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<p>US Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner testified today about the heavily-criticized role he played in the 2008 rate-rigging scandal. In a House Financial Services Committee meeting, Geithner defended his 2008 dealings with the London Interbank Offered Rate, or LIBOR, <a href="http://www.latimes.com/business/money/la-fi-mo-libor-geithner-house-hearing-20120725,0,1253219.story" type="external">&#160;the Los Angeles Times reported</a>. Geithner had been serving as president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York when he learned that the LIBOR was vulnerable to manipulation by major banks. But despite concerns that the LIBOR was being under-reported, Geithner said that he and other Fed officials saw no problem with using it as a basis while setting the terms for billions of dollars in bailout loans.&#160;</p> <p>"We, like investors around the world, had to take advantage of the rates available at that time, and we chose LIBOR at the time like many others," Geithner testified today, according to the LA Times. &#160;</p> <p>More from GlobalPost: <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/business/120601/when-the-brics-crumble" type="external">When the BRICs crumble</a></p> <p>Geithner has been accused of not doing enough to stop the manipulation of LIBOR, a key interest rate, <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/u-lawmakers-probe-geithner-libor-problems-135131931--sector.html" type="external">Reuters reported</a>. Geithner said he learned about the problem in 2008. But his statements contradict a statement from the New York Fed, which says that the bank regulator knew about the problems as early as 2007, according to Reuters.&#160;</p> <p>Geithner's testimony received heavy criticism from Republican lawmakers, who wonder why he didn't bring up the manipulation sooner. "?You have appeared before this committee countless times since 2008,"? Rep. Scott Garrett, R-N.J., asked Geithner, <a href="http://www.boston.com/business/news/2012/07/25/geithner-warns-congress-risks-economy/MhRtpieN1ZHxBUPcC6xM4H/story.html" type="external">according to the Associated Press</a>. "Why did you never mention it to the committee?"?</p> <p>The LIBOR is an important interest rate determined by a daily poll carried out by the British Bankers? Association, <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-07-25/geithner-says-u-k-regulators-had-libor-responsibility.html" type="external">Bloomberg News explains</a>. The poll asks banks to estimate how much it would cost for them to borrow from each other.&#160;</p>	Geithner defends his role in LIBOR-rigging scandal	false	https://pri.org/stories/2012-07-25/geithner-defends-his-role-libor-rigging-scandal	2012-07-25	3
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p> <p /> <p>The cause was brain cancer, said his wife, Carolyn Campbell Beall.</p> <p>Beall (pronounced “bell”) was the scion a prominent family of Maryland Republicans. His father and brother, J. Glenn Beall and J. Glenn Beall Jr., respectively, served in the U.S. Senate. And Beall, who was the U.S. attorney for Maryland from 1970 to 1975, was an appointee of President Richard Nixon, a Republican.</p> <p>He stepped into a job with a long-standing tradition of prosecuting public officeholders, among them Sen. Daniel Brewster, D-Md., Rep. Thomas Johnson, D-Md., and Jesse Baggett, the chairman of the Prince George’s County Commission. Beall vowed to continue that tradition. “Corruption of public officials is heinous, abominable, and has to be ferreted out,” the 32-year-old Beall told The Washington Post in 1970.</p> <p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> <p>In Agnew’s case, the investigation began with a report of a kickback scheme in suburban Baltimore County, where Agnew had been elected county executive in 1962. According to information uncovered by prosecutors, it had been a practice for some time that public officeholders demanded sub rosa payments from engineers and builders for government construction jobs.</p> <p>Agnew, who was elected Maryland governor in 1966 and picked by Nixon for his vice president in 1968, had accepted such payments, prosecutors said.</p> <p>Eventually Agnew accepted a deal in which he would plead no contest to a single charge of tax evasion and resign the vice presidency, which he did in October 1973. He also was fined $10,000. Rep. Gerald Ford, R-Mich., replaced Agnew and then became president after Nixon resigned in August 1974.</p> <p>George Beall VIII was born in Frostburg, Maryland, on Aug 17, 1937. He rarely if ever used the numerals after his name, his wife said.</p> <p>His family traced its roots in America to the 1600s, and one of the early George Bealls was a Maryland landholder in a section of the state that now is Washington’s Georgetown neighborhood. His father was chairman of the Maryland State Road Commission, a state senator, a member of the U.S. House of Representatives and, from 1953 to 1965, a member of the U.S. Senate.</p> <p>George Beall graduated from the private Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire and in 1959 from Princeton University. He received a law degree from the University of Virginia in 1963 and began practicing law in Baltimore.</p> <p>He had prosecuted no cases when he took the state’s attorney job. Over the next five years, his office investigated price fixing involving Baltimore bakeries, secured an indictment of a state legislator for drug dealing – the legislator was subsequently murdered – and prosecuted Arthur Bremer, the gunman who shot Alabama Gov. George Wallace, who was campaigning in Maryland’s Democratic presidential primary in 1972.</p> <p>But the Agnew case was the capstone of his prosecutorial tenure. The Post said in 1977 that it gave Beall “a national reputation as a fearless political big game hunter.” But it did not endear him to GOP regulars, who weren’t bothered by the bribery charges.</p> <p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> <p>Beall dabbled in politics for a few years, helping with his brother’s campaigns. He ran for governor in 1978 but dropped out of the race, saying, “I don’t have the desire.”</p> <p>He practiced law in Baltimore, retiring in the early 2000s from the firm then known as Hogan and Hartson. His specialties included commercial litigation, corporate takeovers and several years as general counsel to the Baltimore Ravens football team. He helped shepherd the team’s relocation to Baltimore from Cleveland.</p> <p>His marriages to Linda Jenkins and Nancy Roche ended in divorce. Survivors include his wife of 37 years, Carolyn Campbell Beall of Naples; a daughter from his second marriage, Rebecca Beall of Summit, New Jersey: three stepchildren, Jamie Alban of Baltimore, Nicholas Guy Alban of Nashville and Tobey Frederick of Easton, Maryland; 16 grandchildren; and a great-granddaughter.</p> <p>His brother J. Glenn Beall Jr. died in 2006.</p> <p>In 1995, Agnew’s official portrait was restored to a place of prominence in the Maryland State House, 22 years after he had resigned as vice president and 16 years after it was ordered removed by Gov. Harry Hughes, D, who was elected on a good-government platform.</p> <p>Some involved in the prosecution of Agnew were upset, but Beall took what The Post called a “more diplomatic” view.</p> <p>“Agnew paid a very high price,” Beall said at the time. “He forfeited the second- highest office in the land . . . It was an important lesson for him and for the country. And it seems to me the lesson bears repeating . . . we should not hide our shortcomings in the closet.”</p>	George Beall, who led prosecution of Vice President Spiro Agnew, dies at 79	false	https://abqjournal.com/930680/george-beall-who-led-prosecution-of-vice-president-spiro-agnew-dies-at-79.html		2
<p>Queen Elizabeth II is known to often times have trouble sleeping, so to cure that she goes for <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/queen-almost-shot_us_586e01ede4b0c8575a774109?section=us_weird-news" type="external">late</a>night strolls through the palace grounds in a hope to calm her mind and body. Well one such morning, at about 3 am a guard spotted someone walking through the garden. He called out:</p> <p>“Who’s that?</p> <p>But as the Queen got closer the guard quickly realized it was her majesty. In relief and nerves the guard <a href="http://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/most-curious-royal-incident-x0f7w9sqw" type="external">stated:</a></p> <p>“Bloody hell, your majesty, I nearly shot you.”</p> <p>The guard, realizing he may have spoken out of turn, waited patiently for her reaction. The Queen <a href="http://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/most-curious-royal-incident-x0f7w9sqw" type="external">replied:</a></p> <p>“That’s quite all right. Next time I’ll ring through beforehand so you don’t have to shoot me.”</p> <p>The Times originally reported the story but the Buckingham refuses to make a statement or reply to questions. The current status of the guard is unknown as well but the Queen seems to have a good enough sense of humor that her assailant most likely kept his head.</p> <p /> <p>Featured image via <a href="https://www.pinterest.com/ewaviktorin/queen-elisabeth-ii-funny-moments/" type="external">Pinterest</a>.</p>	The Queen Mother Is Almost Shot In Her Own Backyard (VIDEO)	true	http://offthemainpage.com/2017/01/05/the-queen-mother-is-almost-shot-in-her-own-backyard-video/	2017-01-05	4
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p> <p>apl020115b/ASECTION/PIERRE-LOUIS/JOURNAL/020115Bernalillo County Sheriff Deputies block I 25 traffic in both directions after a fatal accident . Photographed on Sunday February 1 , 2015. /Adolphe Pierre-Louis/Journal</p> <p>ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — One person was killed in a single vehicle rollover crash on I-25 just south of Rio Bravo about 8:45 p.m. Sunday. Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Capt. Justin Dunlap said both lanes of I-25 are closed through the area. The identity of the victim was not released, nor was it known if the person was wearing a seatbelt or if alcohol was involved.</p> <p>Another rollover accident which involved multiple vehicles Sunday night, occurred on eastbound I-40 at 6th Street at about 9:15 p.m. No fatalities were reported and there was no other information available.</p> <p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>	Rollover accident kills driver	false	https://abqjournal.com/535068/rollover-accident-kills-driver.html		2
<p>For the first time in American history, the high school graduation rate hit 83 percent, higher than any other time before. President Obama made the announcement on Monday at Benjamin Banneker Academic High School in Washington, D.C.</p> <p>"When I took office almost eight years ago, we knew that our education system was falling short," he <a href="http://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2016/10/17/498246451/the-high-school-graduation-reaches-a-record-high-again" type="external">stated</a>. "I said, by 2020 I want us to be No. 1 across the board, so we got to work making real changes to improve the chances for all of our young people ... And the good news is that we've made real progress."</p> <p>Taking credit for five years straight of record-setting graduation rates, Obama patted himself on the back and repackaged federal education initiatives including the "Preschool for All" program and the "free community college partnership."</p> <p>What the president failed to mention was the fact that state and local government have been instrumental in churning out more graduates.</p> <p>In fact, the nationwide boost is largely the result of averages compiled from predominately red states. According to <a href="http://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2016/10/17/498246451/the-high-school-graduation-reaches-a-record-high-again" type="external">NPR</a>, "Georgia's reported rate has risen more than 10 points, from 67 percent to 79 percent since 2010-2011. It jumped more than six points from last spring to this spring."</p> <p>But the impressive figures come amidst concerns that some states are lowering standards to hit achievement goals. Average SAT and ACT test scores are down, while aptitude tests remain flatlined, as NPR notes.</p> <p>Even so, President Obama appeared to champion the achievement as his own, implying that the federal government has been at the forefront of increased participation by students at schools. This preposterous claim was even challenged by none other than left-leaning NPR. "Despite all the action that's been taken recently toward this goal, we have to keep in mind the possibility that broader social forces are playing a larger role than policy initiatives in influencing the percentage who graduate," explains NPR.</p> <p>As The Daily Wire's own Ben Shapiro has pointed out time and time again, the single greatest indicator of childhood success is having two parents in the home. This holds true across racial lines. It's the family unit that helps kids thrive in academics and move up the socioeconomic ladder, not the overbearing state.</p>	HS Graduation Rate Hits Historic High. Obama Congratulates Himself...and The Federal Government.	true	https://dailywire.com/news/10026/hs-graduation-rate-hits-historic-high-obama-michael-qazvini	2016-10-18	0
<p /> <p /> <p /> <p /> SHARMINI PERIES, EXEC. PRODUCER, TRNN: Welcome to the Real News Network. I'm Sharmini Peries coming to you from Baltimore. <p /> <p />A 50 percent increase in lead levels in children's blood has caused the mayor of Flint, Michigan, Karen Weaver, to declare a state of emergency. In April of last year in 2014, the city of Flint switched its water source from the Detroit system to Flint River. The switch has led to various levels of toxins in the water supply, including lead. The water coming out of the taps in the city is foul-smelling and badly discolored. Initially there were problems of E. coli and then high levels of total trihalomethanes, a carcigenic byproduct of chlorine that causes cancer and other diseases. <p /> <p />Now joining us to talk about all of this is Curt Guyette. He is an award-winning journalist who has been covering Detroit for nearly 20 years. He is now working for the ACLU of Michigan and reporting on issues related to emergency management and open government. Good to have you with us again, Curt. <p /> <p />CURT GUYETTE: Pleasure to be here. <p /> <p />PERIES: So Curt, last time you were on the Real News Network we were reporting on a state of emergency over the water supply in Flint, Michigan. So what's the difference between that emergency and this one? <p /> <p />GUYETTE: Well, this one was declared by the city itself, and I think the significance is, number one, you finally have city officials admitting that this is a disaster. Previously when the city was under emergency management and the previous mayor, both of whom supported the switch to the Flint River, and thereby were responsible for this disaster, now there's a new mayor who is not responsible for it. And only concern is addressing the problem. <p /> <p />And the first step in addressing the problem is admitting there is a problem. And she is doing that by declaring the state of emergency. It also has the potential to better position the city to receive disaster relief from the federal government. <p /> <p />PERIES: Now, Curt, from what I understand, the switching from the Detroit's water system to the Flint River was supposed to save the city somewhat, something like $5 million. We know Flint is in a cash-strapped situation, but now changing it back to Detroit's water system is going to cost apparently over $12 million, not to mention the sick children that need to be treated and perhaps lawsuits as well. How are the officers, officials, rationalizing their decision here? <p /> <p />GUYETTE: That's a, that's a good question. I think that they will say this problem took them by surprise, that they weren't prepared for it. But that just goes to show, if what they're saying is true, at the very least was a lack of due diligence to ensure that the river water would be safe before doing the switchover. <p /> <p />PERIES: Did they not test it before they switched? I mean, you would think, you know, providing water supply for a city there's some basic measures in place to test it before making such a drastic decision. <p /> <p />GUYETTE: Yes. And you know, I'm still trying to get a complete answer as to what was and wasn't done prior to the switch. But Mark Edwards, the, who's one of the world's leading experts on issues like this and has been working very closely with the people of Flint, said that, you know, any sort of reasonable testing of the river water beforehand, it would have easily been predictable that this would be the consequence, because the river water is so highly corrosive. And that this is just a predictable outcome. The lead contamination is a predictable outcome of using that highly corrosive water. <p /> <p />And then the problem was compounded by the fact that the city and the state made a decision to stop adding corrosive control phosphates, to use phosphates to control corrosion in the pipes. And inexplicably they made the decision to stop using that. So they went from the Detroit water, which is clean, safe, not highly corrosive at all, to--but they did use corrosion control, to the Flint River water, which is multiple times more corrosive than the Detroit water. And then when they needed corrosion control more than ever, they stopped using it. <p /> <p />And when you're talking about the cost, one of the major, major costs that the people of Flint are going to be facing is repairing and replacing the water delivery system infrastructure that has been terribly, terribly damaged by the use of this highly corrosive water. <p /> <p />PERIES: Now, how are the parents coping with this situation? I understand the neurological damage, the behavioral effects, of lead in your bloodstream is, according to the WHO, irreversible. What's the situation there, and how are they coping with it? <p /> <p />GUYETTE: You know, it's a very difficult thing to cope with. It's devastating. Absolutely devastating to learn that your child is irreversibly impaired by water that was supposed to be safe. That your government was repeatedly telling you was safe. <p /> <p />So it's, it's devastating. But one of the things that they're doing is participating in a, a class action lawsuit that the intent is to, to help all these people recover damages. And among those damages are the, the health effects on these families. And in the case of the children, the increased difficulty of providing education, because the lead exposure results in lowered IQs, learning disabilities, and behavioral problems. And so the residents of Flint are going to be needing help paying for all those things. <p /> <p />PERIES: And yet it's a cash-strapped city. So where does the responsibility for all this eventually lie? <p /> <p />GUYETTE: I believe it lies with the state, because it was the state that came in and took over the city. It was the state emergency manager who was in charge when the decision was made to leave the Detroit system and start using the Flint River. And it was purely an economic decision, made without, without really taking into account the health consequences that could and did result from that, from that really horribly misguided decision. <p /> <p />PERIES: Curt, we really appreciate the work you're doing on behalf of the residents of Michigan, and Flint in particular. And we look forward to your continued reports with us. We do want to follow this story, because I think other cities may be faced with similar kinds of situations, and we're not even privy to it at this time. <p /> <p />GUYETTE: That's absolutely true, because one of the problems is that the way the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality conducts tests under the federal EPA's lead and copper rule are absolutely intended to minimize the amount of lead being found. And Michigan is not the only state where that's occurring. <p /> <p />And there were just hearings by the EPA which is considering changes to the rule, and one of the things that came out in that hearing was the fact that there's, throughout the United States, 10 million lead service lines. And so unless the proper corrosion control is being used, and unless the proper detection methods are being employed, people are going to be exposed to lead. And it's important to emphasize that there is no safe level of lead. <p /> <p />So if there's any level of lead in someone's drinking water, that's an unsafe level, and has potential to have really severe consequences. So this isn't just a Flint problem, this is a nationwide issue. <p /> <p />PERIES: And is there any quick fixes to this besides using this treatment to control the corrosion? Is replacement of all of these pipes the ultimate answer? <p /> <p />GUYETTE: I believe it is. But it's a complicated issue, because first of all it's so expensive. There are ten million of these pipes. The cost of replacing them can be $3500 each and upwards, depending how long it is. But it's complicated by the fact that typically the municipality will own half of the pipe. The section that goes from the water main that runs down the street to the homeowner's property line. And then the second half is from the property line to the house, is owned by the homeowner. And how you compel them to replace their half of the line is a difficult thing, especially if it's a landlord situation, might not care, someone doesn't want to invoke a $3500 expense, especially if it's a property in a low-income neighborhood. <p /> <p />So it's a very difficult issue. And really the answer is money. You know, lots, lots and lots. We're talking about billions of dollars here. <p /> <p />PERIES: And Curt, so what is the potential damage to citizens that don't replace their pipes inside their property line? <p /> <p />GUYETTE: Well, you know, one thing that Mark Edwards points out is that the biggest problem is not lead in your water, the biggest problem is lead in your water and not knowing about it. Because if you know about it and you're in the financial position, you can filter the water. It helps if you run the water for five minutes or something to, to get the fresh water that's not been sitting in that lead service line. <p /> <p />So I would say the number one thing that people should be doing is getting their water tested to see if there's lead present in it. And then once they make that determination, excuse me, they can decide what to do in terms of addressing it. But the most important thing is to first find out. <p /> <p />PERIES: Curt, important work you're doing. Thank you so much for joining us today. <p /> <p />GUYETTE: Thanks for having me on. <p /> <p />PERIES: And thank you for joining us on the Real News Network. <p /> <p />End <p /> <p />DISCLAIMER: Please note that transcripts for The Real News Network are typed from a recording of the program. TRNN cannot guarantee their complete accuracy.	Poisoning the Children of Flint, Michigan	true	http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option%3Dcom_content%26task%3Dview%26id%3D31%26Itemid%3D74%26jumival%3D15310	2015-12-17	4
<p>Msgr. Thomas A. Whelan, my pastor when I was growing up in Baltimore, was a striking character: Princeton friend of F. Scott Fitzgerald; former Wall Street broker; high-ranking Army chaplain in World War II; world traveler; founding rector of the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen. The latter two roles led to some creative thinking about arranging “coverage” at the cathedral during the summer, when he could be found abroad: One by one and year by year, Msgr. Whelan brought to Baltimore newly ordained Australian priests who had studied in Rome, wanted to visit the U.S., and could use some money.</p> <p>And so, precisely fifty years ago this month, a tall, gangly Aussie named George Pell entered my life. By the end of August 1967, he had become a fast friend of my family. Little did we know that the next half-century would lead us into the same foxholes in various ecclesiastical battles; or to a shared friendship with a Polish priest, pope, and saint; or into synods, consistories, papal elections, and other adventures. We’re both a little slower and a little heavier than we were in the summer of ’67, when, if memory serves, I helped introduce the future cardinal to frisbee at the beach. But the friendship is even closer and it is one of the great blessings of my life.</p> <p>That summer, Father Pell was heading for doctoral studies in history at Oxford after ordination in Rome from the Pontifical Urban University (horsemeat was a staple on the menu in his day). His intellectual gifts might have marked him out for a scholarly career. But providence (and John Paul II) had other plans, and rather than teaching history full-time, George Pell made history, becoming the defining figure of twenty-first-century Catholicism in Australia.</p> <p>Had Pell not become archbishop of Melbourne, and later cardinal-archbishop of Sydney, it’s a reasonable bet that Australian Catholicism today would resemble the Irish Church from which the Church Down Under largely descends: scandal-ridden, demoralized, intellectually shoddy, and somewhere out on the far periphery of the New Evangelization. Thanks to Pell’s courage in facing down the Australian forces of Catholic Lite, the Church in Oz today has a fighting chance.</p> <p>Cardinal Pell’s accomplishment has not been cost-free. Australia is a contact-sport country, and that national tendency to hit hard extends to both the Aussie media and to intra-ecclesiastical life. George Pell’s enemies, and their media lapdogs, have not scrupled to lie about him for decades. Perhaps the most absurd charge was that this man, whose sartorial style rings up “Salvation Army Thrift Shop,” kept a house full of Church finery to satisfy his vanity. As it happens (and as I wrote at the time), I had just stayed in the cardinal’s house when this nonsense appeared; I hadn’t seen a vestment anywhere, but had noted thousands of books and the current issues of every major opinion journal in the English-speaking world.</p> <p>More recently, the calumnies have become much darker, as the man who designed and implemented the Australian Church’s first vigorous response to the sexual abuse of the young has been charged with being an abuser. His friends are confident that the charges, like other fanciful allegations the cardinal has consistently denied and of which he has been exonerated, will be shown to be gross falsehoods—not least because we believe Pell is telling the truth when he flatly and forcefully denies the current accusations.</p> <p>There is a new twist to this dirty business, however. Since 2014, Cardinal Pell has been responsible for draining the Vatican financial swamp of corruptions that had become epidemic, ingrained, and virtually institutionalized. Given the stakes and the sleaziness involved, it would not be surprising to learn that some who would be most adversely effected by Pell’s success in Vatican financial reform may have been generating false accusations now in play in the Australian judicial system. Australia, it seems, is not the only place where hardball is played, and in very unsavory forms.</p> <p>Cardinal George Pell is a big man in every sense of the word and his stamina under assault is entirely admirable. Its deepest root, however, is not his native combativeness but Pell’s faith. Its solidity, and the courage to which that rock-solid faith gives rise, may be what aggravates his foes the most.</p> <p>It’s also what inspires his legion of friends, among whom I am honored to number myself—for fifty years and counting.</p> <p>George Weigel&#160;is Distinguished Senior Fellow of Washington, D.C.’s Ethics and Public Policy Center, where he holds the William E. Simon Chair in Catholic Studies.</p>	Fifty Years of Friendship with Cardinal Pell	false	https://eppc.org/publications/fifty-years-of-friendship-with-cardinal-pell/		1
<p>WASHINGTON (AP) _ These Dist. of Columbia lotteries were drawn Saturday:</p> <p>DC 3 Evening</p> <p>0-4-1</p> <p>(zero, four, one)</p> <p>DC 3 Midday</p> <p>4-9-3</p> <p>(four, nine, three)</p> <p>DC 4 Evening</p> <p>3-8-7-2</p> <p>(three, eight, seven, two)</p> <p>DC 4 Midday</p> <p>8-6-5-5</p> <p>(eight, six, five, five)</p> <p>DC 5 Evening</p> <p>9-3-3-0-0</p> <p>(nine, three, three, zero, zero)</p> <p>DC 5 Midday</p> <p>0-9-0-7-6</p> <p>(zero, nine, zero, seven, six)</p> <p>Mega Millions</p> <p>Estimated jackpot: $40 million</p> <p>Powerball</p> <p>12-29-30-33-61, Powerball: 26, Power Play: 3</p> <p>(twelve, twenty-nine, thirty, thirty-three, sixty-one; Powerball: twenty-six; Power Play: three)</p> <p>Estimated jackpot: $570 million</p> <p>WASHINGTON (AP) _ These Dist. of Columbia lotteries were drawn Saturday:</p> <p>DC 3 Evening</p> <p>0-4-1</p> <p>(zero, four, one)</p> <p>DC 3 Midday</p> <p>4-9-3</p> <p>(four, nine, three)</p> <p>DC 4 Evening</p> <p>3-8-7-2</p> <p>(three, eight, seven, two)</p> <p>DC 4 Midday</p> <p>8-6-5-5</p> <p>(eight, six, five, five)</p> <p>DC 5 Evening</p> <p>9-3-3-0-0</p> <p>(nine, three, three, zero, zero)</p> <p>DC 5 Midday</p> <p>0-9-0-7-6</p> <p>(zero, nine, zero, seven, six)</p> <p>Mega Millions</p> <p>Estimated jackpot: $40 million</p> <p>Powerball</p> <p>12-29-30-33-61, Powerball: 26, Power Play: 3</p> <p>(twelve, twenty-nine, thirty, thirty-three, sixty-one; Powerball: twenty-six; Power Play: three)</p> <p>Estimated jackpot: $570 million</p>	DC Lottery	false	https://apnews.com/57538bc8a8b84a7e93c3ef57d32c4b1d	2018-01-07	2
<p>DUHOK, Iraq — As the girls ran frantically in the dead of night, only a flashlight guided them. At 15, Freya Azam Ali had already been thrust into adulthood when she was kidnapped by Islamic State (IS) militants almost 4 months earlier. Many times she held her hand over the mouth of her 10-year-old companion Bousha to muffle the sound of her sobs from their pursuers.</p> <p>The men chased after them all night. The girls ran and hid repeatedly, but each time the uncontrolled crying of Freya’s young friend or the light the girls used to find their way betrayed their position. Finally they made a last-ditch sprint for the line controlled by Yazidi fighters, running under heavy gunfire.</p> <p>Freya describes the scene from the safety of her meager shelter in the Khanake Refugee Camp in Duhok, Iraq.</p> <p>“They started shooting at us with guns and rockets. The sound was deafening,” she says, describing the last moments of their&#160; chase on the rugged mountainside. “There were dogs chasing us. IS was shooting at us. I thought we would die for sure. Bousha didn’t stop crying the whole time.”</p> <p>But finally, as the girls reached the limits of IS territory, Yazidi militia fighters rushed in to defend them. The girls were returned to their families in Duhok some days later.</p> <p>Freya and Bousha are among those you could call the lucky ones. According to The Yazidi Fraternal Organization (YFO), around 5,000 other Yazidi women and children remain in the hands of IS militants in Iraq and Syria, many of them treated as sex slaves bought and sold like livestock.</p> <p>The YFO has also registered the names of thousands of Yazidi men believed to have been killed or captured by IS during a three-day period beginning Aug. 3, when the militants seized control of numerous Yazidi towns in northern Iraq, including Freya’s.</p> <p>As of last week, the Committee to Assist Escaped Yazidis has registered 150 women, 57 children and 229 men who have escaped IS captivity.</p> <p>The number is staggeringly low, especially considering the risk to the Yazidi population was one of the key reasons US President Barack Obama gave for authorizing the current campaign of targeted airstrikes against IS in Iraq. The US is also supplying weapons and training to local Iraqi and Kurdish forces.</p> <p>International support is helping to push back IS, YFO director Hussan Salim said earlier this month. “It is effective. We can see this,” he says. Air raids or even low-flying aircraft have often sent IS prison guards running, giving their captives, mostly women and girls, a chance to escape.</p> <p>“But it is not enough. We cannot just leave these women to run alone.”</p> <p>Salim said only special operations forces — either trained Iraqi units or foreign teams, on the ground — could free a significant number of Yazidi captives.</p> <p>“We know the locations of where many of these women are being held in collective prisons,” Salim said. More are sold or traded every day. “The longer they wait the harder it will be. [The captives] have already been widely distributed in both Iraq and across the Syrian border.”</p> <p>Last week, local and international forces launched a joint effort to secure routes around Mount Sinjar and to reclaim surrounding villages that had fallen to IS. Many small villages have been retaken, but so far there are no reports that IS captives have been liberated. A fierce battle for villages in the Sinjar area continues.</p> <p>It’s impossible to know how many women have died or been recaptured in dramatic escape attempts like Freya’s in recent months.</p> <p>“Clearly we don’t have these figures,” Salim said. “But we can assume the odds of making it out alone are low.”</p> <p>In an interview before the ground assault to retake Sinjar, Salim said he was disheartened that the US appeared to be focusing their protection on assets rather than lives.</p> <p>“The areas where they have regained control are either oil-rich or strategic for some other reason, but for our villages and these areas that we know are operating as prisons there is no effort to regain control. As Yazidis it makes us feel sad and abandoned,” he said.</p> <p>This latest push has given some hope to the thousands of Yazidi families with missing loved ones. As peshmerga and Yazidi militia groups move deeper into IS territory, hopes are strong that many of their captives may be recovered. But already fighters on the ground are sending through reports of finding mass graves. Military victory in the Sinjar region seems set to bring both relief and heartbreak to this displaced community.</p> <p>For the women being held, time is crucial.</p> <p>Freya managed to escape before she was sold or abused. When IS militants entered her village on Aug. 3, she had tried to run with other family members. They were all shot around her.</p> <p>“I saw them fall one by one, then I felt myself hit the ground,” she said.</p> <p>When she woke up she was in a large room with other captives. Freya had been shot in the shoulder. A local Arab doctor had been brought in to provide primitive treatment to the women and children. He removed the bullet and stiched her wound. A wide, raised pink scar still stretches from her shoulder to her armpit.</p> <p>“The men they didn’t care about. [IS] just let them die,” Freya said.</p> <p>She was later sent to the village of Kocho where she was held in a guarded house with 37 others. Once, she tried to run. But when she found a pile of rotting bodies just outside she returned, afraid of what might happen to her if she were caught.</p> <p>Months after their capture, Freya and Bousha were selected by a group of men who took them to a village she knew, close to Mount Sinjar. Overhearing their captors’ plans to ship them to Syria the next morning, the girls saw their last chance to run. After stealing a flashlight they pried the window open with a spoon. After the night's harrowing chase, they somehow made it across the IS front line with Yazidi forces.</p> <p>Yazidi militia commander Qassim Shasho has received many girls like Freya at his Sinjar Mountain base.</p> <p>“Some of the girls escape alone and manage to call their families or make their way to the mountains on foot,” Shasho said. “Other times, IS members contact us directly to assist in the release of women. We also pay smugglers operating within the Islamic State to get our girls out.”</p> <p>Shasho said there are many good people living under the Islamic State that are willing to help. Even some Arab families that support IS but are appalled by the systematic sale and rape of Yazidi girls have done much to help.</p> <p>Nahala Morat, 14, was one of four Yazidi girls released in a deal two weeks ago. A local Arab man brought the four young girls from an IS member for $3,000 each. At first Nahala said she was afraid of what he would do to them but instead he took them directly to his mother who cared for them until he was able to get in contact with Nahala’s uncle. An exchange was arranged and the girls were delivered to the Yazidi militia awaiting them on the mountain before being airlifted to Duhok were Nahala and her brother share a tent with their uncle’s family.&#160;</p> <p>While Shasho has dealt with many good men in such rescue deals, he admits others are just looking out for their own interests.</p> <p>“They are thinking about their future. When they see the international community rallying against IS, they see their days are numbered. So they are playing their last card before it is too late,” he said.</p> <p>Shasho said when they make contact they ask for future protection for themselves and for their families.</p> <p>“If anyone helps even one of our women to return, I give them my word I will do all I can to protect them when IS falls,” he said.</p> <p>Ameena Saeed, a former Iraqi politician who now heads the Duhok-based Committee to Assist Escaped Yazidis, works with medical teams to arrange health and psychological care for hundreds of Yazidis who survived their run from IS.</p> <p>Each case is different, she said. Some are barely alive after running and hiding for days or weeks. Many of the girls have been sold up to three times to different individuals or groups of men. Some have lived through hell — repeatedly raped, drugged, and tortured physically and psychologically, with little food and inadequate shelter.</p> <p>Others have been kept together in large family groups and, like Freya and Bousha, largely left alone. But almost all who survived have been forced to convert to Islam and swear allegiance to the group that has systematically tried to wipe out their people.</p> <p>This weighs heavily on the survivors.</p> <p>In a private room at the Lalish temple, Baba Chawish, one of the Yazidis’ top three holy men, pleaded for international support.</p> <p>“We are a poor community and a peaceful religion. We don’t hold hatred for any other belief or people, even the Islamic State. We have no other problem with them other than their actions towards us,” he said.</p> <p>“If the international community supports and protects us we can stay here in our holy land, but we are losing faith. We need help if we are to survive.”</p>	Thousands of Yazidi girls and women are still held by the Islamic State	false	https://pri.org/stories/2014-12-24/thousands-yazidi-girls-and-women-are-still-held-islamic-state	2014-12-24	3
<p>Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has shown on more than one occasion that he’s not afraid to disagree with Trump. With North Korea, Tillerson worked for diplomacy despite Donald Trump’s senseless tweeting. When Trump said we needed to vastly increase our number of nuclear weapons on hand, Tillerson (allegedly) called him a “f***ing moron.”</p> <p>Now, with Trump doing his best to sabotage the Iran deal, Tillerson is taking somewhat of a stand. In an interview this morning on CNN’s “State of the Union,” he insisted that staying in the nuclear deal with Iran, forged by President Barack Obama, is in the “best interest” of the United States, directly countering Trump’s rhetoric on the matter.</p> <p /> <p /> <p>Despite his claim that he and Trump are together on this issue, the public record begs to differ. Trump has slammed the deal again and again, calling it “horribly one sided” and “the worst deal ever.” He’s lied and said Iran is breaking the deal, when they are not. For Trump, it’s not so much about the deal itself as it is about the fact the deal is part of President Obama’s legacy. Indeed, as recently as Friday, Trump stated that the deal is “not in the national security interests of the United States,” a statement that stands in start contrast to Tillerson’s interview.</p> <p>Trump’s entire campaign – and to some extent, his presidency even now – hinged upon undermining the legacy of Barack Obama. When you understand that, you start to understand how difficult Tillerson’s job is: He doesn’t want to fix what isn’t broken, if such a thing would even be possible, and it’s all he can do to keep Trump from making an insane decision based not in policy, but vindictiveness.</p> <p>Tillerson also countered Trump on North Korea, saying “These diplomatic efforts will continue until the first bomb drops.”</p> <p /> <p>He also again refused to address whether he called Trump a moron:</p> <p /> <p /> <p>He even addressed whether or not he’s, uh, intact, because it wouldn’t be a Trump administration interview without a casual mention of genitals (you can blame Tapper for this one, though):</p> <p /> <p>You can watch a video of his comments below:</p> <p /> <p>Social media had some interesting reactions to what he had to say:</p> <p /> <p>Featured image via&#160; <a href="http://www.gettyimages.com/license/633438498" type="external">Michael Reynolds-Pool/Getty Images</a></p>	Rex Tillerson Stabs Trump In The Back Over Iran Deal – W.H. On Meltdown Watch	true	http://bipartisanreport.com/2017/10/15/rex-tillerson-stabs-trump-in-the-back-over-iran-deal-w-h-on-meltdown-watch/	2017-10-15	4
<p>Former <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Baltimore-Ravens/" type="external">Baltimore Ravens</a> linebacker Zachary Orr announced his retirement from the NFL due to a congenital spine condition.</p> <p>Orr went in-depth with his explanation for his decision on The Players’ Tribune, just two months after he ended his initial retirement in January.</p> <p>“Today, I’m officially retiring from professional football … again,” the 25-year-old Orr wrote. “And I’m even more at peace this time around because the teams have spoken. If there was any way I could come back, I would.”</p> <p>Orr wanted to rejoin the Ravens, but was told by general manager <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Ozzie_Newsome/" type="external">Ozzie Newsome</a> that “he would need to pass a physical.”</p> <p>“So the Ravens flew me up to Baltimore for a workout and a physical,” Orr wrote. “But at the end of the day, their doctors stood by their initial decision and said they couldn’t clear me to play — not with my spinal condition. They said it was too big a risk, both for them and for me.”</p> <p>Orr wrote that he visited five additional teams and interviewed “with another 11 over the phone” since becoming an unrestricted free agent.</p> <p>“I wanted to end my career as a Raven. And even though it didn’t happen the way I envisioned, I’ve done that,” Orr wrote.</p> <p>Orr was initially placed on injured reserve after suffering a herniated disk Christmas day against the <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Pittsburgh_Steelers/" type="external">Pittsburgh Steelers</a>. However, the career-ending congenital condition was not diagnosed until he underwent a physical after the season.</p> <p>Orr was born with his C1 vertebra not fully formed — an issue found in less than 1 percent of the population. The condition however, doesn’t show up with a regular X-ray or MRI.</p> <p>An after-season CT scan finally revealed the problem. Orr previously did not have that test because there was no history of neck problems, and therefore, not necessary.</p> <p>Orr evolved from an undrafted player from North Texas to a starter this season. He tied for eighth in the NFL with 132 combined tackles and earned second-team All-Pro honors.</p>	Baltimore Ravens: Linebacker Zachary Orr announces retirement yet again	false	https://newsline.com/baltimore-ravens-linebacker-zachary-orr-announces-retirement-yet-again/	2017-08-18	1
<p>Bank of America Corp, after receiving heavy public criticism for a planned $5-per-month debit card fee, is likely to give customers more ways to avoid the fee, a person familiar with the bank's plans said Friday.</p> <p>The second-biggest U.S. bank is reworking its plans as rivals <a href="" type="internal">Wells Fargo</a> &amp; Co and <a href="" type="internal">JPMorgan Chase</a> &amp; Co have decided not to charge monthly fees, ending test programs in certain states.</p> <p>Continue Reading Below</p> <p>Bank of America is likely to allow many customers to sidestep the fee by taking measures such as maintaining minimum balances, having paychecks direct deposited, or using Bank of America credit cards, the person said.</p> <p>Under earlier plans, customers might have needed balances totaling $20,000 across all their Bank of America accounts to skip the fee.</p> <p>Bank of America set off a firestorm of criticism from customers, consumer advocates and politicians last month when it disclosed plans to charge customers $5 per month for using their debit cards, starting sometime next year.</p> <p>The goal was to make up revenue lost to a law that slashes the fees banks charge retailers when consumers swipe their cards.</p> <p>While some banks have disclosed plans to apply similar fees, many banks and credit unions decided not to institute the charge and have encouraged customers to switch banks.</p> <p>Charlotte, North Carolina-based Bank of America is not abandoning the fee now and will likely include it in new account types the bank is testing in three states. The bank plans to roll out these packages nationwide next year.</p> <p>The $5-per-month fee may still remain an option for customers, the person said.</p> <p>The bank has said the purpose of the new account types is to provide customers with upfront pricing, instead of hitting them with penalties after the fact. Customers can pay monthly fees of between $9 and $20, or avoid the charges by keeping minimum balances, using their credit cards or having a minimum amount deposited to their account.</p> <p>Among other banks, Wells Fargo &amp; Co said late Friday that in response to customer feedback it has canceled a five-state pilot program that would have charged customers $3 per month to use their cards</p> <p>After testing a $3 per month fee in two states since February, JPMorgan Chase &amp; Co has decided not to charge customers, a person familiar with the situation said on Friday. The test will end next month and will not be extended or expanded, the person added.</p> <p>Citigroup Inc announced an account overhaul in mid-September that did not include a monthly debit card usage fee. Stephen Troutner, head of banking products for Citi's U.S. consumer bank, said at the time that the New York-based bank found customers were strongly opposed to such monthly maintenance fees.</p> <p>Richard Davis, CEO of <a href="" type="internal">US Bancorp</a> , said during an October 19 conference call with analysts the Minneapolis-based regional bank is monitoring the results of other banks imposing debit card fees. Davis did not rule out instituting a fee in the future, but said the bank has no immediate plans to do so.</p> <p>"We will find out if customers complain and move, or just complain," he said. "We will take all that in time and we will make our decision."</p> <p><a href="" type="internal">SunTrust Banks</a> Inc is charging a $5 per-month fee on everyday checking account customers who make purchases. A spokesman declined to comment on the bank's strategy.</p> <p>Norma Garcia, manager of Consumers Union's financial services program, applauded JPMorgan's decision, but said that, without more details, it was unclear if Bank of America's changes would be better for customers.</p> <p>"Clearly, there is overwhelming public support to drop the fee," she added.</p> <p>Advertisement</p>	Bank of America Revamping Debit Card Fees	true	http://foxbusiness.com/features/2011/10/28/bank-america-revamping-debit-card-fees.html	2016-01-29	0
<p>FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky state Treasurer Allison Ball is supporting a bill aimed at ending her office’s reliance on taxpayer money.</p> <p>A bill advanced by the House State Government Committee on Thursday would allow her office to pay for all its operations by using funds generated from unclaimed property.</p> <p>Ball’s office receives about $2 million from the state General Fund each year and about $250,000 in state road funds. It’s a small amount compared to the overall state budget, but Ball says “every penny helps.”</p> <p>Ball, a Republican, says half of her agency’s operations are now funded through unclaimed property funds. She says fully funding her office that way would not jeopardize that fund.</p> <p>The bill’s sponsor, Republican Rep. Ken Fleming, praised Ball and her staff for “out of the box, creative thinking.”</p> <p>___</p> <p>The legislation is House Bill 88.</p> <p>FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky state Treasurer Allison Ball is supporting a bill aimed at ending her office’s reliance on taxpayer money.</p> <p>A bill advanced by the House State Government Committee on Thursday would allow her office to pay for all its operations by using funds generated from unclaimed property.</p> <p>Ball’s office receives about $2 million from the state General Fund each year and about $250,000 in state road funds. It’s a small amount compared to the overall state budget, but Ball says “every penny helps.”</p> <p>Ball, a Republican, says half of her agency’s operations are now funded through unclaimed property funds. She says fully funding her office that way would not jeopardize that fund.</p> <p>The bill’s sponsor, Republican Rep. Ken Fleming, praised Ball and her staff for “out of the box, creative thinking.”</p> <p>___</p> <p>The legislation is House Bill 88.</p>	Ball wants to end her office’s reliance on taxpayer funds	false	https://apnews.com/99d486cf4ce848e1bac10081ca798242	2018-01-11	2
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p> <p>ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - Albuquerque police have called out their fatal crash investigators after a pedestrian was struck at the intersection of 61st and Central, officer Simon Drobik said in an email Sunday night.</p> <p>The crash happened just after 10 p.m. Sunday.</p> <p>Drobik said the pedestrian was taken to a hospital with unknown injuries, but he said the incident is being investigated as a fatal incident.</p> <p>&#160;</p> <p>&#160;</p> <p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>	Pedestrian seriously injured in crash at Central and 61st	false	https://abqjournal.com/683247/pedestrian-seriously-injured-in-crash-at-central-and-61st.html		2
<p>From The Washington Post, March 1, 2002</p> <p>“President Bush has dispatched a shadow government of about 100 senior civilian managers to live and work secretly outside Washington, activating for the first time long-standing plans to ensure survival of federal rule after catastrophic attack on the nation’s capital. […]</p> <p>“Officials who are activated for what some of them call “bunker duty” live and work underground 24 hours a day, away from their families.[…]</p> <p>“The two sites of the shadow government make use of local geological features to render them highly secure. They are well stocked with food, water, medicine and other consumable supplies, and are capable of generating their own power.”</p> <p>From 1964’s “Dr. Strangelove, or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb,” by Stanley Kubrick, script by Terry Southern.</p> <p>DR. STRANGELOVE Mr. President, I would not rule out the chance to preserve a nucleus of human specimens. It would be quite easy… heh heh… At the bottom of ah… some of our deeper mineshafts. The radioactivity would never penetrate a mine some thousands of feet deep. And in a matter of weeks, sufficient improvements in dwelling space could easily be provided.</p> <p>PRESIDENT MUFFLEY How long would you have to stay down there?</p> <p>DR. STRANGELOVE Well let’s see now ah… cobalt thorium G… Radioactive halflife of uh, … hmm.. I would think that uh… possibly uh… one hundred years.</p> <p>PRESIDENT MUFFLEY You mean, people could actually stay down there for a hundred years?</p> <p>DR. STRANGELOVE It would not be difficult mein Fuhrer! Nuclear reactors could, heh… I’m sorry. Mr. President. Nuclear reactors could provide power almost indefinitely. Greenhouses could maintain plantlife. Animals could be bred and slaughtered. A quick survey would have to be made of all the available mine sites in the country. But I would guess… that ah, dwelling space for several hundred thousands of our people could easily be provided.</p> <p>PRESIDENT MUFFLEY Well I… I would hate to have to decide.. who stays up and.. who goes down.</p> <p>DR. STRANGELOVE Well, that would not be necessary Mr. President. It could easily be accomplished with a computer. And a computer could be set and programmed to accept factors from youth, health, sexual fertility, intelligence, and a cross section of necessary skills. Of course it would be absolutely vital that our top government and military men be included to foster and impart the required principles of leadership and tradition. (Slams down left fist. Right arm rises in stiff Nazi salute.) Arrrrr! (restrains right arm with left) Naturally, they would breed prodigiously, eh? There would be much time, and little to do. But ah with the proper breeding techniques and a ratio of say, ten females to each male, I would guess that they could then work their way back to the present gross national product within say, twenty years.</p> <p>PRESIDENT MUFFLEY But look here doctor, wouldn’t this nucleus of survivors be so grief stricken and anguished that they’d, well, envy the dead and not want to go on living?</p> <p>DR. STRANGELOVE No sir… (His right arm rolls his wheelchair backwards.) Excuse me.(He struggles with wayward right arm, ultimately subduing it with a beating from his left.) Also when… when they go down into the mine everyone would still be alive. There would be no shocking memories, and the prevailing emotion will be one of nostalgia for those left behind, combined with a spirit of bold curiosity for the adventure ahead! Ahhhh! (Right arm reflexes into Nazi salute. He pulls it back into his lap and beats it again. Gloved hand attempts to strangle him.)</p> <p>GENERAL TURGIDSON Doctor, you mentioned the ration of ten women to each man. Now, wouldn’t that necessitate the abandonment of the so called monogamous sexual relationship, I mean, as far as men were concerned?</p> <p>DR. STRANGELOVE Regrettably, yes. But it is, you know, a sacrifice required for the future of the human race. I hasten to add that since each man will be required to do prodigious… service along these lines, the women will have to be selected for their sexual characteristics which will have to be of a highly stimulating nature.</p> <p>COMRADE DESADESKI I must confess, you have an astonishingly good idea there, Doctor.</p>	“Ten Women To One Man”	true	https://counterpunch.org/2002/03/04/ten-women-to-one-man/	2002-03-04	4
<p>The Christian understanding of holy places is that all people have claims to the sanctity of their holy places, because holiness is a divine characteristic, not a human one. No party should ever be able to make an exclusive claim over a holy place — in this case, over the holy city of Jerusalem.</p>	Christians are at risk of being driven out of the Holy Land	false	https://baptistnews.com/article/christians-risk-driven-holy-land/		3
<p>Brazilian soldiers guard an entrance to the Mare slum during a protest against violence by security forces in Rio de Janeiro. Silvia Izquierdo/AP</p> <p /> <p>The Brazilian state of Rio de Janeiro has promised to beef up public security ahead of the Olympics next month. But those efforts are complicated by a staggering rate of unlawful police killings, according to a new report by Human Rights Watch, that has fostered deep divisions between law enforcement and the communities it serves.</p> <p>Since 2006, Rio’s police have killed at least 8,021 people, including 645 people last year, according to the 109-page <a href="https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/wp-content/uploads/report_pdf/brazil0716web.pdf" type="external">report</a>, released Thursday. In the city of Rio alone, police killings accounted for a whopping 20 percent of all homicides last year. And while Human Rights Watch says many of these officer-involved killings were likely justified uses of force, since cops patrolling Rio often come up against heavily armed gangs and need to protect themselves, the advocacy group found ample evidence to suggest that some were “extrajudicial killings.”</p> <p>Human Rights Watch found that for every officer killed on duty in Rio de Janeiro last year, 24.8 civilians were slain by the police—three times the rate in the United States.</p> <p /> <p /> <p>In <a href="http://www.hrw.org/news/2016/07/07/brazil-extrajudicial-executions-undercut-rio-security" type="external">at least 64 cases</a> since 2006, the Brazilian police have allegedly tried to cover up unlawful killings, Human Rights Watch found, citing interviews with officers, victims’ families, prosecutors, and others. The report details incidents where cops planted evidence, guns, or drugs on shooting victims; removed clothes from dead bodies, hoping to discard bullet fragments that could identify the shooter; and even delivered the corpse of someone they’d shot and killed to a hospital, claiming they were trying to “rescue” the victim. Of 32 “rescues” that Human Rights Watch examined, the victim was dead on arrival at the hospital in at least 27 cases. “While these false ‘rescues’ give the appearance of legitimate effort by officers to help victims, in reality they destroy crime scene evidence and hinder forensic evidence,” the advocacy group wrote.</p> <p>Most of the officers involved have never been brought to court. There were 3,441 recorded police killings between 2010 and 2015, but the state attorney general’s office pursued charges in just four cases, Human Rights Watch found. Rio’s attorney general, Marfan Martins Vieira, said his office had only been able to prosecute a small number of officers because official investigations of such killings are typically of “poor quality,” even though he knows of killings where he believes cops faked a shootout to make it look like they acted in self-defense.</p> <p>This isn’t the first time the issue has come up just before Brazil prepares to take center stage. Nine years ago, weeks before the Pan-American Games opened in Rio, authorities <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2007/jun/29/brazil.international" type="external">converged</a> on the Complexo do Alemao favela as part of a series of sweeps against drug operations in the city’s slums. In an ensuing shootout, 19 civilians were killed. Five of the victims that day were shot at point-blank range. Nine others were shot in the back. Human Rights Watch found that no officer was ever held accountable for the 2007 incident, and a federal commission <a href="https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/wp-content/uploads/report_pdf/brazil0716web.pdf" type="external">later determined</a> that several deaths “were the result of a procedure of summary and arbitrary execution.” At the time, then-State Security Secretary Jose Mariano Beltrame <a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=11501370" type="external">told NPR</a> the operation was not intended to be violent but had turned bloody after a confrontation with suspected drug traffickers. “We do not go to these regions looking for or producing violence,” he said. “We were met brutally with bullets and potent arms.”</p> <p>Ahead of the Olympics, Rio de Janeiro has bolstered security around the games’ venues to <a href="http://bolstered%20to%2085,000" type="external">85,000 officers</a>, thanks to some <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jun/30/brazil-rio-de-janeiro-olympics-loan-security-subway" type="external">emergency funds</a>. But high-profile incidents continue to trouble the city. Athletes have been <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/21/americas/australian-paralympian-mugged-gunpoint-brazil/" type="external">mugged</a> and human remains <a href="http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-oly-rio-2016-human-body-parts-found-near-olympics-1467297917-htmlstory.html" type="external">have washed</a> up on a beach near the volleyball arena. Robert Muggah, a security expert at the Igarapé Institute in Rio, <a href="http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-muggah-thompson-rio-games-security-20160622-snap-story.html" type="external">recently noted</a> a 15 percent increase in homicides during the first four months of this year compared with same period in 2015. The city’s mayor <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2016/07/04/americas/rio-olympics-mayor-police/" type="external">has blamed</a> the state, which he said was “completely failing at its work of policing and taking care of people.”</p> <p>Maria Laura Canineu, the Brazil director at Human Rights Watch, said police brutality has made cops feel less safe. It’s dangerous to patrol Rio’s slums—attacks by gang members are common—and criminals are more likely to fight back if they think their lives are at risk, the advocacy group wrote in its report. Some officers told Human Rights Watch that they’d witnessed unlawful police killings but didn’t report anything because they feared potential retaliation from their colleagues. “Unlawful killings turn communities against the police and undermine security for all,” Canineu said in a <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2016/07/07/brazil-extrajudicial-executions-undercut-rio-security" type="external">statement</a>. “You can’t expect community policing to work when police are executing members of the communities they are supposed to protect. And you can’t expect honest cops to perform well when they live in constant fear—not only of gang members, but also of their fellow officers.”</p> <p />	Are Brazilian Cops Ready for the Olympics?	true	https://motherjones.com/politics/2016/07/report-brazil-police-brutality-olympics-human-rights-watch/	2016-07-09	4
<p>Good morning. Happy Hump Day. &#160;</p> <p>Civil rights attorneys filed suit on Tuesday in the Los Angeles Superior Court to block the practice of automatic driver’s license suspensions for unpaid fines, reports the <a href="http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-license-suspension-suit-20160802-snap-story.html" type="external">Los Angeles Times</a>.</p> <p>This is something CalWatchdog has covered <a href="" type="internal">extensively</a>, as civil rights groups in Northern California have done the same thing with <a href="" type="internal">modest</a> success.&#160;</p> <p>In other news:</p> <p>Assembly:</p> <p>Senate:</p> <p>Gov. Brown:&#160;</p> <p>Tips: matt@calwatchdog.com</p> <p>Follow us: @calwatchdog @mflemingterp</p> <p>New follower:&#160; <a href="https://twitter.com/LeahDurantLaw" type="external">@LeahDurantLaw</a></p>	CalWatchdog Morning Read – August 3	false	https://calwatchdog.com/2016/08/03/calwatchdog-morning-read-august-3/	2018-08-20	3
<p>Who would’ve guessed Hillary Clinton lied when she said she handed over all work-related emails to the State Department?</p> <p>It was revealed on Tuesday that 30 more emails that might be related to the 2012 terror attack in Benghazi have been uncovered among the trove of emails recovered during the FBI’s investigation into Clinton’s private email server, the Associated Press reported.</p> <p>Government attorneys told U.S. District Court Judge Amit P. Mehta that an unknown number of the 30 were not among the documents Clinton gave to the FBI.</p> <p>State Department officials said they would need until the end of September to redact any potentially classified information before releasing them to the public.</p> <p>Mehta has demanded the State Department respond to him within a week and explain why it would take an entire month to release 30 emails, according to the AP.</p> <p>The hearing was held as part of one of the lawsuits filed by Judicial Watch, who just submitted a list of questions related to her private email server that Clinton must answer under oath within 30 days.</p>	About those 30 Benghazi emails Hillary thought were ‘deleted forever’–the FBI got them	true	http://bizpacreview.com/2016/08/30/30-benghazi-emails-hillary-thought-deleted-forever-fbis-got-385222	2016-08-30	0
<p>MELBOURNE, Australia--BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP.AU) is planning a US$204 million expansion of its coking-coal operations in eastern Australia to increase production of the steelmaking ingredient and reduce overall operating costs.</p> <p>BHP and venture partner Mitsubishi Corp. (8058.TO) on Friday approved the investment in their Caval Ridge mine, where they plan to build a 6.8-mile overland conveyer system to transport coal from the neighboring Peak Downs mine to a preparation plant.</p> <p>Continue Reading Below</p> <p>The project is expected to create up to 400 jobs during construction and 200 ongoing operations roles, said Mike Henry, president of BHP's Australian minerals division. Construction is set to begin mid-year and take 18 months to complete.</p> <p>The investment in the coking-coal business comes after several tough years for the operations. Coal prices have recovered over the past few months, including a surge in recent weeks after a tropical cyclone flooded mines across Australia's Queensland state. Mr. Henry said coking-coal prices were expected to pull back as mines returned to normal operations, but even at longer-term forecasts, the expansion of Caval Ridge was expected to offer a high return for the company.</p> <p>The bulk of BHP's coal operations are in eastern Australia, centered on coking-coal mines in the Bowen Basin of central Queensland and energy-coal production in New South Wales. It also has a coal operation in Indonesia and owns an equal share alongside partners Anglo American PLC (AAL.LN) and Glencore PLC (GLEN.AU) in Colombia's Cerrejon, one of the world's largest open-pit energy-coal mines.</p> <p>Coal operations contributed US$4.52 billion to BHP's revenue in the last fiscal year through June, including US$3.35 billion from the Queensland operations that also include a venture with Mitsui &amp; Co. (8031.TO).</p> <p>Rio Tinto PLC (RIO.LN) in late January moved to capitalize on last year's sharp gains in commodity prices, agreeing to sell a major piece of its coal business for US$2.45 billion to China-controlled Yancoal Australia Ltd. (YAL.AU). Last week, it received approval from Australia's Foreign Investment Review Board for the deal to exit its Coal &amp; Allied Industries Ltd. subsidiary.</p> <p>Advertisement</p> <p>Write to Robb M. Stewart at robb.stewart@wsj.com</p> <p>(END) Dow Jones Newswires</p> <p>April 20, 2017 23:24 ET (03:24 GMT)</p>	BHP Billiton Venture to Invest $204 Million in Australian Coal Mine	true	http://foxbusiness.com/features/2017/04/20/bhp-billiton-venture-to-invest-204-million-in-australian-coal-mine.html	2017-04-20	0
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p> <p>ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Lovelace Health Plan members will no longer be allowed to use non-emergency medical services at any of CHRISTUS St. Vincent Regional Medical Centers across northern New Mexico.</p> <p>The change will take effect Saturday, which is expected to impact about 14,000 Lovelace Health Plan members, according to a Lovelace news release.</p> <p>Pick up the Albuquerque Journal on Saturday to read more about this.</p> <p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>	BREAKING: St. Vincent Cuts Services For Lovelace Members	false	https://abqjournal.com/8979/breaking-st-vincent-cuts-services-for-lovelace-members.html		2
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p> <p /> <p>The specialized deer hunt brings together sportsmen and women, volunteers and workers from the state Division of Fisheries and Wildlife for three days every fall.</p> <p>John Pelletier broke his back when he fell out of a tree stand while hunting in 2004, and the program has allowed him to continue what he calls his passion. He now takes his .50-caliber muzzle-loader to the Massachusetts Military Reservation on Cape Cod to hunt every year.</p> <p>“Some guys get a mistress when they hit 40; I started hunting,” said a laughing Pelletier, 57, of Westport, who uses a specialized wheelchair with what he describes as mountain bike tires that give him better maneuverability in the wild. “These hunts really afford me the opportunity to get back in the woods like I did before.”</p> <p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> <p>Most states make accommodations for disabled hunters, said Bill Fertig, director of the resource center at the United Spinal Association, a New York-based organization that advocates for improving the quality of life of people living with spinal cord injuries.</p> <p>But Massachusetts is among fewer than a dozen states that set aside special seasons and specific hunting areas for the disabled. Many offer waived or reduced fees for disabled hunters, allow them to hunt from their vehicles or allow the use of specialized equipment which hunters who have full use of their legs are not allowed to use.</p> <p>“Being able to do what you used to do, or what everybody else can do, especially if it’s your passion, is part of what makes you who you are,” Fertig said.</p> <p>Trina Morruzi, a wildlife biologist with the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife who has been coordinating the program for 16 years, said it started in 1972 when a group of paraplegic sportsmen went to state legislators and got a statute passed establishing the three-day hunt, held Thursday, Friday and Saturday this year.</p> <p>The number of sites where the hunt is offered has grown over the years, giving more people the opportunity to participate.</p> <p>This year it was held in five spots — in Williamstown and Mount Washington in the Berkshire Mountains; in a wildlife area near the Quabbin Reservoir, the state’s largest body of water; at the former Fort Devens army base; and on Cape Cod, a site added in 2011.</p> <p>About 25 to 30 disabled hunters participate every year, along with dozens of volunteers and state workers. The state allows anyone who doesn’t have use of their legs to participate, Moruzzi said. In the past, at least two quadriplegic hunters have participated with highly specialized equipment, although there were none this year, she said.</p> <p>Volunteers scout out the woods in the days before the hunt, looking for the best places to set up blinds, said Dave Esielionis, 71, of Shirley, a volunteer at the Devens location. They place plywood in the woods so wheelchairs don’t get stuck in mud.</p> <p>They meet before dawn on hunt days, helping hunters out of their vehicles and escorting them to the sites. They check on them during the day, and if they get a deer, they help them haul their game out of the woods.</p> <p>The harvest rate for the paraplegic hunt is about the same as the as the harvest rate for all hunters, Moruzzi said.</p>	Outward mobility: Paraplegic hunters pursue their passion	false	https://abqjournal.com/883780/outward-mobility-paraplegic-hunters-pursue-their-passion.html	2016-11-07	2
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p> <p /> <p>Carmen Yulín Cruz Soto told the world of the “horror” she was seeing as whe waded through San Juan’s flooded streets. And the desperation on an island that may remain without power for months.</p> <p>Until then, Cruz had not been a well-known politician outside the island.But after Cruz criticized Washington’s response to the hurricane this week – “save us from dying,” she pleaded on cable network – President Donald Trump took direct aim at her Twitter.</p> <p>“Such poor leadership ability by the Mayor of San Juan,” he tweeted Saturday. The Democrats must have convinced her to say nasty things about him, he claimed.</p> <p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> <p>Since the president brought it up, we present below the historical record of the leadership abilities of Cruz, before and after the storm.</p> <p>– – –</p> <p>Cruz has, in some ways, been a lifelong politician: Class president in eighth grade; student council president in high school.</p> <p>Like many Puerto Ricans, she left the island to pursue opportunities on the U.S. mainland, earning a bachelor’s in political science at Boston University and a master’s in public management and policy at Carnegie Mellon.</p> <p>She stayed on the mainland for many years, according to her official biography, and worked her way up to the position of human resources director at several companies, including Scotiabank and the U.S. Treasury Department.</p> <p>In a 2014 interview with a small New York newspaper, Cruz described the tug of war she and other Puerto Ricans often feel between the mainland and their home island.</p> <p>“I often say to my friends that I felt too Puerto Rican to live in the States; then I felt too American to live in Puerto Rico,” she said. “So when I settled back in Puerto Rico in 1992, I had to come to terms with all of that.”</p> <p>After 12 years on the mainland, Cruz returned to her island to plunge back into politics.</p> <p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> <p>She became an adviser to Sila Maria Calderon, then the mayor of San Juan who later became Puerto Rico’s first and only female governor.</p> <p>With the experience she gained under Calderon, Cruz ran in 2000 for a seat in Puerto Rico’s House of Representatives. She lost that race, but in 2008 she ran again and won.</p> <p>“Politics is a rough game, and sometimes as females we are taught that you have to play nice,” she said in a 2014 in an interviewinterview. “Sometimes you can’t play nice.”</p> <p>– – –</p> <p>As the race for mayorship of her home town approached in 2012, she waffled publicly on whether to enter as a candidate.</p> <p>At first she denied any plans to run. Once she entered the race, she strung together a series of small coalitions to form a base of support, including the LGBT community, students, Dominican immigrants and taxi drivers.</p> <p>Such allies helped her defeat a formidable opponent – a three-time incumbent, Jorge Santini.</p> <p>“People don’t realize they have the power,” she recalled in an interview years later. “People don’t realize that if they come together, there are more of them than those who occupy the seat that I’m in right now.”</p> <p>Puerto Rico’s politics are largely defined by their relationship with the mainland and whether the island should remain a U.S. territory, gain statehood or vie for independence.</p> <p>Cruz’s party, the Popular Democratic Party, campaigns to maintain Puerto Rico’s status quo as an unincorporated, self-governed U.S. territory.</p> <p>But in her trips to the United States since winning office, Cruz has at times advocated for more independence.</p> <p>She once went before Congress to ask that Puerto Rico – crippled by debt – be able to reorganize under bankruptcy laws, and thereafter enter into commercial agreements with other countries.</p> <p>“Puerto Rico has been denied these tools far too long,” Cruz said in 2015. “And as long as our options are defined by the powers of this Congress, we will always be at your mercy. The measure of our success will always be limited by the vastness of your control over our affairs.”</p> <p>Two years later, Hurricane Maria has made the island’s many dependencies all too apparent.</p> <p>– – –</p> <p>Hurricane Maria flooded roads, destroyed phone lines and cut the island’s lifeline of goods from the mainland.</p> <p>With limited communications and little help from the outside world in the first days after the hurricane, the mayors of Puerto Rico became the highest form of authority for many residents.</p> <p>Cruz worked nearly nonstop on the ground – walking its streets and doing what she could for those she met. In an interview with a Washington Post reporter just three days after the storm, she described what she was seeing.</p> <p>“There is horror in the streets,” she said at the time. “Sheer pain in people’s eyes.”</p> <p>The city’s hospitals had no power. Much of the country would not have electricity until 2018, she said. Looters were already taking over some streets after dark. The few who still had gasoline and drinking water were quickly running out.</p> <p>Cruz had written to scores of other mayors. “There’s no answer,” she saidThe mayor herself felt relatively helpless – only able to do so much for her exhausted neighbors and frightened constituents.</p> <p>“I know we’re not going to get to everybody in time,” she said. All she could do was try.</p> <p>On her way totalk to the reporter, she said, a man had asked her for a favor: “To tell the world we’re here.”</p> <p>As tears filled her eyes, Cruz obliged. “If anyone can hear us,” she told the reporter: “Help.”</p> <p>By Thursday night, families were searching for water by the light of dwindling cellphone batteries and moonlight. They passed through a tunnel beneath a city wall, and found at the exit a water tank left there by the city – a godsend.</p> <p>And then they found their mayor.</p> <p>Cruz hugged them as they came to her. She handed to each family a small solar-powered lantern – “a box of blessings,” she called it.</p> <p>“Now this is life,” she told The Post.</p> <p>Her people were resilient, she said. Residents had taken the streets back from criminal gangs.</p> <p>But if the federal government didn’t step up its response, she feared, “people will die.”</p> <p>– – –</p> <p>Nearly 5,000 National Guard personnel were stationed on the island before the storm, according to the White House, and the government has sent thousands more to helpin the days since. But they have struggled to get even basics like drinking water to those in need.</p> <p>A call with the White House earlier in this week had encouraged Cruz, she said. She told the federal government that 3,000 containers were sitting in a port, trapped behind electronic gates that wouldn’t open. Since then, more federal personnel had arrived, and the government had sent pallets of water and food.</p> <p>But her city was still on the brink, Cruz said.</p> <p>On Thursday, in the White House driveway, acting Homeland Security Secretary Elaine Duke defended the Trump administration’s response to the storm.</p> <p>“It is really a good news story, in terms of our ability to reach people,” the director said.</p> <p>When Cruz heard that, she made good on her warning years earlier – that sometimes in politics “you can’t play nice.”</p> <p>“People are dying in this country,” Cruz said at a news conference on Friday. “I am begging, begging anyone that can hear us, to save us from dying. If anybody out there is listening to us, we are dying, and you are killing us with the inefficiency and the bureaucracy.”</p> <p>And with that, the mayor of a ruined city drew the attention and ire of the President of the United States.</p> <p>“The Mayor of San Juan, who was very complimentary only a few days ago, has now been told by the Democrats that you must be nasty to Trump,” he wrote on Twitter.</p> <p>The latter remark perplexed many experts on Puerto Rican politics.</p> <p>“I don’t know if Trump’s comments shows an utter lack of understanding of the political situation in Puerto Rico, or if it’s just a cover to rally his base,” said Yarimar Bonilla, an anthropologist at Rutgers University. “It makes no sense. Politics in Puerto Rico are completely different than the mainland, with completely different parties.”</p> <p>Last year, Bonilla surveyed 1,000 residents of island. Most had no affiliation with Republicans or Democrats, and many had no little understanding of either party.</p> <p>Cruz, who is widely expected to run for governor of the island, has some understanding, of course.</p> <p>She isn’t affiliated with either party, but has occasionally supported former Democratic President Barack Obama’s policies. During the 2012 election, she met with Obama’s campaign manager to push for healthcare funding and education grants for Puerto Ricans.</p> <p>But that is a far cry from being a tool of the Democrats, said Amilcar Barreto, a Puerto Rican political expert at Northeastern University. “Complaining about people on the island not having food, electricity, water is not partisan. That’s just basic human necessity.”</p> <p>– – –</p> <p>On Saturday, Cruz dismissed Trump’s tweets with a smile. She was dressed in combat boots and cargo pants as she oversaw the distribution of supplies from San Juan.</p> <p>“The most powerful man in the world is concerned with a 5-foot-tall, 120-pound little mayor of the city of San Juan,” she said.</p> <p>Suddenly, many others were concerned as well.</p> <p>Cruz fielded calls all daylong from U.S. senators and business leaders. Reporters mobbed her for interviews.</p> <p>And all day long, her criticism of the relief effort did not soften. “It’s like a clogged artery,” she said of federal government’s bureaucratic hurdles. “The heart has stopped beating.”</p> <p>When asked if there was anything political in her barbed remarks, Cruz denied it.</p> <p>“I don’t have time for politics,” she said. “There is a mission, and that is to save lives.”</p> <p>Then in the middle of an interview, the mayor got a call about a generator catching fire at San Juan hospital. She quickly mobilized her staff, barking out orders like a general.</p> <p>Then, within minutes, she was rushing once more out into her city.</p> <p>– – –</p> <p>Hernandez and Schmidt reported from Puerto Rico. Selk and Wan reported from Washington.</p> <p>—</p> <p>San Juan mayor: ‘There is horror in the streets’</p> <p>Video coding:</p> <p /> <p />	Trump called San Juan’s mayor a weak leader. Here’s what her leadership looks like.	false	https://abqjournal.com/1071545/trump-called-san-juans-mayor-a-weak-leader-heres-what-her-leadership-looks-like.html		2
<p>It was close but no cigar for anyone who bid less than $26,950 at auction for a signed box of Cuban cigars from Fidel Castro’s personal collection.</p> <p>Boston-based RR Auction says Thursday that was the winning bid.</p> <p>The wooden Trinidad Fundadores cigar box was signed in blue felt tip by the longtime Cuban leader. It is accompanied by a photograph of Castro signing it for philanthropist Dr. Eva Haller in 2002.</p> <p>The box contains 24 cigars, is stamped on each end and has a maker’s mark on the bottom. It also includes a “Republica de Cuba” cigar warranty seal, which has been re-adhered.</p> <p>Trinidad Fundadores were exclusively produced for Castro starting in 1980. Until 1998, the only boxes allowed to leave the island were gifts to foreign dignitaries.</p> <p>The Associated Press contributed to this report.</p>	A box of Fidel Castro’s cigars sells for almost $27,000	false	https://circa.com/story/2018/01/11/whoa/a-box-of-fidel-castros-cigars-sells-for-almost-27-000	2018-01-11	1
<p>A friend at the Virginia Council of Churches shared with me&#160; the recent issue of the Religious Herald in which John Klink wrote, “We must be careful not to let ourselves be deceived by the lies of the theory of evolution, which is falsely called science” [Herald, March 12].</p> <p>As this year is the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin, and the 150th anniversary of the publication of The Origin of Species, this is an excellent time to look honestly at the world and ask, “Does nature select?” That is the question Darwin answered in the affirmative, and it is one that all biologists would agree with today. For biologists of faith, that does not mean the rejection of God, nor of sin, death and salvation.</p> <p>We are re-launching the “Life Sciences and Religion Community Forum” here at Virginia Commonwealth University, which is dedicated to enhancing the science-and-religion dialogue in central Virginia. We would welcome a deeper discussion of what constitutes data in science, how science works, the status of evolutionary theory and the like. Many of us involved in science are deeply religious people of various faiths as well, and would see some possibility of fruitful discussion with Mr. Klink and others on such topics. We particularly welcome the opportunity to address questions about whether science is limited to observable phenomena (or whether it can include inference), and the extent to which evolutionary theory can be said to be a “lie” or to be a very good model or explanation of how nature works.</p> <p>Our website is <a href="http://www.vcu.edu/" type="external">www.vcu.edu/faithscienceforum</a> and my personal contact information is jbcassel@ vcu.edu or (804) 628-1926.&#160; We would welcome invitations to come to local churches, or can set up a date and time to bring people together at VCU to discuss these topics with as much openness and mutual trust as possible.</p> <p>J. Brian Cassel, Director Life Sciences and Religion Initiative Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond</p> <p>&#160;</p>	Natural selection not a rejection of God or faith	false	https://baptistnews.com/article/naturalselectionnotarejectionofgodorfaith/		3
<p /> <p>SPRINGFIELD (MA)Religious News Online <a href="modules.php?name=News&amp;new_topic=4" type="external" />&#160; <a href="modules.php?name=Your_Account&amp;op=userinfo&amp;username=Anonymous" type="external">Anonymous</a> writes "Warren MasonWhile Archbishop Sean O’Malley has moved quickly to settle cases of clergy abuse in the Boston Archdiocese and shown genuine compassion for the victims, it is wishful thinking to believe that the Catholic Church can extricate itself from this ongoing crisis without real systematic and structural change. Only ninety miles up the Massachusetts Turnpike, the Diocese of Springfield, Massachusetts has become a national poster child for all that is wrong within the hierarchical structure of the Catholic Church. Bishop Thomas Dupre, a friend of Archbishop O’Malley, finds himself embroiled in a seemingly unending string of embarrassing revelations and cover-ups. The recent case of Rev. Paul Laflamme is emblematic of the convoluted logic, and endemic dishonesty that pervades this institutional dinosaur. Briefly, the Rev. Laflamme, St. Mary Mother of the Church parish in Lee MA., is accused of impregnating a parish employee while she was being counseled by him. Even more telling, Rev. Laflamme’s pastor, the Rev. Gary Dailey, is accused of manipulating the situation, suggesting the victim, Ms. Josephine DiZoglio, “get rid of the problem”, and firing her from position as housekeeper to the parish. Rev. Laflamme does indeed admit to the relationship.Rev. Dailey tells his parishioners that these problems are a result of Satan's desire "to place anger, judgment, condemnation and disunity amongst this parish".</p>	A Diocese in Denial	false	https://poynter.org/news/diocese-denial	2003-11-04	2
<p /> <p>Scientists are trying to map the Cannabis genome to increase understanding of the versatile plant’s many mutations and hopefully improve medical and recreational, usage.</p> <p>Continue Reading Below</p> <p>This is the marijuana version of the hugely influential <a href="http://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/handbook/hgp?show=all" type="external">Human Genome Project Opens a New Window.</a> that identified the blueprint for humans and opened the doors to personalized medicine.</p> <p>Phylos Bioscience is working on mapping the Cannabis genome; it is part of the Portland, Ore.-based company’s ambitious <a href="http://phylosbioscience.com/the-cannabis-evolution-project/" type="external">Cannabis Evolution Project Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> <p>The company wouldn’t disclose funding information except that to say it’s backed mostly by angel investors from the “traditional” biotech world.</p> <p>Mowgli Holmes, co-founder and chief scientific officer at the privately-held firm did share details on the program, and the company’s progress, in an exclusive interview with Robert Gray for Fox Business…</p> <p>FBN: What is the importance of mapping the Cannabis genome?</p> <p>Advertisement</p> <p>Holmes: “Mapping” a genome is kind of a vague idea to most people. The point is to figure out the sequence of the whole thing, read all the pieces, and get them all in order … the Cannabis genome is a nightmare compared to most of them. No two plants are alike. It’s very similar to humans in that way, actually.</p> <p>FBN: Why did you need to do that?</p> <p>Holmes: Really we just need it as a point of reference. It makes it way easier to do rapid sequencing on thousands of samples if you have a good reference genome to compare to.</p> <p>We’re going to make it so people know what they’re getting (when they buy marijuana). This is a very big deal for recreational users, but it’s a much bigger deal for medical users. I think eventually work like ours will lead to new medicinal varieties, but that’s a ways out.</p> <p>FBN: How are you getting samples when there are so many restrictions on Cannabis?&#160;</p> <p>Holmes: We have our DNA extraction equipment set up in lots of local Cannabis testing labs that do state-mandated safety testing. They collect samples that come through and take the DNA for us. We have collectors all over the world donating samples.</p> <p>FBN: Why is mapping a Cannabis genome so important for medical usage?</p> <p>Holmes: Most Cannabis these days is close to 20% THC, with almost none of the other important medicinal compounds. The strain we're sequencing the entire genome of -- Canna-Tonic -- is about 8 percent THC and about 8 percent CBD—CBD is the most important medicinal component of the plant that we know about right now. It’s also known to decrease the anxiety that THC can cause. I really think plants like this are going to be important in the future, partly because they help with inflammation, pain, epilepsy, and probably a couple other things. But also because normal people can smoke them without going insane. My mom has been smoking this stuff. Your mom could probably smoke it.</p> <p>FBN: How does Phylos make money?</p> <p>Holmes: We sell genetic testing, just like <a href="https://www.23andme.com" type="external">23andMe Opens a New Window.</a>. So we work with local testing labs we’re partnered with, and they offer our services to growers, dispensaries, etc. We have a plant sex test that we’re already selling and we’re about to release a set of microbiology tests that are done using genetic analysis. Once we’ve done the evolution study, we’ll be able to tell people exactly what strain they have. You’d be surprised how much of a demand there is for that. People are obsessed with the different varieties, but no one ever really knows what they actually have.</p> <p>FBN: Are you trying to keep marijuana “open sourced” and out of the hands of corporations who may seek to patent modified Cannabis?</p> <p>Holmes: Actually we are. We’re giving all of our data to a group called the Open Cannabis Project that’s run by Cannabis activists, social justice activists, plant scientists, and even plant patent lawyers. The goal is to document the fact that everything that exists now is in the public domain. If they do that, then it becomes impossible for big companies to come in, rename existing varieties, and try to patent them.</p> <p>FBN: How big can the Cannabis crop grow?</p> <p>Holmes: I think by 2020 it will be the third largest agricultural industry in the US, behind corn and soybeans.</p> <p>FBN: Any plans for an exit strategy, an IPO or selling the company to a bigger one?</p> <p>Holmes: We don't want to grow into a company like Monsanto. And we don't want to sell out to a company like Monsanto either. What we want is to keep doing this work for as long as we can. There's a whole new breed of American farmer out there, and we need to make sure we have their backs.</p>	Medical Marijuana: Evolution Revolution?	true	http://foxbusiness.com/features/2015/06/10/medical-marijuana-evolution-revolution.html	2016-03-05	0
<p /> <p /> <p>One of the deadliest mass shootings in years took place in Plano, Texas on Sunday when an unidentified suspect opened fire at a football party killing 7 people. The gunman was shot and killed by an officer who arrived at the home on West Spring Creek Parkway around 8 p.m. Sunday. When the officer arrived, he found bodies in the yard of the home and shots could still be heard coming from inside the house when he approached and opened fire killing the gunman.</p> <p /> <p /> <p>Credit: WFAA 8</p> <p /> <p>On Monday afternoon Chief Rushin held a press conference to inform the media that an eighth victim has died at the hospital bringing the total death count to 9 including the shooter. David Tilley, a Plano Police Officer, said "[He] made entry inside the house, confronted the suspect, ultimately shooting and killing him." The officer was brave enough to enter the house and stop the shooter single handily without waiting for backup. His willingness to put his own life in harm's way probably saved the lives of any more potential victims. The owner of the home, Meredith Lane, was 27-years-old and was killed in the shooting. Lane's mother blames her daughter's husband who she recently divorced.</p> <p /> <p /> <p /> <p /> <p>Lane was hosting a football watching party when her husband showed up and opened fire. Her mother said, "She was a cook, and a quite fine one, and she loved hosting friends and families. This was her first opportunity to do it after the divorce and he didn't take it well." When paramedics arrived at the home they attempted to perform CPR on the victims but only one was alive. The only living victim passed away in the hospital today.</p> <p /> <p>On Twitter:</p> <p><a href="https://twitter.com/ErvinProduction" type="external">@ErvinProduction</a></p> <p>Tips? Info? Send me a message!</p> <p>Source: <a href="http://www.wfaa.com/news/9th-person-dead-in-plano-shooting-mom-blames-daughters-ex/473181754" type="external">wfaa.com/news/9th-person-dead-in-plano-shooting-mom-blames-daughters-ex/473181754</a></p>	9th Person Dies In Texas Mass Shooting, Mother Blames Daughters Husband	true	http://thegoldwater.com/news/7963-9th-Person-Dies-In-Texas-Mass-Shooting-Mother-Blames-Daughters-Husband	2017-09-12	0
<p /> <p>On 17 September, 2015, Matthew Bowman shot Jimmy Harold Tillery. Tillery was in the driveway of his ex wife, Cheryl Tillery. Bowman used an AK-47 clone. In the initial articles, the firearm was referred to as a “.30-caliber carbine rifle”.</p> <p>Cheryl Tillery had finalized the divorce with her ex on 14 August, 2015, about a month before the incident.</p> <p>The Court had issued an emergency protective order on July 20, after an incident where Jimmy Tillery was said to have threatened Matthew Bowman and Cheryl Tillery’s lives and the lives of Bowman’s two young children. On August 6th, the court issued another order prohibiting Jimmy Tillery from coming within 150 feet of Cheryl Tillery or within 200 feet of Matthew Bowman’s children.</p> <p>Jimmy Tillery had driven onto the couple’s driveway and demanded to speak with his ex-wife. The couple had called 911 and asked the police to help. Bowman had taken his rifle and ordered Tillery to leave the property. Tillery refused, multiple times. Bowmans lawyer gave this&#160; <a href="http://www.stwnewspress.com/cnhi_network/missouri-man-acquitted-in-stand-your-ground-shooting-death/article_dda3e472-8105-5277-8ceb-d704aabf7e41.html" type="external">argument in court</a>:</p> <p>Bowman says Tillery drove toward the house from the head of the driveway at high speed before he stopped short and yelled that he wanted to speak to his ex-wife.</p> <p>Bowman maintains that he had reason to believe Tillery possessed a concealed carry permit and liked to carry a handgun with him at all times.</p> <p>Luby argued at trial that his client’s decision to shoot was lawful because Tillery was trespassing at the time, had made prior threats to kill Bowman, his ex-wife and himself, and was acting on that day “in a violent, tumultuous manner.”</p> <p>Bowman fired 4-5 shots at Tillery, who was in the drivers seat of his car. The police arrived a few minutes later.</p> <p>Bowman always claimed the shooting was in self defense. He refused to plea bargain and took the case to a jury trial.</p> <p>On 1 September, 2017, almost two years after the incident, a jury found Matthew Bowman not guilty.&#160; <a href="http://www.stwnewspress.com/cnhi_network/missouri-man-acquitted-in-stand-your-ground-shooting-death/article_dda3e472-8105-5277-8ceb-d704aabf7e41.html" type="external">From stwnewspress.com</a>:</p> <p>Matthew Bowman, 41, was found not guilty of either second-degree murder or armed criminal action in the Pineville, Missouri, shooting death of Jimmie Tillery in September 2015.</p> <p>Domestic defense cases tend to be messy. I suspect the two restraining orders and the refusal to leave were highly significant factors in the juries decision.</p> <p>The AK type rifle can be considered a “.30-caliber carbine rifle”, but the description explains how defensive uses of modern sporting rifles are under reported in the media.&#160; Most reporters do not know the technical aspects of firearms. In addition, details of defensive shootings may not be released until long after the event was considered news. Those who desire a disarmed population repeatedly claim that AK and other types of modern sporting rifles are not useful for self defense.</p> <p>In this case, the jury trial resulted in more detailed reporting nearly two years after the event. It is worth noting that this shooting was almost certainly reported in the FBI Uniform Crime Report (UCR) as a murder. The FBI UCR does not track the results of trials, only arrests and reports of crime. The FBI justified&#160; <a href="http://gunwatch.blogspot.com.au/2015/02/how-many-justified-homicides-occur-each.html" type="external">homicide reports only catch about 20% of</a>&#160;justified homicides in the nation.</p> <p>The FBI classes murders and non-negligent homicides in the UCR report together in the murder category. About 2% of homicides are recorded in the UCR as justified, so the actual number is about 10%.</p> <p>©2017 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.&#160; <a href="http://gunwatch.blogspot.com/" type="external">Gun Watch</a></p> <p>&#160;</p> <p>Editor’s Note: This once again goes to show how little of actual help a little piece of paper in the form of a restraining order is going to get you. &#160;Unless you have the means to enforce said restraining order in your own defense, it’s about as effective as a gun free zone sign. &#160;In other words, not at all. &#160;Because when someone with ill intent is going to commit a crime, a sign or a piece of paper is not going to stop them. &#160;What is going to stop them? &#160;Thrown lead at high velocity. &#160;The best defense, as they say, is a good offense.</p> <p>&#160;</p> <p>&#160;</p> <p /> <p /> <p>&#160;</p> <p>We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, vulgarity, profanity, all caps, or discourteous behavior. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain a courteous and useful public environment where we can engage in reasonable discourse.</p>	JUSTICE: Man who Used AK-47 Clone to Defend Self, Children, Found Not Guilty	true	http://bulletsfirst.net/2017/09/04/justice-man-used-ak-47-clone-defend-self-children-found-not-guilty/		0
<p>FALMOUTH (MA)Boston Heraldby Jessica Heslam Friday, October 10, 2003</p> <p /> <p /> <p /> <p /> <p /> <p /> <p /> <p /> <p /> <p>A sexual predator accused of slaying a Falmouth golf course worker fantasized about rape but was released from prison based on the recommendation of a priest who also counseled two other convicts who later killed.</p> <p>``He was paranoid and not doing well at all,'' former inmate counselor Paula Erickson said of Paul Nolin. ``He was having rape and violent fantasies. He was very hostile in the treatment center, and he clearly needed a lot more treatment.''</p> <p>Erickson said he should not have been released from the treatment center as the Rev. Donald Turlick recommended.</p> <p>Nolin, who is charged with the Sept. 20 murder of 20-year-old Jonathan Wessner, served 18 years in prison for viciously raping a 10-year-old Lowell boy he snatched from a playground. Court papers show Nolin lured the boy by promising to show him snakes in the woods before binding his hands behind his back with the boy's belt and raping him.</p>	Priest set predator free: Recommendation led to release	false	https://poynter.org/news/priest-set-predator-free-recommendation-led-release	2003-10-10	2
<p>Photo Credit: Molly Adams / Flickr Creative Commons</p> <p>While many able-bodied Americans were debating whether they had the time to call their senators, hundreds of activists, many of them in wheelchairs, lined up outside a hearing room in the&#160;Dirksen Senate Office Building on Monday to oppose the Graham-Cassidy health care bill.</p> <p>They came from all over the country as a part of a national day of action organized by multiple groups committed to preserving the Affordable Care Act. The line, according to a tweet from Virginia Senator Mark Warner, was longer than that at the Comey hearing.&#160;</p> <p>Despite the GOP's frequent claims that the Affordable Care Act was not subject to enough scrutiny by Congress, Monday's Finance Committee hearing was the only one scheduled for a bill that impacts one-sixth of the economy and threatens to sharply cut Medicaid, allows states not to cover birth control and discriminate against patients with pre-existing conditions. Protesters disrupted the hearing as soon as it began, preventing Chairman Orrin Hatch from beginning. Just as quickly, Capitol Police began their arrests.&#160;</p> <p>All afternoon, photos and videos of the arrests flooded Twitter, including shocking images of police handcuffing and dragging wheelchair-bound protesters. Many were from ADAPT, a disability rights organization that has been at the front lines of anti-repeal protests from the beginning of the Trump administration. As of 6pm Monday, protesters were being arrested and processed in groups. No word yet on their release.&#160;</p> <p>Ilana Novick is an AlterNet contributing writer and production editor.</p>	Disabled Activists Arrested and Dragged by Wheelchairs While Protesting Obamacare Repeal	true	http://alternet.org/activism/disabled-activists-arrested-and-dragged-wheelchairs-while-protesting-obamacare-repeal	2017-09-25	4
<p>Two members of the U.S. Senate’s “Wacko Bird” squadron, Senators Ted Cruz and Mike Lee, put out a joint statement calling Attorney General Eric Holder’s replacement, U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch, to “denounce” President Obama’s imminent “executive amnesty” for millions of illegal immigrants.</p> <p>“President Obama’s Attorney General nominee deserves fair and full consideration of the United States Senate, which is precisely why she should not be confirmed in the lame duck session of Congress by senators who just lost their seats and are no longer accountable to the voters,” Cruz and Lee said in a joint statement. “The Attorney General is the President’s chief law enforcement officer. As such, the nominee must demonstrate full and complete commitment to the law. Loretta Lynch deserves the opportunity to demonstrate those qualities, beginning with a statement whether or not she believes the President’s executive amnesty plans are constitutional and legal.”- <a href="http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2014/11/08/Ted-Cruz-Mike-Lee-Obama-s-Attorney-General-Nominee-Must-Denounce-Planned-Executive-Amnesty" type="external">Breitbart</a></p> <p>Here is what Cruz tweeted:</p> <p>— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) <a href="https://twitter.com/tedcruz/status/531190086898298880" type="external">November 8, 2014</a></p> <p /> <p>I wonder if that old crow John McCain will continue to refer these guys as “wacko birds” now that they helped the GOP regain the majority in the Senate?</p>	Obama’s New AG Pick Asked To Denounce “Executive Amnesty” For Illegal Aliens	true	http://shark-tank.com/2014/11/09/obamas-new-ag-picked-asked-to-denounce-executive-amnesty-for-illegal-aliens/		0
<p /> <p><a href="" type="internal" />This is from 2010, but the story is still good.&#160; If you haven't read Limbaugh's book, you should.&#160; At least, watch this video, because Limbaugh tells the truth about Thanksgiving - something you won't get from the media and today's education system.</p> <p>Watch, and enjoy!&#160; And may God richly bless each of you this Thanksgiving!</p> <p /> <p>Related:</p> <p>&#160;</p>	Rush Limbaugh presents the real story of Thanksgiving (Video)	true	http://conservativefiringline.com/rush-limbaugh-presents-the-real-story-of-thanksgiving-video/	2012-11-22	0
<p>Oil prices finished higher Thursday, following losses over the past three trading sessions. Traders continued to digest data from the Energy Information Administration released Wednesday that revealed a rise in total U.S. crude production to their highest level in more than two years, but also a weekly drop in domestic supplies that was the largest in 11 months. September West Texas Intermediate crude rose 31 cents, or 0.7%, to settle at $47.09 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.</p> <p>Copyright © 2017 MarketWatch, Inc.</p> <p>Continue Reading Below</p>	Oil Prices End Higher After Three-session Decline	true	http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/08/17/oil-prices-end-higher-after-three-session-decline.html	2017-08-18	0
<p>DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa's new "stand your ground" law will be tested this week in the trial of a man charged in a fatal shooting at an Iowa City pedestrian mall.</p> <p>Lamar Wilson, 24, is charged with first-degree murder, attempted murder and intimidation with a dangerous weapon in the Aug. 27 shooting that killed Kaleek Jones, 22, and injured two other men. Wilson has pleaded not guilty to all charges, the <a href="https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/crime-and-courts/2018/01/21/trial-iowa-city-ped-mall-shooting-suspect-lamar-wilson-begins-week/1040270001/" type="external">Des Moines Register reported</a> .</p> <p>Jury selection began Monday.</p> <p>Iowa's "stand your ground" law took effect in July. The law states law-abiding residents don't have to retreat before using deadly force to defend themselves if they reasonably believe their life is in danger. Wilson's case will be one of the first to test out the protections within the new legislation.</p> <p>Wilson's attorneys said the shooting was justified because Wilson was defending himself from gunfire. The defense argued that Wilson should receive immunity from prosecution.</p> <p>Johnson County District Judge Paul Miller has said he will rule on immunity after the jury has heard the case.</p> <p>Police said Wilson was carrying two guns when he was taken into custody. Police also said Wilson admitted to firing at a number of people. Wilson had a valid permit to carry firearms, according to police.</p> <p>Prosecutors added criminal gang participation to Wilson's charges. Wilson's lawyers said gang activity testimony isn't necessary to prove the other charges and may prejudice a jury against him. The charge will be decided in a separate trial.</p> <p>Wilson's trial is being held in Polk County instead of Johnson County due to extensive publicity.</p> <p>___</p> <p>Information from: The Des Moines Register, <a href="http://www.desmoinesregister.com" type="external">http://www.desmoinesregister.com</a></p> <p>DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa's new "stand your ground" law will be tested this week in the trial of a man charged in a fatal shooting at an Iowa City pedestrian mall.</p> <p>Lamar Wilson, 24, is charged with first-degree murder, attempted murder and intimidation with a dangerous weapon in the Aug. 27 shooting that killed Kaleek Jones, 22, and injured two other men. Wilson has pleaded not guilty to all charges, the <a href="https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/crime-and-courts/2018/01/21/trial-iowa-city-ped-mall-shooting-suspect-lamar-wilson-begins-week/1040270001/" type="external">Des Moines Register reported</a> .</p> <p>Jury selection began Monday.</p> <p>Iowa's "stand your ground" law took effect in July. The law states law-abiding residents don't have to retreat before using deadly force to defend themselves if they reasonably believe their life is in danger. Wilson's case will be one of the first to test out the protections within the new legislation.</p> <p>Wilson's attorneys said the shooting was justified because Wilson was defending himself from gunfire. The defense argued that Wilson should receive immunity from prosecution.</p> <p>Johnson County District Judge Paul Miller has said he will rule on immunity after the jury has heard the case.</p> <p>Police said Wilson was carrying two guns when he was taken into custody. Police also said Wilson admitted to firing at a number of people. Wilson had a valid permit to carry firearms, according to police.</p> <p>Prosecutors added criminal gang participation to Wilson's charges. Wilson's lawyers said gang activity testimony isn't necessary to prove the other charges and may prejudice a jury against him. The charge will be decided in a separate trial.</p> <p>Wilson's trial is being held in Polk County instead of Johnson County due to extensive publicity.</p> <p>___</p> <p>Information from: The Des Moines Register, <a href="http://www.desmoinesregister.com" type="external">http://www.desmoinesregister.com</a></p>	Trial for Iowa City pedestrian mall shooting to begin	false	https://apnews.com/amp/debe32424e964bc0b16ad1bae6e1018b	2018-01-22	2
<p>FOXBusiness.com Senior Editor Adam Samson, Layfield Report CEO John Layfield, Americans for Tax Reform Director Mattie Duppler and FBN’s Tracy Byrnes on the decline in young people investing in stocks.</p> <p>Wall Street may have recovered from the financial crisis, but the scars are ever-present, at least for one generation.</p> <p>Continue Reading Below</p> <p>Millennials – Americans born after 1980 – have sustained painful financial blows that could forever shape their investing mindset.</p> <p>A study from investment bank UBS (NYSE:UBS) performed during the first quarter shows Millennials are just about as financially conservative as the World War II generation. That group of Americans, who are currently 68 and older, either directly experienced, or felt the repercussions of, the Great Depression.</p> <p>“This is remarkable given the impact the Great Depression had on the WWII generation and speaks to the potential permanent scarring that 2008 had on the Millennial investor,” UBS said in the research note.</p> <p>Echoing that sentiment, Peter Boockvar, chief market analyst at The Lindsey Group, an economic advisory based in Washington, D.C., said “for many, two awful bear markets in 15 years stays in the psyche.” He added that “Millennials are dealing with student debts, high rents, (and a) challenging labor market.”</p> <p>Unlike the older Generation X and Baby Boomers, the Great Recession struck just as Millennials were entering the workforce. In addition to scary newspaper headlines, it led to widespread unemployment, which has morphed into under-employment, according to a slew of studies. On top of that, many Millennials also remember the dotcom boom and bust that sent the Nasdaq skyrocketing and then collapsing in the early 2000s.</p> <p>Advertisement</p> <p>“We’re in this ironic position where the [S&amp;P 500] is near all-time highs and yet it’s not cool to be in the stock market,” said Michael Block, chief strategist at Rhino Trading Partners, a boutique equity research and investment firm based in New York. &#160;He added that he thinks over the next three to five years, the mindset among Millennials could change, which “will give markets some oomph.”</p> <p>Boockvar shared Block’s position, saying “this is what happens after bubbles pop; it takes a while for people to get the confidence back to step back in. A better economy, though, can more quickly cure that.”</p> <p>Skittish Millennials Avoid Stocks, Hoard Cash</p> <p>Still, a review of several studies shows what could be an alarming level of wariness toward investing among a group that represents about 27% of the adult U.S. population.</p> <p>Millennials, for example, hold 52% of their assets in cash, and only 28% in equities, on average, according to UBS. Strikingly, even older and more affluent Millennials with $100,000 in assets have an average cash allocation of 42%. That compares to 23% in cash and 46% in stocks across other generations. Moreover, a Gallup poll indicates only 27% of 18-to-29-year olds hold any stock at all, according to Bloomberg News.</p> <p>The financial conservatism has led to a curious mindset among the group. UBS says 69% of Millennials they surveyed said they plan on succeeding by working hard, compared to 51% across other generations. Inversely, only 28% said they would achieve financial success through long-term investing, compared to 52% in other generations. They also broadly plan on relying on spouses, partners, and family members for financial advice, as opposed to traditional financial advisors.</p> <p>While Millennials are financially conservative, they appear to be eternally optimistic. A Pew Research Center survey from February shows 67% of Millennials feel like they don’t earn enough to lead they life they would like, but 79% of that group believes they will in the future. That’s a higher rate of optimism than any of their peers.</p> <p>Big Dreams, Big Hurdles</p> <p>While Millennials might have big financial dreams, generating long-term wealth could be a challenge.</p> <p>That’s because a key to long-term financial planning is investing the most aggressively at a young age. Cash stored in a bank account provides essentially no returns. Meanwhile, safe-haven assets like Treasury bonds yield low, or sometimes even negative, interest rates when adjusting for inflation. The problem is amplified in an environment where the Federal Reserve is putting strong downward pressure on interest rates.</p> <p>Riskier stocks, on the flip side, tend to perform well over time, even if crises put short-term pressure on stocks. An investing term called “compounding” adds to the power of long-term investments.</p> <p>For example, if an investor put $10,000 into various investments that yield 6% per year on average, the portfolio will be worth $30,627 by the time he turns 40, and $102,857 by the time he turns 60, assuming he reinvests the returns, according to a calculation by asset manager Vanguard.</p> <p>That rate of return could actually be conservative when examining historical trends. &#160;Indeed, average annual S&amp;P 500 returns from 2004 to 2013 were 9.1%, according to a calculation from New York University’s Stern School of Business. Looking at the longer term, from 1964 to 2013, average returns came in at 11.3%, and from 1928 to 2013 they were 11.5%.</p>	Crisis-Scarred Millennials Snub Stocks	true	http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2014/05/16/crisis-scarred-millennials-snub-street.html	2016-03-05	0
<p>A key provision from a 2012 ballot measure that taxed top incomes&#160;to fund education was recently given a clean bill of health&#160;by the state controller’s office, just in time for voters to consider a 12-year extension of the program.</p> <p>The controller’s office in August published an audit of the&#160;account that collects&#160;tax revenue generated from both a temporary tax on annual incomes of $250,000 or more and a quarter-cent sales tax and then disperses the funds to K-12 school districts, charter schools and community college districts.</p> <p>With the exception of a $59.7 million accounting error the Department of Finance made when transferring funds (but is set to be&#160;corrected in an upcoming adjustment), <a href="http://www.sco.ca.gov/Files-AUD/ca_dept_of_education_education_protection_account.pdf" type="external">the program was deemed</a> to have used and accounted for the revenue appropriately. &#160;</p> <p>Still awake? Here’s some background</p> <p>The Education Protection Account was created to ensure the money is used as intended — meaning to make it so lawmakers couldn’t raid education funds for other purposes — when voters approved Prop 30 in 2012. The audit was one of several accountability provisions.</p> <p>The audit noted that the $59.7 million error did not affect funding to schools because of another law (Prop 98), which guarantees a certain level of education funding. The Department of Finance told the Controller’s office the error did not hurt schools because the Prop 98 guarantee was met through other accounts.</p> <p>The fact that the guarantee was met regardless of the error raises questions about the need for Prop 30. But a&#160;spokesman for the Department of Finance said Prop 30 has “provided&#160;a direct benefit to schools” since it provided additional revenue streams and increased the amount of the Prop 98 contribution.</p> <p>And while $59.7 million is a lot of money, it’s only a fraction of how revenue much Prop 30 has generated. Since its inception in 2012, it’s estimated to have generated around $31.2 billion. &#160;</p> <p>Why is CalWatchdog telling me this?</p> <p>In April, <a href="" type="internal">CalWatchdog discovered</a>&#160;the Education Protection Account had not been audited, despite the fact that voters are set to consider a 12-year extension in November (it’s now called Prop 55, and the extension is coming two years early).</p> <p>Prop 55 would only extend the income tax provision, while the sales tax provision will expire in two years.</p> <p>Why audit this obscure account and not how the schools are spending the money?</p> <p>Auditing this account is important because it verifies that lawmakers (or anyone else for that matter) weren’t dipping into Prop 30 funds. The audit could also catch something like a $59.7 million accounting error.</p> <p>And other audits have&#160;been done. There’s actually plenty of audits of the different school districts, charter schools and community college districts located on the <a href="http://trackprop30.ca.gov/default.aspx" type="external">controller’s website</a>.</p> <p>Isn’t more education funding a good thing? Seems like a no-brainer.</p> <p>The Prop 30 and Prop 55 debate has never really been about the need for more education funding. Instead, it has to do with the source of the funding.&#160;</p> <p>Many experts, including Moody’s, Standard &amp; Poor’s and Gov. Jerry Brown’s budget, argue <a href="" type="internal">the state is too reliant</a> upon income tax revenue from top earners, mainly because of its volatility.</p> <p>In fact, nearly half of the state’s revenue comes from the top&#160;one percent of&#160;earners&#160;(approximately 150,000 individual tax filings). Critics of Prop 30 and Prop 55 say these measures only perpetuate the problem.</p> <p>Also, Prop 30 was billed as a temporary tax. But if it Prop 55 passes, it would extend the program until 2030, which critics say is not “temporary.”</p> <p>Of course, if voters down Prop 55 in November, the program will expire in 2018. There would certainly be a loss of revenue for schools (and <a href="" type="internal">healthcare</a>), but Brown said he’s prepared to proceed either way. &#160;</p>	Despite $59.7 million error, key Prop 30 education account gets OK’d in audit	false	https://calwatchdog.com/2016/10/06/despite-59-7-million-error-key-prop-30-education-account-gets-okd-audit/	2018-10-20	3
<p>Analysis &amp; Opinions - Lawfare</p> <p /> <p>"Yesterday, the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ)&#160; <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/press-release/file/948201/download" type="external">released</a>&#160;an indictment against four Russians in one of the most significant hacking-related law enforcement actions to date. According to the indictment, two criminals working at the behest of two officers of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) hacked into Yahoo’s internal networks, compromised Yahoo user accounts, and used those compromises to pivot into accounts with other online services, including Google. The Yahoo compromise, involving half a billion accounts, made major news last year; the hack resulted in&#160; <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2017/02/15/verizon-yahoo-250-million/" type="external">$250 million</a>&#160;being shaved off Verizon’s acquisition price for that company.</p> <p>This indictment has it all, from details of Russian espionage and tradecraft and connections to the criminal underworld, to an erectile-dysfunction-spam scheme and even an Aston Martin with a vanity license plate spelling “MR KARIM.” It is only the third indictment we can recall that alleges state-sponsored hacking, with the previous two coming against&#160; <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/us-charges-five-chinese-military-hackers-cyber-espionage-against-us-corporations-and-labor" type="external">Chinese People’s Liberation Army officers</a>&#160;and&#160; <a href="https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/manhattan-us-attorney-announces-charges-against-seven-iranians-conducting-coordinated" type="external">Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps members</a>.</p> <p>Up front, the story here is not about the long arm of American law bringing ne’er-do-wells to justice..."</p> <p />	The Department of Justice Makes the Next Move in the U.S.-Russia Espionage Drama	false	http://belfercenter.org/publication/department-justice-makes-next-move-us-russia-espionage-drama	2017-03-16	2
<p>The U.S. Embassy reported that <a href="http://www.breitbart.com/news/shots-fired-at-u-s-embassy-staff-in-yemen/" type="external">shots were fired</a> Tuesday at a vehicle carrying diplomatic staff in Sanaa, Yemen.</p> <p>The situation in Yemen has recently deteriorated between the Sunni government and Shiite rebels. The Houthis rebel group seized control of the presidential palace and the state television station and news agency, the battle leading to the death of 67, according to the Yemeni Health Ministry.&#160;</p> <p>Though a ceasefire was declared Monday, the U.S. Embassy in Yemen said that unidentified fighters fired on staff at a nearby checkpoint Tuesday. After warning shots, the gunmen leveled their weapons at the vehicle and fired. No one was injured.</p> <p>The U.S. State Department said Monday it has no plans to evacuate the Sanaa embassy and officials believed embassy staff face no imminent threat. UPI&#160; <a href="http://www.breitbart.com/news/shots-fired-at-u-s-embassy-staff-in-yemen/" type="external">reports</a>:</p> <p>Clashes in the capital killed nine and injured 67 Monday before a ceasefire was declared, the Yemeni Health Ministry announced. The rebels, who seized the presidential palace, Yemeni state television and the official SABA news agency said, are Houthis, Shiite Muslims who regard themselves as marginalized by Yemen’s Sunni government.</p> <p>The U.S. State Department told NBC News on Monday that there are no plans to evacuate the embassy in Sanaa, and military officials added there was no imminent threat to those within the embassy.</p>	Shots Fired At U.S. Embassy Vehicle In Yemen	true	http://truthrevolt.org/news/shots-fired-us-embassy-vehicle-yemen	2018-10-04	0
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p> <p /> <p>As an adult, the rugged New Mexico terrain culminated in a series of paintings inspired by the artist’s regular camping trips into its remote mountains and mesas. Her camping gear, scuffed sneakers and jeans worn at the knees show the harshness of traveling to a place of such isolation, driven by gusting winds, scorching heat and sudden downpours.</p> <p>Opening today, “Georgia O’Keeffe and the Faraway: Nature and Image” explores the American modernist’s landscapes throughout New Mexico’s untamed wilds. The exhibition offers a personal glimpse into the world of this iconic artist through her camping gear and art supplies, as well as paintings, sketches and photographs of O’Keeffe in the field. The color and black and white photos hail from the lenses of Ansel Adams, Eliot Porter and Todd Webb. The personal artifacts range from O’Keeffe’s lanterns and tent to paint chips and brushes.</p> <p>The show incorporates a panorama of “The Black Place,” the site where O’Keeffe and her friend Maria Chabot camped in 1944, giving viewers a sense of the vastness of this slice of landscape and the pioneering spirit of this singular artist. She cherished sleeping under the stars.</p> <p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> <p>The result is an exhibition marrying art and object, myth and reality, artist and cowgirl.</p> <p>“All of her work is about nature,” O’Keeffe curator and exhibition organizer Barbara Buhler Lynes said.</p> <p>By 1929, O’Keeffe was spending several months painting in northern New Mexico and she revisited the area nearly every year until 1949, when she permanently moved to the state from New York. She explored New Mexico on various car trips, often in the company of Chabot.</p> <p>In August 1935, she discovered a desolate area of virtually barren hills northwest of Cuba. Immediately drawn to its stark forms, she christened it “The Black Place” and inaugurated what would become one of her most famous series. In 1944, Chabot photographed one of their camping trips at the site.</p> <p>“We used these to find the exact location of the Black Place,” Buhler Lynes said of the original photographs. The curator was able to pinpoint O’Keeffe’s campground during a 2008-09 research trip for the show’s 2009 opening at the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame in Fort Worth.</p> <p>When O’Keeffe discovered the Black Place, she was situated for the summer at Ghost Ranch, an area of painted desert whose multicolored cliffs and hills she first saw in 1934. Located 20-odd miles north of Abiquiu, Ghost Ranch was owned by environmentalist Arthur Pack, who ran it as a dude ranch for wealthy Easterners. O’Keeffe made two trips to the Black Place in 1936 accompanied by ranch hands.</p> <p>The artist painted the various configurations that fascinated her, camping amid its arid hills more than any other site. She identified with both the Black Place and its counterpart, the White Place, possessively calling them her own. The monumental surroundings of Ghost Ranch would surface on her easel, including the square-topped mountain Cerro Pedernal, the red hills and the yellow cliffs.</p> <p>O’Keeffe filtered the landscapes of her adopted state through her personal aesthetic: Art as a creative expression rather than photographic imitation. She abstracted and manipulated forms, streamlined detail and played with depth, perspective and scale to suggest the region’s vastness.</p> <p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> <p>In 1944, Chabot took candid photographs of O’Keeffe brushing her hair at camp or posing while seated on the large rock at the base of the barren hills that inspired so many paintings. She referred to the site as “Georgia’s country.”</p> <p>O’Keeffe discovered The White Place, Plaza Blanca in Rio Arriba, in 1931. The astonishing spot of rock pillars, spires and folds of white drapery captivated her with its otherworldly, primordial quality. In letters to her husband, Alfred Stieglitz, she described it as “a vast area like something dead but startlingly alive in its beauty.” The searing brightness of the midday sun prompted O’Keeffe to acknowledge the difficulty of painting it.</p> <p>The photographer Eliot Porter was living in Santa Fe in 1940, and he and O’Keeffe drove around the landscape in search of something to paint. He shot the White Place in stunning images that used light and shadow to highlight the texture and architectural quality of the rocky pillars. In 1961, Porter invited O’Keeffe to join him on a 10-day rafting trip down the Colorado River to Glen Canyon, Utah. Still feisty and independent at 74, she eagerly boarded the raft each morning dressed in her tennis shoes and a red shift. Porter, O’Keeffe and photographer Todd Webb slept in sleeping bags on the sand, enduring shifting weather conditions. But it was the kind of camping adventure O’Keeffe eagerly embraced. The landscapes she saw haunted her imagination.</p> <p>O’Keeffe met Ansel Adams in New Mexico in 1929. He arrived at Ghost Ranch in 1937 and before they departed on their first trip, he photographed O’Keeffe painting in her station wagon. She often worked in the car in the afternoons for protection from the scorching sun. In the photograph, she is working on “Gerald’s Tree II,” one of several compositions on the same subject. O’Keeffe never allowed anyone nearby when she worked, but she made an exception for Adams.</p> <p>O’Keeffe went to the Black Place with Chabot, a 26-year-old aspiring writer she had met through Boston heiress Mary Cabot Wheelwright, founder of the Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian. Chabot was awed and inspired by the 53-year-old artist. By then, O’Keeffe had bought a home at Ghost Ranch and invited Chabot to spend the summer of 1941 with her. Chabot oversaw the routines of daily life in the isolated spot in return for room, board and writing solitude. She fetched water, serviced the generator and pump, maintained the cars and made frequent grocery and supply runs.</p> <p>“Maria was smitten by O’Keeffe and would loved to have had an intimate relationship with her,” Buhler Lynes said. “O’Keeffe wasn’t interested in that, but she was interested in having people around who shared her interests. Chabot’s youth proved both blessing and curse.</p> <p>“Maria was fearless,” Buhler Lynes continued. “She would get in a car and go into the desert. The wind would blow; the rain would pour. (The Black Place) is really desolate — no trees, no plants. When (O’Keeffe) first saw it, she said it looked like a wall of elephants.”</p> <p>But the friendship waned, and O’Keeffe did not invite Chabot back until 1945, when the artist bought her Abiquiu home.</p> <p>“Maria did the food department and the shopping department,” Buhler Lynes said. “Maria was not a disciplined person about her work. She drove O’Keeffe crazy. She was noisy; she was a kid. She’d do things like slam the door and play the radio loud.”</p> <p>“There’s been a lot of speculation on whether they were intimate sexually,” Buhler Lynes said. “All I can say is, I’ve found nothing in my research that shows O’Keeffe was bisexual.”</p>	O’Keeffe’s ‘Faraway’	false	https://abqjournal.com/106017/okeeffes-faraway.html	2012-05-11	2
<p /> <p>U.S. retail sales fell in October for the first time in three months as superstorm Sandy slammed the brakes on automobile purchases, suggesting a loss of momentum in spending early in the fourth quarter.</p> <p>Continue Reading Below</p> <p>Sales dipped 0.3 percent, the Commerce Department said on Wednesday, after an upwardly revised 1.3 percent increase in September that was previously reported as a 1.1 percent rise.</p> <p>Economists polled by Reuters had expected retail sales to fall 0.2 percent. The decline partly reflected the impact from superstorm Sandy, which lashed the densely populated East Coast -- holding down auto sales.</p> <p>The Commerce Department said it had received indications from companies that the storm had both positive and negative effects on October's sales data.</p> <p>Motor vehicle sales declined 1.5 percent, the largest fall since August last year, after increasing 1.7 percent in September. Auto manufacturers have blamed the storm for the drop in sales.</p> <p>They expect auto sales to rebound in November. Automakers and dealers last week estimated that as many as a quarter million vehicles would end up in the scrap yard because of the storm.</p> <p>Excluding autos, retail sales were unchanged last month after advancing 1.2 percent in September, the Commerce Department said.</p> <p>The storm also likely dented sales at clothing stores, which dipped 0.1 percent after rising 0.4 percent the prior month.</p> <p>Building material sales surprisingly fell 1.9 percent, defying expectations of a boost from pre-storm purchases. Building materials and garden equipment sales has increased 2.1 percent in September.</p> <p>Advertisement</p>	U.S. Retail Sales Fall for First Time Since June	true	http://foxbusiness.com/features/2012/11/14/us-retail-sales-fall-for-first-time-since-june.html	2016-01-26	0
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p> <p /> <p>The east gymnasium at Albuquerque Academy is, Terry Darnell said, where the 2012-13 season began to go slightly awry for the Bernalillo Spartans.</p> <p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> <p>A return visit to that same gym Tuesday wasn’t the corrective procedure the Spartans’ boys basketball coach hoped it would be.</p> <p>“We’re kind of staggering right now,” Darnell said. “We’re trying to find our way back together as a team.”</p> <p>The fifth-ranked Spartans (9-6) trailed for every bit of the 32 minutes against fourth-ranked Academy. Bernalillo ebbed more than it flowed in a 69-63 nondistrict loss to the Chargers (9-3).</p> <p>When the Spartans were at Academy last month for the Joe Armijo Classic, Darnell said, he noticed things getting out of sorts.</p> <p>“Two losses here hurt us,” he said. “We didn’t play well together after that.”</p> <p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> <p>That included a trip to the Stu Clark Invitational in Las Vegas, N.M., during the holidays, and it has carried over to 2013.</p> <p>The Spartans got down 12 points in the first quarter to the hot-shooting Chargers, whose lead varied in size but was never relinquished.</p> <p>Bernalillo was down 13 points in the second quarter, but went into halftime trailing 32-28.</p> <p>Academy had an 11-0 run to begin the second half, but the Spartans pecked away once more. Aaron Griffith, Tristan Arnett and Brandon Saiz helped Bernalillo cut the deficit to eight at one stage late in the quarter, and the Spartans continued to chip away in the fourth quarter.</p> <p>The Academy lead went from 10, to seven, to four (51-47) with 5:44 left in the game. The Chargers answered with a couple of baskets, but Bernalillo’s pressure defense continued to give Academy trouble.</p> <p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> <p>Bernalillo cut the deficit all the way down to three at 64-61 with 45 seconds to go. But the Chargers, who hurt the Spartans with their size in the paint on both ends of the floor, were solid from the free-throw line in the last minute.</p> <p>“We came out flat tonight,” Darnell said. “And we didn’t run good offense. But the biggest thing is, we didn’t make defensive stops. We let them get inside.”</p> <p>Arnett led the Spartans with 19 points. Saiz added 18 and Griffith 11.</p> <p>Bernalillo is home to Belen tonight, before visiting Aztec on Saturday night.</p> <p>The Spartans open District 2-4A play Wednesday at Los Alamos.</p> <p>NOTE: The rankings come from the MaxPreps.com website; that is the ranking the New Mexico Activities Association will use as part of its selection and seeding criteria for the state tournament. — This article appeared on page 17 of the Albuquerque Journal</p>	Spartans Lose At Academy, Again	false	https://abqjournal.com/160973/spartans-lose-at-academy-again.html	2013-01-17	2
<p>Writers never know when something they write will strike a nerve — or, in the common phrase of the internet, "go viral."</p> <p>Yet my last column, " <a href="" type="internal">Why Conservatives Still Attack Trump</a>" did both. Aside from being reprinted on almost every conservative website, Newsweek published the column, and The New York Times quoted it.</p> <p>More importantly, many major conservative writers responded to it, mostly in disagreement.</p> <p>It is interesting that the column elicited so much attention. Maybe, like the man who bit the dog, an articulate case by a mainstream conservative in support of the president is so rare that people felt a need to publish it and respond to it.</p> <p>Whatever the reason, I feel compelled to respond to some of the disagreements.</p> <p>Before doing so, I want to note the respectful tone that permeated virtually every one of the disagreeing columns. We have enough cannibals on the left without conservatives eating each other up.</p> <p>After reading the responses, I feel confident in saying that they confirmed my primary thesis: Anti-Trump conservatives do not believe that Americans are fighting what I call the Second Civil War, while pro-Trump conservatives do.</p> <p>Indeed, Jonah Goldberg in National Review said as much. He denied that we are in the midst of a civil war on two grounds: One is that it is not violent, and the other is that we are fighting a "culture war," not a civil war.</p> <p>Whenever I write about the subject, I almost always note that this Second Civil War is not violent. I never thought that the word "war" must always include violence. The word is frequently used in nonviolent contexts: the war against cancer, the war between the sexes, the war against tobacco, the Cold War and myriad other nonviolent wars.</p> <p>Perhaps Goldberg would respond that he did not write that all wars are violent, only that all civil wars are violent. But if there are nonviolent wars, there can be nonviolent civil wars.</p> <p>Nevertheless, what most disturbs me is his second argument — articulated in various ways by most of those who disagreed with me — that there is simply no civil war. And many repeated the universal belief among Never-Trumpers that a Hillary Clinton victory would not have been a catastrophe.</p> <p>My response is that "culture war" is much too tepid a term for what is going on now. Maybe anti-Trump conservatives are fighting a "culture war," but the left is not. The left is working to undo the American Revolution. It's very close to doing so.</p> <p>Of all people, one would think Jonah Goldberg would understand this. He is the author of what I consider to be a modern classic, " <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Liberal-Fascism-American-Mussolini-Politics/dp/0767917189" type="external">Liberal Fascism: The Secret History of the American Left, from Mussolini to the Politics of Change</a>."</p> <p>His book leads to one conclusion: We are fighting fascism. How is that not a civil war? When you fight fascism, you are not merely fighting a "culture war."</p> <p>So, shouldn't the primary role of a conservative be to vanquish leftism? To me, that means strongly supporting the Republican president of the United States, who has staffed his Cabinet with conservatives and already won substantial conservative victories. As I suggested in my previous column, conservatives would have been thrilled if any Republican president had achieved what Trump has at this point in his administration.</p> <p>"But what about Trump's character?" nearly all my critics ask. Or, as John Podhoretz, editor of Commentary Magazine, tweeted, "For Dennis Prager, who spent 40 years advocating for a moral frame for American politics, to argue as he argued today is, may I say, ironic."</p> <p>First, I have indeed dedicated much of my life to advocating for morality — for ethical monotheism as the only way to achieve a moral world; for raising moral children (as opposed to concentrating, for example, on raising "brilliant" children); and for the uniquely great Judeo-Christian moral synthesis developed by the Founding Fathers of America.</p> <p>But I have never advocated for electing moral politicians. Of course, I prefer people of good character in political office. But 30 years ago, I wrote an essay titled "Adultery and Politicians" in which I argued that what political leaders do is more important than their character. To cite but one of an endless list of examples, I would prefer an adulterous president (like John F. Kennedy) who supported Israel than a faithful family man (like Jimmy Carter) who was an anti-Zionist.</p> <p>Second, as a religious Jew, I learned from the Bible that God himself chose morally compromised individuals — like King David, who had a man killed in order to cover up the adultery he committed with the man's wife; and the prostitute Rahab, who was instrumental in helping the Jews conquer Canaan — to accomplish some greater good. (And, for the record, I am not suggesting that God chose Donald Trump.)</p> <p>Third, though I listed his moral defects in column after column during the primaries, I believe that Trump is a better man than his critics maintain. I see no evidence, to cite one example, that he is a misogynist. His comment about famous and powerful men being able to do what they want with women was (a) said in private — and we are fools if we assess people by their private comments (Harry Truman, a great president, frequently used "kike" in private comments about Jews), (b) not a statement about anything he had actually done, (c) not misogynistic and (d) often true.</p> <p>Fourth, even if he were as morally defective as his critics maintain, my response is this: Trump's character is less morally significant than defeating the left. If the left wins, America loses. And if America loses, evil will engulf the world.</p> <p>Dennis Prager's latest book, "The Ten Commandments: Still the Best Moral Code," was published by Regnery. He is a nationally syndicated radio show host and creator of PragerUniversity.com.</p> <p>COPYRIGHT 2017 CREATORS.COM</p>	PRAGER: A Response To My Conservative Critics About Trump	true	https://dailywire.com/news/17196/prager-response-my-conservative-critics-about-dennis-prager	2017-06-06	0
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p> <p /> <p>CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico (AP) — The mayor of Ciudad Juarez has confirmed that a drug gang used a car bomb in an attack against federal police in the Mexican border city.</p> <p>Mayor Jose Reyes says the attackers set a trap for federal police before detonating the explosive inside a parked car.</p> <p>He said federal police received a phone call about a wounded municipal police officers. Moments after federal police and paramedics arrived to help the officer, the car exploded, killing two officers.</p> <p>Reyes spoke Friday in an interview with The Associated Press. <a href="../news/state/apjuarezcarbomb1107-16-10.htm" type="external">READ MORE</a></p> <p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>	Bomb Explodes in Juarez: Watch Video	false	https://abqjournal.com/8443/bomb-explodes-in-juarez-watch-video.html		2
<p>US Attorney General Jeff Sessions has announced that sanctuary cities must cooperate with federal immigration enforcement or face the wrath of cuts in federal grants. The new policy outlines requirements cities need to follow to receive funding.</p> <p>On Tuesday afternoon, Sessions released a <a href="https://twitter.com/CBSEveningNews/status/889962217982103554" type="external">statement</a> threatening to cut lucrative funding related to the Byrne Justice Assistance Grants for so-called sanctuary cities, where local and state law enforcement are not bound to federal requests on immigration enforcement. Many cities rely on federal funding for law enforcement in their communities.</p> <p>Read more</p> <p><a href="https://www.rt.com/usa/397514-trump-sessions-mccabe-row/" type="external" /></p> <p>The requirements set forth by Sessions state that the sanctuary cities need to give Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers access to their jails and can’t stop their local police from providing ICE the immigration status of the people they arrest. Moreover, the cities must give ICE a 48-hour notice before releasing people from custody who get arrested, if ICE has a detainer on them.</p> <p>“So-called ‘sanctuary’ policies make all of us less safe because they intentionally undermine our laws and protect illegal aliens who have committed crimes,” Sessions said in the statement.</p> <p>“This is what the American people should be able to expect from their cities and states, and these long overdue requirements will help us take down MS-13 and other violent transnational gangs, and make our country safer,” the top US law enforcement official added.</p> <p>Federal funding will not be revoked for any cities that have already received it, or cities that are in the process of getting the money this year. The new rules will go into effect next year, <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/its-official-attorney-general-jeff-sessions-takes-on-sanctuary-cities" type="external">according</a> to the Daily Beast.</p> <p>President Donald Trump has spoken in the past about targeting sanctuary cities, but immigrant rights activists disagree with him and argue that when law enforcement is blocked from communication with ICE, immigrants have less fear about telling law enforcement about crimes.</p> <p>For many cities, losing the Byrne Justice Assistance Grant will be a big deal and fighting back may not be an option. In March, Austin, which does not fully cooperate with federal immigration enforcement, said that they may have to start complying because they rely on the grant funding, the Daily Beast reported.</p> <p><a href="https://www.rt.com/usa/397435-trump-angry-hillary-crimes/" type="external">READ MORE: Trump blasts AG over ‘Clinton collusion with Ukraine’, says acting FBI director got ‘$700k from H’</a></p> <p>Cecelia Friedman Levin, senior policy counsel for the immigration justice group Asista, believes undocumented immigrants may think twice about calling law enforcement in the current political climate.</p> <p>“Abusers commonly threaten victims that reaching out for help will result in their removal or separation from their children,” she said, the Guardian <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/mar/23/undocumented-immigrants-wary-report-crimes-deportation" type="external">reported</a>.</p> <p>“Before the executive orders on immigration,” she added, “the advice advocates would commonly give is that the police are here to help, that there are policies in place that protect all victims. But now, depending on the jurisdiction, those advocates may pause before giving that same advice, especially if they’re seeing increased immigration raids in their communities and given the wide breadth of enforcement priorities laid out by the administration.”</p> <p>The announcement from the US attorney general comes on the heels of Trump’s negative comments about Sessions. Trump <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-wont-say-if-he-will-fire-attorney-general-sessions-1501010025" type="external">told</a> the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday afternoon that he was “very disappointed” in Sessions.</p> <p>[embedded content]</p>	Attorney General Sessions threatens sanctuary cities with federal grant cuts	false	https://newsline.com/attorney-general-sessions-threatens-sanctuary-cities-with-federal-grant-cuts/	2017-07-26	1
<p /> <p /> <p /> <p>The night before Donald Trump was sworn in as president, the New York Times dropped a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/19/us/politics/trump-russia-associates-investigation.html?_r=0" type="external">bombshell</a>: intelligence and law enforcement agencies have been examining intercepted communications and financial transactions in an investigation of possible contacts between Trump associates and Russian officials. This report seemed to confirm <a href="" type="internal">previous indications</a> that the US government has collected sensitive intelligence about interactions between Trump insiders and Russians. And hours before the inauguration, I ran into Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who has been one of the few Republicans to call for a special investigation of the Russian hacking that helped Trump, and I asked him about this latest development.</p> <p>Graham, a member of the Senate judiciary committee, said that he didn’t know anything about the intelligence intercepts. He remarked, “I want to learn and investigate all things Russian, wherever it leads.” He noted that it was clear that Vladimir Putin’s regime had “tried to undermine our election” and “succeeded in creating discontent and discord.” He added, “I want to know what they did and who they did it with.” He went on: “I want to see all of it…I want to know what Russia did…If there is campaign contacts, I want to know about it.”</p> <p>Graham said he hoped to examine what the FBI knew about any Trump-Russia contacts and what actions the bureau had taken. (Before the election, FBI Director Jim Comey talked rather publicly about the bureau’s investigation of Hillary Clinton’s handling of her email at the State Department. But Comey has <a href="" type="internal">declined to say anything in public</a> regarding whether the bureau has probed links between Trump associates and Russians.) “I hope to be able to work with Sen. Grassley [the chair of the judiciary committee] to look into the FBI’s role,” Graham said, “in terms of what they did, what they know, and what they can provide to Congress.”</p> <p>At the moment, the Senate <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/13/politics/senate-probe-into-election-hacking-to-review-possible-links-between-russia-campaigns/" type="external">investigation</a> of the Russian hacking and possible contacts between Russia and the Trump campaign is being conducted by the Senate intelligence committee. So it’s unclear whether Graham will get his wish for a judiciary committee inquiry into the FBI end of this matter.</p> <p>Before darting off to inauguration business, Graham, who often tussled with Trump during the 2016 campaign, criticized the incoming president for trying to downplay Russian meddling in the 2016 election. “Trump,” he said, “seems to be in the forgive-and-forget mode.” He noted the “biggest mistake” Trump could make would be “forgiving Russia…for what they did in our election.”</p> <p />	GOP Senator Calls for Investigating What FBI Did About Russia-Trump Intelligence	true	https://motherjones.com/politics/2017/01/lindsey-graham-calls-investigating-what-fbi-did-about-russia-trump-intelligence/	2017-01-20	4
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p> <p /> <p>Police said they were notified by the interim superintendent on Friday that the student had been making threats a day earlier, and students they interviewed alleged that the student had written out a list of names of students he wanted to kill after returning to class following recess, KOB-TV said.</p> <p>The students also said their classmate threatened to bring a gun to school on Friday and kill the students on his list, according to Eyewitness News 4.</p> <p>The student admitted to police that he made the threats and drew up the list, saying he was angry over being bullied over the past few weeks and for being accused of breaking another student’s toy on the playground, KOB-TV said.</p> <p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> <p>The boy said he had ripped up his list and never intended to carry out his threats, and his father told police there was a gun in the house but it was safely locked up, according to KOB-TV.</p> <p>The 12th Judicial District Attorney’s Office and the FBI were notified of the threats, and both agreed that nothing reached the level of a delinquent act or prosecutable offense, the station reported.</p> <p>“We’ve identified a student who admittedly made some remarks about causing some violence at the school,” Ruidoso Police Lt. Ray Merritt told the <a href="http://www.ruidosonews.com/ruidoso-breaking_news/ci_22219000/no-charges-filed-school-threat" type="external">Ruidoso News</a>. “During an interview with him and some other witnesses it turns out that he said that he never planned on executing what he told his friends he was going to do, his plan.”</p>	Ruidoso Student Suspended for Threats	false	https://abqjournal.com/154367/ruidoso-student-suspended-for-threats.html	2012-12-19	2
<p>It’s even worse than anybody has previously thought. For the first time, we now know in painstaking detail what was going on in the White House in the months leading up to 9/11.</p> <p>In 2004, it became public knowledge that President George W. Bush <a href="http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/11/cia-directors-documentary-911-bush-213353" type="external">received</a> a “Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S.” memo in his Presidential Daily Briefing on August 6, 2001. That was only one month before the attacks. Now, ex-CIA Director George Tenet is revealing that the CIA began warning the White House much sooner, and far more urgently than what has been previously reported. Every single time he and the CIA pressed the alarm button, he was given the cold shoulder by Bush and his team.</p> <p>It began in May of 2001 when Tenet and then chief of CIA’s counterterrorism center, Cofer Black, pitched a plan called “the Blue Sky paper” to Bush’s national security team. They wanted to attack Al Qaeda pre-eminently to foil their plan&#160;because they received warnings that a significant attack on American soil was about to happen. Here’s what they were <a href="http://www.rawstory.com/2015/11/ex-cia-director-bush-ignored-months-of-warnings-about-911-to-avoid-leaving-paper-trail-of-culpability/" type="external">told</a> afterward:</p> <p>“We’re not quite ready to consider this. We don’t want the clock to start ticking.”</p> <p>For those that are unfamiliar with CIA-speak, this means they didn’t want a paper trail to begin yet to show that they’ve been warned. Politico, the publication that <a href="http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/11/cia-directors-documentary-911-bush-213353" type="external">discussed</a> this issue directly with ex-CIA Director George Tenet in an exclusive interview, signs off on this revelation as being credible. For more on this, visit <a href="http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/11/cia-directors-documentary-911-bush-213353" type="external">HERE</a>.</p> <p>Black thinks that Bush’s team wasn’t prepared for the new threat:</p> <p>“I think they were mentally stuck back eight years [before]. They were used to terrorists being Euro-lefties—they drink champagne by night, blow things up during the day, how bad can this be? And it was a very difficult sell to communicate the urgency to this.”</p> <p>The warnings only got more urgent from there. On July 10, the head of the CIA’s Al Qaeda unit, Richard Blee, burst into Black’s office thinking he had all the information he needed to <a href="http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/11/cia-directors-documentary-911-bush-213353" type="external">confirm</a> the attacks:</p> <p>‘Chief, this is it. Roof’s fallen in.’</p> <p>Black took the information to inform Tenet, and Tenet immediately picked up the phone to get Bush’s National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice on the line, <a href="http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/11/cia-directors-documentary-911-bush-213353" type="external">saying</a>, as he remembers:</p> <p>“I said, ‘Condi, I have to come see you.’ It was one of the rare times in my seven years as director where I said, ‘I have to come see you. We’re comin’ right now. We have to get there.’”</p> <p>After getting to the White House, though, and warning Condoleeza Rice that a wartime footing needed to be established right away, she only replied, <a href="http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/11/cia-directors-documentary-911-bush-213353" type="external">according</a> to Tenet:</p> <p>‘What do you think we need to do?’</p> <p>The sad thing is, nothing happened after that meeting. Mr. Black still <a href="http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/11/cia-directors-documentary-911-bush-213353" type="external">shakes</a> his head to this very day in disbelief:</p> <p>“To me it remains incomprehensible still. I mean, how is it that you could warn senior people so many times and nothing actually happened? It’s kind of like The Twilight Zone.”</p> <p>Oddly, the meeting was never mentioned&#160;in the 9/11 Commission’s final report, even though Tenet disclosed the meeting behind the scenes with committee members.</p> <p>Later on that that month at the end of July, they also had another meeting while sitting around scratching their heads trying to figure out just how exactly the attacks were going to happen. <a href="http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/11/cia-directors-documentary-911-bush-213353" type="external">According</a> to Tenet:</p> <p>“We were just thinking about all of this and trying to figure out how this attack might occur. And I’ll never forget this until the day I die. Rich Blee looked at everybody and said, ‘They’re coming here.’ And the silence that followed was deafening. You could feel the oxygen come out of the room. ‘They’re coming here.”</p> <p>Here’s what the information tells us: George Bush failed to act before the attacks, pure and simple. There’s really no way around this conclusion. This new information only further strengthens that assertion given the fact that the extent, timeline, and quality of the warnings were much greater than previous public reports have revealed up to this point.</p> <p>When Jeb says that his brother “kept us safe,” that’s not only not true, it’s an outright lie. Bush and his team didn’t know how to prevent the attacks, even though he knew it was coming.</p> <p>Featured image via <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._government_response_to_the_September_11_attacks" type="external">Wikipedia</a>.</p>	Ex-CIA Director: Bush Ignored Several 9/11 Attack Warnings To Avoid ‘Paper Trail’	true	http://addictinginfo.org/2015/11/13/ex-cia-director-bush-ignored-several-911-attack-warnings-to-avoid-paper-trail/	2015-11-13	4
<p>Balchem Corporation (NASDAQ: BCPC)&#160;had a nearly flawless quarter, with only one segment shrinking versus a year ago. And even that weakness will likely be short-lived.</p> <p>As growth gains steam, the bottom line is <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/05/09/balchem-reports-record-earnings-in-first-quarter.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=ea1bbca0-793a-11e7-bc72-0050569d32b9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">improving rapidly, as well</a>. Here's what you need to know about the second quarter of 2017 at Balchem.</p> <p>Continue Reading Below</p> <p>The broad numbers showed a lot of growth for Balchem, but the <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/03/01/health-products-drive-balchem-corporations-growth.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=ea1bbca0-793a-11e7-bc72-0050569d32b9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">segment information</a> is really what investors should be looking at.</p> <p>Advertisement</p> <p>Growth was really the highlight for the quarter and "offset margin pressures, primarily from higher raw material costs in all segments," according to CEO Ted Harris. There was particular weakness in the animal nutrition and health segment because of an inventory correction at a large customer and challenging dairy sales.</p> <p>Management said that, overall, "We are progressing our strategic growth initiatives and are pleased with the IFP acquisition and its contribution to our company as we continue to seek value creating acquisitions to augment our organic growth strategies." Even where there were short-term headwinds, the long-term picture appears to be bright.</p> <p>Small, strategic acquisitions are helping drive Balchem's growth and the company is willing to add more of these kind of acquisitions as they become available. But the momentum in the core business is also strong, which will continue to drive financial results higher in 2017.</p> <p>10 stocks we like better than BalchemWhen investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.</p> <p>David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the <a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-static%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;impression=b21ab0df-acd1-40b4-8844-07fe9350d94d&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=ea1bbca0-793a-11e7-bc72-0050569d32b9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">10 best stocks</a> for investors to buy right now... and Balchem wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys.</p> <p><a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-static%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;impression=b21ab0df-acd1-40b4-8844-07fe9350d94d&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=ea1bbca0-793a-11e7-bc72-0050569d32b9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Click here</a> to learn about these picks!</p> <p>Stock Advisor returns as of August 1, 2017</p> <p>10 stocks we like better than BalchemWhen investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.</p> <p>David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the <a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-static%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;impression=b21ab0df-acd1-40b4-8844-07fe9350d94d&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=ea1bbca0-793a-11e7-bc72-0050569d32b9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">10 best stocks</a> for investors to buy right now... and Balchem wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys.</p> <p><a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-static%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;impression=b21ab0df-acd1-40b4-8844-07fe9350d94d&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=ea1bbca0-793a-11e7-bc72-0050569d32b9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Click here</a> to learn about these picks!</p> <p>Stock Advisor returns as of August 1, 2017</p> <p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFFlushDraw/info.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=ea1bbca0-793a-11e7-bc72-0050569d32b9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Travis Hoium</a> has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Balchem. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=ea1bbca0-793a-11e7-bc72-0050569d32b9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy</a>.</p>	Balchem Corporation's Business Is Getting Healthier in 2017	true	http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/08/05/balchem-corporations-business-is-getting-healthier-in-2017.html	2017-08-05	0
<p /> <p>President Donald Trump's review of post-crisis banking rules could sound the death knell for new global standards now being finalized and rip apart a common approach to regulating international lenders, bankers and regulators said.</p> <p>Continue Reading Below</p> <p>Central banks and watchdogs around the world have spent the past eight years drawing up regulation aimed at preventing a repeat of the 2007-2009 financial crisis, but there are fears that project could unravel after Trump said he wants the U.S. to row back on capital rules.</p> <p>Trump's order for a regulatory review to overcome what he sees as obstacles to lending came as banking watchdogs were trying to complete the final piece of global capital requirements, known as Basel III.</p> <p>Given that the United States wants to shrink the banking rule book, there are doubts over whether the Basel rules can make it over the finishing line next month if they don't have backing from the United States.</p> <p>Without support from the world's biggest capital market, other countries would be less willing to commit too.</p> <p>The core aim of the outstanding part of Basel III that regulators are working on - dubbed Basel IV by critical banks who worry about more stringent capital requirements - is to impose more consistency into how banks calculate the amount of capital they hold against risky assets like loans.</p> <p>Advertisement</p> <p>JPMorgan chief executive Jamie Dimon said in the aftermath of the financial crisis that European rivals had been "a lot more aggressive" than American banks in calculating capital, meaning they were holding less.</p> <p>European policymakers have rejected that criticism, but their region's banks have been lobbying against the remaining Basel rules, saying they would force them to increase significantly the amount of capital they need to hold.</p> <p>If the United States fails to approve the completion of Basel III, the perceived problem that European banks get away with holding less capital than U.S. lenders may not be properly tackled, a source involved in the negotiations said.</p> <p>"It's in the interests of American banks to get this done," the source said.</p> <p>Others are less optimistic that a deal can now be done after Trump's intervention.</p> <p>"It's going to delay completing Basel III, and perhaps lead to it not being concluded," an adviser to banks said on condition of anonymity.</p> <p>"I do fear that Basel IV is doomed," a banking industry official added. There are headwinds from elsewhere, too.</p> <p>Patrick McHenry, Republican vice chairman of the House financial services committee, fired a warning shot at Federal Reserve Governor Janet Yellen about the Basel talks in a letter dated Jan. 31, ahead of Trump's executive order.</p> <p>The Fed must "cease" all attempts to negotiate binding standards "burdening American business" until the Trump Administration has had the opportunity to nominate officials that prioritize "America's best interests", McHenry said.</p> <p>While lawmakers often call on regulators to ease pressure on firms, regulators said Trump's intervention in banking rules gives more clout to McHenry's warning.</p> <p>The Basel Committee declined to comment.</p> <p>GLOBAL COOPERATION</p> <p>Trump's decision to review existing, post-crisis banking rules has rung alarm bells among regulators outside the country.</p> <p>Mario Draghi, president of the European Central Bank, which regulates the euro zone's main lenders, said on Monday that easing banking rules could threaten financial stability.</p> <p>Draghi was chairman of the Group of 20 Economies' (G20) regulatory task force, the Financial Stability Board, which during the financial crisis was instrumental in building up a global approach to reinforcing banking standards.</p> <p>A former regulator said the United States would be scoring an own goal by withdrawing from multilateral bodies like Basel as it would no longer be shaping rules that impinge on U.S. banking competitiveness globally. "It's early days, but what we have seen in language and rhetoric from Washington is worrying," said David Wright, a former top EU official who was part of crisis-era efforts to create the global regulatory consensus. "If you break international consensus, you are effectively opening up a regulatory race and heaven knows where it will end," said Wright, now at Flint Global, which advises companies on regulatory matters.</p> <p>Wright was referring to what was seen in the run-up to the financial crisis, when countries like Britain resorted to a "light touch" approach to banks to make London a more attractive financial center.</p> <p>Valdis Dombrovskis, the EU's financial services chief, said last week that international regulatory cooperation had been vital in tackling the financial crisis and must continue.</p> <p>Much will hinge on how much regulatory change Trump can actually push through.</p> <p>Former Democratic Congressman Barney Frank, who jointly sponsored the Dodd Frank Act that Trump wants to review, told the BBC last week he does not expect Congress to approve the wholesale rolling back of rules, but the Trump administration could pressure U.S. regulators to ease up on applying existing requirements. Anil Kashyap, a Bank of England policymaker, said last month that Trump's nomination for the powerful role of Fed Vice Chair in charge of banking supervision would shape the U.S. approach to international rule-making.</p> <p>It will have a "huge impact", a regulatory source added. The fear among global regulators is that multilateral bodies like the Basel Committee and the Financial Stability Board could be abandoned by the United States under Trump.</p> <p>Jose Ignacio Goirigolzarri, chairman of Spain's Bankia, told Spanish television on Tuesday he would be concerned if Trump was questioning the usefulness of international banking rules.</p> <p>"It would worry me very much because I think it's very important, very relevant that there have been advances in the homogenization of regulation amongst developed countries," he said. ��</p> <p>(Additional reporting by Paul Day in Madrid, editing by Giles Elgood)</p>	Trump Banking Review Raises Fears for Global Standards Talks	true	http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/02/07/trump-banking-review-raises-fears-for-global-standards-talks.html	2017-02-08	0
<p>Over the last few years, a growing numbers of authors have convincingly argued that America’s social order is in a deepening crisis. &#160;Among these studies are: Louis Uchtelle, <a href="" type="internal">The Disposable American</a> (2007); Naomi Klein, <a href="" type="internal">The Shock Doctrine</a>, (2008); Don Peck, <a href="" type="internal">Pinched</a>(2011); Donald Barlett and James Steele, <a href="" type="internal">The Betrayal of the American Dream</a> (2012); D. W. Gibson, <a href="" type="internal">Not Working</a> (2012); and Barbara Garson, <a href="" type="internal">Down the Up Escalator</a> (2013).</p> <p>These and other writers argue that the Great Recession and the still-unfulfilled recovery — what economist Paul Krugman identified as the Second Great Depression — bespeaks something more then just one more capitalist crisis, another speed-bump in globalization.&#160; It is restructuring the nation’s economic life, with profound political, social and personal consequences.&#160; One can wonder if this restructuring is fostering a new social order best conceived of as “postmodern serfdom”?</p> <p>Postmodern serfdom may be distinguished by four key attributes: (i) internationally, capitalism is restructuring and U.S. global hegemony is fraying; (ii) domestically, the post-WW-II good-life of the “American Dream” is slipping away; (iii) politically, democracy is eroding, a casualty of big money and voter suppression; and (iv) legally, law enforcement is being increasingly militarized.</p> <p>These factors contribute to an ever-deepening inequality represented not merely by the tyranny of the 1 percent.&#160; It is also fostering the rise of the postmodern serf, an ever-growing number of citizens (and non-citizens) doomed to perpetual economic and social poverty — people stuck in a life of misery. &#160;Collectively, these developments may preconfigure a very bleak future for an increasing number of Americans.</p> <p>The leading presidential candidates, Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton, neither fully appreciate the structural transformation the U.S. is undergoing nor offer programmatic policies that really address the crisis developing in its wake.&#160; They share a common (mis)belief that the U.S. can once again fulfill the post-WW-II promise.&#160; Sadly, those days seem very much over and are being replaced by an era of postmodern serfdom.</p> <p>* * </p> <p>Premodern or feudal serfdom flourished throughout Europe for nearly two millennia.&#160; In Britain, it dates from around the year 1000; it was finally abolished in Russia in 1861.&#160; Under serfdom, class tyranny ruled.&#160; Peasant serfs knew their place and had neither economic nor political power; a royal, deified nobility ruled — no wonder the British gentry were called “Lords.”&#160; But serfs were not powerless, as Eric Hobsbawm reveals in <a href="" type="internal">Primitive Rebels</a>, his legendary tale of pre-modern peasant uprisings.</p> <p>Feudalism – as a form of social organization – fostered its own contradictions, one of which prefigured the rise of the modern nation state. &#160;&#160;And with it, the aristocracy of old was overthrown, superseded, by a new social order, the capitalist class.</p> <p>The transformation of feudalism was marked by three developments.&#160; First, by an economic system; agrarian society was superseded by a society based on pre- and early-industrial capitalism.&#160; Second, by a political system; the godly tyrant was superseded by a leader chosen through (limited, representative) democracy.&#160; And third, a belief system based on religious thought and superstition was superseded by one based on reason and science.&#160; These developments helped shape a capitalism system that incubated a social order based on secular modernism.</p> <p>The U.S. fostered its own forms of quasi-feudalism.&#160; One was indentured servitude that operated from 1608 to the early-1800s.&#160; The second and most deeply scaring was the enslavement of Africans and African-Americans that formally lasted from 1619 to 1865 and, informally, persisted under Jim Crow policies well into the 20th century.</p> <p>Postmodern serfdom seeks to reconstitute an earlier system of social hierarchy through 21st century rebranding.&#160; The king and nobles once ruled, with a supplicant church and legal system promulgated the ideological glue that held society together.&#160; Today, the new nobility of the 1 percent rules and is assisted by a fawningly army of political operatives and law-and-order functionaries — and the nearly all-powerful ideological glue of a vast distraction industry that includes the information and entertainment media.</p> <p>Those most subjected to the tyranny of postmodern serfdom are the postmodern serfs, the new generation of proletariat laborers who live precarious lives.&#160;&#160; Richard Florida, who celebrated the rise of the “creative class,” has identified the new low-wage service workers as a key component of this new social hierarchy.</p> <p>In a 2012 Atlantic article, he estimates that the new “underclass” consists of about 60 million Americans who make up the a new working class, “the service class.”&#160; He identifies this sector as “some of America’s fastest-growing job categories, such as food preparation, personal care, and retail sales, but on average they earn just over $30,000 in annual wages, and many quite a bit less than that”&#160; (The U.S. Census reports the average median household income for 2013 at $51,939.)</p> <p>Florida also includes in this sector “the unemployed, the displaced, and the disconnected to these tens of millions of low-wage service workers, and the population of post-industrialism’s left-behinds surges to as many as two-thirds of all Americans.”&#160; He concludes, with a bitter warning:&#160; “Worse yet, the ranks of the 66 percent are a product of the very structure of post-industrial capitalism. If the top third of America’s workers are navigating and prospering in the knowledge economy, the other two-thirds are disconnected and sinking.”</p> <p>C.Z. Nnaemeka calls this new part of the working class as the “unexotic underclass” and identifies three sectors :</p> <p> single mothers – “80% of whom, according to the US Census, are poor or hovering on the nasty edges of working poverty.”</p> <p>* veterans of two ongoing wars in the Middle East – “some of these veterans, having served multiple tours, are returning from combat with all manner of monstrosities ravaging their heads and bodies.”</p> <p>* people over 50 – who are “finding themselves suddenly jobless.&#160; These are the Untouchables of the new American workforce.”</p> <p>And the list of the underclass of postmodern serfs goes on and on.&#160; It includes coffee-shop baristas burdened by enormous student debt; the legions of contingent workers – i.e., freelancers, contractors, consultants — hungry for a paycheck and willing to work for what’s been dubbed “the sharing economy; and the adjunct faculty, the exploited intellectual labor force who keeps the billion-dollar collage-education racket functioning.</p> <p>These are wageworkers in the “legal” economy. One need only add in those of the “underground” economy – e.g., neighborhood dope dealers, local hookers or small-time hustlers — and the number grows.&#160; And don’t forget the millions of unemployed who’ve given up and are no longer counted by counted among the unemployed.</p> <p>* * *</p> <p>Does anyone still believe in the American Dream, that the nation’s better days remain ahead?&#160;&#160; For nearly three-quarters of a century, Americans embraced a shared ideology that hard work, increased debt and white skin privilege would guarantee them – and, more importantly, their children – a better tomorrow.</p> <p>The belief in the American Dream is grounded in what Henry Luce, founder of Time magazine, announced in early 1941 as the “American Century.”&#160; He proclaimed his vision when the country was finally recovering from the Great Depression and word war was still overseas, in Europe and Asia.&#160; Isolationism was the national sentiment and principle foreign-policy strategy.&#160; Pearl Harbor broke the isolationist bubble, turning Luce’s words into the nation’s war chant, “the 20th century is the American Century.”</p> <p>Today, the American Century is over – and, increasingly, Americans know it.&#160; &#160;&#160;In its wake, a great social restructuring is underway.&#160; The slow emergence of postmodern serfdom may more resemble the fabled frog in a slowly heating pot of water that a catastrophic social or economic crisis.&#160; And the proverbial heat is rising.&#160; One senses that this issue is at the heart of the 2016 presidential campaign and both Bernie Sanders and Trump spoke to the deepening sense of disillusionment it is fostering.</p> <p>If the American Century is over, could the U.S. be — dialectically speaking — returning to an era not dissimilar to that which preceded WW-II and its great postwar recovery?&#160; The U.S. may be reliving an historical experience not dissimilar to the mid- to late-1930s when Pres. Roosevelt’s “New Deal” recovery from the Great Depression was floundering.&#160; The economy was stuck and the well-intentioned programs that had kept the nation afloat during the early- and mid-years of the Depression no longer worked. &#160;The war saved the U.S. from itself and propelled it forward over the following quarter century.</p> <p>The inequality and austerity that drives postmodern serfdom is being imposed at the system’s peripheries. In Europe, it was imposed on Greece and Spain, both suffering under Germany-imposed austerity.&#160; In the U.S., it was imposed on Detroit and &#160;— with the complicity of Congress and the President – on its colony, Puerto Rico. &#160;But it’s also being imposed on the weakest social sectors, the underclass or new serfs.</p> <p>The great squeeze, postmodern serfdom, is underway.&#160; The temperature in the proverbial pot of water is slowly rising and the great American frog will increasingly feel the heat.</p>	Are We Entering an Era of Postmodern Serfdom?	true	https://counterpunch.org/2016/07/08/are-we-entering-an-era-of-postmodern-serfdom/	2016-07-08	4
<p /> <p>One of Theranos Inc.'s biggest financial backers has sued the embattled startup and its founder for allegedly lying to attract its nearly $100 million investment, according to a fund document and people familiar with the matter.</p> <p>Continue Reading Below</p> <p>Partner Fund Management LP, a San Francisco-based hedge fund, filed the suit in Delaware Court of Chancery Monday afternoon, a letter to the hedge-fund's investors says.</p> <p>"Through a series of lies, material misstatements, and omissions, the defendants engaged in securities fraud and other violations by fraudulently inducing PFM to invest and maintain its investment in the company," says the letter, which was reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.</p> <p>The letter says Theranos, its founder Elizabeth Holmes and a former executive deceived the hedge fund by claiming it had developed "proprietary technologies that worked," and was close to getting regulatory approvals.</p> <p>A spokesman for Theranos said "the suit is without merit and Theranos will fight it vigorously. The company is very appreciative of its strong investor base that understands and continues to support the company's mission."</p> <p>The suit is the first sign of trouble from investors who poured about $800 million into the company, and then remained silent as it navigated a challenging year that began when the Journal first reported on shortcomings in its operations and technology last October.</p> <p>Advertisement</p> <p>Ms. Holmes had said Theranos could accurately perform dozens of tests using a few drops of blood, a premise that drove the firm to a valuation of $9 billion in a 2014 fundraising round. The Journal's investigation showed it used its flagship technology for a small number of tests, relied on devices made by conventional manufacturers and released questionable test results to patients.</p> <p>Since then, Theranos has voided tens of thousands of test results, faces federal civil and criminal investigations, and is appealing a regulator's revocation of its blood-testing license at a California lab. The company has said it is cooperating with the investigations and is continuing to work with regulators.</p> <p>The regulator barred Ms. Holmes from the lab industry, pending the company's appeal. Last week the company abruptly shut down its remaining testing operations in Arizona.</p> <p>The company has said it plans to shift its focus away from blood-testing to developing and making new commercial technology that can accomplish its long-stated aim of making blood tests cheaper and more accessible.</p> <p>In a letter to supporters last week describing that changed strategy, Ms. Holmes thanked her investors for providing the company with "the runway to realize our vision."</p> <p>The lawsuit filed Monday by Partner Fund Management, which focuses on health-care and technology investments, adds a new challenge to Theranos's pivot plan.</p> <p>The suit, disclosed to Partner investors Monday, was filed under seal in accordance with the rules of the Delaware court, which seek to protect confidential corporate information. The hedge fund's letter didn't include details of the allegations.</p> <p>Partner is seeking to recoup damages in excess of its investment, in addition to costs associated with the action, said a person familiar with the lawsuit.</p> <p>Partner made a $96.1 million investment in Theranos on Feb. 4, 2014, this person said.</p> <p>Partner manages more than $4 billion. It mostly invests in publicly traded securities, but makes some investments in private firms such as Theranos.</p> <p>Theranos, Ms. Holmes and former chief operating officer Sunny Balwani pitched the company to Partner managers beginning in December 2013, the person familiar with the case said.</p> <p>The fund alleges that Ms. Holmes and Mr. Balwani claimed their technology could do many more types of tests than it was capable of performing, the person said. Regulatory records disclosed by the Journal earlier this year show the company's marquee Edison blood-testing device was being used to do only about a dozen tests before the company ceased using it altogether last year.</p> <p>Partner also alleges, among other things, that Theranos overstated the scope of its submissions for Food and Drug Administration approval and its ability to meet the obligations it had agreed to in partnerships with companies like drugstore giant Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. as it prepared to roll out its services, according to the person familiar with the suit.</p> <p>Walgreens, which hosted Theranos locations at stores in the Phoenix area, walked away from the partnership in June.</p> <p>The Partner suit claims that Ms. Holmes, Mr. Balwani and Theranos engaged in securities fraud, negligent misrepresentation and violations of the Delaware deceptive trade practices act, among other things, a person familiar with the document said.</p> <p>Mr. Balwani couldn't immediately be contacted for comment.</p> <p>The clerk's office at the Delaware Court of Chancery confirmed the case had been filed late Monday. The special court rules on disputes involving Delaware corporations. Theranos is incorporated in that state.</p> <p>The Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating allegations that Theranos misled investors, people familiar with the matter say. The SEC has subpoenaed Partner in the case. The hedge fund is cooperating with authorities, said the person familiar with the suit.</p> <p>The Partner letter to investors said the 12-year-old hedge fund has never before been a party to a judicial proceeding, and said it had filed the case to protect its investors.</p> <p>As Theranos has faced rising scrutiny over the last year, most of its investors have remained on the sidelines. The company has attracted investments from venture capitalists, corporate partners and wealthy families.</p> <p>Another large investor, Sandbox Industries, didn't respond to a request for comment. The Lucas Venture Group, which appeared to have removed references to its investment in Theranos from its website, declined to comment.</p>	Major Investor Sues Theranos	true	http://foxbusiness.com/features/2016/10/11/major-investor-sues-theranos.html	2016-10-11	0
<p /> <p>A bottom-line issue in this recession is whether the government will help provide the unemployed with the most basic necessities of life: food, shelter, and health care. The ranks of jobless Americans have <a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iDry4KDCaXQ1WhEgwCVZdkvfCjwwD966CF0O1" type="external">swelled by more than 50 percent</a> in the last year, to 11.6 million. The official rate of 7.6 percent accounts only for the recently unemployed; by a <a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2009/02/06/the-other-unemployment-rate-139/" type="external">broader measure</a> that includes people who have stopped looking for work or can’t find full-time jobs, it jumps to a sobering 13.9 percent. Job losses have plunged millions of families into economic insecurity–where they join the working poor and the elderly and disabled poor, whose incomes are already lower than the unemployment benefits of many middle-class people. Beyond these essential stop-gap measures, of course, what these people really need are jobs.</p> <p>Will they get them? Read James Ridgeway’s <a href="" type="internal">new piece</a>.</p> <p />	The Problem With the Senate’s Stimulus Package	true	https://motherjones.com/politics/2009/02/problem-senates-stimulus-package/	2009-02-10	4
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p> <p /> <p>The attacks under preparation "were the same style as those perpetrated in Paris Nov. 13," in which 130 people were killed and hundreds injured by suicide bombers and gunmen equipped with Kalashnikov-style assault rifles, according to an internal document from Belgian state security services cited by RTBF French-language television. Those lethal actions were claimed by the Islamic State extremist group.</p> <p>The two suspects were arrested following searches Sunday and Monday in the Brussels area, the eastern Liege region and Flemish Brabant, the Belgian Federal Prosecutor's Office said in a statement. It did not disclose their names or further information about them.</p> <p>During the searches, no weapons or explosives were found, but military-type training uniforms, IS propaganda material and computer equipment were impounded and are being examined, the prosecutor's office said.</p> <p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> <p>It said the case was unrelated to the brazen and bloody extremist actions in Paris a month and a half ago but that the investigation, which is still ongoing, has revealed a "threat of serious attacks that would target several emblematic places in Brussels and be committed during the end-of-year holidays."</p> <p>The prosecutor's office gave no more details about the intended targets, but an official close to the investigation told The Associated Press that they included the Belgian capital's cobblestoned main square, thronged between Christmas and New Year's with shoppers and strollers, as well as a police headquarters in an adjacent street.</p> <p>"On the Grand Place, there are a lot of people, as well as soldiers and police who are patrolling, as well as a police station nearby," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized by the judge leading the investigation to make public statements.</p> <p>As of Tuesday, police and soldiers in Brussels are being ordered to take special precautions to ensure their own safety, Benoit Ramacker, spokesman for the Belgian government's Crisis Center, said.</p> <p>Police and army patrols were greatly beefed up in Brussels following the Paris attacks, and Ramacker said a new official threat assessment conducted Monday after the searches and arrests, concluded officers and troops deployed to protect Brussels have become targets of choice themselves.</p> <p>"And so we prefer to remind them of certain safety guidelines, so that they reinforce their own security and all goes well," Ramacker said in an interview at Crisis Center headquarters.</p> <p>He and other government officials declined to provide specifics, but Belgian media reported that police officers in the six police zones of Brussels will no longer be allowed to leave their stations alone or without their firearm, and that police stations in most neighborhoods will shut their doors at 8 p.m. instead of remaining open around the clock.</p> <p>In January, Belgian anti-terrorism units broke up what they said was an imminent attack on police by raiding a house in the eastern city of Verviers, killing two suspected jihadis and arresting a third. Their main quarry, however, was not there: Abdelhamid Abaaoud, who went on to become the suspected ringleader of the Nov. 13 attacks in Paris.</p> <p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> <p>The prosecutor's office said one of the suspects arrested this week was charged with acting as the leader and recruiter of a terrorist group planning to commit terrorist offenses, the other with participating in a terrorist group's activities as a principal actor or co-actor. The official close to the investigation said both of the suspects arrested were male.</p> <p>Four other people were taken in, questioned and then released, the prosecutor's office said.</p> <p>Numerous suspects in the Paris attacks, including presumed leader Abaaoud, suicide bombers Bilal Hadfi and Brahim Abdeslam, and the latter's fugitive brother Salah Abdeslam, were Brussels residents or had Brussels ties. On Nov. 21, the terror alert level for the Belgian capital area was temporarily raised to its maximum level after authorities announced they had received credible information that a terrorist attack could be imminent.</p> <p>Nine people suspected of links to the Paris attackers have also been taken into custody in Belgium, with the most recent arrest occurring Dec. 22. Belgium has also been one of the leading sources in Europe for foreigners recruited to fight for IS or other extremist Muslim groups.</p> <p>On Wednesday, Brussels city leaders were expected to decide whether the annual New Year's Eve fireworks display, scheduled for another large public square near the Grand Place, should go ahead as scheduled. Ramacker of the Crisis Center said heightened security measures are planned, but that at the moment, the Belgian government sees no reason to call for cancelling the popular event, which draws a crowd of thousands.</p> <p>"We want life to continue despite this risk," said Ramacker. "So we take security measures that are adapted. But I repeat: if it's ever necessary we'll take the decision (to recommend cancellation), even if it's a difficult one."</p>	Belgium: 2 suspected of plotting attacks arrested	false	https://abqjournal.com/698379/belgium-2-suspected-of-plotting-attacks-arrested.html		2
<p>MINNEAPOLIS (AP) _ The winning numbers in Wednesday evening’s drawing of the Minnesota Lottery’s “Gopher 5” game were:</p> <p>11-24-38-41-43</p> <p>(eleven, twenty-four, thirty-eight, forty-one, forty-three)</p> <p>Estimated jackpot: $170,000</p> <p>MINNEAPOLIS (AP) _ The winning numbers in Wednesday evening’s drawing of the Minnesota Lottery’s “Gopher 5” game were:</p> <p>11-24-38-41-43</p> <p>(eleven, twenty-four, thirty-eight, forty-one, forty-three)</p> <p>Estimated jackpot: $170,000</p>	Winning numbers drawn in ‘Gopher 5’ game	false	https://apnews.com/10332a256b734253be31444d13d1f6fe	2018-01-25	2
<p><a href="" type="internal">General Electric</a> (NYSE:GE) has agreed to sell its stake in one of the worlds biggest marine container leasing companies, GE SeaCo, to <a href="" type="internal">China</a>s HNA Group and Bravia Capital in a deal valued at $1.05 billion.</p> <p>The Chinese companies said Monday they will take over GE SeaCo, a shipping container leaser owned 50% by GE Capital and 50% by SeaCo, as well as some other assets in the standardized containers industry that are owned by the companies.</p> <p>Continue Reading Below</p> <p>GE will receive about $500 million for its interests in the venture, while SeaCo will get about $528 million. The move marks the largest ever foreign acquisition by HNA, which is a conglomerate that owns Chinas fourth-largest carrier, Hainan Airlines, as well as a number of other businesses.</p> <p>Bravia, which is a Hong Kong-based private equity company, said GE SeaCo is the fifth-largest player in the global marine container leasing industry owning more than 870,000 standard 20-foot units.</p> <p>The companies said the deal, which is subject to regulatory and shareholder approval, is being funded using both stock and debt. Following the close, GE SeaCo will operate as a core business within HNAs existing logistics and finance businesses. Its management team will remain with the company.</p> <p>Advertisement</p>	General Electric Sells Stake in SeaCo for $500M	true	http://foxbusiness.com/features/2011/08/01/general-electric-sells-stake-in-seaco-for-500m.html	2016-01-28	0
<p>Stopping just past the bay bridge steps past the Limpopo River, a driver rolls down the window, turns up the volume on the car radio and begins the long wait for gas. It is the rhythms of life here these days, the result of a flow of Zimbabweans that has become a flood. In town line ups outside the banks snake down the sidewalks. Hundreds stand in the baking sun waiting their turn to pick up valuable foreign currency, their own money is just about worthless. Back at the bridge, two men stuff bags of food, snacks, cooking oil, small appliances, you name it, into every available space on their pick up truck. When that's done they move onto the trailer and fill that too. The pick up heads off, its axels creaking under the weight of the cargo. It will all be sold within minutes of arriving at the next Zimbabwean town. The economic crisis in Zimbabwe breeds opportunity for those with means, but there are others who don't have the paper work or the money to make the crossing back and forth. And in their hundreds, they embark on a much riskier journey. Day and night the desperate make a dash towards what they hope will be a better life. A people's smuggler has brought a group of about half a dozen Zimbabweans here to a township on the outskirts of a town right beside the highway that leads back to the border. One man, his baseball cap pulled low over his head, tells me this was his third try, the last two times he was caught and brought back. The smuggler stands to one side, his dreadlocks falling into his face and he cocks his head to listen. He calls himself Simon, and Simon has no problem profiting from other people's desperation, playing up the danger they face in crocodiles, he calls them crocks, ï¿½It's a way of me making money, they're desperate and they want to come across but I know the way. If they've got no passports to cross the border, I know where there's crocks and where there are no crocks so I take them through. It's easy for me.ï¿½ Simon says he's one of about 15 smugglers and they all know the rules. They know sometimes soldiers can be bribed as can the gangsters. Everybody can get a piece of the action, it's all about business here. Nighttime in the town, women in short skirts and plunging tops walk the streets off the main road waiting for clients. LL ï¿½how many women work the street at night?ï¿½ One woman, ï¿½Too much ladies.ï¿½ Her name is Precious, she stayed to talk when the other prostitutes scattered when we approached. She is from Zimbabwe. She wears a wig, a candy pick t-shirt emblazoned with the words ï¿½Sweet Loveï¿½ and the hardened look of a survivor. Precious tells me her time is precious too and so we arrange to meet the next day. Home for Precious is a shack just beyond a rusty gate. She shares one room, one bed with two other prostitutes. She came here hoping to work as a store clerk or a house cleaner so she could send money back home to support her son. But the pay was dismal. Then a friend introduced her to the streets and her first client, ï¿½I do that business. So that's where I continue for this business.ï¿½ Precious now sees girls, some as young as 14 selling themselves on the streets or the bars. It can be violent and brutal. A friend was gang raped and dumped in the bush. But for them, for her there is no other solution, ï¿½It's a big, big problem in Zimbabwe. That's why I took this business, and I know this business is risky. I risk my life, even in my sleep, I hope, I eat, I know I risk my life.ï¿½ LL ï¿½you must have a dream of a better life.ï¿½ Precious, ï¿½no answer.ï¿½ She casts her eyes down, her face suddenly potted with sadness, there is no answer, no dream to be had. Along the highway leading into town from the border, men armed with pliers twist and turn strands of wire. They're repairing the fence on this farm, repairing the damage caused by those fleeing from Zimbabwe. The farm owner, a towering Afrikaner, spends thousands of dollars every month fixing the holes his workers find every day, ï¿½Here you see, here, here, look at this one.ï¿½ LL ï¿½show me what they do, where they're cutting.ï¿½ The farm owner, ï¿½They just take out their pliers and they cut it like this. And there. And it's easy, they pull it apart and then run through the fence.ï¿½ He was born here and he's farmed this land for years. His property reaches right to the banks of the Limpopo. That means hundreds cross through his fields every day, but he and his workers have found the bodies of those who didn't make it. the reasons are chilling. He says, ï¿½One of them might be hunger, the other has been raped, others have been shot. Yes, we've found a lot, and it's not only my own farm. It is west and east from here.ï¿½ Some farmers are taking matters into their own hands. They're patrolling the borders, capturing migrants and turning them over to the police. They aren't vigilantes says this farmer, they're just fed up with foreigners invading their land, ï¿½people are causing us harm, involved in a lot of crimes in the country, they're illegal immigrants.ï¿½ As a storm sweeps across the savannah, thunder rumbles in the distance. Rainy season has not slowed the exodus from Zimbabwe, even as it increases the number of those who have drowned trying to make the crossing. They'll continue to come making the dangerous run through the bush, lured only by the faintest hope of a better life than the one they left behind in their ruined country.</p>	Zimbabweans look to South Africa	false	https://pri.org/stories/2008-01-23/zimbabweans-look-south-africa	2008-01-23	3
<p>Photo Credit: Full Frontal with Samantha Bee/YouTube</p> <p>As America prepared to watch the second presidential debate after being horrified by Donald Trump's 2005 Hollywood Access tape, Trump somehow managed to "make a last-minute play to non-consensually grab the media narrative," "Full Frontal" host Samantha Bee described.</p> <p>Trump somehow felt the only way to offset the damage from his "crotch-fondling" talk would be to round up four women, all claiming to have been victimized by the Clintons, and fly them to St. Louis to be used as some sort of “rape victim human shield," Bee explained.&#160;</p> <p>Bear in mind, this is a man who, in the same debate, seemingly humped a chair while he wasn't lurking behind his political opponent in the creepiest way possible, Bee pointed out.</p> <p>Of course, Trump's strategy may have appealed to his base, but it failed to resonate with the people Trump desperately needs to win: swing-state-residing suburban women.&#160;</p> <p>“Rubbing a woman’s face in her husband’s infidelities is not the way to America’s heart,” Bee noted about Trump's strategy on what she calls "the night we gave up."&#160;</p> <p>“We love wronged wives," Bee continued, noting, "This is the same America that is still obsessed with Jennifer Aniston. Her ex-husband has split up with the woman he cheated on her with, and we still want to know if she’s all right.”</p> <p>“Why can’t we lock [Bill Clinton] and Donald Trump in a closet together so they can grope each other to death?” Bee asked, because "none of it is Hillary’s fault and none if it erases what Donald did."</p> <p>Following the debate, pundits overwhelmingly came out against Trump's strategy, from MSNBC’s John Heilemann to&#160;Hugh Hewitt, who referenced "Lord of the Rings" in his harsh critique.</p> <p>Of course, the sh*tshow wouldn't be complete without “one candidate threatening to jail his opponent then stalking her on stage like he’s Leatherface and, finally, fornicating with a chair. When you’re a star, the chairs let you do it,” Bee said.</p> <p>Watch:</p> <p /> <p>Alexandra Rosenmann is an AlterNet associate editor. Follow her&#160; <a href="https://twitter.com/alexpreditor" type="external">@alexpreditor</a>.</p>	Samantha Bee Slams 'Crotch-Fondling' Trump for Faulting Hillary Clinton for Her Husband's Infidelities	true	http://alternet.org/election-2016/bee-slams-crotch-fondling-trump-faulting-hillary-bills-cheating	2016-10-11	4
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p> <p /> <p>The rising frustration over the camps had a flash of global attention when the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., Nikki Haley, was evacuated while recently visiting one because of a demonstration against South Sudan President Salva Kiir. Many camp residents said they were unhappy with their temporary home.</p> <p>Even as the crowding and filth are well-documented — the U.N. refugee agency says some in the seven U.N.-run camps resort to harmful coping mechanisms like “alcohol addiction, survival sex, exploitation of all sorts” — many people would rather remain than venture into open conflict. They say they’re too scared to leave.</p> <p>“These people were terrified,” the head of the U.N. mission in South Sudan, David Shearer, told The Associated Press. “There’s no doubt that many of them would have been killed if we hadn’t opened our gates.”</p> <p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> <p>They are called Protection of Civilians sites and as they embark on their fifth year of existence, they are an increasing point of contention. South Sudan government officials say their citizens are becoming reliant on aid handouts.</p> <p>“The (camps) have created a dependency,” said Hussein Mar Nyuot, minister of humanitarian affairs and disaster management.</p> <p>For the first time, South Sudan’s government is proposing a “resettlement package” to encourage people to leave the camps for good. Nyuot said it would include farming tools, seeds and other items to help civilians get back on their feet.</p> <p>The U.N. says it won’t force people out of the camps, especially as warnings of ethnic cleansing continue. Tens of thousands of people have been killed in South Sudan’s civil war that began in December 2013, and efforts at peace deals and cease-fires have failed. Two million people have fled the country in the largest civilian displacement in Africa since the Rwanda genocide.</p> <p>South Sudan’s efforts should focus on ending the fighting, not closing the camps, experts say.</p> <p>Discussing closure “should wait until such time as there is a negotiated settlement that ends the war and substantially reduces the violence that has engulfed virtually the entire country,” said Payton Knopf, coordinator of the South Sudan senior working group at the U.S. Institute of Peace.</p> <p>Inside the camps, children splash naked in stagnant, contaminated water in makeshift shantytowns while men remain idle and jobless. Women are left to care for families, dodging the threat of gangs, theft, looting and rape.</p> <p>Threats increase outside the gates, especially for women who venture out daily to collect firewood for cooking.</p> <p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> <p>Last month, Mary Nyang Kuon said she was attacked by more than 20 government soldiers while looking for wood outside a camp in the capital, Juba.</p> <p>“They tied me to a tree, beat me and raped me,” she said. The 37-year-old said she’s been too scared to go outside ever since.</p> <p>The U.N. says it is doing what it can to reduce the number of such attacks. In the past year it has created a 200-meter weapons-free zone around its camps, increased foot patrols and weapons searches and enhanced its intelligence network within the camps.</p> <p>But Shearer, the U.N. mission chief, acknowledged that at the end of the day “they’re still camps.”</p> <p>South Sudan’s government has to show it’s serious about providing security, he said.</p> <p>Many camp residents say the government has done nothing to instill confidence.</p> <p>Charles Riek said he has lived in a camp in Juba since the civil war began, when his older brother was shot dead for being ethnic Nuer, the same as opposition leader Riek Machar.</p> <p>The 34-year-old Riek said he fears a similar fate. He is one of almost 40,000 people, the majority of them Nuer, living in two camps in Juba.</p> <p>He sees no end in sight to the war and can’t imagine going home.</p> <p>“I can’t go out unless there’s a peace agreement,” Riek said. “I’m displaced in my own country.”</p>	South Sudan wants thousands sheltering in UN camps to leave	false	https://abqjournal.com/1102196/south-sudan-wants-thousands-sheltering-in-un-camps-to-leave.html	2017-12-05	2
<p>In the 1960s and '70s,&#160;during the Vietnam War, tens of thousands of Americans fled north to Canada as conscientious objectors and deserters. It was "the largest political exodus from the United States since the American Revolution," according to author and professor <a href="http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674004719" type="external">John Hagan</a>. And many of them stayed permanently.</p> <p>Something similar happened on a smaller scale during the Iraq War — except, the staying part is a little more complicated.</p> <p>Even though Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau expressed early support for letting war resisters from the United States remain in Canada, not much has been done to formalize their status.</p> <p>"Since the election, which was nine months ago, unfortunately, very little has happened," said Michelle Robidoux, spokeswoman for the War Resisters Support Campaign. The <a href="http://www.resisters.ca/" type="external">campaign says that they</a> offer assistance to US military personnel who "refused to participate in the Iraq war and came to Canada seeking asylum."</p> <p>Fifteen war resisters are living in Canada, and Robidoux said they live like any Canadian, but with the constant fear of deportation.</p> <p>"US war resisters who came up here, most of them between 2005 and 2008, are still living in limbo and are still under the threat of deportation," Robidoux said.</p> <p /> <p>War Resisters Support Campaign/Facebook</p> <p>Their fears of deportation are justified. Robidoux said that "a number of war resisters [were] deported under the Harper government and sentenced to harsh jail terms."</p> <p>And the consequences of being sent back to the United States could be grave. Servicemembers face possible court-martialing and jail time.</p> <p>Robidoux says her organization is still hopeful that there will be changes under Trudeau. "We do think there are people in this government listening."</p> <p>And, she believes Canadians feel strongly that Americans resisting their country's wars should be allowed asylum in Canada.</p> <p>"A poll was conducted just a few weeks ago that found that three out of five Canadians want US war resisters to be allowed to gain permanent residence status in Canada," she said.</p> <p>She added: "If anybody should be punished because of the Iraq War it certainly shouldn't be soldiers who said no," Robidoux said.</p> <p>Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated the status of US conscientious objectors living in Canada and some of the historical details of their residence requests.</p>	US resisters to the Iraq War are living under threat of deportation in Canada	false	https://pri.org/stories/2016-07-22/us-resisters-iraq-war-are-now-living-undocumented-canada	2016-07-22	3
<p>Seoul is seeking four “advanced” surveillance drones priced at a total of $1.2 billion to gather intelligence on North Korea’s activities after the U.S. turns over wartime command of Korean troops — a legacy of the 1950s Korean War — later this decade.</p> <p>Notice of the developing deal came from the Pentagon to Congress two weeks after North Korea surprised the world by launching a satellite via a rocket, a move seen by many as advancing its ballistic missile program.</p> <p>— Posted by <a href="" type="internal">Alexander Reed Kelly</a>.</p> <p>Reuters via The Washington Post:</p> <p /> <p>“The proposed sale of the RQ-4 will maintain adequate intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capabilities and will ensure the alliance is able to monitor and deter regional threats in 2015 and beyond,” [a Pentagon document released Tuesday] said.</p> <p>… Seoul has shown interest in the high-altitude, long-endurance Global Hawk platform for at least four years. The system, akin to Lockheed Martin’s U-2 spy plane, may be optimized to scan large areas for stationary and moving targets by day or night and despite cloud cover.</p> <p>It transmits imagery and other data from 60,000 feet at near real-time speed, using electro-optical, infrared and radar-imaging sensors built by Raytheon.</p> <p><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-moves-toward-selling-advanced-spy-drones-to-south-korea/2012/12/25/6f08784e-4ed0-11e2-950a-7863a013264b_story.html?wpisrc=nl_headlines" type="external">Read more</a></p>	U.S. Prepares to Sell Spy Drones to South Korea	true	https://truthdig.com/articles/u-s-prepares-to-sell-spy-drones-to-south-korea/	2012-12-27	4
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p> <p>WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump embraced legislation Wednesday that would dramatically reduce legal immigration and shift the nation toward a system that prioritizes merit and skills over family ties.</p> <p>Trump joined with Republican Sens. David Perdue of Georgia and Tom Cotton of Arkansas to promote the bill, which has so far gained little traction in the Senate.</p> <p>“This legislation demonstrates our compassion for struggling American families who deserve an immigration system that puts their needs first and puts America first,” Trump said during an event in the White House’s Roosevelt Room.</p> <p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> <p>It was the latest example of the president championing an issue that animated the core voters of his 2016 campaign, following decisions to pull out of the Paris climate treaty and ban transgender people from the military.</p> <p>Perdue and Cotton’s legislation would replace the current process for obtaining legal permanent residency, or green cards, creating a skills-based point system for employment visas. The bill would also eliminate the preference for U.S. residents’ extended and adult family members, while maintaining priority for their spouses and minor children.</p> <p>Overall, immigration would be slashed 41 percent in the legislation’s first year and 50 percent in its 10th, according to projection models cited by the bill’s sponsors. The bill would also aim to slash the number of refugees in half and eliminate a program that provides visas to people from countries with low rates of immigration.</p> <p>The rollout included a combative press briefing led by Trump policy aide Stephen Miller, who clashed with the media over the plan and accused one reporter of being “cosmopolitan” when he suggested it would only bring in English-speaking people from Britain and Australia.</p> <p>The president has made cracking down on illegal immigration a hallmark of his administration and has tried to slash federal grants for cities that refuse to comply with federal efforts to detain and deport those living in the country illegally.</p> <p>But he has also vowed to make changes to the legal immigration system, arguing that immigrants compete with Americans for much-needed jobs and drive wages down.</p> <p>Most economists dispute the president’s argument, noting that immigration in recent decades doesn’t appear to have meaningfully hurt wages in the long run. Increased immigration is also associated with faster growth because the country is adding workers, so restricting the number of immigrants could slow the economy’s potential to expand.</p> <p>The bill’s supporters, meanwhile, say it would make the U.S. more competitive, raise wages and create jobs.</p> <p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> <p>Backers said the bill would sharply increase the proportion of green cards available to high-skilled workers and would not affect other high or low-skilled worker visa programs such as H1-B and H2-B visas. The Trump Organization has asked for dozens of H-2B visas for foreign workers at two of Trump’s private clubs in Florida, including his Mar-a-Lago resort.</p> <p>The White House said that only 1 in 15 immigrants comes to the U.S. because of their skills, and the current system fails to place a priority on highly skilled immigrants.</p> <p>But the Senate has largely ignored a previous version of the measure, with no other lawmaker signing on as a co-sponsor. GOP leaders have showed no inclination to vote on immigration this year, and Democrats quickly dismissed it.</p> <p>“The bottom line is to cut immigration by half a million people, legal immigration, doesn’t make much sense,” said Senate Democratic leader Charles Schumer of New York, who called it a “nonstarter.”</p> <p>The bill would create a new points-based system for applicants seeking to become legal permanent residents, favoring those who can speak English, have high-paying job offers, can financially support themselves and offer skills that would contribute to the U.S. economy. A little more than 1 million green cards were issued in 2015.</p> <p>In a nod to his outreach to blue-collar workers during the campaign, Trump said the measure would prevent new immigrants from collecting welfare for a period of time and help U.S. workers by reducing the number of unskilled laborers entering the U.S.</p> <p>But the president is mischaracterizing many of the immigrants coming to the United States as low-skilled and dependent on government aid.</p> <p>The Pew Research Center said in 2015 that 41 percent of immigrants who had arrived in the past five years held a college degree, much higher than the 30 percent of non-immigrants in the United States. A stunning 18 percent held an advanced degree, also much higher than the U.S. average.</p> <p>Trump has long advocated for the changes and vowed during an immigration speech in Phoenix last August to overhaul the legal immigration system “to serve the best interests of America and its workers.” He voiced support for the Senate bill at a rally last week in Ohio, where his call for a “merit-based system” that “protects our workers” generated loud cheers.</p> <p>Some immigrant advocates have criticized the proposal, saying that slashing legal immigration would hurt industries like agriculture and harm the economy.</p> <p>“Our system is broken, but the response should be to modernize it, not take a sledgehammer to it,” said Jeremy Robbins, executive director of New American Economy, a group backed by former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.</p> <p>__</p> <p>Associated Press writers Josh Boak, Erica Werner and Donna Cassata contributed to this report.</p> <p>__</p> <p>Follow Ken Thomas at <a href="http://twitter.com/kthomasDC" type="external">http://twitter.com/kthomasDC</a> and Jill Colvin at <a href="http://twitter.com/@colvinj" type="external">http://twitter.com/@colvinj</a></p>	Trump backs GOP plan to push legal immigration changes	false	https://abqjournal.com/1042040/trump-joining-with-gop-senators-to-push-immigration-changes.html	2017-08-02	2
<p /> <p>This cartoon requires Macromedia’s Flash Player. If you don’t see the cartoon above, <a href="http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download/index.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash" type="external">download the player here</a>.</p> <p>Mark Fiore is an editorial cartoonist and animator whose work has appeared in the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, the San Francisco Examiner, and dozens of other publications. He is an active member of the American Association of Editorial Cartoonists, and has a <a href="http://www.markfiore.com" type="external">web site</a> featuring his work.</p> <p />	The Pretty Good Generation	true	https://motherjones.com/politics/2008/05/pretty-good-generation/	2008-05-29	4
<p>If we’re fixated on Donald Trump, it’s because he embodies America’s new id, boiling over once more after decades of repression. The last time the American id broke through its constraints was in the libidinous blowout of the 1960s. Protestant cultural repression (“father knows best”), corporate power, (“what’s good for GM is good for the country”), and American imperialism (the Vietnam war) were rejected in favor of sex, drugs, and rock and roll.</p> <p>The counter-culture wanted to dismantle capitalism and the corporate state in favor of some kind of decentralized, eroticized tribalism. Black power called for an urban racial tribalism, while middle class hippies sought a rural, communal tribalism. The feminist and gay movements invoked a gender tribalism. Each profoundly challenged mainstream values.</p> <p>The sixties counter-culture had a good run, but, beginning with Nixon, the lid was put back on. The forces of disorder were too great to be stuffed back into the box, but they could be domesticated. The potent new wine of the 60s was poured into the tough old bottles of established institutions and inherited traditions by a series of conservative, law-and-order administrations that lasted almost 50 years, right down through Obama.</p> <p>The black liberation movement was diverted from black power into demands for equal rights with whites. The women’s movement was diverted from attacking patriarchy into demands for equal rights with men. The gay movement was diverted from a promiscuous lifestyle into demands for equal rights with heterosexuals. The resulting gains–token blacks, careerist women, and gay marriage–were real, but limited.</p> <p>Nixonian conservative-liberalism&#160;supported equal access to the system, but only on the condition that the system itself would no longer be called into question. The long history of&#160;radical American social change–led by&#160;anti-federalists, Jacksonians, utopians, mutualists, populists, socialists, anarchists, &#160;and communists–died with a whimper&#160;in the 1970s. The New Left of the sixties was its last gasp.</p> <p>And there were few regrets. Most practical people bought the conservative-liberal compact. They were happy enough to abandon aspirations for social change&#160;as long as the&#160;expanding post-war economy&#160;could be kept booming. For blacks, women, and gays to be included in the system,&#160;more jobs and careers had to be provided.</p> <p>For awhile all went well. Stagnating wage levels were offset by additional, if lower-paying, jobs, easy credit, and cheaper imported consumer goods. But, over time, resource scarcity, union busting, environmental degradation, pollution, automation, foreign labor competition, climate change, wage stagnation, and globalization all conspired to &#160;limit and then stall economic growth.</p> <p>The chickens came home to roost in the financial crisis of 2008, when it became apparent that the return on investment was no longer adequate to support economic growth. Ordinary people, already debt-burdened, stopped borrowing. Post-crash low interest lending by central banks, intended to stimulate the economy, found few productive outlets. Most of the new money only bid up asset prices, especially in real estate and the stock market, but also in education and health care. If you owned the right assets, fine, is not, too bad.</p> <p>As more and more people found themselves economically squeezed out of the game, they lost interest in the conservative-liberal compact with America. When economically redundant people compete for limited resources, inclusion becomes a luxury, and eventually a sacrifice. The cynicism and alienation of roughly half the population detached significant psychic energy from the status quo. A pool of free energy–a new id–was released, with no obvious goal or direction, except for its rejection of conservative liberalism.</p> <p>This new American id, channeled by Trump, like any id, is not a pretty picture. Unlike the naive id of the sixties, born of middle class prosperity, the Trumpian id is born of hard times, of resentment and anger, of middle class austerity. The id of the 60s said “make love, not war;” the Trumpian id of today says “make war, not love.” Trump exhorts us to competition and power, to hitting back, to having no illusions, to self-interest over collective interest, to recognizing if not exploiting differences conservative liberals would have us ignore. Freed of the constraints of conservative-liberalism, those cut out of the American dream are now free to indulge their resentments. If equal rights were a hallmark of conservative-liberalism, then the rejection of equal rights has reopened the question of how we should treat one another. So far, the new American id has no answer to how to do that.</p> <p>The vulgarity of the new id speaks the language of the dispossessed, where personal differences are legitimate subjects of discussion, ranging from friendly teasing to hostility and racism. If you know any rednecks, you understand this. The new id embraces the differences between races, men and women, straights and gays, winners and losers. It rejects the puritanism of political correctness, where personal distinctions don’t matter and all losers must somehow be made into winners. It’s a populist id which longs for some form of economic social justice which will redistribute the wealth. In the 2016 election Bernie Sanders also called for economic social justice, but his self-discipline allowed no foothold for the new American id. Sanders could not or would not speak the emotional language of resentment, only the rational language of reform. But reform without resentment fails to address the depth of anger and alienation, and only perpetuates the status quo. Resentments cannot be ameliorated unless they are accepted.</p> <p>Most of the population which still benefits from the conservative-liberal status quo was shocked and confused by the Trump revolution. The super-rich, insulated behind their fortunes and private jets and gated estates, were not shocked or confused. It was the dependent upper middle classes–including small business people, educated professionals, managers, and skilled technicians–who were were the ones most upset by Trump and what he represented. The system still works for them, but its failures are too glaring either to admit or ignore. And their investments are not as secure as they were. And any serious reform, any redistribution of wealth and power, also threatens their security. They remain psychically committed to a failing status quo, but worried about the future; their impossible fantasy is to go back to the world before Trump.</p> <p>It is easy to condemn Trump and his hard-core supporters for their vulgarity, but that same vulgarity thoroughly saturates American culture. Trump speaks the open language of sex and violence, race and prejudice, but that language is already embedded in a popular culture even liberals avidly consume, from&#160;The Sopranos&#160;to&#160;The Game of Thrones. Why is it okay to suck up all that up with homemade popcorn, but somehow to be outraged by Trump saying the same thing at a press conference or in a tweet? It’s not enough to say one is fiction and the other reality, as if the former had no connection with the latter. In fact they are deeply entwined.</p> <p>One of the consequences of conservative-liberalism is that it emasculated old-time liberalism. Liberalism used to focus on social justice, on one or another practical agenda for ensuring a more or less equal, or at least proportional, distribution of resources. Its communal orientation provided for a healthy sublimation of libidinal emotion and energy. Conservative-liberalism sacrificed any such social agenda for a personalized version of human rights. Politically, the high point of conservative-liberalism came with the Clinton administration, when the Democrats were brought fully into the Nixonian program, joining in the rejection of social reform in favor of self-interest. It was no longer a question of how to organize society to ensure greater justice, but of how to develop and assert a personal identity. What was once outwardly directed libidinal energy turned inward, and became narcissistic and masturbatory.</p> <p>The release of the Trumpian id has been particularly hard on liberal intellectuals, looking down from their perches on university campuses or as media talking heads. They have reacted with hysteria to any suggestion that there may be limits to equality. They have doubled down on equal rights and the Nixonian agenda to the point where dissent itself is decreed intolerable. Any expression of other than purely egalitarian values becomes a mortal threat. To their minds, any distinction between whites and minorities becomes racism; any distinction between men and women becomes misogyny; any distinction between straights and gays becomes homophobia.</p> <p>Where will all this end? The cat, we should realize, is out of the bag. We need to accommodate our differences, not pretend they don’t exist, or that all identities have the same value. We need to learn to be honest about our differences without losing our mutual respect. Liberal talk of equality turned out to be far too abstract. By applying to everything and everyone, it lost all meaning. Conservatives can be painted as racists and yahoos, to be sure, but they, at best, are also capable of displaying a solidarity born of adversity which cuts across race and gender and other divisions, even as those are acknowledged in the process. And, for better or worse, they have become the bearers of the call for social change. Status quo liberals are now the true conservatives. They have the luxury of insulating themselves, of indulging their interests, of affording to lose touch with reality. The shock to liberals is that their theories no longer work, and their pride is hurt. The shock to conservatives is that their very survival is at stake.</p> <p>Nonetheless, some form of equality, as liberals insist, remains essential to human decency and dignity. But what is it? Absolute equality turns out to a mirage. The total lack of equality is inhuman barbarism. Where, then, is the balance between recognizing real differences and embracing a common humanity? Somewhere, there must be a common ground. If we can’t find it, we are lost.</p> <p>Adrian Kuzminski is the author of several books, including&#160;Fixing the System: A History of Populism, Ancient &amp; Modern, and&#160;The Ecology of Money: Debt, Growth, and Sustainability.</p>	The Return of the Repressed	true	https://counterpunch.org/2018/01/19/the-return-of-the-repressed/	2018-01-19	4
<p /> <p>Duluth Holdings' (NASDAQ: DLTH) rugged work wear brand has been gaining fast traction with consumers while attracting some serious attention from investors -- and for good reason. From 2009 to 2015, the company posted compounded annual sales growth of 29% and -- even more incredibly -- compounded annual net income growth of 47%. The good news for investors is that this growth party is far from over. In its most recent earnings report, Duluth posted its 26th consecutive quarter of increasing net sales, with total revenue up 27.4% and retail sales up 43.8%.</p> <p>Continue Reading Below</p> <p>Image source: Duluth Holdings</p> <p>Duluth Trading Co. brand apparel and gear appeals to the company's core tradesperson target (and beyond) with products that address real-world problems. Like longtail shirts that promise to "unplumber your butt." Or Armachillo cooling underwear. While these names -- and the cheeky advertising that has become Duluth's trademark -- may induce chuckles, the products solve genuine issues for people, inspiring fierce loyalty and generating valuable buzz. To wit: On Duluth's website, there are currently more than 16,000 five-star reviews for its Buck Naked underwear.</p> <p>According to IRI data, Duluth has higher overall customer satisfaction scores than Carhartt, Columbia Sportswear, or Cabela's, to name just a few. But while Duluth Trading already enjoys 67% brand awareness among consumers, only 31% of consumers have purchased its products, according to the IRI data. And therein lies Duluth's multibillion-dollar opportunity.</p> <p>Advertisement</p> <p>Image source: Duluth Holdings.</p> <p>Duluth -- a former catalog-and-online-only retailer -- is still in the early stages of building out its store base to expand its geographical footprint. How early? The Wisconsin-headquartered company started 2016 with a mere seven locations and will end the year with 16. For 2017, the company plans to open an additional seven to eight stores, which will be the beginning of an aggressive eastern expansion.</p> <p>Management has stated that they see the eastern U.S. as an even larger dollar opportunity than its current base in the Midwest. And while the company initially found success in small- and medium-size cities like Omaha and Sioux Falls, you'll find its newest stores in the suburbs of much larger markets like Chicago, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C. Recently, company CEO Stephanie Pugliese noted that the majority of Duluth's customers are actually in California, Texas, and New York and that it will eventually make sense to have presences there as well. Clearly, the company sees a very long runway for retail growth ahead that should provide years of top-line expansion.</p> <p>Importantly, in markets where Duluth's stores have been open more than a year, the direct side of the business continues to grow at the same rate as the rest of the country. In other words, Duluth's retail sales don't cannibalize the company's direct and online sales; they're incremental. And even better, according to Duluth, each new store pays for itself in less than 24 months.</p> <p>Duluth's management team hasn't been shy about announcing some pretty lofty ambitions. The company is targeting long-term future sales growth of 20% and net income growth of 25%. The company also appears confident in its ability to meet those goals in the short term, guiding for full-year 2016 revenue of $370 million to $380 million and full-year EPS of $0.66 to $0.70. At the midpoint, these ranges reflect 23.3% and 26.8% growth, respectively, over last year.</p> <p>Duluth also has several other desirable qualities that it can check off. A tiny $1.1 billion market cap and plenty of room to run? Check. Heavy insider ownership that aligns management with shareholders? Check. An under-the-radar women's business that's growing even faster than the core men's business? Check. A strong balance sheet with $23 million in cash and just $5 million in debt? Check. The ability to fund all its new store openings with free cash flow for the foreseeable future? Check.</p> <p>Duluth is a company firing on all cylinders right now. Unfortunately, the market is pricing it like one, too. Trading at a P/E ratio of around 40 as of this writing, shares appear pretty steep at around $33.50. For a little context, fellow lifestyle brands Lululemon and Columbia Sportswear currently trade at P/E ratios of 29 and 24.2, respectively. That said, if Duluth keeps delivering on its growth targets, the current price may end up looking like a relative bargain 12 months from now.</p> <p>The company is slated to report earnings after the market closes Dec. 8. Make sure to check out the report for a rundown on how things are going.</p> <p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/CMFGouldberg/info.aspx" type="external">Andy Gould Opens a New Window.</a> owns shares of Duluth Holdings and Lululemon Athletica. <a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/CMFGouldberg/info.aspx" type="external">Andy Gould</a> has the following options: short February 2017 $30 puts on Duluth Holdings. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Lululemon Athletica. The Motley Fool recommends Duluth Holdings. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services <a href="http://www.fool.com/shop/newsletters/index.aspx?source=isiedilnk018048&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">free for 30 days Opens a New Window.</a>. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that <a href="http://www.fool.com/knowledge-center/motley.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">considering a diverse range of insights Opens a New Window.</a> makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>	Can Anything Stop Duluth Holdings?	true	http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/12/06/can-anything-stop-duluth-holdings.html	2016-12-06	0
<p>During the brutally hot summer of 2003, thousands of French vacationers remained on holiday rather than returning home to bury their recently deceased parents, who had died from the extraordinary heat and were being stashed in air-conditioned storage lockers. Those acts of filial impiety cast into sharp relief the October canonization of Jeanne Jugan, foundress of the Little Sisters of the Poor.</p> <p>Born during the virulently anti-Catholic French Revolution, Jeanne Jugan learned early in her life that fidelity to Christ and his Church could be costly. A history of the period of her childhood sums things up neatly: “In spite of the persecution, the people of Cancale kept the faith. During dark nights, in an attic or a barn, or even in the middle of the countryside, the faithful gathered together, and there in the silence of the night, the priest would offer the Eucharist and baptize the children. But this happiness was rare. There were so many dangers.”</p> <p>Jeanne Jugan knew poverty as well as persecution, and developed a marked sensitivity to the humiliation that those who have fallen through the cracks of society's net of solidarity can feel. She declined an offer of marriage because, as she put it, “God…is keeping me for a work which is not yet known, for a work which is not yet founded.” That work came into clear focus when, at age 47, she met an elderly, blind, and sick woman, whom she took into her care; from that seemingly random encounter was born a tremendous work of charity. The congregation of women religious she founded dedicated itself to the care of the poor and elderly — and supported itself by begging, with the foundress, Jeanne Jugan, as chief beggar. The Little Sisters of the Poor spread rapidly throughout Europe, America, and Africa, but the going was never easy for Jeanne Jugan.</p> <p>In 1843, Jeanne Jugan's re-election as superior was quashed by the community's priest-advisor, Father Augustin Marie Le Pailleur. Refusing to contest what others would have deemed an injustice (but which she thought to be the will of God), Jeanne Jugan accepted this curious decision and went on the road, supporting her sisters by begging. For the last twenty-seven years of her life, she lived at the order's motherhouse in retirement, again according to the orders of Father Le Pailleur; her role as foundress was never acknowledged during her lifetime. Yet the novelist Charles Dickens could write, after meeting Jeanne Jugan, that “there is in this woman something so calm, and so holy, that in seeing her I know myself to be in the presence of a superior being. Her words went straight to my heart, so that my eyes, I know not how, filled with tears.”</p> <p>To enter a house of the Little Sisters of the Poor today is to recapture what Dickens experienced. Elderly men and women with no one else to care for them are given exquisite attention; the dignity of every patient is honored, no matter how difficult that dignity may be to discern amidst the trials of senility and disease. The Little Sisters of the Poor and their patients are living reminders that there are no disposable human beings; that everyone is a someone for whom the Son of God entered the world, suffered, and died; and that we read others out of the human family at our moral and political peril.</p> <p>Yet that is the temptation facing the United States, and every other affluent society confronting a greying population, longer life expectancies, and spiraling medical costs. Where this temptation can lead is brutally displayed in the Netherlands, where euthanasia has been legal for years; and as the late Father Richard John Neuhaus said of such travesties as the Dutch “death with dignity” laws, what is permitted will soon become mandatory. That is precisely what has happened in Holland and indeed wherever euthanasia is legally permitted.</p> <p>St. Jeanne Jugan, Sister Marie of the Cross in her religious life, is thus a powerful — and badly needed — intercessor for all who would defend the gift of life from conception until natural death.</p> <p>George Weigel is Distinguished Senior Fellow and William E. Simon Chair in Catholic Studies at the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C.</p>	Saint Jeanne Jugan	false	https://eppc.org/publications/saint-jeanne-jugan/		1
<p>Bruce Springsteen, the iconic musician of the working-class U.S., endorsed Barack Obama on Wednesday. The announcement comes less than a week before the Pennsylvania primary, in which blue-collar voters may play a significant role in determining the Democratic nominee.</p> <p>The Los Angeles Times:</p> <p>Bruce Springsteen, the rocker who made “Born in the USA” a signature of working-class pride, endorsed Democrat Barack Obama for president today.</p> <p>“He has the depth, the reflectiveness and the resilience to be our next president,” Springsteen said in a letter posted on his website and distributed by the Obama campaign. “He speaks to the [America] I’ve envisioned in my music for the past 35 years, a generous nation with a citizenry willing to tackle nuanced and complex problems, a country that’s interested in its collective destiny and in the potential of its gathered spirit, a place where ‘nobody crowds you, and nobody goes it alone.’&#160;“</p> <p /> <p>Springsteen did not mention Obama’s Democratic rival, New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, by name. But the bard of New Jersey, who has written lyrics about the economically devastated towns of the Northeast, seemed to challenge her recent criticisms of Obama for saying that working-class Americans are bitter about their financial hardships, and for fanning the controversy over Obama’s involvement with the fiery Rev. Jeremiah Wright.</p> <p>“Critics have tried to diminish Sen. Obama through the exaggeration of certain of his comments and relationships,” Springsteen said in his letter. “While these matters are worthy of some discussion, they have been ripped out of the context and fabric of the man’s life and vision … often in order to distract us from discussing the real issues.”</p> <p><a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-campaign17apr17,0,4330133.story" type="external">Read more</a></p>	The Boss Hires Obama	true	https://truthdig.com/articles/the-boss-hires-obama/	2008-04-16	4
<p>PHOENIX (AP) _ These Arizona lotteries were drawn Tuesday:</p> <p>5 Card Cash</p> <p>JC-JD-JH-7D-10H</p> <p>(JC, JD, JH, 7D, 10H)</p> <p>All or Nothing Evening</p> <p>03-07-08-09-10-13-16-17-18-20</p> <p>(three, seven, eight, nine, ten, thirteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, twenty)</p> <p>All or Nothing Midday</p> <p>01-03-09-10-11-14-17-18-19-20</p> <p>(one, three, nine, ten, eleven, fourteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty)</p> <p>Pick 3</p> <p>7-9-1</p> <p>(seven, nine, one)</p> <p>Fantasy 5</p> <p>02-17-26-35-39</p> <p>(two, seventeen, twenty-six, thirty-five, thirty-nine)</p> <p>Estimated jackpot: $55,000</p> <p>Mega Millions</p> <p>02-06-30-31-55, Mega Ball: 7, Megaplier: 4</p> <p>(two, six, thirty, thirty-one, fifty-five; Mega Ball: seven; Megaplier: four)</p> <p>Estimated jackpot: $63 million</p> <p>Powerball</p> <p>Estimated jackpot: $92 million</p> <p>PHOENIX (AP) _ These Arizona lotteries were drawn Tuesday:</p> <p>5 Card Cash</p> <p>JC-JD-JH-7D-10H</p> <p>(JC, JD, JH, 7D, 10H)</p> <p>All or Nothing Evening</p> <p>03-07-08-09-10-13-16-17-18-20</p> <p>(three, seven, eight, nine, ten, thirteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, twenty)</p> <p>All or Nothing Midday</p> <p>01-03-09-10-11-14-17-18-19-20</p> <p>(one, three, nine, ten, eleven, fourteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty)</p> <p>Pick 3</p> <p>7-9-1</p> <p>(seven, nine, one)</p> <p>Fantasy 5</p> <p>02-17-26-35-39</p> <p>(two, seventeen, twenty-six, thirty-five, thirty-nine)</p> <p>Estimated jackpot: $55,000</p> <p>Mega Millions</p> <p>02-06-30-31-55, Mega Ball: 7, Megaplier: 4</p> <p>(two, six, thirty, thirty-one, fifty-five; Mega Ball: seven; Megaplier: four)</p> <p>Estimated jackpot: $63 million</p> <p>Powerball</p> <p>Estimated jackpot: $92 million</p>	AZ Lottery	false	https://apnews.com/4413278f15764cb584e3a536004f0f4d	2018-01-24	2
<p>Suspension rates in Chicago high schools vary widely from school to school, according to a Catalyst analysis of data on suspensions and enrollment for 1994-95.</p> <p>Disparity in stats</p> <p>Citywide, high schools had an average of 28 suspensions for every 100 students, a low figure compared to other large urban districts.</p> <p>However, the rate for individual schools ranged from a high of 106 per 100 students at Kennedy High in Chicago Lawn and Gage Park High in Gage Park, to a low of less than one suspension per 100 students at Chicago High School for Agricultural Sciences and Lindblom Technical (each of which had a total of only three suspensions).</p> <p>Altogether, 18 schools posted rates higher than the average, while 27 schools posted lower-than-average rates.</p> <p>Schools in the same or neighboring communities sometimes posted vastly different rates. Amundsen High in Lincoln Square, for instance, had 51 suspensions for every 100 students, while a few miles away in neighboring Edgewater, Senn Metro High—with 500 more students—posted a rate of 12 suspensions per 100. Both schools have similar, highly diverse student populations.</p> <p>Seventy percent of Amundsen’s suspensions were for offenses listed in Group 3 of the school system’s Uniform Discipline Code, records show; Group 3 includes misconduct such as using obscene language, fighting or persisting in other disruptive behavior. The remaining 30 percent of suspensions were for more serious Group 4 and 5 offenses, such as assault or drug violations. (The code divides offenses into five groups, ranging from 1, the least serious, to 5, the most severe.)</p> <p>“The principal [and] the LSC’s philosophy is, we’re a school and you’re here for an education,” says Amundsen disciplinarian Sherwin Bulmash. This year, however, Amundsen has relaxed its tough approach by using after-school and Saturday detentions as alternative punishments for less serious misconduct; suspensions for those offenses are down, Bulmash reports.</p> <p>At Senn, in contrast, 89 percent of suspensions were handed down for Group 4 and 5 offenses, records show. That’s still the case, says disciplinarian Herman Blade, who cites gang activity as the major cause of discipline problems. The number of suspensions this year is “running about the same” as last year, Blade says, but the school has begun cracking down in other ways; for one, suspensions are now for at least five days.</p> <p>Further, 150 problem students have been put “on trial,” which involves close monitoring of their academic performance and behavior. About 50 of these problem students have been transferred to other schools after getting into more trouble, and another 30 moved away or have been dropped from Senn’s roster because of excessive absences. Of the remaining 70, the majority are “doing fine,” Blade says, but about 30 are still struggling and receiving counseling for academic and behavior problems.</p> <p>In Roseland, Harlan and Fenger high schools had similar disparities; Harlan posted a rate of 25 suspensions per 100 students, compared to 70 per 100 at Fenger.</p> <p>Reasons for disparity</p> <p>Suspending students is “the last thing we do” says Harlan disciplinarian Michael White; even so, he adds, the number is “far more than I would like.” Many behavior problems could be solved with more parent involvement, he believes, but communicating with parents has proven difficult. “You can’t even get them to pick up report cards, so it’s really hard to get them to come in for conferences,” says White.</p> <p>At Fenger, disciplinarian Martin Witt says the school has handed down more suspensions in recent years because students have gotten more involved in gang and drug-related activities. “You have to go strong against that,” says Witt. “There are some circumstances where you just can’t avoid it.” For less serious misbehavior, a new Saturday-morning detention program seems to be working, Witt reports, “because kids don’t want to get up early on a Saturday and come to school.”</p> <p>Without knowing how other school districts implement discipline, it’s impossible to say what Chicago’s comparatively low suspension rate means, says Powhatan Collins, the Board of Edu-cation’s new director of high school services and former principal of Whitney Young Magnet High.</p> <p>One reason, he says, could be increased use of alternative punishments. With poor attendance a persistent problem in many high schools, “one of the things we’re trying to do is promote alternatives to out-of-school suspension,” Collins adds. “In many cases, parents are working during the day, and kids are unsupervised. And in some cases, once students are out [of school] it’s hard to get them back.”</p> <p>Bill Rice, the board’s director of data compliance reporting, says under-reporting by some schools also could account, in part, for the overall low rate. (See related story.)</p> <p>Suspension rates vary among Chicago schools because the Discipline Code gives schools some leeway in imposing punishment, based on a student’s record and the severity of an offense, notes board attorney Ted Goldsmith. “Some [schools] use suspension as a rule, others don’t,” he says.</p> <p>The board does have the authority to step in if a school appears to be punishing students too harshly. This past fall, one high school began suspending students for not wearing the school’s newly-required uniforms; the board ordered the school to stop the practice because it was “an improper use” of suspension, Goldsmith says.</p> <p>Collins acknowledges that the disparities are an indication that the board ought to step up monitoring. “If we’re going to have a Uniform Discipline Code, then we should monitor and ensure that all schools are following it.” Schools have flexibility in handing out punishment, but that “does not negate [the need for] reporting,” he says.</p> <p>Discipline before curriculum?</p> <p>Educators who work in high schools say discipline and how it is handled—or should be handled—is a crucial issue. The incidence of serious violence is down throughout the system (see Catalyst, November 1994), but problems such as disrespect of teachers, as well as the inability of some teachers to manage teenagers, still interfere with teaching and learning.</p> <p>“You must deal with discipline first, before you can begin to deal with curriculum,” contends Barbara Sizemore, dean of DePaul University’s School of Education. “As long as teachers are rattled by lack of discipline, they’re not going to concentrate on anything else.” Sizemore won contracts from the School Reform Board to work with a number of schools across the city, including 10 high schools.</p> <p>Further, teaching teenagers often is much more difficult than teaching grammar-school students. “High schoolers are at that age where they’re really being rebellious and confrontational,” notes Michelle Smith, a math teacher at COMETS, Harper High’s communications-oriented small school.</p> <p>Tough discipline</p> <p>Some educators working in high schools see a growing trend toward “getting tough” with discipline.</p> <p>“I don’t see schools learning to be more creative. I hear increasing cries for more punishment,” says Michael Klonsky, co-director of the Small Schools Workshop at the University of Illinois at Chicago.</p> <p>“Everyone’s talking about [instituting] closed-campus, strict discipline,” says disciplinarian James Gorecki at Gage Park.</p> <p>Gage Park took that route several years ago, aiming to keep behavior in check at a time when gang activity in the area was on the rise. The local school council hired Audrey Donaldson—”an old-fashioned, strong principal,” Gorecki says—and voted to institute a closed campus, which keeps students inside for lunch.</p> <p>Now, minor misbehavior, such as being in the hallway after the bell for the start of class, results in a detention and a conference with parents. A more serious offense, a second minor offense, or failing to serve a detention means automatic suspension.</p> <p>“We don’t play here. We run a very, very tight ship,” says Gorecki. “We’re not your typical high school. You walk in any school and there’s kids walking the halls, no order. … We have visitors who walk in our building and ask, ‘Is there school today?’ ’cause there’s no kids around.”</p> <p>Sizemore takes a similar view. Inner-city children “tend to need a lot of structure because their lives outside of school are unstructured. If you start with a tight ship, you can always ease up.”</p> <p>At her 10 high schools, Sizemore adds, “I’m trying to get my principals to be more authoritarian.”</p> <p>Critique of suspension</p> <p>As a rule, though, most educators argue against suspension, saying it disrupts education and is often looked upon as a vacation, not a punishment.</p> <p>“They [students] say, ‘Hey, I’m gone for three or four days,'” says Joan Jeter Slay, associate director of Designs for Change. “If they’re having a hard time with the school environment, they don’t want to be there anyway.”</p> <p>Says Smith of COMETS, “I tell my kids, if you’re angry at me, you’re going to stay here and be angry. Suspension only works for kids who want to be in school.” As a small school, COMETS can suspend its students without an OK from Harper’s disciplinarian. Yet problems rarely become that serious, and most can be solved with private talks with students, Smith reports. “What we find out a lot of the time is they’re venting, that something or someone else is bothering them” other than the situation at hand, Smith says.</p> <p>Even Sizemore, who has a reputation for being no-nonsense, says suspension should be imposed only on students who pose a physical danger to others. Instead, she says, schools should have an in-school suspension room that is staffed with a teacher and an aide who have children’s academic records on file and can work with them on subjects they’re behind in.</p> <p>Many schools use in-school suspension, but instruction isn’t always provided. Some schools, though, say they can’t institute in-school suspension, due to lack of space or lack of money to pay a teacher to staff the room full-time.</p> <p>Clear rules and penalties</p> <p>Tilden High in New City saw a decrease in suspensions after the faculty, working under Sizemore, got together and wrote a set of rules and punishments, says Hazel Steward, former Tilden principal and now Region 3 education officer. “If you set out rules and penalties, you have to follow through on it,” Steward says. “When they [students] saw you meant business, that A would lead to B happening, with no exceptions, then A stopped happening.”</p> <p>During each of the last several years, Hyde Park Community Academy has also suspended fewer students because “they’re getting the message about what’s proper behavior,” notes Richard Griffin, a 28-year veteran of Hyde Park who took over as disciplinarian this year.</p> <p>To cut discipline problems further, Griffin has plans to start a peer group for students to talk about issues that might be affecting their school behavior; he also wants to get kids more involved in school activities. Overall, Griffin says, “You try as much as possible not to put them on the street, because that creates other problems,” such as more exposure to gang activity.</p> <p>Foreman High in Portage Park has stepped up efforts to mediate conflicts between students before they escalate into fights, a common cause of suspension. Says Dean of Students Sandra Woolfolk, “We try to sit them down and get them to talk about it, to resolve the conflict in a peaceful manner.”</p> <p>Better teacher-student relationships</p> <p>Some progressive educators argue that emphasizing rules and punishments is an ineffective way to maintain discipline. The best way to improve student behavior, they say, is to improve teacher-student relationships and create a more positive atmosphere throughout the school.</p> <p>“To me, a high suspension rate is an admission that a school has failed kids,” says Klonsky. “Schools are too big and impersonal, and suspending [students] becomes the way to control them.”</p> <p>At COMETS, now four years old, major discipline problems began to decline during the second year, says lead teacher Sara Howard. “As I think about it, that’s been our biggest success,” she says.</p> <p>Howard relates her three “rules” for handling discipline: (1) Treat students with respect—”Like people rather than underlings.” (2) Take a deep breath and think for 10 seconds before you react—”You can’t take everything a kid says as a personal affront to your authority.” (3) Know your kids—”That is the most powerful tool you have.”</p> <p>Steve Strull, a social studies teacher at DuSable High’s School of Communications, credits respect for his lack of discipline problems. “I start with a basic level of respect from one person to another. The behavior of my students comes from that,” he says.</p> <p>In general, schools set up an unequal balance of power between teachers and students, Strull believes; for instance, students usually must ask permission to use the bathroom and are not allowed to eat in class. In his class, eating is allowed, and students don’t need permission to leave for the bathroom or some other emergency. “I just tell them, if you need to go somewhere, let me know,” Strull says.</p> <p>In general, students want to please adults and won’t abuse the freedom, he adds. “I’m not a psychologist, but I know what works in my classroom.”</p> <p>Beyond discipline</p> <p>Strull also disagrees with the notion that discipline and order must come before learning. Gesturing toward his class, which is somewhat noisy as students work on a five-week project, he says, “Look around the room. You don’t see order, but they’re learning. Three-fourths of them are working, others are thinking about their work, and some have already completed it.”</p> <p>Punishment “persists because it’s easier. It takes talent, effort and skill to work at something better,” says Alfie Kohn, an author and former high school teacher who has researched discipline issues. Kohn is the author of the forthcoming book Beyond Discipline: From Compliance to Community.</p> <p>“People who sit in faculty meetings and argue about whether to use this or that punishment are missing the point,” says Kohn. “The issue isn’t how you design a punitive system, it’s whether punishment of any kind is productive.”</p> <p>Teaching and curriculum also must be improved, Kohn adds. As a teacher, he recalls, “I had real awful discipline problems and I thought I needed a discipline program. I realize now what I needed was a curriculum worth teaching. The [troublesome] students weren’t being malicious. They were just trying to make the time pass quicker.”</p> <p>Contributing: Lisa Lewis</p> <p>Suspension rates:</p> <p>Catalyst contacted 10 of the nation’s largest school districts for data on high school suspensions. Six responded. Dade County, Fla. (which includes Miami), St. Louis, Dallas and Detroit did not have data available. In New York, a principal cannot suspend a student for more than five days at a time or more than twice in one year. Also, only district superintendents may suspend students for serious offenses such as those involving weapons or drugs.</p>	Suspension rates all over the map	false	http://chicagoreporter.com/suspension-rates-all-over-map/	2005-07-25	3
<p>Almost half of young Britons admit they’ve had unprotected sex with a new partner, a new poll reveals. Despite relentless safe-sex ads, youth are still exposing themselves to sexually transmitted diseases.</p> <p>According to a YouGov poll, 47 percent of sexually active people in the UK aged between 16 and 24 chose not to wear a condom during their first sexual encounter with a new partner. One in ten have admitted they have never used a condom in their entire life.</p> <p>Read more</p> <p><a href="https://www.rt.com/news/411355-icon-smart-condom-ring/" type="external" /></p> <p>In response to the findings, Public Health England has launched the first Government sexual health campaign in eight years, the so-called Protect Against STIs, which seeks to promote condom use in the most effective way.</p> <p>The campaign aims to raise awareness about the consequences of STIs, which include infertility, pelvic inflammatory disease, and even meningitis. It also highlights how easy it is to contract an infection, given they are symptom-less and it is therefore hard to tell whether your partner has an STI.</p> <p>Jordan, 19, from Wrexham, admitted he only uses condoms around “half the time”, and that boozing plays a large role in his behavior.</p> <p>“Drink definitely has an effect, because when you’re drunk, you’re more careless,” he told Newsbeat.</p> <p>The survey also found that 58 percent of respondents said they use contraception to avoid pregnancy, while 29 percent of young people use condoms to protect themselves from STIs.</p> <p>It suggests that young people are more concerned about covering themselves from pregnancy than contracting STIs.</p> <p>Read more</p> <p><a href="https://www.rt.com/uk/410070-viagra-sex-pills-drugs/" type="external" /></p> <p>20-year-old Elle said some men she had slept with were much more worried about getting her pregnant than about contracting infections.</p> <p>Jordan from Wrexham told Newsbeat: “It’s on them then, isn’t it? If it’s a baby, it’s them too. If it’s an STI, it’s your responsibility. If a girl’s on the pill, then it’s another way of saying ‘you don’t need to use a condom, then’.”</p> <p>In 2016, there were more than 141,000 chlamydia and gonorrhoea diagnoses in people aged between 15 and 24 in England.</p> <p>GP Dr Sara Kayat told Newsbeat the only way of preventing STIs is by using a condom.</p> <p>“Whilst many STIs are symptom-less, contracting them can have serious health consequences if left untreated and even lead to infertility.</p> <p>“As I tell patients in my clinic every week, it’s just not worth putting yourself at risk by not using a condom,” she told Newsbeat.</p>	Nearly half of UK youth have unprotected sex with new partners, poll reveals	false	https://newsline.com/nearly-half-of-uk-youth-have-unprotected-sex-with-new-partners-poll-reveals/	2017-12-15	1
<p>Here are the government's rankings of the leading U.S. airlines and their on-time performance for November. The federal government counts a flight as on time if it arrives within 14 minutes of schedule.</p> <p>1. Hawaiian Airlines, 91.5 percent</p> <p>Continue Reading Below</p> <p>2. Delta Air Lines, 91.4 percent</p> <p>3. Alaska Airlines, 88.0 percent</p> <p>4. Frontier Airlines, 87.5 percent</p> <p>5. Spirit Airlines, 86.4 percent</p> <p>6. United Airlines, 86.1 percent</p> <p>Advertisement</p> <p>7. Southwest Airlines, 86.1 percent</p> <p>8. American Airlines, 85.4 percent</p> <p>9. SkyWest, 85.2 percent</p> <p>10. JetBlue Airways, 84.3 percent</p> <p>11. ExpressJet, 82.8 percent</p> <p>12. Virgin America, 81.4 percent</p> <p>Total for all covered airlines: 86.5 percent</p> <p>___</p> <p>Source: U.S. Department of Transportation</p> <p>The report does not cover smaller airlines including Allegiant Air and some regional carriers.</p>	Hawaiian, Delta top on-time ratings for US airlines	true	http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/01/17/hawaiian-delta-top-on-time-ratings-for-us-airlines.html	2017-01-17	0
<p>The Obama administration announced on Friday that it will abandon a plan to place new limits on <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/03/science/earth/03air.html?hp" type="external">smog pollution</a>, after opposition from business groups and Republicans.</p> <p>The Environmental Protection Agency had been getting ready to adopt a stricter standard for ground-level ozone, The New York Times reports.</p> <p>The E.P.A. following the recommendation of its scientific advisers, had proposed lowering the so-called ozone standard from that set by the Bush administration to a new stricter standard that would have thrown hundreds of American counties out of compliance with the Clean Air Act. It would have required a major effort by state and local officials, as well as new emissions controls by industries and across the country.</p> <p>Earlier this summer, leaders of major business groups met with administration officials to argue against the new standard. According to the Times, they argued that the rules would be very costly and hurt President Barack Obama's chances at re-election. The Obama administration will now stick to the standard Bush put in place in 2008 until 2013, when polution limits are scheduled to come under review.</p> <p>"Over the last two and half years, my administration, under the leadership of EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, has taken some of the strongest actions since the enactment of the Clean Air Act four decades ago to protect our environment and the health of our families from air pollution," <a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/09/02/statement-president-ozone-national-ambient-air-quality-standards" type="external">Obama</a> said in a statement on Friday. "At the same time, I have continued to underscore the importance of reducing regulatory burdens and regulatory uncertainty, particularly as our economy continues to recover. With that in mind, and after careful consideration, I have requested that Administrator Jackson withdraw the draft Ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standards at this time."</p> <p>Business groups and <a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/sns-rt-us-usa-obama-epatre7813tb-20110902,0,378228.story" type="external">Republicans</a> lauded the move, according to The Chicago Tribune.</p> <p>"The president took a step today that highlights the devastating impact on jobs that has been created by this administration's regulatory overreach," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said. "This action alone will prevent more job losses than any speech the president has given."</p> <p>The EPA rule announcement came on the same day as a worse-than-expected <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/americas/united-states/110902/august-jobs-report-labor-department-us-unemployment-rate" type="external">jobs report</a> showed the U.S. economy added no new jobs in August. &#160;</p>	Obama administration backs off smog plan	false	https://pri.org/stories/2011-09-02/obama-administration-backs-smog-plan	2011-09-02	3
<p /> <p>The nauseous protrusion of the on-going rebellion in the Syrian Arab Republic has for some time rendered Lebanon’s Islamic resistance movement, Hezbollah, into overtly countering what it’s always harbored is a deadly connivance aimed at puncturing its regional ‘axis-of-resistance’ alliance.</p> <p>It’s on this logic that one can gauge the movement’s recent gamble of going all-out to supplement the Syrian army in its quest to liberate the strategically located town of Qusayr, as well as sending specialized units to defend an Islamic shrine south of Damascus.</p> <p>These measures, in addition to other hazily reported ones, have not only exposed the movement’s stake in the outcome of the conflict, but are also ones which have garnered it a barrage of criticism–mainly from foreign backers and media outlets supporting the anti-government rebellion.</p> <p>But yet this very rebellion, ostensibly designed to topple the regime of Bashar Al-Assad, has long resulted in plunging large parts of that country into destruction, homelessness, killing zones, and now a springboard for Jihadist galvanization across the region.</p> <p>And this in turn has allowed many to speak of the conflict with perhaps the savaging that it deserves.</p> <p>It begins in Syrian territory itself–but not the now old news that mercenaries who’ve pledged allegiance to Osama Bin Laden’s notorious brainchild <a href="http://www.france24.com/en/20130410-leader-syria-nusra-militants-jawlani-" type="external">Al-Qaeda</a>, &#160;are firmly entrenched at the forefront of the battle.</p> <p>Rather, it’s about the morbid proportions of savagery that these Jihadists, in collusion with their so-called Free Syrian Army colleagues, have been busy indulging in over the last few weeks–savagery that should be emitting death rays into the eyes of those otherwise backing the crude rebellion.</p> <p>The world has come to see visual images of notable Jihadists filming themselves opening up the organs of fallen government soldiers and eating them <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEZUraRor1o" type="external">raw,</a>decapitating and then grilling the heads of captured pilots for public <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2309281/Barbaric-image-rebel-holding-pilots-decapitated-head-barbeque-horrifies-Syria--sickening-picture-real.html" type="external">display,</a>&#160;and executing melancholic 14 year old boys for <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-06-10/islamist-rebels-in-syria-execute-14-year-old-for-blasphemy-sohr.html" type="external">blasphemy.</a></p> <p>They are clearly the type of people with whom a great deal more than immoderate language needs to be used every now and again.</p> <p>But for Hezbollah, it’s also the inherent fear that such barbarism could cross the border into Lebanon—where its Shiite community is the largest of the country’s 18 sects and will undoubtedly be the next prey of these anti-Shiite spouting Takfiri’s—that has led many to believe is the primary driving force behind the decision to lock horns with them next door.</p> <p>Yet for all the measures it may deem as being preventative in Syria, counter-actions by the Jihadist-led rebel opposition seem only to have exacerbated fears of a wider military and sectarian spillover.</p> <p>One only has to begin with the post-Qusayr situation.</p> <p>Humiliatingly defeated in an urban battle believed to have been orchestrated by Hezbollah, the rebels resorted to intermittently firing crude rockets at Hezbollah constituent areas in both Lebanon’s Bekaa <a href="http://www.khaleejtimes.com/kt-article-display-1.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/2013/June/middleeast_June194.xml&amp;section=middleeast" type="external">valley</a> as well southern suburbs of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/27/world/middleeast/rockets-strike-hezbollahs-beirut-stronghold.html?pagewanted=all&amp;_r=0" type="external">Beirut</a>—resulting in the deaths and injuries of innocent civilians as well as causing infrastructural damage to homes and businesses.</p> <p>Then it was the turn of the rebels honcho, Salim idris, and a man who many like to paint as the moderate face of the rebellion, threatening to spread the conflict by invading <a href="https://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Local-News/2013/Jun-05/219538-idriss-syria-rebels-ready-to-move-battles-into-lebanon.ashx#axzz2XEdukgV8" type="external">Lebanese territory</a> in pursuit of Hezbollah itself.</p> <p>But with the Syrian army currently resurgent and placing the rebels on the back foot, there seems to be no immediate worry of a major flare-up on the porous Lebanese-Syrian border.</p> <p>The domestic scene in fragile Lebanon itself has also become another victim.</p> <p>The Syrian conflict has increasingly polarized the already tense Sunni-Shiite political divide – and resulted in the country’s northern and Sunni-dominated city of Tripoli all but becoming a byword for Jihadism.</p> <p>It’s in this city that radical Sunni groups and even their <a href="http://world.time.com/2012/09/18/syrias-secular-and-islamist-rebels-who-are-the-saudis-and-the-qataris-arming/" type="external">secular counterparts</a> have long been instrumental in supplying arms and facilitating recruits for the rebellion, instigate (sometimes violent) demonstrations against Hezbollah and its allies and use the premise of mosques to articulate scorching anti-Shiite and anti-Alawite rhetoric to followers within the country.</p> <p>If it wasn’t for the killing of <a href="http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/06/lebanon-sidon-assir-salafists-kill-army.html" type="external">14 Lebanese soldiers</a> a fortnight ago, and the subsequent storming of a radical clerics headquarters, the Sunni-dominated southern Lebanese city of Sidon was on course for becoming another bastion of radical-Islamic recruitment and Jihadism.</p> <p>Sheikh Ahmad Al-Asir, who’d risen to notoriety on the premise of supposedly being a thorn in the side of Hezbollah and who was synonymous with articulating repulsive rhetoric against the Shiite branch of Islam, finally resorted to confront the nations army when it dared to challenge him.</p> <p>The self-declared heroic figure is now a fugitive—despite cowardly making so far unheeded calls for Sunni members in the Lebanese army to defect and declare military officials <a href="http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=29d_1372015043" type="external">infidels.</a></p> <p>The army is leading a desperate manhunt for him and until they capture or kill him, he’s placed their very prestige in a quandary.</p> <p>Hezbollah has remained largely passive in the prevailing climate—for now.</p> <p>But in the wake of the cold-blooded killings of tribal notables in the <a href="https://english.al-akhbar.com/node/16149" type="external">Bekaa Valley</a>, suspicion of wider Sunni political and religious collusion in this regard and the country’s being run without a political cabinet; events might force their hand in a manner it has thus far sought to avoid.</p> <p>Finally, and perhaps most importantly, the politico-religious aspect to the outcome of this war has very diverging interests at stake, and in which Hezbollah is firmly planted at the pendulum.</p> <p>In a recent televised interview, the American president finally confirmed the open secret.</p> <p>Namely, and in his words, that there were ‘elements’ in the Middle East who see the conflict through the prism of a Sunni-Shite conflict in which the Americans should back the side of the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkaK-ij5Zd4" type="external">Sunnis.</a></p> <p>It doesn’t take much to conclude that the President is alluding to Sunni-ruled states like Qatar and Saudi Arabia that have been instrumental in the continual backing of the two-year long rebellion.</p> <p>The very recent vows by some of these states to increase monetary and military assistance, along with international components led by the United States to those fighting the <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/22/us-arms-syria-rebels-assad-hezbollah" type="external">Assad regime</a> only adds to this belief.</p> <p>This equation has been made worse by Qatar-funded leading Sunni clerics like <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYTQTz8g6MA" type="external">Sheikh Qaradawi</a>, as well as Saudi’s Arabia’s <a href="http://www.albawaba.com/news/saudis-grand-mufti-calls-jihad-against-hezbollah-497558" type="external">grand Mufti</a>, referring to Hezbollah as the party of devils—and calling for recruits to join the so-called Jihad in Syria.</p> <p>Such rhetoric was being relayed just as U.S. and Jordanian troops completed joint military and naval exercises on <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/mar/08/west-training-syrian-rebels-jordan" type="external">Jordanian territory</a>—where reports have been trickling out for some time that militants are secretly being <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/mar/08/west-training-syrian-rebels-jordan" type="external">trained</a> in preparation for opening yet another desperate front in the Syrian war.</p> <p>But more weapons, more Jihadist recruits and more inflammatory rhetoric leading to increased destabilization is not going to pave the way for any side to reach the optimum result that it wants: the capitulation and destruction of the other.</p> <p>Hezbollah, which owes its regional pre-eminence to a platform that car-bombed and rocketed Israel and America from a military presence in Lebanon, today sees both their hands in Syria in collusion with a Gulf Arab project.</p> <p>This project they are convinced, is firmly designed to incrementally eradicate its and Iran’s role in the resisting tide of the region.</p> <p>It’s certainly wishful thinking on the part of those who assume that such a movement, which has risen on the blood and sweat of thousands of its do-or-die faithful, will ever cut and run from its Syrian involvement in tearing haste.</p> <p>Although such activity would certainly offer a bracing antidote to the anxieties and vulnerabilities of the combined forces indirectly amassed against it, Hezbollah’s ethos is not one that allows itself to be rendered to a life of retreat, destitution and dependence—at the mercy of their combined enemy’s rage.</p> <p>Considering the timing and locations of their sporadic involvement, the movement’s strategists have obviously conducted a thought experiment about the potential stretching of the conflicts boundaries long ago.</p> <p>The war-gaming of this bigger picture has today resulted in them going on the offensive—in line with the secretive guerrilla nature of their almost legendary military application.</p> <p>Their expertise, reputation and cohesiveness are about to undergo the biggest test to date.</p> <p>The movement finds itself almost enveloped by litany of enemies, local and afar, who use the pretext of the conflict in Syria with an unlimited supply of money and weapons, as a precursor to gun for their downfall.</p> <p>In Hezbollah’s eyes, it can only mean a zero sum game.</p> <p>In order for them and their allies to succeed in Syria, their combined enemies have to lose—and lose decisively.</p>	Hezbollah: An Ensnaring Road Ahead	false	http://foreignpolicyjournal.com/2013/07/06/hezbollah-an-ensnaring-road-ahead/	2013-07-06	1
<p /> <p>The U.S. manufacturing sector expanded in September, shaking off three months of weakness as new orders and employment picked up, an industry report showed on Monday.</p> <p>Continue Reading Below</p> <p>The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) said its index of national factory activity rose to 51.5 from 49.6 in August, topping expectations for 49.7, according to a Reuters poll.</p> <p>It was the first time since May that the index has been above the 50 threshold that indicates expansion in the sector.</p> <p>The forward-looking new orders gauge also rose to its highest level since May at 52.3 from 47.1, while employment gained to 54.7 from 51.6.</p> <p>Still, the rate of growth was modest and some components remained in contraction territory. Exports continued to shrink, though the rate of contraction was not as severe with the index rising to 48.5 from 47.</p> <p>Similarly, production rose to 49.5 from 47.2.</p>	U.S. Manufacturing Sector Expands in September	true	http://foxbusiness.com/politics/2012/10/01/us-manufacturing-sector-expands-in-september.html	2016-03-03	0
<p>July 19 (UPI) — <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Harry_Styles/" type="external">Harry Styles</a>, Barry Keoghan and Dunkirk‘s other young stars were all smiles on the red carpet Tuesday.</p> <p>The 23-year-old British singer and 24-year-old Irish actor attended the movie’s New York premiere with co-stars Jack Lowden, 27, and Aneurin Barnard, 30.</p> <p>Director <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Christopher_Nolan/" type="external">Christopher Nolan</a> and veteran stars Cillian Murphy, James D’Arcy, <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Kenneth_Branagh/" type="external">Kenneth Branagh</a> and <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Mark_Rylance/" type="external">Mark Rylance</a> were also present at the event. Styles shared his excitement in an interview <a href="http://www.etonline.com/news/221827_harry_styles_looks_dapper_at_dunkirk_premiere_as_hoda_kotb_kathie_lee_gifford_fangirl_over_him/" type="external">with Entertainment Tonight</a>.</p> <p>“It’s definitely a lot of fun,” the One Direction singer said of the premiere. “I’ve already done the work part, so this is definitely the fun bit. We’re all super proud of the film, so this is definitely the exciting bit for us.”</p> <p>Dunkirk follows the evacuation of Dunkirk in Operation Dynamo, which took place in 1940 during WWII. The film also stars Fionn Whitehead, Tom Glynn-Carney and <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Tom_Hardy/" type="external">Tom Hardy</a>, a frequent collaborator of Nolan’s.</p> <p>“We clicked really easy [on set],” Keoghan said of his co-stars in an interview <a href="http://collider.com/dunkirk-fionn-whitehead-jack-lowden-barry-keoghan-interview/" type="external">with Collider</a> published Monday.</p> <p>“I think there was no ego on set,” Whitehead, 20, agreed.</p> <p>Dunkirk opens in theaters Friday.</p>	Harry Styles, Barry Keoghan all smiles at 'Dunkirk' premiere	false	https://newsline.com/harry-styles-barry-keoghan-all-smiles-at-dunkirk-premiere/	2017-07-19	1
<p /> <p>Tech giant IBM (NYSE:IBM) announced a $505 million deal on Tuesday to sell off its customer care business process outsourcing services division to Synnex (NYSE:SNX).</p> <p>Continue Reading Below</p> <p>The transaction includes a multi-year agreement for Synnex’s Concentrix business to become an IBM strategic business partner for outsourcing services.</p> <p>Shares of Synnex, which is an information-technology distributor, spiked 9% on the transaction as well as on newly-provided guidance.</p> <p>"We are very excited to bring together these two great teams, each recognized by their clients as leaders in providing outstanding and innovative solutions,” Synnex CEO Kevin Murai said in a statement.</p> <p>IBM said the transaction, which is seen closing in the coming months, is valued at $505 million and comprised of $430 million in cash and $75 million in Synnex stock.</p> <p>Advertisement</p> <p>Despite the sale, IBM emphasized it remains committed to major investment in the business process outsourcing services market.</p> <p>The new partnership “will provide our clients with the innovation they have come to expect from IBM through our deep capabilities in advanced analytics, social business, cloud and smarter commerce, complemented by Concentrix' flexible and adaptive global customer care delivery network,” said Lori Steele, general manager of IBM Global Process Services.</p> <p>Synnex said it anticipates the deal adding an estimated $120 million in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, or EBITDA, in the first 12 months after closing.</p> <p>The company also announced new guidance for the third quarter, saying revenues are expected to be in the high end of the prior range of $2.65 billion to $2.75 billion. Analysts have been calling for sales of $2.71 billion.</p> <p>Shares of Freemont, Calif.-based Synnex soared 9.44% to $52.50 in extended trading on Tuesday, while IBM ticked up 0.21% to $186.99.</p>	IBM Sells Customer Care Services Unit to Synnex for $505M	true	http://foxbusiness.com/features/2013/09/10/ibm-unloads-customer-care-services-unit-for-505m.html	2016-03-06	0
<p /> <p>U.S. consumer spending unexpectedly rose in March as benign inflation supported household's spending power, a hopeful sign for an economy that lost significant momentum towards the end of the first quarter.</p> <p>Continue Reading Below</p> <p>The Commerce Department said on Monday consumer spending advanced 0.2% last month after an unrevised 0.7% increase in February.</p> <p>Economists polled by Reuters had expected spending, which accounts for about 70% of U.S. economic activity, would be flat last month.</p> <p>After adjusting for inflation, spending increased 0.3% after advancing by the same margin in February. The spending details were included in Friday's first-quarter gross domestic product report.</p> <p>The report offered hope that growth in the second quarter would probably not slow as sharply as currently feared. The economy grew at a 2.5% annual pace in the first three months of the year.</p> <p>Output in the first quarter was boosted by a brisk 3.2% increase in consumer spending, despite the end in January of a 2% payroll tax cut.</p> <p>Advertisement</p> <p>Last month, income rose 0.2% after a 1.1%. increase in February. Income at the disposal of households after inflation and taxes increased 0.3% after a 0.7% gain in the prior month.</p> <p>With income growth matching spending, the saving rate - the percentage of disposable income households are socking away - was unchanged at 2.7%. The report showed little inflation, with a price index for consumer spending dipping 0.1%, the first drop since November. A core reading that strips out food and energy costs was flat.</p> <p>Over the past 12 months, inflation has risen just 1.0%, the smallest gain since October 2009 and a slowdown from the 1.3 percent logged in the period through February.</p> <p>Core prices are up 1.1%, the smallest rise since March 2011 and well below the Federal Reserve's 2 percent target. Core PCE had increased 1.3% in February.</p> <p>The lack of inflation pressure gives the U.S. central bank scope to maintain its very easy monetary policy stance. Fed officials meet this week to assess the health of the economy. The Fed is widely expected to keep purchasing bonds at a pace of $85 billion a month.</p>	Consumer Spending Rises as Inflation Remains Muted	true	http://foxbusiness.com/politics/2013/04/29/consumer-spending-rises-as-inflation-remains-muted.html	2016-03-04	0
<p>ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) _ The winning numbers in Wednesday evening's drawing of the New York Lottery's "Lotto" game were:</p> <p>05-08-22-31-36-50, Bonus: 18</p> <p>(five, eight, twenty-two, thirty-one, thirty-six, fifty; Bonus: eighteen)</p> <p>Estimated jackpot: $2.6 million</p> <p>ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) _ The winning numbers in Wednesday evening's drawing of the New York Lottery's "Lotto" game were:</p> <p>05-08-22-31-36-50, Bonus: 18</p> <p>(five, eight, twenty-two, thirty-one, thirty-six, fifty; Bonus: eighteen)</p> <p>Estimated jackpot: $2.6 million</p>	Winning numbers drawn in 'Lotto' game	false	https://apnews.com/amp/436dd42897c14a81a0629ca3aee8d479	2018-01-18	2
<p>All times are Eastern</p> <p>TUESDAY, Sept. 2</p> <p>Continue Reading Below</p> <p>WASHINGTON - Institute for Supply Management releases its manufacturing index for August, 10 a.m.; Commerce Department releases construction spending for July, 10 a.m.</p> <p>DETROIT - Automakers release vehicle sales for August.</p> <p>WEDNESDAY, Sept. 3</p> <p>WASHINGTON - Labor Department releases second-quarter productivity data, 8:30 a.m.; Commerce Department releases factory orders for July, 10 a.m.; Federal Reserve releases Beige Book, 2 p.m.</p> <p>FRANKFURT, Germany - The European Central Bank's governing council meets to set monetary policy for the 19-nation eurozone.</p> <p>Advertisement</p> <p>THURSDAY, Sept. 4</p> <p>WASHINGTON - Labor Department releases weekly jobless claims, 8:30 a.m.; Commerce Department releases international trade data for July, 8:30 a.m.; Institute for Supply Management releases its service sector index for August, 10 a.m.; Freddie Mac, the mortgage company, releases weekly mortgage rates, 10 a.m.</p> <p>BERLIN - Germany releases July industrial orders figures for Europe's biggest economy.</p> <p>FRIDAY, Sept. 5</p> <p>WASHINGTON - Labor Department releases employment data for August, 8:30 a.m.</p> <p>MONDAY, Sept. 7</p> <p>U.S. stock and bond markets closed for Labor Day.</p> <p>BERLIN - Germany releases July industrial production figures for Europe's biggest economy.</p> <p>TUESDAY, Sept. 8</p> <p>WASHINGTON - Federal Reserve releases consumer credit data for July, 3 p.m.</p> <p>BERLIN - Germany releases July export and import figures for the country's economy.</p> <p>TOKYO - Revision to Japan's quarterly GDP growth estimate for April-June quarter.</p> <p>WEDNESDAY, Sept. 9</p> <p>WASHINGTON - Labor Department releases job openings and labor turnover survey for July, 10 a.m.</p> <p>THURSDAY, Sept. 10</p> <p>WASHINGTON - Labor Department releases weekly jobless claims, 8:30 a.m.; Freddie Mac, the mortgage company, releases weekly mortgage rates, 10 a.m.; Commerce Department releases wholesale trade inventories for July, 10 a.m.</p> <p>FRIDAY, Sept. 11</p> <p>WASHINGTON - Labor Department releases the Producer Price Index for August, 8:30 a.m.; Treasury releases federal budget for August, 2 p.m.</p> <p>TUESDAY, Sept. 15</p> <p>WASHINGTON - Commerce Department releases retail sales data for August, 8:30 a.m.; Federal Reserve releases industrial production for August, 9:15 a.m.; Commerce Department releases business inventories for July, 10 a.m.</p> <p>WEDNESDAY, Sept. 16</p> <p>WASHINGTON - Labor Department releases Consumer Price Index for August, 8:30 a.m.; National Association of Home Builders releases housing market index for September, 10 a.m.; Federal Reserve policymakers begin a two-day meeting to set interest rates.</p> <p>MADRID - Spanish clothes retailer Inditex, owner of the Zara store chain, presents earnings for the first half of 2015.</p> <p>THURSDAY, Sept. 17</p> <p>WASHINGTON - Labor Department releases weekly jobless claims, 8:30 a.m.; Commerce Department releases housing starts for August, 8:30 a.m.; Commerce Department releases current account trade deficit for the second quarter, 8:30 a.m.; Freddie Mac, the mortgage company, releases weekly mortgage rates, 10 a.m.; Federal Reserve policymakers meet to set interest rates, statement scheduled for 2 p.m.</p> <p>TOKYO - Japan monthly trade data for August.</p> <p>MONDAY, Sept. 21</p> <p>WASHINGTON - National Association of Realtors releases existing home sales for August, 10 a.m.</p> <p>THURSDAY, Sept. 24</p> <p>WASHINGTON - Labor Department releases weekly jobless claims, 8:30 a.m.; Commerce Department releases durable goods for August, 8:30 a.m.; Commerce Department releases new home sales for August, 10 a.m.; Freddie Mac, the mortgage company, releases weekly mortgage rates, 10 a.m.</p> <p>BERLIN - Germany's Ifo institute releases its monthly business confidence index, a key indicator for Europe's biggest economy.</p> <p>FRIDAY, Sept. 25</p> <p>WASHINGTON - Commerce Department releases second-quarter gross domestic product, 8:30 a.m.</p> <p>MONDAY, Sept. 28</p> <p>WASHINGTON - Commerce Department releases personal income and spending for August, 8:30 a.m.; National Association of Realtors releases pending home sales index for August, 10 a.m.</p> <p>TUESDAY, Sept. 29</p> <p>WASHINGTON - Standard &amp; Poor's releases S&amp;P/Case-Shiller index of home prices for July, 9 a.m.; The Conference Board releases the Consumer Confidence Index for September, 10 a.m.</p> <p>WEDNESDAY, Sept. 30</p> <p>BERLIN - Germany releases unemployment figures for September.</p>	Business events and economic reports scheduled for the coming month	true	http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2015/07/31/business-events-and-economic-reports-scheduled-for-coming-month.html	2016-03-10	0
<p>By Steve Keating</p> <p>NEW YORK (Reuters) – Denis Shapovalov’s U.S. Open star continued to rise on Friday as the Canadian teenager moved into the fourth round of the year’s final grand slam when Briton Kyle Edmund retired with injury trailing 3-6 6-3 6-3 1-0.</p> <p>The charismatic 18-year-old has had Flushing Meadows buzzing and while his win over the wounded Edmund did not light up Arthur Ashe Stadium court it did provide another glimpse of the talent former world number one Mats Wilander has described as a combination of Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal.</p> <p>Shapovalov, whose march into the third round included a shock upset of eighth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, got the match off to a stuttering start as the 42nd-ranked Edmund grabbed the early break to charge in front 3-0 on way to taking the opening set.</p> <p>But it was be the Shapovalov showing the initiative in a scrappy second set, breaking to go 3-1 then levelling the contest.</p> <p>In the third Edmund began so show signs of distress, calling on the trainer several times during changeovers to work on his upper back as Shapovalov broke him to lead 4-3 and again to take the set.</p> <p>Edmund bravely attempted to continue but after dropping the opening game of the fourth set waved the white flag by walking to the net and shaking hands.</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>	Shapovalov's U.S. Open star rises with win over Edmund	false	https://newsline.com/shapovalov039s-u-s-open-star-rises-with-win-over-edmund/	2017-09-01	1
<p>CONCORD, N.H. (AP) _ These Maine lotteries were drawn Thursday:</p> <p>Lucky For Life</p> <p>05-15-21-28-36, Lucky Ball: 14</p> <p>(five, fifteen, twenty-one, twenty-eight, thirty-six; Lucky Ball: fourteen)</p> <p>Mega Millions</p> <p>Estimated jackpot: $55 million</p> <p>Pick 3 Day</p> <p>6-1-6</p> <p>(six, one, six)</p> <p>Pick 3 Evening</p> <p>8-9-7</p> <p>(eight, nine, seven)</p> <p>Pick 4 Day</p> <p>8-2-4-7</p> <p>(eight, two, four, seven)</p> <p>Pick 4 Evening</p> <p>4-3-6-1</p> <p>(four, three, six, one)</p> <p>Powerball</p> <p>Estimated jackpot: $78 million</p> <p>WPT</p> <p>AH-3C-7D-7H-5S</p> <p>(AH, 3C, 7D, 7H, 5S)</p> <p>CONCORD, N.H. (AP) _ These Maine lotteries were drawn Thursday:</p> <p>Lucky For Life</p> <p>05-15-21-28-36, Lucky Ball: 14</p> <p>(five, fifteen, twenty-one, twenty-eight, thirty-six; Lucky Ball: fourteen)</p> <p>Mega Millions</p> <p>Estimated jackpot: $55 million</p> <p>Pick 3 Day</p> <p>6-1-6</p> <p>(six, one, six)</p> <p>Pick 3 Evening</p> <p>8-9-7</p> <p>(eight, nine, seven)</p> <p>Pick 4 Day</p> <p>8-2-4-7</p> <p>(eight, two, four, seven)</p> <p>Pick 4 Evening</p> <p>4-3-6-1</p> <p>(four, three, six, one)</p> <p>Powerball</p> <p>Estimated jackpot: $78 million</p> <p>WPT</p> <p>AH-3C-7D-7H-5S</p> <p>(AH, 3C, 7D, 7H, 5S)</p>	ME Lottery	false	https://apnews.com/aed8cbf0816841c09c810e0a7db57b1c	2018-01-19	2
<p>ST. IGNACE, Mich. (AP) — The U.S. Coast Guard says five vessels have been stranded by ice in the Straits of Mackinac between Michigan’s Upper and Lower peninsulas.</p> <p>The Coast Guard says Friday it’s sending the cutter Biscayne Bay to assist the vessels on the waterway that connects Lake Michigan and Lake Huron in the Great Lakes.</p> <p>The cutter on Thursday worked to clear ice in the St. Marys River near Sault Ste. Marie so that the Sugar Island ferry would be able to cross in case of an emergency. Ice became an issue earlier this week. Regularly scheduled ferry services have been delayed.</p> <p>ST. IGNACE, Mich. (AP) — The U.S. Coast Guard says five vessels have been stranded by ice in the Straits of Mackinac between Michigan’s Upper and Lower peninsulas.</p> <p>The Coast Guard says Friday it’s sending the cutter Biscayne Bay to assist the vessels on the waterway that connects Lake Michigan and Lake Huron in the Great Lakes.</p> <p>The cutter on Thursday worked to clear ice in the St. Marys River near Sault Ste. Marie so that the Sugar Island ferry would be able to cross in case of an emergency. Ice became an issue earlier this week. Regularly scheduled ferry services have been delayed.</p>	Coast Guard assisting vessels stuck in Great Lakes ice	false	https://apnews.com/75b829662f9f41e3a73e3ace1dbfddbf	2018-01-19	2
<p /> <p>U.S. stocks were little changed on Thursday as investors paused following a two-day rally that pushed the Dow Jones Industrial Average above the 20,000 mark, while the latest wave of earnings rolled in.</p> <p>Continue Reading Below</p> <p>Qualcomm weighed on both the S&amp;P 500 and Nasdaq as the chipmaker fell 5.0 percent to $54.05 after posting a lower-than-expected rise in quarterly revenue.</p> <p>The post-election rally reignited this week following a solid start to earnings season and optimism over U.S. President Donald Trump's pro-growth initiatives, giving the benchmark S&amp;P 500 its best two-day performance in seven weeks and catapulting the Dow above 20,000 for the first time.</p> <p>Trump's business-friendly decisions since taking office on Friday include signing executive orders to reduce regulatory burden on domestic manufacturers and clearing the way for the construction of two oil pipelines.</p> <p>Early fourth-quarter earnings have also boosted sentiment and are now expected to show growth of 7 percent, their biggest increase in two years, according to Thomson Reuters data.</p> <p>Advertisement</p> <p>Of the 146 companies that have reported earnings through Thursday morning, 69.2 percent have topped expectations, compared with the 63.6 percent average since 1994.</p> <p>"They broke clearly out of a range that they had been stuck in for six weeks so I would say this is just sort of a pause," said Randy Frederick, vice president of trading and derivatives for Charles Schwab in Austin, Texas.</p> <p>"If all the economic data is good, if the earnings are good and the market doesn't really seem to think anything (Trump) says or does is negative, I don't see any downside."</p> <p>The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 32.40 points, or 0.16 percent, to close at 20,100.91, the S&amp;P 500 lost 1.69 points, or 0.07 percent, to 2,296.68 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 1.16 points, or 0.02 percent, to 5,655.18.</p> <p>Consumer discretionary stocks, up 0.2 percent, were among the best performing of the 11 major S&amp;P sectors. The group was lifted by a 2.8 percent gain in Comcast after the cable operator reported earnings. Charter Communications gained 7.4 percent on merger speculation.</p> <p>Royal Caribbean Cruises jumped 9.1 percent to $95.64 after it forecast higher-than-expected adjusted earnings for 2017.</p> <p>Whirlpool tumbled 8.5 percent to $173.94. The world's largest maker of home appliances posted a quarterly profit below expectations.</p> <p>After the close, Intel gained about than 1 percent while Microsoft and Alphabet lost ground after the tech giants posted quarterly results.</p> <p>Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a 1.09-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.58-to-1 ratio favored decliners.</p> <p>The S&amp;P 500 posted 64 new 52-week highs and two new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 150 new highs and 23 new lows.</p> <p>About 6.70 billion shares changed hands in U.S. exchanges, compared with the 6.51 billion daily average over the last 20 sessions.</p>	Stocks Near Record Highs, Dollar Up on Optimism, Earnings	true	http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/01/26/stocks-near-record-highs-dollar-up-on-optimism-earnings.html	2017-01-26	0
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p> <p>SEOUL, South Korea — Most Asian markets staged modest gains on Wednesday after overnight gains on Wall Street as geopolitical risks and turmoil at the White House that have dented investor sentiment in the past few weeks abated while investors eyed the annual gathering of central bankers.</p> <p>KEEPING SCORE: Japan’s Nikkei 225 gained 0.5 percent to 19,472.30 and South Korea’s Kospi added 0.1 percent to 2,366.86. But Shanghai Composite Index edged down 0.1 percent to 3,286.56. Australia’s S&amp;P/ASX 200 fell 0.4 percent to 5,727.90. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was closed due to a typhoon.</p> <p>ANALYST’S TAKE: “Sharp gains in U.S. stocks last night means that volatility remains elevated compared to recent months,” said Ric Spooner, chief market analyst at CMC Markets. “Residual concerns about U.S. politics and the Korean situation also linger.” He added that the recovery in the global stock markets may be temporary and does not imply the beginning of bull markets.</p> <p>CENTRAL BANKERS: Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen and European Central Bank President Mario Draghi are among the central bankers due to speak at the symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, this week. With little market-moving news on the calendar, investors will be keen on their speeches scheduled on Friday. The Federal Reserve is raising interest rates and is preparing to pare back the $4.5 trillion it holds on its balance sheet, and investors are wondering when the European Central Bank will follow suit .</p> <p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> <p>WALL STREET: U.S. stocks finished higher on Tuesday. The Standard &amp; Poor’s 500 rose 24.14 points, or 1 percent, to 2,452.51 for its fourth-biggest gain of the year. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 196.14 points, or 0.9 percent, to 21,899.89 on Tuesday, and the Nasdaq composite gained 84.35, or 1.4 percent, to 6,297.48.</p> <p>OIL: Benchmark U.S. crude lost 13 cents to $47.70 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose 30 cents to settle at $47.83 per barrel on Tuesday. Brent crude, the international standard, slipped 19 cents to $51.68 per barrel in London. It gained 21 cents to settle at $51.87 a barrel in the previous session.</p> <p>CURRENCIES: The dollar slipped to 109.44 Japanese yen from 109.57 yen. The euro rose to $1.1764 from $1.1762.</p>	Asian markets rise modestly after Wall Street’s sharp gains	false	https://abqjournal.com/1051599/stocks-rise-again-put-shaky-few-weeks-further-behind-them.html	2017-08-22	2
<p>Kenyan lawyer plans to ask President Obama for first Daughter Malia’s hand in marriage.</p> <p>A Kenyan lawyer, who according to his Facebook profile, is currently a student at Oxford University, has stated that he is prepared to offer President Obama a herd of livestock in &#160;exchange for the President’s consent to grant him the hand of his older daughter Malia in holy matrimony.</p> <p>Felix Kiprono Imatagei (Kiprono), whose age was not revealed, will offer 50 cows, 70 sheep, and 30 goats as bride price for 16-year-old Malia Obama. The bride price is a bounty presented to the bride’s family , and it serves as confirmation of the future husband’s ability to adequately provide for his future wife.&#160; In Kenya the bride price is equivalent to about five years of &#160;projected income for the husband-to-be. The average income for a lawyer in Kenya is approximately $18,000; the high-end value of Kiprono’s offer is around $90,000. The Kenyan said his family has agreed to help him raise the bride price.</p> <p>Kiprono said he will put his proposal of marriage to Malia in a letter&#160; to President Obama,&#160; give it to the U.S. ambassador, and hope the embassy passes it on. In the letter he will also request that Malia accompany the President when he makes his official visit to Kenya in July.</p> <p>Should Kiprono’s negotiations with the President prove successful, Malia can look forward to the traditional Kenyan tribal life Kiprono has envisioned. He will propose to her on a popular hill near his father’s lands where leaders and warriors are usually crowned.&#160; The name&#160; of the hill is Kapkatet, which means “victory”. Then he will observe other traditions of his Kalenjin tribe by tying a “sacred” vine around Malia’s head to indicate she is a queen and by feeding her sour milk- mursik-a popular drink. There will be no champagne at the wedding; guests will be served mursik. After the marriage he will teach Malia how to milk cows, cook ugali (a type of corn pudding) and prepare mursik like other Kalenjin women.</p> <p>The young lawyer says that Malia’s grandfather was Kenyan, so Malia has Kenyan blood. He denies accusations that he is a gold-digger or is infatuated, insisting his love is real. Malia Obama, one of Time Magazine’s Most Influential Teens of 2014, has not commented on the yet-to-be-received offer of marriage.</p> <p>&#160;</p> <p>&#160;</p> <p>&#160;</p> <p>&#160;</p> <p>&#160;</p> <p>&#160;</p> <p>&#160;</p> <p>&#160;</p> <p>&#160;</p>	Malia Obama’s Grand Marriage Proposal	true	http://politicalblindspot.com/malia-obamas-grand-marriage-proposal/	2015-06-04	4
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p> <p /> <p>The nation’s coaches apparently think so.</p> <p>UNM on Tuesday inched up one spot to No. 2 nationally in the U.S. Track &amp; Field and Cross Country Coaches Association poll.</p> <p>The Lobos, who have placed in the top 10 at the NCAA Championships each of the last seven years for the nation’s longest active streak, earned four of a possible 12 first-place votes to move past former No. 1 Colorado and into the No. 2 slot.</p> <p>Oregon is the new top-ranked team in the NCAA with eight first-place votes and 355 total poll points to UNM’s 347. Colorado (340 points), San Francisco (340) and North Carolina State (309) round out the top five.</p> <p>Last week at the Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational, the Lobos stormed to the women’s title, led by reigning national female runner of the week Ednah Kurgat, a transfer from Liberty University who won her second individual race of the season.</p> <p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> <p>Lobos Alice Wright, Charlotte Prouse and Weini Kelati have placed within the top 15 at both the Joe Piane Notre Dame Invitational in late September and at Wisconsin. UNM seemingly is searching for a fifth runner to step up who can score well enough to make this another dream season.</p> <p>UNM won the national championship in 2015 and is coming off a seventh-place finish last year.</p> <p>The Lobos return to action on Oct. 27 as the host team of the Mountain West Conference championships at the UNM North Golf Course.</p> <p>Along with the No. 2 UNM women, the No. 8 Boise State women and No. 12 Utah State women will be in attendance. On the men’s side, No. 9 Colorado State, No. 17 Air Force and No. 19 Utah State will be competing.</p>	UNM women’s cross country team No. 2 in the nation	false	https://abqjournal.com/1079309/unm-womens-cross-country-team-no-2-in-the-nation.html		2
<p>Published time: 13 Nov, 2017 10:58</p> <p>The US is being pushed out of the grain market as Russia’s bumper wheat harvest has dragged down prices to record lows. Russian agricultural exports are booming thanks to a weaker national currency and massive investment.</p> <p>“We are pushing America aside in some markets, and we are satisfied with this,” said Russia’s Agriculture Minister Aleksandr Tkachev.</p> <p>This year Russian farmers are expected to harvest the biggest crop in over a century. Russia will produce at least 83 million tons of wheat in the current growing season, according to estimates by The Wall Street Journal.</p> <p>However, the figure announced by the Russian government earlier this year is much more impressive. The Moscow-based grain consultant ProZerno estimates a harvest of over 130 million tons. It is 2.6 percent more than the previous record set in 1978 before the Soviet-Afghan War.</p> <p>“Today our task is to set reasonable prices across the country. The grain crop of 130 million tons, there is more to come. It may reach up to 200 million tons. The main thing is to find new sales markets,” said Tkachev.</p> <p>The US agricultural sector has faced lousy weather this season, meaning fewer acres of wheat were sowed in 2017 than ever before. US wheat output is expected to decline by a quarter compared to the previous season.</p> <p>Unfavorable conditions along with Russia’s resurgence pushed wheat prices at the Chicago Board of Trade down almost 25 percent to $4.19 a bushel (about 27 kilograms) compared to July, when Russia began a record wheat harvest. The US Wheat Associates trade group announced the shutdown of its office in Egypt, the world’s biggest wheat importer.</p> <p>“We literally can’t compete on the price of wheat in those markets compared to Russia,” said the trade group’s spokesman Steve Mercer, as quoted by the WSJ.</p> <p>According to the US Agriculture Department, American wheat will make up just 15 percent of global exports in 2017, down from half four decades ago. The plunge was also caused by more grain grown in Europe and India. The US will produce half as much as Russia, according to the department.</p> <p>Last year, Russia managed to become the world’s leading producer and exporter of grain, after shipping 34 million tons from its 119 million ton harvest. Exports of Russian wheat are expected to increase to 40 million tons this year, according to the agriculture ministry.</p>	Russia squeezing US out as agricultural superpower	false	https://newsline.com/russia-squeezing-us-out-as-agricultural-superpower/	2017-11-13	1
<p /> <p>High-yield, speculative-grade corporate bond exchange traded funds have gotten a lot of flak over perceived liquidity issues, especially if investors experience periods of extreme market stress. However, junk bond ETFs have proven to be sufficiently liquid as more investors eschew the primary markets for the ETF investment vehicle instead.</p> <p>Continue Reading Below</p> <p>"ETFs that track iBoxx indices have seen unprecedented liquidity over the last month, highlighting their growing popularity among market participants," according to financial information services company <a href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.markit.com_&amp;d=DQMFAg&amp;c=cnx1hdOQtepEQkpermZGwQ&amp;r=GRqff5l5MHpejHoKHot8Gp2SY_ZPxrunht950uhDnYCPYyIIU0YyzTG5vMXJEgC6&amp;m=ON8YKkXtUGRF822cM_2t2bzWvfwCSTPsp5BqDUcJphM&amp;s=OK3nxtkyk7GudJfnlsdrgx19NoqqS2rDQF4ORWrbl0Q&amp;e=" type="external">Markit Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> <p>For instance, the widely observed iShares iBoxx $ High Yield Corporate Bond ETF (NYSE: <a href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.etftrends.com_etf-2Dresume.php-3Fquote-3Dhyg&amp;d=DQMFAg&amp;c=cnx1hdOQtepEQkpermZGwQ&amp;r=GRqff5l5MHpejHoKHot8Gp2SY_ZPxrunht950uhDnYCPYyIIU0YyzTG5vMXJEgC6&amp;m=ON8YKkXtUGRF822cM_2t2bzWvfwCSTPsp5BqDUcJphM&amp;s=C2xJfxIDYXLh3kJ_E-evrPqywO4Zs7hebWG2NWE8pds&amp;e=" type="external">HYG Opens a New Window.</a>) and iShares iBoxx $ Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF (NYSE: <a href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.etftrends.com_etf-2Dresume.php-3Fquote-3Dlqd&amp;d=DQMFAg&amp;c=cnx1hdOQtepEQkpermZGwQ&amp;r=GRqff5l5MHpejHoKHot8Gp2SY_ZPxrunht950uhDnYCPYyIIU0YyzTG5vMXJEgC6&amp;m=ON8YKkXtUGRF822cM_2t2bzWvfwCSTPsp5BqDUcJphM&amp;s=5wAkwEgUn5s8qfjryjHXi-82NdMlJ-h4M86can6XqLg&amp;e=" type="external">LQD Opens a New Window.</a>) both track Markit iBoxx indices.</p> <p>Specifically, iBoxx backed ETFs experienced a record $27.6 billion of exchange traded volume in June, and the assets under management of iBoxx-benchmarked ETFs now stand at a record $107 billion.</p> <p>HYG shows an average 12.3 million shares traded per day while LQD has an average volume of 3.6 million shares, according to Morningstar data.</p> <p>As many ETF observers have noted, volume begets volume. These ETFs that track notoriously illiquid markets have been growing in popularity as investors sought out liquid instruments to express their views on the fixed-income market. While trading volumes in the fund have increased, trading in the underlying debt market has not been particularly elevated, reflecting the increased usage of ETFs as a more liquid proxy for exposure.</p> <p>Advertisement</p> <p>The heightened volatility in daily flows suggests that the increased activity is a result of rising usage among bond dealers. Banks may be utilizing bond ETFs like HYG as an alternative to their own stockpiles of riskier debt securities, relying on an ETF as an easy source of bonds for client redemptions. If a client gives money to a dealer to buy certain amount of high-yield debt, the broker could use the money to acquire a junk bond ETF that can be redeemed in kind for underlying debt securities, which is then given back to clients.</p> <p>ETFs offer a convenient solution for dealers with clients redeeming debt securities. Unlike mutual funds, which sell securities for cash in cases of client redemptions, ETFs allow investors to exchange shares for baskets of underlying securities.</p> <p>While we have witnessed robust volume and activity in these bond ETFs, some naysayers were worried that investors would rush out the last second to sell bonds in response to rising interest rates, which would make it costlier for high-yield bond ETFs to meet redemptions in a notoriously illiquid speculative-grade market.</p> <p>Additionally, Wall Street banks, which would have been able to soften the blow and buy these bonds, may no longer be able to stand to provide additional liquidity after new regulations and capital requirements imposed following the financial crisis forced banks cut inventories.</p> <p>Naysayers feared that selling pressure in the ETF may not be perfectly reflected by the illiquid underlying market, potentially widening the tracking errors between the ETF’s price and net asset value.</p> <p>However, the secondary market for junk bond ETFs has bolstered available liquidity and acted as efficient pricing instruments for issues held by ETFs. For instance, HYG and LQD saw a total of $23 billion of turnover over June.</p> <p>This article was provided by our partners at <a href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.etftrends.com_&amp;d=DQMFAg&amp;c=cnx1hdOQtepEQkpermZGwQ&amp;r=GRqff5l5MHpejHoKHot8Gp2SY_ZPxrunht950uhDnYCPYyIIU0YyzTG5vMXJEgC6&amp;m=ON8YKkXtUGRF822cM_2t2bzWvfwCSTPsp5BqDUcJphM&amp;s=apy6px2XQAj9fzyh2O7wK_qWXHtXIN30dXafj6gH7fU&amp;e=" type="external">etftrends.com Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>	Corporate Bond ETFs Volume Swell a Good Sign	true	http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/07/11/corporate-bond-etfs-volume-swell-good-sign.html	2016-07-11	0
<p /> <p>Goldman Sachs Group Inc's hedge fund Goldman Sachs Investment Partners (GSIP), which was one of the largest-ever hedge fund launches in history, is closing its London operations and shifting staff members to New York, four sources told Reuters.</p> <p>Continue Reading Below</p> <p>About eight staff members who made up the London team were recently told to move to Goldman's Battery Park City headquarters or find a new job internally, said the sources.</p> <p>The move was triggered by managing director Nick Advani, who led the hedge fund from London and said in June he would be stepping down from his role, the sources said.</p> <p>Advani, now an advisory director at Goldman, did not respond to requests for comment. Advani is expected to leave the firm later this year, the sources said.</p> <p>Managing director Raluca Ragab, who had been formally leading the London-based team since Advani's departure, will leave Goldman once the move is complete, one of the sources said.</p> <p>Multi-strategy hedge fund GSIP launched in November 2008 with $7 billion in assets, making it one of the largest hedge fund launches at the time. GSIP, run globally by co-heads Raanan Agus and Kenneth Eberts, sits within Goldman's asset management division.</p> <p>Advertisement</p> <p>But a focus on value investing with around 20 positions mainly in equities became more challenging in recent years, a former employee told Reuters.</p> <p>Goldman's Global Long Short Partners Offshore fund posted losses of 8.2 percent in the year to end-September in 2016 after small gains of 1.5 percent in 2015, according to an investor letter reviewed by Reuters.</p> <p>Last September, three of the fund's top five credit positions were in the Europe Middle East and Africa region, according to the letter.</p> <p>Assets fell in 2014 after Goldman pulled out $2.8 billion in response to the U.S. Dodd-Frank financial reform law and the Volcker rule, which restricted banks' proprietary trading. The fund now manages around $3.5 billion.</p> <p>Separately, Goldman may move up to 1,000 staff out of London in response to Britain's vote to leave the European Union, it was reported last month.</p> <p>(Reporting by Maiya Keidan in London and Olivia Oran ia New York, additional reporting by Carolyn Cohn and Simon Jessop)</p>	Exclusive: Goldman Sachs hedge fund folding London operations, shifting staff to U.S. - sources	true	http://foxbusiness.com/features/2017/02/08/exclusive-goldman-sachs-hedge-fund-folding-london-operations-shifting-staff-to.html	2017-02-08	0
<p>In the United States, it’s on campuses that the push&#160;against Israeli colonialism is having its greatest success. Despite attempts to quash faculty and student speech, the movement continues to surge.</p> <p>Professors worldwide rallied to defend the American Studies Association’s landmark endorsement of academic boycott, divestment resolutions have passed in student assemblies at the University of Michigan-Dearborn and Chicago’s Loyola University. Among other actions, Students Allied for Freedom and Equality’s sit-ins at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor forced their student government to vote on a boycott resolution.</p> <p>This patient and steady work has contributed to the growing international condemnation of Israel’s brutal occupation, the expansion of settlements from the Negev to the Jordan Valley, and the siege of the Gaza Strip.</p> <p>Israel’s defenders, aware that their longstanding attempt to control public opinion is faltering, are investing over $300 million in propaganda, surveillance, and legal warfare to silence dissent and solidarity with Palestine with false claims of antisemitism. By now, the institutional muzzling of voices advocating for an open hearing for the Palestinian cause is unmistakable: Northeastern University’s Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) <a href="http://www.northeasternsjp.org/current-situation.html" type="external">suspended indefinitely</a>, Florida Atlantic University students <a href="http://mondoweiss.net/2013/08/for-calling-israeli-speaker-a-war-criminal-boca-raton-school-forces-3-students-to-take-reeducation-program-from-zionist-org.html" type="external">forced into re-education programs</a>, a call for the removal of a Palestinian professor at San Francisco State University, and activists at University of California-Irvine facing <a href="http://www.irvine11.com/" type="external">state charges</a> for protests.</p> <p>Indeed, it is in California that the campus climate has turned most sharply against Zionism, with the UC campuses passing one BDS resolution after another.</p> <p>Israel knows that, as one report notes, “those seeking to chip away at Israel’s legitimacy target campuses to shape opinion and spread misinformation” —&#160;in other words, use that space to tell the truth about Israel and its collaboration with US and other Western interests. Losing ground, its disinformation machine is recycling and broadening its techniques to enlist the US state to directly silence students and professors.</p> <p>It is against that background that last month, Tammi Rossman-Benjamin, the coordinator of the <a href="http://www.amchainitiative.org/mission-and-objectives/" type="external">AMCHA initiative</a>, circulated a letter attacking a Palestinian professor at San Francisco State University, Rabab Abdulhadi, founder of the Arab and Muslim Ethnicities and Diasporas Initiative.</p> <p>Addressed to a who’s-who of California State University system managers, local state senators and assembly members, as well as major Zionist organizations, the missive highlights a recent academic and labor delegation to Palestine which Abdulhadi led and calls for an investigation into whether, by highlighting the plain reality of Israeli settler-colonialism, her actions have been “compromising the campus climate for Jewish and Israeli students at SFSU.”</p> <p>This defamation has been long coming, linking a longstanding Zionist “anti-delegitimization” campaign to a sustained effort to cut Palestinians in exile off from their own liberation struggle.</p>	A New War on Speech	true	https://jacobinmag.com/2014/04/a-new-war-on-speech/	2018-10-02	4
<p>By Krishna N. Das</p> <p>COX’S BAZAR, Bangladesh (Reuters) – The United Nations has appealed for aid to deal with a humanitarian crisis unfolding in southern Bangladesh after the number of Muslim Rohingya fleeing Myanmar neared 300,000, just two weeks after violence erupted there.</p> <p>The wave of hungry and traumatized refugees is “showing no signs of stopping”, overwhelming agencies in the Cox’s Bazar region already helping hundreds of thousands displaced by previous spasms of conflict in Myanmar’s Rakhine state, the U.N. said.</p> <p>“It is vital that aid agencies working in Cox’s Bazar have the resources they need to provide emergency assistance to incredibly vulnerable people who have been forced to flee their homes and have arrived in Bangladesh with nothing,” the U.N. Resident Coordinator in Bangladesh Robert Watkins said.</p> <p>He said in a statement late on Saturday that agencies urgently needed $77 million to cope with an emergency that was triggered when Rohingya insurgents attacked police posts and an army base on Aug. 25, prompting a military counter-offensive.</p> <p>The Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) insurgent group declared a month-long unilateral ceasefire, starting on Sunday, to enable aid groups bring humanitarian aid to those still in the northwestern state of Buddhist-majority Myanmar.</p> <p>The impact of ARSA’s move is unclear, but it does not appear to have been able to put up significant resistance against the military force unleashed in Rakhine state, where thousands of homes have been burned down and dozens of villages destroyed.</p> <p>Thousands of displaced people in Rakhine have been stranded or left without food for weeks. Many are still trying to cross mountains, dense bush and rice fields to reach Bangladesh.</p> <p>Red Cross organizations are scaling up their operations in Rakhine after the U.N. had to suspend activities there following government suggestions that its agency had supported the insurgents. The U.N. has evacuated non-critical staff from the area over the past two weeks.</p> <p>VILLAGES BURNT DOWN</p> <p>In its ceasefire statement, ARSA called on the military to lay down arms and allow humanitarian aid to all affected people.</p> <p>Myanmar says its security forces are carrying out clearance operations to defend against ARSA, which the government has declared a terrorist organization.</p> <p>Rights monitors and fleeing Rohingya say the army and Rakhine Buddhist vigilantes have mounted a campaign of arson aimed at driving out the Muslim population.</p> <p>About a dozen Muslim villages were burned down on Friday and Saturday in the ethnically mixed Rathedaung region of Rakhine, two sources monitoring the situation said.</p> <p>“Slowly, one after another, villages are being burnt down – I believe that Rohingyas are already wiped out completely from Rathedaung,” said one of the sources, Chris Lewa of the Rohingya monitoring group the Arakan Project.</p> <p>It was unclear who set fire to the villages, located in a part of northwest Myanmar far from where the insurgents launched their attacks last month. Independent journalists are not allowed into the area.</p> <p>Three Rohingya were killed by landmines on Saturday as they tried to cross from Myanmar, a Bangladeshi border guard said, and an official with a non-government organization said two more were injured on Sunday.</p> <p>In Cox’s Bazar, a Reuters reporter saw about 40 Rohingya, mainly women and children, arriving early on Sunday after a four-day trek and then a border crossing by fishing boat.</p> <p>“The sea was very rough but we made it here somehow,” said 25-year-old Rashidullah, one of the group that was looking for temporary shelter on the beach in an area where there is no room left in refugee camps.</p> <p>The International Crisis Group said in a report that the strife in Rakhine is causing more than a humanitarian crisis.</p> <p>“It is also driving up the risks that the country’s five-year-old transition from military rule will stumble, that Rohingya communities will be radicalised, and that regional stability will be weakened,” it said.</p> <p>Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi has come under international pressure to halt the violence. Critics complain that Suu Kyi, who won a Nobel peace prize in 1991 for championing democracy, has failed to speak out for a minority of her country that has long complained of persecution.</p>	U.N. appeals for aid as Myanmar refugee exodus nears 300,000	false	https://newsline.com/u-n-appeals-for-aid-as-myanmar-refugee-exodus-nears-300000/	2017-09-10	1
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p> <p>SEOUL, South Korea — Global stock markets fell Wednesday, with Tokyo tumbling more than 2 percent, as jitters over U.S. President Donald Trump’s ability to deliver on his reform agenda darkened sentiment. German’s DAX lost 0.7 percent and the CAC 40 in France fell 0.8 percent, while futures showed U.S. stocks were set to open lower.</p> <p>KEEPING SCORE: Britain’s FTSE 100 slid 0.9 percent to 7,309.15. France’s CAC 40 dropped 0.8 percent to 4,964.41 and Germany’s DAX fell 0.7 percent to 11,880.78. Auguring a downbeat start for Wall Street, S&amp;P futures fell 0.2 percent while Dow futures also lost 0.3 percent.</p> <p>ASIA’S DAY: Japan’s Nikkei 225 stock index fell 2.1 percent to close at 19,041.38 and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index dropped 1.1 percent to 24,320.41. Australia’s S&amp;P ASX 200 lost 1.6 percent to 5,684.50. South Korea’s Kospi lost 0.5 percent to 2,168.30 and the Shanghai Composite index fell 0.5 percent to 3,245.22.</p> <p>HEALTH CARE AGENDA: The U.S. House of Representatives is scheduled to vote Thursday on the Republican-backed American Health Care Act, but it’s not clear if the House or the Senate will approve the bill.</p> <p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> <p>ANALYST’S VIEWPOINT: “As this market correction extends, investors may now get an answer as to just how much current stock valuations are actually dependent on the assumed boost from the Trump administration’s plans for fiscal stimulus, or whether recent gains have been mainly about improvements already evident in the U.S. and other economies,” Ric Spooner, chief market analyst for CMC Markets, said in a commentary.</p> <p>JAPAN TRADE: Japanese shares sank after the U.S. dollar weakened against the yen, potentially hurting earnings of exporters. The government’s report that Japan’s trade surplus more than doubled in February from a year earlier as exports to Asia surged failed to make up for the yen’s gains, which inevitably drive shares lower.</p> <p>ENERGY: Benchmark U.S. crude lost 41 cents to $47.83 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It fell 67 cents to $48.24 a barrel on Tuesday. Brent crude, used to price international oils, fell 85 cents to $50.11 a barrel.</p> <p>CURRENCIES: The dollar slipped to 111.25 yen from 111.72 yen. The euro weakened to $1.0780 from $1.0810.</p>	Global shares tumble on jitters over Trump reform agenda	false	https://abqjournal.com/973770/asian-shares-tumble-on-jitters-over-trump-reform-agenda.html	2017-03-22	2
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p> <p /> <p>In the well-known Charles Dickens tale of Ebenezer Scrooge, the setting is Victorian England, but the story is surprisingly fresh and relevant to modern-day America, according to those preparing to tell it from a different point of view at the Santa Fe Playhouse.</p> <p>“Jacob Marley’s Christmas Carol,” which runs through Christmas Eve, tells the story from the perspective of Scrooge’s long-time business associate, who is offered a “get-out-of-hell” card if he can bring Scrooge to the redemption that can be gained through learning generosity and compassion for his fellow humans.</p> <p>Karen Koestner, top Talia Pura, middle Vaughn Irving, bottom and Linda Loving make up the cast of “Jacob Marley’s Christmas Carol” at the Santa Fe Playhouse. (Photo by Peter Sills)</p> <p>“It’s fire and brimstone,” said director Justin Golding, explaining that the play begins with Marley actually in hell. “He’s in chains, he’s suffering.”</p> <p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> <p>But this father of an 11-year-old girl hastened to add that the tale is quite family-friendly and his daughter has enjoyed the rehearsals.</p> <p>“The focus is on a character who was taken for granted in the original,” said Vaughn Irving, the Playhouse’s artistic director who also is taking the role of Marley. He noted that Marley showed up dragging his chains only at the beginning of “A Christmas Carol.” In this iteration of the story, Marley adopts the guise of the subsequent spirits who visit Scrooge, taking him on a tour of his past, present and future.</p> <p>“It’s a really interesting ghost story,” Irving said. “It’s very Dante-like.”</p> <p>Linda Loving, who plays Scrooge in this production, “is just a delight,” Golding said. Talia Pura is Bogle, a non-human sprite whose personality can switch from a southern belle to a Gollum-like character, he said. Karen Koestner takes on multiple roles of others who make up the Dickens universe as reimagined by playwright Tom Mula.</p> <p>Golding is relatively new to the Santa Fe theater scene. A native of Wales (he says he comes from famed actor Richard Burton’s hometown), Golding said he married a U.S. citizen and has been in Santa Fe since 2011. He has acted in a couple of plays, taught at the film school at the Santa Fe University of Art and Design, and will be teaching classes at Aux Dog Theatre in Albuquerque. He has directed and written both films and theatrical performances, and recently completed work on his Ph.D. in creative and critical writing at Aberystwyth University in Wales.</p> <p>Linda Loving portrays Scrooge in “Jacob Marley’s Christmas Carol” at the Santa Fe Playhouse. (Photo by Peter Sills)</p> <p>This latest production is an appropriate way to wrap up the Playhouse’s first season under Irving, who said he aimed for an underlying theme of storytelling. In this case, every character at times serves as a narrator, offering “beautiful descriptive passages about the world they’re inhabiting,” he said. The stage is somewhat abstract, with seven different platforms and a bridge, and all the actors are dressed in black.</p> <p>“We’ll do a lot with lighting,” Golding added.</p> <p>“It invites the audience to be part of the show, because they are using their imagination, but having a guide,” said Irving. He compared the show to people telling a story around a campfire.</p> <p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> <p>And the tale is a cathartic message for our times, they said.</p> <p>“The main focus remains on Marley and his journey,” Golding said. “At the moment of crisis, Marley gives himself even though Scrooge was horrible to him before he died. He becomes an example of how you can change.”</p> <p>Questions raised, Golding said, include: “What is the work of humanity? What is your legacy? What is your goal each day?”</p> <p>The story embodies a message that Irving said he looks for in shows staged during this holiday season.</p> <p>“We need a sense of redemption, of love and community this time of year,” he said.</p> <p>If you go</p> <p>WHAT: “Jacob Marley’s Christmas Carol”</p> <p>WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays</p> <p>Ending gala 3 p.m., performance 4 p.m. Dec. 24</p> <p>WHERE: Santa Fe Playhouse, 142 E. De Vargas St.</p> <p>HOW MUCH: $20-$25; $30 for Dec. 24 gala</p> <p>FOR TICKETS: santafeplayhouse.org, 988-4262</p>	Reimagined: ‘Christmas Carol’ told from Jacob Marley’s viewpoint	false	https://abqjournal.com/906063/reimagined-christmas-carol-told-from-jacob-marleys-viewpoint.html		2
<p>By Steve Harmon</p> <p>The pope has prayed for me, and following the announcement of his retirement at the end of the month, I’m returning the favor by praying for him and the future of his office.</p> <p>Don’t get the wrong idea: Pope Benedict XVI hasn’t direct-Tweeted me, and he’d have no reason to remember meeting me. But during a <a href="http://www.zenit.org/en/articles/pope-s-address-to-baptist-world-alliance" type="external">private papal audience</a> with the members of the joint delegations to a meeting in Rome of the ecumenical dialogue between the Baptist World Alliance and the Roman Catholic Church in December 2007, my family and I were included in this pledge of prayer:</p> <p>“Dear friends, I offer you my cordial good wishes and the assurance of my prayers for the important work which you have undertaken. Upon your conversations, and upon each of you and your loved ones, I gladly invoke the Holy Spirit’s gifts of wisdom, understanding, strength and peace.”</p> <p>Earlier in his <a href="http://www.zenit.org/en/articles/pope-s-address-to-baptist-world-alliance" type="external">address to us</a>, the pope expressed his hope that our “conversations will bear abundant fruit for the progress of dialogue and the increase of understanding and cooperation between Catholics and Baptists.”</p> <p>The chairs of our respective delegations then communicated our greetings to the pope. Baptist delegation chair Paul Fiddes of the University of Oxford mentioned in his greetings that we’d found Benedict’s commentary on the Vatican II,&#160; <a href="http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_const_19651118_dei-verbum_en.html" type="external">Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation Dei Verbum</a>, written not long after the council as young theologian Joseph Ratzinger, most helpful in our discussions that week.</p> <p>At that moment Benedict suddenly sat up straight in his chair and leaned forward with brightened eyes. For just a moment he was not the pope but a career academic who had just learned that someone was actually reading and interested in something he’d published.</p> <p>Then we were introduced one-by-one to the pope and shook hands with him. As I stood in line for my introduction, I kept debating internally whether I should speak to him in German, which I decided was a bit risky if he should respond in German.</p> <p>Then it was my turn, and Professor Fiddes said, “This is Steven Harmon, a professor of theology from the United States.” Benedict said, “A professor already? But you are so young!” Having just entered my fifth decade of life three months earlier, I received those words gladly.</p> <p>When I learned the news of Benedict XVI’s announced retirement, several things went through my mind.</p> <p>I remembered with gratitude my encounter with Benedict and his pledge of prayers, and I resolved to remember him and his post-pontifical ministry in prayer.</p> <p>I thought also of my admiration for the theological acumen displayed in Benedict’s papal encyclicals and Christological monographs written since he became pope, which I hope he will continue to exercise as long as possible in the service of the church.</p> <p>While I have not always agreed with Benedict’s approach to certain ecclesiological issues, I found myself having great respect for his decision to resign from the papal office before his physical condition began adversely affecting his ability to serve the church effectively as “the servant of the servants of Christ.” Who knows what sort of precedent this might set for how the papal office is exercised in the future?</p> <p>In that connection I also found myself hopeful that this decision might contribute to the furthering of the dialogue to which Benedict’s predecessor John Paul II invited the whole church, Catholic and non-Catholic, as to how the papal office might more effectively serve the whole body of Christ.</p> <p>Toward that end, I urge my fellow Baptists and other readers of ABPnews to pray not only for Pope Benedict XVI but also for the upcoming conclave of the College of Cardinals that will select the next pope. This is an appropriate occasion for us to remember all our Roman Catholic sisters and brothers in Christ as well during this time of transition. What happens within their communion has implications for ours, for we are one body in Christ.</p> <p>When we pray for the future of the papacy and the members of the church it serves, we’re doing something significant to advance the unity for which our Lord, and Benedict XVI, prayed.</p>	Prayer for the papacy	false	https://baptistnews.com/article/prayer-for-the-papacy/		3
<p>Twenty-two people died in Bihar, one of India's poorest states, after eating a poisoned meal of rice, soybeans and lentils at a local school Tuesday.</p> <p>The principal of the school fled shortly after the incident, leading investigators to question whether the poisoning may have been intentionally organized, rather than an accident.</p> <p>The contaminated food was part of India's universal free lunch program, ordered by the country's Supreme Court in 2010, which serves more than 120 million students and is the largest in the world. Officials said that the program is too large for them to be able to monitor the safety of every meal, adding that the responsibility lies on officials at the local level.&#160;</p> <p>But, in the village of Dharmasati Gandawa, Bihar, local civil servants allowed cooking oil to be stored in containers that once held pesticide.&#160;</p> <p>"The cook said to me when she was cooking she pointed out that the oil looked discolored and dodgy. She drew it to the attention of the teacher who said the oil was homemade and safe to use," said PK Shahi, Education Minister of Bihar.</p> <p>In small schools, like in Dharamasati Gandawa, the rice and other food for the school lunches are delivered to the school principal's house.</p> <p>As students began to fall ill, the school's principal, Meena Devi disappeared. Local police are investigating her whereabouts.</p> <p>News that the cooking oil had been purchased from the store owned by the Devi's husband raised suspicion whether the incident was an accident or planned.</p> <p>On Wednesday, Shahi said he had reason to believe the poisoning was part of a plot to destabilize Bihar's government led by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.</p> <p>"It is a criminal case of poisoning. The deaths occurred due to mixing of poison in the food material," Shahi said. "Doctors who have looked into the matter have said that the mix of organic phosphorus has been found."</p> <p>Supporters of the free lunches are concerned this incident and others like the 50 students made ill by a lunch in the Madhubani District on Wednesday will threaten public opinion of what many consider to be an important and helpful program.</p> <p>"In India, while everyone condemns what has happened in Bihar, there's also sort of a pullback saying 'Hey this is a tragedy and things need to be done to improve, but lets not throw the baby out with the bathwater.'," said Shoba Narayan, a freelance journalist based in India.</p> <p>School principals in Bihar have now been ordered to personally taste-test food before it's served to students.&#160;</p>	Investigation continues into school meals in India that killed 22 students	false	https://pri.org/stories/2013-07-19/investigation-continues-school-meals-india-killed-22-students	2013-07-19	3
<p>PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A 25-year-old man has been arrested in the stabbing of a passenger aboard a light-rail train in Portland.</p> <p>Sgt. Chris Burley of the Portland Police Bureau said Wednesday that James Stanley was booked into jail on a charge of second-degree assault.</p> <p>Passengers called 9-1-1 to report the stabbing Tuesday night. The violence occurred as the train pulled into a station in outer southeast Portland.</p> <p>Witnesses told police the suspect left the train and got on a westbound TriMet bus. Officers boarded the bus at nearby intersection and took him into custody.</p> <p>Burley says the victim was taken to a hospital by ambulance, and is expected to survive.</p> <p>PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A 25-year-old man has been arrested in the stabbing of a passenger aboard a light-rail train in Portland.</p> <p>Sgt. Chris Burley of the Portland Police Bureau said Wednesday that James Stanley was booked into jail on a charge of second-degree assault.</p> <p>Passengers called 9-1-1 to report the stabbing Tuesday night. The violence occurred as the train pulled into a station in outer southeast Portland.</p> <p>Witnesses told police the suspect left the train and got on a westbound TriMet bus. Officers boarded the bus at nearby intersection and took him into custody.</p> <p>Burley says the victim was taken to a hospital by ambulance, and is expected to survive.</p>	Man stabbed on Portland light-rail train; suspect arrested	false	https://apnews.com/amp/e7068e1351544c40ba70096dc5327c6e	2017-12-27	2
<p>A woman is dead after attempting to enter the White House grounds Thursday afternoon and then leading police on a chase through the streets of Washington, DC to the Capitol.</p> <p>In the course of pursuing the woman, two different federal law enforcement agents, a Secret Service officer and a Capitol Police officer, were struck by the woman's vehicle and injured.</p> <p>Video taken of the chase shows the vehicle surrounded by officers, with guns drawn, trying to get the woman to leave it. A short time later, the woman backed into a police cruiser and toward police officers before taking off at a high speed. Washington Metropolitan Police Chief Cathy Lanier said officers fired at the fleeing car.</p> <p>The chase ended near the Hart Senate Office building, Lanier said — the second place where officers shot at the vehicle.&#160;</p> <p>Lanier praised Secret Service and Capitol Police, and said the defensive barriers in place had worked well. She also revealed that a 1-year-old child had been rescued from the vehicle after it was stopped — prompting reporters to ask if this incident might have been an accident.</p> <p>"This does not appear to be, in any way, an accident. This was a lengthy pursuit," she said.</p> <p>The child is receiving medical treatment at a Washington-area hospital, as are the two injured officers. None have been injured seriously.</p> <p>Capitol Police Chief Kim Dine said agents were able to clear the situation very quickly once the pursuit reached the Capitol.</p> <p>"All of the security around the Capitol worked extremely well," he said.</p> <p>The Capitol was locked down briefly while the chase came to a head, but business resumed quickly.</p>	Woman is killed after leading police on a chase from the White House to the Capitol	false	https://pri.org/stories/2013-10-03/driver-killed-after-leading-law-enforcement-chase-white-house-capitol	2013-10-03	3
<p>Lt. Col. Ralph Peters (Ret) is a familiar face on Fox News. He has been doing commentary on military matters and foreign affairs for more than a decade. He has always been a hard-core spokesman for ultra-conservative views and a fierce opponent of all things liberal. He once <a href="" type="internal">called President Obama</a> a “total pussy” on the air (for which he got a two week suspension).</p> <p><a href="https://www.facebook.com/NewsCorpse/posts/2081502651864519" type="external" /></p> <p>For a little background, Peters is so radical that he once complained that the U.S. military needed to buck up and <a href="" type="internal">produce more civilian casualties</a> in order to win the war on terror. He also advocated <a href="" type="internal">targeting the media</a> for military attacks, including in the U.S. But more recently he has assumed a strident “NeverTrump” position. He believes that Donald Trump is Putin’s puppet and even announced on Fox that he would be <a href="" type="internal">voting for Hillary Clinton</a> because he doesn’t “want Moscow’s man in the White House,” and that “Vladimir Putin has a deep hold on Trump.”</p> <p>Bearing all of that in mind, the <a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/tomnamako/ralph-peters" type="external">letter</a> Peters released on Tuesday is all the more remarkable. In it he announced that he was severing his relationship with Fox News. And the substance and tone of the document is just plain shocking. For someone so devoted to the far-right agenda, Peters’ descriptions of Fox News must sting. And no matter how much of a war-mongering neanderthal he is, he seems to have solid grasp of how reprehensible and dangerous Fox News is. So read on in amazement (emphasis added):</p> <p>On March 1st, I informed Fox that I would not renew my contract. The purpose of this message to all of you is twofold:</p> <p>First, I must thank each of you for the cooperation and support you’ve shown me over the years. Those working off-camera, the bookers and producers, don’t often get the recognition you deserve, but I want you to know that I have always appreciated the challenges you face and the skill with which you master them.</p> <p>Second, I feel compelled to explain why I have to leave. Four decades ago, I took an oath as a newly commissioned officer. I swore to “support and defend the Constitution,” and that oath did not expire when I took off my uniform. Today, I feel that Fox News is assaulting our constitutional order and the rule of law, while fostering corrosive and unjustified paranoia among viewers. Over my decade with Fox, I long was proud of the association. Now I am ashamed.</p> <p>In my view, Fox has degenerated from providing a legitimate and much-needed outlet for conservative voices to a mere propaganda machine for a destructive and ethically ruinous administration. When prime-time hosts–who have never served our country in any capacity–dismiss facts and empirical reality to launch profoundly dishonest assaults on the FBI, the Justice Department, the courts, the intelligence community (in which I served) and, not least, a model public servant and genuine war hero such as Robert Mueller–all the while scaremongering with lurid warnings of “deep-state” machinations– I cannot be part of the same organization, even at a remove. To me, Fox News is now wittingly harming our system of government for profit.</p> <p>As a Russia analyst for many years, it also has appalled me that hosts who made their reputations as super-patriots and who, justifiably, savaged President Obama for his duplicitous folly with Putin, now advance Putin’s agenda by making light of Russian penetration of our elections and the Trump campaign. Despite increasingly pathetic denials, it turns out that the “nothing-burger” has been covered with Russian dressing all along. And by the way: As an intelligence professional, I can tell you that the Steele dossier rings true–that’s how the Russians do things.. The result is that we have an American president who is terrified of his counterpart in Moscow.</p> <p>I do not apply the above criticisms in full to Fox Business, where numerous hosts retain a respect for facts and maintain a measure of integrity (nor is every host at Fox News a propaganda mouthpiece–some have shown courage). I have enjoyed and valued my relationship with Fox Business, and I will miss a number of hosts and staff members. You’re the grown-ups.</p> <p>Also, I deeply respect the hard-news reporters at Fox, who continue to do their best as talented professionals in a poisoned environment. These are some of the best men and women in the business.</p> <p>So, to all of you: Thanks, and, as our president’s favorite world leader would say, “Das vidanya.”</p> <p>That hardly requires any elaboration. However, Fox News issued a brief and uncharacteristically weak response:</p> <p>“Ralph Peters is entitled to his opinion despite the fact that he’s choosing to use it as a weapon in order to gain attention. We are extremely proud of our top-rated primetime hosts and all of our opinion programing,”</p> <p>Fox didn’t even bother to refute any of Peters’ allegations regarding Fox’s devolution into a propaganda machine. Nor did they defend the assertions that Trump is a hapless asset of Vladimir Putin. They just bragged about their on-air shills (only those in primetime) and made a wholly nonsensical accusation that Peters was seeking attention. By quitting his job at a major cable TV network? Um, Okay. Let’s see if any of his former colleagues have the guts to join a long overdue and righteous exodus from Fox. Or they can stay and forever wallow in the treasonous glow of Comrade Trump’s State TV.</p> <p>In the meantime, The Daily Show compiled some of Peters’ greatest hits. This is the guy who has now come around (finally) to the view that Fox News is “fostering corrosive and unjustified paranoia among viewers.”</p> <p>How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00QSSMOES/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=9325&amp;creativeASIN=B00QSSMOES&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=newscorpsecom-20&amp;linkId=TLI6JC2OYE22MUTS" type="external">Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.</a> Available now at Amazon.</p> <p />	‘I Am Ashamed’ To Be Associated With Fox News, Says Long-Time Military Contributor	true	http://newscorpse.com/ncWP/?p%3D9013		4
<p>It is something citizens in Orange County, California will forever be thankful for.</p> <p>On May 26, 2007, Officer Lakin of the Los Angeles Police Department was caught sneaking around and taking pictures of the genital areas of small girls, according to reports.</p> <p>It occurred at the Garden Grove Strawberry Festival, an event arranged for families and children.</p> <p>Officer Lakin ended up pleading guilty during a pretrial to the charges “with intent to sexually gratify” himself.</p> <p>Had it not been for the heroic actions of Mark Dornan, a loving father, Officer Lakin probably would have escaped with the photos of multiple children.</p> <p>When Mark Dornan saw the Officer prowling around at the event and snapping photos, he began chasing him.</p> <p>Mark then performed a take-down maneuver on Officer Lakin, tackling him to the ground where he gained a full mount position over the Officer.</p> <p>Officer Larkin had a gun on him at the time, but Mark was able to take it away and hold the Officer down.</p> <p>Mark was awarded “Father of the Year” <a href="http://blogs.ocweekly.com/navelgazing/2009/01/ex-lapd_cop_admits_guilt_in_oc.php" type="external">by the OC Weekly</a>, though he himself views his action as something any sane, normal conscious human being should do when it comes to protecting children from sexual predators.</p> <p>After pleading guilty, Officer Laken was able to avoid jail time, of course, because he is a cop and even when caught in the act, cops can get away with anything owing to their government-privilege.</p> <p>Instead of jail, Officer Lakin was required to undergo four years of “supervised probation” and 100 hours of community service — a mere slap on the wrist.</p> <p>Watch the video below:</p>	Heroic Dad Tackles Child Porn Cop to the Ground, Saves Children From Being Exploited	false	https://studionewsnetwork.com/police-news/heroic-dad-tackles-child-porn-cop-ground-saves-children-exploited/	2017-12-18	3
<p>WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Prime Minister Erna Solberg of Norway will be the first foreign leader to call on President Donald Trump in the new year.</p> <p>The White House announced Tuesday that Trump will welcome Solberg to the White House on Jan. 10. The White House says Trump looks forward to exchanging views with Solberg on relations between the U.S. and Norway, as well as on how to make progress on regional and global security issues and economic prosperity.</p> <p>The leaders also plan to discuss defense and security goals within NATO and the coalition aligned against the Islamic State group, along with trade matters.</p> <p>The White House announced the visit while Trump was in Florida for the holidays.</p> <p>WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Prime Minister Erna Solberg of Norway will be the first foreign leader to call on President Donald Trump in the new year.</p> <p>The White House announced Tuesday that Trump will welcome Solberg to the White House on Jan. 10. The White House says Trump looks forward to exchanging views with Solberg on relations between the U.S. and Norway, as well as on how to make progress on regional and global security issues and economic prosperity.</p> <p>The leaders also plan to discuss defense and security goals within NATO and the coalition aligned against the Islamic State group, along with trade matters.</p> <p>The White House announced the visit while Trump was in Florida for the holidays.</p>	Norway prime minister to visit Trump on Jan. 10	false	https://apnews.com/92e2cafbad3c4788abbe4a3dd26aa01f	2017-12-27	2