we were terrorists or not. He claimed that if he told the US government we were terrorists, it would not only affect us the rest of our lives (i.e. anytime we tried to get a job, bought a plane ticket, or applied for a credit card), but it would affect our family, immediate and extended, in a similar fashion. The explanation was clear: nobody would believe two Palestinians males over a respected man in the IDF with 40 years of experience. At this point I started to offer up information that may or may have not been considered “terrorist activity,” essentially the plans for our trip, which my brother and I were still faintly excited about, plans that didn’t seem to bring much joy to Sami.</p>
<p>Sami started to go through our phones, writing down numbers and asking questions about anyone with an Arab, Persian or Jewish name. He was particularly angered when he saw the name of a well known Jewish activist who had done extensive work in the occupied territories in my brother’s phone. Ironically, the number in my brother’s phone was the number of a paralegal in New York City, not the well-known activist, but Sami wouldn’t get off the subject for a solid half hour.</p>
<p>After about 90 minutes of intense bullying, Sami concluded we weren’t terrorists. At this point, good old Sami started to warm up, but not without first telling us what we explicitly weren’t supposed to do: no ISM, stay away from AIC activity, and do not engage in anything that we would categorize as non-violent activism.</p>
<p>By the end of stay at Ben Gurion, Sami informed us that we were lucky to catch him on a good day. He became extremely open and candid in the last 30 minutes. He said that he may not agree with everything that he does and he may not agree with the political situation, but he’s a soldier of the state, and serving its interest is his job. While I appreciated his honesty, this type of rationalization has been used throughout history, justifying war crimes and human rights violations ad infinitum.</p>
<p>As our seven hour journey came to an end, Sami began telling us personal stories. I’m not sure if it was an attempt clear his conscience, but he told us about his diverse group of friends, which included Arabs, and how his life had been saved five times, all by Arabs. It was amazing to see how human and forthcoming some of the “toughest” people in Israel have become, while at the same time keeping up their walls of discrimination and oppression, walls that have ultimately been encompassed by a greater wall of rationalization. For us, it was seven hours of hell in Ben Gurion. For a Palestinian here, occupation is a reality every day of the year.</p>
<p>REMI KANAZI is a Palestinian-American poet and writer based in New York City. He is the co-founder of <a href="http://www.www.PoeticInjustice.net/" type="external">www.PoeticInjustice.net</a>and the editor of the forthcoming anthology of poetry, Poets for Palestine. He can be contacted at <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a>.</p>
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<p>&#160;</p> | Is This Ben Gurion or Hell? | true | https://counterpunch.org/2007/07/19/is-this-ben-gurion-or-hell/ | 2007-07-19 | 4 |
<p>The suspension of the 10-week old coalition government in Northern Ireland has seen the stampeding of public opinion here in the United States into denunciation of the IRA, and into sympathy to the political maneuvers of the British government and of the Ulster Unionist leader, David Trimble. Naturally enough, this sudden tilt is being viewed with profound satisfaction by the British, not to mention the Ulster Unionists, who have chafed for years at the admirable refusal of the Clinton administration to take dictation from the British Embassy in Washington.</p>
<p>Tens of thousands of high-flown words have now been devoted to the IRA’s supposed flouting of the l998 Good Friday agreement, the IRA’s lack of good faith, Sinn Fein’s duplicity. Yet as Britain’s Secretary for Northern Ireland, Peter Mandelson, finally admitted as he returned the province to direct rule, suspending its ten-week old coalition government the IRA is not in breach of that agreement, which stated that decommissioning of IRA weapons should occur “in the context of the implementation of the overall settlement”. This was what the IRA said once more on February 11 and its leaders may be forgiven for feeling somewhat baffled when they got some grudging praise the following weekend for merely reiterating a position they signed on to nearly two years ago.</p>
<p>As a practical matter the IRA could have only agreed to disarmament if such a process is mutual, part of the above-mentioned “overall settlement”. Though in fact there has been distinct lack of such mutuality, the IRA has indeed honored its commitment to peace, ensuring the longest period of tranquillity - now in its third year — in the recent history of Northern Ireland.</p>
<p>Amid this tranquillity the capacity for organized violence remains overwhelmingly with the Unionists and with the British. Just visit south Armagh where IRA units are being asked to turn in their weapons. British forts dot the hillsides. British patrols still deploy. British helicopters fill the sky. The Royal Ulster Constabulary is still a standing, unreformed force with an awful history still vivid in Catholic minds. There has been abundant testimony that RUC officers were implicated in assassinations and bombings of Catholics, in conspiracies with other Protestant terror groups. Now many Ulster Unionists are insisting that the RUC never be disbanded and its name survive.</p>
<p>On one well-informed count last year there were about 135,000 legal guns in the north, 90 per cent of them in the hands of RUC and the British army. What army with the function of guaranteeing the safety of Catholic communities in the North could blithely lay down its arms amid these conditions? More precisely, what IRA commander could order such a course without facing the likelihood of mutinous dissent? In the view of many Republicans, only a beaten army unilaterally lays down its guns and only an antagonist acting in bad faith would try to force the decommissioning issue at this time.</p>
<p>There is no reason to believe that when Trimble accepted his slice of the Nobel peace prize he traded in his instincts and outlook as a Unionist, leader of a party adamantly opposed to power-sharing or anything other than absolute Protestant dominance. The truth is that Trimble was dragged to the negotiating table, and forced to accept the coalition cabinet with its two Sinn Fein members. After as short a time as ten peaceful weeks Trimble found this situation intolerable. His sudden flourishing of a previously non-existent decommissioning “deadline” overstepped by the IRA was a maneuver to destroy the coalition and in this tactic he was backed by Mandelson and Blair, who lost all room for maneuver by making it known that they were entirely in Trimble’s corner. Worse still, Mandelson chose to suspend the new coalition government in northern Ireland and restore direct rule, even though he was well aware that General John de Chastelain, the former Canadian officer heading the international disarmament body, was about to report that he was confident of the IRA’s good faith.</p>
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<p>There are some signs that the British realised they had overreacted on Trimble’s behalf. Some vague noises were duly made about the possible withdrawal of some British forces. When the British did finally suspend the new power-sharing institutions they began to downplay the significance of the whole affair, insisting that suspension was not necessarily an epochal event. But by that time they had prompted the IRA to distance itself from a process in which its leaders thought they were being unfairly stigmatized.</p>
<p>If the British government wanted to settle the decommissioning issue once and for all, it would propose that the RUC be abolished in favor of a recomposed police force which would be evenly divided between Catholics and Protestants. 50 per cent of such a force could include decommissioned IRA volunteers. That’s actual reconciliation, beyond the level of high-flown speeches at Nobel prize-givings. The announcement of such a force would then be the green light for the IRA to decommission on a grand scale. Exactly this process happened in several decolonizations - India, Kenya, Zimbabwe — pushed through by Britain. Today, members of the ANC’s armed wing have been recruited into the South African army in large numbers.</p>
<p>One can understand the British dilemma. Blair and Mandelson no doubt feel that if Trimble goes, there’ll be no Unionist they can deal with. So once again Trimble holds the old, ever-familiar Ulster veto. There’s no reason why the United States should be suckered into playing along with this veto too. CP</p> | IRA’s Bum Rap | true | https://counterpunch.org/2000/02/17/ira-s-bum-rap/ | 2000-02-17 | 4 |
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<p>After lugging a sleigh full of Wiis and Hannah Montana dolls across the sky, the reindeer are due for their annual checkup. Dasher, Dancer, Prancer and Vixen–otherwise known as Discover, Diners Club, PayPal and Visa–have been <a href="/news/exhibit/2007/09/exhibit.html" type="external">pulling increasingly huge loads</a> in recent years, and this year was no exception. On Tuesday MasterCard Advisors reported that US holiday sales were up 3.6 percent from 2006. That our plastic reindeer carried such a heavy load through the blizzard of a mortgage crisis is a testament to the power of Rudolph and his nose of <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11238227/" type="external">red</a>. But is the Red-Nosed Reindeer running his team into the ground?</p>
<p>What’s clear is that consumer debt is taking a red nose dive. This week the AP reviewed financial data from the nation’s largest card issuers and found <a href="http://money.cnn.com/2007/12/23/news/economy/credit_card_crunch.ap/index.htm?eref=rss_topstories" type="external">a steep rise in delinquencies</a> among accounts more than 90 days in arrears. Some of the nation’s biggest lenders reported the accounts have ballooned more than 50 percent compared to a year ago. Overall, defaults jumped by 18 percent.</p>
<p>Rudolph (and Santa) really are to blame for a lot of this. For most of this year consumers seemed to be coming to their senses. The national savings rate was positive for most of 2007, for the first time in years, but then it jumped back to negative leading up to the holidays. For the time being we’re once more following Rudolph back to 1929. His flashing red nose is certainly comforting, but it’s also why people used to call him names, and wouldn’t let him play in any reindeer games.</p>
<p /> | Santa’s Reindeer: Not as Sprightly as They Used to Be | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2007/12/santas-reindeer-not-sprightly-they-used-be/ | 2007-12-27 | 4 |
<p>African American Congressional staffers staged a walkout Thursday afternoon, disrupting their workday to gather on the Capitol steps in a display of unity with demonstrations against the Eric Garner and Mike Brown grand jury decisions.</p>
<p>More than 150 staffers quietly ascended the House of Representatives steps to lodge a silent protest in response to the deaths of both black men at the hands of white police officers.</p>
<p>Senate Chaplain Dr. Barry Black led the crowd in prayer, accompanied by dozens of Congressional staff and members of Congress, including Rep. Elijah Cummings. They were gathered there, Black said, to be a "voice for the voiceless."</p>
<p>"Forgive us when we have failed to lift our voices for those who could not speak or breathe themselves," Black prayed, making an unmistakeable reference to the case of Garner, whose cries of, "I can't breathe!" became an animating impetus for protesters.</p>
<p>After the Thursday prayer, the crowd of Congressional staff and lawmakers posed in the iconic, "Hands Up, Don't Shoot" pose.</p>
<p>The protest follows large demonstrations in New York and other major cities last week, held to speak out about the grand jury decisions relating to Garner and Brown.</p>
<p>“Black staffers on Capitol Hill wanted to do something in support of ongoing national and global protests against police aggression,” an organizer said Wednesday before the event. “Many of us felt we needed to stand with others who were taking on the issue of police abuse and do it here, where we work, even though not all of us have had that same experience, personally. Everyone I talked to has known someone who’s been directly impacted.”</p>
<p>It's a busy week for Congress, currently debating a spending bill to avoid a government shutdown, its annual Pentagon policy bill, and a bill to authorize the president to use military force against ISIS in Syria and Iraq.</p>
<p>“As black staffers on Capitol Hill, we saw a stark disconnect," the event organizer said. "While we hold education credentials and broad access in the overall political system, often when we walk outside, we contend with the fact that we are seen as dangerous, merely because of the color of our skin.”</p>
<p>There was a debate among organizers about how aggressive the action should be: a die-in somewhere in the Capitol Complex and a rally with posters were also considered.</p>
<p>But organizers wanted to do something that would welcome participants, Democrat and Republican, from throughout the House and Senate. These organizers decided more militant tactics could have made the gathering less inclusive, and opted for a more moderate approach.</p>
<p>One thing that all organizers agreed on: that it would not be held during Congressional recess, when their bosses, American Senators and Congressmen, were out of town.</p>
<p>Start and finish your day with the top stories from The Daily Beast.</p>
<p>A speedy, smart summary of all the news you need to know (and nothing you don't).</p>
<p>The Congressional Black Associates, Senate Black Legislative Staff Caucus, the Brooke-Revels Society, the Congressional African Staff Association, and the African American Women on the Hill Network—all dedicated to representing African American staffers on Capitol Hill—are helping to organize the protest as a "show of unity and solidarity… to stand shoulder to shoulder with other peaceful demonstrations."</p>
<p>These groups will be joined by members of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Staff Association and the Congressional Hispanic Staff Association.</p>
<p>The event has some precedence: in 2012, some 250 to 300 aides rallied on the Capitol steps with hoodies, in reaction to the death of Trayvon Martin.</p>
<p>Correction: An earlier version of this article said John Lewis attended the event, not Elijah Cummings.</p> | Capitol Hill's Black Staffers Walk Out to Do ‘Hands Up, Don't Shoot!’ | true | https://thedailybeast.com/capitol-hills-black-staffers-walk-out-to-do-hands-up-dont-shoot | 2018-10-03 | 4 |
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<p>The Labor Department said Thursday that claims for unemployment aid rose by 7,000 to a seasonally adjusted 265,000, highest since early August. Still, claims came in below 300,000 for the 87th straight week, longest such streak since 1970 when the workforce was much smaller.</p>
<p>“The level of claims remains extremely low, signaling that businesses are keen to hang onto staff, presumably because they are fundamentally quite optimistic about business conditions,” Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, wrote in a research note.</p>
<p>The less-volatile four-week average rose 4,750 to 257,750.</p>
<p>Overall, 2.03 million Americans are collecting unemployment checks, fewest since June 2000 and down more than 7 percent from a year earlier.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Applications for jobless aid are a proxy for layoffs, and most employers have been holding onto staff. The unemployment rate was 5 percent in September, close to what economists consider full employment.</p>
<p>But the pace of hiring has slowed this year. Employers have added an average 178,000 jobs a month so far in 2016, down from last year’s monthly average of 229,000.</p>
<p>The Labor Department releases hiring numbers for October on Friday. Economists expect to see an increase of 170,000 jobs and a drop in the unemployment rate to 4.9 percent, according to a survey by the data firm FactSet.</p>
<p>The Commerce Department reported last week that the U.S. economy expanded at the fastest pace in two years from July through September, pulling out of a slump that began late last year.</p> | US claims for jobless aid hit highest level since August | false | https://abqjournal.com/881142/us-claims-for-jobless-aid-hit-highest-level-since-august.html | 2016-11-03 | 2 |
<p>More than a few states have been forced to fork over giant piles of dough to pay the lawyers for the good guys, but THIS one might be the <a href="http://www.al.com/news/index.ssf/2015/09/alabamas_gay_marriage_loss_cou.html" type="external">sweetest of all</a>. AL.com reports:</p>
<p>Attorneys that represented the lesbian couple that successfully sued to overturn Alabama’s same-sex marriage ban are asking the state to reimburse them for nearly $200,000 in legal fees and costs. David Kennedy and Christine Hernandez filed a motion on Monday in U.S. District Court in Mobile seeking $99,175 and $98,535. Kennedy told AL.com that it would be up to U.S. District Judge Ginny Granade to approve the payout. “There’s precedent all over the country for it,” Kennedy said. “Near about any time someone makes a constitutional challenge in terms of challenging whether the law itself is constitutional or not, the federal law allows for recovery of attorney fees if you’re successful.” Two months ago, the landmark case came to its end as a retired Baldwin County Circuit Court Judge James Reid granted the adoption for Cari Searcy in Mobile County Probate Court of her wife’s biological son, Khaya Searcy. His approval of the measure ended a winding and politically fraught legal battle for Searcy and her wife Kim McKeand. Kennedy and Hernandez represented the couple in court. They are asking for reimbursement of attorney fees at a cost of $275 per hour from April 2014 to July 2015.</p>
<p>Kennedy notes that “several notable national organizations” had discouraged him from pursing the ultimately winning case for fear it might create a “bad precedent” unsuitable to helping the movement elsewhere.</p> | ALABAMA: State Handed $200,000 Legal Fees Bill For Futile Battle Against Same-Sex Marriage | true | http://joemygod.com/2015/09/02/alabama-state-handed-200000-legal-fees-bill-for-futile-battle-against-same-sex-marriage/ | 2015-09-02 | 4 |
<p>Last night’s debate was a demonstration that nominating two absolutely unfit candidates for president may not have been a wise decision for America. There were rock ‘em, sock ‘em moments; there were attack angles from both candidates. But neither candidate was able to provide a comprehensive vision of America’s future, neither had a basic grasp of policy issues, both ignored looming crises like entitlements collapsing, and both demonstrated their penchant for lies and corruption.</p>
<p>Here are some takeaways.</p>
<p>1. Hillary Clinton Is Insanely Corrupt. Hillary breaks out the Nightmare Clown Grin™ every time she has no answer – and she broke it out an insane amount last night. She had no answers for why she took money from regimes that harm gays and women. She had no answers on her emails. She had no answers on why she told a Brazilian firm that she wanted open borders. She had no answers on the material in her Wikileaks. She had no answers on the Clinton Foundation corruption with the State Department. Hillary has no answers on her corruption because she’s ridiculously corrupt.</p>
<p>2. Trump Doesn’t Know How To Promote Conservatism. Trump nibbled around the edges of some conservative thoughts last night, but his defenses of conservatism were weak at best. He had the greatest opportunity to promote conservatism in presidential history – a moderator, Chris Wallace, who asked great questions, and an opponent, Hillary Clinton, who can’t defend her policies to save her life – and instead, he spoke in broad generalities and embraced a solid number of leftist policies. In his much-ballyhooed defense of the pro-life position, for example, he allowed Hillary to get away with the lie that women having partial birth abortion are simply making the difficult decision to kill nine-month-old babies to save their lives. He repeated that partial birth abortion is “tak[ing a] baby and rip the baby out of the womb of the mother just prior to the birth of the baby…it’s not okay with me.” But this fails to explain why that is wrong – what the baby is, what the baby looks like, any details that would help explain just how evil partial birth abortion is. That was his best moment. And it was weak. Trump spent much of his time last night railing against NAFTA and NATO. That has nothing to do with conservatism. Again, liberty was never mentioned at any point during this debate.</p>
<p>3. Trump Doesn’t Know How To Attack. Trump was touted during the primaries as the fellow who could attack. But last night, he launched a hundred attacks and failed to sustain any of them. The essence of attack in debate is forcing your opponent to answer the charges. Trump let Hillary swivel out of those charges by constantly shifting his own focus to defending himself. That allowed Hillary to redirect away from lines of attack she didn’t like, even though Trump hit her hard repeatedly. His penchant for speaking political shorthand – culled from reading only the headlines on news stories – doesn’t allow him to delve deeply into any single attack, leaving a scattershot overall impression of corruption but not latching it to anything substantial.</p>
<p>4. Hillary Lies Incessantly. Hillary Clinton can’t stop lying. She said that her “open borders” comments were only about energy. False. She said that the Heller decision was about toddlers. It wasn’t. She said that she wouldn’t put troops in Iraq, but would put Special Forces…which are troops. She said she wouldn’t let anybody into the country unvetted. False. She said partial birth abortion is about saving the life of the mother. False. She said the Clinton Foundation did everything right in Haiti. False. Hillary can’t stop lying because the moment she tells the truth, she has to resign in disgrace.</p>
<p>5. Trump Loves Vladimir Putin. Trump imploded when Hillary Clinton redirected from open borders to Vladimir Putin. “I don’t know Putin,” Trump said. “He said nice things about me. If we got along well, that would be good…She has no idea whether it is Russia, China or anybody else.” Clinton rightly pointed out that Trump would rather take Vladimir Putin’s word on Wikileaks than that of American intelligence agencies. Which led Trump to state, “Putin has outsmarted her every step of the way.” This is the Republican nominee. Ugh.</p>
<p>6. Hillary’s Values Are Disgusting. Hillary said that the Supreme Court existed to act as a sort of superlegislature of brilliant leftist godkings and godqueens, explaining to America what’s best for all of us. She said judges should “stand up to the powerful,” which is absolutely not the job of justices. She said her economic plans relied on redistribution “because we are going to go where the money is.” She defended partial birth abortion as just a “difficult decision,” ignoring the humanity of the child. She’s a far leftist, and her radicalism is actually evil.</p>
<p>7. Neither Has Serious Plans. Asked about her economic plans, Hillary Clinton doubled down on Barack Obama’s; asked about entitlements, Donald Trump simply said that we’d grow our way out of debt, which is eminently untrue. Asked about foreign policy, Hillary threw goo against the wall; asked about foreign policy, Trump railed in ridiculous fashion about Aleppo having fallen and Russia taking leadership. Neither Hillary nor Trump has any material plans – Hillary just has her radical leftism, and Trump his ad hoc approach to problem-solving.</p>
<p>8. Trump Is Utterly Self-Destructive. Trump fought Hillary to a standstill, and perhaps had her on the defensive. But he dropped two bombs that were utterly disastrous. First, he denied all allegations of sexual assault and harassment and accused the women of publicity-seeking, allowing Hillary her Movie Moment™, nearly complete with swelling music, to talk about victimized women – and let her get away with it without mentioning her intimidation of an alleged rape victim, even though Chris Wallace hung a softball for him to hit. Then, he said that he might not accept the results of the election, and failed to qualify the statement in any real way, just adding that he wanted to keep Americans in suspense – an act of utter insanity given his political need to project stability rather than chaos.</p>
<p>In the end, the debate won’t change any minds. Hillary Clinton is awful and evil. Donald Trump is a blue dog Democratic clod. Thanks, America – this one’s for you.</p> | 8 Thoughts On The Third Trump vs. Clinton Debate | true | https://dailywire.com/news/10094/8-thoughts-third-trump-vs-clinton-debate-ben-shapiro | 2016-10-20 | 0 |
<p>Chances are pretty darn slim that this will be President Bush's favorite cover model moment: Canadian magazine Maclean's whipped up quite a provocative picture for its latest top story, which makes the claim that "a desperate Washington is reaching out to the late dictator's henchmen."</p>
<p>Maclean's:</p>
<p>America's other main enemy is al-Qaeda in Iraq, which is to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda what a cheap watch is to a Swiss timepiece - effective, easily reproduced, and disposable. Al-Qaeda did not exist in Iraq before the invasion, but today it, along with Iran, are the two strongest arguments the U.S. makes for "staying the course." Al-Qaeda in Iraq is essentially a religious criminal gang that kills anyone who threatens its power or differs from its Salafist views on establishing a perverse form of an Islamic state. Its death squads and enormously destructive truck bombs have killed thousands of Shias, but Sunnis, too, have suffered al-Qaeda's violent nihilism. Car bombs, assassinations and "religious punishments," including decapitations and cutting off the fingers of smokers, have put Sunni Iraq under a Mordor-like shadow of terror and justified collective punishment from the Shias. In his testimony to Congress, Gen. Petraeus pointed out the lethal threat of al-Qaeda. But this should come as no surprise to an American general - because the U.S. Army helped create al-Qaeda in Iraq.</p>
<p>The American role in the promotion of the terrorist organization is not some mad conspiracy theory, but a well-documented attempt by the U.S. government to demonize the insurgency and make it appear to be the central front in the war on terror. This was as great a mistake as disbanding the Iraqi army, which the U.S. did in May 2003, or perhaps even greater, since it led to the sectarian downward spiral that has destroyed the country.</p>
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<p><a href="http://www.macleans.ca/article.jsp?content=20070920_100442_7900&amp;source=srch&amp;page=4" type="external">Read more</a></p> | Canadian Mag Calls Bush 'The New Saddam' | true | https://truthdig.com/articles/canadian-mag-calls-bush-the-new-saddam/ | 2007-09-21 | 4 |
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<p>The Eastern New Mexico News reports the charge against 31-year-old Brandon Nolen will be dismissed if he completes 18 months of supervised probation.</p>
<p>The former deputy with the Curry County Sheriff’s Office was arrested in June, and he also was charged with perjury and possession of a controlled substance. The other charges were dismissed under the plea agreement reached Wednesday.</p>
<p>Authorities say Nolen stole methamphetamines obtained during a March traffic stop and lied about it in sworn documents.</p>
<p>Nolen’s attorney Michael Garrett says the agreement is a conditional discharge and not an adjudication of guilt.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Prosecutors say more than 30 criminal cases were dismissed this summer because of Nolen’s association.</p>
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<p>Information from: The Eastern New Mexico News, <a href="http://www.easternnewmexiconews.com" type="external">http://www.easternnewmexiconews.com</a></p> | Former Curry County deputy pleads no contest to records tampering | false | https://abqjournal.com/1103464/former-curry-county-deputy-pleads-no-contest-to-records-tampering.html | 2 |
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<p>[caption id=“attachment_11719” align=“aligncenter” width=“600” caption=“Climate change, and an air of white privilege, killed this bear.”] <a href="" type="internal" />[/caption]</p>
<p><a href="http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/08/07/19909343-a-victim-of-climate-change-polar-bear-found-starved-to-death-looked-like-a-rug?lite" type="external">Cue hysterical hand clasping</a>&#160;from NBC, an animal has died in the wilderness. This has never&#160;before happened.</p>
<p>Experts fear polar bears will increasingly suffer a similar fate as global warming melts the sea ice that allows them to hunt for their main source of food.</p>
<p>[...]</p>
<p>“From his lying position in death the bear appears to simply have starved and died where he dropped,” Stirling said. “He had no external suggestion of any remaining fat, having been reduced to little more than skin and bone.”</p>
<p>My honest and genuine first thought was that would look awesome in my living room.</p>
<p>My second thought was this story is full of [redacted].</p>
<p>Where NBC is freaking out like a sorority girl drunk for the first time on Zima, <a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/healthy-polar-bear-count-confounds-doomsayers/article2392523/" type="external">science is all chill the hell out</a>.</p>
<p>The debate about climate change and its impact on polar bears has intensified with the release of a survey that shows the bear population in a key part of northern Canada is far larger than many scientists thought, and might be growing.</p>
<p>The number of bears along the western shore of Hudson Bay, believed to be among the most threatened bear subpopulations, stands at 1,013 and could be even higher, according to the results of an aerial survey released Wednesday by the Government of Nunavut. That’s 66 per cent higher than estimates by other researchers who forecasted the numbers would fall to as low as 610 because of warming temperatures that melt ice faster and ruin bears’ ability to hunt. The Hudson Bay region, which straddles Nunavut and Manitoba, is critical because it’s considered a bellwether for how polar bears are doing elsewhere in the Arctic.</p>
<p>But “experts,” according to NBC, which seem to be just one dude, is for certain that climate change, and not hunting ability or anything else, is the reason why this bear is dead but all the other bears, which are multiplying and thriving at rates higher than said “experts” could ever have estimated, are somehow unaffected.</p> | NBC: OMG You Guys Killed This Polar Bear And Made It Into A Rug | true | http://danaloeschradio.com/nbc-omg-you-guys-killed-this-polar-bear-and-made-it-into-a-rug/ | 2013-08-07 | 0 |
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<p />
<p>If and when driving is automated, most of those jobs will probably disappear.</p>
<p>And it's not as if wiping out male-dominated occupations is anything new. Manufacturing, in which men currently hold 73 percent of the jobs, employed 13.7 million men in June 1979 and 9 million in February.</p>
<p>That's 4.7 million jobs gone over a period during which the male population grew by almost 50 million.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Women's manufacturing employment has actually seen a somewhat steeper decline, from 5.8 million to 3.4 million, in part because of the near wipeout of apparel manufacturing in the U.S. And there are other female-dominated industries that have suffered - travel agencies went from employing 136,200 women in October 2000 to 64,800 in January.</p>
<p>But on the whole, changes in the workplace since the 1970s have hit men much harder than women.</p>
<p>The number of women on U.S. payrolls topped the number of men for a few months in 2009 and 2010 in the aftermath of the recession, and the numbers are still much closer together than before the recession. Interestingly, women came nowhere close to passing men in the other jobs count, the household survey in which individuals say whether or not they're employed (as opposed to employers providing the data).</p>
<p>That in itself may be telling.</p>
<p>Four economists with a lot of experience in such matters hypothesized in 2009 that when labor markets are weak, many people with off-the-books or other marginal work show up in the household survey but not the employer survey. My take: More men than women are stuck with jobs that aren't quite jobs.</p>
<p>There are of course still lots of high-status, high-pay fields dominated by men.</p>
<p>According the BLS, men occupy 61 percent of managerial jobs in the U.S., 75 percent of computer and mathematical jobs and 85 percent of architecture and engineering jobs.</p>
<p>It remains important to emphasize that women are still a long way from achieving full workplace equality. Part of the reason for that is surely discrimination, but part of it has to be the nature of today's high-end work.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Ryan Avent has a wonderful essay in the new issue of the Economist's 1843 magazine exploring why he and other professionals spend so many hours working. He writes:</p>
<p>"One of the facts of modern life is that a relatively small class of people works very long hours and earns good money for its efforts. Nearly a third of college-educated American men, for example, work more than 50 hours a week. Some professionals do twice that amount, and elite lawyers can easily work 70 hours a week almost every week of the year."</p>
<p>Avent theorizes that these people - himself included - work so hard because they find work fulfilling and engrossing, and because you can't afford to live near where the really good jobs are unless you work that many hours. This all-in approach to work has favored men, because they have generally been more willing to prioritize work over family than women are.</p>
<p>But remember, this is a "relatively small class of people." Most men don't have the opportunity to do such intellectually, emotionally and financially rewarding work. Most women don't either, but they are generally seen as better suited for the other kinds of jobs that are being created.</p>
<p>As journalist Hanna Rosin put it in a much-discussed 2010 Atlantic cover story on "The End of Men": "The postindustrial economy is indifferent to men's size and strength. The attributes that are most valuable today - social intelligence, open communication, the ability to sit still and focus - are, at a minimum, not predominantly male. In fact, the opposite may be true."</p>
<p>Some men are, understandably, extremely frustrated about this turn of events. I was inspired to write about this topic, in fact, by an irate e-mail I received recently in reaction to a column that asked why so few Americans are working relative to 15-plus years ago.</p>
<p>"The number 1 reason that Americans aren't working," my correspondent wrote, "is the WAR ON MEN."</p>
<p>There was no name on the e-mail, but I think I'm safe in presuming that the author was male. "Wanna know why people don't have jobs? It's because if you are a man and you get arrested - you will never have a job the rest of your life."</p>
<p>Men were in fact hit harder than women by job cuts during the recession. Men are also far more likely to have criminal records than women, and those records really are keeping many men from working. A New York Times/CBS News/Kaiser Family Foundation poll in 2014 found that 34 percent of jobless men aged 25 to 54 had criminal records.</p>
<p>One obvious bit of advice to men here is: Don't commit so many crimes!</p>
<p>Women seem to be able to get by with a lot less lawbreaking. For whatever it's worth, women also seem a lot less likely to send insulting, expletive-laden emails to economics columnists whose work they deem unsatisfactory. A lot of the problems men face in the workplace - and society in general - have come because they (we) are so prone to do and say stupid things.</p>
<p>Still, the troubles many men are having adjusting to the way the world now works are real, and important. They shouldn't be laughed off. As was once said of a famous fictional middle-aged man struggling with a changing work environment, attention must be paid.</p>
<p>Bloomberg View columnist Justin Fox writes about business.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p /> | Is there a workplace War on Men? | false | https://abqjournal.com/741170/is-there-a-workplace-war-on-men.html | 2 |
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<p>Last week NY Daily News reporter Gersh Kuntzman <a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/gun-lovers-opinion-assault-rifles-article-1.2674555" type="external">wrote a story</a> detailing his experience firing an AR-15 rifle for the first time, and it wasn't pretty.</p>
<p>The whiny little man described the harrowing experience of casually popping off a few AR-15 rounds inside the fully air-conditioned Double Tap Shooting Range and Gun Shop in Philadelphia as similar to holding a "bazooka," with the force bruising his shoulder. He said the sulfur smell made him sick and the sound — "loud like a bomb" or "cannon" — gave him a "form of PTSD" which made him "anxious and irritable" for the next hour. Yes, really.</p>
<p>Who knows what kind of coma Kuntzman would be in if the Double Tap's vending machine was out of diet peach Snapple or, God forbid, there had actually been return fire. Friggin', Kuntzman.</p>
<p>Christopher Waller, owner of Voodoo Custom Weapons in Salisbury, North Carolina took issue with the New York City-based reporter and decided to do his own video completely debunking Kuntzman's traumatic experience by firing the gun with the butt of the rifle directly pressed against his nose...</p>
<p>"Hi, my name is Chris Waller," he begins. "I'm making this video in response to Mr. Kuntzman's article, which I'm gonna link with the video. In the article he said shooting the AR-15 was terrifying, causing a case of PTSD and bruised his shoulder. Now, as I am about to demonstrate, the recoil on this rifle cannot cause bruising on your shoulder, even if held improperly."</p>
<p>Waller then puts his ear protection in and says, "I'm gonna fire this weapon off of the tip of my nose." The marksman then loads the magazine, chambers a round, and holds the rifle up to his face with one hand so that the full force of the recoil can be felt. He then fires six times, each time making sure that the butt of the weapon is directly on his nose.</p>
<p>"Not broken, not bleeding, not bruised," Waller says to the camera, adding, "Thank you for your time."</p>
<p>Kuntzman has since issue an apology for his piece.</p>
<p>"Many people have objected to my use of the term 'PTSD' in the above story," wrote Kuntzman. "The use of this term was in no way meant to conflate my very temporary anxiety with the very real condition experienced by many of our brave men and women in uniform. I regret the inarticulate use of the term to describe my in-the-moment impression of the gun's firepower, and apologize for it."</p>
<p>"The gun debate is also a gender war."</p>
<p>Gersh Kuntzman</p>
<p><a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/gun-lovers-opinion-assault-rifles-article-1.2674555" type="external">In his follow-up article</a>, Kuntzman writes that because he received so much push back from people on the internet calling him out for being an exaggerating wussified girly-man, that he's now realized that "[t]he gun debate is also a gender war." Of, course.</p>
<p>"Yes, I'm a wimp," he rightly concludes, but adds, "I simpered because my experience with the AR-15 bruised me, body and spirit. But there's nothing unmanly about reminding my readers that mass murder is much easier to commit with a semi-automatic killing machine than it is with a hammer."</p>
<p>"If that makes me a girl, well, maybe we should have a girl running the country," he writes.</p>
<p>And there you have it. The full Kuntzman.</p>
<p>Exit video below demonstrating why calling Kuntzman a girl is actually demeaning to girls:</p> | Watch This Guy Completely Humiliate Reporter Who Claims PTSD After Firing AR-15 | true | https://dailywire.com/news/6769/watch-guy-completely-humiliate-reporter-who-claims-chase-stephens | 2016-06-21 | 0 |
<p>Nine people were hurt in a knife rampage at a Minnesota mall during which the attacker made references to Allah, authorities said.</p>
<p>The suspect was shot dead by an off-duty police officer at the Crossroads Mall in St. Cloud, which began around 8 p.m. (9 p.m. ET) on Saturday.</p>
<p>The suspect was wearing a private security uniform, officials said.</p>
<p>"We have confirmed that he asked at least one person if they were Muslim before he assaulted them," St. Cloud Police Chief Blair Anderson told reporters, adding that the suspect "made some references to Allah."</p>
<p>Anderson said he was armed with at least one knife "big enough to hurt someone."</p>
<p>An ISIS-affiliated news outlet claimed that the attacker was "a soldier of the Islamic State," according to NBC News terrorism analyst Flashpoint Intelligence, a global security firm.</p>
<p>"We're currently investigating this as a potential act of terrorism, and I do say 'potential,'" FBI agent Richard Thornton, of the agency's Minneapolis office, said at the news conference.</p>
<p>"We don't know whether the subject was in contact with, had connections with or was inspired by a foreign terrorist organization," Thornton added.</p>
<p>None of the nine people wounded suffered life-threatening injuries, and all but three had been released from the hospital by Sunday afternoon, St. Cloud Mayor Dave Kleis said. Authorities initially said eight people had been injured in the attack, but an additional person later went to the hospital.</p>
<p>Among the injured were a 15-year-old girl, a 50-year-old woman and seven men ages 20 to 53, Kleis said.</p>
<p>The suspect was described as a lone attacker, and there is no evidence anyone else locally was involved, Anderson said. The assaults occurred at multiple locations and businesses at the mall, he said.</p>
<p>The cop who shot the alleged attacker was identified as Jason Falconer, a part-time officer with the Avon Police Department and former police chief of Albany, Minn.</p>
<p>"He clearly prevented additional injuries and potentially loss of life," Kleis said Sunday. "His heroic actions are exemplary."</p>
<p>The suspect's identity hadn't been publicly released Sunday afternoon, but local Muslim and other religious leaders indicated that he was Somali.</p>
<p>"The central Minnesota Somali community is in distress, and we are afraid of the consequences of this incident," Mohamoud Mohamed, executive director of the St. Cloud Area Somali Salvation Organization. said at a news conference.</p>
<p>"Our community in central Minnesota has no relationship with ISIS or any other Islamist terrorist group," Mohamed said, adding that much of the local Somali residents fled to St. Cloud to escape groups like ISIS.</p>
<p>"We are being made again to suffer for their acts," he said. "They are minorities in our faith. Islam is peace."</p>
<p>Jaylani Hussein, Minnesota executive director for the Council on American Islamic Relations, stressed that "this is an act of an individual."</p>
<p>"We are all shocked just like you, and we are all grieving just like you," Hussein said, adding: "We are concerned about the potential for backlash."</p>
<p>At the same time, he said, "this is a tragedy that affects all people in St. Cloud, and there is an opportunity for the community to come together."</p>
<p>Police had three contacts with the suspect in the past, Anderson said, most for minor traffic violations.</p>
<p>St. Cloud is a city of around 65,800 people about 65 miles northwest of Minneapolis.</p> | Nine Hurt in Minnesota Mall Knife Attack, Suspect Killed | false | http://nbcnews.com/news/us-news/nine-people-taken-hospital-after-minnesota-mall-stabbings-n650081 | 2016-09-19 | 3 |
<p>North Korea’s foreign minister said on Monday that U.S. President Donald Trump had declared war on North Korea and that Pyongyang reserves the right to take countermeasures, including shooting down U.S. strategic bombers even if they are not in the country’s air space.</p>
<p>“The whole world should clearly remember it was the U.S. who first declared war on our country,” Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho told reporters in New York.</p>
<p>“Since the United States declared war on our country, we will have every right to make countermeasures, including the right to shoot down United States strategic bombers even when they are not inside the airspace border of our country.”</p>
<p>Ri, who made the remarks before leaving New York where he had attended last week’s U.N. General Assembly, made the statement then returned from his car to the press microphones to add: “In light of the declaration of war by Trump, all options will be on the operations table of the supreme leadership of the DPRK (Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea).”</p>
<p>His words echoed warnings from the Trump administration that all options were on the table in dealing with North Korea’s nuclear and missile development and its threats to have a weapon capable of reaching the continental United States.</p>
<p>On Saturday, Ri told the U.N. General Assembly that targeting the U.S. mainland with its rockets was inevitable after “Mr Evil President” Trump called Pyongyang’s leader a “rocket man” on a suicide mission.</p>
<p>“Just heard Foreign Minister of North Korea speak at U.N. If he echoes thoughts of Little Rocket Man, they won’t be around much longer!” Trump said on Twitter late on Saturday.</p>
<p>North Korea has pursued its missile and nuclear programs in defiance of international condemnation and sanctions.</p> | North Korea Says US Declaring War, Threatens Countermeasures | false | https://newsline.com/north-korea-says-us-declaring-war-threatens-countermeasures/ | 2017-09-25 | 1 |
<p>Groupon, the internet company that sells group discounts, now has the highest initial public offering or IPO for a US internet company since Google went public in 2004.</p>
<p>Groupon Inc raised $700 million Friday and is now valued at almost $13 billion, <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/04/us-groupon-idUSTRE7A352020111104" type="external">Reuters reported</a>. Its shares are now priced at $20 each, which is above the initial $16 to $18 range.</p>
<p>It stated that this is the highest tech valuation since Google raised $1.7 billion in 2004.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/story/2011-11-03/groupon-ipo/51065774/1" type="external">USA Today reported</a> that Groupon's stock soared more than 50 percent Friday.</p>
<p>"Though it spawned many copycats after its 2008 launch, Groupon has the advantage of being first. This has meant brand recognition and investor demand, as evidenced by its sizzling public stock debut," it stated.</p>
<p>Groupon issued about 35 million shares Friday, and the site will now trade on Nasdaq under the symbol "GRPN," the <a href="http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2011/11/groupon-ipo-highest-tech-valuation-since-google.html" type="external">Los Angeles Times reported.</a></p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/editorials/ct-edit-groupon-20111104,0,7614972.story" type="external">Chicago Tribune editorial board</a> noted that Groupon's success reflects well on the city.</p>
<p>"Chicago's newest publicly held company is its most exciting commercial proposition since financial futures and Motorola cell phones," the editorial stated.</p>
<p>"Can it really be that Groupon expanded from 37 employees in late 2009 to more than 10,000 today? It's an amazing business story."</p> | Groupon: IPO causes a stir | false | https://pri.org/stories/2011-11-04/groupon-ipo-causes-stir | 2011-11-04 | 3 |
<p>Ladies and grrrls please note this piece is intended primarily for a male audience and contains gender-based secrets which most men would prefer remained unspoken, so if you must read the following, please have the good taste to act like you didn’t, although a slight, knowing smile is acceptable.</p>
<p>You must ask yourself why, despite their absolute grasp on the reins of power– despite their total control of the military, the media, science, and industry, despite dominating the entire world the way an eagle dominates a nest of mice, America’s hardcore right-wing junta still fears the Left. I have asked myself this question over and over again, primarily because it attracts chicks at the Bolshevik coffee shop I frequent. To my astonishment, there is an answer. It came to me in a flash, lightning-wise. I will tell you why our totalitarian leaders are afraid of a bunch of puling liberals, but you must promise not to taunt them with it. You see, it’s all about penis size. The Right has the loafers, but the left has the loaves.</p>
<p>Think on it, ye. Mahatma Ghandi: a solid ten inches. Historical fact, ask anybody. Che Guevara, seven point two inches, but girth like a can of Foster’s Lager. Castro was famous for his prodigious organ; they didn’t call him the Caribbean Milton Berle for nothing. Those stories that the CIA wanted to make his beard fall off? It wasn’t his beard. These are extreme left-wing figures, and I don’t affiliate myself with them (except Ghandi, whom I resemble if you can picture him wearing a fright wig and glasses). But the fact remains, they all sported impressive wedding tackle. The same cannot be said for any of the right-wing figures of the time, nor even the centrists. Winston Churchill muddled through with three and a half inches, which underlines the greatness of his achievements in other areas.</p>
<p>It’s not just radical lefties such as Communists, Trotskyites and Marxists that swing a prodigious bone (although Trotsky and Marx both had respectable eight-plus inches). There are many figures on the populist left who are noted for their equipment-and you’ve heard of them. I hope I’m not telling tales out of school, but Ed Asner and Ed Begley Jr., Tim Robbins, even Ben Affleck, who keeps his political affiliations private but can’t hide the haunted look in JLo’s eyes- these guys are packing. And they’re not exceptions.</p>
<p>Most of us lefties are hangin’ low. I had the opportunity to glance at the rig of Mr. Cockburn, co-editor of this very broadsheet. The circumstances which led to this discovery involved an Indian restaurant, an anecdote about elephants, and three quarts of Chablis, but suffice it to say that when the object in question hit the table, the other diners thought he’d concealed a juvenile dugong in his pants. Apparently his co-editor Mr. St. Clair is similarly endowed and is known to close friends (and now the readership) as ‘Watermelon Man’, which I’d previously thought was a slur on his profound blackness.</p>
<p>Not every progressive is so massive behind the flies, but those who are more modest in proportion are incredibly sensitive lovers, displaying a near-telepathic understanding of the carnal needs of their partners and a tender forcefulness that renders the recipient of their attentions a quivering jellyfish pulsating on the shores of an unknown country of fragrant flowers and starry midnight skies. It’s well known among Beltway gossip-mongers that when a conservative wife is in need of solace she will always seek a liberal to comfort her, first with his masterful but intuitive loving, and then with his strong, still arms around her so that she can sleep despite the incessant rattle of the war-drums beaten by her absent husband on the Hill. Yes, we know the private anguish- and the secret hungers- of these women who have sold their souls but not their hearts. The same cannot be said of Donald Rumsfeld.</p>
<p>I discovered old Rummy’s secret Cherokee name footnoted in a bundle of FOIA documents I got hold of back when there was still freedom of information. Apparently he is known at home as “Urinates With Tweezers”. Dick Armey? He wishes. According to Dick Cheney’s doctor the only kind of stroke he’s getting is the kind he wears the pacemaker for. Bob Dole showed up in Viagra ads, outing the entire bunch of them; and you hardly have to ask yourself why George W. is afraid of horses. Anybody spends his adult life wearing a necktie, it’s a sign of something. Might as well drape a python around your neck, but they’re not fooling anybody. George W. wants to cut down all the trees because he ain’t got wood. Bill Clinton wasn’t particularly big in the pants, but he was as randy as a badger in heat, which is just another example of the dichotomy within him: conservative/ liberal. He had the sexual drive of a leftist and the pimmel of a right-winger. It’s not that every man on the Right is poorly endowed, although this is true; it’s that they can’t perform. They can’t satisfy. They don’t understand things like foreplay, which I’m told Karl Rove thinks is a golfing term. Richard Perle is known to holler “bombs away!” at the moment of climax, which he achieves once a year on the anniversary of the Tet Offensive, and always alone.</p>
<p>Consider a man like George W., who was schooled on the idea that women are recreational equipment until age thirty, and thereafter are responsible for reminding you where you left your watch; and who (what with the drinking and cocaine) probably hasn’t enjoyed a full erection since Reagan was inaugurated: how can he not feel inadequate? How can we expect him not to hate liberals, cocksure and hung like Toscano salami, when he himself is a wither-dinkied sexual has-been? Not that I fault W. for this- if those were my daughters I’d have my pecker removed by a veterinarian, just to be on the safe side. You think Rush Limbaugh got the nickname ‘babyfinger’ because he has small hands? John Ashcroft’s weenie doesn’t exactly cast a shadow, according to his tennis partner, and we all know why Trent Lott hates black men: because it’s true what they say. The only right-winger on record with a biggun, ironically, is Margaret Thatcher, who sports an impressive twelve inches.</p>
<p>I know the question burning in your filthy minds: what about you? Would I dare pen such a piece unless I was prepared to show my credentials, so to speak? I would rather demur, but full disclosure is necessary. You may be familiar with the Edo period Japanese woodcuts known as Ukio-e, and among these the shunga, or erotic subjects. These generally feature a Samurai having a go at some cross-eyed Geisha, and it is traditional that his ventral member be a vein-girt fireplug, engorged to such an extremity that he appears to have a bald dwarf protruding from his lap. I have been mistaken for the model in these subjects, and it is with modest blushes that I point out the Edo period ended in 1868. But enough said about me. What matters is this: the problem for right-wingers is not irreversible. David Brock, the famous ex-conservative, went from four inches and the diameter of a Ticonderoga #2 pencil to a hefty seven point nine inches plus the kind of girth you could strap a Rolex around. Michael Lind may still be a windbag, but when he switched sides from Right to Left he went from sapling to stout oak almost overnight, with endurance in the fifty minute range, three times in a row with a ten minute break between bouts.</p>
<p>So you see, politics is something that permeates our lives and can form us both intellectually and physically. Just as a man with liberal values is greater in spirit, more giving, more compassionate to his fellow human beings and the world around him, he is also heftier in the groin and more adept at the art of love. Smug conservative men, whose urges are to take and deny and hate, will find themselves short-changed in the dinky department, as in most other personal matters. It’s a medical fact. Us leftists may be downtrodden, but we’ve got it where it counts. World domination: it don’t mean a thing if you ain’t got that swing.</p>
<p>BEN TRIPP is a screenwriter, political satirist and cartoonist. He can be reached at: <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a></p>
<p>&#160;</p> | Dressing to the Left | true | https://counterpunch.org/2002/12/31/dressing-to-the-left/ | 2002-12-31 | 4 |
<p>CARSON CITY — The intensity level at the Nevada Legislature will ramp up in Week 8 as dozens of bills get hearings ahead of a looming “do or die” April deadline for passage out of committee.</p>
<p>Many measures are priorities of the Democratic majorities in the Senate and Assembly, including a bill that would ban capital punishment.</p>
<p>Most of the hundreds of bills introduced this session must pass out of their first committee by mid-April, or they will die. Many bills will not survive the deadline, either because they fail to win approval or because they don’t get hearings.</p>
<p>MONDAY</p>
<p>The week starts with another priority bill for Democrats when the Senate Commerce and Labor Committee hears Senate Bill 253 to establish the Nevada Pregnant Workers’ Fairness Act.</p>
<p>The measure would provide protections to employees who are affected by any condition relating to pregnancy, childbirth or a related medical condition.</p>
<p>In the afternoon, the Senate Judiciary Committee had been scheduled to take up a controversial measure that would prohibit state and local law enforcement officials from participating in federal immigration enforcement actions. But that hearing has been canceled.</p>
<p>Senate Bill 223 from state Sen. Yvanna Cancela, D-Las Vegas, has come under criticism from Republican leaders, including Gov. Brian Sandoval, who say it would tie the hands of law enforcement in dealing with public safety issues. Senate Minority Leader Michael Roberson, R-Henderson, has called the bill “recklessly irresponsible” and “outrageous.”</p>
<p>Also in the afternoon, the Assembly Commerce subcommittee on energy will hear Assembly Bill 270, which would restore the more favorable net metering rates for rooftop solar customers that were replaced prospectively on Jan. 1, 2016, by the Nevada Public Utilities Commission.</p>
<p>TUESDAY</p>
<p>The Assembly Legislative Operations and Elections Committee will take up Assembly Bill 293, which would set up a presidential preference primary. Nevada has used a caucus system in past presidential elections.</p>
<p>The Senate Judiciary Committee will take up multiple marijuana-related bills, including Senate Bill 344, which would prohibit the packaging of marijuana products to look like candy.</p>
<p>The Senate Revenue and Taxation Committee will take up gender equity in the workplace, hearing Senate Bill 343, which would require the Office of Economic Development to conduct an annual survey of larger employers to collect data and information on the issue.</p>
<p>WEDNESDAY</p>
<p>The Assembly Judiciary Committee will consider a bill to abolish the death penalty in Nevada and commute the death sentences of more than 80 inmates on death row to life without parole.</p>
<p>There are moral and cost issues involved in the debate, but also a more pragmatic one: Nevada cannot obtain the drugs needed to administer a lethal injection to a death row inmate.</p>
<p>In the afternoon, the Assembly Health and Human Services Committee will consider Assembly Bill 340, which would require the state Department of Health and Human Services to improve access to diapers and diapering supplies to families on public assistance.</p>
<p>FRIDAY</p>
<p>The busy week will wrap with a hearing in Las Vegas on Assembly Bill 277 from Assemblyman Steve Yeager, D-Las Vegas, to prevent further development of Nevada’s conservation areas.</p>
<p>“Conservation areas like Black Rock Desert, Red Rock Canyon and Sloan Canyon are staples of Nevada’s shared natural heritage,” he said when the bill was introduced.</p>
<p>“We cannot continue down the path of destructive development of these beautiful and iconic parts of our state.”</p>
<p>Contact Sean Whaley at [email protected] or 775-461-3820. Follow <a href="http://www.twitter.com/seanw801" type="external">@seanw801</a> on Twitter.</p> | Dozens of bills set to be heard in busy eighth week of Nevada Legislature | false | https://reviewjournal.com/news/politics-and-government/nevada/dozens-of-bills-set-to-be-heard-in-busy-eighth-week-of-nevada-legislature/ | 2017-03-25 | 1 |
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<p>SAN SIMON, Ariz. — Drivers on Interstate 10 near the Arizona-New Mexico border should expect some serious delays on Sunday as authorities have shut down the freeway because of a crash and blowing dust that has caused zero visibility.</p>
<p>The Arizona Department of Transportation says a multiple-car crash near San Simon has closed the freeway while police investigate. DPS says all injuries are minor but that severe wind and dust has caused zero visibility in the area.</p>
<p>Both sides of I-10 are now closed indefinitely and traffic is being diverted to US 191 and US 70.</p>
<p>The area caused major trouble last year as a local farm kept sending massive clouds of dust during windy days.</p>
<p>Authorities also say I-10 in Lordsburg, New Mexico, is closed because of high winds and blowing dust.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | I-10 wreck near San Simon closes freeway | false | https://abqjournal.com/957508/i-10-wreck-near-san-simon-closes-eastbound-lanes.html | 2017-02-26 | 2 |
<p>Good news for democracy: Lawmakers at all levels of government met with activists on Capitol Hill this week to sign a “Declaration for Democracy” in support of the effort to overturn the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United decision. That decision made legal unlimited campaign spending by corporations and unions.</p>
<p>Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, author of one of the proposed amendments affecting the decision, said to the crowd:</p>
<p>The U.S. Constitution has served us very well, but when the Supreme Court says, for purposes of the First Amendment, that corporations are people, that writing checks from the company’s bank account is constitutionally protected speech and that attempts by the federal government and states to impose reasonable restrictions on campaign ads are unconstitutional, our democracy is in grave danger. There comes a time when an issue is so important that the only way to address it is by constitutional amendment.</p>
<p>–ARK</p>
<p />
<p>Suzanne Merkelson at United Republic:</p>
<p>Each member echoed Sanders, especially focusing on the momentum building across the country for such an amendment. Hawaii, New Mexico, and this week, Vermont, have all passed resolutions in their state legislatures calling on Congress to overturn Citizens United. They’re joined by over 147 cities nationwide that have passed resolutions. The summit highlighted the Resolutions Week initiative spearheaded by Public Citizen and other organizations, aimed at passing local resolutions the week of June 11.</p>
<p>“We have developing here a grassroots movement,” [Democratic congressman Tom] Udall said.</p>
<p>The speakers had nothing but vitriol for Citizens United, which Schumer derided as the “worst [Supreme Court] decision since Plessy v. Ferguson,” which was the 1896 ruling that supported “separate but equal” racial segregation.</p>
<p><a href="http://unitedrepublic.org/2012/lawmakers-unite-with-activist-groups-to-press-for-constitutional-amendment-on-citizens-united/" type="external">Read more</a></p> | Legislators and Activists Mount Opposition to Citizens United | true | https://truthdig.com/articles/legislators-and-activists-mount-opposition-to-citizens-united/ | 2012-04-21 | 4 |
<p>Blanco, New Mexico.</p>
<p>Chris Velasquez sees the impacts of gas development in the San Juan Basin of northern New Mexico through the eyes of a rancher, and those of a man whose roots in this country pre-date both the gas rigs and the arrival of Anglos.</p>
<p>He and his dad ran cattle, until recently, on a grazing allotment called the Rosa, rolling high desert lands punctuated by bluffs and arroyos, ringed by mesas, adjacent to the Carson National Forest on the east, the Southern Ute reservation to the north, and bordered on the west by Navajo Lake. In a way, it’s what’s left of Velasquez’ ancestral homeland. “We used to live where the Pine River and the San Juan meet up here, then when they built the lake, it either was drown or move,” he says. In 1962, the Bureau of Reclamation completed a dam stretching three-quarters of a mile across the San Juan River. The idea was to control flooding and provide irrigation water for the Navajo tribe. It also displaced Velasquez’ community. “All my ancestor’s on my mom’s side, well on my dad’s side too, came from right up here,” he says. “My grandpa and my grandma on my mom’s side, they were the second farm below the dam. They got chased out too. From right here on, all the people who lived here—they were all Spanish people—relocated. Threw them to the four winds. Scattered them all over the place.”</p>
<p>The Velasquez family wasn’t blown far: his dad bought a place near Blanco, New Mexico, the nearest town with a name, a short drive west and south of their former home.&#160; The entire clan now lives and ranches on about 320 acres they share with 17 gas wells. “My dad’s the one that started the ranch, but we’ve always had animals,” he says. It was the former owners who sold the mineral rights back in the 1930s or 40s. “So they’ve been after this area for a long time,” he says. “They’ve been hammering it, it didn’t happen overnight. They had a vision for it.”</p>
<p>Rancher Chris Velasquez demonstrates the viscosity of fluid leaking from the end of a TEPPCO pipeline labeled “methane” and “produced water” at the Pump Canyon Compressor station near his home. Lack of fencing or other barriers makes such toxic materials available for wildlife and livestock to drink. (Photo credit: Doug Peacock)</p>
<p>The gas industry pumps three billion cubic feet of natural gas every day out of the San Juan Basin, which straddles the New Mexico-Colorado border. Only about seven percent of the land in this part of New Mexico is private, the rest divided between the state, feds and tribes. As of winter 2010, the San Juan gas field ranks second in production volume only to the Powder River basin of Wyoming. Some 3,000 compressors run 24 hours a day, seven days a week pressurizing gas from about 23,000 wells, lighting up the canyons and hilltops in all directions. Gas companies have punched in two and half miles of road for every square mile of land—that’s 5,400 miles worth—nearly all dirt roads through wild country.</p>
<p>Though ConocoPhillips is the largest, more than 130 companies lease through the BLM here, subcontracting out everything from road construction to water hauling, putting hundreds of operators with trucks on these back roads every day of the year. While the field was officially discovered in 1927, this was ground zero for coal-bed methane (gas extracted from between layers of coal seams—held in place by water, released when the water is drawn out), and business boomed in the 1980s, industrializing the otherwise rural landscape.</p>
<p>Velasquez and his family trucked cattle to the Rosa each summer for nearly two decades. His daughters spent their childhoods on horseback, camping out, wrangling. He points out abandoned homesites near natural springs, fishing holes that were rich with native squawfish before the dam, canyons containing rock art and Anasazi ruins, places of adventure from his childhood. Velasquez set aside 10,000 of those acres for wildlife conservation in 1996, a winter closure to give the mule deer some respite after his girls watched hunters on off-road vehicles chase a small herd into a pond where they nearly drowned. “My youngest daughter would call them the murderers,” he says. “They can hunt on here, but they have to walk. They can’t drive their vehicles. And there was some pissed off hunters.”</p>
<p>Velasquez was a model rancher, and had a good working relationship with the BLM. In 1995 the agency nominated him for an Excellence in Range Management award, which he won. He and another rancher, Linn Blancett of Aztec, served on the Oil and Gas Ranchers Working Group.</p>
<p>The BLM office out of Farmington, New Mexico, manages leases for all the federal land in this portion of the basin, accounting for most of the active wells (the rest are under state or private lease). In advance of drilling, the BLM normally undertakes a massive planning effort, setting guidelines so exploration and production won’t unduly affect wildlife, destroy archeological sites, dirty the air and water; so roads will be correctly built and maintained, wells will be placed appropriately for the terrain. And giving the public a chance to review and comment in advance of the dozers and drilling rigs. Or at least that was the process until the 2005 Energy Policy Act, in which the Bush Administration pushed through Congress a five-year pilot project called “categorical exclusions” in which the oil and gas industries were exempt from federal environmental laws.</p>
<p>Farmington BLM director Steve Henke says his office still performed all those analyses, they just did so outside the public eye. “It was a full environmental review with the same components of an environmental assessment with the exception that we didn’t formally document and analyze alternatives,” he says. “And we handled most of that just out in the field with that discussion saying, ‘We’re close to an arch site, or we’re in a bald eagle area or a winter restriction area or, you staked this on a slope that’s just not acceptable, we need to move it.’”</p>
<p>Henke says he’d bet no one could look at any particular set of well pads and tell which was approved with a formal environmental review, and which went forward under President Bush’s ‘categorical exclusion’ experiment.</p>
<p>Rancher Velasquez would agree, though not for the reasons Henke intends. His experience on the Rosa, he says, has led him to believe that the rules on paper—BLM regulations, state wildlife guidelines, the industry’s own ‘Good Neighbor’ program—are regularly ignored in the field. After my talk with Henke, Velasquez takes me on a day-long tour of the Rosa. We start out on a chilly February morning, during the wet winter of 2010 when road conditions were at their worst. We have a hard time finding any site that appears to meet all BLM requirements: we find inadequate and fallen fences, open gates, puddles and catch basins of viscous liquid, leaky pipes everywhere. Ruts in the roads approach and exceed six inches, the point at which BLM regs state they should be shut down and fixed.</p>
<p>Henke tells me his team of 30 inspectors intends to attempt get out to each well pad once every three years, and has been coming pretty close to that goal lately. If someone calls with a complaint, they’ll check it out. But jurisdiction and oversight are complex. The BLM keeps track of things like fencing and road conditions, while the state tracks air and water quality. Folks with complaints have a hard time figuring out whom to call. And then the companies themselves are always merging, buying and selling leases. As one woman put it, “You start out reporting this cattle guard and they say, ‘Well, it’s not ours, call BP.’ And BP says, ‘Well, it’s not ours. Call Conoco.’ And they said, ‘Well, it’s not ours. Call Williams.’ You go around the circle and when you get to this one there, they say ‘It’s not ours, call Conoco.’ Where you started, you know.”</p>
<p>When I mention the conditions I witnessed on the Rosa to the acting director of the New Mexico Oil and Gas Association, the state’s main industry group, Deborah Seligman asks me why I didn’t report the violations. “Did you write them down? You took pictures. Did you call them?”</p>
<p>If we saw 100 wells that day, I reply, is it my job to track down and notify each company? Whose job is it? I ask her. Is it the rancher’s job? Because, I’m thinking, he’s already got a job.</p>
<p>No, she agrees, it’s the industry’s responsibility, and she maintains they police themselves just fine.</p>
<p>Fifth generation Bloomfield, NM, farmer Gilbert Armenta describes the boundaries of his family cemetery. He fenced the area after an XTO gas company crew bulldozed the headstones over the edge of a bluff. XTO refers to the incident as “a commercial dispute,” and successfully sued him for blocking access to their wells. (Photo credit: Doug Peacock)</p>
<p>In 2005, Velasquez and Blancett walked out on the BLM ranchers’ working group. It was, Velasquez says, a waste of his time.&#160; “I used to spend a lot of time with the guys from the BLM,” he says. “I thought I was doing good, we were making progress. I found out I was just chasing my tail.</p>
<p>“We were fighting the same thing over and over again. They’d tell us in the meetings, ‘Well, we got everything taken care of.’ Okay, let’s go out and look at it. I’ll be darned if the first time we stopped here, it hit them right in the nose. ‘Oh it shouldn’t be like that. We’re going to get it fixed. Next time you come out here it’s gonna be fixed. We’re gonna have it done.’ Yeah right.</p>
<p>“We were the only suckers who weren’t getting paid.”</p>
<p>A year later, Velasquez gave up on the Rosa as well. Basically, he says, cattle and gas development on this scale can’t co-exist. There’s the constant traffic of water-hauling and maintenance trucks, heavy machinery scraping away at the muddy roads, drilling and fracturing rigs. Animals get hit. They drink from temporary reserve pits, catch basins, and puddles containing the byproducts of gas production: methanol, glycol, antifreeze used to defrost transmission pipes.</p>
<p>The arid landscape of the Colorado Plateau is so delicate, it might take one hundred years for roads like these, in piñon-juniper country north of Farmington, NM, to disappear after the gas industry is through with the well. (Photo credit: Mike Eisenfeld)</p>
<p>Velasquez documented as his animals lost on average a sixth of their weight in four years. He took pictures of cows and calves losing hair at their muzzles, a sign they’d been drinking polluted water. He had the herd tested for petroleum products—a $4,500 endeavor—and found all but two were positive for at least trace amounts. He sent pond water to a lab when he suspected it had been contaminated after a near-by reserve pit overflowed its berm. When eight of his cattle died in one week, he footed the bill for the autopsy ($550 for one animal). “When they opened her up, her liver had turned light pink, and it disintegrated as soon as the air hit it. It was like mushy at first when you pick it up with your fingers, then it just went through your fingers. Dissolved,” he says. “And it’s a slow death, it’s not something that they can die right away from it. They kind of walk around there, with their head down until finally they lay down and die. All their organs quit on them.”</p>
<p>When twenty of his cows got into some glycol or methanol-laced water, he lost that year’s calves. He shows me the test results, the receipts for all this, as well as the response from Phillips Petroleum when—18 months after the year of the lost calves—they sent him a check for $9,900 for the “alleged” poisoning. “This is just a small token for what they’ve done,” he says. “They’ve contaminated my entire outfit. They’ll pay, but they won’t admit wrongdoing.”</p>
<p>Phillips, now merged into ConocoPhillips, declined to be interviewed for this story, but sent an email stating, “as the largest operator/producer in the basin, ConocoPhillips constantly seeks ways to mitigate the impact of drilling and production.”</p>
<p />
<p>Shirley “Sug” McNall, whose family homesteaded a ranch on Crouch Mesa near Aztec, NM, has put together what she calls a “Tour of Hell” to document the effects of oil and gas development on her community. The tour ends with a stop at this Catholic cemetery in the shadow of a ConocoPhillips gas plant. “It’s just another one of those ‘not right’ things,” she says. (Photo credit: ANDREA PEACOCK)</p>
<p>Velasquez’ frustration isn’t just a matter of the hits to his pocket book. He points out, as we drive deeper into the Rosa, how the sagebrush, juniper and piñon trees get smaller, scragglier, and eventually, deader. Mule deer populations are down, he is sure though both the state and the feds have no data on the matter—they have no pre-drilling baseline data, so no one is keeping track in any kind of statistically meaningful way, wildlife specialists from both the BLM and New Mexico Fish and Game tell me.</p>
<p>We come across the carcass of an emaciated fawn by the side of the road, not scavenged by coyotes. “See when they drink that methanol and that glycol, the coyotes and the wildlife won’t eat it, they know it’s contaminated,” Velasquez says. As a former road maintenance employee of San Juan County, he’s got the expertise to grouse at the condition of the roads. “This company, they’ve extracted enough gas just out of the Rosa to have this road paved and done correctly. See how the roads, the water just piles up in the middle like this? That’s where the erosion and sediment comes in. … When the mud gets real heavy they’ll bring in them big dozers like V-8s or V-9s, and they’ll plow that road until they find dry ground, and they’ll just shove that dirt completely off the road.”</p>
<p>His frustration has built over the years, the result of dozens of accidents, slights and insults. He tells of the time a semi-sized rig climbing a steep grade locked onto his horse trailer so neither could move. The supervisor should have been ahead on the road, he says, making sure the way was clear. Another day, a water truck driver coming fast around a curve slammed on his breaks and slid sideways. “It damn near landed on top of us. I was so damn scared I couldn’t even open the door to get out and chew him out.” Twenty years ago, Velasquez locked the gate leading to his private land, closing out a bulldozer driver who wanted to use the road as a shortcut to a project on BLM land. The company called the sheriff, and Velasquez was sure he’d go to jail. In a repeat performance last year, the dozer driver thought he might just push through the gate anyway. “They were trying to figure out if they could run me over with that blade they had,” he says. “The sheriff told them, ‘You better not. You’re asking for trouble if you do that.’”</p>
<p>Velasquez dotes on his grandson, a blue-eyed toddler with his own hat and pony who lives next door and loves to ride on the tractor with his granddad. “I’ve got plans for him,” Velasquez says. “I don’t know how much of it will be left, but he’ll take over what we’ve got. If he wants it.” Whatever the boy decides, the Rosa won’t be part of his future. Velasquez sold off his share in 2006, a sacrifice to the gods of the gas patch.</p>
<p>ANDREA PEACOCK is a 2010 Alicia Patterson Foundation Fellow and the author of <a href="http://www.easycartsecure.com/CounterPunch/CounterPunch_Books.html" type="external">Wasting Libby</a>, published by CounterPunch/AK Press. She can be reached at: <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a></p>
<p>This work is supported by the Alicia Patterson Foundation (Washington, DC), founded in 1965 to promote independent journalism.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
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<p>&#160;</p> | Cattle vs. Conoco | true | https://counterpunch.org/2011/03/24/cattle-vs-conoco/ | 2011-03-24 | 4 |
<p>When Hewlett-Packard Co agreed to buy British software company Autonomy in August last year for $11.1 billion, two well-known investors made diametrically different bets on how the big deal would play out.</p>
<p>To short seller Jim Chanos, who had been raising red flags on Autonomy for years and had started shorting shares of HP in 2011, the deal was another nail in the coffin of the Silicon Valley tech giant, according to a source familiar with his thinking.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>But to activist investor Ralph Whitworth, co-founder of Relational Investors LLC, it was time to commit to HP and the turnaround story the company was trying to sell to Wall Street. His fund bought more than 17.5 million HP shares after the deal was announced, and Whitworth received a seat on the company's board. This year, Relational roughly doubled its stake in HP.</p>
<p>In the wake of HP's decision to take an $8.8 billion write-down on the deal because of alleged accounting irregularities at Autonomy, it appears Chanos - whose call to short Enron before the energy company collapsed in a corporate scandal may be his most famous trade - was more astute.</p>
<p>HP's shares are down 36 percent since Relational, which declined to comment, built its stake in the third quarter of 2011.</p>
<p>BARRIERS TO ENTRY</p>
<p>Relational's big move into HP is a reminder that even smart investors can get things wrong in the fast-evolving technology sector, where once hot global names like Research in Motion and Yahoo can quickly become yesterday's news.</p>
<p>It is a world where a company may effectively erect barriers to entry in a market only to have them torn down by a rival with a new whizz-bang product - just as Apple's iPhone broke the dominance that Research in Motion's BlackBerry had enjoyed.</p>
<p>One warning sign that a tech company may be on the verge of losing its edge is when it makes acquisitions outside of its main area of expertise to move into new product lines. Savvy tech investors also say be wary of companies that experience a succession of management changes, or when a successful core business starts looking tired.</p>
<p>The pace of change in the technology sector is much faster than in other industries, said Kaushik Roy, an analyst at Hercules Technology Growth Capital. "It attracts new talent and capital, many startups are formed, which can be extremely disruptive to incumbents," Roy said. "In other words, yesterday's winners can rapidly become today's losers and vice versa."</p>
<p>In the case of HP, the company not only has had four CEOs since 1999, it has been striving to find another niche to dominate as demand for one of its core products - computer printers - wanes and as its PC business stumbles.</p>
<p>Or consider online search pioneer Yahoo, which has gone through six chief executives and is struggling to keep pace with Google.</p>
<p>Josh Spencer, a portfolio manager at T. Rowe Price, said frequent turnover in the executive suite at Yahoo was a warning sign to him. Spencer said he does not own Yahoo shares and has not in the recent past.</p>
<p>RED FLAGS</p>
<p>While a company may view an acquisition as a fresh start - that is what HP was trying to say about Autonomy - some investors see it as a warning the core business is struggling.</p>
<p>Spencer noted that the technology industry's most successful companies - Apple and Samsung - generally have not made acquisitions and instead developed new products internally.</p>
<p>For Margaret Patel, managing director at Wells Capital Management, one of the first red flags she saw at HP was when former CEO Carly Fiorina bought Compaq for roughly $25 billion in 2002.</p>
<p>"I felt then that the acquisition was too large and expensive, and personal computers were not their core strength," said Patel, who has since avoided investing in HP.</p>
<p>Of course, timing can be everything even if an investor is eventually proven right. Patel missed out on a 137 percent gain in HP's stock price from the time of the Compaq deal up until the end of 2010.</p>
<p>PREMIUM VALUATIONS</p>
<p>A few money managers see a flashing yellow light in the big sell-off of Apple shares in the past few months.</p>
<p>Apple, the most valuable U.S. company, has shed nearly 30 percent of its value in the last three months.</p>
<p>Since the death of co-founder Steve Jobs - the driving force behind Apple's iPod, iPhone and iPad - DoubleLine co-founder Jeffrey Gundlach has been recommending that investors short the company's shares because "the product innovator isn't there anymore."</p>
<p>Gundlach said he began shorting Apple's stock at around $610 and maintains that it could drop to $425. He declined to comment on Tim Cook, who succeeded Jobs over a year ago and is seen by many as less visionary and innovative than Jobs.</p>
<p>Christian Bertelsen, chief investment officer at Global Financial Private Capital, with assets under management of $1.7 billion, said his firm began paring back its exposure to Apple this fall because he felt the expectations for the company's new iPhone5 had gotten overheated.</p>
<p>He said his firm dramatically took down its exposure to Apple shares when the stock hit $670 a share. "For us, the light bulb went off this fall," he said. Mind you, Apple's shares still remain up about 25 percent for the whole year.</p>
<p>And then there's Research in Motion. Once a leader in smartphones, it's now in danger of becoming irrelevant.</p>
<p>"They saw the move towards all touch-screen phones and didn't move with it," said Stuart Jeffrey, an analyst at Nomura Securities who noted how the BlackBerry 10 touch-screen phone will debut on January 30, 2013, six years after Apple released its first iPhone in 2007.</p>
<p>Robert Stimpson, a portfolio manager at Oak Associates Funds whose fund does not own any shares of Research in Motion, said the company's BlackBerry phones are on a downward slope and it will be tough for the company to regain its lost luster.</p>
<p>"The end of the road is a long, lonely journey," Stimpson said of Research in Motion. "I think they will fight the good fight for many years, probably unsuccessfully."</p>
<p>Advertisement</p> | Tech Investors: How to Know When to Bolt | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2012/12/27/tech-investors-how-to-know-when-to-bolt.html | 2016-01-29 | 0 |
<p>He’s batting 50-50 which isn’t bad for most people. If you’re infallible, however, it’s not the sort of thing you’d brag about the next time you talk to your Father. The witches kept him from batting a zero.</p>
<p>While traveling through Africa recently Pope Benedict XVI came out firmly against witchcraft. Addressing the multitude of Catholics that were lining the Angolan streets on March 21, the Pope told his audience that if they had friends or neighbors who believed in witchcraft they should try to convert them. At a mass in Luanda at which two people who had already been saved were trampled to death in the mob’s eagerness to hear what the man from Rome had to say, the Pope said: “In today’s Angola Catholics should offer the message of Christ to the many who live in the fear of spirits, of evil powers by whom they feel threatened.”</p>
<p>The Pope imparted the same message to a group of clergymen and nuns earlier in the day when he said they should be missionaries to the Angolans who live in fear “of spirits, of malign and threatening powers. In their bewilderment they end up even condemning street children and the elderly as alleged sorcerers.” (It sounded remarkably like a description of the effects religion had on the early settlers in the United States.)</p>
<p>It was not a particularly courageous stand for him to take since witchcraft has pretty much fallen out of favor in most parts of the world and a suggestion from him that it should be abandoned is not a suggestion that bespeaks great moral courage. Nonetheless, not everything that boosts your average is a great feat and so it was with the attack on witchcraft. It simply raised the Pope’s average to 50-50. It was his observations at the beginning of the trip that kept him from hitting 100% with his attack on witchcraft.</p>
<p>Joining the enlightened crowd that sits on the Texas Board of Education and would like to include in the Texas curriculum the fact (as they see it) that evolution is nothing more than a theory and there are other theories to be explored to explain the world) the Pope’s first pronouncements on his trip to Africa was that the use of condoms worsens the HIV problem. The Papal pronouncement came on the first day of his visit. Believing that the power of the word is more effective than the power of the prophylactic, he said that the proven most effective way to prevent the spread of AIDS is to just say no. He said to reporters on his plane that: “You can’t resolve it [AIDS] with the distribution of condoms. On the contrary” said he “it increases the problem.”</p>
<p>Long before AIDS had become a prominent member of society, the Pope and his predecessors opposed any means of artificial contraception. Once AIDS made its appearance, the Senior Vatican officials adopted the position that the most effective way of preventing the spread of AIDS, aside from remaining faithful to one’s partner, was avoiding sex. Although the thousands of sexual abuse suits that have been brought against the Church and settled, conclusively prove that avoiding sex is easier said than done, the Vatican Officials are undeterred. The Church remains firmly opposed to condoms while nonetheless proclaiming itself a leader in the fight against AIDS.</p>
<p>Twenty-two million people are infected with AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa according to UNAIDS. Two-thirds of all the deaths in the world from AIDS took place in that part of the world. The Church’s position distresses those who instead of contemplating the disease from the bubble of the Popemobile must work with its victims on a daily basis. Speaking to a reporter from the Washington Post, a teacher in Yaounde said: “Talking about the non-use of condoms is out of place. We need condoms to protect ourselves against diseases and AIDS.” Echoing those sentiments Rebecca Hodes with the Treatment Action Campaign in South Africa said: “[H]is opposition to condoms conveys that religious dogma is more important to him than the lives of Africans.” She’s got that right. Even some of the Pope colleagues, if not equals, differ with the Pope. Monsignor Illidio Leandro, a Portuguese bishop has said that people with AIDS are “morally obliged to use them.” Acknowledging the fact that some folks can’t avoid sex he said such people are “morally obliged to avoid passing on the disease by using a condom.”</p>
<p>The Bishop is a realist.</p>
<p>The Church and witchcraft have one thing in common. Neither believes condoms will prevent the spread of AIDS, the Pope because he doesn’t believe they work and followers of witchcraft because they know witches give AIDS to those they dislike. It will be hard to reduce the AIDS epidemic in Africa. That’s because it’s hard to teach those whose creed is ignorance.</p>
<p>CHRISTOPHER BRAUCHLI is a lawyer in Boulder, Colorado. He can be reached at: <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a></p> | The Pope’s Batting 50-50 | true | https://counterpunch.org/2009/04/03/the-pope-s-batting-50-50/ | 2009-04-03 | 4 |
<p />
<p>Privately held luxury department store chain Neiman Marcus picked a bad time for a major operational misstep.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Even well-managed competitors in the luxury market like Nordstrom (NYSE: JWN) have faced severe headwinds in the past year. Meanwhile, Neiman Marcus sabotaged its sales and profitability through the botched rollout of a new inventory management system last summer.</p>
<p>To make matters worse, Neiman Marcus has nearly $5 billion in outstanding debt, due to an ill-advised 2013 leveraged buyout. As a result, Neiman Marcus could be forced into filing for bankruptcy in the next year or two. The only way out may be to sell the company. Canadian retailer Hudson's Bay (TSX: HBC) appears to be a potential buyer.</p>
<p>Few (if any) department stores are posting good results these days. Nordstrom has been one of the best-performing companies in the department sector in recent years, yet it hasn't been able to overcome the impact of weak mall traffic. During the 2016 fiscal year, comp sales declined 0.4% on a companywide basis at Nordstrom.</p>
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<p>Sales slumped in Nordstrom's full-line stores last year. Image source: Nordstrom.</p>
<p>This figure lumps Nordstrom's department store business in with its faster-growing off-price operations. Looking just at the full-price segment, Nordstrom saw a 2.7% decrease in comp sales last year, consisting of a 6.4% drop in stores offset by 9.5% growth online.</p>
<p>Thus, even with good execution, Neiman Marcus would probably be suffering from falling sales and earnings. However, Neiman Marcus added to its woes last year by rolling out a new inventory management system with significant glitches.</p>
<p>Since August, Neiman Marcus hasn't been able to accurately track what merchandise it has in its stores, according to a <a href="http://nypost.com/2017/01/09/vendors-are-losing-confidence-in-struggling-neiman-marcus/" type="external">January New York Post report Opens a New Window.</a>. The inventory management system migration also negatively impacted the website's usability. As a result, management estimates that Neiman Marcus lost at least $55 million to $65 million in sales over the past two quarters.</p>
<p>On Tuesday, Neiman Marcus reported that revenue and earnings declined sharply again last quarter (the second quarter of its 2017 fiscal year). Sales fell 6.1% year over year on a 6.8% decline in comparable-store sales. Excluding a $154 million impairment charge, operating income plunged more than 60%, from $85 million to just $33 million.</p>
<p>Neiman Marcus posted a big loss last quarter. Image source: Neiman Marcus.</p>
<p>This was a dreadful result for the holiday quarter, which is usually the most profitable time of the year for retailers like Neiman Marcus. For the first half of fiscal 2017, adjusted operating income was just $59 million, compared to $140 million a year earlier.</p>
<p>Neiman Marcus is incurring more than $70 million of interest expense each quarter. Clearly, it is not making nearly enough money to sustain its massive debt load. Thus, it's no wonder that the company is looking to <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-neimanmarcus-debt-restructuring-idUSKBN16A1VC" type="external">restructure its debt Opens a New Window.</a> while also considering "strategic alternatives" such as selling the company.</p>
<p>With its far-fetched push to acquire Macy's running into too much resistance, Hudson's Bay is now looking at Neiman Marcus as another option for growing its retail empire. Hudson's Bay already owns the high-end Saks Fifth Avenue and Lord &amp; Taylor chains. Thus, acquiring Neiman Marcus would make it a real powerhouse in the U.S. luxury retail market.</p>
<p>As always, the real question is whether Hudson's Bay -- with its market cap of less than $2 billion -- can afford to make a deal happen. The company wants to buy Neiman Marcus without assuming its nearly $5 billion of debt, <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/neiman-marcus-hires-advisers-to-explore-strategic-alternatives-1489499472" type="external">according to The Wall Street Journal Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
<p>It might be hard to pull off this kind of deal without protracted litigation from angry Neiman Marcus bondholders who would be forced to write down the value of their holdings. Filing for bankruptcy would be one way to overcome these objections, but it's obviously not an attractive prospect.</p>
<p>Consolidation would be <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/02/14/why-nordstrom-could-benefit-industry-consolidation.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">good for the luxury department store sector Opens a New Window.</a>, including both Hudson's Bay and Nordstrom. As I noted last month, there are too many luxury chains today relative to the amount of luxury demand in the United States.</p>
<p>Neiman Marcus has a strong brand, so it's likely to survive in some form going forward. The current stand-alone company doesn't seem sustainable, though. Joining a larger department store company like Hudson's Bay and closing some lower-performing stores could be the best option left for Neiman Marcus.</p>
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<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFGemHunter/info.aspx" type="external">Adam Levine-Weinberg Opens a New Window.</a> owns shares of Macy's and Nordstrom. The Motley Fool recommends Nordstrom. 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> | Neiman Marcus Is Running Out of Options | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/03/14/neiman-marcus-is-running-out-options.html | 2017-03-17 | 0 |
<p>The Golden Gate Bridge celebrated its 75th anniversary with throngs of fans on Sunday.&#160;</p>
<p>At least several thousand people had gathered along the waterfront by Sunday afternoon, according to Mary Currie, public affairs director for the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District.</p>
<p>"Everyone is biking and walking and looks very happy. We're off to a great start," Currie told <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/27/golden-gate-bridge-75th-anniversary_n_1549319.html" type="external">the Huffington Post</a>.&#160;</p>
<p>Since it opened in 1937, more than two-billion vehicles have crossed the 1.7-mile-long bridge named after the Golden Gate Strait, the entrance of water to San Francisco Bay from the Pacific Ocean, <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/story/2012-05-28/Golden-Gate-San-Francisco/55239316/1" type="external">according to the Associated Press.&#160;</a></p>
<p>More from GlobalPost:&#160; <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/americas/united-states/120526/golden-gate-bridge-celebrates-75th-birthday" type="external">Golden Gate Bridge celebrates 75th birthday</a></p>
<p>As part of the celebration, bridge authority allowed thousands of participants to walk the length of the bridge&#160;that was constructed during the great depression. It was the longest suspension bridge ever built when it opened on May 27, 1937.</p>
<p>In the bay below, the World War II Liberty Ship that was part of the D-Day invasion cruised nearby, <a href="http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_20725454/tens-thousands-mob-golden-gate-bridge-its-75th-anniversary-celebration" type="external">according to Mercury News.</a> The ship was joined by a fire boat sending jets of water into the air, as well as numerous motor boats and sailboats. The USS Nimitz also joined the celebration fleet on the bay with a crew of more than 3,000 sailors.</p>
<p>The day-long celebration was capped off with a huge fireworks display.&#160;</p>
<p />
<p><a href="http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xr5x5e_golden-gate-bridge-celebrates-75-years-with-fireworks_news" type="external">Golden Gate Bridge celebrates 75 years with...</a> by <a href="http://www.dailymotion.com/itnnews" type="external">itnnews</a></p>
<p>While the celebration was mostly a joyous celebration, members of the group the Bridge Rail Foundation, an organization dedicated to stopping suicide jumps from the bridge, erected a display of 1,558 pairs of shoes, representing the number of people who died in leaps form the bridge since it opened in 1937.</p>
<p>"It's a symbol of how deep and serious this problem has been. We're still losing 30 to 35 a people a year off the bridge,"&#160; Paul Muller, a spokesman for the group told <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/story/2012-05-28/Golden-Gate-San-Francisco/55239316/1" type="external">the Associated press.&#160;</a></p> | Golden Gate Bridge: Tens of thousands come out to celebrate anniversary (VIDEO) | false | https://pri.org/stories/2012-05-28/golden-gate-bridge-tens-thousands-come-out-celebrate-anniversary-video | 2012-05-28 | 3 |
<p>Despite retrenchment by others in the industry, <a href="http://variety.com/t/fullscreen/" type="external">Fullscreen</a> is continuing to build on the multichannel network model: The company announced deals with eight YouTube creators and influencers, adding to a talent roster that numbers some 70,000.</p>
<p>The biggest catch among the new signings is <a href="http://variety.com/t/karina-garcia/" type="external">Karina Garcia</a>, billed as YouTube’s “Queen of DIY and Slime.” Garcia, 23, launched her her first DIY video on YouTube in February 2015 (showing viewers how to make lipstick at home) and her channel now has 6.5 million subscribers and has garnered over 600 million views.</p>
<p>Garcia this summer went on a 14-city live tour, produced by <a href="http://variety.com/2017/digital/news/fullscreen-roku-streaming-video-1202462543/" type="external">Fullscreen</a>, and published “ <a href="http://variety.com/2015/film/festivals/mexico-up-next-karina-garcia-1201623087/" type="external">Karina Garcia</a>’s DIY Slime.” She also is the lead host of the upcoming “DIY Dash” on Verizon’s Go90 and co-hosts AwesomenessTV’s “Makeup Mythbusters.” This fall, Garcia is launching&#160;a new line of DIY products, Craft City, available exclusively at Target.</p>
<p>The seven other creators that have signed with Fullscreen are: The Dobre Brothers, Elle Mills, Aija Mayrock, Amber’s Closet, Rosie Grace McClelland, Brian Barczyk and Meghan Tonjes.</p>
<p>Some of the biggest stars in Fullscreen’s&#160;network are the Fine Brothers, Andrea Russett, Devin Supertramp and Jack &amp; Jack.</p>
<p>“We are thrilled to welcome these ambitious new creators to the Fullscreen family, bringing with them talents ranging from beauty and lifestyle to anti-bullying and animal conservation,” Beau Bryant, GM of Fullscreen’s Creator group, said in a statement. Fullscreen is owned by Otter Media, the joint venture of Chernin Group and AT&amp;T.</p>
<p>Here’s a summary of the new members of the Fullscreen network:</p>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCC3OGYxHwV8pB5yLobw9KdA" type="external">The Dobre Brothers</a> (1.2 million YouTube subscribers): The four brothers — Lucas, Marcus, Cyrus and Darius — have gained a global following with their backflips, dance moves, and others stunts. The Dobre Brothers, sons of Romanian Olympic gymnast&#160;Aurelia Dobre, are on a “mission to spread love and positivity while energizing and entertaining their audience,” according to Fullscreen.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4zS1wbO81p59CxKL7CQAcA" type="external">Brian Barczyk</a> (1.4 million YouTube subs across two channels): Among the best-known reptile-breeders in the world, Barczyk operates two channels: his <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4zS1wbO81p59CxKL7CQAcA" type="external">daily vlog series</a> with his wife and son, covering the crazy adventures of running his own reptile business, and AnimalBytesTV, a weekly animal wildlife series. He has appeared on Discovery Channel’s “Venom Hunters,” truTV’s “Most Shocking,” and Discovery Science’s “Outrageous Acts of Science.”</p>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/AmbersCloset33" type="external">Amber’s Closet</a> (635,000 YouTube subs): Amber Whittington produces videos ranging from challenges to comedy skits, and from motivational videos to fashion. She’s also an activist who works with the LGBT community, volunteering at the LGBT Center and speaking on LGBT panels.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/ElleOfTheMills" type="external">Elle Mills</a> (480,000 YouTube subs): The 18-year-old recent high-school graduate was born in the Philippines and raised in Canada. Her YouTube channel, ElleOfTheMills, has generated 39 million lifetime views. Mills recently launched her first line of merchandise and was a first-time participant at Buffer Festival in Toronto and Playlist Live in Orlando.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/RosieGraceMcClelland" type="external">Rosie Grace McClelland</a> (243,000 YouTube subs):&#160;11-year-old social media star who creates comedic, kid-friendly content. Less than six months ago, Rosie began posting consistently on her YouTube channel, and now receives around 1.5 million views a month. She rose to fame alongside her cousin Sophia Grace on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show,” where the two sang multiple covers, interviewed famous celebrities, and even had their own segment: “Tea Time with Sophia Grace and Rosie.”</p>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/tonjesml" type="external">Meghan Tonjes</a>&#160;(254,000 YouTube subs): The musician-singer-vlogger is an advocate for body positivity, and her YouTube videos have garnered over 29 million views. She founded the Booty Revolution, with a mission of provoking honest discussion and promote body positivity in all communities. Tonjes has appeared on New Form’s scripted pilot “Intricate Vengeance,” Maker Studios’ “Epic Rap Battles of History” and will be hosting Warrior Poets’ new series, “Sexish.”</p>
<p><a href="http://aijamayrock.com/" type="external">Aija Mayrock</a>: 21-year-old best-selling author of “The Survival Guide to Bullying,” who is a motivational speaker, writer and actress. Aija began writing her book at 16 years old, after experiencing bullying in school most of her life. The book was published by Scholastic in the U.S. and has since been published in over 15 countries, while also being incorporated into school systems nationwide. Aija has traveled across the country, speaking to kids, educators, community leaders and politicians. In the past year, Aija has performed her inspiring spoken word rap for over three million people, including 18,000 fans at Madison Square Garden. Aija is currently working on her second book and has also been working closely with the United Nations to support local and global initiatives around bullying and female empowerment.</p> | Fullscreen Signs Eight Creators, Including ‘Queen of DIY and Slime’ Karina Garcia | false | https://newsline.com/fullscreen-signs-eight-creators-including-queen-of-diy-and-slime-karina-garcia/ | 2017-10-10 | 1 |
<p>Leftists across the country may want to topple historic statues, but radical feminists from San Francisco want to erect one: a 45-foot-tall nude woman named R-Evolution who will stand on the National Mall in D.C., facing down the Washington monument as a symbol of the "fight for womens' equality."</p>
<p><a href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/heres-why-a-45-foot-tall-nude-sculpture-may-be-coming-to-the-national-mall/ar-AAsDFwV?OCID=ansmsnnews11" type="external">According to</a> <a href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/heres-why-a-45-foot-tall-nude-sculpture-may-be-coming-to-the-national-mall/ar-AAsDFwV?OCID=ansmsnnews11" type="external">MSN</a>, a progressive group based out of San Francisco wants to take the statue, which is one of three nude female statues from artist Marco Cochrane, tear it down, and move it to Washington D.C., where she can stand facing down monuments of "male oppression," including the White House and the 555-foot "phallic" ode to our nation's founder.</p>
<p>“These sculptures are about expressing what it would be like if women were safe,” the sculptor told media. "To me this sculpture answers that question. ... She’s absolutely fearless and accepting and being able to do that is a really powerful thing."</p>
<p>R-Evolution would remain in place from November until March 28, just after International Women's Day, and after the "Catharsis" festival" — a small ode to Burning Man that takes place yearly on the National Mall (the statue, of course, was "born" as an idea at Burning Man). Tourists will have only a short time in which to take their awkward selfies with the large, naked lady.</p>
<p>Unfortunately for organizers, the statue, which is made of steel rods, wire mesh and LED lights, would have to make a 3,000-mile journey to D.C., and construction crews would be needed to disassemble her in California and reassemble her in Washington D.C. They're asking for $90,000 for the effort, but so far have raised only $15,000.</p>
<p>They also lack volunteers; R-Evolution would require round-the-clock security while she sits on the Mall, as well as her own group of artistic interpreters. So far, it seems, there aren't enough unpaid workers to fill the slots.</p> | Feminists Raising Money For 45-Foot Naked Woman Statue To 'Oppose' Washington Monument | true | https://dailywire.com/news/21759/feminists-raising-money-45-naked-woman-statue-emily-zanotti | 2017-10-01 | 0 |
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<p>Bernalillo County commissioners on Tuesday will consider a proposed ban on picketing outside private residences.</p>
<p>KRQE reports that the proposal is an outgrowth of recent anti-abortion picketing and that it would give the county a picketing law similar to one now on the books in the city of Albuquerque.</p>
<p>Commissioner Maggie Hart-Stebbins supports the proposed ordinance. She says people have a right to be safe and secure in their homes.</p>
<p>She cites picketing conducted outside a physician’s home in August that included graphic photos and loud chanting.</p>
<p>Commissioner Wayne Johnson says the proposed ordinance violates the First Amendment.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | Bernalillo County to consider home picketing ban | false | https://abqjournal.com/277160/bernalillo-county-to-consider-home-picketing-ban.html | 2 |
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<p>Aug. 10 (UPI) - President <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Donald_Trump/" type="external">Donald Trump</a> has declared a disaster in New Hampshire due to severe thunderstorms and flash flooding that struck the state more than a month ago in Grafton County.</p>
<p>The weather event caused severe damage to hundreds of miles of roads, as well as bridges and culverts, New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu said.</p>
<p>The Federal Emergency Management Agency and state authorities estimate damage costs in the millions of dollars. Last month, Sununu said he would request a federal disaster declaration because the state had already surpassed its spending threshold of $4 million.</p>
<p>Trump's disaster declaration will supplement funding for state and local recovery efforts.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2017/08/09/president-donald-j-trump-approves-new-hampshire-disaster-declaration" type="external">In a statement</a>, the White House said "federal funding is available to state and eligible local governments and certain private nonprofit organizations on a cost-sharing basis for emergency work and the repair or replacement of facilities damaged by the severe storms and flooding in Grafton County."</p>
<p>FEMA can <a href="http://www.unionleader.com/weather/Disaster-declaration-issued-for-Grafton-after-July-storm-damage-080892017" type="external">fund up to 75 percent</a> of the eligible costs of approved recovery projects.</p>
<p>"Through this major disaster declaration, those most heavily impacted by the storm can have access to federal support for response efforts. I thank President Trump for his timely response to my request," Sununu said in a statement.</p>
<p>The declaration follows some tension between Trump and the state, concerning remarks the president made earlier this year calling New Hampshire <a href="https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2017/08/03/New-Hampshire-lawmakers-take-issue-with-Trump-Pea-Nieto-transcript/7491501781270/" type="external">a "drug-infested den."</a> New Hampshire Sen. <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Jeanne_Shaheen/" type="external">Jeanne Shaheen</a> called Trump's statement "a gross misrepresentation of New Hampshire and the epidemic."</p>
<p>[embedded content]</p> | Trump declares disaster in N.H. for July storms, floods | false | https://newsline.com/trump-declares-disaster-in-n-h-for-july-storms-floods/ | 2017-08-10 | 1 |
<p>ZURICH (Reuters) – Swisscom (S:) is establishing a new blockchain unit to develop applications, including for possible solutions to enable off-exchange trading, the Swiss government-owned phone company said on Thursday.</p>
<p>Swisscom will hold a 70 percent stake in Swisscom Blockchain Ltd, with the remaining 30 percent held by its founding partners. Daniel Haudenschild is moving from EY to Swisscom to head the unit.</p>
<p>Blockchain technology maintains a record of transactions through a network of computers rather than one centralized authority, and was first conceived as a way to trade the digital currency bitcoin.</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> | Swisscom sets up blockchain unit to develop apps in Switzerland | false | https://newsline.com/swisscom-sets-up-blockchain-unit-to-develop-apps-in-switzerland/ | 2017-09-21 | 1 |
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<p>Former Metropolitan Court Administrator Toby Martinez pleaded guilty in 2008 to conspiracy and mail fraud in connection with defrauding the state of $4.3 million.</p>
<p>In 2009, U.S. District Judge William “Chip” Johnson sentenced Martinez and co-conspirator Manny Aragon, former state Senate president pro tem and Democratic heavyweight, to 67 months in federal prison and ordered them to repay slightly more than $2.7 million in restitution in the kickback scandal. Aragon pleaded guilty in October 2008 to one count of conspiracy and two counts of mail fraud.</p>
<p>Johnson recently ruled that Martinez’s pensions can be seized to help repay his share of the restitution. Martinez has not started drawing from his retirement fund and so far only has paid a little over $3,000 of his restitution. Aragon has paid more than $70,000.</p>
<p>In reaction to Aragon’s conviction and receipt of state-funded pension money while in prison, legislators passed a bill in 2012 that gave courts the option of revoking pensions as a component of felony sentencing for public officials.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Pursuing recovery of purloined public money shows that government prosecutors and court officials are not willing to stand by while wrong-doers profit at the public’s expense and that they are being good stewards of the taxpayers’ money that contributed to the state pensions.</p>
<p>The ruling sends the message that if you do the crime, you will not only do time, but you will also have to repay the public’s dime.</p>
<p>This editorial first appeared in the Albuquerque Journal. It was written by members of the editorial board and is unsigned as it represents the opinion of the newspaper rather than the writers.</p>
<p /> | Editorial: Seizing pensions sends message | false | https://abqjournal.com/500720/seizing-pensions-sends-message.html | 2 |
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<p>Amherst College has slammed a “deeply insensitive” anti-war banner which emerged on the 9/11 anniversary, while the institution remembered those killed in the attacks. However, the college says it will not be removed, falling under the right to free speech.</p>
<p>The banner – which was unfurled on Monday, the 16th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks – hangs in a prominent location, over the doorway of a campus dining hall.</p>
<p>“There is no flag large enough to cover the shame of killing innocent people,” the banner reads, using a quote that is largely attributed to American historian Howard Zinn.</p>
<p>“In honor of those killed and displaced by America’s so called ‘war on terror’,” reads a second quote.</p>
<p>A spokesman for the liberal arts college, which is located in the Massachusetts city of Amherst, called the banner “deeply insensitive, especially on this particular day.”</p>
<p>However, she said the banner will not be taken down because the university has an obligation to uphold the right to free speech.</p>
<p>“Free speech enables all citizens of this country to express their opinions, even if their views are expressed in a manner that might offend,” said spokeswoman Caroline Hanna, as&#160;quoted by the <a href="http://www.bostonherald.com/news/local_coverage/2017/09/anti_war_banner_at_amherst_college_sparks_911_outrage" type="external">Boston Herald</a>. “Particularly as an institution that champions academic freedom and freedom of expression, the college has an obligation to uphold that right.”</p>
<p>The sign’s appearance came as Amherst College remembered some of its own graduates who lost their lives in the 9/11 attacks, including on the landing page of its website.</p>
<p />
<p>Today, Amherst remembers the three alumni lost on 9/11: Frederick C. Rimmele III ’90, Brock Safronoff ’97 and Maurita Tam ’01.</p>
<p>— Amherst College (@AmherstCollege) <a href="https://twitter.com/AmherstCollege/status/907230386920595456" type="external">September 11, 2017</a></p>
<p />
<p>The aunt of one of those victims told the Herald that those behind the banner should have waited a day to unfurl it, out of respect.</p>
<p>“It’s not necessary to put up that banner on September 11. They should have waited a day. They weren’t thinking, there’s no reason to do it,” Madelyn Safronoff said.</p>
<p>Read more</p>
<p><a href="https://www.rt.com/usa/392017-campus-free-speech-act-wisconsin/" type="external" /></p>
<p>“The banner also forgets all the guys fighting for them, fighting terrorism. It’s not the day to do it. They didn’t have to pick (yesterday) to do it,” she added.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, a member of the conservative campus GOP club told the Herald that the group had hung its own banner inside the dining hall’s lobby on the eve of the 9/11 anniversary, which read “Never Forget.”</p>
<p>Responding to the banner hanging outside the dining hall, Republican student Brantley Mayers called it “profoundly disrespectful.”</p>
<p>“We can have a discussion about the war on terror, but to me today is about remembrance and respect of those who died and served after 9/11… it’s an upsetting politicization of a day where it shouldn’t be that way,” Mayers said.</p>
<p>Amherst College Democrats President Alexander Deatrick said he can understand the criticism, but claimed the banner was “more a comprehensive understanding of the tragedy of that day.”</p>
<p>However, he said his group did not hang the banner and he was unaware of who did.</p> | College won’t remove 'insensitive' anti-war banner hung on 9/11 anniversary, citing 'free speech' | false | https://newsline.com/college-wont-remove-039insensitive039-anti-war-banner-hung-on-911-anniversary-citing-039free-speech039/ | 2017-09-13 | 1 |
<p>Earnings HQ: FBN’s Jo Ling Kent breaks down ORCL’s fourth-quarter earnings report.</p>
<p>Oracle (NASDAQ:ORCL) logged an in-line 10% increase in fiscal fourth-quarter profits on Thursday and doubled its dividend, but the business software maker’s sales unexpectedly stalled amid trouble on the hardware front.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Shares of the Larry Ellison-run company retreated more than 8% in extended trading on the weaker-than-expected revenue figures.</p>
<p>Oracle said it earned $3.8 billion, or 80 cents a share, last quarter, compared with a profit of $3.45 billion, or 69 cents a share, a year earlier.</p>
<p>On a non-GAAP basis, the company said it earned 87 cents a share, matching consensus calls from analysts.</p>
<p>Revenue was unchanged at $10.9 billion and non-GAAP revenue was flat at $11.0 billion, trailing the Street’s view of $11.1 billion.</p>
<p>Oracle said its new software licenses and cloud software subscriptions inched up 1% to $4.03 billion, while software license updates and product support rose 6% to $4.40 billion. Overall, software revenue increased 4% to $8.43 billion, totaling 77% of the company’s total top line.</p>
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<p>On the hardware front, Oracle’s systems products revenue slumped 13% to $849 million and systems support sales dipped 3% to $582 million.&#160;Overall hardware revenue decreased 9% and now accounts for 13% of Oracle’s revenue, compared with 14% a year earlier.</p>
<p>Oracle said services revenue slid 9% to $1.09 billion.</p>
<p>Despite the sales miss, Oracle said its board of directors approved a plan to boost the company’s dividend to 12 cents a share, compared with 6 cents a share previously. The new payout will be payable on August 2 to shareholders of record as of July 12.</p>
<p>The Oracle board also authorized an additional $12 billion of share buybacks under its existing repurchase program.</p>
<p>Separately, Oracle unveiled plans to transfer its common stock listing from Nasdaq OMX Group (NASDAQ:NDAQ) to NYSE Euronext’s (NYSE:NYX) New York Stock Exchange, which is being acquired by IntercontinentalExchange (NYSE:ICE).</p>
<p>Oracle said it will begin trading on the Big Board on July 15 under the ticker symbol “ORCL.”</p>
<p>Shares of Redwood City, Calif.-based Oracle tumbled 7.02% to $30.87 in extended trading on Thursday. The selloff threatens to extend Oracle’s yearlong underperformance, with its stock down 0.33% on the year as of Thursday’s close.</p> | Oracle Tumbles 7% as Sales Stall, Miss Views | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2013/06/20/oracle-4q-profit-meets-street-view-sales-narrowly-miss.html | 2016-08-15 | 0 |
<p>Accompanied by a thumping beat and quasi-techno keyboard riffs from somewhere around 1993, DNC Chairman Howard Dean stiffly reads a script off the teleprompter announcing a thrilling contest that'll give one lucky camera-wielding Democrat the chance to spend a day in the presidential campaign cattle pen press pool. As if that wasn't exciting enough, the winner will also get to go to the Democratic National Convention. Get pumped!</p>
<p>Watch the clip:</p>
<p />
<p /> | Elbow Your Way to Glory in the DNC Press Pool! | true | https://truthdig.com/articles/elbow-your-way-to-glory-in-the-dnc-press-pool/ | 2008-07-12 | 4 |
<p>Your landlord has decided to evict you and your family has nowhere to go. Or you’re in an abusive relationship and need a restraining order and probably a divorce and custody order for your children. Or you’re a homeless veteran trying to get VA benefits and navigate the complicated claims process. Or you’re being hounded by a collector for a debt you can’t pay who’s threatening to take away all of your income.</p>
<p>In each of these cases, you’ll wind up taking the issue to the civil courts, not the criminal ones. If it were a criminal case, where you were at risk of being jailed or incarcerated, you would at least have a constitutional right to representation. But there is virtually no promise in the civil system. You will almost certainly be left on your own, with little guidance or assistance, to navigate a labyrinthine system.</p>
<p>In theory, low-income Americans who need help with a civil case can turn to civil legal aid organizations. But there are so few of them that getting their help is a bit like winning the lottery.</p>
<p>There is less than one civil legal attorney — 0.64, to be exact — for every 10,000 people living in poverty, according to the <a href="http://www.justiceindex.org" type="external">newly released Justice Index</a> from the National Center for Access to Justice (NCAJ). Even though nearly 110 million people are poor enough to qualify for free legal assistance because they can’t afford a private attorney, there are less than 7,000 legal aid attorneys throughout the country to help them.</p>
<p>Things are even worse in some states. In South Carolina, which ranks at the very bottom, there are 0.24 legal aid attorneys serving 10,000 poor people. There are only six states where there is more than one attorney. And research has shown that low-income people are more likely to find themselves dealing with the civil court system.</p>
<p>“Individuals face really high stakes in the civil justice system,” noted Martha Bergmark, executive director of Voices for Civil Justice. “You can lose your children, you can lose your home, you can lose your livelihood without having legal help to get you through complicated legal proceedings.”</p>
<p>And while people can turn to private lawyers — there are about 40 of those for every 10,000 Americans — they are often prohibitively expensive, even for middle-class families. They often bill around <a href="https://www.nclc.org/images/pdf/litigation/fee-survey-report-2013-2014.pdf" type="external">$300 an hour</a>.</p>
<p>So many instead represent themselves and rely on their own abilities to get through the maze of the legal system. In <a href="http://www.sji.gov/new-report-on-the-landscape-of-civil-litigation-in-state-courts/" type="external">three-quarters of cases</a>, at least one party — more likely to be someone like a tenant or a debtor — is self-represented.</p>
<p>States can take steps to make their civil court systems easier for regular people to navigate. And some are doing that, but the overall picture is mixed. Based on 33 different steps a state could take — which include a variety of things from requiring communication to be in plain English to letting court employees and judges help people without lawyers to putting materials online to waiving filing fees — no state gets a perfect score; the median score given by NCAJ is 51, ranging from 86.25 in California to 13.75 in Rhode Island.</p>
<p>There are some areas of promise. For one, NCAJ has had to broaden the measures it looks at because so much is changing. “So much innovation is occurring in states across the country,” explained David Udell, executive director of the organization.</p>
<p>One big focus has been to try to use technology more efficiently. “Technology doesn’t replace an attorney,” Udell noted, “but it can help.” Eighty percent of states list the required forms needed in family law matters such as divorce or child support on their websites, while 60 percent list the required supporting materials. The efforts are scarcer, however, for eviction and debt collection — about 40 percent of states put things online — and foreclosure — 20 percent.</p>
<p>Individuals face really high stakes in the civil justice&#160;system</p>
<p>A good number — 44 states — have allowed lawyers to perform discrete legal tasks for people who don’t retain them for full representation. And 32 have allowed court clerks to help out people who don’t have lawyers, but just 23 have allowed judges to do the same.</p>
<p>Plain English has been slower to catch on. Just 20 states encourage judges not to use “legalese” in the courtroom when talking to people who don’t have a lawyer, while 17 train judges and 12 train court staff in doing so.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the most common step taken in all states is to waive civil filing fees for those who meet a financial eligibility standard. Yet just 34 describe the fee waiver on their websites, 26 have provided a simple process for determining eligibility, and just 12 encourage or require court staff to explain to people that fees can be waived — so many litigants may simply not know that it’s an option.</p>
<p>“The court system remains a system that was designed by lawyers with the expectation that there would be lawyers,” Bergmark said. “Most people don’t have representation and yet it’s still a system that very much contemplates that they will.”</p>
<p>And the outcomes are dramatically different when they do have representation. A study in Boston found that <a href="http://www.bostonbar.org/docs/default-document-library/bba-crtc-final-3-1-12.pdf" type="external">two-thirds of tenants</a> who had full representation against their landlords were able to avoid eviction and received nearly five times the financial payout than those who weren’t represented. Other research has found that making legal services available to domestic violence victims <a href="http://policyintegrity.org/documents/SupportingSurvivors.pdf" type="external">significantly lowers</a> the rate of abuse.</p>
<p>More civil legal aid lawyers could also spur larger change. “What civil legal aid lawyers see in their day-to-day practice is problems that need to be solved systemically, and they are capable of doing that,” Bergmark said. For example, a group in Baltimore noticed how many of the tenants they were assisting were <a href="" type="internal">being evicted through rent court</a> and issued a call for reform. Another group in Chicago is fighting for changes at the Department of Housing and Urban Development that would bring <a href="" type="internal">greater protections against lead paint poisoning</a> for people living in publicly funded housing. “There’s a real value add for society as well as the individuals involved.”</p>
<p>“We’re not served by having a broken civil justice system that’s not adequately supported,” she added.</p> | Poor people don’t stand a chance in court | true | http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2016/05/11/3777026/civil-courts-poor-people/ | 2016-05-11 | 4 |
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