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<p>On February 8, 1937, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/John-L-Lewis" type="external">John L. Lewis</a>, leader of the fledgling Committee of Industrial Organizations (CIO), met with <a href="https://www.biography.com/people/frank-murphy-9418715" type="external">Frank Murphy</a>, the newly elected governor of Michigan.</p> <p>Just over a month earlier &#8212; and just two days before Murphy started his term &#8212; hundreds of autoworkers had seized two General Motors (GM) plants in Flint, paralyzing the massive corporation&#8217;s production line. The workers&#8217; new tactic &#8212; the sit-down strike &#8212; was threatening to fundamentally change the balance of power between workers and management.</p> <p>Recognizing what was at stake, GM cut the heat to the occupied plants, hoping the cold would break the sit-downers&#8217; morale. But &#8202;the strikers were determined to stay. They sent Murphy a defiant telegram in response to rumors that he might mobilize the National Guard to evict them, announcing that they would be pulled out dead before they walked out on their own.</p> <p>Murphy had to do some quick electoral math. On one side, there was Michigan&#8217;s most powerful employer. On the other were workers and their families, who would never vote for him again if he broke a strike. Murphy turned to Lewis, demanding that he &#8220;do something.&#8221;</p> <p>Lewis replied: &#8220;I did not ask these men to sit down. I did not ask General Motors to turn off the heat. I did not have any part in either the sit-down strike or the attempt to freeze the men. Let General Motors talk to them.&#8221; He wasn&#8217;t being evasive. While Lewis was determined to organize industrial workers, he was wary of the sit-down.</p> <p>Getting no help from the CIO&#8217;s leader, Murphy tried to split the difference. He ordered the nearly four thousand soldiers to shut down the highways into Flint, hoping to prevent the United Auto Workers (UAW) from calling in reinforcements. Then he tried Lewis again, demanding that he remove his strikers from the plants. He backed it up with a signed order permitting the National Guard to use force if necessary.</p> <p>But something had changed in Lewis. No longer willing to leave it up to the workers and management, Lewis stood fully behind his members. He told Murphy (perhaps apocryphally):</p> <p>Tomorrow morning, I shall personally enter General Motors plant Chevrolet No. 4. I shall order the men to disregard your order, to stand fast. I shall then walk up to the largest window in the plant, open it, divest myself of my outer raiment, remove my shirt, and bare my bosom. Then when you order your troops to fire, mine will be the first breast that those bullets will strike.</p> <p>Lewis&#8217;s shift from ambivalence to militancy captures the dynamic of the Flint Sit-Down Strike. After years of industrialization built on their backs, workers were standing their&amp;#160;ground &#8212; and actors across the economy, from GM bosses to labor leaders, were forced to take note. Spurred on by <a href="" type="internal">socialists and communists</a>, organized labor grabbed a seat at the table, much to the chagrin of the ruling class.</p> <p>Eighty years later, the Flint Sit-Down Strike offers an enduring lesson:&amp;#160;that with a well-organized rank and file and a class-conscious leadership, an ambitious union can bring down the most powerful corporations in the world.</p>

The Flint Militants

https://jacobinmag.com/2017/10/flint-sit-down-strike-anniversary-autoworkers

2018-10-05

<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p> <p /> <p>The Pentagon confirmed that coalition forces had launched the errant strike on Friday near the town of Gereshk, where U.S. and Afghan forces have been engaged in close combat with Taliban insurgents.</p> <p>&#8220;We would like to express our deepest condolences to the families affected by this unfortunate incident,&#8221; the U.S. military in Afghanistan said in a statement.</p> <p>The statement said the airstrikes came during a U.S.-supported Afghan operation in which Afghan security personnel had gathered in a compound. The U.S. military said it would conduct an investigation.</p> <p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> <p>Officials in Helmand said that the police unit that was struck had reached Gereshk to support Afghan soldiers and police fighting to keep Taliban insurgents from entering the town.</p> <p>As the battle unfolded, Afghan forces requested an airstrike by their U.S. allies, which hit a compound where the police unit was gathered.</p> <p>&#8220;We are still trying to find out why the incident took place and whose fault it was,&#8221; said Omar Zwak, spokesman for the Helmand governor.</p> <p>Police officials said they were investigating the incident, which occurred about five miles outside Gereshk, north of the provincial capital of Lashkar Gah.</p> <p>Most of Helmand, a poppy-growing region that has long been strategically important for the Taliban, is controlled by insurgents. Afghan forces, backed by U.S. warplanes and ground troops, have battled for months to regain territory and keep the provincial capital from falling into Taliban hands.</p> <p>Also Saturday, officials said that more than 40 Afghan government-backed militiamen were killed in a Taliban raid that captured a district in the remote northeastern province of Badakhshan.</p> <p>Ahmad Faisal Begzad, governor of Badakhshan, said that members of the Afghan Local Police, a U.S.-funded government militia, and other pro-government fighters were killed in the attack Friday in the district of Tagab.</p> <p>Sultan Mohammad Awrang, a former lawmaker from the province, said the Taliban staged the raid days after Afghan Local Police ambushed a group of insurgents and killed eight, including a commander.</p> <p>&amp;#160;</p>

Errant U.S. airstrike kills 16 Afghan police officers in Helmand province, officials say

https://abqjournal.com/1036817/errant-us-airstrike-kills-16-afghan-police-officers-in-helmand-province-officials-say.html

<p>Sept. 18 (UPI) &#8212; Researchers at Virginia Commonwealth University have discovered a new tri-anion particle, a type of particle with three more electrons than protons.</p> <p>The new particle is extremely stable and its discovery apply to a variety of applications in the fields of physics and chemistry. The imbalance between electrons and protons on all other tri-anions makes the particle inherently unstable.</p> <p>Tri-anion particles can often disrupt chemical reactions, as they refuse to take on any more electrons.</p> <p>Researchers discovered the particle through a computer middle. Scientists built the model to prove a stable tri-anion particle was theoretical property.</p> <p>&#8220;This is very important in this field, nobody has ever found such a tri-anion,&#8221; Dr. Puru Jena, a physics professor at VCU, <a href="http://news.vcu.edu/research/VCU_physicists_discover_a_trianion_particle_with_colossal_stability" type="external">said in a news release</a>. &#8220;Not only can it keep three electrons but the third electron is extremely stable. The guiding principles we have used in this paper will help with the design of other tri-anions. The question is: What do we do with this knowledge?&#8221;</p> <p>Researchers detailed their discovery in a new paper, published this week <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/anie.201708386/abstract;jsessionid=E882C51B2EB93269CEBBA89B96A6236A.f02t03" type="external">in the journal Angewandte Chemie</a>.</p> <p>Scientists think the new particle could help engineers design a better aluminum ion battery, an alternative to the lithium ion battery. Aluminum is cheaper to source and less reactive than lithium.</p> <p>Inside an aluminum ion batter, tri-anion particles would promote conductivity by moving from one electrode to the other. Similar particles with one or two extra electrons &#8212; called mono-anions and di-anions &#8212; already have a variety of industrial applications.</p> <p>&#8220;Such particles are very important for many reasons. Number one, they make salts. Secondly, they are used in all kinds of chemical compounds, such as those in floor cleaners as oxidizing agents that kill bacteria,&#8221; Jena said. &#8220;They are also used to purify air, which is a billion-dollar industry, and in mood enhancers, similar to what Prozac does. The potential uses are endless.&#8221;</p>

Physicists discover super stable tri-anion particle

https://newsline.com/physicists-discover-super-stable-tri-anion-particle/

2017-09-18

<p>PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) &#8212; A court in Cambodia on Friday ordered an exiled opposition leader to pay $1 million for defaming Prime Minister Hun Sen in a Facebook post.</p> <p>The Phnom Penh Municipal Court found Sam Rainsy guilty of defamation in the latest case against him brought by Hun Sen and his ruling party. Sam Rainsy has been in self-imposed exile since late 2015 to avoid a two-year prison sentence also on charges of criminal defamation.</p> <p>The conviction comes amid an intense push by Hun Sen&#8217;s government to neutralize political opponents and silence critics ahead of an election next year. A Supreme Court last month ordered Sam Rainsy&#8217;s party, the country&#8217;s only legitimate opposition, to be dissolved on the grounds that it was plotting to overthrow the government.</p> <p>Kem Sokha, who took over the party, has been detained on treason charges and is awaiting trial.</p> <p>The government has also intensified restrictions on civil society groups and independent media outlets. The campaign, which means Hun Sen will face no serious challengers in the election, has prompted international condemnation.</p> <p>The latest case against Sam Rainsy stems from a Facebook post in January in which he accused Hun Sen of offering $1 million to a political operative to attack the opposition. Hun Sen filed a defamation case and demanded 4 billion riel ($1 million) in compensation.</p> <p>The court also ordered Sam Rainsy to pay another 10 million riel ($2,500) as a fine to the state.</p> <p>Sam Rainsy is also facing a charge of incitement filed by Cambodia&#8217;s military last month after he called on soldiers on Facebook not to obey any &#8220;dictators&#8221; if they are ordered to shoot innocent people.</p> <p>The U.S. announced last month that it will restrict visas for Cambodians &#8220;undermining democracy.&#8221; The State Department said it was a direct response to &#8220;anti-democratic actions&#8221; by the Cambodian government but did not disclose which individuals would be affected.</p> <p>PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) &#8212; A court in Cambodia on Friday ordered an exiled opposition leader to pay $1 million for defaming Prime Minister Hun Sen in a Facebook post.</p> <p>The Phnom Penh Municipal Court found Sam Rainsy guilty of defamation in the latest case against him brought by Hun Sen and his ruling party. Sam Rainsy has been in self-imposed exile since late 2015 to avoid a two-year prison sentence also on charges of criminal defamation.</p> <p>The conviction comes amid an intense push by Hun Sen&#8217;s government to neutralize political opponents and silence critics ahead of an election next year. A Supreme Court last month ordered Sam Rainsy&#8217;s party, the country&#8217;s only legitimate opposition, to be dissolved on the grounds that it was plotting to overthrow the government.</p> <p>Kem Sokha, who took over the party, has been detained on treason charges and is awaiting trial.</p> <p>The government has also intensified restrictions on civil society groups and independent media outlets. The campaign, which means Hun Sen will face no serious challengers in the election, has prompted international condemnation.</p> <p>The latest case against Sam Rainsy stems from a Facebook post in January in which he accused Hun Sen of offering $1 million to a political operative to attack the opposition. Hun Sen filed a defamation case and demanded 4 billion riel ($1 million) in compensation.</p> <p>The court also ordered Sam Rainsy to pay another 10 million riel ($2,500) as a fine to the state.</p> <p>Sam Rainsy is also facing a charge of incitement filed by Cambodia&#8217;s military last month after he called on soldiers on Facebook not to obey any &#8220;dictators&#8221; if they are ordered to shoot innocent people.</p> <p>The U.S. announced last month that it will restrict visas for Cambodians &#8220;undermining democracy.&#8221; The State Department said it was a direct response to &#8220;anti-democratic actions&#8221; by the Cambodian government but did not disclose which individuals would be affected.</p>

Cambodia court fines exiled opposition leader $1 million

https://apnews.com/efc3b46e2d634d059fab698a77aea95b

2017-12-29

<p>The New York Rangers signed center Mika Zibanejad to a five-year, $26.75 million contract, the team announced on Tuesday.</p> <p>An arbitration hearing, which was scheduled for Tuesday, was avoided.</p> <p>The deal has an annual cap hit of $5.35 million, and that makes the 24-year-old Zibanejad the team&#8217;s second-highest paid forward, behind only <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Rick_Nash/" type="external">Rick Nash</a>.</p> <p>Zibanejad, 24, had 14 goals and 23 assists in 56 games last season in his first year with the Rangers. He added two goals and seven assists for a team-high nine points in 12 playoff games.</p> <p>A first-round selection in 2011, Zibanejad had 21 goals and 51 points in 81 games during the 2015-16 while playing with the Ottawa Senators. He was traded to New York for <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Derick_Brassard/" type="external">Derick Brassard</a> and a second-round pick last July.</p> <p>Zibanejad might be the Rangers&#8217; top-line center this coming season, because <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Derek-Stepan/" type="external">Derek Stepan</a> was traded to the Arizona Coyotes in June.</p>

New York Rangers, center Mika Zibanejad avoid arbitration with five-year deal

https://newsline.com/new-york-rangers-center-mika-zibanejad-avoid-arbitration-with-five-year-deal/

2017-07-25

<p>VILONIA, Ark. (AP) &#8212; The sky turned black as the funnel cloud closed in, and Maggie Caro rushed with her husband and two children to a community shelter at a Vilonia school, where they were among the last to get inside the fortified gym before the doors were shut.</p> <p>&#8220;They were screaming, &#8216;Run! Run! It&#8217;s coming!'&#8221; Caro recalled.</p> <p>And then all hell broke loose.</p> <p>The half-mile-wide tornado carved an 80-mile path of destruction through the Little Rock suburbs Sunday evening, killing at least 15 people, flattening rows of homes, shredding cars along a highway and demolishing a brand-new school before it even had a chance to open.</p> <p>Officials said the death toll could have been worse if residents hadn&#8217;t piled into underground storm shelters and fortified safe rooms after listening to forecasts on TV and radio, getting cellphone alerts or calls or texts from loved ones, and hearing sirens blare through their neighborhoods.</p> <p>Also on people&#8217;s minds: memories of a weaker tornado that smashed through on April 25, 2011. It took nearly the same path and killed at least four people.</p> <p>&#8220;You had people breaking down because they were reliving three years ago,&#8221; Kimber Standridge said of the scene inside the community shelter, which she said was packed with perhaps more than 100 people.</p> <p>Standridge and a friend had gathered up seven children they were watching and sped through the streets just minutes before the twister hit.</p> <p>&#8220;When they shut the doors, we knew it was on us,&#8221; Standridge said. &#8220;Everybody hunkered down. There were a lot of people doing prayer circles, holding hands and praying.&#8221;</p> <p>Caro and Standridge said the shelter was so solid they barely felt or heard the tornado.</p> <p>It was among a rash of twisters and violent storms across the Midwest and South that killed 17 people in all on Sunday.</p> <p>With forecasters warning of more of the same Monday across the South, a large tornado damaged homes and downed trees and power lines around Tupelo, Miss. There were no immediate reports of any injuries.</p> <p>Most of the dead in Arkansas were killed in their homes in and around Vilonia, population 3,800. Firefighters on Monday searched for anyone trapped amid the piles of splintered wood and belongings strewn across yards. Hospitals took in more than 100 patients.</p> <p>The tornado that hit the town and nearby Mayflower was probably the nation&#8217;s strongest so far this year on the 0-to-5 EF scale, with the potential to be at least an EF3, which means winds greater than 136 mph, National Weather Service meteorologist Jeff Hood said.</p> <p>It wrecked cars and trucks along Interstate 40 north of Little Rock. Also among the ruins was a new $14 million intermediate school that had been set to open this fall.</p> <p>&#8220;It&#8217;s amazing to me how wide it was,&#8221; Mayflower Mayor Randy Holland said. &#8220;It was the loudest grinding noise I&#8217;ve ever heard.&#8221;</p> <p>Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe said officials didn&#8217;t yet have a count of the missing. He said the dead included a woman who was in a safe room but was hit by debris that went through the door.</p> <p>&#8220;Mother nature and tornadoes, sometimes you can&#8217;t explain how that works,&#8221; Beebe said.</p> <p>Bill Kopsky, executive director of the Arkansas Public Policy Panel, said his organization sends its prayers and wishes to families who were affected.</p> <p>How to Help Residents in Arkansas</p> <p>&#8220;These are communities of working families with people across the income spectrum and natural disasters like these can be especially devastating for people fighting to make a living, who might not have a lot of savings or insurance coverage,&#8221; he said in a statement.</p> <p>&#8220;These are strong communities that will rebuild and they need support from the thousands of Arkansas volunteers already contributing to the relief effort as well as the state and federal government.&#8221;</p> <p>Three people died when the tornado tore a Paron home down to the foundation. Emily Tittle, 17, said her family took shelter under the stairs of their two-story home before the twister ripped the walls away. She said her father, Rob Tittle; 20-year-old sister Tori and 14-year-old sister Rebekah were killed, and her six other siblings were taken to hospitals.</p> <p>In Vilonia, Raella Faulkner and Bobby McElroy picked through their demolished home, searching for family photos and a bow-and-arrow kit belonging to McElroy&#8217;s son. The two had taken refuge from the storm in an underground storm shelter about 10 feet from their home.</p> <p>&#8220;We were going to get married. Now I guess we&#8217;ll have to wait,&#8221; McElroy said.</p> <p>Homes in the South are frequently built on concrete slabs, without basements. Slabs are cheaper and easier, and the need to protect pipes from freezing by putting them below ground is not as great as it is in the North.</p> <p>For storm shelters, many people in the South and other parts of Tornado Alley in the nation&#8217;s midsection have holes dug into the sides of hills with a door attached to the front. But these tend to be in older homes.</p> <p>Hall Sellers, 53, was in the Vilonia home he built a decade ago when the warnings grew more intense. He had been through plenty of storms, including the twister three years ago that damaged the house, but this time he and his wife scrambled across the street to another home that he owns, an older one with an old-fashioned storm cellar.</p> <p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t know,&#8221; Sellers said. &#8220;I don&#8217;t usually go to the cellar, but this just felt right this time.&#8221;</p> <p>A neighbor wasn&#8217;t so lucky. Sellers said his body was found 300 yards away in a field.</p> <p>&#8220;If I&#8217;d have known he was home, I would have gotten him into the cellar,&#8221; Sellers said.</p> <p>Sara Sutter, 23, was at her brother&#8217;s home when the storm hit. When the home was built a year ago, the builder urged construction of a safe room. On Sunday, Sutter, her mother, father and brother huddled in the safe room until the twister passed.</p> <p>&#8220;Building the safe room was a great decision,&#8221; Sutter said.</p> <p>A separate twister killed one person in Quapaw, Okla., on Sunday evening, then crossed into Kansas, where it destroyed more than 100 homes and businesses and injured 25 people in the city of Baxter Springs. A farm building collapsed in Iowa from either a tornado or powerful straight-line winds, killing one woman.</p> <p>___</p> <p>DeMillo reported from Mayflower. Jim Salter, an Associated Press writer, co-wrote this article. Associated Press writers Justin Juozapavicius in Vilonia, Christina Huynh in Mayflower, Jill Bleed in Little Rock; Kristi Eaton and Tim Talley in Oklahoma City; and Roxana Hegeman in Baxter Springs, Kan., contributed to this report. Equal Voice News also contributed reporting.&amp;#160;</p> <p><a href="" type="internal">Contact author</a></p> <p>&amp;#160;&amp;#160; <a href="" type="internal">Arkansas</a>, <a href="" type="internal">Little Rock</a>, <a href="" type="internal">natural disaster news</a>, <a href="" type="internal">Tornado</a>, <a href="" type="internal">tornado news</a>, <a href="" type="internal">Vionia</a></p>

Tornado in Arkansas Leaves 80-Mile Path of Destruction

http://equalvoiceforfamilies.org/tornado-in-arkansas-leaves-80-mile-path-of-destruction/

<p /> <p>Diversified energy holding company CVR Energy would appear to be an ultra-safe stock on the surface given that the company carries no debt and it stands to benefit from weaker oil and gas prices. However, that only tells part of the story because the company's entire income stream is derived from its ownership stake in affiliates CVR Refining and CVR Partners . Their concentrated asset base and exposure to price and volume volatility makes CVR Energy a lot less safe.</p> <p>Continue Reading Below</p> <p>Cash flow safetyWe saw that last quarter after CVR Energy reported a net loss of $45 million, or $0.52 per share. That loss was mainly attributable to troubles at the company's CVR Refining unit, which experienced downtime due to a major turnaround at one of its two refineries. In addition to that, CVR Refining's earnings were further constrained by narrowing crack spreads, which is the difference between what it pays for oil and what it receives for its refined products. Because of that weak quarter CVR Refining didn't declare a distribution to investors, which is bad news for CVR Energy because the only actual cash flow it receives is from the distributions it receives from itstwo publicly traded partnerships.</p> <p>Therein lies a key difference between CVR Energy and a traditional general partner/MLP relationship. It doesn't collect the generous incentive distribution rights from its two partnerships, but instead is reliant on the distributions from its partnerships. That's a potential issue because those entities don't own classic MLP assets like pipelines and processing plants which generate steady fee-based income. As such, it's exposed to the cash flow volatility when either commodity prices or volumes produced at their operating plants fluctuate leading to lower distributions.</p> <p>We saw this volatility at CVR Partners last quarter as well. This was after the average realized prices of UAN fell from $247 per ton in 2014 to $221 per ton last year, while ammonia slumped from $547 per ton to $479 per ton over the same period of time. This resulted in its fourth-quarter operating income falling from $26.5 million to $20.4 million leading the company to declare a distribution of $0.27 per unit, which is down 34% from the year-ago period.</p> <p>This earnings and cash flow volatility is nothing new, with CVR Energy and its two partnerships having a history of volatility:</p> <p><a href="http://ycharts.com/companies/CVI/normalized_eps_ttm" type="external">CVI Normalized Diluted EPS (TTM)</a> data by <a href="http://ycharts.com" type="external">YCharts Opens a New Window.</a></p> <p>Advertisement</p> <p>Because of this volatility, the stock can't really be considered all that safe.</p> <p>Balance sheet safetyHaving said that, while CVR Energy's cash flow is variable, its balance sheet is rock-solid. As the slide below notes, the consolidated company is actually sitting on a net cash position of just over $90 million:</p> <p>Source: CVR Energy Investor Presentation.</p> <p>Further, its overall minimal debt level puts its consolidated debt-to-adjusted EBITDA ratio at a very comfortable 1.4 times. That's a very safe balance sheet and provides a nice safety net so that the group can manage through volatile commodity prices as well as facility downtimes.</p> <p>Investor takeawayRanking CVR Energy's safety is tough. On the one hand, with a net cash position, its balance sheet is very rock-solid. However, its cash flow can be very volatile because its partnerships are exposed to commodity price fluctuations as well as potential volume issues given that it only operates a small handful of plants. That's a big safety concern for investors because that concentrated asset base could cause problems down the road should the company get hit with a major unplanned downtime. It's that direct exposure to volatility on price and volume, as well as weak diversification, that brings CVR Energy safety level down a couple of notches given the big impact these issues could have on the company's earnings and therefore its ability to maintain or even pay dividends in the future.</p> <p>The article <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2016/04/06/how-safe-is-cvr-energy-inc-stock.aspx" type="external">How Safe Is CVR Energy, Inc. Stock? Opens a New Window.</a> originally appeared on Fool.com.</p> <p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFmd19/info.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">Matt DiLallo Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services <a href="http://www.fool.com/shop/newsletters/index.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">free for 30 days Opens a New Window.</a>. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that <a href="http://wiki.fool.com/Motley?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">considering a diverse range of insights Opens a New Window.</a> makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> <p>Copyright 1995 - 2016 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/help/index.htm?display=about02" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>

How Safe Is CVR Energy, Inc. Stock?

http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/04/06/how-safe-is-cvr-energy-inc-stock.html

2016-04-06

<p>Customers spent more at Target Corp. in its most recent quarter, as the retailer embarked on a three-year, $7 billion plan to refresh its interiors and cut prices.</p> <p>Target posted a 1.3% rise in same-store sales, driven by increased digital sales and a modest gain in foot traffic. That is an improvement from a 1.1% decline a year ago and slightly better than analysts expected.</p> <p>Continue Reading Below</p> <p>The Minneapolis-based retailer also raised its fiscal year outlook and now expects an adjusted profit of $4.34 to $4.54 a share, up from its previous expectation of $3.80 to $4.20 a share.</p> <p>The results sent shares up 4.9% in premarket trading Wednesday. The stock is down nearly 25% so far this year.</p> <p>Target has been launching exclusive brands and sprucing up its stores in an effort to keep customers from being wooed away by Wal-Mart Stores Inc., which has lowered prices, and Amazon.com Inc., which benefits as more types of shopping move online.</p> <p>Amazon's plan to purchase Whole Foods Market Inc. increased the pressure on Target to improve its lagging grocery business, especially because the two companies are chasing many of the same customers. Target announced earlier this week that is testing a same-day delivery program in New York and plans to buy a logistics-software company, which could give it more ways to deliver online orders.</p> <p>It is also piloting a program in Minneapolis that lets customers fill a box with home items such as laundry detergent and breakfast cereal for a flat fee, which is similar to a current Amazon offering.</p> <p>Advertisement</p> <p>Target Chief Executive Brian Cornell said in prepared remarks that while the recent sales boost is encouraging, the company is forging ahead with major changes that will "build an even better Target that will thrive in this new era of retail."</p> <p>The company expects similar same-store sales growth in the second half of its fiscal year as the first half. It also expects a third-quarter adjusted profit of 75 to 95 cents a share.</p> <p>Overall, Target reported a profit of $672 million, or $1.22 a share, compared with $680 million, or $1.16 a share, a year earlier. Excluding items, the company earned $1.23 a share, unchanged from a year ago. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had expected adjusted earnings of $1.19 a share.</p> <p>Write to Cara Lombardo at cara.lombardo@wsj.com</p> <p>Target Corp.'s efforts to cut prices and improve its digital operations showed signs of success in its latest quarter, as store sales rose for the first time in a year and the retailer raised its profit forecast.</p> <p>Sales at stores open at least a year rose 1.3%, driven by stronger-than-expected foot traffic and an increase in online sales. The average amount customers spent fell 0.7%, another effect of the lower prices.</p> <p>In a call with analysts Wednesday, Target Chief Executive Brian Cornell attributed the improved results to the company's lower prices, which helped it cut down on discounts.</p> <p>"We saw a meaningful increase in the percent of our business done at regular price and a meaningful decline in the percent on promotion," he said. "This demonstrates the progress we've already made and gives us confidence we're on the right track."</p> <p>Target has been struggling to compete with Amazon.com Inc., which is benefiting from the movement of consumer shopping online, as well as Wal-Mart Stores Inc., which has been remodeling its brick-and-mortar stores and lowering prices. In February, after Target posted profit and sales declines and issued a profit warning, it said it would invest billions to improve stores, launch exclusive brands and cut prices.</p> <p>Target shares, which are down 23% so far this year, rose 2% in morning trading.</p> <p>GlobalData Retail analyst Neil Saunders applauded the results, saying in a research note that "after a long run of decline, green shoots are finally showing at Target." The uptick in store sales, he said, "suggests that some of Target's initiatives are starting to pay dividends."</p> <p>Comparable digital sales increased 32% in the quarter, up from 16% growth in the same period last year. Food and beverage sales were flat, while sales increased in other categories, including essentials and hardlines.</p> <p>Target plans to double its number of small-format stores this year, remodel more than 100 existing stores and expand a next-day delivery service for online orders. On Monday, it said it was buying a logistics startup, Grand Junction, to help it expands its same-day delivery offering for in-store purchases.</p> <p>Mr. Cornell said that Target is also launching four more house brands this quarter, part of its plan to launch 12 by the end of next year.</p> <p>Amazon's deal to buy Whole Foods Market Inc. has put renewed focus on Target's grocery business, which has had declining food sales despite efforts to improve the assortment it sells. On Monday, Target said it has hired executives from Wal-Mart and General Mills Inc. to accelerate its grocery strategy.</p> <p>The company said it now expects full-year profit of $4.34 to $4.54 a share, up from its previous forecast of $3.80 to $4.20 a share. It expects its same-store sales growth in the second half of its fiscal year to be roughly the same as the first half.</p> <p>Overall, Target reported second-quarter profit of $672 million, or $1.22 a share, compared with $680 million, or $1.16 a share, a year earlier. Revenue rose 1.6% to $16.43 billion from $16.17 billion.</p> <p>Cara Lombardo contributed to this article.</p> <p>Write to Khadeeja Safdar at khadeeja.safdar@wsj.com</p> <p>(END) Dow Jones Newswires</p> <p>August 16, 2017 10:42 ET (14:42 GMT)</p>

Target's Lower Prices Pay Off as Sales Rise -- Update

http://foxbusiness.com/features/2017/08/16/targets-lower-prices-pay-off-as-sales-rise-update.html

2017-08-16

<p>FOSTER, R.I. (AP) &#8212; One person has died and three others are injured after a three-car crash on a Rhode Island roadway.</p> <p>The crash happened Sunday afternoon on Hartford Pike in Foster. Police said Monday that a passenger in one of the vehicles died after being taken to a hospital.</p> <p>The drivers of the three cars were also injured, two of them seriously.</p> <p>Police did not immediately release any names.</p> <p>The cause of the crash remains under investigation.</p> <p>FOSTER, R.I. (AP) &#8212; One person has died and three others are injured after a three-car crash on a Rhode Island roadway.</p> <p>The crash happened Sunday afternoon on Hartford Pike in Foster. Police said Monday that a passenger in one of the vehicles died after being taken to a hospital.</p> <p>The drivers of the three cars were also injured, two of them seriously.</p> <p>Police did not immediately release any names.</p> <p>The cause of the crash remains under investigation.</p>

Passenger killed, 3 others injured in 3-car crash

https://apnews.com/ea100ddc918b41ba858d5e13b4ae1e35

2018-01-09

<p>DENVER (AP) _ The winning numbers in Saturday evening&#8217;s drawing of the Colorado Lottery&#8217;s &#8220;Cash 5&#8221; game were:</p> <p>01-05-11-20-21</p> <p>(one, five, eleven, twenty, twenty-one)</p> <p>Estimated jackpot: $20,000</p> <p>&#182; Drawings are held nightly except Sunday.</p> <p>DENVER (AP) _ The winning numbers in Saturday evening&#8217;s drawing of the Colorado Lottery&#8217;s &#8220;Cash 5&#8221; game were:</p> <p>01-05-11-20-21</p> <p>(one, five, eleven, twenty, twenty-one)</p> <p>Estimated jackpot: $20,000</p> <p>&#182; Drawings are held nightly except Sunday.</p>

Winning numbers drawn in ‘Cash 5’ game

https://apnews.com/8d04d5b9eeae4c4996fa5d9a76b8d65a

2018-01-21

<p>On September 19, 2005, Yvette Cade went before Judge Richard A. Palumbo seeking an extension of a domestic violence restraining order against her husband, Roger Hargrave. Palumbo, whether from confusion, clerical error, or a genuine belief that the extension was unwarranted, dismissed the restraining order. One month later, Hargrave walked into the cell phone store where Cade worked, doused her with gasoline, and set her on fire. Two weeks after the attack, Palumbo was removed from all domestic violence cases and placed on administrative duty.</p> <p>On July 20, 2006, Cade was interviewed by Nancy Grace on CNN&#8217;s Headline Prime. Grace, emblematic of the media reaction, introduced the interview with: &#8220;Tonight, a primetime exclusive. She went before a trial judge and begged for help, begged for protection. He refused to hear her pleas for help. And then her nightmare came true. Her estranged husband came to her office and set her on fire. But against all odds, she lived, and tonight she wants justice. And PS, to the judge that sentenced her to being burned alive, Maryland judge Richard Palumbo, you are in contempt!&#8221; Adding to this, one of Grace&#8217;s other guests, Congressman Ted Poe, commented: &#8220;Well, Nancy, you know I believe that judges need to be accountable for their actions just like we make criminals accountable. And this judge, whether it&#8217;s a mistake or incompetence on his part, he needs to leave the bench.&#8221; A judicial misconduct hearing scheduled for the end of August 2006 was cancelled when Palumbo announced he planned to retire on August 4 because of health problems.</p> <p>Whether or not the horrific criminal act committed by Hargrave would have been prevented had Palumbo extended the restraining order, the Yvette Cade tragedy and the ensuing backlash against Palumbo is likely to have just one result. As if things weren&#8217;t bad enough already in the family courts, judges are going to be even more likely to grant restraining orders, regardless of the facts, rather than risk being held responsible for a similar tragedy.</p> <p>Economists have long realized that Food and Drug Administration (FDA) officials, in deciding whether to approve a drug, face the possibility of making two errors&#8211;they can approve a drug that turns out to be unsafe and/or ineffective, type I, or they can disapprove an effective drug that is, in fact, safe, type II&#8211;and have an incentive to make one type of error over the other.</p> <p>A classic example of type I error, given by former FDA official Henry I. Miller, M.D., is the FDA&#8217;s approval in 1976 of the swine flu vaccine. &#8220;Although the vaccine was effective at preventing influenza, it had a major side effect that was unknown at the time of approval: temporary paralysis from Guilain-Barr&#233; Syndrome in a small number of patients. This kind of mistake is highly visible and has immediate consequences&#8211;the media pounces, the public denounces, and Congress pronounces. Both the developers of the product and the regulators who allowed it to be marketed are excoriated and punished in modern-day pillories: congressional hearings, television news magazines, and newspaper editorials.&#8221;</p> <p>A classic example of Type II error, given by economist Walter E. Williams, is the FDA&#8217;s failure to approve the use of beta-blockers, available in Europe since 1967, until 1976. &#8220;In 1979, Dr. William Wardell, a professor of pharmacology, toxicology and medicine at the University of Rochester, estimated that a single beta-blocker, alprenolol, which had already been sold for three years in Europe, but not approved for use in the U.S., could have saved more than 10,000 lives a year. Grieving survivors of those 10,000 people who unnecessarily died each year don&#8217;t know why their loved one died, and surely they don&#8217;t connect the death to FDA over-caution. For FDA officials, these are the best kind of victims&#8211;invisible ones.&#8221;</p> <p>Economist Thomas W. Hazlett sums it up this way: &#8220;Type I deaths result in headlines reading, &#8216;FDA-Approved Drug Kills Pregnant Mother, Congressional Hearings Slated.&#8217; Type II deaths don&#8217;t generate headlines, or even little blurbs. There are no visible victims to lay on the regulator&#8217;s doorstep when potential beneficiaries are only statistical probabilities.&#8221; As Miller confides, &#8220;Because a regulatory official&#8217;s career might be damaged irreparably by his good faith but mistaken approval of a high-profile product, decisions are often made defensively&#8211;in other words, to avoid type 1 errors at any cost.&#8221;</p> <p>Although it is not politically correct to say so, women can and do use false allegations of domestic violence to gain sole custody and to get their children to hate and fear their fathers. Even when a restraining order doesn&#8217;t snowball into complete parental alienation, a judge&#8217;s declaration that a father is an abuser can permanently tarnish his image in his child&#8217;s eyes. The damage to father/child relationships and to children&#8217;s mental health caused by the overzealous entering of restraining orders, however, is seldom if ever reported, while the harm caused by overtly violent acts following the failure to enter restraining orders most certainly is.</p> <p>Just like FDA officials worrying about the headlines, judges deciding whether to enter domestic violence restraining orders have their careers to think about in addition to the merits of the particular cases before them. When in doubt, they err on the side of hidden harm.</p> <p>Facts should be determined by several fresh, open minds, not one with a career on the line. Jurors, relatively anonymous one-time actors in the judicial system, are far less concerned with extraneous matters than are judges. In the wake of the Yvette Cade tragedy, it is more critical than ever that juries, not judges, be used to decide when domestic violence restraining orders are warranted.</p> <p>DAVID HELENIAK is a civil litigation attorney in New Jersey and Senior Legal Analyst for the True Equality Network. He can be reached at <a href="mailto:david-heleniak-esq@verizon.net" type="external">david-heleniak-esq@verizon.net</a></p> <p>&amp;#160;</p> <p>&amp;#160;</p> <p>&amp;#160;</p>

Erring on the Side of Hidden Harm

https://counterpunch.org/2007/10/20/erring-on-the-side-of-hidden-harm/

2007-10-20

<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p> <p>Around 1914, golfers in their knickers play on the original oiled sand and gravel course of the Albuquerque Country Club on the present-day location of the University of New Mexico. (Courtesy of Albuquerque Country Club)</p> <p>ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. &#8212; From movie stars like Bob Hope and Jane Russell to local movers and shakers like former Gov. Clyde Tingley, University of New Mexico president Bob Frank, Sheila Garcia of Garcia Automotive and golfer Notah Begay, the guest list and membership roster of the Albuquerque Country Club has read like a Who&#8217;s Who for the past 100 years.</p> <p>N.M. MOVERS AND SHAKERS</p> <p>A sampling of well-known members and guests at the Albuquerque Country Club over the years.</p> <p>Golfer Notah Begay.</p> <p>UNM president Bob Frank.</p> <p>Carrie Tingley and Gov. Clyde Tingley.</p> <p>The Centennial of the club marks more than its 100th birthday. It celebrates the tenacity and loyalty of generations of families, both famous and not-so-well-known, who put down roots in the sandy Rio Grande soil.</p> <p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> <p>&#8220;To have a private equity club this old is a remarkable feat of commitment of generation after generation,&#8221; says Marty Wells, the club&#8217;s present-day agronomist. &#8220;Only a handful of clubs sustain for a 100 years. It&#8217;s a real rarity.&#8221;</p> <p>&#8220;This is a viable club that continues to improve and reinvent itself because of how much it means to the members,&#8221; Wells adds. &#8220;It&#8217;s nice to be part of that.&#8221;</p> <p>In fact, the Albuquerque Country Club is bucking a national trend, he says. The National Golf Association recently reported that for the past 16 years more clubs across the country closed than opened.</p> <p>The Albuquerque Country Club also held on during the recent economic downturn, says Rodney Maddox, the club&#8217;s general manager. Now with 400 golf members and 300 members in other categories, it lost about 60 memberships during the worldwide economic decline of 2008. A major renovation and attractive programs for families helped keep the club going, he says.</p> <p>&#8220;The unique thing about the Albuquerque Country Club is we have this generational history and we have been successful in keeping things alive,&#8221; he says. &#8220;Everyone talks about their memories.&#8221;</p> <p>To honor that idea, the club and its Centennial committee created the tag line, &#8220;One Hundred Years and Still Making Memories,&#8221; because for many members the club offers a viable link to the past.</p> <p>&#8220;The key word is &#8216;still,&#8217; &#8221; Maddox says.</p> <p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> <p>A celebration</p> <p>To celebrate its century mark, the club will launch festivities with a Centennial Gala Ball on Saturday, with as many as 350 expected to attend, says Beverly Cramer, who with her sister, Sandra Thompson, led the committee that planned the ball.</p> <p>The original clubhouse of the Albuquerque Country Club was built in 1914 on the present-day site of the Newman Center on the University of New Mexico campus. (Courtesy of Albuquerque Country Club)</p> <p>The gala will be resplendent with plenty of elegance, a red carpet and live music, she says.</p> <p>&#8220;The club has been a wonderful part of my life,&#8221; she says. Her parents joined in 1954. She and her children have learned golf, tennis and swimming while they enjoyed the club community.</p> <p>The ball will be followed by events every month that include a high tea, a vintage golf tournament played with wooden clubs, a fashion show and a time capsule celebration to provide a glimpse of 2014 for future generations, says Jerry White, a member of the planning committee.</p> <p>The time capsule will be buried in a ring of paving stones the committee will sell to raise funds for its events as well as to benefit the entire community in the future, White says: &#8220;Not everyone can be a member of the Country Club. We want to give something back.&#8221;</p> <p>A new venue</p> <p>Beyond the city&#8217;s first golf course, the country club offered a place for formal events, a venue that was hard to find in 1914 Albuquerque, White says: &#8220;The club was started two years after New Mexico became a state.&#8221;</p> <p>Brad Tepper, a longtime member and the club&#8217;s historian, says community leaders created the club in 1914 to offer people moving west to Albuquerque some of the amenities they enjoyed in more established cities.</p> <p>At a Fourth of July party in 1941, past president Arthur Prager burned the country club&#8217;s mortgage. Others on stage are past presidents of Albuquerque Country Club. Many members credit Prager&#8217;s financial savvy for keeping the club from closing during the Depression and World War II. (Courtesy of Albuquerque Country Club)</p> <p>Albuquerque was a smaller city then, with about 30,000 people, and was competing with surrounding communities in Colorado and Texas and even Roswell, for new residents.</p> <p>Since it began, the club has had a membership list that includes people significant to Albuquerque&#8217;s history, he adds. Familiar family names include Hebenstreit, Keleher, Gardenswartz, Matteucci, Seligman, Luthy and Cornish, Cramer says, but adds that it has been everyone working together, prominent families, those not so well-known and a dedicated staff to keep the club running smoothly all these years.</p> <p>Even so, surviving tough times, including the stock market crash in 1929, has meant continuous recruitment, conservative management and loyal members, Tepper says. The club also owns its water rights, another factor in its sustainability, he adds.</p> <p>&#8220;The fact that the club has survived 100 years is a testament to its members and its management. It&#8217;s not a money-making enterprise,&#8221; he says of the history he has gleaned from club minutes that extend back to the 1920s.</p> <p>The Albuquerque Country Club, as seen in the summer of 2013, has undergone many renovations since it was built in 1928. (Courtesy of Judy Cook)</p> <p>Then and now</p> <p>Today the California Mission-style clubhouse is nestled along the Rio Grande, under the shade of mature cottonwood trees on an 18-hole golf course, with a newly renovated pool and tennis courts. Inside are dining rooms, ballrooms, a pro shop, a fitness center and card rooms for men and women. Its interiors reflect the work of the region&#8217;s award-winning architects, including the initial design by George Williamson and additions by John Gaw Meem, Louis Hesselden and most recently Lee Gamelsky.</p> <p>Near the end of the year, the country club will release a book of its history, Tepper says.</p> <p>The Albuquerque Country Club began with a group of men looking to play golf in 1912.</p> <p>They scraped a course out of the East Mesa near the University of New Mexico for the fairways and created a three-hole course from oiled sand and gravel.</p> <p>According to a club founder, Arthur Prager, past president of what is now Public Service Company of New Mexico, &#8220;We used to meet at the Sturges Restaurant (at First and Central) each Sunday morning at 6:30 for breakfast, then go together to the three holes to play golf. We didn&#8217;t have many clubs, used the original old-time golf balls and had a lot of fun.&#8221;</p> <p>Prager, who passed away in 1974, was quoted in a 1969 Howard Bryan column of the Albuquerque Tribune.</p> <p>Those three holes grew to six and then nine, a place where golfers told stories of &#8220;killing snakes and dodging tumbleweeds,&#8221; according to a draft of the history, compiled by local writer Jane Piper Mahoney.</p> <p>In 1914 the club was incorporated and a 60-foot wide gravel fairway with clay-like greens stretched from Las Lomas to Indian School Road NE, with the clubhouse on the same land where the Newman Center is today.</p> <p>The present-day country club with its distinctive red-tiled roof and lush golf course on more than 100 acres opened at 601 Laguna Blvd. SW in 1928. Before, where they battled blowing sand, now club organizers had to drain the marshland adjacent to the Rio Grande.</p> <p>The golf course was further developed and designed by professional John R. Van Kleet from the firm of Stiles and Van Kleet of Florida and constructed under the watchful eye of future golf pro Tommy C. De Baca, according the club&#8217;s history.</p> <p>The California Mission style has remained consistent, with a distinctive red clay tile roof and towers. (Courtesy of Albuquerque Country Club)</p> <p>Changing times</p> <p>The country club has not been immune to growing pains as it reflects the larger society, adjusting to more equal status for all of its members. For example, women were never been banned from the golf course but had restricted hours for several decades. Women golfers, united at the club as the Women&#8217;s Golf Association since 1933, fought for the same amount of time on the course as male golfers, taking their complaints to the governor&#8217;s office as recently as 1990. The inequitable situation caused the New Mexico Women&#8217;s Bar Association to move its meeting from the club in 1991. Today the same tee times are available for everyone, Maddox says.</p> <p>Although membership is by invitation, it wasn&#8217;t restricted, he adds: &#8220;The race issue has never been a problem here.&#8221;</p> <p>The greens and the tennis courts have hosted a number of celebrities, starting with leading world golfer Gene Sarazen, who played on the original dirt course, calling it, &#8220;The worst golf course I have ever played on,&#8221; according to a newspaper report of his exhibition game.</p> <p>Other famous faces enjoying time at the Albuquerque Country Club include Nancy Lopez, Bob Hope, Phyllis Diller, Don January, Charley Pride, Fred MacMurray, Hal Linden, Jane Russell, Alan Alda, Don Meredith and Arthur Godfrey. Tennis great Serena Williams trained on the country club tennis courts in 2008 before heading to the Olympics in Beijing, China.</p> <p />

Country club celebrates 100th anniversary

https://abqjournal.com/335202/country-club-celebrates-100th-anniversary.html

<p>LANCASTER, N.H. (AP) &#8212; The region of northern New Hampshire is poised to again have a Catholic elementary school after years without one.</p> <p>Mount Royal Academy North, an independent private elementary school, is slated to open in Lancaster in September 2018. The Caledonian-Record <a href="http://www.caledonianrecord.com/news/local/north-country-region-to-again-have-a-catholic-school-north/article_9bc14e6e-8b67-572e-beec-f89e80b47481.html" type="external">reports</a> an informational meeting about the school is scheduled for Jan. 9, as enrollment for the school is set to open.</p> <p>Jill Colby, director of Mt. Royal Academy North, said Thursday that the goal is to begin as a kindergarten through fourth grade school. Surveys have indicated that is the biggest need in the region.</p> <p>Colby says the hope is to expand to succeeding grades in years ahead.</p> <p>MRA North is finalizing a lease with All Saints Parish for the school to be located on church property.</p> <p>LANCASTER, N.H. (AP) &#8212; The region of northern New Hampshire is poised to again have a Catholic elementary school after years without one.</p> <p>Mount Royal Academy North, an independent private elementary school, is slated to open in Lancaster in September 2018. The Caledonian-Record <a href="http://www.caledonianrecord.com/news/local/north-country-region-to-again-have-a-catholic-school-north/article_9bc14e6e-8b67-572e-beec-f89e80b47481.html" type="external">reports</a> an informational meeting about the school is scheduled for Jan. 9, as enrollment for the school is set to open.</p> <p>Jill Colby, director of Mt. Royal Academy North, said Thursday that the goal is to begin as a kindergarten through fourth grade school. Surveys have indicated that is the biggest need in the region.</p> <p>Colby says the hope is to expand to succeeding grades in years ahead.</p> <p>MRA North is finalizing a lease with All Saints Parish for the school to be located on church property.</p>

Catholic school set to open in northern New Hampshire

https://apnews.com/amp/db4deadca9c54fc4ab9110a54d2405d2

2017-12-29

<p /> <p>Vermont voters in two neighboring southern towns will be casting ballots Nov. 8 on whether to host a 24-turbine industrial wind farm.</p> <p>Continue Reading Below</p> <p>In an unusual twist, the developer is offering direct payments to residents of Grafton and Windham if they approve the project. The offer was first made public about a month ahead of the vote. Some call it a bribe.</p> <p>Developer Iberdrola Renewables says the payment to full-time residents was suggested by locals as a way to spread the benefits of the project beyond property owners, who would benefit from lower property taxes.</p> <p>The Vermont attorney general's office has ruled there's nothing improper about the proposed payments, but that has done little to quiet the critics.</p> <p>No one is predicting which side will win.</p>

Payments promised town residents if voters OK wind project

http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/10/30/payments-promised-town-residents-if-voters-ok-wind-project.html

2016-10-31

<p>___</p> <p>Stocks tumble on trade fears; S&amp;amp;P has worst week in 2 years</p> <p>Continue Reading Below</p> <p>NEW YORK (AP) &#8212; Global stocks sink as fears about trade conflict between the U.S. and China send the S&amp;amp;P 500 to its worst week in two years. Technology companies and banks took some of the worst losses. Stocks dropped sharply a day earlier after the White House announced tariffs against China, and markets in Europe and Asia also slumped.</p> <p>___</p> <p>China targets $3 billion of US goods in tariff spat</p> <p>BEIJING (AP) &#8212; China announced a $3 billion list of U.S. goods for possible retaliation in a tariff dispute with President Donald Trump and girded for a bigger battle over technology policy as financial markets sank on fears of global disruption. A foreign ministry spokeswoman said, "We don't want a trade war, but we are not afraid of it." Trump said Friday he expects China "is going to end up treating us fairly."</p> <p>___</p> <p>Advertisement</p> <p>Trump draws ire of farmers targeted in Chinese trade dispute</p> <p>DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) &#8212; From hog producers in Iowa to apple growers in Washington state and winemakers in California, farmers are expressing deep disappointment over being put in the middle of a potential trade war with China by the president many of them helped elect. After President Donald Trump announced plans to impose tariffs on products including Chinese steel, China responded Friday with a threat to slap tariffs on a variety of U.S. products, including pork, wine, apples, ethanol and stainless-steel pipe.</p> <p>___</p> <p>Trump signs $1.3 trillion budget after threatening veto</p> <p>WASHINGTON (AP) &#8212; President Donald Trump signed the massive $1.3 trillion spending bill needed to avert a government shutdown Friday, after declaring he was "considering" a veto. Advisers inside and outside the White House said he had merely been blowing off steam.</p> <p>___</p> <p>Lobbying pays off for small drugmaker in budget bill</p> <p>WASHINGTON (AP) &#8212; A provision tucked into the massive congressional budget bill will benefit a small pharmaceutical company in Washington state. Omeros makes a drug for cataract surgery. The provision props up the price Medicare pays for that drug, as well as a handful of products from other firms. Lawmakers acted after a lobbying campaign by Omeros and stepped-up political contributions from people associated with the company. House Speaker Paul Ryan said through a spokeswoman the provision is "correct policy."</p> <p>___</p> <p>UK data watchdog raids Cambridge Analytica office in London</p> <p>LONDON (AP) &#8212; Officers from Britain's information regulator have arrived at the London offices of data firm Cambridge Analytica after being granted a warrant as part of an investigation into alleged misuse of personal information. A High Court judge granted the warrant Friday evening. Soon after, 18 people, some in Information Commissioner's Office jackets, entered the company's central London offices.</p> <p>___</p> <p>Trump tariffs undermine trust in rules-based global commerce</p> <p>GENEVA (AP) &#8212; Experts say the Trump administration's move to impose tariffs on China and key trading partners undermines the rules-based system of global commerce. Those rules are embodied and overseen by the World Trade Organization, which now sees its authority challenged.</p> <p>___</p> <p>Shares of Dropbox surge in first day of trading</p> <p>NEW YORK (AP) &#8212; Shares of digital storage company Dropbox have surged in their first day of trading. The company, which offers online services for backing up files, saw its shares jump 36 percent. Dropbox competes with smaller rival Box, as well as with Google, Amazon and Microsoft.</p> <p>___</p> <p>A swan-song for Toys R Us, the going-out-of-business sale</p> <p>NEW YORK (AP) &#8212; Toys R Us is opening its doors for a going-out-of-business sale, offering clearance discounts at all 735 U.S. stores, including Babies R Us. The company did not say Friday how big the discounts will be or when it expects stores to shut down. Customers will be able to use gift cards until April 21, but the toy seller will no longer accept coupons, and there are no returns.</p> <p>___</p> <p>United gives $10,000 travel voucher to 'bumped' passenger</p> <p>CHICAGO (AP) &#8212; A passenger who was bumped off a full flight has scored the maximum prize &#8212; a $10,000 travel voucher. A spokesman for United Airlines confirmed Friday that a passenger got the big voucher "per our company policy." He declined to name the person. In a series of tweets, Allison Preiss of Washington, D.C., described how she was rewarded after being asked to give up her seat on a Thursday flight.</p> <p>___</p> <p>The Standard &amp;amp; Poor's 500 index dropped 55.43 points, or 2.1 percent, to 2,588.26. The Dow Jones industrial average lost 424.69 points, or 1.8 percent, to 23,533.20. The Nasdaq composite fell 174.01 points, or 2.4 percent, to 6,992.67. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks lost 33.79 points, or 2.2 percent, to 1,510.08.</p> <p>The price of oil climbed $1.58, or 2.5 percent, to $65.88 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, the international standard for oil prices, added $1.54, or 2.2 percent, to $70.45 a barrel in London. Wholesale gasoline rose 2 cents to $2.04 a gallon. Heating oil added 3 cents to $2.02 a gallon. Natural gas dipped 3 cents to $2.59 per 1,000 cubic feet.</p>

Business Highlights

http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/10/03/business-highlights.html

2018-03-23

<p>On this day three years ago a total of 2,973 people died in America at the hands of 19 Islamic terrorists in the most devastating domestic attack the US had ever experienced (the War of 1812 only killed 2,260 Americans, even although the Brits burned down the White House).</p> <p>The 9/11 event was immediately denounced as an act of war, which it was (though by whom?), and the Bush administration quickly promised constant war against terrorist &#8220;evil&#8221; in reply, a notion the president continues to re-iterate.</p> <p>But Americans have yet to be offered 9/11 in any historical context. Indeed, any discussion of terrorism as acts of war that is not 100% condemnatory is branded as unpatriotic. Because of this, U.S. citizens are missing important truths and cannot weight the attack of three years ago in any sensible way.</p> <p>It is curious, too, that trying to find a detailed analysis of the 9/11 deaths is a difficult task. On the world wide web, the most recent breakdown of the figures come from an article in a newspaper in Iowa. Is there a reluctance because the total, almost never stated precisely but at 3000, does not quite blend with the hysterical invective that still blurs discussion about its implications?</p> <p>In historical terms of war casualties worldwide, 9/11 was a relatively minor event. But because for two centuries Americans have lived invulnerably, protected by two vast oceans and confident no foreigners could invade or even bomb them, the Sept 11 carnage was psychologically catastrophic. Americans said it changed the world, but in fact Americans, or the US government, are making the most changes.</p> <p>Some comparisons: From September to May 1941-42, the Nazi bombing blitz on Britain killed 40,000, all civilians and 5,000 of them children. At that rate Americans would have to experience identical 9/11s once a week for over three months to equal Britain&#8217;s suffering.</p> <p>America&#8217;s worst losses of its own were in the Civil War (1861-65), when a total of 214,938 on both sides died in combat. But in the early hours of one day, March 10, 1945, more than 300 US B-29 planes fire-bombed Tokyo in a meticulously planned air-raid that incinerated 108,000 Japanese in their homes. Of those, 88,000 were never identified and all were civilians, many children.</p> <p>Turning to larger statistics of World War II (some of which do vary), we find megadeath. The number of Chinese civilians who died was 7.75 million; Soviet Union, 7 million; Germany, 2.75 million; Japan, 672,000. Then there is a zero &#8212; the United States lost no civilians, say some statistics. Others put it at 6,000, but those were non-military citizens killed abroad, not at home.</p> <p>World War I was the notorious charnel house. On July 1, 1916 on the first day of the battle of the Somme, opver 20,000 British soldiers were killed, mostly by German machine guns. It was the worst disaster in British military history. In the navy battle of Jutland on May 31, 1916, the Brits lost 6,097 sailors and 14 ships, with the Germans suffering &#8220;only&#8221; 2,551 deaths and 11 ships for a day&#8217;s total of 8,648 dead.</p> <p>But what about those sissy French? Between August 4, 1914, the first day of the war, and the 29th of that month, 260,000 French soldiers had perished. By the autumn the French had lost more men than the whole of the US army&#8217;s deaths in the entire 20th century.</p> <p>The US lost 47,752 military personnel in the Vietnam war (1964-73) and another 33,629 in Korea (1950-53). Its total killed in combat in World War II was 292,000, more than Britain, which lost 264,000. But 2.05 million Chinese military were killed and 1.3 million Japanese.</p> <p>These were set wars, it may be said, and the &#8220;war&#8221; against terror is not so formalised. True, but again no statistics are offered. For instance, although the terrorist &#8220;Troubles&#8221; in Northern Ireland lasted from 1969 to 1998, the total killed on all sides exceeded 9/11 by 495, for a total of 3,468 in a part of the UK with only a population of 1.5 million, about the same as Manhattan, during that time.</p> <p>If we are seeking civilian deaths on 9/11 we should exclude the Pentagon&#8217;s 125 deaths. Not all of them were in uniform, but official web sites are poor on any breakdown. Removing them all drops the total to 2,848, a shocking number to be sure, and one which offers for the bereaved no comfort in comparison.</p> <p>But that is not the point. It is that the world is a shockingly violent place and Americans should be advised of this.</p> <p>Professor Rudolph Rummel, of the University of Hawaii and formerly Yale, is the acknowledged expert on what he calls &#8220;domicide&#8221; or death by government. These are killings brought about by official orders or policies of governments whether or not elected democratically (and the worst are usually not).</p> <p>In his book called <a href="" type="internal">Death by Government</a> (1994 Transaction Publishers, NJ), Dr Rummel estimates that the world domicide total from 1945 to the end of the last century was over 80 million. That figure may include acts of genocide, but does not take in deaths by famine. It exceeds by five times the international total killed in World War II, and in that war far more civilians perished than people in uniform.</p> <p>Meanwhile President Bush is claiming that his wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have made not only the US, but the world &#8220;a safer place&#8221; from terrorism. Unfortunately this is not true.</p> <p>The world total for 2002 was about 750 people killed. Last year it was around 650. This year it already exceeds 1,000, including the recent deaths in the Russian school, the 191 killed in Madrid in March, and the 271 in the Shiite festival in Iraq the same month.</p> <p>None of this should detract from the solemnity of today&#8217;s anniversary. But the figures offered above should be marked, as well as the 9/11 dead mourned.</p> <p>CHRISTOPHER REED can be reached at: <a href="mailto:christopherreed@earthlink.net" type="external">christopherreed@earthlink.net</a></p> <p>[Editors&#8217; Note: We have some minor quibbles with a few of CHRISTOPHER REED&#8217;s numbers, in an otherwise edifying column. <a href="http://www.civilwarhome.com/casualties.htm" type="external">Military deaths during the Civil War are generally recorded at being somewhere between 620,000 and 700,000, a figure which rightly includes deaths of the wounded, prisoners-of-war and by disease</a>. Add in civilian casualties and the Civil War death toll probably exceeds 1.25 million. By one estimate, one-in-ten American families suffered a casualty in that bloodfest. On one September day alone, more than 22,000 fell on a field in Maryland called <a href="http://www.civilwarhome.com/antietam.htm" type="external">Antietam</a>&#8211;8 times the number of casualties of 9/11. Pearl Harbor also deserves mention in any tally of attacks on America. On that December day in 1942, <a href="http://www.nps.gov/usar/PHcas.html" type="external">2,403 Americans died, including 68 civilians</a>. The death count was slightly less than the 9/11 attacks, but the American population was then roughly half of its present size. The events of 1812, lost in the misty corridors of history to many, remain fresh in the minds of both the Cockburn and St. Clair households. Cockburn&#8217;s relative, <a href="http://www.stvincent.ac.uk/Heritage/1797/people/cockburn.html" type="external">Rear Admiral George Cockburn</a>, sacked Washington and feasted off of Dolly Madison&#8217;s china, while the relatives of Kimberly Willson-St. Clair hosted Little Jimmy Madison and Dolly in the Maryland countryside (now buried under subdivisions) on their flight from Washington, set aflame by Cpt. Cockburn&#8217;s torch-wielding terrorists/liberators. AC/JSC]</p> <p>&amp;#160;</p> <p>&amp;#160;</p>

9/11: an Historical Context

https://counterpunch.org/2004/09/11/9-11-an-historical-context/

2004-09-11

<p><a href="http://d1o2xrel38nv1n.cloudfront.net/files/2014/04/Screen-shot-2014-04-04-at-1.24.22-PM.png" type="external" />Photo <a href="http://instagram.com/p/mYD7WORyfT/" type="external">via</a>.</p> <p>LAPD tried to <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/03/los-angeles-lapd-sexual-assault" type="external">cover up</a> assault charges against police officers.</p> <p>Woman goes <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2014/apr/04/everyday-sexism-turn-tables-women-men-video" type="external">undercover</a> to show how men react to street harassment. (Please help me figure out what to feel about that in the comments.)</p> <p>Paula Deen continues to be the <a href="http://wonkette.com/545691/in-bid-for-worst-boss-ever-paula-deen-shuts-down-restaurant-without-telling-workers" type="external">worst boss ever</a>.</p> <p>Samsung: Women are <a href="http://consumerist.com/2014/04/03/samsung-needs-to-stop-with-the-sexist-marketing-already/" type="external">tech-incompetent housewives</a> who only know how to play with children&#8217;s toys&#8230;</p> <p>&#8230; unless they&#8217;re <a href="http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AS_TEC_SKOREA_SAMSUNG_WOMEN?SITE=AP&amp;amp;SECTION=HOME&amp;amp;TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&amp;amp;CTIME=2014-04-03-05-47-37" type="external">booth babes</a>.</p>

Daily Feminist Cheat Sheet

http://feministing.com/2014/04/04/daily-feminist-cheat-sheet-296/

<p /> <p>Verizon Communications Inc. reached a network traffic deal with a longtime antagonist, avoiding a possible conflict in an area regulators are now eyeing more closely.</p> <p>Continue Reading Below</p> <p>The multiyear interconnection deal under which Verizon will swap traffic with Internet wholesaler Cogent Communications Holdings Inc. comes a week after Verizon announced a similar agreement with Level 3 Communications Inc.</p> <p>The moves allow Verizon to head off the sorts of high-profile fights with other carriers that made headlines last year when it pressed to be paid for carrying heavy traffic.</p> <p>Cogent and Level 3, which provide service to big media companies like Netflix Inc., at the time accused Verizon and other home Internet providers of doing too little to handle the tide of Web traffic flooding their networks. By late last year the standoff was causing service to slow and online videos to stutter for millions of subscribers.</p> <p>Verizon said the new agreements will address those bottlenecks by allowing the networks to exchange data more effectively and efficiently. That would let Cogent and Level 3 satisfy their online video clients. The deal also includes new links to Verizon's own content delivery service, which has been courting big media customers in recent months.</p> <p>At issue are the agreements that big carriers sign to move giant volumes of Internet traffic across their networks. The Federal Communications Commission hadn't regulated those interconnection agreements in past years, and the public rarely noticed when companies were at odds.</p> <p>Advertisement</p> <p>But the public disputes last year spilled over into the debate over net neutrality in Washington, prompting the FCC to add rules that would let officials intervene if a carrier complains of unfair treatment when it comes to network interconnection.</p> <p>The new rules take effect in June unless halted by the courts, where the telecom and cable industries have sued to block them. Cogent and Level 3 have warned they could take advantage of the government's new authority to address grievances against other providers.</p> <p>(By Drew FitzGerald)</p>

Verizon Strikes Deal With Internet Rival Cogent

http://foxbusiness.com/features/2015/05/01/verizon-strikes-deal-with-internet-rival-cogent.html

2016-03-06

<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p> <p>In a lively <a href="" type="external">agenda</a>, the Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority Board tomorrow evening (Wed. Nov. 20, 2013) will consider a $1.4 million bosque restoration project south of Paseo del Norte, and hear about the long term water supply for the metro area. (And when I say &#8220;lively,&#8221; as anyone who has attended one of these meetings will attest, I am of course kidding. But it is important stuff, the pageant of representative democracy, etc.)</p> <p>The bosque restoration work is part of the water utility&#8217;s obligations under the Endangered Species Act to offset the impacts of the metro area&#8217;s drinking water diversions on the silvery minnow and willow flycatcher. Details in pdf form <a href="https://abcwua.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=1521830&amp;amp;GUID=744D1A80-D31E-4586-9259-2408A71CF710&amp;amp;Options=&amp;amp;Search=" type="external">here</a>.</p> <p>The board also will get an update from chief operations officer John Stomp on the agency&#8217;s Water Resources Strategy, and the long term implications of our reduction in groundwater pumping and shift to imported San Juan-Chama Project water. Stomp&#8217;s slide deck is <a href="https://abcwua.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=1521831&amp;amp;GUID=8E6DB89D-897C-4322-A8C6-8FD6A29413D6&amp;amp;Options=&amp;amp;Search=" type="external">here</a> (pdf).</p> <p>The full agenda packet is <a href="" type="external">here</a>. Meeting begins at 5 p.m. in the council chambers in the basement of Albuquerque City Hall.</p> <p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>

Water board to discuss bosque work, long range water planning

https://abqjournal.com/304182/water-board-to-discuss-bosque-work-long-range-water-planning.html

2013-11-19

<p /> <p /> <p /> <p /> <p>It's raining #MAGA in metro Atlanta. Thousands of jobs would be available, both for the seasonal and permanent jobs.</p> <p /> <p /> <p /> <p>Companies like UPS and FedEX are hiring for thousands of seasonal workers, while there are also just as many job openings in logistics and manufacturing.</p> <p /> <p /> <p /> <p>Atlanta-based Randstad US, metro Atlanta employers are offering 5,000 manufacturing positions and 3,000 openings in logistics at present. Hot jobs would include the following: forklift operators, general warehouse workers and inventory control.</p> <p /> <p /> <p /> <p>There are many opportunities for workers who do not have college degrees as well. Greg Dyer, president of Randstad General Staffing said: If you look at leadership positions like shipping supervisor or operations manager, those typically require degrees. But most of those jobs we're talking about require high school diplomas and some experience to get your foot in the door.?</p> <p /> <p /> <p /> <p>Entry level positions also pay anywhere between $9 and $12 an hour, or possibly more.</p> <p /> <p /> <p /> <p>Better demand for manufacturing jobs is Making America Great Again. President Trump has campaigned hard and continued to profess support for America First policy, jobs for Americans in America and for Americans to support American products more over imports.</p> <p /> <p /> <p>Here are a few:</p> <p /> <p><a href="https://atlanta.craigslist.org/search/mnu" type="external">https://atlanta.craigslist.org/search/mnu</a></p> <p /> <p /> <p /> <p /> <p /> <p>Source:</p> <p /> <p /> <p /> <p /> <p /> <p><a href="http://www.11alive.com/news/metro-atlanta-has-8000-openings-for-hot-jobs/483018240" type="external">http://www.11alive.com/news/metro-atlanta-has-8000-openings-for-hot-jobs/483018240</a></p>

#MAGA: Thousands of New Jobs Raining on Atlanta

http://thegoldwater.com/news/9578-MAGA-Thousands-of-New-Jobs-Raining-on-Atlanta

2017-10-13

<p>Last week, BNR <a href="" type="internal">pointed out</a> that CNN's new hire, Corey&amp;#160;Lewandowski, still identified himself on Twitter as Donald Trump's&amp;#160;Campaign Manager. After we published the article,&amp;#160;Lewandowski quickly updated his bio to add "former."&amp;#160;</p> <p>Today, the&amp;#160;bizarre spectacle of a campaign aide being paid by a major news outlet to promote his candidate continued, with Lewandowski defending the offensive and discredited use of a Star of David in a tweet about Hillary and corruption.</p> <p>The backlash against Donald was swift:</p> <p /> <p>As we <a href="" type="internal">observed</a>, "at the very minimum, this was insensitive and clueless. At worst, it's further evidence that Donald is running a campaign explicitly designed to appeal to white supremacy."</p> <p><a href="https://mic.com/articles/147711/donald-trump-s-star-of-david-hillary-clinton-meme-was-created-by-white-supremacists" type="external">Mic</a> has new details, and what they discovered is&amp;#160;troubling:</p> <p>On Sunday,&amp;#160;Mic discovered that Donald Trump's Twitter wasn't the first place the meme appeared. <a href="https://8ch.net/pol/index.html" type="external">The image was first featured on /pol/</a> - an Internet message board for the alt-right, a digital movement of neo-Nazis, anti-Semites, and white supremacists newly emboldened by the success of Donald Trump's rhetoric - as early as June 22, 2016, over a week before Donald Trump's team tweeted it.</p> <p>Now watch&amp;#160;Lewandowski minimize the controversy:</p> <p>Media error: Format(s) not supported or source(s) not found</p>

CNN's Lewandowski Defends Star of David in Donald's Deleted Tweet: 'A Simple Star'

http://bluenationreview.com/lewandowski-defends-star-of-david-in-donalds-deleted-tweet-a-simple-star/

2016-07-03

<p>A new <a href="http://www.people-press.org/2016/05/05/public-uncertain-divided-over-americas-place-in-the-world/" type="external">Pew Poll</a> shows that millennials, born after 1980, are far more sympathetic toward the Palestinians than they used to be; between 2006 and 2016 their sympathy increased 21%, from 9% to 27%. Conversely, sympathy for Israel dropped from 51% to 43% with the same age group.</p> <p>Among those of generation X, born between 1965 and 1980, sympathy for Israel rose slightly, from 52% to 54%, while sympathy for the Palestinians rose from 11% to 17%. Among baby boomers, born between 1946 and 1964, sympathy for Israel jumped from 52% to 61%, while sympathy for the Palestinians remained essentially unchanged, from 13% to 14%. Finally, among those born between 1928 and 1945, sympathy for Israel jumped from 56% to 65%, while sympathy for the Palestinians grew from 8% to 15%.</p> <p>Republican voters were far more sympathetic to Israel, with 75% feeling sympathetically toward the Jewish state, with 7% feeling sympathetic toward the Palestinians; among Democrats, 43 percent sympathized with Israel and 29 percent with the Palestinians. Fifty-two percent of Independents felt sympathy for Israel, while 19 percent sympathized more with the Palestinians.</p> <p>There seems to be a correlation between the fact that younger voters, who have been brought up in an era where leftist values seem to have the upper hand, would support the Palestinians. This is borne out by the poll&#8217;s finding that &#8220;Far more Clinton supporters sympathize with Israel (47%) than the Palestinians (27%). Sanders backers are statistically divided, with 39% sympathizing more with the Palestinians and 33% more with Israel.&#8221;</p> <p>The harder left the voter is, the more likely to side with the Palestinians, since the left is focused on equality of outcome rather than opportunity. Thus successful nations, such as the United States and Israel, are viewed with disfavor by the left, which believes that poorer nations must, by definition, have been exploited by more successful nations.</p>

Poll: Millennials Embrace Palestinians

https://dailywire.com/news/5535/poll-millennials-embrace-palestinians-hank-berrien

2016-05-06

<p>Does <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizen_journalism" type="external">citizen journalism</a> have to have a business model? That was one of the provocative questions asked in a panel at this week's <a href="http://www.mediacenter.org/wemedia05/" type="external">We Media</a> conference in New York by Dan Gillmor of Grassroots Media Inc. After all, community theaters don't have a profitable business model, yet they provide a valuable public benefit. Could citizen journalism exist in some quarters in more of a non-profit mode? (Just as in the theater community there's a mix of for- and non-profit enterprises.) Probably. Conference participant Rory O'Connor pointed out that <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org" type="external">Wikipedia</a> doesn't have a traditional business model, yet if the corporate market were to value it, the open-to-all encyclopedia project probably would show a worth of somewhere around half a billion dollars. (Of course, if the founders tried to monetize it, the user base might rebel and dry up, so perhaps that's unrealistic.) Ohmynews.com, the 5-year-old South Korean news site that combines professional and citizen reporting, has become profitable (though not yet wildly so). Non-profit citizen media, and citizen-news initiatives that employ non-traditional business models, will be part of the future media landscape. Because of the nature of citizen journalism, and its potential role in strengthening democracy and communities, non-profit "we media" is certainly a good thing. I can imagine a future where citizen journalism is supported both by private companies out to make a profit as well as non-profits such as foundations.</p>

Citizen Journalism: To Profit or Not to Profit?

https://poynter.org/news/citizen-journalism-profit-or-not-profit

2005-10-07

<p /> <p>Hackers heed the call: Uncle Sam wants YOU! Image source: Getty Images.</p> <p>Continue Reading Below</p> <p>Ever since Matthew Broderick broke into the Department of Defense in 1983's WarGames ("Shall we play a game?"), hacking the Pentagon has been a hacker's dream.</p> <p>This year, the hackers got paid to do it.</p> <p>As explained in a press release from <a href="https://hackerone.com/hackthepentagon" type="external">HackerOne Opens a New Window.</a>, from April 18 to May 12, the Department of Defense ran a "Hack the Pentagon" pilot program inviting a select group of hackers to attempt to break into DoD websites. Anyone who succeeded had the chance to win a "bounty" for reporting previously unknown vulnerabilities in Pentagon computers.</p> <p>And a lot of them succeeded.</p> <p>Advertisement</p> <p>According to the final tally, a total of 1,410 hackers attempted to hack the Pentagon during the exercise, and on average they found nearly one bug per participant.</p> <p>A total of 1,189 "reports" of vulnerabilities were submitted over the course of the exercise. Of these, 138 vulnerabilities were determined to be both "valid" and "unique" (i.e., multiple hackers identified some vulnerabilitie). The top three most common vulnerabilities found:</p> <p>According to HackerOne, "the most severe vulnerability submitted and the highest awarded was a SQL Injection," which can permit a hacker to change or destroy data in a database, disclose it publicly, or even take over as the administrator of the database.</p> <p>In exchange for this wealth of information on its vulnerabilities, the Pentagon paid out a mere $71,200 in bounties.</p> <p>Just $71,200.</p> <p>That total cost of the program was approximately 100 times below the standard for materiality of $7 million that triggers a Pentagon obligation to report contract awards on its own <a href="https://www.facebook.com/defensenewsguru/photos/a.247556792035008.1073741828.243137182476969/362633030527383/?type=3&amp;amp;theater" type="external">contract website Opens a New Window.</a>. That makes "Hack the Pentagon" one of the most cost-effective government programs in recorded history.</p> <p>Now contrast the effectiveness -- and the cost -- of Hack the Pentagon with the government's current business practice. In his recent book <a href="https://www.amazon.com/War-Rise-Military-Internet-Complex/dp/0544570286/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&amp;amp;qid=1466869309&amp;amp;sr=8-2&amp;amp;keywords=%40war" type="external">@War: The Rise of the Military-Internet Complex Opens a New Window.</a>, Foreign Policy magazine writer Shane Harris explains the complicated web of hacking, sale to defense contractors including Harris Corporation and Raytheon , and resale to the Pentagon, of so-called "zero day" exploits (i.e., not widely known computer vulnerabilities).</p> <p>Hackers such as privately held Endgame compile and sell such hacks for up to $100,000 per vulnerability. Defense contractors such as Raytheon and Harris, who hold lucrative cybersecurity contracts with the Pentagon, then resell these vulnerabilities to the Department of Homeland Security and the Pentagon's own National Security Agency (NSA) -- presumably at a nice profit margin. (According to data from <a href="https://www.capitaliq.com/" type="external">S&amp;amp;P Global Market Intelligence Opens a New Window.</a>, Raytheon's Forcepoint cybersecurity division earns operating profit margins of 9.1%, while Harris' Government Communications Systems division earns 15.7%).</p> <p>Uncovering, selling, and reselling computer hacks turns out to be big business. Smith's research reveals that while an ordinary zero-day exploit might start out at as low as $50,000 or as high as $100,000 (before mark-up), particularly valuable hacks can cost "half a million dollars."</p> <p>According to Smith, the NSA alone spends $25 million annually buying hacks. What's more, while Hack the Pentagon's vulnerabilities were revealed directly to the Pentagon, Smith notes that in the hacking-for-profit world, commercially marketed hacks are routinely sold "to multiple clients, including government agencies in different countries" -- so the Pentagon is paying through the nose for these hacks, and not even getting exclusive access to the knowledge.</p> <p>The Hack the Pentagon results suggest there may be a better way -- cut out the middleman, and buy direct from the hacker.</p> <p>The article <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/2016/06/28/top-3-ways-to-hack-the-pentagon.aspx" type="external">Top 3 Ways to Hack the Pentagon Opens a New Window.</a> originally appeared on Fool.com.</p> <p>Fool contributor <a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFDitty/info.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">Rich Smith Opens a New Window.</a>owns shares of Raytheon. You can find him on <a href="http://caps.fool.com/?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">Motley Fool CAPS Opens a New Window.</a>, publicly pontificating under the handle <a href="http://caps.fool.com/ViewPlayer.aspx?t=01002844399633209838&amp;amp;source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">TMFDitty Opens a New Window.</a>, where he's currently ranked No. 288 out of more than 75,000 rated members.The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services <a href="http://www.fool.com/shop/newsletters/index.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">free for 30 days Opens a New Window.</a>. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that <a href="http://wiki.fool.com/Motley?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">considering a diverse range of insights Opens a New Window.</a> makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> <p>Copyright 1995 - 2016 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/help/index.htm?display=about02" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>

Top 3 Ways to Hack the Pentagon

http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/06/28/top-3-ways-to-hack-pentagon.html

2016-06-28

<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p> <p /> <p>They&#8217;re trying to scale back major benefit programs being used by millions of people. And they&#8217;re trying to do it even though much of the public is leery of drastic changes, and there&#8217;s no support outside the GOP.</p> <p>It&#8217;s not stopping them.</p> <p>After seven years attacking former President Barack Obama&#8217;s health care law, Republicans are finally in control of the entire government and say they have to deliver now. Yet they&#8217;re not talking much about the trade-offs that come with sweeping changes, not to mention estimates that millions more people could be uninsured.</p> <p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> <p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t think anything of this consequence has ever been passed in the entitlement arena,&#8221; said Jim Capretta, a health policy expert with American Enterprise Institute, a business-oriented think tank. &#8220;It&#8217;s a piece of legislation that would be highly consequential.&#8221;</p> <p>Unprecedented &#8220;is a perfectly fair characterization,&#8221; said Lanhee Chen, who was policy adviser to former GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney. Like Capretta, Chen agrees with the general direction congressional Republicans are taking, if not all the specifics.</p> <p>Senate Republicans are winnowing down policy options in search of 51 votes to advance House-passed legislation this summer.</p> <p>Some of the central issues in the GOP&#8217;s health care gamble:</p> <p>HISTORIC SHIFT</p> <p>Health care programs usually grow faster than other government services. Republicans want to break that decadeslong trend, although they&#8217;d leave Medicare largely untouched for now.</p> <p>The talk is all about repealing the 2010 Affordable Care Act. But the GOP&#8217;s American Health Care Act would have lasting impact on Medicaid, the federal-state program covering about 70 million low-income and disabled people, including many elderly nursing home residents.</p> <p>Republicans would phase out richer financing that the Obama-era law provides states that expand Medicaid to cover low-income adults. More significantly, the GOP would limit future federal spending for the broader program. Medicaid has been an open-ended entitlement, with the feds matching part of what every state spends, about 60 percent on average.</p> <p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> <p>The House-passed GOP bill would cut $834 billion from projected federal Medicaid spending over a decade, leading to a reduction of about 17 percent in people covered by the program, according to the Congressional Budget Office.</p> <p>&#8220;There is no capacity at the state level to pick up the slack if the federal government withdraws its commitment,&#8221; Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., said at a recent budget hearing. Some Republican governors also question the plan.</p> <p>Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price said Medicaid can be more efficiently managed by the states, and that open-ended federal financing doesn&#8217;t necessarily mean improved health for beneficiaries.</p> <p>___</p> <p>GOALS AND OBJECTIVES</p> <p>In addition to reducing federal health spending, Republicans want to lower premiums for those who buy their own health insurance, an estimated 20 million people. About half receive subsidies under the Obama law, but the rest pay full freight and many have seen steep premium increases stemming from changes under that law.</p> <p>&#8220;Across America, premiums are skyrocketing, insurers are fleeing, and the American people are paying much more for much worse coverage,&#8221; President Donald Trump said recently in Cincinnati.</p> <p>Republicans would try to lower premiums by loosening some of the law&#8217;s requirements, including standard benefits and a guarantee that those in poor health won&#8217;t be charged more. People would be required to maintain &#8220;continuous coverage&#8221; to avoid penalties.</p> <p>The CBO estimates that the GOP approach would lead to lower premiums than under current law, but the trade-offs could be significant.</p> <p>Insurance, on average, would pay for a smaller share of health care costs, meaning that deductibles and copayments are likely to be higher. In some states, certain policies may not cover services such as substance abuse treatment. Over time, people with health problems might be priced out of the market.</p> <p>___</p> <p>PROMISES, PROMISES</p> <p>Trump&#8217;s promise to repeal Obama&#8217;s health overhaul was a fixture of his campaign. But he also said he was a different kind of Republican, who would not cut Social Security, Medicare, or Medicaid.</p> <p>Later in the campaign, Trump announced support for a Medicaid block grant, a way of limiting federal spending on the program. But candidate Trump didn&#8217;t elaborate on details, and repeatedly promised voters &#8220;great&#8221; health care.</p> <p>The president again made that promise last week: &#8220;The Republicans are working very, very hard on getting a great health care plan,&#8221; Trump said.</p> <p>But health care policy is all about trade-offs, and Republicans have largely avoided talking about downsides. Democrats are ready to pounce.</p> <p>&#8220;There are critical, life-changing decisions being made about Americans&#8217; health care right now in the United States Senate that should have people on high alert,&#8221; Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said in this weekend&#8217;s Democratic radio address. &#8220;This legislation is going to put the health of millions of Americans at risk.&#8221;</p> <p>___</p> <p>LONE RANGER RIDES AGAIN</p> <p>Republicans never ceased complaining that Obama passed his law without a single GOP vote. Now, their bill has failed to garner any Democratic support. Not surprisingly, polls show that Democrats and independents disapprove of the legislation by wide margins.</p> <p>&#8220;They&#8217;re sending legislation through the Congress that is only supported by one party &#8230; and somehow thinking it&#8217;s going to have a different outcome,&#8221; said economist Gail Wilensky, a Republican. &#8220;It&#8217;s like, really, why would you think that?&#8221;</p>

Republicans are taking a big political risk on health care

https://abqjournal.com/1016236/republicans-are-taking-a-big-political-risk-on-health-care.html

2017-06-11

<p>MOBILE, Ala. (AP) &#8212; Oklahoma Heisman Trophy winner Baker Mayfield&#8217;s arrival at the Senior Bowl has been delayed.</p> <p>Senior Bowl executive director Phil Savage said Monday the quarterback went home to Austin, Texas for a &#8220;personal family matter&#8221;.</p> <p>Mayfield was scheduled to arrive in Mobile Sunday afternoon. Savage says he&#8217;s expected to make it to town in time for Tuesday&#8217;s North practice to begin the weeklong audition for NFL teams.</p> <p>Mayfield is set to become the first Heisman winner to play in the game since Tim Tebow in 2007. He&#8217;ll play for the North team coached by Vace Joseph and the Denver Broncos staff.</p> <p>He led the Sooners into the College Football Playoffs and also won the Maxwell, O&#8217;Brien, Walter Camp Player of the Year Award and AP Player of the Year awards.</p> <p>___</p> <p><a href="https://twitter.com/AP_Top25" type="external" /> <a href="https://twitter.com/AP_Top25" type="external">https://twitter.com/AP_Top25</a>More AP college football: <a href="https://collegefootball.ap.org" type="external">https://collegefootball.ap.org</a> and</p> <p>MOBILE, Ala. (AP) &#8212; Oklahoma Heisman Trophy winner Baker Mayfield&#8217;s arrival at the Senior Bowl has been delayed.</p> <p>Senior Bowl executive director Phil Savage said Monday the quarterback went home to Austin, Texas for a &#8220;personal family matter&#8221;.</p> <p>Mayfield was scheduled to arrive in Mobile Sunday afternoon. Savage says he&#8217;s expected to make it to town in time for Tuesday&#8217;s North practice to begin the weeklong audition for NFL teams.</p> <p>Mayfield is set to become the first Heisman winner to play in the game since Tim Tebow in 2007. He&#8217;ll play for the North team coached by Vace Joseph and the Denver Broncos staff.</p> <p>He led the Sooners into the College Football Playoffs and also won the Maxwell, O&#8217;Brien, Walter Camp Player of the Year Award and AP Player of the Year awards.</p> <p>___</p> <p><a href="https://twitter.com/AP_Top25" type="external" /> <a href="https://twitter.com/AP_Top25" type="external">https://twitter.com/AP_Top25</a>More AP college football: <a href="https://collegefootball.ap.org" type="external">https://collegefootball.ap.org</a> and</p>

Heisman winner Mayfield’s Senior Bowl arrival delayed

https://apnews.com/79b8b1d6bc7b45daac54d314b8d11152

2018-01-23

<p>Published time: 13 Sep, 2017 17:31Edited time: 13 Sep, 2017 17:57</p> <p>The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has ordered all government agencies to &#8220;develop plans to remove&#8221; all &#8220;information security products, solutions, and services&#8221; produced by Kaspersky Lab, the Russian multinational cybersecurity and anti-virus provider.</p> <p>The DHS issued a Binding Operational Directive (BOD) that calls &#8220;on departments and agencies to identify any use or presence of Kaspersky products on their information systems&#8221; and &#8220;to develop detailed plans to remove and discontinue present and future use of the products,&#8221; giving them 90 days to comply with the order.</p> <p>The DHS further explained that its decision is based on assessments of the &#8220;information security risks presented by the use of Kaspersky products on federal information systems.&#8221; It added that these products could be &#8220;exploited by malicious cyber actors to compromise those information systems.&#8221;</p> <p><a href="https://www.rt.com/usa/395148-kaspersky-source-code-us/" type="external">READ MORE:&amp;#160;&#8216;We stay on bright side&#8217;: Kaspersky ready to give source code to US govt</a></p> <p>US authorities also believe that &#8220;certain Kaspersky officials&#8221; could have ties with Russian intelligence and other government agencies, providing an opportunity for US security to be &#8220;compromised.&#8220;</p> <p>&#8220;The risk that the Russian government, whether acting on its own or in collaboration with Kaspersky, could capitalize on access provided by Kaspersky products to compromise federal information and information systems directly implicates US national security,&#8221; a DHS statement issued Wednesday reads.</p> <p>The DHS provided no specific evidence supporting its claims, however.</p> <p>It also afforded &#8220;an opportunity for Kaspersky to submit a written response addressing the department&#8217;s concerns or to mitigate those concerns.&#8221;</p>

DHS orders departments & agencies to remove Kaspersky products over &apos;Russian intelligence ties&apos;

https://newsline.com/dhs-orders-departments-agencies-to-remove-kaspersky-products-over-039russian-intelligence-ties039/

2017-09-13

<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p> <p /> <p>So don't expect Hondo to carry much burden on its collective mind as it tries to repeat. Tabbed the top seed once again, Hondo Valley is the clear favorite as the state quarterfinals get underway on Wednesday at Bernalillo High School.</p> <p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> <p>If there is a "what me, worry?" attitude with the Eagles, it might most clearly be presented in their offensive approach.</p> <p>Coach Brad Holland's group likes to get down the court and shoot the long-range bomb - at least according to other Class B coaches - at the first opportunity.</p> <p>"Hondo is tough. Anyone who wants to beat them has to stop their guards," Quemado coach David Lackey said. "They have no conscience. You give them a foot and it's a good shot, they they let it fly."</p> <p>"The bad thing is you can stop one player and they've got three more to pick up the slack," Carrizozo coach Trampus Pierson said. "If they're shooting the ball really well, they're really hard to stop."</p> <p>In the first round, Hondo Valley (23-3) will take on eighth-seeded Walatowa Charter (14-12). The underdog Cougars' task will be to get a handle on double-digit scorers Jordan Brady, Roberto Nores and Billy Candelaria in hopes of an upset.</p> <p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> <p>For his part, Holland tries to deflect some attention from his squad. At least, as much as possible.</p> <p>"We're not as big as we were last year," Holland said. "And Carrizozo and Quemado are real physical teams. Evangel (Christian) also has a couple of good pieces."</p> <p>In another quarterfinal, fourth-seeded Evangel Christian (21-7) from Albuquerque will take on fifth-seed Wagon Mound (17-11).</p> <p>A year ago, it was Wagon Mound which advanced to the Class B championship before falling to Hondo. The Trojans have since reasserted themselves behind returning starters Gabriel Cruz, who averages 19 points a game, and 6-foot-5 junior post Danny Gray Jr. - son of head coach Danny Gray.</p> <p>"We took our knocks here and there, but I'm hoping it pays off now," coach Gray said. "Our game is to stay calm and slow the game down. We don't have the numbers - we have (only) eight guys - that most everybody else does."</p> <p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> <p>The other half of the bracket will feature Carrizozo and Quemado, two district rivals who are seeded second and third, respectively, in the Class B draw.</p> <p>Defensive-minded Carrizozo (19-7) will play Lake Arthur (12-14). Lawry Johnson is Carrizozo's leading scorer while teammates Josh Ventury, Zack Zamora, Nick Chavez and Dalton Vega all hover at or just under an average of 10 points per game.</p> <p>"It's been a growing process for us all year, and fortunately we're playing our best basketball this time of year," Grizzlies coach Pierson said. "We're going to look to our defense. We've been able to hold some really good teams to under what they're used to."</p> <p>Carrizozo, after having beaten Quemado twice this season, couldn't do it in the district championship. The Eagles, now with momentum to go with their third seed, will bring a 20-8 record against sixth-seeded San Jon (11-11).</p> <p>Darryn Lackey is Quemado's senior point guard, and his team will look to him and backcourt mate Matt Rodriguez, the Eagles' senior shooting guard, for leadership at the state tourney.</p> <p>"If we can put together a consistent performance, we can make some noise," said Quemado coach David Lackey.</p> <p /> <p />

Boys Class B: Guard play is Hondo's forte

https://abqjournal.com/366133/guard-play-is-hondos-forte-again.html

<p>ST. LOUIS (MO)St. Louis Post-DispatchBy <a href="mailto:gjonsson@post-dispatch.com" type="external">GREG JONSSON</a> Post-Dispatchupdated: 05/05/2003 12:22 AM</p> <p>He woke up at 4 in the morning and paced in the darkness for three hours, when he finally called his brother. "Put your clothes on," he told his brother. "Tell your wife you'll be gone for about an hour." A few minutes later they were at a St. Louis County parish, and everything looked the same. The air conditioner hanging in the window. The door he'd kept between himself and the priest after he was abused. The porch where he'd waited for his mother to come pick him up early one morning 30 years ago. "It was a little shaky," the man said with an empty laugh. "I'm glad I did it. I'm glad I took my brother with me." It was a simple story about a man facing a fear he had lived with for decades, but it had a powerful effect on the members of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. Some members of the support group cried, others passed around tissues. Some just sat in awe of the man's courage.</p>

Supporting victims remains group's focus

https://poynter.org/news/supporting-victims-remains-groups-focus

2003-05-05

<p>An ad from a conservative advocacy group attacks the federal health care law by asking misleading and loaded questions about its impact. The ad features a mother named Julie, who asks, &#8220;If we can&#8217;t pick our own doctor, how do I know my family&#8217;s going to get the care they need?&#8221; The law doesn&#8217;t prohibit Julie from picking her own doctor.</p> <p>She further assumes the government is going to be intimately involved in her family&#8217;s health decisions in asking, &#8220;Can I really trust the folks in Washington with my family&#8217;s health care?&#8221; Unless Julie&#8217;s family becomes eligible for Medicaid under the law, she&#8217;ll be getting private insurance, just as she is now (as best we can infer from the ad).</p> <p>The <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOMAuo4C8kk" type="external">TV spot</a>, which <a href="" type="internal">Americans for Prosperity</a> began airing in Ohio and Virginia July 9, directs viewers to the website ObamacareRiskFactors.com, which is more misleading than the ad itself. The site warns of reduced wages and hours for those who work for small employers that aren&#8217;t even subject to the law, for instance.</p> <p>Ad Wars Resume</p> <p>Over the past four years, the Affordable Care Act has been the focus of a hefty share of ad dollars. But those for and against aren&#8217;t done arguing about it yet &#8212; in fact, the war is heating up as major provisions of the law are about to take effect. In October, the health insurance exchanges will start accepting customers, and in 2014, the individual mandate, requiring most Americans to have insurance or pay a fine, kicks in.</p> <p>So while Julie, a mother of two, prods viewers to feed their doubts about the law, another mom praises the benefits of the legislation in a <a href="http://www.barackobama.com/health-care" type="external">TV ad from Organizing for Action</a>, a nonprofit group that advocates for the president&#8217;s policies. In that spot, airing on cable channels CNN, MSNBC, Bravo and Lifetime, Stacey Lihn says the law eliminated lifetime caps on coverage. True, <a href="http://kff.org/interactive/implementation-timeline/" type="external">lifetime limits were prohibited</a> early on, in 2010, and annual limits completely phase out on Jan. 1, 2014. Lihn, who spoke at the Democratic National Convention and has documented her family&#8217;s story on her <a href="http://thelihns.blogspot.com/" type="external">personal blog</a>, says that her daughter, Zoe, who was born with a congenital heart defect, &#8220;was halfway to her cap before her first birthday. Thanks to Obamacare, we can now afford the care that Zoe needs.&#8221;</p> <p>The conservative ad is more general, and we don&#8217;t know much about the circumstances of the family in it. The mother, Julie, says her son had seizures two years ago and she has questions about Obamacare. Julie asks, &#8220;If we can&#8217;t pick our own doctor, how do I know my family&#8217;s going to get the care they need?&#8221;</p> <p>But Julie doesn&#8217;t mean that she won&#8217;t be able to actually select a physician on her own, as the question implies. Instead, the worry is that she won&#8217;t be able to keep her current doctor.</p> <p>AFP spokesman Levi Russell told us that the law will limit provider networks and the choice of doctors for &#8220;millions&#8221; of Americans. But the support for that claim mainly pertains to those who would be buying their own insurance on new insurance exchanges or new Medicaid enrollees who will qualify for the program under the law&#8217;s Medicaid expansion. And most of those individuals will be newly insured.</p> <p>We can infer from the ad that Julie&#8217;s family has insurance and wouldn&#8217;t be seeking it on the exchanges or Medicaid. But we don&#8217;t know for sure. Russell would not provide more information on Julie&#8217;s circumstances other than to say she and her family are real, not actors. He said the group didn&#8217;t want to make Julie&#8217;s family the &#8220;centerpiece&#8221; of the ad campaign. &#8220;Instead, their experience should point others to go learn more for themselves and how they personally will be impacted,&#8221; he said.</p> <p>Let&#8217;s assume Julie&#8217;s family has employer-sponsored insurance, as 57 percent of non-elderly Americans do. AFP points out that the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office <a href="http://www.cbo.gov/sites/default/files/cbofiles/attachments/43900_ACAInsuranceCoverageEffects.pdf" type="external">has estimated</a> that those with work-based coverage will decline by 7 million, on net, because of the law by 2023.</p> <p>That figure is a combination of workers losing coverage, others gaining it and others buying insurance elsewhere. The CBO estimated that for 2019 &#8212; when the net figure is 8 million &#8212; those losing an offer of employer-based insurance, which they would have received had the law not been enacted, would be 12 million, with 7 million others gaining work-based coverage because of the law, and 3 million more declining their employers&#8217; offer and getting insurance elsewhere. CBO <a href="http://cbo.gov/sites/default/files/cbofiles/ftpdocs/108xx/doc10868/12-19-reid_letter_managers_correction_noted.pdf" type="external">has explained</a> in its previous estimates that businesses dropping coverage are likely to be smaller companies with low-income workers who would be able to get subsidies to buy insurance on the exchanges.</p> <p>It&#8217;s possible Julie will find herself among the employees who lose coverage, buy a new plan elsewhere and not have her same doctor in the provider network. But her chances are small: 160 million Americans are expected to have work-based coverage in 2023 under the law, up from 155 million in 2013.</p> <p>AFP provided two other pieces of support for this claim. A March 1, 2013, Wall Street Journal <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323699704578328693720458354.html?mod=itp" type="external">article</a> said that some insurance plans sold on exchanges will likely have small networks of providers in order to keep premium costs down: The insurers were asking for a discount from hospital groups in exchange for the hospitals getting new customers as part of a small network. And a <a href="http://content.healthaffairs.org/content/31/8/1673.abstract" type="external">Health Affairs study</a> found 31 percent of doctors didn&#8217;t accept new Medicaid patients in 2011. That&#8217;s not due to the health care law, but it&#8217;s a concern since the law will expand Medicaid eligibility by about 12 million in the coming decade. That study also said an increase in fees to primary care physicians under the law &#8212; for 2013 and 2014 &#8212; could boost the acceptance rate, at least temporarily. But doctors not being open to new patients is a problem generally: Eighteen percent weren&#8217;t accepting new privately insured patients.</p> <p>Perhaps more germane to this losing-your-doctor worry is the fact that the Affordable Care Act doesn&#8217;t guarantee &#8212; and simply can&#8217;t &#8212; that everyone who likes their doctor and their current health plan can keep them, as President Obama has often claimed. As <a href="" type="internal">we&#8217;ve said before</a>, employers are free to switch or drop insurance plans under the law &#8212; just as they were before it was enacted. And workers who change jobs have no guarantee &#8212; before or after the law &#8212; that their new health plan will include their doctors in provider networks.</p> <p>Premiums, Pay Checks and Big Government</p> <p>Julie goes on to ask, &#8220;What am I getting in exchange for higher premiums and a smaller paycheck?&#8221; Again, we don&#8217;t know Julie&#8217;s circumstances and why she assumes her paycheck is going to get smaller and her premiums are going up. But it&#8217;s true that expanded benefits required by the law have caused premiums for work-based plans to go up, on average.</p> <p>When family premiums for employer plans jumped 9 percent from 2010 to 2011, <a href="" type="internal">experts told us</a> the Affordable Care Act was responsible for a 1 percent to 3 percent hike, with the remainder due to higher medical costs, the usual culprit for increasing premiums. The law&#8217;s provisions that caused the bump were the elimination of preexisting condition exclusions for children, the requirement that dependents be covered on their parents&#8217; plan to age 26, free coverage of preventive care, and the increase in caps on annual coverage.</p> <p>So those are some of the increased benefits that Julie is already getting in exchange for slightly higher premiums.</p> <p>For 2012, employer-based insurance went up a <a href="http://kff.org/health-costs/perspective/pulling-it-together-reflections-on-this-years/" type="external">much smaller</a> <a href="http://kff.org/private-insurance/press-release/family-health-premiums-rise-4-percent-to/" type="external">4 percent on average</a>. The <a href="http://www.cms.gov/Research-Statistics-Data-and-Systems/Statistics-Trends-and-Reports/NationalHealthExpendData/Downloads/Proj2011PDF.pdf" type="external">growth in national health spending</a> from 2009 to 2011 has been at historic lows, around 4 percent, and that trend is expected to continue for 2012 and 2013. Experts mainly say the down economy is the reason for reduced growth in spending, though <a href="" type="internal">it&#8217;s possible</a> the Affordable Care Act&#8217;s emphasis on new payment models may be leading to more efficient care by health care providers.</p> <p>If Julie purchases her own insurance, it&#8217;s unknown what exactly would happen to her premium, as <a href="" type="internal">we&#8217;ve explained before</a>. Some individuals will pay more, and some will pay less. Some will get significantly more generous benefits for higher premiums; others may not even want a more generous plan. Benefits and premiums vary widely on that market, and the change in premiums for individuals will likely also vary widely &#8212; depending on what benefits they have now, health status, the protections of the state they live in and more. The Affordable Care Act does prevent discrimination based on preexisting conditions, limit variation in premium rates (to age, where you live, family size and tobacco use), and require a minimum benefit standard for these plans.</p> <p>Most of those purchasing plans on the exchanges &#8212; about 80 percent &#8212; will qualify for government subsidies to offset the premium cost, <a href="http://cbo.gov/sites/default/files/cbofiles/attachments/43900_ACAInsuranceCoverageEffects.pdf" type="external">according to the Congressional Budget Office</a>. If Julie&#8217;s family earns up to 400 percent of the federal poverty level &#8212; $94,200 for a family of four &#8212; the family will qualify for a subsidy.</p> <p>Finally, Julie wonders how well the government can manage her health care, asking, &#8220;Can I really trust the folks in Washington with my family&#8217;s health care?&#8221; But the law doesn&#8217;t put the government in charge of health care decisions &#8212; despite the <a href="" type="internal">many claims</a> <a href="" type="internal">we&#8217;ve seen</a> <a href="" type="internal">over the years</a> <a href="" type="internal">to the contrary</a>. This isn&#8217;t a <a href="" type="internal">&#8220;government-run&#8221;</a> plan or &#8220;takeover,&#8221; as so many have tried to claim. There&#8217;s no board <a href="" type="internal">deciding who gets brain surgery</a> or picking anybody&#8217;s doctor for them.</p> <p>The law greatly expands private insurance, bringing millions of new customers to insurance companies. It&#8217;s true there are new insurance regulations as we&#8217;ve mentioned &#8212; no annual or lifetime limits on coverage, no preexisting condition exclusions, a standard set of minimum benefit requirements for plans on the exchanges. But those are consumer protections, not rules that put Washington in charge of managing families&#8217; health care.</p> <p>More Questions than Answers</p> <p>The AFP ad encourages viewers to visit ObamacareRiskFactors.com, where they can input some basic information about themselves and answer the question, &#8220;Are you at risk under the new healthcare law?&#8221; But don&#8217;t expect an unbiased answer.</p> <p>When we said we worked for an employer with 0 to 50 employees, our first <a href="http://www.obamacareriskfactors.com/index.php/results/536" type="external">risk factor</a> was a warning that our hours or pay could be cut because of &#8220;requirements to provide insurance to all employees.&#8221;</p> <p>The warning said that &#8220;government forces employers to make a difficult choice: reduce employee&#8217;s hours or wages or go out of business.&#8221; But employers with less than 50 full-time workers aren&#8217;t subject to any requirement to provide insurance to their employees. There was no mention of that, despite the fact that we had said we worked for a small employer. (The administration recently <a href="http://www.treasury.gov/connect/blog/Pages/Continuing-to-Implement-the-ACA-in-a-Careful-Thoughtful-Manner-.aspx" type="external">announced</a> that it was delaying the requirement for employers with 50 or more workers for one year, until 2015.)</p> <p>The risk factors we received also warned of &#8220;longer lines and delayed care,&#8221; citing a doctor shortage of 45,000 primary care physicians by 2020, estimated by the Association of American Medical Colleges. The warning doesn&#8217;t make clear that the AAMC said a shortage was predicted before the law was passed, but the shortage coupled with adding tens of millions to the rolls of the insured is certainly a legitimate concern. AAMC <a href="https://www.aamc.org/download/286592/data/" type="external">said</a> the coverage expansion will &#8220;exacerbate a physician shortage driven by the rapid expansion of the number of Americans over age 65.&#8221; It called for Medicare-funded residency training to help alleviate the problem.</p> <p>AFP exaggerates by saying that &#8220;[t]hese problems will continue to get worse as one-third of doctors will retire over the next decade &#8212; many fueled by ObamaCare&#8217;s rules and regulations.&#8221; AAMC says simply that one-third will retire because &#8220;[o]ur doctors are getting older, too.&#8221;</p> <p>Americans for Prosperity almost gets it right when it says that &#8220;ObamaCare mandates that employers provide insurance coverage to all full-time employees, but it doesn&#8217;t mandate that coverage be provided for spouses or children.&#8221; The law does mandate that insurance policies cover children up to age 26. But it&#8217;s true there&#8217;s no mandate for coverage of spouses.</p> <p>Of course, there was no mandate for employers to cover spouses before the law, and some firms have charged more for spouses or, for a small percentage of large firms, excluded them from coverage. The human resources consulting firm Mercer <a href="http://www.mercer.com/press-releases/1491670" type="external">has said</a> that its 2012 health benefits survey found 4 percent of employers with 5,000 or more employees denied coverage for spouses. MarketWatch reported in a <a href="http://www.marketwatch.com/story/why-your-boss-is-dumping-your-wife-2013-02-22" type="external">February 2013 article</a> that the practice, primarily used for spouses who could get insurance through their own jobs, could increase as health care expenses continue to rise (with or without the Affordable Care Act) and as the state-based exchanges created under the law give spouses another option for coverage. MarketWatch quoted Joan Smyth, a benefits consultant at Mercer as saying, &#8220;When there&#8217;s a place for people to go, employers won&#8217;t feel as beholden or compelled to cover the spouse.&#8221;</p> <p>It remains to be seen whether the lack of a spouse mandate will have an impact.</p> <p>The risk factors also warned that &#8220;[f]ailing to purchase insurance will result in a tax penalty of $695.&#8221; <a href="" type="internal">True, when the law is fully implemented in 2016</a>. But the AFP site only tells half the story. It doesn&#8217;t ask whether individuals already have insurance or not, and it says nothing about opportunities for federal subsidies to help the uninsured buy coverage or expansion of Medicaid eligibility.</p> <p>We&#8217;re not suggesting that the Affordable Care Act shouldn&#8217;t prompt questions and concern from Americans. There are many unknowns about how exactly a law of this magnitude will play out, particularly its impact on those who buy their own insurance. But don&#8217;t expect honest answers from a partisan anti-Obamacare campaign.</p> <p>&#8212; Lori Robertson</p>

False Assumptions on the Health Care Law

https://factcheck.org/2013/07/false-assumptions-on-the-health-care-law/

2013-07-11

<p>HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) _ The winning numbers in Saturday afternoon's drawing of the Pennsylvania Lottery's "Pick 5 Day" game were:</p> <p>5-0-7-2-2, Wild: 9</p> <p>(five, zero, seven, two, two; Wild: nine)</p> <p>HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) _ The winning numbers in Saturday afternoon's drawing of the Pennsylvania Lottery's "Pick 5 Day" game were:</p> <p>5-0-7-2-2, Wild: 9</p> <p>(five, zero, seven, two, two; Wild: nine)</p>

Winning numbers drawn in 'Pick 5 Day' game

https://apnews.com/cf51b8d2467a410b98c003a9161ed7ac

2018-01-06

<p>Infrastructure companies can be a great option for income-seeking investors. These entities typically generate robust cash flow backed by fee-based contracts, which gives them money to send back to investors. That's certainly the case with Kinder Morgan (NYSE: KMI) and Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (NYSE: BIP), which currently yield 2.6% and 4%, respectively, well above the S&amp;amp;P 500's 1.9% average.</p> <p>While income seekers might take one look at those yields and declare Brookfield Infrastructure Partners the better buy, there are a few other things worth considering. One of those items, in my opinion, profoundly tilts the scale toward Kinder Morgan.</p> <p>Continue Reading Below</p> <p>One of the most important factors for income-focused investors to consider is the underlying financials of a company. Here's how these two compare:</p> <p>As that chart shows, Brookfield Infrastructure Partners currently has a stronger balance sheet. The global infrastructure operator has a higher credit rating that it backs with a lower leverage ratio. Furthermore, a larger percentage of its cash flow comes from stable sources like fee-based contracts. Because of its better financial position, Brookfield has increased access to the capital markets to finance its growth initiatives.</p> <p>That said, one metric that stands out above the rest is that Brookfield Infrastructure distributes a greater percentage of its cash flow to investors, which is the primary reason it has a higher yield. For comparison's sake, if Kinder Morgan's payout rate were at the midpoint of Brookfield's target range, then it would yield a much more appealing 6.6% at its current stock price. That's worth noting because increasing the payout percentage is on the docket for Kinder Morgan and is the driving factor behind its much higher dividend growth forecast. That projection puts the company on pace to increase its yield up to 6.4% by 2020. Furthermore, given the company's current expansion project backlog, it expects to achieve that dividend while paying out less than 50% of its cash flow.</p> <p>Advertisement</p> <p>The reason Kinder Morgan could yield well over 6% if it matched Brookfield's current payout rate is that its stock trades at a much lower valuation. At its recent price of around $19.50 per share, Kinder Morgan trades at less than 10 times distributable cash flow. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners, on the other hand, currently trades at more than 14 times its current annualized funds from operations. To put that valuation gap into perspective, if Kinder Morgan traded at that same multiple, its stock would be nearly 45% higher.</p> <p>It's also worth pointing out that this isn't an apples-to-oranges comparison. While it's true that Kinder Morgan and Brookfield Infrastructure aren't directly comparable, they're still very similar. In Kinder Morgan's case, it's focused on operating energy-related infrastructure in North America, while Brookfield is a global infrastructure company that owns energy-related assets -- including a pipeline joint venture with Kinder Morgan -- as well as transportation, communication, and utility-type assets. That diversification does matter because it gives Brookfield more opportunities to expand. Meanwhile, its stronger balance sheet and higher current yield are certainly worth a premium.</p> <p>However, while Brookfield should trade for a higher valuation than Kinder Morgan, its also worth pointing out that energy infrastructure companies typically trade for a midteens multiple of cash flow, which is <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/09/24/is-kinder-morgan-inc-a-buy.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;uuid=8f829934-a203-11e7-96a2-0050569d32b9&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">currently the case with several rivals Opens a New Window.</a>. In fact, at its peak in 2015, Kinder Morgan sold&amp;#160;for nearly 20 times cash flow. In other words, it's easy to justify the case that Kinder Morgan is too cheap.</p> <p>While I love Brookfield Infrastructure Partners and believe it can deliver a low double-digit total return in the years ahead, I'd still choose Kinder Morgan over it right now. That's because I think investors can earn an even higher total return as Kinder Morgan achieves its dividend growth goals. Doing so would boost its yield, which should eventually push its valuation closer to the peer-group average. Those two factors could enable Kinder Morgan to deliver as much as double the total return of Brookfield over the next few years.</p> <p>10 stocks we like better than Kinder MorganWhen 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;amp;impression=5edd498b-6b91-4c2a-b0cf-1c91fed1de97&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;uuid=8f829934-a203-11e7-96a2-0050569d32b9&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">10 best stocks Opens a New Window.</a> for investors to buy right now... and Kinder Morgan 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;amp;impression=5edd498b-6b91-4c2a-b0cf-1c91fed1de97&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;uuid=8f829934-a203-11e7-96a2-0050569d32b9&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Click here Opens a New Window.</a> to learn about these picks!</p> <p>*Stock Advisor returns as of September 5, 2017</p> <p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFmd19/info.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;uuid=8f829934-a203-11e7-96a2-0050569d32b9&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Matthew DiLallo Opens a New Window.</a> owns shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners and Kinder Morgan and has the following options: short January 2018 $30 puts on Kinder Morgan, long January 2018 $30 calls on Kinder Morgan, and short December 2017 $19 puts on Kinder Morgan. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Kinder Morgan. The Motley Fool recommends Brookfield Infrastructure Partners. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;uuid=8f829934-a203-11e7-96a2-0050569d32b9&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>

Better Buy: Brookfield Infrastructure Partners LP vs. Kinder Morgan Inc.

http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/09/25/better-buy-brookfield-infrastructure-partners-lp-vs-kinder-morgan-inc.html

2017-09-25

<p>A Carnegie Mellon University student who admitted developing and selling malicious software that allowed others to remotely control Google Android smartphones has been sentenced to three years' probation.</p> <p>A federal judge in Pittsburgh also Monday ordered Morgan Culbertson to perform 300 hours of community service.</p> <p>Continue Reading Below</p> <p>He pleaded guilty in 2015 to conspiracy for his role in the malware distribution, which enabled those who bought the software to use the phones' cameras to spy on their owners.</p> <p>He is one of 12 people living in the United States who were charged by federal prosecutors in the takedown of the Darkode.com cybercriminal marketplace.</p> <p>The online forum was a place where authorities say computer hackers bought and sold malicious software.</p> <p>Culbertson is currently on leave from Carnegie Mellon.</p>

University student gets 3 years' probation in cybercrime

http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/02/06/university-student-gets-3-years-probation-in-cybercrime.html

2017-02-06

<p>President Donald Trump announced on Sunday new travel restrictions on foreigners from Chad, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Somalia, Syria, Venezuela and Yemen.</p> <p>According to the official statement, these eight countries have all been deemed to have "inadequate" identity-management protocols.</p> <p>"Making America Safe is my number one priority. We will not admit those into our country we cannot safely vet," President Donald Trump tweeted Sunday night.</p> <p>In a statement, the White House called the new restrictions a "critical step toward establishing an immigration system that protects Americans' safety and security in an era of dangerous terrorism and transnational crime."</p> <p>"We cannot afford to continue the failed policies of the past, which present an unacceptable danger to our country," President Trump said in the White House statement. "My highest obligation is to ensure the safety and security of the American people, and in issuing this new travel order, I am fulfilling that sacred obligation."</p> <p>The new restrictions will go into effect Oct. 18. Officials say the new restrictions are intended to enhance vetting capabilities and processes for travelers coming to the United States.</p> <p>The announcement comes as President Trump's existing travel ban was set to expire on Sunday. The original version of the travel ban, blocked citizens of seven majority-Muslim countries &#8212; Iraq, Iran, Sudan, Somalia, Libya, Yemen, and Syria &#8212; to enter the United States.</p> <p>Last week, President Trump called for a "tougher" travel ban after a bomb exploded on a London subway.</p> <p>"The travel ban into the United States should be far larger, tougher and more specific-but stupidly, that would not be politically correct!" he tweeted.</p> <p>A senior administration official said on Sunday that the restrictions were not based on race or religion, according to <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/donald-trump-new-travel-ban-enhanced-vetting/" type="external">CBS News.</a></p> <p>"The restrictions either previously or now were never, ever ever based on race, religion or creed,'' one senior administration official said. "Those governments are simply not compliant with our basic security requirements."</p>

President Trump signs new travel ban on eight countries

https://circa.com/story/2017/09/24/nation/donald-trump-signs-new-travel-ban-with-enhanced-vetting

2017-09-25

<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p> <p>President Barack Obama speaks during a joint news conference with Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn, Monday, July 27, 2015, at the National Palace in Addis Ababa. Obama is the first sitting U.S. president to visit Ethiopia. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)</p> <p>ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia - President Barack Obama urged Ethiopia's leaders Monday to curb crackdowns on press freedom and political openness as he began a visit that human rights groups say legitimizes an oppressive government.</p> <p>"When all voices are being heard, when people know they are being included in the political process, that makes a country more successful," Obama said during a news conference with Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn.</p> <p>Obama's trip marks the first visit by a sitting U.S. president to Ethiopia, a fast-growing economy once defined by poverty and famine.</p> <p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> <p>Later Monday, Obama convened a meeting with African leaders on the crisis in South Sudan, telling them he hoped the discussion would help to "bring about the kind of peace that the people of South Sudan so desperately need." The world's newest nation has been gripped by violence as warring factions in the government fight for power.</p> <p>"The conditions on the ground are getting much, much worse," Obama said at the news conference. He said if a peace agreement isn't reached by an Aug. 17 deadline, the U.S. and its partners would have to "consider what other tools we have."</p> <p>Options under consideration include deepening economic sanctions and an arms embargo.</p> <p>Obama arrived in Ethiopia late Sunday following a stop in Kenya, the country of his father's birth. The crisis in South Sudan and the human rights challenges on his agenda punctured a trip that had otherwise been a celebratory visit of the first black U.S. president to Africa.</p> <p>Despite Ethiopia's progress, there are deep concerns about political freedoms on the heels of May elections in which the ruling party won every seat in parliament.</p> <p>Obama said he was frank in his discussions with Ethiopian leaders about the need to allow political opponents to operate freely. He also defended his decision to travel to the East African nation, comparing it to U.S. engagement with China, another nation with a poor human rights record.</p> <p>"Nobody questions our need to engage with large countries where we may have differences on these issues," he said. "That's true with Africa as well."</p> <p>Ethiopia's prime minister defended his country's commitment to democracy.</p> <p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> <p>"Our commitment to democracy is real - not skin deep," he said. Asked about his country's jailing of journalists, he said his country needed "ethical journalism" and reporters that don't work with terrorist organizations.</p> <p>Ethiopia is the world's second-worst jailer of journalists in Africa, after Eritrea, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.</p> <p>Ahead of Obama's arrival, the Ethiopian government released several journalists and bloggers it had been holding since April 2014 on charges of incitement and terrorism. Many others remain in detention.</p> <p>Sarah Margon, the Washington director of the organization Human Rights Watch, said Obama's visit undermines the president's goals of good governance on the African continent.</p> <p>"In many ways, I guess it's a reward," Margon said. "Ethiopia at this time doesn't deserve that."</p> <p>Despite differences on human rights, the U.S. sees Ethiopia as an important partner in fighting terrorism in the region, particularly the Somalia-based al-Shabab network. Ethiopia shares intelligence with the U.S. and sent troops into Somalia to address instability there.</p> <p>The al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab claimed credit for a suicide bomb at a luxury hotel in Somalia's capital Sunday that killed 15 people and injured nearly two dozen more. The Jazeera Hotel was considered the most secure in Mogadishu and is frequented by diplomats, foreigners and visiting heads of state.</p> <p>Obama said the attack was a reminder that "we have more work to do" in stemming terrorism in the region.</p> <p>Ethiopia has also been an important U.S. partner in the effort to end South Sudan's civil war. The prime minister was among the leaders joining Obama in Monday's meeting on the crisis.</p> <p>South Sudan was thrown into conflict in December 2013 by a clash between forces loyal to former Vice President Riek Machar, an ethnic Nuer, and President Salva Kiir, a Dinka. The fighting has spurred a humanitarian crisis, throwing the country into turmoil four years after its inception.</p> <p>The U.S. was instrumental in backing South Sudan's bid for independence, which was overwhelmingly supported by the country's people.</p> <p>___</p> <p>AP White House Correspondent Julie Pace contributed to this report.</p> <p>___</p> <p>Follow Darlene Superville on Twitter at <a href="http://www.twitter.com/dsupervilleap" type="external">http://www.twitter.com/dsupervilleap</a></p>

Obama urges Ethiopia to curb crackdowns on media, opposition

https://abqjournal.com/618947/obama-urges-ethiopia-to-curb-crackdowns-on-media-opposition.html

<p>Marshawn Lynch grew up in an area of Oakland most sportswriters would speed through with their windows locked. He&amp;#160;has a Super Bowl ring, multiple Pro Bowl selections, and a violent rushing style that makes grown men in the NFL look like division 5 high school players. He has earned the nickname &#8220;Beast Mode,&#8221; and his play on the field speaks for itself.</p> <p>Earlier this season, Lynch was fined <a href="http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nfl-shutdown-corner/marshawn-lynch-fined--100k-for-not-talking-to-media-203132118.html" type="external">$100,000</a>&amp;#160;for his refusal to speak to reporters after games. This week Lynch has once again given NFL reporters the &#8220;sort-of silent treatment&#8221; by repeating the same statement to any questions asked. Repeatedly he answered questions with&amp;#160;&#8220; <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJWkoXsuE8I" type="external">I&#8217;m thankful</a>.&#8221; &amp;#160;In another interview all he would say was &#8220; <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyUwanb_Cz8" type="external">yeah</a>.&#8221;&amp;#160;&#8220; <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Q3M28qAkyw" type="external">Thanks for &#8216;axin</a>&#8216;&#8221; was his only response in another. &amp;#160;Repeating &#8220; <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bn0Z3oj59yU" type="external">you know why I&#8217;m here</a>&#8221; over and over punctuated answers to another set of questions.</p> <p>&#8220; <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIEDsmw4mmA" type="external">I&#8217;m just here so I won&#8217;t get fined</a>,&#8221; and not much else was the extent of the conversation in another round with the media, with Lynch spending most of the interview avoiding even looking at the interviewers. Finally, to uproarious laughs from everyone including Lynch,&amp;#160;one of the other players stepped in to answer the questions for him, leading to probably the best Lynch interview of the week.</p> <p>Many would say no one can blame Lynch. ESPN is a&amp;#160;24/7 sports news source that shows highlights of games, gives &#8220;expert analysis&#8221; of players, offers a barrage of heart-felt stories, and often jumps as deep into off-field issues than on-field results. Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Terrell Owens and Brett Favre have all felt the wrath of having their personal lives exposed by the media.</p> <p>Marshawn Lynch wants no part of it, clearly wanting no attention off the field..</p> <p>Lynch is a fan favorite. His&amp;#160;is one of the <a href="http://www.nflshop.com/pages/Top_Selling_Jerseys" type="external">top-selling</a> jerseys in the NFL, and he is routinely selected in the first round of fantasy football drafts. It is safe to say that, regardless of what he says to the media, he is making the NFL a substantial amount of money, but that is not enough. The NFL and the media want more than a football player focused on playing football.</p> <p>Marshawn Lynch is obviously&amp;#160;not looking for friends in the media or NFL.&amp;#160;However, to win a Super Bowl, it takes team effort.&amp;#160;For Lynch to find success on the ground, the big-bodied linemen in front of him have to execute their blocking assignments. However,&amp;#160;most people cannot name anyone on Seattle&#8217;s offensive line, nor do reporters bother to flock to the locker of linemen after a game, showing a lack of support for those the fan favorites depend on.</p> <p>Usually if a story depends on an interview and the interview does not happen, there is no story. In this case, the non-story of Marshawn Lynch is the&amp;#160;story.</p> <p>In all the hoopla of Media Week,&amp;#160;nobody seems to be discussing the game. Two great defenses and well-rounded offenses, led by great decision-making quarterbacks&amp;#160;and&amp;#160;anchored by the two most bruising running backs in the NFL, are going to square off Sunday.&amp;#160;The two best teams in the NFL are playing each other this weekend, which&amp;#160;should be the story, but sports media coverage is finding something else to talk about. And Marshawn Lynch finds something more&amp;#160;not to talk about.</p> <p />

Marshawn Lynch exposes absurdity of NFL media coverage

http://natmonitor.com/2015/01/29/marshawn-lynch-exposes-absurdity-of-nfl-media-coverage/

2015-01-29

<p /> <p>President Johnson signing Medicaid into law, 1965. Photo: White House Press Office, WikiMedia</p> <p>Continue Reading Below</p> <p>What's the difference between Medicare and Medicaid? Most of us have heard of both government programs, but some of us don't have a solid understanding of just what each is and how they differ. Let's take care of that right now.</p> <p>Medicare and Medicare were signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson in 1965 and were part of his "Great Society" suite of new domestic programs targeting major issues such as civil rights, poverty, education, health, housing, consumer protection, and the environment. So what's the difference between Medicare and Medicaid? Both programs provide health coverage to Americans, but, as the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has explained, Medicare is an insurance program, while Medicaid is an assistance program.</p> <p>Medicare basicsWorkers pay into the Medicare system during their years of employment (just as they contribute to Social Security -- typically with automatic deductions from paychecks) and then, once they hit the age of 65, they can enroll in it. Indeed, many people are automatically enrolled if they're already collecting Social Security once they turn 65 -- and more than 50 million Americans are enrolled in Medicare. Medicare is also available to younger folks with certain disabilities or with end-stage kidney disease.</p> <p>Medicare is overseen by the federal government. It features several parts, covering healthcare expenses such as doctor visits, outpatient care, and some preventative care (Part B), hospital or skilled nursing facility care (Part A), and prescription drugs (Part D), and you can enroll in one or more. There's a Part C, too, encompassing Medicare Advantage plans. These offer the same coverage as Parts A and B and some include prescription drug, vision, and dental coverage, too. Some parts of Medicare may be free to you, while others will cost a monthly premium that's designed to be affordable. Medicare features deductibles and coinsurance payments. For many services, once you meet your deductible, you'll pay 20% of Medicare-approved costs.</p> <p>Medicare and Medicaid respectively aid the elderly and poor. Photo: Pixabay.</p> <p>Advertisement</p> <p>Medicaid basicsMedicaid, meanwhile, is only meant to serve those with limited income. It's funded by state governments and the federal government, and administered by state governments that must follow federal guidelines. It's available to those of any age who qualify, and its total enrollment recently topped 72 million people, including low-income adults, children, pregnant women, elderly adults and people with disabilities. Many Americans are enrolled in both Medicare and Medicaid -- these would primarily be low-income elderly folks.</p> <p>Here's another difference between Medicare and Medicaid: While Medicare features deductibles and expects enrollees to often pay a portion of the cost of the care they receive, Medicaid enrollees typically pay nothing for the care they receive, though sometimes there is a small co-payment. The federal government requires state Medicaid programs to offer a certain set of mandatory benefits, and they may also offer various optional additional benefits. Mandatory benefits for Medicaid include physician services, hospital services (inpatient and outpatient), nursing facility services, home health services, laboratory and X-ray services, nurse midwife services, and medical transportation services, among others. Optional additional benefits might include prescription drugs, physical therapy, dental services, hospice, vision, prosthetics, podiatry, case management, and more. Medicaid covers a wider range of health services than Medicare does.</p> <p>Eligibility requirements for Medicaid vary by state, and you should check with your state Medicaid office (or website) for more information on that and for enrollment information.</p> <p>The difference between Medicare and Medicaid in a nutshell, then, is this: Medicare is an insurance program primarily for older Americans. It's the same for all Americans, requires them to share some costs, and is administered federally. Medicaid is state-based, though with federally set minimum requirements, and it's for low-income Americans, regardless of age. It's mostly free. Tens of millions of Americans are enrolled in each of these two programs, with many enrolled in both.</p> <p>The article <a href="http://www.fool.com/retirement/general/2016/02/20/whats-the-difference-between-medicare-and-medicaid.aspx" type="external">What's the Difference Between Medicare and Medicaid? Opens a New Window.</a> originally appeared on Fool.com.</p> <p>Longtime Fool specialist <a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFSelena/info.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">Selena Maranjian Opens a New Window.</a>, whom you can <a href="http://twitter.com/SelenaMaranjian" type="external">follow on Twitter Opens a New Window.</a>, owns no shares of any company mentioned in this article.Try any of our Foolish newsletter services <a href="http://www.fool.com/shop/newsletters/index.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">free for 30 days Opens a New Window.</a>. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that <a href="http://wiki.fool.com/Motley?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">considering a diverse range of insights Opens a New Window.</a> makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> <p>Copyright 1995 - 2016 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/help/index.htm?display=about02" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>

What's the Difference Between Medicare and Medicaid?

http://foxbusiness.com/investing/2016/02/20/what-difference-between-medicare-and-medicaid.html

2016-03-27

<p /> <p /> <p>Neighbors heard a woman crying and screaming, and they called the cops out of concern for the "victim." When the police helicopter arrived, complete with thermal imaging cameras, they found the "victim," but it wasn't what they expected. It was a goat.</p> <p>They were able to pinpoint the "victim" with their thermal imaging cameras. They were relieved to find it wasn't a female in trouble. On the other hand, the rescue helicopter costs 850 euros, or almost 1,000 U.S. dollars, to run and use 250-300 liters of fuel which translates to 66-79 gallons of fuel. That is a lot of resources to use to check on a goat.</p> <p /> <p /> <p>The goat now has its picture on the internet, showing yet another way goats resemble humans. You do one strange thing, and you end up becoming internet famous, or internet infamous, depending on the situation.</p> <p /> <p />

Police Helicopter Investigates Screaming Woman, Turns Out It Wasn't A Woman

http://offthemainpage.com/2016/01/28/police-helicopter-investigates-screaming-woman-turns-out-it-wasnt-a-woman/

2016-01-28

<p>The re-boot of IT recently became the highest grossing horror film of all time, reigniting our childhood fears of clowns. It&#8217;s not hard to see why many people are frightened of them: Odd behaviors, creepy laughs, and a face you can&#8217;t really see. Not to mention all the true crime killer clowns, like the infamous serial killer John Wayne Gacy. Clowns are just f***ing scary, okay?!</p> <p>Recently, one killer clown has been caught by authorities. Since 1990, Florida investigators have been searching for an elusive clown who shot a woman in broad-daylight on her own porch.</p> <p>It turns out it was no random murder. Read about this love triangle and the unsolved murder that finally will have justice.</p> <p /> <p>Credit: Nomad_Soul/Shutterstock</p>

Man Unknowingly Marries the Killer Clown Who Murdered His First Wife

http://thefrisky.com/g/new-wife-arrested-in-clown-shooting-first-wife/?utm_source%3Dfrisky%26utm_medium%3DNIBND-4774%26utm_content%3Dnib%26utm_campaign%3Dsocial-o%26ipp%3D3

2018-10-06

<p>Much of the world is worried about the impending war with Iraq, and rightly so. But this may just the beginning of a new age of disarmament wars.</p> <p>From the homeland of Armageddon this week came worrying signs that we should begin worrying about the even longer and harder wars to follow. John Bolton, U.S. Under Secretary of State for Disarmament Affairs and International Security, was in Israel this week, for meetings about &#8220;preventing the spread of weapons of mass destruction.&#8221;</p> <p>It seems appropriate for the U.S. and Israel to meet about disarmament issues. After all, Israel is universally acknowledged by everyone&#8211;excepting the U.S. government&#8211;as a considerable nuclear power, and much of the world regards its prime minister as a profound threat to international security. However, we can be sure that neither item was on Bolton&#8217;s agenda.</p> <p>Bolton-Sharon Style Disarmament</p> <p>While in Israel, Bolton met Sharon and Netanyahu. He promised that after the U.S. has sorted Iraq &#8220;it will be necessary to deal with threats from Syria, Iran, and North Korea afterwards.&#8221; For Bolton and Sharon, disarmament is what you do to other people, no more and no less.</p> <p>Unlike most of his colleagues in Washington, Bolton seems to have kept his counsel on France and Germany&#8211;at least this time. But that should not be taken as any sign of disagreement with Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld&#8217;s spat with &#8220;Old Europe.&#8221; Previously, Bolton had sounded the alert, warning that &#8220;the Europeans can be sure that America&#8217;s days as a well-bred doormat for EU political and military protection are coming to an end.&#8221;</p> <p>The venue for Bolton&#8217;s disarmament talks is significant. Although Israel is agnostic on Kim Jong Il, there is no doubt that the rest of Bolton&#8217;s dominoes fall exactly in line with the eschatological plans of the Likudnik fundamentalists. When they met, Sharon told him that Israel was &#8220;concerned about the security threat posed by Iran&#8221; and that it was important to deal with it even while American attention is turned toward Iraq. Since it was the Israelis and the Reagan administration that had conspired to provide weaponry for Iran in the 1980s, we know how strongly and consistently they feel about this.</p> <p>Indeed, Bolton and Sharon have been as one for some time. Soon after George W. Bush&#8217;s discovery of the &#8220;Axis of Evil,&#8221; Bolton promptly fingered Cuba and Libya as a sort of mini-Axis and as potential possessors of missiles and weapons of mass destruction. Although Sharon was agnostic this time on Cuba, he happily endorsed adding Libya to the hit list along with Iran and Syria.</p> <p>John Bolton is one of the major reasons why few other countries trust the motives, or indeed the rationality of the U.S. administration (the list of other reasons keeps growing, but the ravings of Wolfowitz, Perle, Cheney, and Rumsfeld spring immediately to an apprehensive observer&#8217;s mind).</p> <p>These are the people whose statements scare off the diplomatic ducks that Colin Powell so assiduously tries to line up. In addition, the continual gaffes of hawks like Bolton make the U.S. position seem even more hypocritical in the global arena. For example, the ostensible excuse for attacking Iraq is its defiance of UN resolutions. However, Bolton has defied the UN&#8217;s very existence for most of his political career. He has made it plain that the U.S. government should not abide by any UN decisions that may prove inconvenient to the U.S. pursuit of its national interests.</p> <p>Washington&#8217;s UN Double-Speak</p> <p>Last year as the rest of the world was deciding that Hans Blix, the head of UNMOVIC, was a trustworthy arbiter, Bolton had the CIA vet him because he suspected him to be unreliable. One feels sure that he still does, even though the CIA gave the good Doctor Blix a clean bill of health.</p> <p>However, Bolton is at least consistent. His political career began in UN-bashing. In 1994 he asserted that &#8220;there is no such thing as the United Nations&#8221; or that &#8220;if the UN Secretariat building in New York lost 10 stories, it wouldn&#8217;t make a bit of difference.&#8221; Nonetheless, his firm principles can be malleable when hit by self interest. Taking ten floors off the 38 of the UN HQ would have left the 27th floor. That&#8217;s where the UN finance department issued his pay check when he became James Baker&#8217;s assistant in the UN mission to abrogate Security Council resolutions against the Moroccan occupation of Western Sahara.</p> <p>It is difficult to square his bashing of the UN with the Bush administration&#8217;s blandishing the Security Council members to &#8220;save&#8221; the organization, to preserve its credibility and relevance&#8211;by doing exactly what it is told. Perhaps because Bolton was absent from Washington, in Israel this week, the administration has reluctantly accepted the desirability for a second UN resolution to authorize war. Certainly, this is not due to any abstract attachment to principles. Rather, Tony Blair persuaded Bush that the few allies the U.S. has need such a resolution to quell their restive electorates.</p> <p>Of course electorates do not always figure well with the White House. Bolton was foisted on a reluctant Powell by other hardliners in the administration, not least for his role in chad-counting in Florida before the Supreme Court appointed Bush.</p> <p>But then he has not always been so keen on the judicial approach. For the past two years, his single-handed campaign to destroy the effectiveness of the International Criminal Court (ICC) has done much to cement European and third world resentment of U.S. &#8220;diplomacy&#8221; and unity in advance of the Iraq issue.</p> <p>Indeed, his campaign get bilateral treaties exempting American citizens from the ICC&#8217;s jurisdiction precipitated the fissure lines we now see emerging in the global community. His few successes include the East Europeans, desperate to get into NATO, as well as the tiny island states, which are, well, just desperate. Even the role of one less tiny island state&#8211;Britain&#8211;foreshadows the role it has played over Iraq. After all, it was Tony Blair who effectively split united EU resistance to the American campaign.</p> <p>The Bolton campaign&#8217;s major diplomatic &#8220;success,&#8221; however, was that his undiplomatic pressure provoked a record number of countries into signing and ratifying the Rome Treaty quickly so that the ICC was actually established several years before its sponsors anticipated. Bolton is to diplomacy what Jack the Ripper was to surgery.</p> <p>Bearing in mind the Middle East venue for the current combat, Senator Jesse Helms had endorsed Bolton&#8217;s appointment with what one hopes was unconscious irony &#8220;John Bolton is the kind of man with whom I would want to stand at Armageddon, if it should be my lot to be on hand for what is forecast to be the final battle between good and evil in this world.&#8221;</p> <p>Media Silence</p> <p>Almost as amazing as Bolton&#8217;s statements is the relative silence of the U.S. media about him and other administration hawks. Shouldn&#8217;t the American public know that senior administration officials are promising that after a war with Iraq, there will be one with Iran, and then one with Syria, with Libya, with North Korea, and with Cuba? Each of these is a scenario that could frighten the American public. Taken together, George W. Bush is threatening to make the Prussian kings look like Pacifists. Do those Reservists in the Gulf know how long they will be away, making the world fertile for terrorism?</p> <p>Some argued that you can ignore the likes of Bolton because they are just token eccentrics&#8211;there to appease the right wing of the Republican Party. Such complacency is ill-grounded. The first two years of Bush foreign policy&#8211;with the promulgation of the Axis of Evil, the campaign against the ICC, the abrogation of Kyoto, the unlimited support for Ariel Sharon&#8217;s behavior, and the gratuitous attacks on long-standing allies who have the temerity to disagree over Iraq&#8211;should warn us to take heed.</p> <p>We do not have to agree with those Bible Study classes in the White House on prophetic power to prophesy that it would be very dangerous to ignore Bolton&#8217;s statements. These are harbingers of endless wars. It&#8217;s a long, long way to Teheran, but these hawks are putting their heart into going there. Or rather, as most of them did in Vietnam, sending others.</p> <p>IAN WILLIAMS is a contributor to <a href="http://www.fpif.org/" type="external">Foreign Policy In Focus</a> on UN and international affairs.) He can be reached at: <a href="mailto:uswarreport@igc.org" type="external">uswarreport@igc.org</a></p> <p>&amp;#160;</p>

Bombing to Disarm

https://counterpunch.org/2003/02/22/bombing-to-disarm/

2003-02-22

<p>What's on your holiday gift list? If you said a <a href="" type="internal">Google</a> Phone or a 27-inch iMac, you may have to wait 'til next year (or longer). Still, there's plenty of holiday cheer to go around. This week <a href="" type="internal">Steve Jobs</a> received yet more awards, <a href="" type="internal">Comcast</a> launched a Web video service, McDonald's supersized its Wi-Fi offerings, and YouTube and <a href="" type="internal">Twitter</a> revealed what the world was watching and tweeting about in 2009. Have you been a good tech newshound this year? Give yourself 10 points for each correct answer. Now let's get jolly.</p> <p>1. The Google Phone rumors have reached a fever pitch; the as-yet-still-theoretical handset even has a name. What is it?</p> <p>Continue Reading Below</p> <p>Sexus</p> <p>Nexus</p> <p>Plexus</p> <p>Flexus</p> <p>2. Hoping Santa will bring you a shiny new 27-inch iMac? You might have to wait 'til New Year's or later. Shipments of the new Apple all-in-one have been delayed for at least two weeks. Why?</p> <p>Advertisement</p> <p>Broken screens</p> <p>Flickering displays</p> <p>Jaundiced yellow tint to screens</p> <p>All of the above</p> <p>3. Just when you thought <a href="" type="internal">iPhone</a> apps couldn't get more pointless, a company calling itself Upside Downloads has introduced a new app based on a popular toy from days gone by. Which one?</p> <p>Gumby</p> <p>Etch-A-Sketch</p> <p>Slinky</p> <p>Play-Doh</p> <p>4. The URL shortening wars are on. Which of the following is NOT a link-shrinking service that was recently spruced and/or introduced?</p> <p>bit.ly</p> <p>fb.me</p> <p>app.le</p> <p>goo.gl</p> <p>5. Steve Jobs may need to buy yet another house just to store all his awards. Which of the following honors did the Apple honcho take home?</p> <p>Fortune's CEO of the Decade</p> <p>Time's Man of the Year</p> <p>People's Sexiest Man Alive</p> <p>OrganWorld's Liver Recipient of the Year</p> <p>6. Comcast has officially launched its subscriber-only Web video service. What's it called?</p> <p>B-reel</p> <p>E-gregious</p> <p>Xfinity</p> <p>Y-bother</p> <p>7. YouTube has named its most popular videos of the year. What topped its 2009 list?</p> <p>New Moon Trailer</p> <p>Susan Boyle on Britain's Got Talent</p> <p>"David After Dentist"</p> <p>"JK Wedding Roller Dance"</p> <p>8. Not to be outdone, Twitter named 2009's most popular trending topics in a wide range of categories. What tweet topic topped its technology list?</p> <p>Apple Web tablet</p> <p>gPhone</p> <p>Nook</p> <p>Google Wave</p> <p>9. "_____ has engaged in a deliberate campaign to hamstring competitive threats to its monopoly. It's been running roughshod over the principles of fair play and the laws protecting competition on the merits. The commission's action today seeks to remedy the damage that ____ has done to competition, innovation, and, ultimately, the American consumer." Who said it about whom?</p> <p>The EC, re: <a href="" type="internal">Microsoft</a></p> <p>The FTC, re: <a href="" type="internal">Intel</a></p> <p>The FCC, re: AT&amp;amp;T</p> <p>The SEC, re: Apple</p> <p>10. Take the number of Android apps according to Google's official count, rounded to the nearest thousand. Add the number of McDonald's restaurants that will offer free Wi-Fi starting next January, also rounded to a nice even number. Multiply by the distance in light years of the watery Earth-like exoplanet discovered by astronomers this week. Bring that to your nearest drive through and supersize it. What do you get?</p> <p>1,080,000</p> <p>108,000</p> <p>10,800</p> <p>1,080</p> <p>Answer key</p> <p>Question 1: The Google Phone rumors have reached a fever pitch; the as-yet-still-theoretical handset even has a name. What is it?</p> <p>Correct Answer: Nexus</p> <p>At least, according to Boy Genius Report, which noted the name " <a href="" type="internal">Nexus One</a>" showing up in Web server logs. According to various anonymous sources, the GSM handset will be available, unlocked and unsubsidized, from Google next month. And if you believe all that, we've got a Web tablet we'd like to sell you.</p> <p>Question 2: Hoping Santa will bring you a shiny new 27-inch iMac? You might have to wait 'til New Year's or later. Shipments of the new Apple all-in-one have been delayed for at least two weeks. Why?</p> <p>Correct Answer: All of the above</p> <p>Numerous reports from users and resellers indicate a wide range of problems with the displays and/or their video adapters. Apple's official response? "The new iMac has been a huge hit and we're working hard to fulfill orders as quickly as possible." Because there's nothing people like more than a pricey home computer with a really crappy display.</p> <p>Question 3: Just when you thought iPhone apps couldn't get more pointless, a company calling itself Upside Downloads has introduced a new app based on a popular toy from days gone by. Which one?</p> <p>Correct Answer: Slinky</p> <p>The inevitably named iSlinky apparently does what the original did, only in two dimensions. The 99-cent app also features a "sizzling new version of the classic Slinky jingle performed by '70s pop icon David Cassidy," per the press release. We're guessing Danny Bonaduce wasn't available.</p> <p>Question 4: The URL shortening wars are on. Which of the following is NOT a link-shrinking service that was recently spruced and/or introduced?</p> <p>Correct Answer: app.le</p> <p>It's been a busy week in the link-shrinking biz. Bit.ly introduced a "pro" version that allows site owners to create customized links and gather scads of stats about who uses them. Google unveiled goo.gl, a link compressor for users of Feedburner and Google Toolbar. <a href="" type="internal">Facebook</a> quietly released fb.me so Fbers can easily link to pages within the social network. You know what they say: Brevity is the soul of twits.</p> <p>Question 5: Steve Jobs may need to buy yet another house just to store all his awards. Which of the following honors did the Apple honcho take home?</p> <p>Correct Answer: Fortune's CEO of the Decade</p> <p>Last month the Apple CEO was named Fortune's El Jefe Supremo for the first decade of the millennium. He was also named Adweek's Marketer of the Decade, but lost out to Fed Reserve chair <a href="" type="internal">Ben Bernanke</a> for the Time award and to Johnny Depp for the People honor. Still, we really thought he was a lock for the Liver award. That was a shocker.</p> <p>Question 6: Comcast has officially launched its subscriber-only Web video service. What's it called?</p> <p>Correct Answer: Xfinity</p> <p>The newly christened Fancast Xfinity TV service will allow users who subscribe to both Comcast's cable TV and broadband Internet to access the same content streamed to their boob tube or the Web. The benefit for Comcast: It gets to wrap its fingers even tighter around its customers. The benefit for viewers? Tune in next week and maybe we'll have figured it out by then.</p> <p>Question 7: YouTube has named its most popular videos of the year. What topped its 2009 list?</p> <p>Correct Answer: Susan Boyle on Britain's Got Talent</p> <p>The middle-aged frump with the amazing pipes garnered 120 million views, far outpacing a doped-up preschooler ("David" -- 37 million), a boogie-fevered wedding party ("JK's Wedding" -- 33 million), and blood-sucking teen heart throbs (New Moon -- 31 million). Guess we've come a long way from Numa Numa and the Star Wars Kid. Or maybe not.</p> <p>Question 8: Not to be outdone, Twitter named 2009's most popular trending topics in a wide range of categories. What tweet topic topped its technology list?</p> <p>Correct Answer: Google Wave</p> <p>Inexplicably, Google's groovy online collaboration tool was the No. 1 topic for geeks who tweet, outpacing Snow Leopard, Tweetdeck, and Windows 7. Neither the Nook nor Apple and Google's mythical products made the top 10. The good news: The hashtag #freakythoughts didn't make it either.</p> <p>Question 9: "_____ has engaged in a deliberate campaign to hamstring competitive threats to its monopoly. It's been running roughshod over the principles of fair play and the laws protecting competition on the merits. The commission's action today seeks to remedy the damage that ____ has done to competition, innovation, and, ultimately, the American consumer." Who said it about whom?</p> <p>Correct Answer: The FTC, re: Intel</p> <p>Exactly one month after Intel finally settled its long running anti-trust dispute with AMD, the FTC charged the chip giant with violating Section 5 of the the FTC Act prohibiting unfair competition. Maybe the feds will accept a $1.25 billion bribe to shut up, too -- we hear they could use the money.</p> <p>Question 10: Take the number of Android apps according to Google's official count, rounded to the nearest thousand. Add the number of McDonald's restaurants that will offer free Wi-Fi starting next January, also rounded to a nice even number. Multiply by the distance in light years of the watery Earth-like exoplanet discovered by astronomers this week. Bring that to your nearest drive through and supersize it. What do you get?</p> <p>Correct Answer: 1,080,000</p> <p>Android apps now number just a hair over 16,000, per Google -- not the 20,000 initially reported by TechCrunch and AndroLib -- still well shy of the iPhone Store's 100K+. Mickey D's will soon let you log on for free from 11,000 of its 13,000 eateries. That sultry "super-Earth" is just 40 light years away (37 light years if you take the interstate). So 16K + 11K * 40 = 1,080,000. And yes, you can get fries with that.</p> <p>The InfoWorld News Quiz is taking a well-deserved break. In its place next week will be a special 20-question year-ending quiz for you obsessive Web surfers. Have a lovely holiday, and see you in the new decade.</p> <p>More from IDG:</p>

InfoWorld news quiz

http://foxbusiness.com/features/2009/12/18/infoworld-news-quiz.html

2016-03-18

<p><a href="http://wp.me/p3bwni-7Xu" type="external">21st Century Wire</a> says&#8230;</p> <p>This latest bombshell revelation from a U.S. Federal Border Patrol whistleblower proves that orders had come down from Washington to apply highly unconstitutional, excessive force against peaceful local resident protestors in Murrieta, California last week&#8230;</p> <p>MURRIETA BORDER PATROL (Photo credit: Patrick Henningsen @21WIRE)</p> <p>. MURRIETA, CA &#8211; In an exclusive expose regarding the immigration standoff in Murrieta, California, it was&amp;#160;revealed by a confidential informant inside the Murrieta U.S. Border Patrol facility that the real reason buses stopped delivering illegal immigrants was due to a virtual mutiny within the U.S. Border Patrol ranks. &amp;#160;</p> <p>GMN&amp;#160;investigative journalists conducted a recorded telephone interview with a highly credible and prominent Murrieta community leader on Sunday July 14, where it was revealed that frontline U.S. Border Patrol agents threatened to stand down if the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) executed a plan to use force upon protestors if they impeded buses transporting undocumented immigrants into the Murrieta processing facility.</p> <p>Right vs Left face off (Photo: Patrick Henningsen @21WIRE)</p> <p>. &#8220;Most of the Border Patrol agents here at this facility are residents of Murrieta, and when they found out that the DHS was going to come in with riot gear, the agents declared that they would not obey any unlawful orders which violate the Constitutional rights of peaceful protestors&#8221;, said the informant.</p> <p>&#8220;Our contact inside the U.S. Border Patrol told us that we do not even realize how impactful the protest was&#8230; it was a shot heard around the world&#8230; all the way back to Guatemala, Mexico, and not just the U.S. Government&#8230; the influx of immigrants coming over the border has decreased from 1500 per day down to 800 per day&#8230; cut almost in half as a direct result of what we&#8217;ve done.&#8221;</p> <p>The front line U.S. Border Patrol agents are essentially refusing to perform any unconstitutional act upon the protesters, and they let their intentions be known to their superiors. &amp;#160;As a result, the Department of Homeland Security could not proceed with delivery of another busload of illegal immigrants to Murrieta due to the lack of support from&amp;#160;Murrieta Police Officers, as well as Border Patrol agents &#8211; who are steadfast in upholding their oath to defend and support the Constitution of the United States.</p> <p>On June 23, 2014, local residents of Murrieta California express their will to prohibit the U.S. Government&#8217;s lawless policy of transporting and dumping immigrants who are being allowed into the United States without proper documentation to verify they do not have a known criminal history; processing immigrants without proper medical screening; accepting busloads of immigrants at overcrowded facilities without regard to capacity, as well as dumping of unlawfully admitted immigrants in communities all over the United States.</p> <p>The Border Patrol whistleblower has also expressed his concern about retaliation by the U.S. Government for his willingness to speak out about unlawful and unconstitutional activity he has observed on the inside. &amp;#160;He has asked that whistleblowers receive legal&amp;#160;protection from retaliation by the U.S. Government, and that Congress conduct public hearings to investigate wrongdoing by the U.S. Government in this border crisis.</p> <p>&#8220;My contact has pleaded with community leaders to reach out to our local Congressman and demand Congressional inquiry. &amp;#160;We also need to hold our local Sheriff accountable for his gross Constitutional negligence&#8230; he was nowhere to be found, and he&#8217;s the top law enforcement official in the County. &amp;#160;The Sheriff potentially jeopardized the lives and safety of our local residents, as well as the Murrieta Police and U.S. Border Patrol Agents if the DHS came in with force&#8221;, stated the confidential informant.&#8221;</p> <p>Based on the information coming to us confidentially from insiders associated with the Murrieta standoff, we believe that the people of Murrieta stopped the U.S. Government&#8217;s human trafficking scheme in its tracks. &amp;#160;The residents stopped DHS buses with determination and resolve, and we are now learning that Guatemala and Mexico are suffering extreme embarrassment for their lack of accountability.</p> <p>The residents&#8217;&amp;#160;Constitutional stance appears to be&amp;#160;having an impact on restoring some semblance of law and order along this stretch of the&amp;#160;U.S. Mexico border.</p> <p>READ MORE DHS NEWS AT: <a href="" type="internal">21st Century Wire DHS Files</a></p>

EXCLUSIVE: Whistleblower: Buses Were Diverted Because Border Patrol, Police Threatened To Stand Down If DHS Used Force Against Murrieta Protestors

http://21stcenturywire.com/2014/07/15/exclusive-whistleblower-buses-were-diverted-because-border-patrol-police-threatened-to-stand-down-if-dhs-used-force-against-murrieta-protestors/

2014-07-15

<p>The editors of economics21.org asked Chuck Blahous, David Malpass, and James C. Capretta to provide some commentary on the state of fiscal and monetary policy as President Obama begins his second term. What follows is Mr. Capretta&#8217;s contribution to the collaborative piece. The entire article can be accessed online <a href="http://www.economics21.org/commentary/next-four-years-fiscal-conservatism-what-must-be-done-sustain-nation" type="external">here</a>.</p> <p>As President Obama begins his second term, the nation&#8217;s strained fiscal policy remains front and center on the national agenda, and for good reason. Over the period 2009 to 2012, the federal government ran a cumulative deficit of $5.4 trillion&#8211;nearly doubling the debt that had been accumulated from 1789 to 2008. The tax legislation passed at the beginning of this year will close projected future deficits modestly over the coming years compared to what would have occurred if the entire Bush-era tax policy had been permanently extended. <a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/communications/misc/cboscore_hr8_20130101.pdf" type="external">Estimates produced by the White House Office of Management and Budget</a> show ten-year deficit reduction of just $630 billion from the tax deal. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has yet to release its updated projections, but when it does those estimates will almost certainly show the gap between future projected spending and revenue remains far too wide and will never fall back again to historically benign levels.</p> <p>At the heart of the nation&#8217;s fiscal challenges are the rising costs of the major health care entitlement programs&#8211;Medicare, Medicaid, and the new subsidies provided by the 2010 health care law. In 1972, total federal spending on Medicare and Medicaid was just 1.1 percent of GDP. By 2010, the costs of these programs had risen to 5.5 percent of GDP, and <a href="http://www.cbo.gov/publication/43288" type="external">CBO projections from last year</a> show the costs rising to 9.1 percent in 2030 when the new entitlement spending from Obamacare is also added in and when plausible assumptions about on-going enforcement of arbitrary cost-cutting measures are used.</p> <p>The prospects for seriously addressing the problem of health entitlement spending is not promising in the president&#8217;s second term in large part because there is a sense in his administration and among congressional Democrats that Obamacare has already largely solved the problem. They argue that the provisions cutting future Medicare spending in the new law will work, and that numerous, government-initiated efforts to cut costs (such as the Accountable Care Organization program in Medicare) will fundamentally transform how health care is delivered in the United States.</p> <p>But the actual results from Obamacare are likely to fall far short of the high expectations of the law&#8217;s supporters. For starters, the cuts in Medicare will almost certainly get undone in coming years because of the harm they will cause to seniors. Obamacare&#8217;s cuts to the Medicare Advantage (MA) program&#8211;the private insurance option in Medicare&#8211;is expected to push some 4 million seniors out of their MA plans by 2018. Moreover, the cuts in payment rates for hospitalizations and other services are so arbitrary and deep that the chief actuary for the program has stated they will force 15 percent of institutional providers to stop admitting Medicare patients.</p> <p>At bottom, the disagreement over how to reform the health entitlement programs is a fundamental difference over how best to bring cost discipline to the wider health system. The president and his allies are firmly committed to a vision in which the federal government makes all of the important decisions about cost control. The disastrous byproduct of this approach is an erosion of the quality of American health care as federal price controls drive high quality providers out of the marketplace.</p> <p>The alternative to full governmental control of the health system is a functioning marketplace with cost-conscious consumers. The president and his allies sometimes pay lip service to this approach when it is politically convenient, but their true beliefs are more accurately reflected in what they are touting in Obamacare. Their vision is for the federal government to become the enforcer of cost discipline, which will inevitably mean imposing Medicare-style price controls on the entire system.</p> <p>It would of course be far better for the country if the president were to seek common bipartisan ground on health care over the next four years. Such an approach would increase the chances that real progress would be made and might even guarantee a lasting health care legacy for him. But it&#8217;s clear already that the president has no intention of following such a bipartisan course.</p> <p>That leaves the law&#8217;s opponents with no choice but to continue to resist implementation of Obamacare and to continue pursuing their own vision. In other words, the intense clashes over health care that marked the president&#8217;s first term will almost certainly occur during his second term too.</p> <p>James C. Capretta is a senior fellow at the <a href="" type="internal">Ethics and Public Policy Center</a>, a visiting fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, and project director of <a href="http://obamacarewatch.org/" type="external">ObamaCareWatch.org</a>.</p>

The Urgent Need for Genuine Health and Entitlement Reform

https://eppc.org/publications/the-urgent-need-for-genuine-health-and-entitlement-reform/

<p>On Sunday, Obama Attorney General Loretta Lynch announced that the FBI would not be releasing the full transcript of the 911 phone call from the Orlando jihadist. That&#8217;s because it would offend people. Yes, really. &#8220;Well,&#8221; said Orwellian caricature Lynch, &#8220;what we&#8217;re not going to do is further proclaim this individual&#8217;s pledges of allegiance to terrorist groups and further his propaganda.&#8221;</p> <p>True to her word, Lynch and the FBI have now released a partial transcript. Here it is, beginning at 2:35 a.m.:</p> <p>Orlando Police Dispatcher (OD) Shooter (OM) OD: Emergency 911, this is being recorded. OM: In the name of God the Merciful, the beneficial [in Arabic] OD: What? OM: Praise be to God, and prayers as well as peace be upon the prophet of God [in Arabic]. I let you know, I&#8217;m in Orlando and I did the shootings. OD: What&#8217;s your name? OM: My name is I pledge of allegiance to [omitted]. OD: Ok, What&#8217;s your name? OM: I pledge allegiance to [omitted] may God protect him [in Arabic], on behalf of [omitted]. OD: Alright, where are you at? OM: In Orlando. OD: Where in Orlando? [End of call.]</p> <p>There are two idiocies worth noting here. First, everyone on the planet knows that [Omitted] = ISIS. The only reasons to cut that out are to provide political cover for the FBI, which should have done a better job keeping track of the Orlando jihadist, and to provide political cover to the left&#8217;s push for gun control instead of the fighting radical Islam.</p> <p>Second, the FBI releases a translated transcript here &#8211; and translated &#8220;Allah&#8221; as &#8220;God.&#8221; This, too, has a dual purpose: to pretend that &#8220;Allah&#8221; and the Judeo-Christian God are identical (they aren&#8217;t) and to link radical Islam with Christianity and Judaism. Is there any doubt whatsoever that if this shooter had used the terms &#8220;NRA&#8221; and &#8220;Jesus&#8221; instead of &#8220;ISIS&#8221; and &#8220;Allah,&#8221; we&#8217;d get the full transcript? Any doubt at all?</p> <p>Lynch&#8217;s suggestion that she must censor facts in order to prevent propaganda demonstrates the nasty, propagandist nature of the Obama administration. And if reality won&#8217;t conform to their perceptions of it, reality must be silenced.</p> <p>UPDATE: This story reminded me of the fact that back in April, the official White House video of French President Francois Hollande censored his mention of &#8220;Islamist terrorism&#8221; in talking about jihadism in his country. So this is now a pattern. Here&#8217;s the paragraph the White House stopped translating:</p> <p>But we&#8217;re also well aware that the roots of terrorism, Islamist terrorism, is in Syria and in Iraq. We therefore have to act both in Syria and in Iraq, and this is what we&#8217;re doing within the framework of the coalition.</p> <p>The White House then posted a correction and claimed a technical error:</p> <p /> <p>UPDATE II: The Obama administration has now released the full transcript, after the FBI said it couldn't do so because of risk of terrorism and Loretta Lynch said they couldn't do so because they didn't want to offend the survivors. Here it is -- and surprise! -- the terrorist wasn't pledging allegiance to the Joos.</p> <p />

FBI Releases Part of Orlando Terrorist Transcript, Chops Out ‘ISIS’ and ‘Allah’ [UPDATE: Full Transcript Released]

https://dailywire.com/news/6737/fbi-releases-part-orlando-terrorist-transcript-ben-shapiro

2016-06-20

<p>BY: <a href="" type="internal">Cameron Cawthorne</a> August 2, 2017 10:03 am</p> <p>John Podesta, the chairman of Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign, told CNN's Alisyn Camerota on Wednesday that he loses sleep "every night" with the "burden" of having lost the Electoral College to Donald Trump.</p> <p>Camerota asked Podesta whether Clinton was surprised at how often Trump invokes&amp;#160;her name this far into his presidency.</p> <p>"It's unprecedented," Podesta said. " You never saw that behavior from any other president who's talking about the person they beat. I think it really just bugs the hell out of him that she got three million more votes than he&amp;#160;did and he keeps coming back to that."</p> <p>"Obviously we bear the burden of having lost the Electoral College, so I lose sleep about that every night," Podesta added.</p> <p>Camerota followed up by asking Podesta what Clinton thinks about being under Trump's skin for winning the popular vote.</p> <p>"Well look, I think she'll have something to say about that when her book comes out mid-September, and I think she's reflected on the mistakes that she made, what she might&amp;#160;have done different, but I think she'll also&amp;#160;talk about where the country is and how to move forward," Podesta said. "That's what she's always done in her life when she's gotten knocked down. She's tried to make a positive contribution coming out of that, and I think that that's what this book will attempt to do."</p> <p>Hillary Clinton's memoir, What Happened,&amp;#160;will be a reflection on her 2016 election loss to Trump and will be released on Sept. 12.</p>

Podesta: I Lose Sleep ‘Every Night’ About Clinton Losing Electoral College

http://freebeacon.com/politics/podesta-loses-sleep-every-night-about-clinton-losing-electoral-college/

2017-08-02

<p>'I think it goes beyond reparations for black people, to getting people to look seriously at their history. It&#8217;s not like America is just distorting black history. It has a problem with history, period.'</p> <p>It&#8217;s almost as if journalist Ta-Nehisi Coates has performed an act of cultural prestidigitation by inserting the issue of reparations into the national dialogue. Ever since he penned a blockbuster cover story on the subject in June 2014 for <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/features/archive/2014/05/the-case-for-reparations/361631/" type="external">The Atlantic</a>, he&#8217;s been attracting large, often predominantly white crowds to hear his arguments on why descendants of enslaved Africans deserve compensation. Coates has convinced them to seriously consider an issue once confined to the radical fringes of black nationalism.</p> <p>Some of those nationalists remain suspicious of Coates and his suddenly visible advocacy of reparations. He understands their suspicions, but insists he poses no threat to their provenance. Without their long-time and dedicated advocacy, he notes, the reparations issue would have disappeared entirely from the conversation.&amp;#160;Coates is too modest here.</p> <p>The crowds gathering to hear him are attracted by his ingenious reframing of the issue and the logic of his argument. Coates&#8217; prescription is a relatively easy pill to swallow: He urges the passage of <a href="http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-113hr40ih/pdf/BILLS-113hr40ih.pdf" type="external">H.R. 40</a>, the House bill repeatedly and fruitlessly submitted by Michigan Rep. John Conyers Jr., which would create a commission to examine the impact of slavery and suggest remedies.</p> <p>Coates is convinced that any serious examination of the effects of slavery and Jim Crow could only conclude that there is a need for reparations. &#8220;I really don&#8217;t see any other option,&#8221; he told me. He&#8217;s just not sure that we live in the kind of America that would come to that conclusion.&amp;#160;Coates and I sat down in a coffee shop in Chicago to discuss the reaction to his article.</p> <p>What has been the most unexpected aspect of the reception to your Atlantic piece on reparations?</p> <p>It&#8217;s so obvious now, but I think I underestimated the black community&#8217;s appetite to see their stuff done in a really serious way&#8212;well researched, substantiated, with some scholarship behind it.</p> <p>Have you gotten different responses from white audiences than black audiences?</p> <p>With white audiences it&#8217;s mostly, &#8220;I had no idea. I just had no idea.&#8221; And from black audiences, it&#8217;s, &#8220;I know I&#8217;ve been ripped off, but I just didn&#8217;t know how. I didn&#8217;t know the science behind it.&#8221;</p> <p>On my show on <a href="http://www.wvon.com/index.html" type="external">WVON radio</a>, it was the topic of conversation for about three weeks straight.</p> <p>I didn&#8217;t expect it to be such a revelation. There&#8217;s a strong body of academic research at this point&#8212;stuff that&#8217;s not even really contestable. But I felt like people who talked about reparations in the past didn&#8217;t stress certain things enough. Like, I really wanted to stress the housing issue as a present thing.</p> <p>I&#8217;ve done several columns on reparations, but never with your contemporary perspective. That&#8217;s what makes your piece more compelling than talking about ancestral debt.</p> <p>But the ancestral debt is true. It&#8217;s true. I&#8217;ve often joked that any of the more contemporary ills&#8212;like redlining&#8212;you can trace back to slavery. It&#8217;s the foundation. People just need to understand that it doesn&#8217;t end there.</p> <p>Why did you think The Atlantic would be willing to expend resources on what a lot of people thought was a tangential issue?</p> <p>You know, the funny thing is we never even had a discussion like that. It was never like, &#8220;This is crazy.&#8221; If [a freelancer] had just said, &#8220;Hey, I want to do an article on reparations,&#8221; it would have been much harder. But by the time I pitched that piece, I had been writing for The Atlantic for five years.</p> <p>How did you get your start there?</p> <p>The first piece I pitched was on Bill Cosby and that was in 2007. I was critiquing his whole respectability politics tour. [Soon after we spoke, Coates wrote an apology for downplaying the rape allegations against Cosby that have recently drawn attention.] That was my first interaction with a magazine.</p> <p>Why did it take you so long to write for a magazine? Was it a cultural disconnect?</p> <p>No, I think it&#8217;s a straight manifestation of a wealth gap. When I came in, the way to break into magazines was to do an unpaid internship. That&#8217;s just totally impossible for most black people. It&#8217;s the same thing with our loan problems. We don&#8217;t have, like, uncles, aunts, grandparents that say, &#8220;I&#8217;m gonna give you $500,000 to do this project,&#8221; or &#8220;I&#8217;m gonna support you while you live in L.A.&#8221;</p> <p>Do you feel any responsibility to outline a tactical approach to reparations, or do you just make the argument and leave that to others?</p> <p>People say, perhaps we just might allow black people to go to certain schools for free. Or we might have a bank that allows black people to get easy loans. I think all these things are possible. But the question I&#8217;m much more interested in is: What is the society that makes that possible? Put reparations within the political imagination.</p> <p>I met Clyde Ross [a leader of the 1960s fight against predatory housing contracts in Chicago and a key figure in the Atlantic story] yesterday, and he said he doesn&#8217;t think this country will ever [pay reparations], so why waste our time? He said that to get reparations in this country, you better have a different court system, you better have a different media, you better have a different school system. And I think the beauty of his insight was that he knows that implementing reparations would require a totally different America.</p> <p>So you think H.R. 40, the bill to form a reparations commission, would help serve that purpose?</p> <p>Yeah. People would have to come for- ward on the Senate floor, on the House floor, and say, &#8220;Listen, this is what happened. Let&#8217;s have a straight-up argument about this. You show me your proof, I&#8217;ll show you my proof&#8212;and I&#8217;ve got plenty of proof.&#8221; That&#8217;s the beautiful thing: All of your Ivy schools, they all agree with me. I&#8217;m not from those places. But when you go to look at studies on economics, the evidence is pretty overwhelming.</p> <p>So, if that evidence is presented and the country still refuses to act on it with any integrity, what&#8217;s Plan B?</p> <p>I&#8217;m not too optimistic about going outside of the political order. I&#8217;m making arguments within the political order, as it exists. I think it goes beyond reparations for black people, to getting people to look seriously at their history. It&#8217;s not like America is just distorting black history. It has a problem with history, period. This is like a congenital thing&#8230;America the innocent; we&#8217;ve never done anything wrong. With something like climate change, [there&#8217;s a] problem of not being able to account for what we&#8217;ve done to the planet. It&#8217;s a general mindset. And it&#8217;s a suicidal mindset.</p> <p>Speaking of history, how do you feel about reparations for Native Americans?</p> <p>When you kill a massive amount of people and you push them off their land and then build a society on top of that, you probably owe them something.</p> <p>Do you see any movement toward more acknowledgement of history?</p> <p>I was happy to see that in a lot of the Ferguson reporting, people were talking about housing discrimination. They didn&#8217;t act as if Ferguson came out of nowhere.</p> <p>Black nationalists have been working on the issue of reparations for a long time. Many expressed irritation to me that you were a &#8220;Johnny-come-lately.&#8221; Have you run into that?</p> <p>I was raised in the black nationalist movement&#8212;that&#8217;s how I got my name. I could have gone into any nationalist gathering when I was 10 or 12 years old and heard anybody say, &#8220;You know they ripped us off and they built this entire country on our work.&#8221; If anything, it&#8217;s like I&#8217;m coming back to the church.</p> <p>How a lot of folks probably feel is, &#8220;You know, I stood up and said this and they said I was crazy. And then here comes this guy.&#8221; And I understand how that can be frustrating. But this is an idea that is not about saving white people or making white people feel good. Ideas like that don&#8217;t get the same level of respect.</p> <p>I hope the piece reminds people that just because something comes out of the radical wing doesn&#8217;t mean it&#8217;s crazy. Reason is not only found in the center. In 1860, the political center was not emancipation.</p> <p>Like what you&#8217;ve read? <a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/itt-subscription-offer?refcode=WS_ITT_Article_Footer&amp;amp;noskip=true" type="external">Subscribe to In These Times magazine</a>, or <a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/support-in-these-times?refcode=WS_ITT_Article_Footer&amp;amp;noskip=true" type="external">make a tax-deductible donation to fund this reporting</a>.</p> <p>Salim Muwakkil is a senior editor of In These Times, where he has worked since 1983. He is the host of "The Salim Muwakkil" show on WVON, Chicago's historic black radio station, and he wrote the text for the book HAROLD: Photographs from the Harold Washington Years.</p>

How Ta-Nehisi Coates Made Reparations Mainstream

http://inthesetimes.com/article/17424/the_man_who_made_reparations_mainstream

2014-12-29

<p>Berlin is extremely proud of being a showplace for the prestige buildings of today&#8217;s international star architects. These trophies, from embassies to executive towers to museums, have reclaimed many of the bare spots left by the city&#8217;s Cold War divisions. Nor does Berlin stint on the temporary. In advance of the 2006 World Cup held in Germany and culminating in Hitler&#8217;s Olympic Stadium a giant soccer ball was dropped next to the Brandenburg Gate. This Fussball-Globus welcomed visitors into its high-tech interior with a pair of David Beckham&#8217;s shoes in a glass display case.</p> <p>Any number of provisional &#8220;boxes&#8221; have been introduced into the cityscape over the last decade, the most recent of which is the Humboldt University research cube which stands near to the city cathedral. The Humboldt folly is blue and wonky and an eyesore, whose main visual merit is that it is temporary. The box also stands guard over a huge barren lawn where once stood the Palace of the Republic, the Capitol of the German Democratic Republic, and before it the old City Palace. Finished in 1976, that brown glass, burnished steel, and white stone socialist structure was removed between 2006 and 2008 under pretext of asbestos contamination, but really for symbolic reasons. Especially in this city, bombs and politics have shown that no architecture is truly permanent.</p> <p>The cathedral, city palace, and the Humboldt &#8220;box&#8221; share an island in the Spree River in the center of Berlin with an ensemble of museums to the north, most of whose buildings have been restored over the last several years. On this Museum Island, one can commune with Johann Caspar David Friedrich&#8217;s lonely paintings in the Old National Gallery&#8212;another Greek temple perched on a massive pedestal and approached by a triumphal staircase&#8212;and next door come face to face with the bust of Nefertiti alone in a soaring chamber in the recently rebuilt and reconceived New Museum.</p> <p>The next building to the north is the Pergamon Museum, built between 1910 and 1930 to house the reconstruction of one of the wonders of the Ancient World, the Pergamon Altar. It was excavated by German archaeologists between 1878 and 1886 on a promontory above the Turkish city of Bergama, brought back to Berlin and pieced together again. The Pergamon Museum itself replaced a temporary building, built on the same the site in the first decade of the 20th century to display the tremendous find to the German educated classes, devotees of the glories of antiquity.</p> <p>It is hard to imagine a more hulking structure than the permanent building finished in 1930. Its enormous central hall, in which the altar now looms, is guarded by a massive windowless wall that brings to mind both a bunker and a mausoleum. Two wings, nearly as imposing as the central fa&#231;ade, house the Middle Eastern collections (including Babylon&#8217;s Gate of Ishtar). These extend at right angles from the Pergamon Altar hall and form a large square that fronts the branch of the river.</p> <p>Since September of last year, this square has been filled up by the latest and greatest of Berlin&#8217;s temporary showpieces: the <a href="http://www.smb.museum/pergamon-panorama_/" type="external">Pergamon Panorama</a>. This structure will remain in front of the museum for a full year until September of 2012. With its grid of steel beams on a circular footprint, the Panorama resembles a 19th-century gasometer. It is the work of Yadegar Asisi and his team. Born in 1955 in Vienna to Iranian parents, Asisi was educated in Germany and has been active here as an artist, architect, and professor for the last thirty years. For the last two decades he has dedicated himself to huge panoramas. He calls them panometers, a word that neatly combines panorama and gasometer, both crucial developments of industrial and entertainment culture of the 19th century.</p> <p>Asis&#8217;s panometers are about 30 meters high and 100 meters in circumference. His first panorama for Dresden in a 19th-century gasometer breathtakingly depicted this most beautiful of German cities in 1756, some two centuries before its destruction in World War II. Currently the elegant Dresden building presents his view of Rome at the time of Constantine. Asisi&#8217;s vision of the Amazon Rain Forest just closed in Leipzig. But so quickly do Asisi and his team work that Mount Everest will appear in the Leipzig panometer and open to the public by the 28th of this month, a mere three weeks after the Amazon show closed.</p> <p>Asisi&#8217;s current Pergamon Panorama, close in size to his exhibition spaces in Dresden and Leipzig, has been hugely popular, with long lines running across the bridge to the museum in good weather and bad. What makes the whole event so popular is not only the visual representation of the ancient acropolis of Pergamon and the city at its foot, but also the fact that the remnants of the famed altar can then be visited in the adjacent museum. Within a few minutes the imagined glories of the past can be compared to the real thing, transported from Asia Minor to the German capital.</p> <p>The climb up the steel staircase of the Panorama seems longer than the structure would suggest when viewed from the outside, perhaps because the Pergamon Museum is particularly adept at dwarfing all things that come near&#8212;including the trains which rush by within a few feet on an elevated track over the Spree. At the top of the stairs the sky, blue with cumulus clouds and a few seagulls flown in from the nearby coast, opens dramatically above. You find yourself on a square viewing platform seemingly one hundred feet above the highest point of the Pergamon Acropolis with its complex of temple and squares. Set back from the edge of the Acropolis, the Trajaneum sits on the highest of plinth. Closer to the viewer is the Doric perfection of the Temple of Athena housing the gargantuan statue of the goddess, unseen within; the original statue can also be visited in one of the large halls of the Pergamon Museum. From this plateau a steeply raked theater descends towards the water of a mountain river raging whitely. Men and women in brightly colored robes peer over the parapet and mill about in front of the colonnades.</p> <p>The topography and flora recall the Los Angeles Hills and basin, except that on top of this rise is a one of the great sights of the Ancient world at the high point of its civic splendor 129 years after Christ. On a somewhat lower shoulder of the hill is the altar itself, the base in high relief depicting an epic battle between the giants and gods. It is this relief, about 85 per cent of which survives, that was brought back to Berlin by the Germans. The backside of the Altar is not visible to panorama viewers from their platform, but the parts that are depicted had to be filled in by Asisi, drawing on his artistic creativity, knowledge of classical sculpture, and virtuosic ability at delightfully deceiving the eye. In the panorama, the relief is given back its bright colors, rather than left in the museum&#8217;s naked marble. Even from the 21st century aerial perspective the twisting, muscle-flexing, figures locked in mortal combat can be picked out and admired for their contorted physiques and for the sweep of the battle in progress.</p> <p>Continuing clockwise around the platform cypress trees descend the hill to the valley floor and the Roman theater, the stadium with the dust of chariot races rising above its cloth shade-makers, the amphitheater, the villas and farms, burial mounds and river leading to a perhaps just-visible Aegean.&amp;#160; Asisis&#8217; mastery of three-dimensional space attains almost god-like power. He has created a whole city, and therefore a whole world.</p> <p>Night falls on the wrap-around tableau and ten minutes later day returns.&amp;#160; A dog barks, and the hub-bub of voices on the Acropolis fills the panorama. This ambient sound would have been more than sufficient to summon the civic energy of the Ancients and to add sonic encouragement to the flights of the eye.&amp;#160; But the exhibition-makers decided that this wasn&#8217;t enough and engaged Belgian film composer Eric Babak to provide what the leaflet refers to as &#8220;subtle background music.&#8221;&amp;#160; Among Babak&#8217;s credits is <a href="" type="internal">the music</a> for the Russian bid for the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi. &amp;#160;On these films he proves himself to be adept at that cheap manipulation required of musical ad-men: the pseudo-symphonic writing meant to imply seriousness and made up of delirious harmonic moves that achieve their goals all too easily. The larger sweeps of the bogus heroic strivings are meant to underscore the release of Russia from Soviet bondage and the demise of&amp;#160; fully state-funded sport training, into the contingencies of capitalist freedom and athletic freedom. Baka&#8217;s painfully obvious and opportunistic approach is the musical equivalent of a montage of winnerbs crossing the finish line. His music gives itself gold medals at every turn.</p> <p>In spite of the preemptive adjective of the leaflet, Babak&#8217;s music for the Pergamon Panorama is anything but subtle. It is both bad and loud. Choral swells and synthesized orchestral sweeps accompany the fall of night. Ponderous descending bass-lines evoke the weight of history, the gee-whiz magnificence of the antique.&amp;#160; An amorphous antique quality and feast-day devotional seriousness is conjured not only by the ritual choruses but also by the smudged avoidance of the obvious resolutions favored in the Russian Olympic trailer. At the break of day flute melodies above rustic dance rhythms and faintly Celtic harmonies have nothing to do with Hellenistic culture, but are merely a cinematic grope at exoticism. The exactitude of the panorama&#8217;s visual sweep is paired with souvenir-shop historical mood music.</p> <p>The notion that we need the help of a soundtrack to be drawn into this encompassing vision of a famed city, its monuments and ceremonies belittles Asisi&#8217;s accomplishment. With its crude colossal strides and chirpy dances, this music attempts to create a sense of movement, which was mistakenly thought to be required of this panorama, whose figures and buildings do not move. The strength of this panorama, one executed with such breathtaking control, is that it alternately focuses the gaze on particulars and pulls the eye across the tremendous city- and land-scape.</p> <p>Exiting the base of the Panometer, one can hear the faintest trace of Babak&#8217;s music escape the exhibition. A short traverse of the gift shop leads to the huge hall where the real Pergamon Altar stands. Long may it remain unmolested by a bad soundtrack&#8212;indeed, by any soundtrack at all.</p> <p>DAVID YEARSLEY&amp;#160;s a long-time contributor to CounterPunch and the Anderson Valley Advertiser. His latest book is&amp;#160; <a href="" type="internal">Bach&#8217;s Feet</a>. He can be reached at &amp;#160; <a href="mailto:dgyearsley@gmail.com" type="external">dgyearsley@gmail.com</a></p> <p>&amp;#160;</p>

Amazing Monuments of Modern Berlin

https://counterpunch.org/2012/01/20/amazing-monuments-of-modern-berlin/

2012-01-20

<p>In an attempt to do something of deep import, half a million Americans across the country took to the streets on Saturday. Many donned pink hats they labeled &#8220;pussyhats&#8221;; these were knit caps with cat ears. Why? Because they were protesting the inauguration of President Donald Trump, who was infamously caught on tape talking about grabbing women by the &#8220;p***y&#8221; on an Access Hollywood bus some years back.</p> <p>Reporters even spotted police officers donning the &#8220;pussyhats.&#8221;</p> <p>DC cops posted across from White House are wearing pink pussyhats and posing for photos with marchers. Big cheers from crowd. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WomensMarch?src=hash" type="external">#WomensMarch</a> <a href="https://t.co/BCP6DO2lQp" type="external">pic.twitter.com/BCP6DO2lQp</a></p> <p>According to The Hill, the pussyhats were meant as a comeback to Donald Trump&#8217;s &#8220;Make America Great Again&#8221; hats.</p> <p>This is intensely stupid. And it&#8217;s likely to help Trump in his quest for a second term.</p> <p>Why? Here are *** reasons.</p> <p>1. Unhinged Leftism Makes Trump Look Palatable By Comparison. Just as incoming Attorney General Jeff Sessions looked like the most reasonable person east of the Mississippi River in his hearings, particularly when placed against the backdrop of Code Pink protesters screaming about &#8220;Jim Sessions,&#8221; Trump actually looks like the adult in the room when confronted with thousands of people wearing little pink caps referencing the female anatomy. As this hilarious meme states:</p> <p><a href="https://t.co/CDOj4eavM9" type="external">pic.twitter.com/CDOj4eavM9</a></p> <p>2. Normalizing Vulgarity Also Normalizes Trumpian Vulgarity. One of the most shocking elements of the Trump tape was his blas&#233; use of vulgar slang to describe female genitalia. But that&#8217;s not shocking anymore, thanks in large part to the left&#8217;s decision to scream &#8220;p***y&#8221; from every available rooftop. Literally hundreds of signs used pornographic language and imagery, presumably in order to scald Trump &#8211; but this simply ended up immunizing Trump&#8217;s language from scrutiny. It&#8217;s hard to call Trump a disgusting vulgarian for his language while parading around in front of children with signs like this one:</p> <p /> <p /> <p /> <p>3. Reducing Anti-Trump Sentiment Down To Pro-Abortion Propaganda Is Highly Stupid. By polling data (yes, polling data still matters, folks), Trump is not popular with most Americans. But instead of embracing a broad swath of anti-Trump causes, the radical left decided to focus in on abortion and taxpayer-funded birth control as their key causes, banning pro-life women and alienating the religious. This is intensely stupid, and it&#8217;s just another reason that the left&#8217;s increasingly polarized politics is likely to drive more and more people into Trump&#8217;s camp.</p> <p>Donald Trump shouldn&#8217;t be upset about the Women&#8217;s March. He should be ecstatic. If the best the left can do is jabber about p***y and march around with crayoned posters of vaginas, he&#8217;s a shoe-in in four years.</p>

Why Those Who Wear 'P***yhats' Will Help Re-Elect Trump

https://dailywire.com/news/12661/why-those-who-wear-pyhats-will-help-re-elect-trump-ben-shapiro

2017-01-22

<p /> <p /> <p>After 237 years, we&#8217;re becoming a colony again. Our nation&#8217;s losing the right to self-determination it fought so hard to win, and it&#8217;s happening on a scale unseen since the days of George III.</p> <p>As is so often the case these days, this wholesale loss of our rights is being underwritten by corporate interests.</p> <p>And, as usual, it&#8217;s being called &#8220;bipartisan&#8221; &#8211; by corporations who &#8220;buy&#8221; both Republican and Democratic &#8220;partisans.&#8221;</p> <p>Terms of Surrender</p> <p>Republicans cheered George W. Bush for saying, &#8220;I will never place U.S. troops under U.N. command.&#8221; Democrats cheered Barack Obama for saying, &#8220;I want us to control our own energy destiny.&#8221;</p> <p>But both leaders pushed trade agreements that surrender our sovereign rights to faceless bureaucrats in international bodies &#8211; bodies that are dominated by multinational corporations.</p> <p>Where are those cheering crowds now? Republicans backed a president who supported a agreements which put Americans&#8217; rights &#8211; and their environment &#8211; &#8220;under the command&#8221; of foreign bodies. And unless something changes Democratic voters will soon see their president give up even more control of our economic destiny.</p> <p>WTO Stands For &#8220;We&#8217;re Taking Over&#8221;</p> <p><a href="http://www.citizen.org/" type="external">Public Citizen</a>, which has been doing <a href="http://www.citizen.org/Page.aspx?pid=1328" type="external">excellent work</a> on this issue, <a href="http://www.citizen.org/Page.aspx?pid=5245&amp;amp;frcrld=1" type="external">reports</a> on three U.S. laws that were nullified by the World Trade Organization (WTO): country-of-origin labels on meat, dolphin-safe labels on tuna, and the ban on sweet-flavored cigarettes designed to get kids addicted to the tobacco companies&#8217; carcinogenic products. (What&#8217;s next: cherry-flavored crack?)</p> <p>The WTO and the WTO &#8220;Appellate Body&#8221; &#8211; two bodies most Americans don&#8217;t even know exist &#8211; overruled these laws in a preemptory manner that would have outraged the Continental Congress.</p> <p>We didn&#8217;t elect them. We can&#8217;t communicate with them. But they&#8217;ve issued three decrees which we must obey:</p> <p>1) We are not to know where the meat we&#8217;re eating comes from. 2) We must accept the fact that we may unknowingly wind up eating the flesh of dolphins, arguably the most intelligent nonhuman species on the planet. And, 3) We must continue to allow the distribution of products designed to addict our children to a deadly and habit-forming substance.</p> <p>How&#8217;s that for &#8220;controlling our own destiny&#8221;?</p> <p>The Next Front</p> <p>The next stage of our war for economic independence is being determined in trade talks that are being conducted in deep secrecy by a president who once promised &#8220;the most transparent administration in history.&#8221;</p> <p><a href="http://understory.ran.org/2012/09/10/meet-the-tpp-a-worldwide-corporate-power-grab-of-enormous-proportions/" type="external">Laurel Sutherlin</a> calls the Trans-Pacific Partnership &#8220;a worldwide corporate power grab of enormous proportions,&#8221; and that pretty accurately sums it up. (It&#8217;s hard to write about these deals without sounding hyperbolic, even if you&#8217;re only being descriptive.) As Sutherlin points out, the TPP &#8220;is among the largest and potentially most important &#8216;free trade&#8217; agreements the world has ever seen &#8230;&#8221;And yet, as Sutherlin notes, &#8220;one can hardly be blamed for not being familiar with it yet. The corporate cabal behind it &#8230; has done an exceptional job of maintaining an almost total lack of transparency as they literally design the future we will all inhabit.&#8221;</p> <p>Although 600 corporate representatives have seen drafts of the agreement, access has been denied to even <a href="http://thehill.com/blogs/hillicon-valley/technology/248277-lawmakers-call-for-openness-over-ip-measures-in-trade-deal" type="external">high-ranking</a> members of Congress. <a href="http://blog.ourfuture.org/20130523/tpp-a-deregulation-treaty-not-a-trade-treaty" type="external">Dave Johnson</a> excerpts some provisions being considered in the secret talks, and they&#8217;re truly terrifying.In fact, as Lori Wallach and Ben Beachy point out in a <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/03/opinion/obamas-covert-trade-deal.html?ref=opinion" type="external">must-read editorial</a>, the treaty&#8217;s provisions are so unpopular that the last negotiator felt it could only be concluded in secret. And now <a href="http://tradetreachery.com/" type="external">sovereignty-killing provisions</a> are being considered for a trade agreement with member nations of the European Union.</p> <p>Wall Street Wants a Piece</p> <p>Now Wall Street&#8217;s trying to use these draft agreements to undermine our ability to protect ourselves from bank predation or another financial crisis. They&#8217;ve already tried to use the WTO&#8217;s archaic and destructive financial rules ( <a href="http://ourfinancialsecurity.org/2011/04/wto-financial-deregulation/" type="external">Americans for Financial Reform</a> has the details). Now <a href="http://www.businessweek.com/printer/articles/513522?type=bloomberg" type="external">Bloomberg News reports</a> that banks and insurance companies are trying to use new proposed trade deals to overrule or further dilute portions of the Dodd-Frank Act.</p> <p>That legislation was weakened by bipartisan negotiation, and a number of agencies have &#8220;slow-walked&#8221; its implementation by delaying the completion of draft regulations. But that&#8217;s not enough for trade groups like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Coalition of Service Industries, and the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA).</p> <p>They see this as an opportunity to unleash their member companies, corporations with names like Citi and AIG, to plunder and pillage &#8211; we mean, &#8220;unleash the innovative creativity of the financial sector&#8221; once again.</p> <p>Easily Confused</p> <p>They don&#8217;t say that, of course. One of their favorite gambits is to say that it&#8217;s too &#8220;confusing&#8221; to deal with different countries&#8217; rules. A group of compliant House Republicans, for example, recently wrote to complain that &#8220;the regulatory landscape (is) too difficult for financial firms to navigate.&#8221;</p> <p>Imagine. The five largest banks in America <a href="http://theweek.com/article/index/242859/how-americas-5-largest-banks-fared-in-the-first-quarter" type="external">earned more than $20 billion</a> in the first quarter of this year alone and still can&#8217;t figure out how to &#8220;navigate&#8221; regulations. But here&#8217;s a funny thing: They don&#8217;t always want the same rules as other countries. Nobody on Wall Street mentioned &#8220;an easier landscape&#8221; when the EU set limits on bankers&#8217; bonuses, for example.</p> <p>They don&#8217;t want a &#8220;common&#8221; set of rules. They want the &#8220;lowest common denominator&#8221; of rulemaking, established by international, corporate-controlled bodies accountable to no one.</p> <p>Freedom Ain&#8217;t Free</p> <p>There have been some heroes in this fight. The organizations cited above have done excellent work. Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren has been speaking out forcefully. So has Florida Rep. Alan Grayson, who has started a <a href="http://tradetreachery.com/" type="external">petition against the proposed inclusion of WTO-like oversight bodies</a> in the new European trade agreement.</p> <p>But President Obama, like presidents Bush and Clinton before him, appears to be on the wrong side of this fight. He needs to hear from voters who insist on transparent talks and a return to full American sovereignty.</p> <p>Senators and representatives need to get those emails and calls, too. Better make your voice heard quickly, while your vote still matters.</p>

Corporations Colonize Us With Trade Deals, Wall Street Wants In

http://crooksandliars.com/richard-rj-eskow/corporations-colonize-us-trade-de

2013-06-07

<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p> <p>The main stage at the Hiland Theater features a state-of-the-art lighting system. Bernalillo County Commissioner Maggie Hart Stebbins said the renovated theater increased economic activity in the area and triggered some private investment nearby. (Roberto E. Rosales/Albuquerque Journal)</p> <p>ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - The Hiland Theater was once filled with dust and detritus.</p> <p>It was home to pigeons, not people, about five years ago.</p> <p>But revitalization of the historic theater is just about complete.</p> <p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> <p>The National Dance Institute of New Mexico is wrapping up its third and final round of renovations at the Hiland, which sits on East Central near Monroe on the outskirts of Nob Hill. Hundreds of children will perform each of the first two weekends in May as part of their end-of-the-school-year projects.</p> <p>What was once a dark, gloomy place is now bright and colorful, thanks to new skylights and windows, not to mention the vibrant colors that cover the walls.</p> <p>"It's designed for kids," said Russell Baker, executive director of the National Dance Institute of New Mexico.</p> <p>The transformation took place over the last few years. A nonprofit group tried running the place about a decade ago, but it closed in 2005.</p> <p>Commissioner Maggie Hart Stebbins said the renovated theater increased economic activity in the area and triggered some private investment nearby.</p> <p>"I think the Hiland Theater is a brilliant example of what a public-private partnership should be," Hart Stebbins said. "NDI, through private contributions and state capital dollars, has really transformed that building from what was a tumble-down structure ready for the wrecking ball into a jewel."</p> <p>Bernalillo County used state funds to buy the theater for about $1 million in 2005.</p> <p>The county won state approval in 2009 to lease the building to the National Dance Institute, which raised $13 million to pay for renovations and set up reserves. About $4 million came from public sources, such as the state and federal governments.</p> <p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> <p>Over 700 children now head to the Hiland Theater each week to participate in after-school or weekend programs that focus on dance, nutrition and other healthy habits. Their families pay on a sliding scale, depending on what they can afford.</p> <p>Pictured are the sign and event marquee of the venerable Hiland Theater, which is home to the National Dance Institute of New Mexico. The institute is wrapping up its final round of renovations at the theater. (Roberto E. Rosales/Albuquerque Journal)</p> <p>"This is a building that's full of kids," Baker said, and "the message is something more than just learning dance steps."</p> <p>The building, over 60 years old, now features dance studios, office space and a spruced-up main stage.</p> <p>"We designed it to be easy to navigate," Baker said. "You can't get lost in here. Everywhere you go, there's a window with someone behind it" to make kids feel comfortable.</p> <p>In addition to the National Dance Institute, the building is also rented out for performances by community groups.</p> <p /> <p />

From dust to dance

https://abqjournal.com/391890/from-dust-to-dance.html

2014-04-30

<p /> <p /> <p /> <p /> <p>There was no stopping a man from buying a child like sex doll even if it's disallowed in his place. And now the man who's also accused of being downloading indecent images of children will have to face charges for his illegal purchase and pervert interests.</p> <p /> <p /> <p /> <p>Simon Glerun, 33, has been given a 12-month suspended sentence after importing a childlike sex doll online even if his home in Essex has a crackdown on such adult toys. Glerun was prosecuted under a law banning the import "indecent or obscene articles". He tried to get the doll delivered from Hong Kong to Essex.</p> <p /> <p /> <p /> <p>Because of the crackdown, the illegal purchase was aught by Border Force officers at Stansted Airport in January. Glerun was arrested by Essex Police officers after the sex dol interception.</p> <p /> <p /> <p /> <p>Not only was Glerun caught in the act of getting his childlike sex doll purchase, but because of it, authorities were also able to discover through related searches that he had also downloaded indecent images of children.</p> <p /> <p /> <p /> <p>Even as he had earlier claimed that he only intended to buy a "smaller adult doll", the authorities used as evidence of his internet use to establish that he deliberately bought a sex doll imitating a child.</p> <p /> <p /> <p /> <p>Glerun later admitted making arrangements to import a prohibited indecent or obscene article, three offenses of making, or downloading, indecent images of children between July 2014 and January 2017, and the possession of eight prohibited images of children.</p> <p /> <p /> <p /> <p>The silicone dolls weigh around 25 kg and cost roughly thousands of dollars are also sold by trader online including on Amazon and eBay.</p> <p /> <p /> <p /> <p>Glerun was sentenced to 12 months in prison suspended for two years which means he will not be jailed unless he commits any violation to the terms of his release, or if he commits another crime.</p> <p /> <p /> <p /> <p>He was also given a five-year sexual harm prevention order by a Chelmsford Crown Court judge.</p> <p /> <p /> <p /> <p /> <p /> <p>Source:</p> <p /> <p /> <p /> <p /> <p /> <p><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/simon-glerum-child-sex-doll-guilty-sentence-jail-latest-court-trial-essex-hong-kong-indecent-obscene-a7973876.html" type="external">independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/simon-glerum-child-sex-doll-guilty-sentence-jail-latest-court-trial-essex-hong-kong-indecent-obscene-a7973876.html</a></p>

Man Illegally Imports Child Sex Doll Later Caught with Obscene Materials

http://thegoldwater.com/news/8887-Man-Illegally-Imports-Child-Sex-Doll-Later-Caught-with-Obscene-Materials

2017-09-29

<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p> <p /> <p>Kaplan, a Dallas resident who spends part of the year in Santa Fe, was hunting for mushrooms along the Winsor Trail when she separated from her husband Norman Kaplan and ventured farther into the Santa Fe National Forest.</p> <p>She was found about 2 p.m. today 2.1 miles north the ski basin and 1.2 miles northwest of where she was last seen, according to the State Police. As of about 8 p.m., crews were still working on recovering the body, the State Police news release said.</p> <p>The release said her cause of death will be determined by the state Office of the Medical Investigator.</p> <p>As many as 80 volunteers a day had been working to find Audrey Kaplan. A State Police helicopter and National Guard Blackhawk choppers were used in the search, along with search/scent dogs.</p> <p>State Police Lt. Emmanuel Gutierrez said last week that Mrs. Kaplan separated from her husband about 10:15 a.m. Wednesday when he stopped to rest and she continued on in search of mushrooms. When she didn&#8217;t return by about noon, he set out to look for her. After several hours of searching, he contacted authorities late that afternoon and a search effort commenced.</p> <p>KOAT-TV talked to a Judy Allison, a friend of Kaplan&#8217;s, who said Kaplan was an avid mushroom hunter who was &#8220;self-sufficient in her own way.&#8221;</p> <p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> <p>&#8220;Audrey is a very experienced hiker. It&#8217;s what she loves to do,&#8221; Allison said.</p> <p>Bob Rodgers, a search and rescue resource officer, said that Kaplan left behind distinctive tracks with the pattern on her hiking boots and use of trekking poles. But tracking had become more difficult because of heavy rains over the past few days.</p> <p>Gutierrez said temperatures had been dropping to between 40 to 50 degrees overnight near the ski basin, which is at an elevation of about 10,000 feet.</p> <p>Search crews from organizations ranging from Taos to Los Alamos to Albuquerque had joined in the effor to find Kaplan.</p> <p>&amp;#160;</p>

Body of missing 75-year-old hiker found near Santa Fe ski basin

https://abqjournal.com/440766/body-of-hiker-age-75-missing-since-wednesday-has-been-found-near-santa-fe-ski-basin.html

<p>Actress/singer Megan Mullally, right, says her band with fellow singer STEPHANIE HUNT is a quirky, musically eclectic outfit that made sense instinctually. (Photo courtesy Kid Logic Media)</p> <p>Nancy and Beth (Megan Mullally, Stephanie Hunt) &amp;#160; Monday, May 8 &amp;#160; 7 p.m. &amp;#160; <a href="http://www.ustreetmusichall.com/event/1419945-nancy-beth-megan-mullally-washington/" type="external">U Street Music Hall</a> &amp;#160; 1115 U St., N.W. &amp;#160; $30</p> <p>Megan Mullally cemented her legacy as the boozing and wise-cracking Karen Walker on the hit sitcom, &#8220;Will &amp;amp; Grace.&#8221; She later would go on to play opposite her husband Nick Offerman as his character&#8217;s ex-wife on &#8220;Parks and Recreation.&#8221; Since then, Mullally has started a side passion project with fellow actress Stephanie Hunt (&#8220;Friday Night Lights&#8221;), known as Nancy and Beth.</p> <p>Bonded by a mutual love for quirk and music, the duo&#8217;s self-titled album is an eclectic mix of cover songs from rapper Gucci Mane&#8217;s &#8220;I Don&#8217;t Love Her&#8221; to the country classic, &#8220;He Stopped Loving Her Today&#8221; by George Jones. Mullally and Hunt bare it all on the cover art, appearing naked with the album&#8217;s title lettering strategically placed.</p> <p>Mullally spoke with the Blade on the eagerly awaited &#8220;Will &amp;amp; Grace&#8221; reboot (a limited, 12-episode run with the original cast and crew on NBC is expected to air this fall), dropping her clothes for an album cover and the struggle to be taken seriously as an actress pursuing music.</p> <p>WASHINGTON BLADE: Where did the name Nancy and Beth come from?</p> <p>MEGAN MULLALLY: Nick, Stephanie and I had sat around at dinner one night and bounced around a bunch of band names and none of them seemed exactly right, but I wrote them all down. When I got back to Los Angeles I made a list of those, and a few others that I thought of, and I had thought of Nancy and Beth. For some reason it just seemed like the perfect name. I don&#8217;t know why. I stuck it in the middle of the list without any comment. I emailed the list to Stephanie and she emailed back right away, &#8220;Nancy and Beth.&#8221; I thought, well there you have it. That would be a good way of describing our entire vibe together. We&#8217;re completely on the same page. We have a real synchronous sort of affinity for each other.</p> <p>BLADE: On the album cover, the both of you are naked. How did that concept come about?</p> <p>MULLALLY: We&#8217;re both modest people. I don&#8217;t think Nick has ever seen me naked, for example. I&#8217;m not someone who rips my clothes off and goes galavanting about. I&#8217;m the opposite of that. I know Stephanie is too. I was in a very relaxed state one day and that image, exactly the way the album cover ended up being, came into my mind. Even though I didn&#8217;t want to take my clothes off necessarily, and I knew that Stephanie didn&#8217;t either, I pitched it to her and she was like, &#8220;Yeah we should do that.&#8221; It&#8217;s hard for me to put into words why I feel that&#8217;s the right record cover. It has something to do with bringing everything down to its most basic, elemental level. It&#8217;s the most stripped down, pure state. It&#8217;s two humans on the planet and we tried to keep it as absolutely neutral as possible. Except on the back cover art you see that we don&#8217;t mean it just as taking ourselves seriously, we also mean that there is humor included. I don&#8217;t think either one of us are very analytical people, we&#8217;re more instinctual.</p> <p>BLADE: The music video for the single &#8220;Please, Mr. Jailer&#8221; has a quirky vibe paired with a classic song. Is that the vibe of the album?</p> <p>MULLALLY: Yeah, it is. There&#8217;s only 10 songs on the record.They&#8217;re all a very eclectic mix from every genre, every era. Originally for the video there&#8217;s one rap song on the record by an artist named Gucci Mane. Initially I thought that should be the video because the track came out pretty well. It&#8217;s pretty funny. It&#8217;s not a comedy band at all, but that track has a lot going for it. So I sent it out to a bunch of people I know who are really good directors and said, &#8220;Hey do you want to direct our music video?&#8221; and for whatever reason everybody said no, mostly for scheduling reasons. It occurred to me that I didn&#8217;t want to get in a situation with a music video where we were going to have to sell our house and move into a tent so I thought, &#8220;Well I&#8217;ll just direct the music video.&#8221; And I thought we shouldn&#8217;t do that track because it&#8217;s an anomaly, it&#8217;s the only rap/hip-hop song on the record. We should do &#8220;Please, Mr. Jailer&#8221; which is more representative of our record as a whole and the spirit of the band. So I thought, I&#8217;ll just direct it and I&#8217;ll shoot it on my phone.</p> <p>My pilates teacher, who is a really good friend of mine, I was talking to her about it and I realized that her husband is a really great VP, editor and director. So I thought, &#8220;Maybe I&#8217;ll just get Alex to come over and take some pictures or hold my phone.&#8221; Then I thought, &#8220;Wait, why don&#8217;t I just have Alex shoot it?&#8221; It was just really simple. We had a really easy shoot. It was just me, Stephanie, Alex and his assistant and hair and makeup. There was no other crew. It was all just very chill. I think it came out really well and I&#8217;m excited about it. The music video is more reflective of the tone of the album cover. So I think there&#8217;s an enigmatic quality that pulls you in that&#8217;s not necessarily reflected in our live show. Our live show we have facial expressions and every song is choreographed full-on. The video is different from the live show but I think the video is reflective of a weirdness that is inherent in my and Stephanie&#8217;s take on music.</p> <p>BLADE: Lots of actors have musical side projects. Did you ever fear that the public wouldn&#8217;t take you seriously when you embarked on Nancy and Beth?</p> <p>MULLALLY: Oh, I know they won&#8217;t. Nobody gives a shit if an actor does music. If a musician wants to act, people are like, &#8220;Oh my god. Amazing, brilliant.&#8221; If an actor reveals that they also have a musical side people are like, &#8220;Please, take your childish musical aspirations elsewhere.&#8221;</p> <p>Well the fact of the matter is that I, and probably many other actors who also would like to express themselves musically, that was my start. I was into music way before I even thought about acting. I was in a ballet company. I was a serious ballet dancer for years also. I have done three musicals on Broadway and two of them were before &#8220;Will &amp;amp; Grace.&#8221; So two of them were before I was ever known as an actress on television. I think I&#8217;ve said that I came out the womb in a top hat and tap shoes. I&#8217;ve always loved music. Music has been the driving force in my creative life. It&#8217;s just that the public at large has no idea. They have not seen me in a Broadway musical. They don&#8217;t know anything about me being a singer. I&#8217;ve done a lot of concert singing. Singing is really my first, or maybe my best, thing. People don&#8217;t know that and that&#8217;s not their fault. It&#8217;s just the way it is. I don&#8217;t expect to ever sell one ticket, one record or anything. So each ticket or record that gets sold, I&#8217;m like, &#8220;Great. Bonus.&#8221;</p> <p>BLADE: The last time you were on tour with Nancy and Beth your husband came along. Is he coming along this time?</p> <p>MULLALLY: He is. Sometimes he&#8217;ll make an appearance during the show so we&#8217;ll see what happens. He&#8217;s our roadie.</p> <p>BLADE: Fans are super excited for the &#8220;Will &amp;amp; Grace&#8221; reboot. Was it easy to slip back into the role of Karen Walker after so long?</p> <p>MULLALLY: Frighteningly easy. I never doubted that it would be, but I also never thought there would be any reason for it to be. It never crossed any of our minds that the show would come back as the same exact show on the same exact network because that&#8217;s never happened before.</p> <p>Although I did feel Karen was living a happy existence in some kind of alternative universe. It never occurred to me that universe would then be on NBC. It&#8217;s very exciting. I think the weirdest thing about the whole reboot is the fact that it doesn&#8217;t feel weird. It seems totally normal like we were just here two days ago, we went away for the weekend and we came back on a Monday. We&#8217;ve only had like two photoshoots and we&#8217;ve already just been like, &#8220;Hey&#8221; when we walk in like no time has gone by. We just had a photoshoot and I walked in and Eric (McCormack) and Sean (Hayes) were sitting there and I was like, &#8220;Hey guys&#8221; as I was heading to my dressing room. I came back and was like, &#8220;Wait a minute. No crazy casual, &#8216;Hey guys.&#8217;&#8221; This is great, we&#8217;re doing this. It&#8217;s crazy. It&#8217;s pretty fun. We&#8217;re already back to total, full-time groping, humping and laughing hysterically. It&#8217;s bizarre, nothing has changed.</p> <p>BLADE: You&#8217;ve performed in D.C. before with your husband. What about D.C. makes it different from other cities you&#8217;ve performed in?</p> <p>MULLALLY: I love D.C. as a city. I love performing there, the audiences there are great. I have a good friend who lives in D.C. She just organized this huge benefit for D.C. Public Libraries and they had two stages, music going all night, speakers, art installations. She sent me some stuff about it afterwards and one of the articles that was written about it had said how great it was that you live in a city where reading and libraries and that aspect of the culture, as well as all other aspects, are celebrated and all go hand in hand. I think that&#8217;s why D.C. is a great city for us to perform. I find our band entertaining across the board for all different kinds of audiences but at the same time its an eclectic band. I think the fact that we&#8217;re able to entertain everyone equally is a bonus so D.C. is a great city for that.</p> <p>(Photo courtesy of Kid Logic Media)</p> <p><a href="" type="internal">George Jones</a> <a href="" type="internal">Megan Mullally</a> <a href="" type="internal">Megan Mullally interview</a> <a href="" type="internal">Nancy and Beth</a> <a href="" type="internal">Stephanie Hunt</a> <a href="" type="internal">Will &amp;amp; Grace</a></p>

Megan Mullally bares all

http://washingtonblade.com/2017/05/06/megan-mullally-bares/

<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p> <p>WASHINGTON &#8212; Twice in the last month, President Donald Trump has told a story about how he&#8217;d come up with an idea to require the use of U.S.-made steel and pipes while preparing to sign orders to advance the stalled Keystone XL and Dakota Access oil pipelines.</p> <p>Now, though, it turns out that both projects are advancing without meeting that requirement. In recent days, the White House exempted Keystone XL from the rule. It was a stretch from the beginning to think it would apply to Dakota Access because that pipeline is almost complete.</p> <p>A look at Trump&#8217;s comments and what really happened:</p> <p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> <p>TRUMP:</p> <p>&#8212; &#8220;I was sitting at my desk and I&#8217;m getting ready to sign Keystone and Dakota. I said, where&#8217;s the pipe coming from? And I won&#8217;t tell you where, but you wouldn&#8217;t be happy. I say, why is it we build pipelines and we&#8217;re not using pipe that&#8217;s made in our country? I say, let&#8217;s put that little clause in, like it&#8217;s a one-sentence clause, but that clause is gonna attract a lot of people and we&#8217;re gonna make that pipe right here in America. OK?&#8221; &#8212; Jan. 26, at a Republican retreat in Philadelphia.</p> <p>&#8212; &#8220;We have authorized the construction, one day, of the Keystone and Dakota Access pipelines, and issued a new rule. This took place while I was getting ready to sign. I said, who makes the pipes for the pipeline?&amp;#160; Well, sir, it comes from all over the world, isn&#8217;t that wonderful? I said, nope, comes from the United States or we&#8217;re not building it. American steel. If they want a pipeline in the United States, they&#8217;re going to use pipe that&#8217;s made in the United States, do we agree?&#8221; &#8212; Feb. 24, at the Conservative Political Access Conference.</p> <p>THE FACTS:</p> <p>For starters, the buy-America improvisation Trump describes does not resemble the ceremony staged and recorded on video in the Oval Office on Jan. 24, when he displayed a series of executive actions that had been prepared for his signature.</p> <p>Among them, he signed two reviving Keystone XL and Dakota Access projects &#8212; each close to 1,180 miles long &#8212; that had been sidelined by President Barack Obama. Neither directive specifies U.S. content. He signed a third memorandum aimed at having new, expanded or repaired pipelines made from U.S. material.</p> <p>This memorandum does not name Keystone XL or Dakota Access and does not mandate all U.S. content in future projects. Instead it says materials and equipment should be made in the U.S. &#8220;to the maximum extent possible and to the extent permitted by law,&#8221; and gives the Commerce secretary until July to come up with a plan.</p> <p>Trump continued either to state or to imply that the two projects were subject to this directive until last week. A careful parsing of his speech to Congress shows that he was no longer saying explicitly that the projects were required to use U.S. steel or pipes, even if he left that impression.</p> <p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> <p>&#8220;We have cleared the way for the construction of the Keystone and Dakota Access pipelines,&#8221; he told lawmakers, &#8220;thereby creating tens of thousands of jobs. And I&#8217;ve issued a new directive that new American pipelines be made with American steel.&#8221;</p> <p>By the end of the week, Trump&#8217;s original story had come apart.</p> <p>White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Keystone is not affected by the directive because &#8220;it&#8217;s specific to new pipelines or those that are being repaired,&#8221; and since &#8220;the steel is already literally sitting there, it would be hard to go back.&#8221; Dakota Access, meantime, is almost ready to carry oil.</p> <p>TransCanada said in 2012 that half the pipe for its Keystone XL pipeline would come from a mill in Arkansas, almost a quarter from Canada and the rest from India and Italy.</p> <p>Trump&#8217;s Keystone XL order invited TransCanada to resubmit its application, which it did, and laid out a fast track for a U.S. decision. He has stated prematurely that he has approved the project.</p> <p>___</p> <p>Associated Press writers Matthew Daly and Jim Drinkard contributed to this report.</p> <p>___</p> <p>Find all AP Fact Checks at <a href="http://apne.ws/2kbx8bd" type="external">http://apne.ws/2kbx8bd</a></p> <p>EDITOR&#8217;S NOTE &#8212; A look at the veracity of claims by political figures</p>

AP FACT CHECK: How Trump’s Keystone XL story fell apart

https://abqjournal.com/964239/ap-fact-check-how-trumps-keystone-xl-story-fell-apart.html

2017-03-08

<p>The Times says hurrah!&#8211;we&#8217;ve now had &#8220;the start of the kind of serious and useful debate the American people deserve.&#8221;</p> <p>Well, goody, but how did the two opponents differ?</p> <p>We&#8217;ve been here before, in another war that everybody now admits to have been&#8211;to put it kindly&#8211;a mistake. In 1968 the contender, Richard Nixon, implied that he had a plan to get out. Four years later, he said he WAS getting out, by degrees. Today, neither guy has any plan but to stay the course.</p> <p>Dubya Bush should be in bad trouble, but he&#8217;s so cocky that he went to the United Nations &#8212; that house so hated by the far right&#8211;to tell the whole world off. Kerry&#8217;s backers are in a panic&#8211;for good reason. Paul Krugman prays that he won&#8217;t let himself be trapped into neo-con fantasies &#8212; which of course he has done when he talks of enlisting foreign and Iraqi support. He says that winding down our occupation and letting others work it is probably the best we can hope for. Nixon call that Vietnamization. He didn&#8217;t mean it, and it didn&#8217;t work.</p> <p>David Brooks takes on the neocon side. Typically, he begins by praising Kerry for finally taking a stand. He asks a keen question about drawing down our forces &#8212; what do you say to the last man who dies before you finish pulling out. His column is typical of Brooks &#8212; pretending to look at it sympathetically from our side, while slipping in a dart now and then. Only a year ago, Brooks was caught faking a political portrait of a redneck county in Pennsylvania. That didn&#8217;t keep him from getting a fat job at the Times. Poor Dan Rather bit on a forged memo that was essentially true, and he&#8217;s being made the villain of the day.</p> <p>When does the serious debate begin?</p> <p>JOHN L. HESS is a former writer for the New York Times, a career he chronicles in his excellent new book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1583226222/counterpunchmaga" type="external">My Times: a Memoir of Dissent</a>. Hess is now a political commentator for WBAI. Hess&#8217;s blog can be read at: <a href="http://www.johnlhess.blogspot.com/" type="external">johnlhess.blogspot.com</a></p> <p>&amp;#160;</p>

A Serious Debate?

https://counterpunch.org/2004/09/22/a-serious-debate/

2004-09-22

<p><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/talllguy/3205974480/in/photolist-5Tisw5-6SNCmm-Kog1p-7YC8qQ-8U9VF-CUCju-4P2aU7-fCmYkZ-4RqDoH-5ivMQN-3ewZmL-iHhYbg-62uKx6-qdKuDk-oWmchB-irq9G8-q6sLKj-5TimyW-7pBtca-hv8sMK-dKzPRG-rJ3WP-24PH8-5R3T5c-oXu1Gg-5BPX9k-79q3C7-eHnV7z-7ST6MP-dKzYn3-oWkBKr-e9A5XJ-4RmYQv-gUietb-dH4Fgf-b4Ujr-hsBxMD-gVkGnR-oDkDJA-nTqySa-p9QFJV-gd6L4y-4RmYGM-gNwBjM-gVcWiW-79q3WA-dKk9xo-jKVJLE-gLQkKV-bGyQr4" type="external">Elliott Plack</a> <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/" type="external">(CC BY 2.0)</a></p> <p>Media coverage of the protests in Baltimore over the last couple of days has consisted of predictable rhetoric from the usual Murdoch-endorsed suspects, focusing on &#8220;roving gangs&#8221; and their &#8220;looting&#8221; and &#8220;attacks on reporters.&#8221;</p> <p>But it appears that the venerable New York Times hasn&#8217;t been doing its best to provide the whole picture, either.</p> <p>As media watchdog Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) <a href="http://fair.org/home/nyt-goes-to-baltimore-finds-only-police-worth-talking-to/" type="external">tells us</a>:</p> <p /> <p>For readers who turned to today&#8217;s New York Times site <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/29/us/baltimore-riots.html" type="external">(4/28/15)</a> for news of the ongoing Baltimore protests following the death in police custody of Freddie Gray, they found a terrifying tale of rioters throwing cinder blocks at firefighters trying to put out arson fires, as the city was beset by people with &#8220;no regard for life.&#8221;</p> <p>Whose tale was it, though? Here&#8217;s the first six citations from the Times story: &#8226; &#8220;police said&#8221; &#8226; &#8220;police said&#8221; &#8226; &#8220;police also reported&#8221; &#8226; &#8220;police said&#8221; &#8226; &#8220;state and city officials said&#8221; &#8226; &#8220;police acknowledged&#8221;</p> <p>Not until the 12th paragraph does the paper get around to quoting someone who isn&#8217;t a police or government official. (UPDATE: At shortly after noon, the Times edited its story to include a quote near the top from a local resident cleaning up after the night&#8217;s violence. It still included no quotes from demonstrators or anyone else actually on the scene last night. The original story lives on at other sites via the New York Times News Service.)</p> <p>The Times, according to FAIR,</p> <p>&#8230; has stuck mainly with government sources, even for a story that cries out for original reporting to cut through the official line. The front-page story in today&#8217;s print edition (4/28/15), which mostly focused on yesterday&#8217;s establishment of a curfew and calling out of the National Guard, cited, in order, Baltimore&#8217;s mayor, the Maryland governor, Baltimore&#8217;s police commissioner, &#8220;the police&#8221; (cited as the source of a &#8220;credible threat&#8221; that gangs were plotting to &#8220;&#8216;take out&#8217; law enforcement officers&#8221;) and a police captain&#8211;all before citing the pastor at Gray&#8217;s funeral as appealing for calm.</p> <p>&#8211;Posted by <a href="" type="internal">Roisin Davis</a></p>

The New York Times’ Skewed Reporting on Baltimore

https://truthdig.com/articles/the-new-york-times-skewed-reporting-on-baltimore/

2015-04-28

<p>A new study finds that the health of gay men living in states that pass laws allowing same-sex couples to marry actually improves &#8212; whether or not they actually get married.&amp;#160;The Columbia University study focused on gay men in Massachusetts and found in the 12 months after Massachusetts legalized same-sex marriage, gay men went to doctors and mental health professionals less frequently.</p> <p>It&#8217;s not much of a jump, therefore, to suggest that politicians and religious activists who are actively working to deny same-sex marriage equality are literally making the LGBT community sick.</p> <p>This study should be sent to every lawmaker in the country.</p> <p>&#8220;Gay men are able to lead healthier, less stress-filled lives when states offer legal protections to same-sex couples, according to a new study examining the effects of the legalization of same-sex marriage in Massachusetts,&#8221; <a href="http://www.mailman.columbia.edu/news/same-sex-marriage-laws-reduce-doctor-visits-and-health-care-costs-gay-men" type="external">a Columbia University news report</a> states. &#8220;The study, &#8216;Effect of Same-Sex Marriage Laws on Health Care Use and Expenditures in Sexual Minority Men: A Quasi-Natural Experiment,&#8217; is online in the&amp;#160; <a href="http://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/abs/10.2105/AJPH.2011.300382" type="external">American Journal of Public Health</a>.</p> <p>&#8220;Our results suggest that removing these barriers improves the health of gay and bisexual men,&#8221; said Mark L. Hatzenbuehler, PhD, lead author of the study and a&amp;#160;Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health &amp;amp; Society Scholar&amp;#160;at the Mailman School.</p> <p>In the 12 months following the 2003 legalization of same-sex marriage in Massachusetts, gay and bisexual men had a significant decrease in medical care visits, mental health care visits, and mental health care costs, compared with the 12 months before the law change. This amounted to a 13-percent reduction in health care visits and a 14-percent reduction in health care costs. These health effects were similar for partnered and single gay men.</p> <p>&#8220;Marriage equality may produce broad public health benefits by reducing the occurrence of stress-related health conditions,&#8221;&amp;#160;Hatzenbuehler stated, according to the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-16203621" type="external">BBC</a>, which also reports:</p> <p>They found a 13% drop in healthcare visits after the law was enacted.</p> <p>There was a reduction in blood pressure problems, depression and &#8220;adjustment disorders&#8221;, which the authors claimed could be the result of reduced stress.</p> <p>&#8230;</p> <p>A spokesman for the Terrence Higgins Trust, a UK-based sexual health and HIV charity, said: &#8220;There is a known link between health and happiness.</p> <p>&#8220;It&#8217;s no surprise that people who are treated as second class citizens tend to have low self esteem, which in turn makes them more likely to take risks.</p> <p>&#8230;</p> <p>Research has already suggested that gay men are more likely to suffer from depression and suicidal thoughts than heterosexual men, and that social exclusion may be partly responsible.</p> <p>Earlier this ear, regular readers will remember,&amp;#160; <a href="" type="internal">Hatzenbuehler</a> was responsible for a study that found that <a href="" type="internal">gay and straight teens who live in socio-&#8203;politically conservative areas&amp;#160;are more likely to attempt suicide</a>, and the degree of an area&#8217;s political conservatism reflects the degree teens&#8201;&#8212;&#8201;gay or straight&#8201;&#8212;&#8201;are likely to attempt suicide.&amp;#160;Conversely, the rate at which teens attempt suicide decreases with the more liberal an area is, defined by the number of Democrats and same-&#8203;sex couples, along with gay-&#8203;straight alliances, and anti-&#8203;discrimination and anti-&#8203;bullying policies that specifically protect lesbian, gay, and bisexual students in schools.</p> <p>Tagged as: <a href="" type="internal">actually</a>, <a href="" type="internal">columbia university</a>, <a href="" type="internal">Gay</a>, <a href="" type="internal">gay community</a>, <a href="" type="internal">Gay Marriage</a>, <a href="" type="internal">gay men</a>, <a href="" type="internal">get married</a>, <a href="" type="internal">Health</a>, <a href="" type="internal">Health Care</a>, <a href="" type="internal">Homosexuality</a>, <a href="" type="internal">homosexuality and psychology</a>, <a href="" type="internal">improve health</a>, <a href="" type="internal">improves</a>, <a href="" type="internal">lesbian</a>, <a href="" type="internal">Mark L. Hatzenbuehler</a>, <a href="" type="internal">mental health professionals</a>, <a href="" type="internal">public health</a>, <a href="" type="internal">Same-Sex Marriage</a>, <a href="" type="internal">same-sex relationship</a>, <a href="" type="internal">Sexual Orientation</a>, <a href="" type="internal">social issues</a></p> <p>Friends:</p> <p>We invite you to <a href="http://visitor.r20.constantcontact.com/manage/optin?v=001whLQo73KzGhEjdskYG07rHNy_XoDDkSBBO4INZHx6oD9kfp2yeeQAJeMQUu9oTviZa0VEl5k0rNiLifxlZsOFScMz8rVGmIaN-FFOO3GTKc%3D" type="external">sign up for our new mailing list</a>, and&amp;#160; <a href="http://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mailverify?uri=TheNewCivilRightsMovement&amp;amp;amp;loc=en_US" type="external">subscribe to The New Civil Rights Movement via email</a> or <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/thenewcivilrightsmovement" type="external">RSS</a>.</p> <p>Also, please&amp;#160; <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-New-Civil-Rights-Movement/358168880614" type="external">like us on Facebook</a>, and <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/gaycivilrights" type="external">follow us on Twitter</a>!</p>

Gay Marriage Laws Actually Improve Health Of Gay Men

http://thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/gay-marriage-actually-improves-health-of-gay-men/politics/2011/12/16/31959

2011-12-16

<p>Major U.S. cigarette companies will soon begin publishing a series of blunt statements about the health risks of smoking as part of a court order stemming from a 1999 lawsuit brought by the federal government.</p> <p>The court-ordered "corrective statements" will begin running late next month on television and in newspapers.</p> <p>Continue Reading Below</p> <p>"Smoking kills, on average, 1,200 Americans every day," reads one of the statements. Another simply says: "Smoking is highly addictive."</p> <p>The 1999 lawsuit accused cigarette makers of deceiving the public.</p> <p>Altria Group Inc. &#8212; the Richmond, Virginia-based parent company of cigarette-maker Philip Morris USA &#8212; will jointly run the ads with its competitor, Reynolds American Inc., and several other companies.</p> <p>Altria said the tobacco manufacturers had reached an agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice on the timing of the statements.</p> <p>In a news release, Altria said the lawsuit focused on "industry conduct dating back to the 1950s."</p> <p>Advertisement</p> <p>"This industry has changed dramatically over the last 20 years, including becoming regulated by the FDA, which we supported," said Murray Garnick, Altria's executive vice president and general counsel. "We're focused on the future and, with FDA in place, working to develop less-risky tobacco products."</p> <p>The court's order requires the tobacco companies to publish five statements related to cigarette smoking. On television, the statements will appear in 30-second ads, running once each week for a year, mainly on major networks during prime time. The companies will also run full-page ads in 45 newspapers around the country over a six-month period.</p> <p>The statements list various diseases linked with tobacco use. The companies also are required to say that they had "intentionally designed cigarettes with enough nicotine to create and sustain addiction."</p>

Cigarette makers to publish new statements on health risks

http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/10/03/cigarette-makers-to-publish-new-statements-on-health-risks.html

2017-10-03

<p /> <p>Photo by DonkeyHotey | <a href="" type="internal">CC BY 2.0</a></p> <p /> <p>Lori Kearns is the health policy advisor to Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont).</p> <p>She&#8217;s been making the rounds in recent weeks telling single payer supporters that Senator Sanders will not introduce his single payer bill into the Senate next year.</p> <p>Why not?</p> <p>Because party unity is more important than single payer.</p> <p>Sanders apparently believes that single payer will get in the way of electing a Democratic Senate in 2018.</p> <p>Wouldn&#8217;t want to confront Democratic Senate candidates with the deaths of their constituents due to Obamacare, would you?</p> <p>One reason why Sanders soared during the primary was his constant refrain that we need to cover every American with a single payer health care system.</p> <p>This resonated with the American people, with polls showing that three-fifths of Americans &#8212; including a majority of those who want the Obamacare repealed, and even 41 percent of Republicans &#8212; favoring a &#8220;federally funded healthcare program providing insurance for all Americans.&#8221;</p> <p>Translate &#8212; single payer.</p> <p>Everybody in. Nobody out.</p> <p>If Sanders believes it, where is the bill?</p> <p>Why won&#8217;t Sanders re-introduce it in the upcoming session?</p> <p>Because he is now in the Democratic leadership in the Senate &#8212; handpicked by Wall Street favorite incoming Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-New York.)</p> <p>And if the Democrats say no, Sanders says no.</p> <p>Call it death by Democrat.</p> <p>And death by Obamacare.</p> <p>Narrow networks.</p> <p>High deductibles and co-pays.</p> <p>Skyrocketing premiums.</p> <p>Twenty nine million Americans still uninsured.</p> <p>And more than 28,000 preventable deaths a year due to lack of health insurance.</p> <p>All under Obamacare.</p> <p>And Sanders won&#8217;t introduce his single payer bill because the Democrats tell him not to?</p> <p>During the battle over Obamacare on the Hill in 2009, I asked Sanders why he was supporting Obamacare when he stood for single payer.</p> <p>Sanders was a student of the difference &#8212; Obamacare controlled by the health insurance companies and written by their lobbyists &#8212; single payer a public system that cuts the health insurance companies out of the game.</p> <p>Sanders looked at me, snarled, told me not to lecture him and walked away.</p> <p>Goodbye single payer. Hello Chuck Schumer.</p>

Sanders Single Payer and Death by Democrat

https://counterpunch.org/2016/12/02/sanders-single-payer-and-death-by-democrat/

2016-12-02

<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p> <p>Lilian Tintori, wife of jailed opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez, left, holds hands up with reelected opposition lawmaker Enrique Marquez, who represents Zulia state, during a press conference in Caracas, Venezuela, Monday, Dec. 7, 2015. Venezuela's opposition won control of the National Assembly by a landslide in Sunday's election, stunning the ruling party and altering the balance of power 17 years after the late Hugo Chavez was elected president. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)</p> <p>CARACAS, Venezuela - Venezuela's opposition rejoiced Monday after its shock triumph in legislative elections and waited anxiously for the final tally to see whether it secured a two-thirds supermajority that could dramatically wrest power from President Nicolas Maduro after 17 years of socialist rule.</p> <p>The Democratic Unity opposition alliance declared Monday that it won the minimum number of seats needed to initiate a process to remove Maduro. But despite the efficiency and transparency promised by the country's electronic voting system, the National Electoral Council has yet to announce the results of 22 undecided races, almost a full day after polls closed.</p> <p>The opposition coalition won at least 99 seats in the incoming 167-seat legislature, electoral authorities announced after midnight Sunday, setting off a cacophony of car honks and fireworks in the capital's wealthier eastern neighborhoods. The ruling Socialist party and its allies won 46 seats.</p> <p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> <p>The opposition coalition needs 13 of the 22 undecided races to give it the supermajority needed to sack Supreme Court justices, initiate a referendum to revoke Maduro's mandate and even convoke an assembly to rewrite Hugo Chavez's 1999 constitution.</p> <p>U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry congratulated Venezuelans for making their voice heard and called on authorities to tabulate and publish remaining results in a timely manner.</p> <p>"Dialogue among all parties in Venezuela is necessary to address the social and economic challenges facing the country, and the United States stands ready to support such a dialogue together with others in the international community," Kerry said in a statement.</p> <p>Even if the opposition falls short, the landslide could unleash intense political battles. Since the late Chavez swept into power, the opposition has never held a branch of government.</p> <p>Both sides are more accustomed to hurling insults than negotiating across the country's vast political divide, and a protracted power struggle could rip apart an economic and social fabric already in tatters.</p> <p>Maduro urged his supporters to accept Sunday's results, even as he recalled the long history of US-supported coups in Latin America and blamed the "circumstantial" loss on a right-wing "counterrevolution" trying to sabotage Venezuela's oil-dependent economy and destabilize the government.</p> <p>"I can say today that the economic war has triumphed," said Maduro, who was surrounded by top socialist leaders in the presidential palace as he mostly pulled phrases from the stump speech he had been delivering before the election.</p> <p>Hardliners in the opposition seemed similarly entrenched, preferring to talk about ending Maduro's rule before his term ends in 2019 rather than resolving Venezuela's triple-digit inflation, plunging currency and the widespread shortages expected to worsen in January as businesses close for the summer vacation.</p> <p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> <p>Some opposition figures caution that the result has more to do with anger at Venezuela's woes than an embrace of the opposition. While even moderates pledged to use their new leverage to pass an amnesty for opponents jailed during last year's protests, putting food on the table is the priority for most Venezuelans.</p> <p>"The opposition needs to accept this with a lot of humility," said political consultant Francisco Marquez, who managed one of the winning opposition campaigns. "This was a punishment vote and we will need to show people that we're up to the task."</p> <p>Voting Sunday was mostly peaceful, though several ruling party governors, including Chavez's brother Adan, were videotaped braving boos and insults as they entered polling centers. Turnout was a stunning 74 percent, the highest for a parliamentary election since Chavez ended compulsory voting in the 1990s.</p> <p>The scale of the political earthquake was such that socialists lost even in Chavez's home state of Barinas, where Adan Chavez is one of several family members holding high office. In the capital, the opposition won by almost 20 percentage points, even prevailing in the emblematic 23rd of January slum where a mausoleum holds the remains of Chavez, who is revered by the poor as their "invincible commander."</p> <p>It was also a major blow to Latin America's left, which gained power in the wake of Chavez's ascent but has struggled more recently in the face of a region-wide economic slowdown and voter fatigue in some countries with rampant corruption.</p> <p>Last month, Argentines rejected the chosen successor of President Cristina Fernandez, herself a close Chavez ally, turning instead to the relatively conservative mayor of Buenos Aires. And In Brazil, President Dilma Rousseff is battling impeachment over a corruption scandal in her long-ruling Workers? Party.</p> <p>Maduro had repeatedly vowed to defend Chavez's legacy in the streets if his party lost, but he softened his tone in his initial post-election comments.</p> <p>Reining in Maduro, who became president after Chavez died in 2013, will be tough. He still has a near-complete grip on all other branches of government and state insititutions, and may be able to outflank a hostile congress when it convenes next month.</p> <p>However, Maduro also faces the challenge of maintaining the loyalty of different factions of the Chavismo movement, including the military, Venezuela's traditional arbiter of political disputes.</p> <p>In a cryptic address late Sunday night before results were announced, Defense Minister Gen. Vladimir Padrino stood with the top military command and congratulated Venezuelans for peacefully fulfilling their civic duty, but in a departure from tradition under Chavez, made no statements in support of the Maduro government.</p> <p>"We're in unchartered territory," said David Smilde, an analyst for the Washington Office of Latin America who has lived and worked in Venezuela for much of the past 20 years. "Never under Chavismo have we seen a divided government."</p> <p>___</p> <p>Associated Press writers Fabiola Sanchez and Jorge Rueda contributed to this report.</p> <p>___</p> <p>Joshua Goodman in on Twitter: twitter.com/apjoshgoodman. His work can be found at <a href="http://bigstory.ap.org/journalist/joshua-goodman" type="external">http://bigstory.ap.org/journalist/joshua-goodman</a></p> <p>Hannah Dreier is on Twitter: twitter.com/hannahdreier. Her work can be found at <a href="http://bigstory.ap.org/content/hannah-dreier" type="external">http://bigstory.ap.org/content/hannah-dreier</a> .</p> <p>.</p>

Venezuelan opposition wins Congress, aims for supermajority

https://abqjournal.com/687481/venezuelan-opposition-wins-congress-aims-for-supermajority.html

<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p> <p /> <p>The 54-hole, three-day event will be held at UNM Championship Golf Course. Teams, each with four players, are from the western United States, Canada and Mexico. Tee times begin at 7:30 a.m. each day.</p> <p>The Sun Country is represented by Rio Rancho&#8217;s Dominique Galloway, Albuquerque&#8217;s Klara Castillo and the Deming duo of Shelby Turner and Darian Zachek. All are outstanding high school golfers.</p> <p>&#8220;I think we have an excellent chance to do well,&#8221; says team captain Margaret Stanley, a golf coach at Socorro High. &#8220;The girls have been playing all summer, and really playing well. And they were all outstanding at the state (high school) championships last spring.&#8221;</p> <p /> <p>Galloway, a rising sophomore at Cleveland High, won the Class 5A state crown. She added the Albuquerque Women&#8217;s City Amateur and New Mexico State Amateur titles to her r&#233;sum&#233; this month.</p> <p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> <p>Zachek, who will be a junior in the fall, won the Class 4A state title while Turner, a rising sophomore, tied for third.</p> <p>Castillo was third in Class 3A last year as a junior at Sandia Prep.</p> <p>&#8220;I think we have a real chance at the top 10,&#8221; said Stanley, who is team captain for the third straight year and fifth overall. &#8220;It would have helped to have my No. 1 player, Shania Berger, but she is playing in a national tournament at Trump National in New Jersey. Trump National? UNM South (Championship Course)? Hmm. You can understand the decision.&#8221;</p> <p>Berger, from Socorro, won the local Sun Country qualifier in the spring and Turner was the first alternate. Turner made the team when Berger decided to play in New Jersey.</p> <p>Zachek and Castillo also finished in the top three of the qualifier, which was held on the New Mexico Tech Golf Course in Socorro. The top three get spots and the team captain is allowed an at-large pick. Stanley chose Galloway, who struggled during the 18-hole qualifier in the spring.</p> <p>&#8220;I had just won the state (high school) tournament that week, and I was pretty emotionally drained,&#8221; Galloway said. &#8220;I didn&#8217;t play my best. I had an off day with my swing, and it&#8217;s tough to get it back in just one round.</p> <p>&#8220;But right now, I&#8217;m playing really well. I&#8217;m shooting par or under every round. I feel real confident, but this field is just great.&#8221;</p> <p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> <p>Galloway, who played last year in the event in Hawaii, says her goal is top 20.</p> <p>She said she is one of just three 15 year olds in the field, &#8220;and there is just one 14 year old and one 13 year old.&#8221;</p> <p>She said the rest are all 16 or 17.</p> <p>&#8220;It&#8217;s a great experience,&#8221; she says. &#8220;And the best part is making friends with girls from so many different states, and even countries.&#8221;</p> <p>This is the first time the GJAC has been held in Albuquerque since 1995, when it was at Paradise Hills (now Desert Greens). So. California won the title and Elisha Au of Hawaii was the individual champ.</p> <p>The Sun Country includes New Mexico and West Texas. Also in the field are three teams from California, two from Canada, two from Nevada and one each from Mexico, Washington, Colorado, Oregon, Arizona, Utah, Idaho, Montana, Hawaii, Wyoming.</p> <p>The Sun Country team has the first four tee times of the day off the No. 1 hole today and tees off from 8:50-9:20 a.m. on No. 10 on Wednesday.</p> <p>Teams will be paired by score for Thursday&#8217;s final round.</p> <p />

Locals excited for event

https://abqjournal.com/240081/locals-excited-for-event.html

<p>CAIRO (AP) - Egypt's soccer federation said on Sunday that the country's national team will meet Portugal and Bulgaria in friendly games as part of preparations for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.</p> <p>The federation said in a statement that Egypt will play Portugal on March 23 and Bulgaria four days later, with both matches to take place in Zurich, Switzerland.</p> <p>Egypt, returning to the World Cup for the first time in 28 years, opens its World Cup campaign against Uruguay on June 15 before it takes on host Russia on the 19th of the same month. Its final Group A match is against Saudi Arabia on June 25.</p> <p>Portugal, the reigning European champion, will give Egypt a flavor of the type of play that partially resembles group rival Uruguay, but Egypt's most prominent football critic says he is unconvinced that the Portuguese will give Egypt the ideal preparation to take on the South Americans.</p> <p>The Portugal-Egypt friendly, however, is potentially beneficial to the Portuguese, who are drawn in Group B with Morocco, whose style of play resembles that of the Egyptians. The other teams in Group B are Spain and Iran.</p> <p>"Portugal plays Latin football, but it does not accurately mirror the style of South Americans," said Hassan al Mestikawi of the independent Cairo daily, Al-Shorouk. "Bulgaria, on the other hand, is close to how the Russians play in terms of tactics."</p> <p>"But what the Egyptians need the most is to play football superpowers like Germany or Brazil. The results could be painful for the Egyptians but playing them would shatter the wall of fear Egyptians have when playing big teams," he added.</p> <p>Still, the Portugal friendly will likely pose a useful test for the Egyptian defense in the form of Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo, one of the world's most prolific scorers. But while the five-time Ballon d'Or winner is by far the biggest threat on the Portugal team, Egypt will have to contend with two strikers who can tear any defense apart in Uruguay's Luis Suarez of Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain's Edinson Cavani when the games start to count.</p> <p>CAIRO (AP) - Egypt's soccer federation said on Sunday that the country's national team will meet Portugal and Bulgaria in friendly games as part of preparations for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.</p> <p>The federation said in a statement that Egypt will play Portugal on March 23 and Bulgaria four days later, with both matches to take place in Zurich, Switzerland.</p> <p>Egypt, returning to the World Cup for the first time in 28 years, opens its World Cup campaign against Uruguay on June 15 before it takes on host Russia on the 19th of the same month. Its final Group A match is against Saudi Arabia on June 25.</p> <p>Portugal, the reigning European champion, will give Egypt a flavor of the type of play that partially resembles group rival Uruguay, but Egypt's most prominent football critic says he is unconvinced that the Portuguese will give Egypt the ideal preparation to take on the South Americans.</p> <p>The Portugal-Egypt friendly, however, is potentially beneficial to the Portuguese, who are drawn in Group B with Morocco, whose style of play resembles that of the Egyptians. The other teams in Group B are Spain and Iran.</p> <p>"Portugal plays Latin football, but it does not accurately mirror the style of South Americans," said Hassan al Mestikawi of the independent Cairo daily, Al-Shorouk. "Bulgaria, on the other hand, is close to how the Russians play in terms of tactics."</p> <p>"But what the Egyptians need the most is to play football superpowers like Germany or Brazil. The results could be painful for the Egyptians but playing them would shatter the wall of fear Egyptians have when playing big teams," he added.</p> <p>Still, the Portugal friendly will likely pose a useful test for the Egyptian defense in the form of Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo, one of the world's most prolific scorers. But while the five-time Ballon d'Or winner is by far the biggest threat on the Portugal team, Egypt will have to contend with two strikers who can tear any defense apart in Uruguay's Luis Suarez of Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain's Edinson Cavani when the games start to count.</p>

Egypt to play Portugal, Bulgaria in pre-WCup friendlies

https://apnews.com/amp/d627ff128593488381448fe7d12f58e7

2017-12-17

<p /> <p>Over at <a href="" type="internal">MoJo</a>, our politics blog, we&#8217;ve had several updates today on climate-related machinations occurring in Congress or at the G20 summit in Pittsburgh. Check &#8217;em out:</p> <p>The Senate is <a href="" type="internal">about to vote</a> on David Vitter&#8217;s amendment blocking the use of federal money for policy directives from the White House climate czar.</p> <p><a href="" type="internal">Is the G20 punting on climate funding for poor countries?</a> <a href="" type="internal" /></p> <p><a href="" type="internal">Obama made a big pitch to the G20 on cutting government subsidies to fossil fuels</a>. But how far does he really want to go?</p> <p><a href="" type="internal">Murkowski&#8217;s attempted end-run around EPA regulation of greenhouse gases fails.</a></p> <p>&amp;#160;</p> <p />

Today in Climate Maneuvering

https://motherjones.com/politics/2009/09/today-climate-maneuvering/

2009-09-24

<p /> <p>Image source: Getty Images.</p> <p>Continue Reading Below</p> <p>Shares of CARBO Ceramics (NYSE: CRR) were up 30.8% as of 2:00 p.m. EST today after the company reported earnings that showed a strong uptick in sequential revenue.</p> <p>The frack sand has been a tough one over the past two years. After going gangbusters in 2014 with every producer out there wanting to get a piece of the shale revolution, CARBO and others were investing heavily in expanding capacity. When the market took a turn for the worse, though, it put all of these companies in a tough spot. CARBO Ceramics was hit especially hard because its ceramic proppants are a higher-cost product, and companies that did keep drilling would go with commodity sand instead. That's why when sales declined, CARBO Ceramics took it on the chin harder than most of its peers.</p> <p>Advertisement</p> <p><a href="http://ycharts.com/companies/CRR/revenues_ttm" type="external">CRR Revenue (TTM)</a> data by <a href="http://ycharts.com" type="external">YCharts Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> <p>So today's news that sequential revenue was up 44% was a very welcome sign. Even more encouraging was that there was a 41% increase in ceramic proppant sales. It's important for CARBO Ceramics to move away from base white sand sales and back to ceramic sales because of the higher margins and it puts its production capacity back to work.</p> <p>CARBO's strong revenue showing was a pleasant surprise for investors, but the company isn't out of the woods yet. The company is still posting some sizable losses on both a GAAP and adjusted basis. The longer-term trend that should help get the company over the top is the fact that per-well proppant volumes have more than doubled in just about every shale basin in the U.S. So frack sand producers don't need to see a return to the same level of drilling activity to get back to 2014 sand levels.</p> <p>As we head into the rest of 2017, investors should keep an eye out to see if CARBO Ceramics can keep this revenue growth momentum going and get back to producing profits.</p> <p>10 stocks we like better than CARBO Ceramics When investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.*</p> <p>David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the <a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-dyn%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;amp;impression=df1a6fdd-11a7-40ef-9e96-c0caea9be2da&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">10 best stocks Opens a New Window.</a> for investors to buy right now... and CARBO Ceramics 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=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-dyn%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;amp;impression=df1a6fdd-11a7-40ef-9e96-c0caea9be2da&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Click here Opens a New Window.</a> to learn about these picks!</p> <p>*Stock Advisor returns as of January 4, 2017</p> <p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFDirtyBird/info.aspx" type="external">Tyler Crowe Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>

CARBO Ceramics Shares Are Up a Staggering 30% Today After Strong Earnings

http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/01/26/carbo-ceramics-shares-are-up-staggering-30-today-after-strong-earnings.html

2017-01-26

<p>WASHINGTON &#8212; The voice on my phone tape was unmistakably young, and carried an undertone of panic. The caller said she&#8217;d heard from someone in New York that I knew John F. Kennedy Jr., and so could I possibly &#8212; please? &#8212; go on her cable-TV network that afternoon to talk about the tragic disappearance of his plane?</p> <p>Befuddlement set in. Not only had I never met the son of the late president, but I couldn&#8217;t imagine how my name could be even loosely thrown about as someone who may have rubbed elbows with the handsome prince of tabloid dreams.</p> <p>Was it because I&#8217;d worked as a journalist in New York, where the papers dutifully chronicled JFK Jr.&#8217;s life and loves? Or because I knew prosecutors at the Manhattan district attorney&#8217;s office, where Kennedy once had worked? It couldn&#8217;t possibly be my journalistic association with his uncle Ted, since even that consists &#8212; as it does for hundreds of others in the news business &#8212; of trailing the Massachusetts senator around Capitol Hill when he is in the thick of some legislative maneuver.</p> <p>Well, maybe it had something to do with growing up in Boston, having a liberal political outlook and being Catholic &#8212; attributes, after all, that only a few million potential Kennedy family &#8220;experts&#8221; can claim. In truth, the closest I&#8217;ve ever come to Hyannisport was on a tourist boat that plied the waters off Cape Cod, the guide pointing out the beachfront that runs along the Kennedys&#8217; iconic summer home.</p> <p /> <p>No, I was sorry to tell the young producer when I belatedly returned her call, I didn&#8217;t know JFK Jr. Like most everyone else in July 1999, I merely watched in stunned sadness as yet another Kennedy family tragedy unfolded before us.</p> <p>The odd exchange comes fresh to mind now because another summer has descended into delirious coverage of a made-for-tabloid-TV story. The arrest of a suspect in the decade-old murder of child beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey has rejuvenated the Roman circus of cable coverage &#8212; just when the infotainment industry had bored itself covering the apparently less titillating war in the Middle East.</p> <p>They&#8217;re back &#8212; all back: the legal &#8220;experts,&#8221; most of whom have seen precisely none of the evidence compiled by the police, the district attorney&#8217;s office or the Thai authorities who picked up John Mark Karr; the shrinks who specialize in plumbing the darkness of the criminal mind, though none have probed Karr&#8217;s; the DNA specialists who admit they don&#8217;t know if Karr&#8217;s DNA sample matches the biological evidence found at the girl&#8217;s murder scene &#8212; but if it does, of course, then the case against him is a slam-dunk.</p> <p>American journalism always has had a taste for the sensational &#8212; the kidnapping of the Lindbergh baby and the over-the-top coverage of it predated the coming of cable by decades. But the loose standard for news that marks the era of cable television has no precedent.</p> <p>Cable news organizations, unlike the broadcast networks, are faced with feeding the beast of round-the-clock airtime. But short of natural disasters and plane crashes, little genuine &#8220;news&#8221; breaks out 24 hours a day. So airtime is filled with an endless lineup of questionable commentators with limited claim on hard information. Thus did my name somehow turn up as a potential JFK Jr. acquaintance. After all, there seemed to be only six degrees of separation between us, when really there were about 6 million.</p> <p>It is impossible for viewers to determine which &#8220;experts&#8221; are experts and which are peddlers of uninformed bunk who go on television because the appearances provide free advertising for lawyers, private eyes, psychiatric consultants, jury experts and others who might gain from some association with a high-profile crime. Not a few of these types wrongly convicted John and Patsy Ramsey of their daughter&#8217;s murder a decade ago, just as they concluded in 2001 that Gary Condit, then a member of Congress, must have been complicit in the murder of Chandra Levy, an intern with whom he&#8217;d had an affair. Levy apparently was the victim of a random assault.</p> <p>Cable news routinely transforms local crimes into national crises &#8212; convincing a fair number of people that there really are terrible scourges afoot in which pregnant women such as Laci Peterson are brutally murdered, and teenagers on graduation trips disappear. The transformation of news into voyeuristic spectacle is a distraction from societal and political rot that isn&#8217;t given similar seriousness of coverage. And this will, one day when the circus is over, catch up with us.</p>

Marie Cocco: Return of Cable TV's 'Experts'

https://truthdig.com/articles/marie-cocco-return-of-cable-tvs-experts/

2006-08-22

<p /> <p>Mobile technology is making it easier than ever before to budget wisely. Startups are coming up with new ways to create them, track your income and expenses, chart progress, maximize savings and stay motivated.</p> <p>Continue Reading Below</p> <p>"People are spending more and more time on their phones and doing a wider variety of things," says Kelli Grant, a personal finance commentator at CNBC.</p> <p>"We are finding out that people are very interested in using their phone for personal finance. If you use them the right way, phones can help you make smart decisions," she says.</p> <p>Here are three parts of the budgeting process your smartphone can help with.</p> <p>1. Creating a Budget</p> <p>Denise Winston, a financial expert and author of "Money Start$ Here," says the first step of successful budgeting is to set a goal.</p> <p>Advertisement</p> <p>"The biggest challenge for people is that they don't have a clear, specific and deliberate plan for their budget," Winston says. "People get sucked into this vicious cycle of graduating, going to work, earning and spending. We never learn about budgeting."</p> <p>Fortunately, apps like Budgt, Jumsoft Money and Mint can help you create a budget in just a few taps. These services ask a few quick questions about your finances and use algorithms to generate customized plans. They handle the nitty-gritty aspects of budgeting (how much you can reasonably save a month and how long it'll take to achieve your goals) so you don't have to.</p> <p>Level Money and Qapital, which isn't yet open to the general public, are two future-oriented mobile finance startups that show how everyday spending affects your overall budget. Level Money gives you notifications like "you have $260 more spendable dollars this week," and updates the number after every purchase. Qapital displays how your everyday spending decisions affect your long-term goals. For example, it can tell you how cutting back on your daily latte will save you $40 a month toward larger goals like a dream vacation.</p> <p>2. Sticking to Your Budget</p> <p>Creating a budget is an important step, but budgets work only if you stick to them.</p> <p>Before the Internet, tracking expenses required manually logging every expenditure. Checking up on your bank account involved waiting for a paper statement, making a trip to the bank or at least a phone call. Now, most major banks have a mobile app for customers, providing constant access to financial information. A recent report from the Federal Reserve Board found 33% of all mobile phone users and 51% of smartphone users use mobile banking.</p> <p>Mobile banking is important because it means you can constantly check your progress, which in turn can affect your behavior, says Lori Atwood, a former investment banker and startup chief financial officer who's served as a consultant for large financial institutions, small businesses and wealthy individuals.</p> <p>"You can see if you're spending less than you earn each month, and that's the key to financial health," Atwood says. "Knowing your expenses allows you to know if you need to decrease some spending in a category until next month. You control spending a little here and there to stay on track. You don't have any surprises. It's about being deliberate and controlling your financial life so it doesn't control you."</p> <p>Smartphones simplify tracking expenses because our devices are with us all the time. Winston says she uses the standard to-do list on her phone. Services like Quicken, Mint and Level Money connect to your bank account and automatically track spending. Others such as Wally and Spendee prompt you to manually log expenses and monitor how spending fits into your overall budget.</p> <p>3. Staying Motivated</p> <p>Savings goals can be big or small -- anything from a new pair of shoes to a $10,000 emergency fund. These goals are key for maintaining motivation, and to keep them fresh, we need compelling reminders.</p> <p>In a 2013 Dartmouth study, researchers found that receiving a monthly reminder significantly increased participants' account balances and the likelihood of hitting their savings goals. But those reminders became even more effective when they focused on how saving helps and mentioned specific savings goals or incentives (like insurance coverage).</p> <p>Mobile devices are probably the reminders par excellence of the modern world. They ring, beep, buzz, flash and fill up with push notifications every time you turn around.</p> <p>"Smartphones can be the right tool to help you be disciplined about budgeting," says Chris Hensley, a financial adviser and president of the Houston Midtown Chapter of the Society for Financial Awareness, a nonprofit organization dedicated to financial education.</p> <p>"Whenever I decide to get Starbucks and go over my budget, I get an alert to let me know. Does this prevent me from doing the negative behavior? Sometimes yes and sometimes no, but a nudge in the right direction will help reinforce the positive behavior of saving," Hensley says.</p> <p>Winston even tells clients to keep pictures of their goals on their phones.</p> <p>There are also a number of tools out there to do the reinforcing for you. SaveUp is a startup that ties a game-like rewards program to personal savings: You can earn prizes like cars or vacations when your behavior is on track.</p> <p>Beyond Budgeting</p> <p>Mobile budgeting options range from the minimalist to comprehensive programs like You Need a Budget. Grant has tested many of the budgeting apps and says choosing one isn't so much a question of "good" or "bad" as it is which product is right for you.</p> <p>"When setting a budget and using technology, the app that works best for you is the one that helps you stick to the budget," Grant says. "Everyone has their own style. For some people, manually entering things is a way to hit home."</p>

How Your Phone Can Boost Your Budgeting

http://foxbusiness.com/features/2014/06/26/how-your-phone-can-boost-your-budgeting.html

2016-03-06

<p>Your daily look at late-breaking California news, upcoming events and the stories that will be talked about today:</p> <p>1. LEGALIZED POT</p> <p>AP sources: U.S. attorney general rescinding policy that let legalized marijuana flourish without federal intervention across the country.</p> <p>2. EAST BAY QUAKE</p> <p>Magnitude-4.4 temblor under southeast corner of Berkeley provides early morning wake-up for San Francisco Bay Area.</p> <p>3. IMMIGRATION-DEMOCRATS</p> <p>With deadline approaching, Democrats in Congress struggle to adopt strategy to protect thousands of young immigrants from deportation.</p> <p>4. AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES</p> <p>Hyundai, Volkswagen partnering with U.S. autonomous vehicle tech firm led by former executives from Google, Tesla and Uber.</p> <p>5. MOUNTAIN LIONS</p> <p>Cougars that kill pets, livestock in Southern California will no longer be automatically targeted for death; hazing must be tried first.</p> <p>Your daily look at late-breaking California news, upcoming events and the stories that will be talked about today:</p> <p>1. LEGALIZED POT</p> <p>AP sources: U.S. attorney general rescinding policy that let legalized marijuana flourish without federal intervention across the country.</p> <p>2. EAST BAY QUAKE</p> <p>Magnitude-4.4 temblor under southeast corner of Berkeley provides early morning wake-up for San Francisco Bay Area.</p> <p>3. IMMIGRATION-DEMOCRATS</p> <p>With deadline approaching, Democrats in Congress struggle to adopt strategy to protect thousands of young immigrants from deportation.</p> <p>4. AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES</p> <p>Hyundai, Volkswagen partnering with U.S. autonomous vehicle tech firm led by former executives from Google, Tesla and Uber.</p> <p>5. MOUNTAIN LIONS</p> <p>Cougars that kill pets, livestock in Southern California will no longer be automatically targeted for death; hazing must be tried first.</p>

5 California Things to Know for Today

https://apnews.com/d4e318657e3e4bc0a05ff93b3354985b

2018-01-04

<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p> <p /> <p>Still, Friday night&#8217;s rematch against New Yorker Ann Marie Saccurato did offer a crystal-clear snapshot of how far the Albuquerquean has come in 3 1/2 years.</p> <p>Friday, Saccurato was the same fighter who went 10 hard-fought rounds in losing a unanimous decision to Holm in March 2007.</p> <p>Holm, in contrast, has changed dramatically &#8211; for the better.</p> <p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> <p>And she wasn&#8217;t bad 3 1/2 years ago.</p> <p>In the first fight, Saccurato was clearly outboxed but might have been the harder puncher.</p> <p>In the second, Friday at Route 66 Casino Hotel, Saccurato was outboxed, outpunched and overpowered.</p> <p>&#8220;That&#8217;s what we&#8217;d been hoping to do; that&#8217;s what we&#8217;d been working on,&#8221; Holm said afterward, of the powerful shots to the head and body that repeatedly hurt Saccurato and finally led to the Albuquerquean&#8217;s victory by eighth-round TKO.</p> <p>&#8220;Every fight is different, and with her style and the way she was fighting tonight, I was able to execute those punches.&#8221;</p> <p>In the first fight, Holm occasionally was overwhelmed by Saccurato&#8217;s aggressiveness and had to fight her way out of a corner. Friday, when Saccurato got inside, the bigger, stronger Holm simply tied her up.</p> <p>More often, Saccurato failed to get inside &#8211; eating a barrage of leather in the attempt.</p> <p>&#8220;In the first fight, I was standing too tall,&#8221; Holm said. &#8220;When she&#8217;d come in I was punching on my way back and wasn&#8217;t standing my ground.</p> <p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> <p>&#8220;That&#8217;s what we&#8217;d been working on a lot for this fight, just standing my ground and making her run into (Holm&#8217;s punches).&#8221;</p> <p>By the eighth and what proved to be the final round, Saccurato looked as if she&#8217;d run face-first into a cement mixer.</p> <p>After what might have been the best performance of her career, Holm &#8211; for most of that career accused of being a runner &#8211; sounded like Manny Pacquiao.</p> <p>&#8220;She&#8217;s so tough,&#8221; she said of Saccurato. &#8220;Even when I felt my punches sink in, and I know a few rocked her pretty good, I didn&#8217;t think she was gonna go down.&#8221;</p> <p>Saccurato never did visit the canvas, but it wasn&#8217;t for lack of effort on Holm&#8217;s part.</p> <p>&#8220;I think it was round seven, I hit her with some body shots that I knew she was really hurting from,&#8221; Holm said. &#8220;&#8230; I knew I could handle a really hard pace the rest of the fight if I wanted to, if she did survive, and just try and push her and see her limit and see if I could break her.&#8221;</p> <p>Consider her broken.</p> <p>What&#8217;s next for Holm (29-1-3, nine KOs)? Please, not another rematch; Friday&#8217;s bout was her ninth.</p> <p>Still, promoter Lenny Fresquez has a dilemma; the most attractive opponents still out there for Holm &#8211; Norway&#8217;s Cecilia Braekhus, France&#8217;s Anne Sophie Mathis &#8211; are an ocean and eight time zones away. And Holm can&#8217;t make nearly the money fighting elsewhere that she can here.</p> <p>Holm, meanwhile, is considering a move into MMA; she trains at Jackson-Winkleljohn Mixed Martial Arts, surrounded by some of the best cagefighters in the world.</p> <p>Still, it&#8217;s unlikely that Friday&#8217;s bout will be the 29-year-old southpaw&#8217;s last boxing match.</p> <p>&#8220;I love what I do,&#8221; she said.</p> <p>And she&#8217;s doing it better all the time.</p> <p>MALDONADO WINS: Albuquerque&#8217;s Fidel Maldonado Jr. improved his record to 7-0 with six KOs Friday night, stopping Alexander Acosta via second-round TKO in Guadalajara, Mexico. It was Acosta&#8217;s pro debut.</p> <p>Maldonado was fighting for the second time in 15 days since signing with Oscar De La Hoya&#8217;s Golden Boy Promotions.</p> <p>&amp;#160;</p>

Holm Better Than Ever

https://abqjournal.com/233278/holm-better-than-ever-2.html

<p /> <p>Want to get hired at a small business? Then look beyond the job title, be open to taking on new responsibilities, and be willing to step outside your comfort zone.</p> <p>Continue Reading Below</p> <p>That is just some of the advice&amp;#160;from small business leaders and recruiting/ <a href="https://www.recruiter.com/jobs.html" type="external">hiring Opens a New Window.</a> professionals like Mollie Delp, an HR specialist with <a href="https://www.workshopdigital.com/" type="external">Workshop Digital Opens a New Window.</a>, a 28-person digital marketing firm based in Richmond, Virginia.</p> <p>"Roles at a small business are often flexible and can change, so an applicant who is interested in taking the lead on more than just the basic job description will stand out," says Delp.</p> <p>At small businesses, "people are able to wear multiple hats and take more chances," she adds. "You are not working in silos and are exposed to a lot more unique projects. You'll be counted on to brainstorm with other coworkers &#8211; including upper management."</p> <p>As CEO of <a href="https://www2.collegerecruiter.com/home" type="external">College Recruiter Opens a New Window.</a>, a small and growing business that has 17 employees and contract staff who all work on and off site, Faith Rothberg looks for individuals who want to make a difference in helping college students and recent graduates start their careers off right. She hires people who work hard to accomplish goals and can work independently to benefit the greater team.</p> <p>"At a small business like ours, it's also important for team members to look beyond job titles," says Rothberg. "While each team member has certain responsibilities and a role they play, we rely on each other to collaborate, share ideas, and to work together to help the business grow. What's exciting about that is we never want to limit the sharing of ideas. This collaboration is essential for our company, as our industry is constantly changing and innovating and we must stay ahead of the curve if we are to continue to grow."</p> <p>Advertisement</p> <p>The most attractive candidates show small business owners and hiring managers they can solve problems, says Leela Srinivasan, chief marketing officer at <a href="https://www.lever.co/" type="external">Lever Opens a New Window.</a>, a recruitment technology company.</p> <p>"Leadership is often stretched thin, and every hire at a small or medium-sized business should add to its collective problem-solving capacity," says Srinivasan. "At Lever, we scale by trusting all of our people to make good decisions &#8211; whether they are an intern or joining the executive team."</p> <p><a href="https://www.lever.co/recruiting-resources/recruiting-metrics-for-startups-and-smbs-report" type="external">According to a new study from Lever Opens a New Window.</a>, it takes small and mid-sized businesses an average of 86 candidates, 15 resume screens, 4.7 onsite interviews, and 1.5 offers to secure one hire. The study also found that only 17 percent of all candidates who submit their resumes directly, without a follow-up or referral, will get an invite for an interview or prescreening phone conversation. On the flip side, candidates who are referred to the company get an initial phone call or interview 57 percent of the time &#8211; more than&amp;#160;three times the average. The reason? Employers like to hire people they know or people who are recommended by people they know.</p> <p>If you can't make a connection with a recruiter or through an existing employee, be sure to go the extra mile when applying, like Noah Feingold did. Feingold recently graduated from the University of Illinois, and it was his ability to follow simple job application instructions and take initiative on those instructions that helped him land a role as a marketing associate at <a href="http://www.fbintllc.com/" type="external">FB International LLC Opens a New Window.</a>, a Chicago-based international business development firm.</p> <p>"The bottom of the job application said to call if you want a better chance at an interview," Feingold says. "So I called the recruiter and it pushed me to the top of the pile. Once I went to the interview, I worked on developing a relationship with the president as opposed to trying to highlight every single skill that I had."</p> <p>Keep in mind that small businesses don't have large recruiting budgets. Without face-to-face connections made at recruiting fairs, recent college grads need to do everything they can to stand out from the competition. That's why Melissa M. Lagowski, CEO and founder of <a href="http://bigbuzzideagroup.com" type="external">Big Buzz Idea Group Opens a New Window.</a>, a Chicago-based organization that powers nonprofit organizations to fuel positive change, was so surprised at how many applicants didn't send cover letters when they applied for two recent openings at her company.</p> <p>"I could not believe how many resumes we got without cover letters," says Lagowski. "The cover letter helps an employer get to know a candidate beyond the accomplishments on the resume, and the cover letter is an opportunity for a candidate to make their case to the employer why they are the ideal candidate."</p> <p>Small employers also want to hire team members who fit the corporate culture and bring a personality that fits or blends well with the team.</p> <p>"You're going to be seeing a lot of your coworkers, and probably in a small office or space, which means it's crucial that they like you and that you get along," says Feingold.</p> <p>Small businesses like College Recruiter like to empower their employees to come up with and share ideas to benefit the business. In addition, they like to find employees who can have a little fun, while also focusing on community involvement.</p> <p>"Small business owners want people who have the right education and skills, but they also have to be able to fit in with the culture of the team because <a href="https://www.collegerecruiter.com/blog/2017/01/25/communication-skills-factor-into-who-gets-promoted/" type="external">they will be communicating and working together a lot Opens a New Window.</a>," says Rothberg. "We like to find employees who believe in what we do, are not afraid to try new things, and are passionate about success. I think small businesses like employees who believe in the business and want to see it grow. It's important in an HR technology company like ours to be motivated by innovation and change, and those who are willing to look beyond a job title are the types of employees who succeed at a small business like ours."</p> <p>Bottom line? Small employers are looking for go-getters who will take on new challenges and be willing to go above and beyond a job description or job title.</p> <p>"The environment at small businesses is fast-paced, ambiguous, and pressure-filled," says Srinivasan. "Resources can be leaner, and scrappiness often wins the day."</p> <p>Matt Krumrie is a freelance writer and digital media professional. He regularly contributes to <a href="http://www2.collegerecruiter.com/home" type="external">College Recruiter. Opens a New Window.</a></p>

What It Takes to Get Hired at a Small Business

http://foxbusiness.com/features/2017/04/10/what-it-takes-to-get-hired-at-small-business.html

2017-04-17

<p>&amp;#160;</p> <p><a href="" type="internal" />A bill to ban lead ammunition in California has sparked a heated debate among environmentalists, conservationists, hunters and sportsmen.</p> <p>But, don&#8217;t expect these groups to follow political conventions. This isn&#8217;t your usual gun control debate.</p> <p>This week, the National Shooting Sports Foundation launched a <a href="http://johnhrabe.com/opponents-of-ab-711-take-a-shot-at-humane-society-us/" type="external">new radio spot</a> which calls for a voluntary program to reduce the use of leaded ammunition in lieu of Assembly Bill 711&#8217;s ban. It also claims, &#8220;Hunters are overwhelmingly conservationists.&#8221; If that seems like a contradiction in terms, or a Machiavellian effort to draw the ire of environmentalists, you&#8217;d be wrong.</p> <p>Even proponents of AB711 acknowledge the important role that hunters play in conservation efforts. Many supporters of the lead ammunition ban are lifelong hunters themselves. Both sides of the lead ammunition ban are defying political stereotypes with hunters and sportsmen being praised for their contributions to conservation and even some lifelong hunting enthusiasts supporting the lead ammunition ban.</p> <p>&#8220;Hunters and sportsmen are the original &#8216;green movement&#8217;,&#8221; said Lawrence Keane, senior vice president and general counsel for the National Shooting Sports Foundation, which is opposed to lead ammunition ban. &#8220;Since 1937, hunters and sportsmen have been the primary source of game and non-game wildlife and habitat conservation funding in the United States.&#8221;</p> <p>The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimates that nearly $200 million in hunters&#8217; federal excise taxes are designated to conservation efforts, including wildlife management programs, the purchase of lands open to hunters, and safety classes.</p> <p>&#8220;As paradoxical as it may seem, if hunting were to disappear, a large amount of the funding that goes to restore all sorts of wildlife habitat, game and nongame species alike, would disappear,&#8221; Steve Sanetti, the president of the National Shooting Sports Foundation, told the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/13/sports/13deer.html?_r=0" type="external">Associated Press in 2010</a>.</p> <p>Hunters&#8217; dollars aren&#8217;t their only contribution to conservation. They also provide vital data about the health of flocks and herds to conservation research.</p> <p>&#8220;The great irony is that many species might not survive at all were it not for hunters trying to kill them,&#8221; Robert M. Poole explained in a 2007 <a href="http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2007/11/hunters/poole-text/2" type="external">National Geographic piece</a> about one conservation program supported by hunters. &#8220;The nation&#8217;s 12.5 million hunters have become essential partners in wildlife management.&#8221;</p> <p>If you&#8217;re struggling to process the hunter as conservationist, here&#8217;s another twist: some lifelong hunters support a ban on leaded ammunition.</p> <p>Judd Hanna, a lifelong hunter and former member of the state Fish and Game Commission, has been an outspoken supporter of banning lead ammunition.</p> <p>&#8220;The image of the hunter has suffered badly in recent years, due in part to bad behavior and irresponsible hunters,&#8221; <a href="http://johnhrabe.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/AB-711-to-Gov.pdf" type="external">Hanna wrote in a letter of support for AB711</a>. &#8220;Anything we can do to demonstrate to the 38 million non-hunters that we respect our environment and recognize our responsibilities as outdoorsmen and women will help slow the erosion of our image and our numbers.&#8221;</p> <p>Hunters have their own self-interest for supporting a lead ammo ban, supporters of the bill say. Why would hunters want to expose themselves, their families or animals they&#8217;re not shooting to potentially dangerous lead? That question is raised by an advocate for the Humane Society of the United States, which is co-sponsoring the bill.</p> <p>&#8220;The same tiny lead fragments that scavenging birds and mammals eat and are poisoned by have been found in packaged venison and other game meat that people consume,&#8221; said Jennifer Fearing, senior state director for the Humane Society. &#8220;We have taken lead &#8212; which we have known for hundreds of years to be toxic to all living things &#8212; out of gasoline, pipes, children&#8217;s toys and paint.&#8221; She points to multiple studies that question the <a href="http://escholarship.org/uc/item/6dq3h64x" type="external">safety of lead ammunition</a> and call for the use of <a href="alternative%20ammunition" type="external">alternative ammunition</a>.</p> <p>It&#8217;s the very reason cited by more than a dozen lifelong hunters in their letter of support for AB711.</p> <p>&#8220;As hunters, we are also increasingly concerned that our families may be at risk when eating game meat from animals shot with lead bullets,&#8221; wrote a <a href="http://johnhrabe.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Hunter-support-letter-AB-711.pdf" type="external">group of individual hunters and sportsmen</a>. &#8220;Demonstrations and studies on the public health risk from game taken using lead ammunition are compelling and have led us to use non-lead ammunition when hunting game that will end up on our dinner tables.&#8221;</p> <p>By no means is it an even split among hunters and sportsmen. The overwhelming majority of hunting and sportsmen organizations oppose a ban on leaded ammunition.</p> <p>Hunting organizations <a href="http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/13-14/bill/asm/ab_0701-0750/ab_711_cfa_20130909_105707_sen_floor.html" type="external">opposed to AB711 include</a> the National Rifle Association, National Shooting Sports Foundation, National Wild Turkey Federation, North American Bear Foundation, Quality Deer Management Association, Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, Wildlife Management Institute and Wildlife Forever.</p> <p>&#8220;Our organizations, which represent millions of sportsmen that actively support wildlife conservation and the preservation and enhancement of our nation&#8217;s hunting and recreational shooting heritage, are writing to express our strong and united opposition to AB711,&#8221; <a href="http://johnhrabe.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Organizations-Opposed-to-AB-711_Senate-Floor_9-3-13.pdf" type="external">wrote representatives</a> from a long list of the biggest hunting advocacy groups.</p> <p>These organizations, somewhat surprisingly, also make a conservationist argument against the bill. Keane says that if AB711 becomes law, it could reduce funding for conservation efforts.</p> <p>&#8220;AB 711 will effectively ban hunting in California, conservation funding in California will crater, causing harm to the very animals the HSUS (Humane Society) purports to care so much about.&#8221;</p> <p>As CalWatchdog.com&#8217;s Katy Grimes has reported, <a href="" type="internal">several prominent labor leaders</a> have come out in opposition to the bill. In a recent <a href="http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2013/09/live-chat-which-bills-will-gov-jerry-brown-sign-veto.html#mi_rss=Capitol%20and%20California" type="external">Sacramento Bee live chat</a>, Capitol reporter David Siders said that it was too difficult to predict the fate of AB711.</p> <p>&#8220;I know this isn&#8217;t satisfactory, but I can&#8217;t predict his action on that bill,&#8221; Siders said. &#8220;The labor groups that have been pushing publicly on it aren&#8217;t the big ones, from what I can tell. Also, environmentalists haven&#8217;t had much luck with Brown in recent years.&#8221;</p>

Debate on lead ammo ban defies political stereotypes

https://calwatchdog.com/2013/09/27/debate-on-lead-ammo-ban-defies-political-stereotypes/

2018-09-20

<p>By Bob Allen</p> <p>An Alabama pastor is standing by a letter to the editor in his Baptist state newspaper criticizing Southern Baptist Convention leaders for what he says is coddling Syrian refugees.</p> <p>SBC leaders rushed to Twitter to condemn a letter in the Alabama Baptist by Ted Sessoms, pastor of Arbor Springs Baptist Church in Northport, Ala., suggesting denomination officials should consider Old Testament passages where God gave instructions to destroy entire populations, including women, children and animals.</p> <p>&#8220;Why would He give such instructions?&#8221; Sessoms asked. &#8220;Because He knew the impact these idol worshippers of false gods would have on His people. It is not a matter of loving your neighbor. My neighbors are the people that value the same standards of life and way of life that I value.&#8221;</p> <p>Florida pastor Dean Inserra, member of an advisory council to the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, called the letter &#8220;garbage&#8221; and wondered why the Baptist newspaper would even publish it.</p> <p>Danny Akin, president of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, N.C., called it &#8220;an embarrassment to the gospel and the one who told us to love our neighbor and our enemies.&#8221;</p> <p>Sessoms <a href="http://wiat.com/2016/01/27/alabama-pastor-sparks-controversy-with-letter-about-syrian-refugees/" type="external">told</a> CBS-affiliated WIAT-42 in Birmingham, Ala., he wrote the letter to the Baptist newspaper to express his frustration with Baptist leaders who have advocated for allowing refugees to enter the country.</p> <p>&#8220;In this country we are under attack by terrorists and we don&#8217;t know who those folks are,&#8221; Sessoms said. &#8220;And so by allowing these refugees to come in and not know their background. But we certainly know their past is to hate Americans and hate Christianity.&#8221;</p> <p>He <a href="http://www.wvtm13.com/news/Northport-pastor-defends-stance-on-Syrian-refugees/37678536" type="external">told</a> another TV station he spoke publicly about his views before writing the letter and is prepared for backlash against his position.</p> <p>A couple of posts on the Arbor Springs Baptist Church Facebook <a href="https://www.facebook.com/Arbor-Springs-Baptist-Church-Samantha-Al-300494046070/" type="external">page</a> gave the pastor a thumbs-up.</p> <p>&#8220;Just read your letter to editor in AlBaptist. Great. Say it again and again,&#8221; wrote one commenter.</p> <p>&#8220;Your church members should be very proud to have a man such as you as Pastor,&#8221; added another. &#8220;I don&#8217;t know what the people of AB are thinking. THANKS again so much for writing what a lot of us are thinking.&#8221;</p> <p>Sessoms&#8217; entire letter reads:</p> <p>&#8220;At the risk of being an outcast or considered a narrow-minded bigot, I must express my disagreement and disappointment with our Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) leaders in regards to the Syrian refugee crisis. I am against allowing the refugees the rights to America&#8217;s soil and my neighborhood. These are the same people that hate America, hate Christians and have vowed to take over the world by destroying our way of life. Perhaps our leaders should study the Old Testament when God gave specific instructions to destroy these people (even their women, children and animals). Why would He give such instructions? Because He knew the impact these idol worshippers of false gods would have on His people. It is not a matter of loving your neighbor. My neighbors are the people that value the same standards of life and way of life that I value.</p> <p>&#8220;We owe it to our children and grandchildren to make good decisions for their future in America. And opening up our country to tens of thousands of refugees with their unknown background but known hatred for Christianity and America will destroy any future our children may have.</p> <p>&#8220;These are the same people that are willing to give their lives to carry out their commitment to Allah. They don&#8217;t have to be considered terrorists to hate Christians. Their religious conviction causes them that hatred.</p> <p>&#8220;What we will see is not more SBC churches being established but more mosques. What we will see is their way and their customs being forced on us to either observe or make way for us to give up our rights to observe their rights. They are victims of a more powerful force of Muslims within their own country but they are not victims when it comes to their lifelong hatred of us and our belief in Christ. It makes no sense to say to them, &#8216;I know you hate us and I know you want to destroy our country and way of life, and I know you will eventually find a way to kill us, but come on in anyways and live among us until you gain the strength and power to overcome us.&#8217; Has the SBC been turned over to a reprobate mind?&#8221;</p>

Pastor defends letter denouncing Syrian refugees

https://baptistnews.com/article/pastor-defends-letter-denouncing-syrian-refugees/

<p>The world of science acknowledges matter-of-factly that Iran is not pursuing a nuclear weapons program. There is simply no evidence for one. The UN&#8217;s International Atomic Energy Agency, staffed by specialists on nuclear power and maintaining a tight watch on Iran&#8217;s civilian facilities, finds no evidence of a military program. Two successive reports (National Intelligence Estimates) produced in 2007 and 2010 by all 16 U.S. intelligence agencies have declared with confidence that there is no operative weapons program. U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and even Israel&#8217;s Defense Minister Ehud Barak have both recently stated or let it slip that Iran is not currently attempting to build nuclear weapons.</p> <p>But then there is the political world of systematic disinformation. The world of big, bold lies which, as they are constantly repeated, acquire a certain life of their own. Thus the mainstream press and the entire political class in this country refer routinely to &#8220;Iran&#8217;s nuclear weapons program&#8221; as though there obviously were one. As though any questioning of the charge were thoroughly naive.</p> <p>(By the way: try doing an advanced Google search for the exact phrase &#8220;Iran&#8217;s nuclear weapons program&#8221; and you will call up 4,640,000 results. Try &#8220;Israel&#8217;s nuclear weapons program&#8221;&#8212;which we know exists&#8212;and you&#8217;ll get 533,000. What does this tell you?)</p> <p>The proponents of the lie rest assured that it will resonate, since it pertains to a Muslim country, and people here are largely conditioned to believe the worst about Muslims and see them as all complicit in some sort of anti-U.S. movement. In a poll taken as late as 2007, 41 per cent of U.S. citizens stated their belief that Saddam Hussein was involved in the 9/11 attacks!</p> <p>Similarly, misguided by well-funded and well-placed propagandists, people will believe anything about Iran.</p> <p>Never mind that Iran has never in modern times attacked another country. Never mind that it had nothing to do with the 9/11 episode, and that thousands of Iranians rallied in solidarity with the people of the U.S. after the attacks. Never mind that the majority of its people and their leaders are Shiites, like the people of Iraq, and that they&#8217;re sworn enemies of the Salafists in al-Qaeda as well as the Taliban. To the masters of disinformation they&#8217;re purveyors of terror, holding the world hostage to the threat of nuclear attack and Israel to total annihilation.</p> <p>This view is so patently idiotic than many bright people might just roll their eyes in bewilderment and simply give up trying to challenge the mendacity. It&#8217;s tiresome, year after year, to refute the ever-expanding web of lies. But this is serious, dangerous idiocy broadcast from the citadels of power. It has become integral to U.S. political culture.</p> <p>The mission in 2002 was to persuade the people of this country that Iraq had something to do with 9/11 and that it threatened us with weapons of mass destruction. No matter that Iraq had been subject to the most intrusive arms inspections regimen in history, was bleeding from sanctions, and wasn&#8217;t regarded by any of its neighbors (including Kuwait and Iran, which it had invaded) as a threat. Through coordinated statements (&#8220;We don&#8217;t want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud&#8221;) and leaks of (mis)information to complicit journalists, the Bush administration built a case for a truly criminal war (frankly pronounced &#8220;illegal&#8221; by the UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, to the outrage of some U.S. diplomats).</p> <p>If the Bush administration officials weren&#8217;t consciously taking their cue from the Nazis, they surely embraced a Nazi-like logic. As Hermann Goering stated before his suicide in 1946, &#8220;Naturally the common people don&#8217;t want war. But after all, it is the leaders of a country who determine the policy, and it&#8217;s always a simple matter to drag people along&#8230; This is easy.&amp;#160; All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and for exposing the country to danger.&amp;#160; It works the same in every country.&#8221;</p> <p>And so we were told to fear an Iraqi nuclear attack on New York City. It worked beautifully. Most of the people were indeed dragged along. Neoconservatives hell-bent on transforming the &#8220;Greater Middle East&#8221; to advantage Israel concocted their case through the secretive &#8220;Office of Special Plans&#8221; and scared a large section of the public into rallying for war. And when no weapons of mass destruction were found, and no evidence for Iraqi-al Qaeda links were found, they slunk offstage quietly (Wolfowitz, Feith, Perle) with no apology, embarrassment or explanation (to say nothing of prosecution).</p> <p>Who is most responsible for this utter lack of responsibility? Barack Obama! He came to power through the support of antiwar voters. His own opposition to the Iraq war was timid and partial; it was, he thought a &#8220;strategic blunder&#8221; rather than a crime.</p> <p>The harbinger of Hope and Change was all smiles when he met the outgoing president, and made it clear that there would be no embarrassing Justice Department investigations or prosecutions of Bush-era officials for war crimes. He wasn&#8217;t outraged that the highest officials in the land had approved a campaign to hoodwink the people into endorsing a horrific assault on a country that did not threaten us. He just wanted to put that all behind us, be reconciliatory, &#8220;unite the country&#8221; and move on&#8230;</p> <p>Part of &#8220;moving on&#8221; meant embracing the neocons&#8217; lies about Iran. In his very first press conference after the 2008 election, Obama signaled his intentions. He was asked about his response to Iranian president Ahmadinejad&#8217;s friendly letter congratulating him on his election. He sidestepped the question but used the occasion to grimly declare that the U.S. would not tolerate Iran&#8217;s acquisition of nuclear weapons. It was a shameless sop to the Israel Lobby. And just as George W. Bush ignored the 2007 NIE on Iran&#8217;s nuclear program, Obama ignores the 2010 NIE and presses on with a policy of vilification and confrontation.</p> <p>There is some distance between Israel and Washington on the Iranian nuclear question. The Likud Party would happily involve the U.S. in another war (like the Iraq war based on lies) serving Israeli interests. But Obama apparently doesn&#8217;t want another war. Obama can&#8217;t say what he must surely know: that the Israeli officials&#8217; repeated references to Iran&#8217;s nuclear program as an &#8220;existential threat&#8221; to their state, echoed by neocons and the Lobby in the U.S., is sensationalistic fear-mongering of the sort Goering spoke of. The neocons have been bellowing &#8220;Bomb Iran!&#8221; for years hoping that the Christian Zionists and bought legislators will override &#8220;the judicious study of discernable reality.&#8221;</p> <p>Dennis Hill, the leading Iran hawk in the Obama administration, may have left his National Security Council post last November out of chagrin at the fact that Obama had failed to carry out the attack Hill had advocated from at least 2008. (Described by Aaron David Miller, whom he&#8217;d served with as a diplomat during the Camp David negotiations of 1999-2000, as &#8220;Israel&#8217;s lawyer,&#8221; Hill had responded to the 2007 NIE by co-authoring a Wall Street Journal op-ed piece declaring that Iran was striving to become &#8220;a nuclear state&#8221; and that leaders needed to &#8220;mobilize the power of a united American public in opposition&#8221; and send aircraft carriers into the Persian Gulf. He has long advocated crippling economic sanctions on Iran, precisely to provoke actions that might be used to justify a U.S.-Israeli attack.)</p> <p>Still, Obama has acceded to the fundamental demand of the war-mongers: he has refused to respect the judgment of his own intelligence apparatus and relentlessly stepped up sanctions against Iran, arm-twisting allies to join in taking actions that many western legal scholars agree constitute acts of war. He does so ostensibly to derail a nuclear weapons program, but that is not the real reason. Nor is it because he believes that Iran truly constitutes an &#8220;existential threat&#8221; to Israel, which has its own 300 nukes. If he&#8217;s done his homework he knows that the Iranian regime is not even an &#8220;existential threat&#8221; to Iranian Jews.</p> <p>Doesn&#8217;t Iran have the largest population of Jews in the Middle East outside of Israel, a community tracing its history back two and a half millennia? And isn&#8217;t that community of maybe 35,000 protected by the Ayatollah Khomeini&#8217;s fatwa of 1979 and by representation in the Majlis far exceeding its numbers? (Jews are fewer than half of one per cent of Iran&#8217;s population, but their one constitutionally mandated seat in the Majlis is over three per cent of the total.)</p> <p>Don&#8217;t synagogues operate legally (as they did, by the way, in Baathist Iraq)? And aren&#8217;t Hebrew schools funded by the Ministry of Education? Doesn&#8217;t Article 13 of the Iranian Constitution specifically allow Zoroastrians, Jews and Christians to &#8220;perform their religious rites and ceremonies, and to act according to their own canon in matters of personal affairs and religious education&#8221;? Didn&#8217;t a judge last year determine that Christians drinking wine during Communion were innocent of violating the law banning alcohol citing that article?</p> <p>Obama and his team want to topple the regime in power in Tehran. But not primarily because it oppresses its people; this is the norm in the Middle East (and most places), and Washington (and Israel) have been comfortable enough with dictatorships in Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, and now in Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Kuwait, Bahrain&#8230; Nor because it has allegedly threatened to &#8220;wipe Israel off the map.&#8221; (That was a deliberate mistranslation of Ahmadinejad&#8217;s comment to a conference in 2005, indirectly quoting Khomeini, that &#8220;the regime occupying Jerusalem must vanish from the page of time.&#8221; He alluded in the same breath to the vanishing of the USSR and the regime of the Shah. He made no reference to Iran using force to make this happen.)</p> <p>The real reason Washington wants regime change in Iran is that, in the most mass-based, genuine revolutionary upheaval in the modern history of the Muslim world, the Iranian people overthrew the brutal U.S.-imposed regime of the Shah in 1979. This deprived the U.S. of the services of the &#8220;Gendarme of the Gulf&#8221; serving U.S. oil interests, and intervening in Yemen (to support royalists against republicans) and Oman (to suppress a secessionist movement). It was a huge blow to Washington&#8217;s geopolitical interests, and the U.S. wants to reestablish its lost hegemony.</p> <p>While there have been moments when the U.S. flirted with the mullahs who replaced the Shah (the Iran-Contra episode under Reagan, Colin Powell&#8217;s brief consideration of rapprochement in 2001-2) the neocon advocates of &#8220;regime change&#8221; have always won out.</p> <p>Iran under the Shah was a virtual ally of Israel, maintaining diplomatic and military relations and supplying it with oil. Since the Islamic Revolution Iran has maintained close ties with Palestinian resistance groups (notably Hamas) and the Lebanese Shiite-based Hizbullah.&amp;#160; These are probably the two most popular political parties in Palestine and Lebanon respectively, but since they challenge the legitimacy of the Israeli settler-state, they are regarded by the U.S. and most of its allies as &#8220;terrorists.&#8221; Hence Iran is a &#8220;supporter of international terrorism&#8221; and its government (like those of Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, etc.) should be destroyed&#8212;with no option left off the table.</p> <p>The fact that there&#8217;s no evidence for an Iranian nuclear weapons program is an inconvenient truth. And it would surely be inconvenient for the U.S. administration to state frankly that it&#8217;s trying to topple the Iranian regime&#8212;to either please the lying Likudists and enhance Israel&#8217;s power in the region, or to re-establish Anglo-American control of Iran&#8217;s oil production. Hence the ongoing campaign against discernible reality on behalf of another Big Lie.</p> <p>A lot of people alarmed by the situation have been predicting an attack on Iran since 2002, the year of George W. Bush&#8217;s infamous &#8220;axis of evil&#8221; speech and the year when the neocons huddling around Dick Cheney came to dominate foreign policy. For a couple years I was convinced a strike was imminent, only to learn that during Bush&#8217;s second term he had rejected Cheney&#8217;s advice to bomb. But the neocons remain a powerful force in policy making; they have helped insure that Obama consistently condemns a program which the experts deny exists, and ratchets up pressure on Iran to suspend uranium enrichment through economic warfare.</p> <p>The signals are so contradictory. The Bomb Iran advocates including the Israel leaders dearly hope that increasingly crippling sanctions (along with the&#8212;apparently&#8212;Israeli-sponsored program of assassinating Iranian nuclear scientists and sponsoring terrorism in the country) will provoke Iran into moves which will force a reluctant Obama administration to attack the nuclear facilities.</p> <p>But as Jim Lobe of Inter-Press News observes, many &#8220;liberal hawks&#8221; who supported the Iraq War, including former CIA analyst Kenneth Pollack, Princeton professor Anne- Marie Slaughter, New York Times columnist Bill Keller, former Pentagon Middle East policy chief Colin Kahl, and former CIA director Gen. Michael Hayden have recently warned of dire consequences should either the U.S. or Israel attack. There is opposition within the foreign policy elite. But there was during the lead-up to the attack on Iraq as well.</p> <p>On the other side are the Congressional leaders urging the stiffest, most provocative sanctions and even (in HR 1905) prohibiting any contact between U.S. diplomats and Iranian representatives without Congressional approval fifteen days in advance.&amp;#160; Presumably such contacts might derail the drive to war.</p> <p>On the one hand, you have the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff visiting Israel this month to meet his Israeli counterpart, in a mission former Maj.-Gen. Gideon Shefer described as one to stop Israel from attacking Iran. On the other hand you have the Pentagon requesting funding from Congress for a more powerful, bunker-busting bomb.&amp;#160; (Having spent $ 330 million constructing 20 &#8220;Massive Ordnance Penetrators&#8221; they need another $ 82 million to make them more destructive.)</p> <p>Perhaps the best outcome of the unpredictable course of events would be a serious falling out between Israel and the U.S., such as occurred during the Suez Crisis in 1956 and the Israeli attack on the Osiraq nuclear reactor in Iraq in 1981. In the first, Israel, Britain and France tried to seize control of the newly nationalized Suez Canal. President Eisenhower,&amp;#160;joined with the Soviets to demand an end to this tripartite aggression. In 1981, Ronald Reagan ordered his UN ambassador to vote with the rest of the world in condemning the utterly illegal &#8220;preventative strike.&#8221;</p> <p>Since then the power of the Israel Lobby in league with politicized Christian fundamentalism and the neocon cabal have so sharply tilted U.S. policy towards Israel that a president cannot even press for a freeze on illegal Jewish settlements on the West Bank without encountering a ferocious political backlash. One can&#8217;t be too hopeful about any &#8220;clean break&#8221; but it&#8217;s surely pleasant to imagine one.</p> <p>GARY LEUPP is Professor of History at Tufts University, and holds a secondary appointment in the Department of Religion. He is the author of <a href="" type="internal">Servants, Shophands and Laborers in in the Cities of Tokugawa Japan</a>; <a href="" type="internal">Male Colors: The Construction of Homosexuality in Tokugawa Japan</a>; and <a href="" type="internal">Interracial Intimacy in Japan: Western Men and Japanese Women, 1543-1900</a>. He is also a contributor to CounterPunch&#8217;s merciless chronicle of the wars on Iraq, Afghanistan and Yugoslavia, <a href="http://www.easycarts.net/ecarts/CounterPunch/CP_Books.html" type="external">Imperial Crusades</a>. He can be reached at: <a href="mailto:gleupp@granite.tufts.edu" type="external">gleupp@granite.tufts.edu</a></p>

Imagining a “Clean Break” with Israel…Over Iran

https://counterpunch.org/2012/01/30/imagining-a-clean-break-with-israelover-iran/

2012-01-30

<p>Gwendolyn Lones, mother of two students at ACT Charter, reacted immediately when she got a letter in August from the Chicago Public Schools saying that the school had been deemed failing and she could request transfers for her children.</p> <p>However, Lones, like most other parents whose children attend charters, had transferred her child into a charter to escape neighborhood public schools.</p> <p>Six of Chicago&#8217;s 14 charter schools are on the failing list, and parents like Lones were being offered the chance to transfer back to so-called &#8220;non-failing&#8221; public schools, not schools in their neighborhoods.</p> <p>Some jumped at the offer. According to CPS, the parents of 169 eligible charter school students&#8212;roughly 5 percent of the eligible charter school population&#8212;applied for transfers. Only 10 were approved. (Fewer seats were available to choice transfer students compared to a year ago.)</p> <p>One of the six charter schools initially required to offer choice, Octavio Paz Charter, has since been removed from the list. Another, Chicago International Charter, was not required to offer choice&#8212;it fell short in a couple subgroups this year, but has another year to catch up&#8212;but received a transfer request at one of its seven campuses. Other schools may be added or removed from the list in November, when the state releases its final analysis of test scores.</p> <p>In Illinois, schools must have at least 40 percent of students overall meeting or exceeding state standards in reading and math. Subcategories of students&#8212;broken down by race or income, for instance&#8212;must come within three points of the 40 percent bar to pass. Schools that have not made adequate progress for two consecutive years must offer choice; after three years, they must also offer tutoring.</p> <p>For charters, the impact of the choice letters has been moderate.</p> <p>At Perspectives, the parents of only seven of 155 students applied for transfers; one was approved.</p> <p>&#8220;We got some concerned calls&#8212;some of them thought the school was closing down,&#8221; reports Assistant Director Glennese Ray, who notes that the parents of higher-achieving students did not apply for transfers.</p> <p>At Triumphant, the only charter required to offer choice as well as extra tutoring, 15 students applied for transfers. None was approved.</p> <p>Octavio Paz, the highest-performing school among charters on the failing list, was hit hardest by transfer requests&#8212;74 students applied. CPS approved 6 transfers, but the school lost more than 50, according to Principal Kimberly Briscoe, who, like most principals, did not track why they left or where they went.</p> <p>&#8220;We lost good students,&#8221; Briscoe says. &#8220;There was a lot of misunderstanding about the letter, and many parents thought that you had to go.&#8221; Others interpreted the notice as an indication that Paz was &#8220;going down the same road&#8221; as the neighborhood schools they had tried to avoid, she notes. Now, some parents who left are trying to re-enroll their children at Paz, she says.</p> <p>In late August, Paz was pulled off the list of failing schools, along with three regular CPS schools (G. R. Clark, Murphy and Zapata elementaries), when further analysis found the schools&#8217; test scores fell within the margin of error for meeting the academic standards.</p> <p>Paz met the math and reading requirements overall but missed by a hair in three subgroups: reading and math scores for African-American students, and reading scores for low-income children.</p> <p>Proponents of charter schools say the process is unfair. They note that, in many cases, the numbers of charter school students being tested, particularly in subgroups, is small enough to make test scores results highly variable, and that some charter schools, like Triumphant, are specifically targeting low-achieving students. A CPS report on charter school accountability found those schools generally outperform other public schools [where children would otherwise attend], and often have waiting lists of families who want to enroll their children.</p> <p>Proportionally fewer charter schools (43 percent) were required to offer choice compared to CPS schools overall (61 percent).</p> <p>&#8220;Some day there will be competition between and among charters and district schools,&#8221; says John Ayers, president of Leadership for Quality Education, a charter school proponent. &#8220;Until CPS is offering more quality choices, most charter parents will stay put.&#8221;</p> <p>Lones was one such parent. After making a call to the school director, who explained what the letter meant, she decided to stay put. &#8220;ACT is a good school,&#8221; she says. &#8220;I don&#8217;t think there is any reason to leave.&#8221;</p>

Choice at charter schools

http://chicagoreporter.com/choice-charter-schools/

2005-08-22

<p /> <p>Continue Reading Below</p> <p>Shares of Esperion Therapeutics Inc(NASDAQ: ESPR), a clinical-stage biotech focused on cholesterol-lowering treatments, popped late in Wednesday's session. As of 3:50 p.m. EST, it was still up about 17.2% following an analyst upgrade. Over the past five days, the small-cap biotech stock has risen about 36% under the assumption that, under President Trump, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is more likely to award an approval for its lead drug.</p> <p>This little company out of Ann Arbor, Michigan has placed all its chips on its lead candidate, bempedoic acid, for the treatment of high LDL cholesterol for people who can't keep their levels under control with statins. If it earns approval, the orally available drug would become the first of its type to find its way to pharmacy shelves.</p> <p>Image source: Getty Images.</p> <p>Advertisement</p> <p>Cardiovascular disease remains the leading cause of death in the U.S. and much of the developed world. While statins are a relatively inexpensive and effective way to control cholesterol, there's a huge demand for additional therapies to keep it under control. While Esperion's candidate has largely flown under the radar, injectable therapies, such asAmgen's Repatha, are expected to generate peak annual sales as high as $5 billion.</p> <p>With a recent market cap of around $693 million, Esperion appears well poised for much higher gains if its candidate earns approval.</p> <p>President Trump's recent comments about what he considers an overly stringent regulatory process just ahead of a new FDA Commissioner appointment bodes well for Esperion and its candidate. Although high levels of LDL cholesterol are widely believed to lead to increased risk of heart attack and stroke, it's what regulators consider a surrogate endpoint.</p> <p>It's long been assumed that Esperion will need to conduct a long-term outcome study to actually measure the rate of cardiovascular events in patients taking its drug versus those who aren't. If the FDA were to become more lenient on the use of surrogate endpoints, though, it stands to reason that bempedoic acid would have a much better chance of earning a thumbs up from the Agency without the long-term data.Esperion is running four registrational studies that should produce data around the middle of next year, although its outcome trial isn't expected to be ready for a few more years.</p> <p>If the company could bump its timeline up by a few years, it would be a terrific development, but investors should remain braced for a fairly cold reception should the drug earn approval. Recent commercial launches for expensive, next-generation cholesterol therapies have been a big disappointment.</p> <p>10 stocks we like better than Esperion TherapeuticsWhen investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.*</p> <p>David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the <a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-dyn%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;amp;impression=f02af04f-4c4c-4654-9fc4-7728a8de5def&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">10 best stocks Opens a New Window.</a> for investors to buy right now... and Esperion Therapeutics 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=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-dyn%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;amp;impression=f02af04f-4c4c-4654-9fc4-7728a8de5def&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Click here Opens a New Window.</a> to learn about these picks!</p> <p>*Stock Advisor returns as of February 6, 2017</p> <p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/crenauer/info.aspx" type="external">Cory Renauer Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>

Here's Why Esperion Therapeutics Inc Stock Popped Today

http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/03/01/here-why-esperion-therapeutics-inc-stock-popped-today.html

2017-03-16

<p>Google Inc's quarterly results fell well short of Wall Street's expectations after its core advertising business slowed, stunning investors accustomed to consistently rapid growth from the Internet giant and wiping more than 9 percent off its market value.</p> <p>The disappointing numbers on Thursday came hours ahead of schedule in a rare instance of premature filing. Google blamed the misfire on an unauthorized filing by its financial printers, RR Donnelley &amp;amp; Sons Co, and later confirmed the numbers' accuracy.</p> <p>Continue Reading Below</p> <p>The earnings report, which had not been expected until after the market close, revealed a weakening in Google's core Internet advertising business and persistent losses at its recently acquired cellphone business, Motorola Mobility.</p> <p>Shares of Google, the world's No. 1 Internet search engine, finished Thursday's regular trading session down 8 percent at $695 after a brief trading halt. Some analysts said the inadvertent results release spurred confusion and exacerbated its stock price decline.</p> <p>Google executives maintained in a conference call on Thursday that the company's various businesses continued to benefit from healthy growth and that Google was well-positioned to capitalize on consumer's increasing use of mobile devices.</p> <p>Chief Executive Larry Page, speaking on his first earnings call since an unspecified voice ailment sidelined him from public speaking in June, said that Google's mobile business was now generating revenue at an annualized run rate of $8 billion.</p> <p>Page acknowledged that mobile ad rates were below the rates that Google garners for ads that appear on its standard website. But he said the variety of Web-connected devices used by consumers is creating "a huge new universe of opportunities for advertisers."</p> <p>"We're uniquely positioned to get through that transition and to really profit from it," Page said, citing Google's Android mobile software, the world's top operating system for smartphones by market share.</p> <p>Google, which has been struggling to turn around a Motorola Mobility hardware business it bought for $12.5 billion, reported a 20 percent dive in net income to $2.18 billion. Excluding certain items, it earned $9.03 a share, vastly underperforming the $10.65 analysts had expected, on average.</p> <p>"We have been saying this thing was ripe for a pullback. It's not like they're Google not being Google, but you still have some major issues," said BCG analyst Colin Gillis.</p> <p>"Click prices declined for the fourth consecutive quarter after rising for eight consecutive quarters before then. That's a negative. This is the mobile problem."</p> <p>"The other bit is the Motorola millstone had been ignored by the market, and - boom - now you've got weak revenue from Motorola. When you acquire a business and you're about to whack all kinds of people and close offices, you know what happens to the employees? They take their eye off the ball. Sales are down," Gillis explained.</p> <p>Net revenue growth at Google's main Internet business increased 17 percent year-over-year, the first time growth in that business has fallen below 20 percent since 2009. Google Finance Chief Patrick Pichette stressed on the conference call that the revenue growth rate was higher if the impact of foreign currency exchange rates was backed out.</p> <p>"It was just too rapid a deceleration," said Pivotal Research Group analyst Brian Wieser. "Many of the same underlying trends drive Facebook advertising."</p> <p>Shares of Facebook Inc, which headed south shortly after Google's inadvertent filing, closed down 4.6 percent. Google's snafu recalled Facebook's debut, which was marred by technical glitches that also spooked traders and contributed to the stock's first-day decline.</p> <p>The decline in Google's shares come after a three-month run-up in its stock, which reached an all-time high of $774.38 earlier this month.</p> <p>A BAD MISS?</p> <p>Google reported net revenue - excluding traffic acquisition costs - of $11.3 billion for the third quarter, below Wall Street's expectations for about $11.9 billion.</p> <p>For the fourth consecutive quarter, the company reported a decline in average cost-per-click (CPC), a critical metric that denotes the price advertisers pay Google.</p> <p>Average CPC declined 15 percent from a year ago and 3 percent from the second quarter of this year. Analysts say that Google, like many of its peers in the Internet industry, has been struggling to adapt to the rapid consumer uptake in mobile devices. Advertisers pay far less for ads on smartphones and tablets than for similar ads on desktop computers.</p> <p>"The core business seems to have slowed down pretty significantly, which is shocking," said B. Riley analyst Sameet Sinha. "The only conclusion I can look at is, search is happening more and more outside of Google, meaning people are searching more through apps than through Google search."</p> <p>"That could indicate a secular change, especially when it comes to ecommerce searches. The big fear has always been, what if people decide just to go straight to Amazon and do their searches? And potentially that's what could be happening."</p> <p>But Ryan Jacob, chairman and chief investment officer of Jacob Funds, said he viewed Google's results as only "minorly disappointing," with most of the weakness coming from Motorola as expected.</p> <p>"Unfortunately, by dropping an 8K in the middle of a trading day, people kind of shoot first, ask questions later," said Jacob, whose fund owns Google shares.</p> <p>JP Morgan analyst Doug Anmuth said in a note that the Google results were "light" but not as bad as they appeared at "first blush."</p> <p>FILING SNAFU</p> <p>Google, which recently overtook Microsoft Corp to become the second-largest U.S. technology company by capitalization, had been due to release its results after the market close.</p> <p>The second paragraph of the press release merely read "Pending Larry quote," suggesting that space was reserved for comment from CEO Larry Page.</p> <p>"Earlier this morning RR Donnelley, the financial printer, informed us that they had filed our draft 8K earnings statement without authorization," Google said in a statement. "We have ceased trading on NASDAQ while we work to finalize the document. Once it's finalized we will release our earnings, resume trading on NASDAQ and hold our earnings call as normal at 1:30 PM PT."</p> <p>Shares of RR Donnelley, the U.S. printing services company, slid as much as 5 percent. They closed down 1 percent at $10.76.</p> <p>Reed Kathrein, a plaintiff lawyer with Hagens Berman who sues companies on behalf of investors, said investors would not have a claim against either Google or RR Donnelley because the earnings disclosure was likely a mistake.</p> <p>"There's no fraudulent intent here," Kathrein said.</p> <p>However, Google could have a negligence claim against RR Donnelly to recover any additional costs it incurred in responding to the incident, Kathrein added.</p> <p>"Everyone is trying to figure out if there's any legal issue with respect to RR Donnelley," said Michael Matousek, senior trader at U.S. Global Investors Inc, which manages about $3 billion in San Antonio.</p> <p>(Additional reporting by Gerry Shih and Noel Randewich in San Francisco, David Gaffen and Jennifer Saba in New York; Editing by Bernard Orr and Gary Hill)</p> <p>Advertisement</p>

Google results miss; shares dive after premature report

http://foxbusiness.com/features/2012/10/18/refile-update-5-google-results-miss-shares-dive-after-premature-report78417.html

2016-01-29

<p>ATLANTA &#8212; Each day, the structural issues that keep more than&amp;#160; <a href="" type="internal">45 million Americans in poverty</a>&amp;#160;in the world&#8217;s most advanced democracy are present.</p> <p>There are racial and class divisions illustrated by the fatal shooting in August of a Black man in <a href="" type="internal">Ferguson</a>. Millions of&amp;#160; <a href="" type="internal">adults have jobs</a> but <a href="" type="internal">can&#8217;t scrape by</a> because <a href="" type="internal">hourly wages fail to cover</a> the monthly gap for housing, food and health care. And the&amp;#160; <a href="" type="internal">sting of income inequality</a>&amp;#160;and the difference in pay, on average, for men and women is felt by the minute.</p> <p><a href="" type="internal">Environmental degradation</a> and pollution are taking a toll on the Earth. Schools and the criminal justice system often fall short of helping families of all backgrounds make <a href="" type="internal">significant progress</a>. <a href="" type="internal">People of color</a>&amp;#160;are working to strengthen their neighborhoods.</p> <p>Immigration policy <a href="" type="internal">remains unresolved</a>. Many have lost faith in elected leaders, knowing that <a href="" type="internal">deportations are high</a>, families <a href="" type="internal">who only want a safe life</a>&amp;#160;remain in detention centers and <a href="" type="internal">excessive force by authorities</a>&amp;#160;is an issue. And health insurance for low-income families is <a href="" type="internal">out of reach for millions</a>&amp;#160;because many governors have philosophical differences with the Affordable Care Act.</p> <p>Alone, these issues and others that have kept poverty on life support for a half century since President Lyndon Johnson&#8217;s sweeping declaration to end it can dwell deeply, putting dampening weight on working families, the low income and anyone, for that matter.</p> <p>But instead of conceding defeat, grassroots activists, families and community leaders are emboldened. Hundreds say they&#8217;re ready to end this overall scourge by coalescing around a new enterprise &#8211; a multi-issue organization that centers on families having an &#8220;equal voice&#8221; in policy discussions, as well as democratic participation, respect and dignity.</p> <p>It&#8217;s called Equal Voice Action.</p> <p>On Sept. 22, about 425 people of all backgrounds and from throughout the country united in Atlanta to officially launch this member-led, national advocacy and lobbying organization made up of working families, those in poverty and anyone who supports positive change right now in U.S. history.</p> <p>Miss the Marguerite Casey Foundation&#8217;s national gathering? Read real-time tweets from the meeting.</p> <p>&#8220;People are ready,&#8221; Luz Vega-Marquis, president and CEO of Marguerite Casey Foundation (MCF), said.</p> <p>The official launch occurred at MCF&#8217;s national gathering which focused on the &#8220;Power of Membership&#8221; and was held from Sept. 21 to Sept. 23 at the Atlanta Marriott Marquis. MCF incubated Equal Voice Action (EVA), which is a separate organization from the Seattle-based foundation.</p> <p>In a Sept. 21 speech talking about EVA&#8217;s history, Vega-Marquis said she cried over the fatal shooting of <a href="" type="internal">Michael Brown</a> and reminded the audience of community advocates that kids &#8211; or &#8220;little kids,&#8221; as she put it &#8211; are in detention centers.</p> <p>&#8220;It&#8217;s our collective responsibility to fight for the less fortunate,&#8221; she said. &#8220;What are we going to do about it?&#8221;</p> <p>Later, emotion filled the voice of the woman who was born in Nicaragua and has worked in philanthropy in California. &#8220;We&#8217;re the richest country in the world, but we have kids failing schools,&#8221; she said.</p> <p>&#8220;Not acceptable. Not acceptable.&#8221;</p> <p>On Monday, Sept. 22, EVA board members echoed the same themes of purpose, timing, elevating voices of those in poverty and the need for a strong moral compass from the grassroots.</p> <p>EVA Board Member Star Paschal Smith talked about living in poverty in Alabama, a state in which one in six people fall into that category. One in four kids in Alabama, she added, also is in poverty.</p> <p>&#8220;As a woman, a mother, a human, I can no longer watch the dreams, the hopes, the aspirations of my children, our children be dictated by a group of people who do not know the pains of living day to day,&#8221; she said, alluding to many policymakers.</p> <p>Ernest Johnson, a community advocate who works on <a href="" type="internal">criminal justice reform</a> in Louisiana, talked about the need for people to amplify their voice, especially when it comes to policy decisions that directly affect the poor.</p> <p>&#8220;Why are we here today? Why are we here today?&#8221; he said simply and directly to the audience, which included faith leaders, education activists, people of color, LGBT community advocates, immigration reform supporters, those who back affordable housing and Native Americans.</p> <p>One big-picture answer was in an EVA brochure.</p> <p>It noted that the number of people in poverty in the country has soared to more than 45 million in 2013, marking a nearly 22 percent increase from 2008 when it was 37 million. The first full year of the Great Recession was 2008. Officially, it ended in 2009.</p> <p>Another answer could be heard in discussions at the hotel: People are tired of policies that perpetuate poverty and essentially hurt families, who are crucial to the country.</p> <p>EVA &#8211; which shares the same philosophy with MCF that no family should live in poverty &#8211; is a separate organization in which people can apply for membership.</p> <p>Its members can participate in lobbying and advocacy work on political and legislative levels, as compared to what they could do as part of a traditional nonprofit group which follows different guidelines.</p> <p>EVA also has its own website. Members can participate in online forums, learn about and post job opportunities, housing information and other topics that affect daily and family life.</p> <p>There also is a section to learn about community groups doing similar work in other parts of the country. Members also have voting rights to select which specific social policy issues EVA will embrace to advocate.</p> <p>&#8220;I think we can make this work,&#8221; said Stewart Kwoh, executive director of Asian Americans Advancing Justice &#8211; Los Angeles, which focuses on civil rights, legal services and community outreach.</p> <p>&#8220;People are hungry for real solutions,&#8221; Kwoh, who has worked on civil rights cases since the 1980s, added. &#8220;This can be a local, regional and national effort. We&#8217;re not only relying on Congress.&#8221;</p> <p>Organizers hope that millions of people &#8211; and possibly at least 6 million individuals &#8211; will become members.</p> <p>They point to AARP as one organization to emulate. That group has more than 37 million members and has made advances in helping retired people in the country, through what the group calls &#8220;collective purpose.&#8221;</p> <p>At the MCF gathering in Atlanta, participants who study mass social movements in U.S. history say this is the first organizational effort of its kind for families to work together on multiple issues to end poverty.</p> <p>Other social movements have swept across the country.</p> <p>In the 1830s, abolitionists wanted an end to slavery, progressives sought solutions from 1890 to 1920 to societal ills, the New Deal centered around federal programs, Cesar Chavez stood up for a union for farmworkers and Martin Luther King Jr. brought forth the idea of a poor people&#8217;s movement.</p> <p>Anti-war movements have sprouted up, as have organized pushes for equal rights for women and nuclear disarmament. In more recent years, the environmental movement gained momentum. The &#8220;Occupy Movement&#8221; made worldwide headlines and still resonates with the words, &#8220;1 percenter.&#8221;</p> <p>In her talk on Sept. 21, Vega-Marquis referred to the big-picture work that Chavez and King wanted to accomplish. &#8220;We haven&#8217;t fulfilled those dreams,&#8221; she said. &#8220;We need to build a pathway to this endeavor.&#8221;</p> <p>What is different with EVA, supporters say, is that it is starting with a formal structure and awareness from community groups that work daily in neighborhoods throughout the country. It also is receiving input from about a dozen family advisory committee members from different parts of the country.</p> <p>In a sense, EVA is the product of when philanthropy and real life intersect.</p> <p>It illustrates how addressing poverty can come from individuals, families and grassroots groups working with philanthropy and not just from statehouses, Congress, the White House or think tanks in Washington, D.C.</p> <p>Arriving at this point, though, took years &#8211; and much discussion.</p> <p>In 2002, MCF lacked the ability to launch EVA, Vega-Marquis said. Back then, the country was home to nearly 35 million people in poverty.</p> <p>Working relationships needed time to develop. Trust had to be established. The foundation also mapped out its strategy in making grants.</p> <p>In 2008, MCF and its partner community groups unveiled the &#8220;Equal Voice for Families&#8221; campaign and low-income families came together to issue a platform of policy concerns.</p> <p>By 2012, thousands of working families met again in an online town hall and came up with a national family platform of 13 issues, including job training, health care, child care, youth empowerment, transportation, immigration, criminal justice reform and LGBT issues.</p> <p>That platform called on leaders to take a comprehensive approach &#8211; instead of incremental ones &#8211; to find solutions to poverty and truly helping families.</p> <p>Along the way, the foundation heard from tens of thousands of people in some of the poorest states in the country about topics that affect their lives.</p> <p>&#8220;Remember this moment. In five years, in 10 years, you will see changes in America,&#8221; Vega-Marquis said in her speech a day before the official launch of EVA.</p> <p>At one point on Sept. 21, as Vega-Marquis recounted this journey, she said that MCF would remain an institution that gives grants to community organizations. The audience applauded.</p> <p>By the next day, at about 10 a.m., family advisory committee members working with EVA clutched iPads and asked meeting participants whether they&#8217;d like to apply to join. Fingers quickly danced across the glass screens of the iPads, as people answered the call.</p> <p>Lara Evans, an Atlanta resident and family advisory committee member to EVA, leaned over a table, answering questions from Paul Burns, a staff member with Chicago-based Metropolitan Tenants Organization.</p> <p>Burns submitted his application.</p> <p>One issue that he is concerned about is the displacement of the disabled and poor in downtown Chicago by pricey real estate. Some downtown lofts, he said, can sell for more than $1 million &#8211; which means only the wealthy can afford to live in the central area.</p> <p>&#8220;Designate some downtown housing for working families, the disabled and the poor,&#8221; he said.</p> <p>Nearby, Norris Henderson, a board member with Families and Friends of Louisiana&#8217;s Incarcerated Children, extended his hand when he saw a Black youth.</p> <p>&#8220;Excuse me, brother,&#8221; Henderson, who was volunteering with EVA outreach said.</p> <p>&#8220;This is huge. This collective power is the only way we&#8217;re going to move anything in this country,&#8221; he said moments later.</p> <p>As the rush to apply was happening on morning of Sept. 22, Fernando Tafoya, an attorney and consultant to EVA, watched the process unfold. &#8220;It&#8217;s happening,&#8221; he said.</p> <p>At one point, Vega-Marquis made note of launching in 2014 and not before that: &#8220;We have a better chance of success.&#8221;</p> <p>By the night of Sept. 22, the launch party for EVA was underway, kicked off by Kool &amp;amp; the Gang&#8217;s song, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GwjfUFyY6M" type="external">&#8220;Celebration.&#8221;</a></p> <p>Beach balls dropped in the hotel ballroom. A few people hugged one another. Most, though, hit the dance floor and enjoyed the moment.</p> <p>Besides, on the next day, the key ideas from this gathering would be present, yet again: That poverty needs to go, that people and families need to succeed and that the country and the economy would thrive if this scourge disappears.</p> <p>In one sense, as EVA members and supporters realize, a major milestone was reached in Atlanta.</p> <p>Much more work needs to be done, especially if millions of people are to become members and as EVA grows and matures.</p> <p>But poor people and those who have devoted their lives to ending poverty say this type of work is worth doing. Besides, they would probably add, &#8220;What is the alternative?&#8221;</p> <p>One difference for those who attended the gathering: A renewed emphasis and momentum had surfaced. And people who care about communities had injected hope back into a conversation that many say is hopeless.</p> <p>As Vega-Marquis took a quick break in Atlanta from talking with meeting participants, she honed in on one lesson that she learned over the years leading up to this moment.</p> <p>&#8220;Don&#8217;t forget the heart,&#8221; she said.</p> <p>___________</p> <p><a href="" type="internal">Brad Wong</a>&amp;#160;is assistant news editor for Equal Voice News, which is published by Marguerite Casey Foundation. The top image shows Tinsa Hall-Morris (center), a Mississippi resident and family advisory committee member for Equal Voice Action (EVA), helping two people apply to be members of the new group. The photo was made on Sept. 22, 2014, the official launch date of EVA, at the Atlanta Marriott Marquis hotel. This story was updated since it was first published.&amp;#160;</p> <p>2014 &#169; Equal Voice for America&#8217;s Families Newspaper</p> <p>&amp;#160;</p> <p><a href="" type="external">Contact author</a></p> <p>&amp;#160;&amp;#160; <a href="" type="internal">ending poverty</a>, <a href="" type="internal">Equal Voice Action</a>, <a href="" type="internal">family led movement</a>, <a href="" type="internal">improving communities</a>, <a href="" type="internal">Low-Income</a>, <a href="" type="internal">low-income families</a>, <a href="" type="internal">Luz Vega-Marquis</a>, <a href="" type="internal">Marguerite Casey Foundation</a>, <a href="" type="internal">poverty fighters</a>, <a href="" type="internal">social movement</a>, <a href="" type="internal">wealth inequality</a></p>

National Organization Seeks to Be Voice of Poor Families

http://equalvoiceforfamilies.org/an-equal-voice-for-all-so-poverty-can-become-history/

<p>SEAN HANNITY (HOST): Those were some NFL fans who were not happy with the way the players who disrespected our national anthem and our flag.</p> <p>Previously:</p> <p><a href="" type="internal">Tucker Carlson: Protesting NFL players were "giving the rhetorical finger to the country that made them rich"</a></p> <p><a href="" type="internal">Fox contributor: NFL protesters "ought to be thanking God" they're "free from the worry of being shot in the head for taking a knee"</a></p> <p><a href="" type="internal">Fox News guest: "Jimmy Kimmel has a responsibility, using his platform, to tell people the truth and not engage in propaganda"</a> &amp;#160;</p>

Hannity's "man on the street" interviews about NFL protests are all with white people

https://mediamatters.org/video/2017/09/25/hannity-man-street-interviews-about-nfl-protests-only-shows-interviews-white-people/218036

2017-09-26

<p>Sloane Stephens stayed composed throughout an all American U.S. Open final and played near-perfect tennis to win her maiden grand slam title with a 6-3 6-0 victory against Madison Keys on Saturday.</p> <p>The 24-year-old, back this summer from almost a year off the courts because of a foot injury, was never in trouble as her defensive play derailed the 15th-seeded Keys, who was playing with a heavily bandaged right thigh.</p> <p>&#8220;It&#8217;s incredible. I honestly had surgery Jan 23 and if someone had told me I&#8217;d win the U.S. Open I would have said it&#8217;s impossible,&#8221; said Stephens.</p> <p>In the first all American U.S. Open women&#8217;s final since Serena Williams beat her sister Venus in 2002, Stephens made only six unforced errors to frustrate Keys.</p> <p>She sealed a straightforward win on her third match point when Keys sent yet another forehand into the net.</p> <p>Stephens welcomed the biggest victory of her career with a low-key smile, going into the Arthur Ashe Stadium stands to hug her coach, Kamau Murray.</p> <p>Stephens, who will pocket a record $3.7 million cheque, underwent foot surgery in February and made her competitive comeback at Wimbledon.</p> <p>Simply happy to be running around on courts, Stephens did a lot of running on Saturday to deny the 22-year-old Keys in what turned out to be a one-sided contest.</p> <p>Keys showed no signs of nerves in the opening game, serving two aces and sending Stephens chasing balls left and right. Stephens was equally composed, holding to love on her first service game.</p> <p>Stephens played her usual defensive tennis, forcing her opponent to make the extra shot and testing her patience.</p> <p>She was rewarded with two break points in the fifth game, converting the first one when Keys again failed to wait for the right moment to accelerate and fired a forehand long.</p> <p>Stephens held comfortably and bagged the set on her second occasion, Keys hitting a backhand long, her 17th unforced error &#8212; compared to Stephens&#8217; only two.</p> <p>Keys showed signs of frustration when she buried a backhand into the net at 40-40 on her opponent&#8217;s serve as she had a chance to earn her first break point in the first game of the second set.</p> <p>Stephens was a wall Keys couldn&#8217;t pierce and she moved to 40-0 up on Keys&#8217;s serve in the following game with a perfect backhand passing shot as the 15th seed looked for new ways to turn the situation around.</p> <p>Another ill-timed rush to the net, though, cost her a break, Stephens punishing her with a delightful dipping forehand passing shot.</p> <p>Keys fell 4-0 down when she hit a double fault and although she had her first break points of the match in the fifth game, Stephens held.</p> <p>Keys hit the ball harder and harder but it would always come back and she needed a 19-shot rally to save her second match point. On the third, she hit her 30th unforced error of the day.</p>

Ice-Cool Stephens Too Good for Keys in U.S. Open Final

https://newsline.com/ice-cool-stephens-too-good-for-keys-in-u-s-open-final-2/

2017-09-09

<p /> <p>Snap Inc., owner of the popular disappearing-messages service Snapchat, seeks to raise up to $3 billion in an initial public offering.</p> <p>Continue Reading Below</p> <p>That number may change based on investor demand.</p> <p>The highly anticipated IPO is expected to be the one of the largest since Alibaba Group went public in 2014. But Snap is better known than the e-commerce company, drawing comparisons instead to the IPOs of Facebook and Twitter.</p> <p>According to IPO documents filed on Thursday, Snap has lost nearly $1 billion in the past two years.</p> <p>Los Angeles-based Snap had revenue of $404.5 million in 2016, up from $58.7 million in 2015. Its net loss was $514.6 million last year, and $372.9 million the year before.</p> <p>The company says 158 million people use Snapchat daily.</p>

Snap files for IPO, seeks to raise $3 billion

http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/02/02/snap-files-for-ipo-seeks-to-raise-3-billion.html

2017-02-03

<p>Musician and former Haiti presidential hopeful Wyclef Jean has been named a Visiting Fellow at Brown University. Jean has accepted an appointment in the Department of Africana Studies for the 2010-2011 academic year. Brown University says the Grammy Award winner and activist will engage in activities related to its Haiti Initiative, including lectures, faculty conversations and classes. Jean says his time at Brown will be a "period of learning and reflection." Jean is hitting all of the right notes. Let's see: Wyclef Jean - musician, activist, scholar. Sounds good to us.</p> <p>Read more at <a href="http://www.eurweb.com/?p=55500" type="external">Eurweb.com</a>.</p>

Wyclef Jean Named Visiting Fellow at Brown University

https://theroot.com/wyclef-jean-named-visiting-fellow-at-brown-university-1790881124

2010-10-05

<p>In response to the mass protests of recent days, Egyptian President Hosni&amp;#160;Mubarak has appointed his first Vice President in his over 30 years rule, intelligence chief Omar Suleiman. When Suleiman was first announced, Aljazeera commentators were describing him as a &#8220;distinguished&#8221; and &#8220;respected &#8221; man. It turns out, however, that he is distinguished for, among other things, his central role in Egyptian torture and in the US rendition to torture program. Further, he is &#8220;respected&#8221; by US officials for his cooperation with their torture plans, among other initiatives.</p> <p>Katherine Hawkins, <a href="http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=824785" type="external">an expert</a> on the US&#8217;s rendition to torture program, in an email, has sent some critical texts where Suleiman pops up. Thus, Jane Mayer, in <a href="" type="internal">The Dark Side</a>, pointed to Suleiman&#8217;s role in the rendition program:</p> <p>Each rendition was authorized at the very top levels of both governments&#8230;.The long-serving chief of the Egyptian central intelligence agency, Omar Suleiman, negotiated directly with top Agency officials. &amp;#160;[Former U.S. Ambassador to Egypt] Walker described the Egyptian counterpart, Suleiman, as &#8220;very bright, very realistic,&#8221; adding that he was cognizant that there was a downside to &#8220;some of the negative things that the Egyptians engaged in,&amp;#160;of torture and so on. But he was not squeamish, by the way&#8221; (pp. 113).</p> <p>Stephen Grey, in <a href="" type="internal">Ghost Plane</a>, his investigative work on the rendition program also points to Suleiman as central in the rendition program: To negotiate these assurances [that the Egyptians wouldn&#8217;t &#8220;torture&#8221; the prisoner delivered for torture] the CIA dealt principally in Egypt through Omar Suleiman, the chief of the Egyptian general intelligence service (EGIS) since 1993. It was he who arranged the meetings with the Egyptian interior ministry&#8230;. Suleiman, who understood English well, was an urbane and sophisticated man. Others told me that for years Suleiman was America&#8217;s chief interlocutor with the Egyptian regime &#8212; the main channel to President Hosni Mubarak himself, even on matters far removed from intelligence and security.</p> <p>Suleiman&#8217;s role, was also highlighted in a <a href="" type="internal">Wikileaks cable</a>:</p> <p>In the context of the close and sustained cooperation between the USG and GOE on counterterrorism, Post believes that the written GOE assurances regarding the return of three Egyptians detained at Guantanamo (reftel) represent the firm commitment of the GOE to adhere to the requested principles. These assurances were passed directly from Egyptian General Intelligence Service (EGIS) Chief Soliman through liaison channels &#8212; the most effective communication path on this issue. General Soliman&#8217;s word is the GOE&#8217;s guarantee, and the GOE&#8217;s track record of cooperation on CT issues lends further support to this assessment. End summary.</p> <p>However, Suleiman wasn&#8217;t just the go-to bureaucrat for when the Americans wanted to arrange a little torture. This &#8220;urbane and sophisticated man&#8221; apparently enjoyed a little rough stuff himself.</p> <p>Shortly after 9/11, Australian citizen Mamdouh Habib was captured by Pakistani security forces and, under US pressure, torture by Pakistanis. He was then rendered (with an Australian diplomats watching) by CIA operatives to Egypt, a not uncommon practice. In Egypt, Habib merited Suleiman&#8217;s personal attention. As related by <a href="" type="internal">Richard Neville</a>, based on Habib&#8217;s memoir:</p> <p>Habib was interrogated by the country&#8217;s Intelligence Director, General Omar Suleiman&#8230;. Suleiman took a personal interest in anyone suspected of links with Al Qaeda. As Habib had visited Afghanistan shortly before&amp;#160; 9/11, he was under suspicion. Habib was repeatedly zapped with high-voltage electricity, immersed in water up to his nostrils, beaten, his fingers were broken and he was hung from metal hooks.</p> <p>That treatment wasn&#8217;t enough for Suleiman, so:</p> <p>To loosen Habib&#8217;s tongue, Suleiman ordered a guard to murder a gruesomely shackled Turkistan prisoner in front of Habib &#8211; and he did, with a vicious karate kick.</p> <p>After Suleiman&#8217;s men extracted Habib&#8217;s confession, he was transferred back to US custody, where he eventually was imprisoned at Guantanamo. His &#8220;confession&#8221; was then used as evidence in his Guantanamo trial.</p> <p>The Washington Post&#8217;s intelligence correspondent Jeff Stein reported <a href="" type="internal">some additional details</a> regarding Suleiman and his important role in the old Egypt the demonstrators are trying to leave behind:</p> <p>&#8220;Suleiman is seen by some analysts as a possible successor to the president,&#8221; the Voice of American said Friday. &#8220;He earned international respect for his role as a mediator in Middle East affairs and for curbing Islamic extremism.&#8221;</p> <p>An editorialist at Pakistan&#8217;s &#8220;International News&#8221; predicted Thursday that &#8220;Suleiman will probably scupper his boss&#8217;s plans [to install his son], even if the aspiring intelligence guru himself is as young as 75.&#8221;</p> <p>Suleiman graduated from Egypt&#8217;s prestigious Military Academy but also received training in the Soviet Union. Under his guidance, Egyptian intelligence has worked hand-in-glove with the CIA&#8217;s counterterrorism programs, most notably in the 2003 rendition from Italy of an al-Qaeda suspect known as Abu Omar.</p> <p>In 2009, Foreign Policy magazine ranked Suleiman as the Middle East&#8217;s most powerful intelligence chief, ahead of Mossad chief Meir Dagan.</p> <p>In an observation that may turn out to be ironic, the magazine wrote, &#8220;More than from any other single factor, Suleiman&#8217;s influence stems from his unswerving loyalty to Mubarak.&#8221;</p> <p>If Suleiman succeeds Mubarak and retains power, we will likely be treated to plaudits for his distinguished credentials from government officials and US pundits.&amp;#160; We should remember that what they really mean is his ability to brutalize and torture. As Stephen Grey puts it:</p> <p>But in secret, men like Omar Suleiman, the country&#8217;s most powerful spy and secret politician, did our work, the sort of work that Western countries have no appetite to do ourselves.</p> <p>If Suleiman receives praise in the US, it will be because our leaders know that he&#8217;s the sort of leader who can be counted on to do what it takes to restore order and ensure that Egypt remains friendly to US interests.</p> <p>We sure hope that the Egyptian demonstrators reject the farce of Suleiman&#8217;s appointment and push on to a complete change of regime. Otherwise the Egyptian torture chamber will undoubtedly return, as a new regime reestablishes &#8220;stability&#8221; and serves US interests.</p> <p><a href="mailto:ssoldz@bgsp.edu" type="external">STEPHEN SOLDZ</a> is a psychoanalyst, psychologist, public health researcher, and faculty member at the <a href="http://www.bgsp.edu/" type="external">Boston Graduate School of Psychoanalysis</a>. He edits the <a href="http://psychoanalystsopposewar.org/blog/" type="external">Psyche, Science, and Society</a> blog. Soldz is a founder of the Coalition for an Ethical Psychology, one of the organizations working to change American Psychological Association policy on participation in abusive interrogations; he served as a psychological consultant on several Gutanamo trials. Currently Soldz is President of <a href="http://psysr.org/" type="external">Psychologists for Social Responsibility</a> [PsySR] and a Consultant to <a href="http://physiciansforhumanrights.org/" type="external">Physicians for Human Rights</a>.</p> <p>&amp;#160;</p> <p />

The Torture Career of Egypt’s New Vice President

https://counterpunch.org/2011/01/31/the-torture-career-of-egypt-s-new-vice-president/

2011-01-31

<p>Another month, another sign that the job market remains unchangingly, distressingly stuck. The official unemployment rate according to just-released figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics is at 9.1%, but that fails to capture the weakness of the overall employment picture. The headline number has been essentially unchanged since April &#8211; and indeed there has been almost no net job creation for the past year. Underneath that number, however, there is a more confusing &#8211; and troubling &#8211; picture.</p> <p>Over the past year, it&#8217;s become ever more clear (or at least it should have become ever more clear) that the United States is ossifying into several different economies. One is the Apple economy of high-tech devices, ample discretionary income, and brave new-world giddiness of social media, interconnectedness and burgeoning global commerce. That economy is best captured by what was, until recently, a different jobs report, the &#8220;Steve Jobs&#8221; of Apple&#8217;s quarterly earnings (which will presumably become the Cook report from now on).</p> <p>The government employment report, however, aka the official jobs report, exposes other realities. That report shows not just 14 million unemployed, but a permanent underclass of underemployed, underpaid, and marginally attached workers. Four million of those 14 have been out of work for more than six months. An additional 2.6 million are &#8220;marginally attached&#8221; to the labor force, meaning they have looked for work, but not as assiduously as the statisticians have deemed necessary and hence aren&#8217;t statistically part of the work force. If part-time and discouraged workers are added in, the &#8220;real&#8221; unemployment rate skyrockets to more than 16 percent.</p> <p>These figures are &#8220;official&#8221; but that doesn&#8217;t make them gospel. They are the product of not just phone surveys and payroll information, but also of myriad revisions and assumptions about the creation and destruction of new business, seasonal factors, and past trends as they apply to present realities. Hence the reason why these numbers are constantly revised in future reports. On the plus side, the surveys do a poor job capturing the cash and underground economies that undoubtedly provide many with sustenance. On the negative side, they fail to account for the fact that many of the 131 million people who are by official definition &#8220;employed&#8221; have jobs that barely keep them at the poverty line.</p> <p>These reports also create a blended average that obscures vast differences. Unemployment is a massive problem for younger people and younger men, and especially young black men. It is not much of a problem for college educated white women. These truths may be uncomfortable in a society that shies away from honest discussions of race and class, but they come through loud and clear in these reports.</p> <p>Unfortunately, the jobs report has become a monthly referendum on not just the health of the American economy but on the political class in Washington. The 2012 election is likely to revolve not around debt or health-care but around employment. In the process, the malaise of the &#8220;economy&#8221; will be magnified, but the strengths will not. That in turn creates its own negative feedback loop of declining confidence and anxiety, which is that much more of a headwind against moving forward.</p> <p>And the fiction that we are all in this together is a further impediment. We have a serious employment problem in the United States that is not a product of economic cycles, but changing economies and global commercial system knit together by technology that privileges capital and only rewards labor if you are in the emerging world. There is an underclass (a word not much used in America since the 1960s) of tens of millions of people in the United States who are on the short end of that stick. Unless that is specifically acknowledged and addressed, &#8220;jobs creation&#8221; is likely to be a will-o&#8217;-the-wisp.</p> <p>At the same time, ignoring the fact that a majority of the country is actually doing fine or thriving doesn&#8217;t help us either. Yes, we live in a body politic, and yes, we cannot claim to be healthy if parts are in dire straits. But a body politic isn&#8217;t quite an actual body. The ways in which we are economically affluent and strong &#8211; and which are indeed reflected in these jobs reports &#8211; has to be part of the equation or else we truly will be unable to address the parts that aren&#8217;t.</p> <p>On that score, the affluence of much of the country is a resource. Pleading collective penury &#8211; as the Tea Party does &#8211; or claiming that the government is broke when interest rates are as low as they&#8217;ve ever been and the world is pouring dollars into U.S. Treasuries is to live in an alternate reality. Companies that are growing 20 percent a year in revenues and sitting on cash have the resources to invest, and government has the ability to spend wisely and constructively to assist that process. But you wouldn&#8217;t know any of that given how the jobs report is used and analyzed.</p> <p>Next week, President Obama will deliver a much-anticipated speech on his plans for jobs creation. The speech will almost certainly be lambasted by the right as too much government and by the left as not enough. But even here, government is a factor, but not the alpha and omega factor that politicians and the political season make us believe. There is no silver-bullet solution to the chronic underemployment of early 21st century America. It is a symptom of a morphing economy and a much more competitive global system. It will require years of transition and money spent somewhere by someone to cushion the worst effects of that for the millions who are caught in that inflection, who cannot magically be retrained and who still need food, clothing and shelter.</p> <p>It will require one other element most missing just now: a full recognition of the strengths of a $15 trillion economy, of the vast resources that the U.S. possesses, and of the fact that we are not even close to using that wisely. Shouting about government as the problem and debt as the cause &#8211; that is more than distracting. It is leading us down a rabbit hole; we are already a ways down, but it can go much deeper.</p>

Jobs Report and Fixing the Crumbling Market

https://thedailybeast.com/jobs-report-and-fixing-the-crumbling-market

2018-10-02

<p><a href="" type="internal" />Gun violence in America &#8211; it&#8217;s so rare, isn&#8217;t it? &amp;#160;But of course, guns have nothing to do with it, right? &amp;#160;I&#8217;m sure if the Florida man who&#8217;s claiming self-defense, after jumping over a fence to shoot his victim, didn&#8217;t have a gun &#8211; he still would have pursued the young man and killed him.</p> <p>Because <a href="http://staugustine.com/news/florida-news/2014-01-21/another-stand-your-ground-case-florida-shooting-suspect-claims-he-was#.Ut7z_nl6j-m" type="external">that&#8217;s what happened</a>. &amp;#160;Basically 32-year-old Claudius Smith decided to play police officer while pursuing 21-year-old Ricardo Sanes who had jumped from his yard, over the fence and into a neighboring apartment complex. &amp;#160;Apparently that&#8217;s where Mr. Smith claims Mr. Sanes was peaking in windows, looked suspicious, and decided to confront him.</p> <p>He then allegedly pulled out his gun (again, this wasn&#8217;t on his property) on Mr. Sanes, prompting the hoodie-wearing man to walk away. &amp;#160;Which then prompted Mr. Smith to grab Mr. Sanes by the hoodie in an attempt to drag him back to his house so he could call the police.</p> <p>Which is what this idiot should have done in the first place.</p> <p>Well, as you can imagine, grabbing someone by the hoodie after you&#8217;ve just pulled a gun on them probably isn&#8217;t going to go too well. &amp;#160;Mr. Sanes then allegedly punched Mr. Smith in the mouth and reached for his gun.</p> <p>I&#8217;m pretty sure you can guess what happens next &#8211; Mr. Smith then shot the victim.</p> <p>Police report finding the 21-year-old victim lying dead in the grass&amp;#160;surrounded by six .45-caliber shell casings.</p> <p>Oh, and according to the early police reports all six shots appear to have entered the victim&#8217;s back and neck. &amp;#160;Apparently, Mr. Smith is claiming those had to be &#8220;exit wounds.&#8221;</p> <p>For the record, a gun was found hidden in the crotch of the victim&#8217;s pants. &amp;#160;Something Mr. Smith admitted he wasn&#8217;t aware of.</p> <p>So, is this a case of &#8220;mental health&#8221; leading to gun violence? &amp;#160;Doesn&#8217;t sound like it to me.</p> <p>To me it sounds like this guy felt &#8220;brave&#8221; owning a gun, identified someone he felt was suspicious and instead of calling the police (like someone who doesn&#8217;t have a gun might do) he decided to &#8220;play cop&#8221; himself. &amp;#160;It sounds to me like he confronted this individual with his gun, grabbing him as he tried to walk away (if that&#8217;s even accurate considering the bullets appear to have entered the victim&#8217;s back) then when the victim supposedly attacked the guy &#8211; he shot him six times.</p> <p>I sense a possible &#8220;stand your ground&#8221; defense coming. &amp;#160;Though I find that incredibly hard to believe.</p> <p>Look, if someone is on your property (or especially in your house) by all means defend yourself. &amp;#160;If they&#8217;re not, call the cops. &amp;#160;Owning a gun doesn&#8217;t give&amp;#160;anyone&amp;#160;(outside of law enforcement) the right to track down and confront someone they think might be a criminal.</p> <p>This is similar to the Trayvon Martin case where Zimmerman tracked, then antagonized the young man into attacking him before finally fatally shooting him.</p> <p>By all accounts, crime in the particular area where Mr. Smith shot his victim was an issue. &amp;#160;Evidence seems to point to the victim indeed being on Mr. Smith&#8217;s property. &amp;#160;But once he left, Smith should have called the police instead of taking the matter into his own hands. &amp;#160;Something I don&#8217;t believe he would have done if he hadn&#8217;t owned a gun.</p> <p>So don&#8217;t tell me all gun violence is a result of mental illness just like I won&#8217;t tell you guns are the only things causing gun violence. &amp;#160;It&#8217;s a combination of many factors that are systemic in our society.</p> <p>And this case of Mr. Smith shooting Mr. Sanes is a perfect example of just that. &amp;#160;Ordinary citizens aren&#8217;t meant to be judge, jury and executioner of people they feel might be threatening them. &amp;#160;There seems to be far too many people who are getting away with murder because suddenly &#8220;self-defense&#8221; is allowing people to chase down their victims because loopholes are being made that allow for such behavior.</p> <p>If we keep going down that path, we&#8217;re pretty much headed straight back to the days of the &#8220;wild west&#8221; when citizens walked around with guns holstered ready to &#8220;deal out justice&#8221; whenever they felt it necessary.</p> <p>It&#8217;ll be interesting to see how this case plays out.</p> <p><a href="" type="internal">Gun Nuts Up In Arms After Hugh Jackman Supports Gun Sense</a></p> <p><a href="" type="internal">Gun Nuts up in arms over man shooting a squirrel in the suburbs</a></p> <p><a href="" type="internal">Florida Jury Hung on Michael Dunn Murder Charge, Finds Him Guilty on Four Other Charges</a></p> <p>0 Facebook comments</p>

Florida Man Claiming Self-Defense After Jumping Over Fence to Shoot 21-Year-Old Wearing Hoodie

http://forwardprogressives.com/florida-man-claiming-self-defense-after-jumping-over-fence-to-shoot-21-year-old-wearing-hoodie/

2014-01-22

<p>The Supreme Administrative Court order to disband the National Democratic Party and confiscate its properties last week was based on the NDP&#8217;s violation of the constitution; namely, monopolising power, preventing legitimate competition from other parties, and allowing corruption by the marriage of business and politics. As the only political force in control of the administration of the country, the NDP allowed powerful businessmen to rise through its ranks and then enact laws and run the country in their personal and corporate interests.</p> <p>What is this scenario but the Western electoral system, governed in the US by what is increasingly known as the Republicrats? Albeit minus the need by corporations and other lobbyists to divide their donations between two look-alike NDPs. It is impossible for a genuine alternative party to gain any traction in this polyarchy, defined by Noam Chomsky as &#8220;a system of elite decision-making and public ratification&#8221;, where elections are rigged, but indirectly &#8212; by media control and their huge cost.</p> <p>Constitutions are mere words on pieces of paper, which real world actors twist to meet their needs. Revolutions ignore these pieces of papers when they no longer reflect the underlying reality. America&#8217;s constitution, treated with great reverence, long ago lost all relevance to what it really going on in the US, with the president declaring multiple wars, serving &#8220;corporate persons&#8221; not citizens, conspiring with foreign powers and individuals to undermine American life &#8212; all in violation of the real meaning of the constitution. The very idea of revolution, as enshrined in the US constitution itself, is now outlawed as &#8220;terrorism&#8221;.</p> <p>As a North American living in Cairo, I wake up every day not quite believing that the revolution actually happened here. That the threadbare constitution was swept aside, and in a matter of days, revised to meet people&#8217;s demands and affirmed in a referendum. That leading politicians and businessmen are being driven to court in their Mercedes and driven away in a Black Marias, as was reported about the ineffectual former prime minister Ahmed Nazif.</p> <p>Nazif was perhaps the least odious of the lot, convicted for colluding with NDP head and Shura Council (upper house) speaker Safwat El-Sherif and Popular Council speaker Fathi Sorour, who amassed huge tracts of land, dozens of villas and apartments, and amended the constitution in 2007 to pave the way for Gamal Mubarak&#8217;s ascension. They have been joined by Mubarak&#8217;s chief of staff Zakariya Azmi, ex-minister of health Hatem El-Gabaly, ex-minister of tourism Zuheir Garana, ex-minister of culture Farouk Hosni and ex-minister of finance Youssef Boutros Ghali.</p> <p>Nazif can now reconvene his cabinet at the Tora prison and hold regular cabinet meetings, so the popular anecdote goes. He, business tycoon Ahmed Ezz and ex-minister of interior Habib El-Adly greeted Gamal Mubarak when he arrived at Tora with the NDP election slogan, &#8220;We are here for you,&#8221; another anecdote has it. Even the first lady Suzanne has not been spared, called for questioning about embezzlement from the Alexandria Library and the annual Reading-for-All festival.</p> <p>And the prospect of ex-president Hosni Mubarak being helicoptered to a military hospital, after defiantly broadcasting a speech on a foreign satellite channel denying the obvious &#8212; that he presided over a police state indulging in an orgy of graft and corruption &#8212; who needs sensational soap operas? I am reminded of some of these soap operas and popular movies, which during the past decade, as corruption ran wild, provided an outlet for the frustrations &#8212; and education &#8212; of Egyptians.</p> <p>To watch once pompous remote leaders being paraded before the mainstream media as criminals is both shocking and inspiring. For who are the role models for the Mubaraks and their Sherifs, but the Bushes and Cheneys? Not so much the slick Clinton or Obama &#8212; these are peculiarly American phenomena, who act masterfully to distract Americans from reality. But who can deny that the Bush dynasty, from banker Prescott through master Cold War intriguer Herbert Walker to the borderline illiterate George W &#8212; all crowned by political high office, the latter with his terrifying Dr Strangelove adviser &#8212; cynically soaked the American people of untold wealth and are responsible for the deaths and/or torture of millions of innocent people?</p> <p>While in office, Mubarak befriended five US presidents from Reagan on and saw how they intrigued, lied, betrayed, stole and emerged unharmed. How they colluded with big corporations to enrich themselves and their families, how the Zionist and military lobbies held them in a vice-like grip, preventing any honest policy of peace, especially in the Middle East. How they denied any wrong-doing, indeed, how arguably the worst offender politically &#8212; Reagan &#8212; is now worshipped as a great president, second in some polls only to John F Kennedy.</p> <p>Is it any wonder he was misled so disastrously by his henchmen to dally in office long past his due-date, confident that his people could be brainwashed by media saturation of stories of his military heroism, impressed by his pharaonic large-than-life royal image? Why shouldn&#8217;t his son inherit the mantle of power, just as the ex-CIA Bush more or less handed his power on to his offspring?</p> <p>That business cronies like Ezz moved into parliament via a political party that prevented any possibility of honest elections is only to emulate the Republicrats. Unblinkered North Americans look on longingly at the spectacle now being acted out in Cairo, for Mubarak is an angel compared to his colleagues in Washington.</p> <p>Even the squeaky-clean Obama has helped his bankers and businessmen continue their economic rape of Americans, and stained his record with the murder of thousands of innocents in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere. When he leaves office (next year or in five years &#8212; what difference does it make?), he will move, as did his predecessors Clinton and Bush, into a world of feel-good preaching, cocktail parties and corporate boardrooms, turning everything he touches into gold.</p> <p>Mubarak&#8217;s fatal error was to ignore the highly sophisticated nature of US politics, where graft and violence are arts carefully honed over many years of electoral slugging matches. It is this sophistication that Egypt lacks, not any innate sense of real democracy, in the sense of respect for others and acknowledgment by rulers of their responsibility to their subjects. It turns out that the so-called undemocratic Egyptian political system, and the supposedly unsophisticated Egyptian people, are in fact light-years ahead of Americans in their political savvy, their sense of moral outrage, their courage in facing down evil and putting a stop to it.</p> <p>Already, Hillary has been seen in Tahrir Square glad-handing hijab-clad mothers, and generously announcing new millions of dollars to support Egyptian democracy, as if the last 30 years hadn&#8217;t happened at all. Pentagon officials are in daily contact with Egyptian officials. But it won&#8217;t necessarily be smooth sailing for corporate democracy to reimpose its stranglehold on Egypt.</p> <p>IMF head Dominique Strauss-Kahn got a rude awakening at a forum in Cairo last week. The revolutionary most feted by the West, Wael Ghonim, invited to appear on a panel in the IMF&#8217;s Egypt headquarters, called the world&#8217;s financial hatchetman and the &#8220;elites&#8221; of the world &#8220;partners in crime&#8221; for supporting Mubarak&#8217;s regime. &#8220;To me what was happening was a crime, not a mistake. A lot of people knew that things were going wrong.&#8221; The implication being that it was the height of hypocrisy for the IMF to pretend it had any concern for Egypt&#8217;s real needs.</p> <p>Egypt&#8217;s Google marketing chief&#8217;s savvy, comparing his attack to Joe-the-plumber&#8217;s grilling of US presidential candidate Barack Obama in 2008, is a yellow flag for the bad guys, whose game might be up. Revolutionary youth refused to meet with Clinton when she came on her pilgrimage to Tahrir. Another storm signal for the empire is the fact that Bush, Rumsfeld and others have had to cancel visits to Europe, fearing arrest for their war crimes. Egypt&#8217;s revolution gives succour to citizens everywhere struggling to return morality to politics.</p> <p>ERIC WALBERG writes for Al-Ahram Weekly <a href="http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/" type="external">http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/.</a> You can reach him at <a href="http://ericwalberg.com" type="external">http://ericwalberg.com</a></p> <p>&amp;#160;</p> <p>&amp;#160;</p> <p /> <p /> <p />

Mubarak’s Fatal Mistake

https://counterpunch.org/2011/04/22/mubarak-s-fatal-mistake/

2011-04-22

<p>Bruins forward David Krejci said he's fine after fans couldn't contain their excitement on Thursday night and dislodged a pane of glass that smashed him across the head and neck, <a href="http://www.nesn.com/2012/04/david-krejci-misses-practice-with-sore-neck-after-being-hit-by-falling-glass-expected-to-play-in-gam.html" type="external">NESN</a>reported.</p> <p>Krejci and his teammates celebrated after beating the Washington Capitals in overtime in Game 1 of their NHL playoff game at TD Gardens.</p> <p>As the Bruins celebrated behind the Capitals' net, fans began pounding on the glass above the boards. One of the panes fell and knocked Krejci to the ice.</p> <p>"I didn't expect that would happen," Krejci told NESN. "I have a little sore neck, but other than that I'm good and I'll play (Saturday)."</p> <p>Krejci missed Bruins' practice on Friday as a precaution, the <a href="http://bostonglobe.com/sports/2012/04/13/david-krejci-likely-play-after-freak-incident/1MvKKyShdjiqy4s7VwgcxO/story.html" type="external">Boston Globe</a>said.</p> <p>Coach Claude Julien said the team is fortunate nothing more happened.</p> <p>"With the weight of that glass, it could have been a lot worse," Julien told the Globe. "It could have been a lot more damaging, but he's fine. We probably dodged a bullet there."</p> <p>The whole building erupted after Chris Kelly scored for a 1-0 victory.</p> <p>The players all left the bench to celebrate with Kelly behind Washington's goal.</p> <p>Krejci, a 25-year-old Czech Republic native, did need stiches on his face after the game, but that was from an earlier high-sticking incident.</p> <p>Bruins goalie Tim Thomas was near Krejci when the glass struck him.</p> <p>"I thought it came down on his leg," Thomas said, the <a href="http://www.torontosun.com/2012/04/13/krejci-survives-glass-landing" type="external">Toronto Sun</a> reported. "I was concerned because I saw his leg under there. I had no idea it came down on his head."</p> <p /> <p /> <p>More from GlobalPost: <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/europe/120213/3d-printing-stepping-stone-creating-human-tissue-and-body-parts" type="external">Your body parts, made to order</a></p>

Bruins fans bust glass; Krejci survives fallout (VIDEO)

https://pri.org/stories/2012-04-13/bruins-fans-bust-glass-krejci-survives-fallout-video

2012-04-13

<p>This week on Capitol Hill, lawmakers passed a continuing budget resolution and prevented a government shutdown &#8212; for now. Also on this edition of &#8220;Left, Right &amp;amp; Center,&#8221; we have speculation about Newt Gingrich&#8217;s bid for White House glory, budget battles in Wisconsin and Ohio, and turmoil in Libya. A spirited discussion ensues among show regulars Matt Miller and Robert Scheer and special guests Jennifer Rubin and Ed Kilgore. Tune in below. &#8211;KA</p> <p>KCRW:</p>

'Left, Right & Center': Budget Showdowns, Libya, Newt in 2012?

https://truthdig.com/articles/left-right-center-budget-showdowns-libya-newt-in-2012/

2011-03-05

<p /> <p>Patrick JB Flynn, this year&#8217;s winner of the Richard Gangel Award at the Society of Illustrators (to be given March 28 at the SI). This award, for distinguished achievement in design, with special appreciation for illustration and illustrators, has previously been won by Fred Woodward, Steve Heller, and Rita Marshall. Nice company. This award has extra meaning, as I see it. Patrick devoted his career at the Progressive to the idea of advancing illustration as important political commentary. He worked tirelessly to protect artists, giving them more freedom and getting greater results. He was continually helping young artists along and giving established ones the chance to experiment. In fact, his defense of illustration ultimately cost him his job at the magazine. To us he is one of our own. So here&#8217;s to you, Patrick. In a time of potential political reawakening, your work reminds us of a standard that you set that we can all still reach for.</p> <p />

Brodner’s Person of the Day: Patrick JB Flynn

https://motherjones.com/politics/2008/03/brodners-person-day-patrick-jb-flynn/

2008-03-07

<p>Do Americans agree with Donald Trump that the political system is "rigged"? According to a new Politico/Morning Consult poll, an increasingly larger number do.</p> <p>"The American electorate has turned deeply skeptical about the integrity of the nation's election apparatus, with 41 percent of voters saying November's election could be 'stolen' from Donald Trump due to widespread voter fraud," reports <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2016/10/poll-41-percent-of-voters-say-the-election-could-be-stolen-from-trump-229871#ixzz4NMwQwIXQ" type="external">Politico</a>.</p> <p>Morning Consult surveyed nearly 2,000 registered voters and found that a strong majority of Republicans, 73 percent, now believe the election could be unfairly taken from him. Voter fraud concerns are far less prevalent among Democrats, only 17 percent of whom believe fraud might determine the outcome of the election. However a total of 60 percent of respondents agree that it's "necessary to raise questions about the accuracy of the election results, because the election could be compromised by voter fraud or a foreign government."</p> <p>Overall, only 28 percent of all registered voters feel "very confident" that their votes will be counted accurately, including 44 percent of Clinton supporters and only 15 percent of Trump supporters. The same percentage of Trump supporters say they are "not at all confident" that their votes will be properly counted, while 9 percent overall share that pessimism.</p> <p>Rather than the widespread <a href="" type="internal">reports of voter fraud</a> that have been circulating over the last few months, Politico blames the increased skepticism about the election on Trump's "rigged" mantra, which he has been hammering more than ever in recent weeks:</p> <p>The public sentiment is beginning to reflect Trump's campaign message. Over the last week, the GOP nominee has intensified his criticism of the U.S. electoral system, much to the chagrin of elected Republicans, who think it threatens the peaceful transfer of power. Trump calls the process rigged, and has said the media is colluding with Hillary Clinton to throw the presidential race in her favor.</p> <p>Morning Consult also asked voters how they felt about the media's role in the election and found that 60 percent of Republicans believe it is biased against Trump, while 33 percent overall felt that way.</p> <p>As for the national election, Morning Consult got similar results with the other national polls, finding Clinton ahead by about 5 percent and Democrats leading in the generic ballot:</p> <p>In the POLITICO/Morning Consult poll, which included interviews with 1,737 likely voters, Clinton is beating Trump by 5 percentage points in a two-way race, 46 percent to 41 percent. In the four-way contest, Clinton is beating Trump 42 percent to 36 percent, with 10 percent supporting Gary Johnson and 3 percent supporting Jill Stein.</p> <p>Voters favor Democrats for Congress, as they lead the GOP, 45 percent to 38 percent, in the generic ballot test.</p>

'Rigged' Poll: How Many Voters Now Think the Election Could Be 'Stolen' from Trump?

https://dailywire.com/news/10019/rigged-poll-how-many-voters-now-think-election-james-barrett

2016-10-17

<p>Late Tuesday night, Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) and Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) announced that they had come to an agreement on a budget deal, ending negotiations begun as part of the agreement to re-open the government in October. The deal still has to be passed by the House and Senate and then implemented by appropriations committees by January 15. Here&#8217;s what you need to know about what&#8217;s in the Murray-Ryan agreement:</p> <p>It increases spending levels to partially undo sequestration: Without a deal, another round of automatic sequestration cuts were set to take place at the beginning of next year, and they would have <a href="" type="internal">brought more damage</a> than they did this year. The deal partially repeals those cuts for fiscal years 2014 and 2015. Under sequestration, discretionary spending would have been capped at $967 billion next year, but with this agreement it would instead be set at $1.012 trillion next year and <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/11/us/politics/party-leaders-indicate-deal-is-reached-on-budget.html" type="external">$1.014 trillion</a> in 2015. That includes $63 billion in relief from sequestration split evenly between defense and non-defense programs, setting defense discretionary spending for 2014 at $520.5 billion, or <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/house-senate-negotiators-reach-budget-deal/2013/12/10/e7ee1aaa-61eb-11e3-94ad-004fefa61ee6_story_1.html" type="external">a $2 billion increase</a> over last year, and non-defense spending at $491.8 billion, a $22 billion increase. Such a funding level would mean &#8220;nearly erasing&#8221; sequestration cuts for the Pentagon, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/11/us/politics/party-leaders-indicate-deal-is-reached-on-budget.html" type="external">according to the New York Times</a>. The deal also extends a 2 percent cut to Medicare from sequestration, which should alleviate the cuts to other non-defense programs.</p> <p>But the deal doesn&#8217;t appear to address the cuts that ravaged many programs this year. In a statement, Kris Perry, executive director of the First Five Years Fund, said, &#8220;While the deal addresses some future impacts of sequestration on Head Start, it can&#8217;t do anything to undo the damage to the <a href="" type="internal">57,000 young children</a> who were deprived of the opportunity to attend a Head Start program due to sequestration.&#8221; Other people were kicked out of programs, including <a href="" type="internal">Meals on Wheels</a>, <a href="" type="internal">Section 8 housing voucher assistance</a>, and <a href="" type="internal">homelessness assistance</a>. Some schools <a href="" type="internal">had to close</a> and some scientists had to <a href="" type="internal">halt their research projects</a> or fire staff.</p> <p>It raises some revenues as an offset, but none through the tax code: The deal raises $65 billion in additional revenue to offset the higher spending levels that ease sequestration, but none of it comes through higher taxes. Instead, it comes from <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/house-senate-negotiators-reach-budget-deal/2013/12/10/e7ee1aaa-61eb-11e3-94ad-004fefa61ee6_story_1.html" type="external">$12.6 billion in higher security fees for air travelers</a>, $8 billion from having federal workers pay higher premiums for private pensions, $6 billion in lower payments to student loan collectors, and $3 billion in savings from not completely refilling the strategic petroleum reserves. The higher pension payments would be split evenly between military retirees, who would see lower cost of living increases for those between age 40 and 62, and civilian workers who start after the end of the year, who would have to contribute 1.3 percent more to their retirement funds. Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/house-senate-negotiators-reach-budget-deal/2013/12/10/e7ee1aaa-61eb-11e3-94ad-004fefa61ee6_story_1.html" type="external">told the Washington Post</a> that current federal workers wouldn&#8217;t be affected.</p> <p>The extension of the 2 percent cut to Medicare providers, which will last through 2023, would also bring in revenue. In all, the agreement would reduce the deficit by between $20 and $23 billion.</p> <p>It avoids one crisis but not another: The deal would avoid another government shutdown early next year by funding the government through 2015. But it doesn&#8217;t address the debt limit, which will have to be raised sometime in late February or March. The agreement to end the government shutdown suspended the debt limit until February 7. Republicans have <a href="" type="internal">repeatedly pushed</a> the government to the brink of crisis to made a <a href="" type="internal">variety of demands</a>.</p> <p>It leaves some issues unresolved: Democrats had suggested they might push to include an extension of unemployment benefits in the deal, but it doesn&#8217;t make an appearance in the Murray-Ryan plan. Without Congressional action, <a href="" type="internal">1.3 million people</a> who have been out of work for about six months or longer will abruptly lose unemployment insurance by the end of the year. The states cut off benefits around 26 weeks, so the federal government has reauthorized a program to extend them past that point 11 times. A failure to extend the benefits won&#8217;t just hurt <a href="" type="internal">those who rely on them</a>, but will also cost the economy as many as <a href="" type="internal">240,000 jobs</a> and 0.4 percent of GDP.</p> <p>Meanwhile, those hoping for a grand bargain will have to look to the future for hope of cutting or reforming entitlement programs like Social Security or Medicare and for a comprehensive overhaul of the tax code. And Congress still has to resolve a fight over the farm bill and <a href="" type="internal">how much they want to cut</a> the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or food stamps, by the end of year deadline.</p> <p>Its future is not certain: The deal now has to pass in the House and Senate, with the House expected to take it up first. But it&#8217;s not clear how it will fare. Some House Republicans had written a letter to their leadership ahead of the deal <a href="" type="internal">urging them to keep sequestration in place</a>, and in the Senate Marco Rubio (R-FL) has already <a href="http://www.rubio.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=1648d927-4a35-4fbd-9e9e-89d3e2d67631" type="external">come out against the deal</a>. A handful of other Republicans have previously <a href="" type="internal">voiced their support</a> for sequestration. The deal was also condemned by conservative groups such as the <a href="http://blog.heritage.org/2013/12/11/3-things-you-need-to-know-about-congressional-budget-deal/" type="external">Heritage Foundation</a> and <a href="http://americansforprosperity.org/newsroom/afp-responds-to-announced-murray-ryan-budget-deal/" type="external">Americans for Prosperity</a>.</p>

What You Need To Know About The Budget Deal

http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2013/12/11/3047471/murray-ryan-budget-deal/

2013-12-11

<p /> <p>RUSH: This is Kurt Schlichter at Townhall. The title of his piece is &#8220; <a href="https://townhall.com/columnists/kurtschlichter/2017/09/25/conservative-inc-is-being-replaced-by-us-militant-normals-n2385943" type="external">Conservative, Inc., Is Being Replaced by Us Militant Normals</a>.&#8221;</p> <p>Let me tell you what this column is about. The &#8220;conservative movement,&#8221; quote-unquote, has always been thought of to be a specific, certain thing with membership of specific, identifiable individuals. And it was always thought that there was unity within the conservative movement because conservatism is a set of principles and core beliefs and values &#8212; and if you ascribe to them, you&#8217;re a conservative; if you don&#8217;t, you&#8217;re not. Well, that isn&#8217;t the case anymore.</p> <p>Conservatism has been butchered. It has been redefined as people seeking to lead the movement wish to define it. Conservatism has become exclusionary. In other words, some of the big-time leaders of the so-called conservative movement &#8212; and I mean in their minds, the leaders &#8212; have decided to say that certain people aren&#8217;t conservatives even though you might think they are and certain people are. One of the litmus tests was Trump. At first, it was impossible for any &#8220;real&#8221; conservative to support Trump.</p> <p>And if you did, then you were betraying conservatism, and you were betraying everybody who believed in you as a conservative. There was widespread fear, disgust, and anger over Trump, because Trump became as popular as conservatives really want to be. Conservatives, I think, would love to have the kind of popularity Trump had during the campaign. But they haven&#8217;t had it. Reagan did, but there are few beyond Reagan that have. But many of them have sought it. Trump came along and appropriated some of the conservative agenda. Not all of it.</p> <p>The parts of the conservative agenda that he appropriated, the leaders of the conservative movement thought that Trump butchered. And they felt very, very frightened and scared that Trump was going to ruin conservatism by redefining it as populism and that many people were gonna the end up thinking they were conservative when they really, really weren&#8217;t. When they really, really were populists. So the leaders of conservatism &#8212; and these are self-anointed people, by the way. They publish magazines; they run blogs; they run websites.</p> <p>Many of them are media related. Many of them live off donors &#8212; a very conservative thing to do. Ahem. Ahem! But nevertheless, they are self-appointed, and they were sitting there deciding who was and wasn&#8217;t and is and isn&#8217;t a conservative. So Mr. Schlichter comes along here and breaks this down and unpacks it for us. &#8220;Conservative, Inc., Is Being Replaced by Us Militant Normals.&#8221; Let me give you a pull quote here. This is the kind of thing if you were gonna highlight this to send to somebody, I&#8217;d have to highlight the whole thing.</p> <p>But nevertheless, here&#8217;s a pull quote: &#8220;Who are the normals? The Americans who built this country, and defended it. When you eat, it&#8217;s because a normal grew the food and another normal trucked it to you. When you aren&#8217;t murdered in the street or don&#8217;t speak German, it&#8217;s because a normal with a gun made those things not happen. We normals don&#8217;t want to rule over others. We don&#8217;t obsess about how you live your life, but also we don&#8217;t want to be compelled to signal our approval or pick up the tab. We are every color and creed &#8212; though when someone who is incidentally a member of some other group aligns with normals, he/she/xe loses that identity.</p> <p>&#8220;The left drums normals who are black out of its definition of &#8216;black,&#8217; just as normal women get drummed out of womanhood and normal gays get drummed out gayhood. In a way, the left is making E pluribus unum a reality again &#8212; to choose to be normal is to choose to reject silly identity group identification and unite. Instead of saying &#8216;normal Americans,&#8217; you can just say &#8216;Americans.&#8217; Note that while leftists rail against the term &#8216;normals&#8230;'&#8221; Mr. Schlichter says, &#8220;When I use it on Twitter, the reactions are always delightful!&#8221;</p> <p>You know what I mean when I say normal American, don&#8217;t you? Many of you in this audience consider yourselves normal Americans, and you know that because you&#8217;re normal you&#8217;re under assault, because not everybody is normal. There&#8217;s some oddballs out there. There&#8217;s some freaks and kooks. And you know who they are. They know who they are. But they don&#8217;t want to be considered freaks and kooks, so they attack you so that you can&#8217;t be normal.</p> <p>You can&#8217;t say there&#8217;s a normal. &#8220;We&#8217;re a melting pot. We are a diverse, giant melting pot of all kinds of different things, and there is no normal.&#8221; And you who think you&#8217;re normal are gonna be attacked. And that is part and parcel of what&#8217;s going on. &#8220;Militant normalcy is the result of normal people roused to anger and refusing to be pushed around anymore.&#8221;</p> <p>Mr. Schlichter writes, &#8220;We prefer a free society based on personal liberty and mutual respect. But if you leftists veto that option, that leaves us either a society where you rule and oppress us, or one where we hold the power. So let me break this down, both for the left and for their fussy Fredocon enablers: You don&#8217;t get to win.&#8221;</p> <p>Those are pull quotes. Here&#8217;s the beginning. &#8220;I guess now we&#8217;re not supposed to be fighting culture wars anymore &#8212; man, it&#8217;s so hard to keep up with these ever-changing new rules! I&#8217;m old enough to remember way back to 2016, before Trump got nominated, and I could have sworn Conservative Inc. &#8211;&#8221; the conservative movement run by the conservative elitists, &#8220;&#8211; was gung-ho for the whole culture war thing. But then Trump actually fought it, taking on the big, soft target that is the spoiled, semi-literate athletes who like to rub their contempt for the flag we love in our faces. Now we suddenly discover that fighting back is horribly uncouth,&#8221; and it&#8217;s just not done. Fighting back is so, so messy.</p> <p>But conservative Inc., oh, yeah, they were all for fighting the culture war on the page, in the think tank, from the podium. But don&#8217;t really do it. Don&#8217;t actually go out there and actually fight the culture war against the left. That&#8217;s so messy.</p> <p>&#8220;I would have thought from all those cruise panels about how our crumbling culture is slouching toward Babylon and the need to resist the liberal onslaught that maybe we ought to actually resist the liberal onslaught, but see, that was my mistake. I took it seriously when Conservative, Inc., promised to fight the leftist blitzkrieg against normal Americans. It was all a scam, a lie, a pose for us rubes. The Tru Cons didn&#8217;t actually mean it. There&#8217;s a lot of that not meaning it going on in the GOP right now.</p> <p>&#8220;Exhibit A is John McCain, who ran ads touting how he was leading the way in opposing Obamacare only to give it aid and comfort when someone in the White House would actual sign its repeal. He&#8217;s the guy the establishment designated to lose to Barack Obama in 2008, and he was sure up to the task. But in retrospect, thank goodness, because McCain&#8217;s inevitable presidential betrayal of conservatives by breaking his word then and treating GOP voters like he treated his first wife would have done exponentially more damage to conservatism than Trump being prevented from keeping his word today ever could.&#8221;</p> <p><a href="https://townhall.com/columnists/kurtschlichter/2017/09/25/conservative-inc-is-being-replaced-by-us-militant-normals-n2385943" type="external" />Did you follow that? Just checking. Because that&#8217;s quite a hard-hitting statement, that McCain and his betrayal of conservatism is so routine and profound that had he ever been president he would have done more damage to conservatism than Trump could ever hope to. We move on.</p> <p>&#8220;It&#8217;s so good to know that, despite his wonderful, close, awesome friend humiliating him while lying to Arizona&#8217;s voters, Lindsey Graham is still the blue falcon&#8217;s buddy. No hard feelings! There used to be a thing called &#8216;conservatism,&#8217; and I knew it pretty well since I was part of it for about a third of a century. But conservatism changed, becoming less about principles and more about money-grubbing navel gazing and intellectual onanism.&#8221;</p> <p>Do you know what onanism is? It&#8217;s masturbation. You might want to pronounce it onanism. You might want to pronounce it onanism. I guess onanism makes the point. So now that you know what the word means, let me reread the sentence, okay?</p> <p>&#8220;But conservatism changed, becoming less about principles and more about money-grubbing navel gazing and intellectual onanism. Actual Republican voters, actual normal Americans? Well, they became kind of beside the point in the tumbler-klinking world of the John Boehnercons, and to the corporate-friendly compassioncons who put the interests of everyone else ahead of the GOP voters who voted the establishment in.</p> <p>&#8220;Conservativism forgot about the real world conservatives we expected to line up behind us. While we were talking about free trade, we were ignoring that GOP voter who fought in Fallujah, came home, got a job building air conditioners, raised a family, and then one day watched the video of the oh-so-sorry CEO &#8212; who looked remarkably like Mitt Romney, because all these guys look remarkably like Mitt Romney &#8212; sadly informing his beloved employees that their jobs were getting shipped to Oaxaca. And our response to the 58-year old Republican voter who asked us how he was going to keep paying for his mortgage and his kid in college? Pretty much, &#8216;Well, that&#8217;s how free enterprise works. Read some Milton Freidman,'&#8221; and go learn something.</p> <p>I gotta take a break here. But you get the gist of it. It&#8217;s an unveiled attack on the phoniness and the pretentiousness of what Mr. Schlichter thinks is the conservative movement. Conservative, Inc., they write, they speak, they talk, but when it comes time to doing, you can&#8217;t tell &#8217;em apart from the others in the establishment.</p> <p>BREAK TRANSCRIPT</p> <p>RUSH: Limited time here. Let me stick with this. Because it goes on, it prints out to like three or four pages. &#8220;Conservativism forgot about the real world conservatives we expected to line up behind us. While we were talking about free trade, we were ignoring that GOP voter who fought in Fallujah, came home, got a job building air conditioners, raised a family, and then one day watched the video of the oh-so-sorry CEO &#8230; sadly informing his beloved employees that their jobs were getting shipped to Oaxaca. And our response to the 58-year old Republican voter who asked us how he was going to keep paying for his mortgage and his kid in college? Pretty much, &#8216;Well, that&#8217;s how free enterprise works. Read some Milton Freidman,'&#8221; go read some theory. Go read some philosophy. It&#8217;s how it works.</p> <p>Schlichter writes, &#8220;That&#8217;s not a response, not for a political party that requires people to actually vote for it. That&#8217;s an abdication, but what did Conservative, Inc., care? Priorities! &#8216;There&#8217;s this new tapas place in Georgetown everyone is talking about &#8212; the other night, my buddy from the Liberty Freedom Eagle Institute for Liberty, Freedom and Eagles saw Lawrence O&#8217;Donnell there getting hammered!'&#8221;</p> <p>His point here is that the conservative movement, for lack of a better term, has actually become an intellectual enterprise, an intellectual exercise that does not engage in any warrior-like activity to change anything, does not actually ever see the battlefield, just comments on it, approvingly or disapprovingly of other conservatives and is largely unhelpful. Mr. Schlichter feels betrayed by them, and that&#8217;s the point of his piece. He explains why these people now vote Trump and not for conservative GOP.</p>

What Happened to the Conservative Movement?

https://rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2017/09/26/what-happened-to-the-conservative-movement/

2017-09-26

<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p> <p /> <p>The former Lobo set a Texans record with three interceptions in a 20-0 victory, redeeming himself for giving up decisive touchdown passes in the previous two games.</p> <p>&#8220;It was a great feeling,&#8221; Quin said. &#8220;These last two weeks have been super tough, the things we didn&#8217;t do as a team, the things I didn&#8217;t do as an individual. To be able to come out and put together a game like this, and get the results that we got and not only get the win, but get the shutout. It was just a great day.&#8221;</p> <p>The Texans (5-6) snapped a four-game losing streak with their first shutout since 2004. During the skid, Quin had become a symbol of the NFL&#8217;s worst-ranked pass defense.</p> <p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> <p>Two weeks ago, he batted a desperation pass into the waiting hands of Jacksonville&#8217;s Mike Thomas, who stepped across the goal line for the winning score in Houston&#8217;s 31-24 loss to the Jaguars. Last week, Santonio Holmes beat Quin on the go-ahead TD to complete the New York Jets&#8217; rally in a 30-27 victory.</p> <p>Quin struggled to maintain his confidence and on top of that, he found out last Monday that he broke his right hand in the Jets&#8217; game. He fell back on his Christian faith and was determined to keep playing, believing that his luck would eventually change.</p> <p>&#8220;I knew it was going to come through eventually,&#8221; he said.</p> <p>Quin and the Texans caught a break last week when the Titans (5-6) were forced to start rookie Rusty Smith, a sixth-round draft pick.</p> <p>After giving up at least 24 points in each of its first 10 games, Houston&#8217;s defense dominated from the start. Quin then reversed its own fortunes on the first play of the second quarter, picking off Smith&#8217;s underthrown pass to Nate Washington. It was Quin&#8217;s first career interception.</p> <p>Quin added two more picks in the fourth quarter. While Andre Johnson&#8217;s fistfight with Tennessee cornerback Cortland Finnegan got most of the postgame attention, Quin couldn&#8217;t hide his joy as he fielded reporters&#8217; questions.</p> <p>&#8220;It just feels good to know that through it all, just keep believing, keep trusting in God, and good things will happen,&#8221; Quin said. &#8220;I knew through the whole situation that it was a test. I didn&#8217;t know what the lesson was. I still don&#8217;t really know, but I just believe that through it all, just keep your head up, keep fighting, keep believing and grinding and good things will happen.&#8221;</p> <p>Houston coach Gary Kubiak joked that maybe Quin should&#8217;ve been playing with a broken hand earlier in the season.</p> <p>&#8220;It must have just leveled things out or something,&#8221; Kubiak cracked. &#8220;He is a great kid. He plays very hard. He came off a humbling experience in Jacksonville. He handled it like a man, and good things happen to people that just keep battling and stay after it and that&#8217;s what he&#8217;s all about. I&#8217;m very proud of him.&#8221;</p> <p>Quin said his hand was &#8220;really, really sore&#8221; on Monday, but he never wore a cast during practices last week. He never doubted that he would play on Sunday.</p> <p>&#8220;I feel like I always can play unless my legs are broken,&#8221; he said.</p> <p>&amp;#160;</p>

Ex-Lobo Quin Gains Some Redemption

https://abqjournal.com/233218/ex-lobo-quin-gains-some-redemption.html

<p>Photo by Ryan J. Reilly | <a href="" type="internal">CC BY 2.0</a></p> <p>My sense of anticipation was hyped. Robert Mueller had just indicted the Russian troll farm known as the Internet Research Agency, along with several of the trolls who had slaved tirelessly from their cyber-cubicles in St. Petersburg in a plot to despoil American democracy. Having recently survived a hit-and-run collision with a suspected Russian troll, who had recklessly driven the internet highways using a false ID ( <a href="" type="internal">Alice Donovan</a>), I was eager to see what the former FBI man had uncovered.</p> <p>My appetite was further whetted by an NBC News producer who proclaimed the Mueller indictment &#8220;one of the most important political documents in US history.&#8221; Right up there with the Monroe Doctrine, the majority opinion in Plessy v. Ferguson, and the Starr Report, I suppose.</p> <p>I greedily downloaded a pdf of the 33-page filing, expecting to finally get answers to questions that had been nagging me for months, such as: How could the Russians have been so sloppy as to get caught with their hands in Trump&#8217;s pockets? Did they believe Trump was smart enough to effectively collude with them? Did they really think Hillary needed any help blowing a sure thing? And, most importantly,&amp;#160;what was Alice Donovan&#8217;s real name?</p> <p>I was quickly disappointed. The Mueller indictment doesn&#8217;t charge any collusion between Trump and the Russians. In fact, it doesn&#8217;t even mention the word. Mueller also doesn&#8217;t draw any direct links between the troll farm in St. Petersburg and the Putin government in Moscow. And, most significantly, Mueller doesn&#8217;t allege that any of the nefarious trolling had the slightest &#8220;Butterfly effect&#8221; on the outcome of the 2016 elections. If there&#8217;s a conspiracy here, it&#8217;s looking more and more likely to be a conspiracy of dunces. Since there are many, many dunces in the White House, it&#8217;s still too early to rule out future charges against Team Trump. Thankfully, lack of evidence for collusion isn&#8217;t lack of evidence for criminal stupidity.</p> <p>As reading material, the Mueller indictment failed to offer any of the narrative thrills contained in the Steele Dossier. This is not a &#8220;dirty indictment.&#8221; In fact, it was hard to detect where the slapstick ended and the crimes began. The document can be neatly summarized as: they came, they saw, they tweeted&#8211;tweeting out mostly links to stories in the New York Times, Washington Post and, deliciously, <a href="https://lawandcrime.com/legal-analysis/msnbc-host-joy-ann-reid-was-apparently-russian-trolls-favorite-pundit/" type="external">267 retweets of posts</a> by Joy Ann Reid, one of MSDNC&#8217;s apex Russian witch-hunters. But to what end? The Russian infiltrators seem to have gotten their degrees in espionage from a mail-order school, perhaps Trump University. Disoriented by the complexities of the electoral college system, they had to be advised by an American contact that they should concentrate their meddlesome activities on the &#8220;purple states.&#8221;</p> <p>In one episode, the Russian trolls hired a group of Americans to stand in front of the White House with signs that read: &#8220;Happy Birthday &#8230; Dear Boss!&#8221; The special prosecutor infers seditious intent from this photo-op, but c&#8217;mon, Mueller, since when is it a crime to pay tribute to Springsteen? Consult Chris Christie.</p> <p>In another caper, the Russian interlopers employed an actress to portray HRC in a prison uniform. In other words, it seems like the Russians were instituting the first real jobs program America has seen since the Johnson administration. What if the Russians meddled and unemployment went down and wages rose? Will Kamala Harris and Elizabeth Warren engage in a bidding war to hire &#8220; <a href="https://www.economist.com/news/europe/21737141-kremlin-dismisses-charges-it-meddled-election-one-accused" type="external">Putin&#8217;s chef</a>&#8221; as their campaign manager in 2020?</p> <p>Let&#8217;s try to put the troll offensive in context. The 2016 presidential elections were the most expensive in history, with both parties spending a combined $2.4 billion. Of this, the Clinton and Trump campaigns bought $81 million worth of advertising on Facebook. Contrast this with the $100,000 the Russians spent on Facebook ad buys. In the battleground states, Russian Facebook ad buys totaled $300 in Pennsylvania, $832 in Michigan, and $1979 in Wisconsin, all but $54 of that before the primary. If this amounted to subversion, it was definitely subversion on the cheap.</p> <p>In the wake of the Mueller indictment, the normally restrained David Axelrod joined the attack on Jill Stein as a Trojan Horse for the Trump/Putin ticket, suggesting that her 50,000 votes in Michigan helped turn the election. He fails to note that this was a fairly dismal showing for the Greens there. In 2000, Nader garnered 84,000 votes in Michigan with no help from Russian trolls, elves or orcs.</p> <p>It&#8217;s instructive to compare the 2000 and 2016 campaigns. Both came after 8 years of a Democratic administration, which promised peace but delivered new wars (Kosovo, Libya). Both also featured two historically unpopular major party candidates. Both were decided by the Electoral College overriding the popular vote. The battleground states in both elections remained largely the same: the industrial Midwest and Florida.</p> <p>What role did the third-party candidates play in the two elections? In Michigan, Nader garnered 84,165 votes and the Libertarian Harry Browne garnished 16,711 votes. Sixteen years later, Stein only won 51,463 votes, while Libertarian Gary Johnson received 172,163 votes. In total, the Greens lost 33,000 votes (most to HRC) and the Libertarians gained 155,000 votes (largely from Trump). The total swing was 188,000 votes favoring HRC and she still lost.</p> <p>In formerly progressive Wisconsin, Nader got 94,070 votes and Browne received only 6,640 votes. In 2016, Stein could only amass 30,980 votes in the state of LaFollette, while Gary Johnson grabbed 106,444 votes. The total swing of votes favoring Hillary from 2000 was 163,000 and she still ended up losing by 27,000 votes.</p> <p>In Pennsylvania, Nader managed 103,392 votes, while Harry Browne scrambled up 11,248. In 2016, Stein received 48,920 votes, while Gary Johnson pulled in 142,653, for a total swing in HRC&#8217;s favor of 185,000 votes. She still lost by 68,000 votes.</p> <p>In the decisive state of Florida, Nader famously captured 97,488 votes, while Harry Browne made one of his better showings with 16,415 votes. In 2016, Stein got 64,000 votes, while Johnson piled up 206,000. The total swing in Florida favored HRC by 223,000 votes. Yet, Hillary lost by 113,000 votes.</p> <p>In the four battleground states (WI, FL, PN, MI) lost by HRC, the swing of Green and Libertarian voters from 2000 to 2016 in HRC&#8217;s favor totaled more than 760,000 votes. What does it mean? Johnson was the best third party candidate since Nader, Stein was a non-factor, Trump was an awful candidate and HRC was the worst candidate in modern history. Hillary had all of the advantages and still lost, with no help from Jill Stein or the Russians. In fact, if she hadn&#8217;t been running against Trump, Hillary would have been routed in all of these states. Blame her loss on Obama. His voters took a close look at all the candidates and prudently decided to stay home.</p> <p>Why did the Greens underperform? Part of it has to do with the limitations of Jill Stein as political candidate. Mostly, though, it was the result of Bernie Sanders, who lured hundreds of thousands of potential Green voters to his insurgent campaign and then convinced most of them to cast a painful vote for Hillary.</p> <p>Now as Sanders plots his 2020 run, the senator is swiftly moving to Hillary&#8217;s right on the matter of Russia. (Who knew there was any space left to occupy on that wing?) &amp;#160;Appearing on the Sunday talk shows, Sanders lashed out at Trump for not taking the Russian threat seriously.&amp;#160;&#8220;Russia interfered in &#8216;16 and they&#8217;re going to interfere in 2018,&#8221; Sanders fumed. &#8220;This is a huge deal and that we don&#8217;t have a president speaking out on this issue is a horror show.&#8221;</p> <p>Then Sanders, the resurgent Cold Warrior, turned on Clinton, blaming her campaign for not making Russian meddling more of an issue during the election.&amp;#160;&#8220;The real question to be asked is what was the Clinton campaign [doing about Russian interference]?&#8221; Sanders said. &#8220;They had more information about this than we did.&#8221;</p> <p>This is the way infant revolutions succumb to crib death.</p> <p>Roaming Charges</p> <p>+&amp;#160;Trump plans&amp;#160; <a href="" type="internal">late-term abortion</a> of the Korean Olympic reconciliation&#8230;</p> <p>+ Rex Tillerson said this week that the US will <a href="" type="internal">not contribute any money toward the reconstruction</a> of Iraq in the wake of the war on ISIS.&amp;#160;So much for that Pottery Barn Rule; it&#8217;s back to the Tacitus Rule: &#8220;We made a wasteland and called it peace.&#8221;</p> <p>+&amp;#160;Trump: &#8220;A gun-free school is a magnet for bad actors.&#8221; Read that again. And again.</p> <p>+ Trump says he&#8217;s &#8220; <a href="" type="internal">thinking about</a>&#8221; pulling ICE out of California in retaliation to the state&#8217;s sanctuary cities policies. Don&#8217;t think about it, Donald, just do it!</p> <p>+ South Carolina is moving swiftly to combat the real threat to public schools &#8230; <a href="" type="internal">baggy pants</a>.</p> <p>+ Reacting to the slaughter in Parkland, Florida, GOP Rep. Claudia Tenney sighed that <a href="" type="internal">&#8220;so many&#8221; mass murderer</a>s turn out to be Democrats. She didn&#8217;t name any names, but I will: Harry Truman, John F. Kennedy, LBJ, Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.</p> <p>+ The corpse of the anti-semite and Minister of War Billy Graham will be offered up for public veneration in the <a href="" type="internal">Rotunda of the US Capitol building</a> as a symbol of the final obliteration of the wall separating church and state.</p> <p>+&amp;#160;Will Billy Graham&#8217;s buddy Bono &#8220;sing&#8221; <a href="https://billygraham.org/story/a-poem-from-u2s-bono-to-billy-graham/" type="external">his poem for Billy</a> at the funeral?</p> <p>+ The Song Remains the Same: why people listen to <a href="" type="internal">the same songs over and over again</a>.</p> <p>+ Will Theresa May <a href="" type="internal">please step down</a>, now?</p> <p>+ ESPN and the White House tried to gag her, but <a href="" type="external">Jemele Hill</a> still isn&#8217;t backing down&#8230;</p> <p>+ Nice Work, If You Can Get It:&amp;#160;Darius Adamczyk, the new CEO of Honeywell, made $16.7 million last year in bonuses, stock options and base salary, which is <a href="" type="internal">333-times</a> the median pay for Honeywell employees, which is a little over $50,000 a year.</p> <p>+ On his trip to hawk new Trump luxury condos in India, Lil&#8217; Don took a moment to issue an anthropological assessment of the Indian poor.&amp;#160;&#8220;There is something about the Indian people that is unique here to other parts of the emerging world.&amp;#160;You go through a town, and I don&#8217;t mean to be glib about it, but you can see the poorest of the poor, and there is still a smile on a face &#8230; It&#8217;s a different spirit that you don&#8217;t see in other parts of the world where people walk around so solemn.&#8221;</p> <p>Drive-By Donnie somehow missed the hundreds of destitute Indian farmers committing suicide every few weeks by drinking pesticides. As Sainath has reported, more than <a href="https://psainath.org/category/the-agrarian-crisis/farmer-suicides/" type="external">60,000 farmers</a> have killed themselves in Maharashtra state alone.</p> <p>+&amp;#160;Make America Mean Again&#8230;Trump administration moves to <a href="" type="internal">cut off food and water aid</a> to Maria-ravaged Puerto Rico.</p> <p>+ Only 13% of those business tax cuts are <a href="" type="internal">trickling down to workers</a>. Where&#8217;d you think they were going to go?</p> <p>+ Only the most hardened Assadite could look at <a href="" type="internal">the carnage in eastern Ghouta</a>&amp;#160;from merciless Russian and Syrian airstrikes and not be appalled. I take it as a basic rule that any aerial bombing campaign against cities is a war crime, even if all those hospitals are being hit by &#8220;accident.&#8221;</p> <p>+&amp;#160;When Obama&#8217;s <a href="" type="internal">CIA &amp;amp; AID used bots and false personas</a> to try to instigate a Cuban &#8220;spring&#8221;, an operation that flopped worse than Bay of Pigs.</p> <p>+ The city of San Francisco spends $30 million a year just to clean its streets of <a href="" type="internal">human feces and hypodermic needles</a>. So a little bit of the city survives,&amp;#160;though these days the street junkies are pulling two shifts at Google &amp;amp; still can&#8217;t afford a place to live&#8230;</p> <p>+&amp;#160;Evan McMullin: &#8220;My role in the CIA was to go out &amp;amp; convince Al Qaeda operatives to instead work with us.&#8221; Pin that quote to fridge. Rarely has a man so shamelessly indicted himself.</p> <p>+ No wonder Hollywood hated Robert Altman:</p> <p>Happy endings are absolutely ludicrous, they&#8217;re not true at all. We see the guy carry the girl across the threshold and everybody lives happily ever after -that&#8217;s bullshit. Three weeks later he&#8217;s beating her up and she&#8217;s suing for divorce and he&#8217;s got cancer.</p> <p>+&amp;#160;Alexander Cockburn and I bought a bag of fruit from Mr. Okra, the singing vegetable vender, in New Orleans down in the French Quarter outside of one of the world&#8217;s largest vinyl stores. He died this week.</p> <p /> <p>+&amp;#160;Arm teachers? The NYPD statistic for cops hitting their targets in a gun fight: 18%.</p> <p>+ The armed guard at Parkland High School <a href="" type="internal">refused to confront</a> the killer, but now French teachers are expected to take down deranged men blasting AR-15s in their classrooms?</p> <p>+ Trump wants to <a href="https://www.axios.com/trump-seeks-to-cut-heating-assistance-program--64f551d2-a72a-4914-b26f-cfcda993882d.html" type="external">end heating assistance</a> to low-income people. Apparently, even his buddies in the coal industry couldn&#8217;t persuade Trump that the subsidies would help keep them afloat for the next few years&#8230;</p> <p>+ Drought conditions now afflict 92% of California&#8230;</p> <p /> <p>+&amp;#160;Richard Aboulafia, an aerospace consultant with the Teal Group:&amp;#160;&#8220;Diplomacy is out; airstrikes are in.&#8221;</p> <p>+ Lockheed-Martin pulled in <a href="" type="internal">$35.2 billion</a> in government contracts last year, more than most federal agencies.</p> <p>+&amp;#160;How do you like <a href="" type="internal">your FBI</a> now, liberals?</p> <p>+&amp;#160;Iris Murdoch is one of my favorite novelists. I had no idea she and her husband John Bayley were such glorious slobs. Martin Amis, a frequent guest, describes their house in his new book, The Rub of Time:</p> <p>At their place, even the soap is filthy. Single shoes and single socks lie about the house as if deposited by a flash flood. Dried-out capless pens crunch underfoot. Everywhere they go, they have to hurdle great heaps of books, unwashed clothes, old newspapers, dusty wine bottles. The plates are stained, the glasses smeary. The bath, so seldom used, is now unusable. The mattress is soggy. The sheets are never changed. And we shall draw a veil over their underwear. On one occasion a large, recently purchased meat pie disappeared in their kitchen. It was never found. The kitchen ate it.</p> <p>+ Finally, a good day for James Buchanan. He was dethroned by Trump as the worst president in US history. Somehow new liberal icon George W. Bush escaped the basement.</p> <p /> <p>+&amp;#160;Clarence Thomas <a href="" type="internal">porn freak?</a></p> <p>+ Did Mrs. Pence approve this one-on-one interview?</p> <p /> <p>+&amp;#160;The US <a href="http://thehill.com/policy/international/374513-russia-to-us-dont-play-with-fire-in-syria" type="external">really</a>, <a href="" type="internal">really</a> seems determined to provoke a war against Russia.</p> <p>+ Meet&amp;#160;Gut Terk: the <a href="https://pleasekillme.com/gut-terk/" type="external">Coolest of the Cool</a>.</p> <p>+&amp;#160;Ted Cruz insults <a href="http://thehill.com/homenews/375114-cruz-dems-are-the-party-of-lisa-simpson?__twitter_impression=true" type="external">Lisa Simpson</a>&#8230;</p> <p>+&amp;#160;Charles Barkley: &#8220;Who&#8217;s Laura Ingraham? If she was in this crowd right now we wouldn&#8217;t know her. If LeBron James walks around, these people be mobbing him, but Fox News do what they do. I laugh. Sometimes, when I want humor, I turn on Fox News.&#8221;</p> <p>+ George Speaks: <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/music/features/parliament-funkadelics-george-clinton-aliens-trump-lsd-w516975" type="external">the only Clinton I&#8217;d ever consider voting for</a>&#8230;</p> <p>When You&#8217;ve Begun to Think Like a Gun&#8230;</p> <p /> <p>Booked Up</p> <p>What I&#8217;m reading this week&#8230;.</p> <p><a href="" type="internal">Loaded: a Disarming History of the Second Amendment</a> by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz</p> <p><a href="" type="internal">Stormtroopers: a New History of Hitler&#8217;s Brownshirts</a> by Daniel Siemens</p> <p><a href="" type="internal">Why Write? Collected Nonfiction, 1960-2013</a> by Philip Roth</p> <p>Sound Grammar</p> <p>What I&#8217;m listening to this week&#8230;</p> <p><a href="" type="internal">Tantabara</a> by Tal National</p> <p><a href="" type="internal">Silver Dollar Moment</a> by The Orielles</p> <p><a href="" type="internal">Descansado: Songs for Films</a> by Norma Winstone</p> <p><a href="" type="internal">Life Ain&#8217;t That Long</a> by&amp;#160;Rich Krueger</p> <p><a href="" type="internal">Aromanticism</a> by Moses Sumney</p> <p>Back in the US/USSR&#8230;.</p> <p>Philip Reiff: &#8220;The United States and the post-Stalinist Soviet Union share the same cultural aims. Both issue from the assumption that wealth is a superior and adequate substitute for symbolic impoverishment. Both American and Soviet cultures are essentially variants of the same belief in wealth as the functional equivalent of a high civilization. In both cultures, the controlling symbolism has been stripped down to belief in the efficacy of wealth. Quantity has become quality. The answer to all questions of &#8220;what for?&#8221; is &#8220;more.&#8221;&#8221; ( <a href="" type="internal">The Triumph of the Therapeutic</a>.)</p>

They Came, They Saw, They Tweeted

https://counterpunch.org/2018/02/23/99972/

2018-02-23

<p>Pete Marovich/Zuma Press</p> <p>Antonin Scalia <a href="" type="internal">didn&#8217;t mince words in his dissenting opinion</a> on Friday&#8217;s Supreme Court ruling on same-sex marriage. The conservative justice called his colleague Anthony Kennedy&#8217;s opinion for the majority &#8220;as pretentious as its content is egotistic,&#8221; adding that it diminished &#8220;this Court&#8217;s reputation for clear thinking and sober analysis.&#8221; Over the last three decades, he has peppered his dissents (for the most part) with put-downs of his colleagues, plaintiffs, or whatever it was he was angry about on the day of writing. And now, with Mother Jones&#8216; handy Scalia Insult Generator&#8482;, you can create your own!</p> <p>Give it a try:</p> <p /> <p>All insults are derived from actual Antonin Scalia quotes, except for &#8220;Your mom.&#8221; Your mom is fake. Wait, no, I didn&#8217;t mean it like that. I&#8217;m sure she&#8217;s lovely.</p>

Take a Spin on the Antonin Scalia Insult Generator!

https://motherjones.com/politics/2015/06/antonin-scalia-insult-generator/

2015-06-26

<p>July 20 (UPI) &#8212; A leader of Thailand&#8217;s &#8220;Red Shirts&#8221; movement has been sentenced to prison for defamation.</p> <p>The decision from Thailand&#8217;s supreme court on Thursday overturns two lower court rulings over remarks made by Red Shirt leader Jatuporn Prompan regarding former Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva.</p> <p>Jatuporn had told a crowd of supporters in 2009 Abhisit was responsible for the deaths of Red Shirt supporters during a protest in Bangkok, <a href="http://www.khaosodenglish.com/politics/2017/07/20/supreme-court-jails-redshirt-leader-defaming-former-pm/" type="external">Khaosod English</a> reported.</p> <p>Abhisit had sued Jatuporn for defamation the same year, but lost several cases because Jatuporn&#8217;s comments were deemed free political discourse, according to the report.</p> <p>The Red Shirts are loyal to ousted Prime Minister <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Thaksin_Shinawatra/" type="external">Thaksin Shinawatra</a>, who was removed from power in 2006 <a href="https://www.voanews.com/a/thailand-red-shirts-jatuporn-prompan-defamation/3951913.html" type="external">following a coup</a>.</p> <p>The group with a strong rural base also endorsed Thaksin&#8217;s sister, Yingluck Shinawatra, who had been serving as prime minister prior to a military coup in 2014.</p> <p>The Red Shirts have been opposed to or have been critical of the continued rule of the military junta, while their rivals, sometimes referred to as the Yellow Shirts, have supported the army&#8217;s takeover.</p> <p>Jatuporn was found guilty on Thursday of defaming Abhisit, because he had publicly accused the conservative former prime minister of ordering the massacre of Red Shirt supporters at the Bangkok rally.</p> <p>Thaksin faces corruption charges in Thailand and has lived in exile since 2008.</p>

Thailand 'Red Shirts' leader sentenced to prison

https://newsline.com/thailand-red-shirts-leader-sentenced-to-prison/

2017-07-20

<p /> <p>Trump said, via the <a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/feb/27/donald-trump-says-us-never-wins-wars-anymore/" type="external">Washington Times</a>:</p> <p>President Trump said Monday the U.S. has squandered trillions of dollars on military operations in the Middle East over the past two decades without winning any of the wars.</p> <p>&#8220;We never win, and we don&#8217;t fight to win,&#8221; the new commander-in-chief told the nation&#8217;s governors at a White House meeting. &#8220;We&#8217;ve either got to win, or don&#8217;t fight it at all.&#8221;</p> <p>Some civilians seemed to disagree strongly:</p> <p>&amp;#160;</p> <p><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Trump?src=hash" type="external">#Trump</a> told 50 governors &#8220;we don&#8217;t win wars anymore like we did when I was in college.&#8221; This is a slap 2 the face of 15 years of war vets 1/</p> <p>&#8212; Eric Jones (@Intrigue_Jones) <a href="https://twitter.com/Intrigue_Jones/status/836326909139173376" type="external">February 27, 2017</a></p> <p>&amp;#160;</p> <p>&amp;#160;</p> <p><a href="http://ijr.com/2017/02/812462-trump-was-blasted-for-saying-us-doesnt-win-wars-anymore-we-asked-5-military-officers-what-they-thought/" type="external">But what do past and present military personnel think?</a></p> <p /> <p>&#8220;Any war we lose is a direct result of Washington incompetence and not the fault of the military or its members.</p> <p>I don&#8217;t think he is really that far off here. If we are in a war we should be in it to win it, but I don&#8217;t think that&#8217;s what&#8217;s been going on for the past eight&amp;#160;years.</p> <p>I don&#8217;t think Obama was trying to win. I think he was trying to pretend like he was i&#8217;n it to win it,&#8217; but did nothing but take half measures and not follow the advice of his generals. He withdrew us from Iraq ahead of schedule purely for political points, and against the council of his generals.</p> <p>I think the argument against ever going into Iraq is a valid one at this point, so that&#8217;s on Bush. However, Obama made it worse by withdrawing early and never truly trying to win.&#8221;</p> <p /> <p>&#8220;In Afghanistan, we had a brief shock-and-awe campaign that routed the Taliban quickly and effectively. But then we seemed to pull back and engage in a&amp;#160;war of attrition&#8230; in which we allowed the Taliban to regain itself both politically and militarily.</p> <p>Additionally, the ROE under Obama were so restrictive that we never fully regained the kind of military advantage we had initially in Afghanistan.</p> <p>Similarly, in Iraq the Obama administration was in too much of a hurry to withdraw combat forces and allow the Iraqi government, fledgling as it was, to provide for its own security. This allowed the terror group ISIS to form, and, taking advantage of Arab spring in Syria, consolidate power and begin to control large swathes of land in that region.</p> <p>Our combat efforts since that time have been relegated to airstrikes and drone attacks that seem much less effective than the kind of warfare we waged initially.&#8221;</p> <p /> <p>&#8220;President Trump doesn&#8217;t like to lose and has built a career from decisive victories. However, the face of modern warfare has changed; many of our adversaries pose an unconventional threat to America, which will not result in decisive victory. President Trump&#8217;s success in the future defense of our country will lie in his ability to build a strong team of military advisers that have gained phenomenal knowledge over the last three decades.</p> <p>Our secure future, protecting the freedoms we know and love in America, is going to be to identify that what we have done over the past 16 years hasn&#8217;t worked and we need to chart a new course. Let&#8217;s review what has worked and increase funding towards that end, and cut funding from areas that aren&#8217;t working.</p> <p>We don&#8217;t need to spend $400 million on an aircraft, when special operations on the ground will have the biggest impact versus unconventional enemies.</p> <p>President Trump and his team will need to grow and empower SOF, without violating any of the SOF Truths/imperatives; specifically, SOF forces can&#8217;t be mass produced and humans are more important than hardware. Growing the forces is the right first step to &#8216;not losing.'&#8221;</p> <p /> <p>&#8220;In a way, he&#8217;s correct, but I would say it&#8217;s not so much to do with the military and more about the national political will to do what is necessary.</p> <p>There are times like during the Iraq surge where the military had to be dragged kicking and screaming by the president. Having been on the ground in Iraq then I can tell you that the war was essentially won by 2009-10, then President Obama pulled us out before the Iraqi Army was ready to take care of themselves.</p> <p>It&#8217;s a complex issue that isn&#8217;t good for Twitter and sound bites. President Trump has a point, but I doubt that some people are willing to listen to anything he has to say just because of his track record, politics or just stubbornness.&#8221;</p> <p /> <p>&#8220;First, I agree with President Trump. We don&#8217;t win wars anymore, but it&#8217;s not due to our military or their heroism. It&#8217;s due to the lack of political resolve at home. In fact, my book &#8216;War Crimes&#8217; addresses this problem directly.</p> <p>There are political leaders in this nation that use our military purely for political capital. Ronald Reagan had to rebuild the &#8220;hollow military&#8221; that Jimmy Carter passed to him and, now, President Trump is tasked with rebuilding a similarly hollow force bequeathed by Barack Obama.</p> <p>Our military is tired, overworked and under-equipped. We will win wars again when we give our military what they need &#8212; and it&#8217;s vital in this ideological world war.&#8221;</p> <p>These five experienced officers offer a valuable perspective into what Trump said. It&#8217;s a perspective more people should be talking about.</p> <p>Related:</p> <p>If you haven&#8217;t checked out and liked our&amp;#160; <a href="https://www.facebook.com/ConservativeFiringLine?fref=ts" type="external">Facebook</a>&amp;#160;page, please go&amp;#160; <a href="https://www.facebook.com/ConservativeFiringLine?fref=ts" type="external">here</a>&amp;#160;and do so.</p> <p>And if you&#8217;re as concerned about Facebook censorship as we are, go&amp;#160; <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Banned-Facebook-Enables-Militant-Islamic/dp/1944212221/" type="external">here</a>&amp;#160;and order this new book:</p>

Donald Trump Says America Doesn’t Win Wars Anymore…Agree?

http://conservativefiringline.com/donald-trump-says-america-doesnt-win-wars-anymore-agree/

2017-02-28

<p>Plenty of experts have weighed in on the likely effects of the decision by the extremist movement ISIS to re-establish the Caliphate. Let me be the first to add, though, that it will probably create a massive revival of Antichrist speculation among evangelical Christians. The new Caliph, &#8220;Ibrahim,&#8221; thoroughly looks the part of a super-villain, and his initial statements exactly fit the bill. Most recently, he has promised that followers who obey him &#8220;will conquer Rome and own the world.&#8221;</p> <p>How worried should the West be? As <a href="" type="internal">J. M. Berger recently remarked</a>, ISIS is following an extremely high-risk strategy, but I would go further and suggest that the whole modern Caliphate idea is itself a sign of desperation, a response to systematic political and cultural failure.</p> <p>Until 1924, the Caliphate was the preserve of the Ottoman Empire, which was succeeded by a secular Turkish state. The end of World War I, which had destroyed that empire, also created several new states and nations, which are largely or predominantly Muslim. The proliferation of Muslim-majority states continued with decolonization in the 1950s and 1960s.</p> <p>Yet for a pious Muslim believer, the experience of those states was bad to the point of being catastrophic. Many espoused state secularism, and even if they made notional nods to Islamic doctrine or law, they were deeply intolerant of Muslim political organizations. (The most influential Islamist thinkers tended to be executed or assassinated by Muslim state authorities). Most of those states, moreover, failed miserably in basic functions. As successive Arab-Israeli conflicts proved, they were hopelessly inept militarily, and even wealthy nations like Saudi Arabia depended wholly on Western support. The post-1918 state system in the Islamic world looked deeply flawed.</p> <p>That weakness was evident by the 1970s, even before the vast economic and technological gulf that opened between the Islamic world and many non-Islamic societies. If Muslims were grudgingly used to being outpaced by Christians, now they found themselves left in the dust economically by Jews, Hindus, Confucians, and Buddhists.</p> <p>So desperate was the situation as to throw real doubt on the state itself as a possible mechanism for advancing Islamic causes. Already from the 1920s, groups like Egypt&#8217;s Muslim Brotherhood were advocating a wider pan-Islamic regime, under a restored Caliphate. Some Islamists went much further, and presented ideas that are now fundamental to groups like ISIS and al Qaeda.</p> <p>The best known was Brotherhood alumnus Sayyid Qutb, whom the Egyptian state executed in 1966. Although he was a wide-ranging thinker, two of his themes had a particular influence. One was that of ignorance, jahiliyyah, a term commonly used to describe the barbaric confusion that prevailed among the Arabs in pre-Islamic times. Qutb, though, applied the word to the contemporary world and the state order, and especially to Islamic states and societies. As constituted, Islamic societies were at least as negative and harmful as the United States or Israel, and it was a delusion to expect anything better from them. They were all failed states. The only solution to jahiliyyah was full acceptance of Shariah law.</p> <p>Still more sweeping was the notion that most Muslims in the world were not Muslim in any authentic sense. They were in fact infidels or apostates, and must be recognized as such in a process of takfir, excommunication, or actively reading them out of the faith. Only devout activists could qualify as true Muslims. In Western political terms, we might think of them as a Leninist vanguard. Jewish or Christian thinkers would speak of a righteous remnant.</p> <p>Qutb himself did not make the Caliphate central to his thought, but his disciples saw it as the only antidote to jahiliyyah. This is the view of Hizb ut Tahrir, a transcontinental radical group that is the bane of intelligence agencies across Europe and central Asia, and also of the Qutb-inspired network Takfir wal Hijira . Al Qaeda has repeatedly used the idea. Al Qaeda in Iraq broadcasts the Voice of the Caliphate on the Internet. In Southeast Asia, the much-feared Jemaah Islamiyah proclaims as its goal a Caliphate that will replace the existing nation-states stretching from Indonesia to Thailand. And now, famously, we have the Movement Formerly Known as ISIS.</p> <p>Put another way, the new declaration of the Caliphate is founded on doctrines that are guaranteed to arouse the deadly opposition of all states, Muslim or others, whose legitimacy it fundamentally rejects. It denies the true Muslim status of virtually all enemies, even active Islamists who do not toe the party line. And it demands the creation of a new state order in the middle of a bloody warzone. This is, in every conceivable way, a recipe for catastrophe.</p> <p>The Caliphate idea also carries within it its own destruction. Now the Caliphate is, so to speak, out of the bag, competition for the office will be intense, and violent. We can expect multiple rival Caliphs who will denounce and excommunicate each other, while factions will fight each other for the prized office. Expect many assassinations and internal coups.</p> <p>Historically-minded Islamists might recall that back in the seventh century, three of the first four Caliphs perished by assassination. The murder of the fourth, Ali, launched the Sunni-Shia schism within Islam that is still a gaping wound 13 centuries later. It is not a happy precedent.</p> <p>Start and finish your day with the top stories from The Daily Beast.</p> <p>A speedy, smart summary of all the news you need to know (and nothing you don't).</p> <p>Philip Jenkins, author of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Great-Holy-War-Religious-Crusade/dp/0062105094/ref=sr_1_1_title_0_main?s=books&amp;amp;ie=UTF8&amp;amp;qid=1405025277&amp;amp;sr=1-1&amp;amp;keywords=the+great+and+holy+war+how+world+war+i+became+a+religious+crusade" type="external">The Great and Holy War: How World War I Became a Religious Crusade</a>, is the Distinguished Professor of History and co-director of the Program on Historical Studies of Religion at the Institute for Studies of Religion at Baylor University.</p>

Why the Caliphate Will Devour Its Children

https://thedailybeast.com/why-the-caliphate-will-devour-its-children

2018-10-06

<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p> <p /> <p>Aztec Well Service wants to convert its fleet of 121 trucks and 13 drilling rigs from diesel and gasoline to natural gas. In addition, the company would like to turn an Aztec gas station into a natural gas fueling station for its own vehicles as well as for area residents.</p> <p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> <p>This is a small &#8211; yet important &#8211; step in the right direction.</p> <p>Ninety-eight percent of America&#8217;s transportation system is powered by oil, which leaves us vulnerable to price shocks and causes us to spend about $750,000 every minute on imported petroleum.</p> <p>We&#8217;ve known for decades that America should figure out a way to lessen its dependence on foreign oil for our economic and national security. Every president since Richard Nixon has talked about making this laudable goal an actual priority. But we&#8217;ve made precious little progress.</p> <p>Out of all the transportation options before us, the only alternative to oil that makes any sense is compressed natural gas (CNG) for passenger cars and liquefied natural gas (LNG) for long haul vehicles. The other alternatives are either far too expensive (commuter rail), are not technologically advanced enough (hydrogen fuel cells), provide only a minimal help (hybrids and electric cars) or are actually counterproductive (ethanol, biofuels).</p> <p>CNG and LNG can be powerful solutions to our transportation needs, if only the nation can overcome the &#8220;chicken and egg&#8221; dilemma. There&#8217;s no market for natural gas vehicles unless there&#8217;s an adequate supply of natural gas filling stations. Without the filling stations there&#8217;s no market for natural gas cars and trucks.</p> <p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> <p>We have to start somewhere, and this is where New Mexico leadership comes into play.</p> <p>In order for Aztec Well Service to convert its fleet of vehicles to natural gas and to also to create a new natural gas filling station for itself and the public, it needs to be able to actually tap into the gas. That will require the Gas Company of New Mexico to extend a new line from a high-pressure valve some 3.5 miles away. The pipeline extension will cost between $620,000 and $850,000.</p> <p>The Gas Company is reluctant to pay for the gas line. No doubt, this is a lot of money.</p> <p>But let&#8217;s consider that many other businesses will also need to tap into this pipeline as the area grows. The Mancos Shale, a huge oil deposit now attracting a lot of attention, will drive much of this expansion. So the pipeline will be installed over the next few years no matter what.</p> <p>It should also be noted that oil and gas companies and their service providers in the northwest and southeast contribute far more to the state&#8217;s economy than they take out.</p> <p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> <p>In any given year the oil and gas industry pumps in a quarter to a third of the revenue into the state&#8217;s bank accounts. Our huge permanent funds ($16.27 billion!) were also built almost entirely from the industry.</p> <p>This pipeline and any others that are needed should be constructed in a timely manner with all of us picking up the tab through slightly higher rates. The increased economic activity will pay that money back one hundredfold.</p> <p>But the eventual need of this pipeline extension is actually beside the point.</p> <p>The federal government is hopelessly dysfunctional. Our &#8220;leaders&#8221; have shown they are incapable of leading.</p> <p>The answer is for visionary states to solve the biggest challenges of our time. Creating a market-driven infrastructure for natural gas transportation is one of the most practical and innovative things we can do.</p> <p>Big solutions aren&#8217;t born in Washington. They come from towns like Aztec, companies like the Gas Company of New Mexico and Aztec Well Service &#8211; and from leaders in states like the Land of Enchantment.</p> <p>Mark Mathis is the director/producer of the documentary film &#8220;spOILed.&#8221;</p>

The Time for Natural Gas Is Now

https://abqjournal.com/163998/the-time-for-natural-gas-is-now.html

2013-01-28

<p /> <p>Image source: Getty Images.</p> <p>Continue Reading Below</p> <p>A company's margins are a measurement of how effectively the company turns its revenue into profit. Gross margin reflects how much of its sales a company hangs on to after paying the up-front costs of producing the goods or services it sells. It's calculated by dividing gross profit divided by total revenue and expressed as a percentage. The less a company spends toward its cost of goods sold, the smaller the difference between gross profit and total revenue, and the greater the gross margin.</p> <p>The math behind calculating gross margin is easy, but understanding the concepts that produce those numbers takes a bit more work. In particular, the cost of goods sold can be a tricky term to understand.</p> <p>Essentially, cost of goods sold includes only those expenses that relate directly to production. For goods, spending on the raw materials that are necessary to make the final product is included in the figure. Labor costs for work that is directly related to the production process also find their way into the overall cost of goods sold.</p> <p>Many other expenses aren't included in cost of goods sold and enter the efficiency equation at a later stage. For instance, marketing and advertising expenses are instrumental in getting customers to buy products, but they aren't considered direct production costs. Such costs typically show up as operating expenses that leave grossprofit unchanged but reduce operatingprofit.</p> <p>Advertisement</p> <p>The higher the gross margin, the more efficient a company is at producing goods and services. However, there are limitations to how much you can use gross margin for comparison purposes. Within a given company, seeing how gross margin changes over time can provide useful insight into internal improvements in productivity. Between companies in a given industry, comparing gross margin can give hints as to whether one production method leads to superior results over another.</p> <p>Across different sectors, however, gross margins typically reflect the inherent differences in production processes, rather than any company-specific deficiency. For example, the aircraft production industry has consistently had low gross margins, with percentages in the teens throughout the past decade. The expensive materials and skilled labor required to build airplanes are to blame for the low gross margin figures. By contrast, companies in the pharmaceutical and biotech arenas that already have established products tend to have high gross margins, because research and development costs are treated as operating expenses, while the costs of direct production are extremely low once a treatment has gained approval.</p> <p>In general, high gross margins indicate a strong company. This metric is just one piece of the puzzle when you're evaluating a company, but gross margin's focus on how efficiently a company produces goods and services is essential to understanding its overall financial health.</p> <p>This article is part of The Motley Fool's Knowledge Center, which was created based on the collected wisdom of a fantastic community of investors. We'd love to hear your questions, thoughts, and opinions on the Knowledge Center in general or this page in particular. Your input will help us help the world invest, better! Email us at <a href="http://mailto:knowledgecenter@fool.com?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">knowledgecenter@fool.com</a>. Thanks -- and Fool on!</p> <p>The article <a href="http://www.fool.com/knowledge-center/what-is-gross-margin.aspx" type="external">What Is Gross Margin?</a> originally appeared on Fool.com.</p> <p>Try any of our Foolish newsletter services <a href="http://www.fool.com/shop/newsletters/index.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">free for 30 days</a>. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that <a href="http://wiki.fool.com/Motley?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">considering a diverse range of insights</a> makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">disclosure policy</a>.</p> <p>Copyright 1995 - 2016 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/help/index.htm?display=about02" type="external">disclosure policy</a>.</p>

What Is Gross Margin?

http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/06/29/what-is-gross-margin.html

2016-06-29

<p>Salon Times public editor Daniel Okrent is asked by Steve Kettmann: "Do you think that the Times' prewar reporting on WMD could prove to be a longer-term embarrassment to the paper than the Jayson Blair scandal?" OKRENT: "I don't know if I could speak to comparative sins. It certainly was a very serious case of bad journalism. It was not, to the best of my ability to determine, a case of 'I know we're lying as I write this,' which Jayson Blair was. ...The Times did a lousy job on WMD, but I can't imagine there was anybody in the office saying, 'Let's make up some things.'" KETTMANN: "But an argument can be made that the paper's WMD reporting helped lead the country into war." OKRENT: "I'm not saying it's not a significant issue. I'm saying that the WMD reporting was not consciously evil. It was bad journalism, even very bad journalism."</p>

Okrent: NYT's WMD reporting was "very bad journalism"

https://poynter.org/news/okrent-nyts-wmd-reporting-was-very-bad-journalism

2005-05-12

<p>After a strong run in its first several years as a public company, Spirit Airlines (NASDAQ: SAVE) has disappointed investors again and again since 2015. Yet while profitability has been receding, the carrier continued to exceed its long-term goal of generating "mid-teens or higher operating margins" -- until now.</p> <p>Unfortunately, a <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/05/09/spirit-airlines-flight-cancellations-spike-pilots.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;uuid=d5a02fda-a2d5-11e7-aa52-0050569d32b9&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">damaging dispute with its pilots Opens a New Window.</a> and an industry price war sparked by United Continental (NYSE: UAL) have undermined Spirit Airlines' margin performance recently. Let's take a look at what this means for the company's long-term prospects.</p> <p>Continue Reading Below</p> <p>For most of the past three years, Spirit Airlines has faced severe unit revenue pressure, as rivals have become more aggressive about matching its low fares. Nevertheless, its adjusted operating margin peaked in 2015 at 23.7%, thanks to the benefit of lower fuel prices.</p> <p>Fuel prices fell again in 2016, but this time it wasn't enough to offset the impact of declining unit revenue. As a result, Spirit's adjusted operating margin slipped to 20.9%. However, this was still well above the company's long-term target.</p> <p>During the first half of 2017, margin performance deteriorated at an even faster rate. For the 12 months ending in June, Spirit Airlines' operating margin fell to 17.5%. This included a roughly $45 million headwind from flight cancellations caused by the pilot dispute during May and June.</p> <p>Advertisement</p> <p>While pilot-related flight cancellations constrained Spirit's profitability in Q2, the silver lining was that revenue per available seat mile (RASM) rose 5.7% for the quarter. This represented the first unit revenue increase at Spirit Airlines since 2014.</p> <p>This revenue momentum didn't last long, though. Beginning in late June, Spirit experienced a wave of deep discounting by competitors -- chiefly United Airlines -- in several key markets. As a result, in late July, Spirit Airlines projected that RASM would decline 2%-4% this quarter.</p> <p>The fare war has accelerated since then. Additionally, Hurricane Harvey created an incremental 1-percentage-point RASM headwind. This led Spirit to slash its guidance in early September. The company now expects RASM to plunge 7%-8.5% this quarter, and that doesn't even include the impact of Hurricane Irma, which may have caused an even greater revenue loss than Harvey.</p> <p>With jet fuel prices on the rise once again, Spirit Airlines' profit margin could fall by about 10 percentage points relative to the 23% adjusted operating margin it posted in the year-ago period. Barring a rapid turnaround next quarter, the company will fall short of a 15% full-year operating margin this year, for the first time since 2012.</p> <p>Analysts expect Spirit Airlines to generate revenue of about $2.6 billion in 2017. If it were to achieve its long-term margin guidance this year, it would likely earn about $200 million-$250 million after tax. Considering Spirit's enormous growth opportunities, the company's $2.4 billion market cap seems far too low -- if its margin target is achievable in the long run.</p> <p>However, as noted above, Spirit Airlines is likely to fall short of its margin goal in 2017. The carrier is also benefiting somewhat from its outdated pilot contract. Spirit's pilots are due for big raises, which will probably increase costs by at least $100 million annually. If those raises had been in force from the beginning of 2017, Spirit Airlines would be on track to miss its margin target by an even greater amount.</p> <p>On the other hand, had a new pilot contract been in place earlier this year, Spirit Airlines could have avoided the damaging wave of pilot-related flight cancellations that peaked in May. Better operational performance could partially offset the impact of higher pilot wages on unit costs.</p> <p>Additionally, in the long run, Spirit Airlines can react to competitive trends by adjusting its route network and pricing strategy. (In the short run, it has fewer tools at its disposal.) It has already begun to shift its focus toward midsize leisure markets like New Orleans, where competition isn't quite so brutal.</p> <p>It's too early to know whether, with enough time, Spirit Airlines would be able to offset fuel and labor cost pressure through unit revenue growth in the current competitive environment. Perhaps another year or two of route network restructuring would do the trick, but it's also possible that Spirit would eventually face vicious competition in any market it tried to enter.</p> <p>However, the current climate of intense competition seems unsustainable. Earlier this month, United Continental <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/09/06/united-continentals-weak-2017-just-got-worse.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;uuid=d5a02fda-a2d5-11e7-aa52-0050569d32b9&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">slashed its third-quarter guidance Opens a New Window.</a>. It now expects to post a mediocre pre-tax margin of 8%-10% in what has traditionally been its most profitable quarter of the year.</p> <p>Some of this margin pressure does stem from one-time factors. However, the underlying unit revenue pressure could get worse during the upcoming off-peak season, when it is harder to stimulate demand. To make matters worse, United will face increased competition from low-fare carriers on numerous important routes over the next few quarters.</p> <p>For the moment, United's management team appears to be committed to a policy of aggressive price-matching. However, a few more quarters of severe margin declines could force United's top leaders to change their tune.</p> <p>Spirit Airlines enjoys a massive cost advantage over legacy carriers like United Continental. As a result, it is in better position to weather a price war than United itself. Indeed, based on the rapid margin erosion it is already facing, United Continental may have to abandon its aggressive price-matching activity before the end of 2018. This would likely allow Spirit's profitability to recover -- making Spirit Airlines stock a great buy at its current depressed valuation.</p> <p>10 stocks we like better than Spirit AirlinesWhen 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;amp;impression=3dafc223-6315-4e05-90e1-268d16022fcb&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;uuid=d5a02fda-a2d5-11e7-aa52-0050569d32b9&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">10 best stocks Opens a New Window.</a> for investors to buy right now... and Spirit Airlines 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;amp;impression=3dafc223-6315-4e05-90e1-268d16022fcb&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;uuid=d5a02fda-a2d5-11e7-aa52-0050569d32b9&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Click here Opens a New Window.</a> to learn about these picks!</p> <p>*Stock Advisor returns as of September 5, 2017</p> <p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFGemHunter/info.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;uuid=d5a02fda-a2d5-11e7-aa52-0050569d32b9&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Adam Levine-Weinberg Opens a New Window.</a> owns shares of Spirit Airlines. The Motley Fool recommends Spirit Airlines. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?&amp;amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;amp;uuid=d5a02fda-a2d5-11e7-aa52-0050569d32b9&amp;amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>

Spirit Airlines Is Crashing: Is It Still a Buy for Long-Term Investors?

http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/09/26/spirit-airlines-is-crashing-is-it-still-buy-for-long-term-investors.html

2017-09-26