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<p>Last year, a couple from Australia abandoned one of the twin newborns they had commissioned from Pattharamon Chanbua, a surrogate from Thailand. As the international media <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/jan/20/baby-gammy-born-into-thai-surrogacy-scandal-granted-australian-citizenship" type="external">recounted</a>, the surrogate mother’s family then embraced the child, who has Down’s Syndrome and came to be known as Baby Gammy. Thousands of dollars in donations poured in.</p>
<p>After the international coverage, Gammy — who remains with his “surrogate” mother — was granted Australian citizenship. Because he emerged from Chanbua’s womb, however, Gammy was legally a Thai citizen as well.</p>
<p>The case was more than grist for the tabloid mill. It highlighted the shortcomings of the standard discourse around surrogacy, forcing commentators to grapple with the role of prospective parents in perpetuating inequality, and the possibility that surrogacy presents many of the same moral problems as the family proper.</p>
<p>While contemporary transnational surrogacy reflects global disparities in wealth and distant divisions of care labor of various kinds — Thailand is also an Australian sex-tourism epicenter — it also evokes the possibility of a different world of reproduction, premised on mutual aid and non-proprietary relations with kids.</p>
<p>Because she opened her arms to Baby Gammy, Chanbua has been turned into a cardboard saint by millions of fans keen to spit on the Australian couple. But this shouldn’t minimize her and her family’s intentional, interesting, kind, and non-obvious adoptive act, which is irreducible to “maternal instinct.”</p>
<p>It becomes easier through the Pattharamon Chanbuas of contemporary history to see what a surrogate politics might entail: an anti-proprietary, un-heterosexual mothering power. This is a politics grounded less in the boutique volunteerism of “surromoms” in the Global North than in the majoritarian force of the gestational contractors Holly Donahue Singh dubs “ <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/aman.12146/abstract" type="external">the world’s back womb</a>.”</p>
<p>At the same time, a wide array of reproductive struggles have called into question the possibility for humane and unalienated social regeneration. Witness the historical phenomenon of the “motherhood strike,” embodied lately by young women in Cameroon who defied their husbands to walk in their shoes for a month; or of underground midwives operating today in North Carolina; the clandestine&#160;Ireland Abortion Support Network; or any number of other collective parenting traditions.</p>
<p>Radical feminists across the world focus heavily on reproductive freedom, struggling both for abortion rights and against the sterilization drives that, ironically, used to target many of those who are now surrogate workers.</p>
<p>Yet the politics proper of making children, and reinventing what it means to be kin, fails to animate many radicals today — with the notable exception of the queer and trans communities, whose right to state-funded, technologically mediated procreation is contested. For them, and for anybody cast out of the nuclear family, tender attention to such questions has&#160;often spelled the difference between life and death.</p>
<p>From the invented homes nurtured by homeless queer youth, to the many decidedly non-nuclear household models found everywhere on earth, a wealth of practices defy the regime some have begun to call “repro-normativity” — the softly coercive culture that champions biological reproduction by straight couples as the be-all and end-all of an individual’s self-fulfillment.</p>
<p>For the broader left, the intriguing problem of the family has been successfully depoliticized by, on the one hand, this mainstream repro-normative politics, and on the other, the collapse into liberalism of the spirit of the utopian communal family experiments of the sixties and seventies.</p>
<p>But thinking about supplementing “kinship” with alternative, intentional, egalitarian, and gender-liberatory relations is not liberal lifestylism. New reproductive technologies could be an emancipatory terrain for existing feminisms. At present, however, the frontier of repro-tech is doing little more than providing companies with a means of capitalizing on reproduction at the global periphery.</p> | Cash and Carry | true | https://jacobinmag.com/2015/03/surrogacy-assisted-reproductive-technology/ | 2018-10-06 | 4left
| Cash and Carry
<p>Last year, a couple from Australia abandoned one of the twin newborns they had commissioned from Pattharamon Chanbua, a surrogate from Thailand. As the international media <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/jan/20/baby-gammy-born-into-thai-surrogacy-scandal-granted-australian-citizenship" type="external">recounted</a>, the surrogate mother’s family then embraced the child, who has Down’s Syndrome and came to be known as Baby Gammy. Thousands of dollars in donations poured in.</p>
<p>After the international coverage, Gammy — who remains with his “surrogate” mother — was granted Australian citizenship. Because he emerged from Chanbua’s womb, however, Gammy was legally a Thai citizen as well.</p>
<p>The case was more than grist for the tabloid mill. It highlighted the shortcomings of the standard discourse around surrogacy, forcing commentators to grapple with the role of prospective parents in perpetuating inequality, and the possibility that surrogacy presents many of the same moral problems as the family proper.</p>
<p>While contemporary transnational surrogacy reflects global disparities in wealth and distant divisions of care labor of various kinds — Thailand is also an Australian sex-tourism epicenter — it also evokes the possibility of a different world of reproduction, premised on mutual aid and non-proprietary relations with kids.</p>
<p>Because she opened her arms to Baby Gammy, Chanbua has been turned into a cardboard saint by millions of fans keen to spit on the Australian couple. But this shouldn’t minimize her and her family’s intentional, interesting, kind, and non-obvious adoptive act, which is irreducible to “maternal instinct.”</p>
<p>It becomes easier through the Pattharamon Chanbuas of contemporary history to see what a surrogate politics might entail: an anti-proprietary, un-heterosexual mothering power. This is a politics grounded less in the boutique volunteerism of “surromoms” in the Global North than in the majoritarian force of the gestational contractors Holly Donahue Singh dubs “ <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/aman.12146/abstract" type="external">the world’s back womb</a>.”</p>
<p>At the same time, a wide array of reproductive struggles have called into question the possibility for humane and unalienated social regeneration. Witness the historical phenomenon of the “motherhood strike,” embodied lately by young women in Cameroon who defied their husbands to walk in their shoes for a month; or of underground midwives operating today in North Carolina; the clandestine&#160;Ireland Abortion Support Network; or any number of other collective parenting traditions.</p>
<p>Radical feminists across the world focus heavily on reproductive freedom, struggling both for abortion rights and against the sterilization drives that, ironically, used to target many of those who are now surrogate workers.</p>
<p>Yet the politics proper of making children, and reinventing what it means to be kin, fails to animate many radicals today — with the notable exception of the queer and trans communities, whose right to state-funded, technologically mediated procreation is contested. For them, and for anybody cast out of the nuclear family, tender attention to such questions has&#160;often spelled the difference between life and death.</p>
<p>From the invented homes nurtured by homeless queer youth, to the many decidedly non-nuclear household models found everywhere on earth, a wealth of practices defy the regime some have begun to call “repro-normativity” — the softly coercive culture that champions biological reproduction by straight couples as the be-all and end-all of an individual’s self-fulfillment.</p>
<p>For the broader left, the intriguing problem of the family has been successfully depoliticized by, on the one hand, this mainstream repro-normative politics, and on the other, the collapse into liberalism of the spirit of the utopian communal family experiments of the sixties and seventies.</p>
<p>But thinking about supplementing “kinship” with alternative, intentional, egalitarian, and gender-liberatory relations is not liberal lifestylism. New reproductive technologies could be an emancipatory terrain for existing feminisms. At present, however, the frontier of repro-tech is doing little more than providing companies with a means of capitalizing on reproduction at the global periphery.</p> | 1,000 |
<p>A pending appeals court ruling could force the Trump administration to pay billions of dollars to Obamacare insurers – even as <a href="http://www.newsmax.com/Politics/Obamacare-healthcare-legislation-President-Donald-Trump-Congress/2017/07/29/id/804572/" type="external">President Donald Trump is threatening</a> to let the Affordable Care Act “implode,” <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2017/07/30/lawsuits-obamacare-insurers-241112" type="external">Politico reported.</a></p>
<p>The decision involves two cases: one filed last November by Land of Lincoln Health, a now-defunct nonprofit startup in Illinois, which lost its case in the Court of Federal Claims seeking more than $70 million — and one filed in April, when Oregon-based Moda Health was awarded more than $200 million.</p>
<p>They’ll be considered together by the same three-judge panel in Washington, with legal briefs expected to be finished in September, Politico reported.</p>
<p>According to Politico, health insurers have filed nearly two dozen lawsuits claiming the government owes them payments from a program meant to blunt their losses in the Obamacare marketplaces. Insurers are owed more than $8 billion in payments, and the tab is likely to grow, the outlet reported.</p>
<p>“[The Obama administration] repeatedly assured us it was there and it would be a clear obligation of the government,” Tom Policelli, CEO of Minuteman Health, told Politico. “Even the federal government is subject to the rules.”</p>
<p>The risk corridor program was one of three established by Obamacare to protect insurers entering the marketplaces under rules requiring them to accept patients regardless of medical condition. Insurers making more money than expected in the markets were required to pay into the program, while those with big losses would receive payments.</p>
<p>“The whole system was to attract insurers like my client, Land of Lincoln, to participate in the first place,” lawyer Daniel Albers, who’s representing the failed co-op told Politico. “The Republicans want to say it’s a bailout. It’s not a bailout.”</p> | Insurers' Lawsuit Could Make Feds Pay Obamacare Losses | false | https://newsline.com/insurers-lawsuit-could-make-feds-pay-obamacare-losses/ | 2017-07-30 | 1right-center
| Insurers' Lawsuit Could Make Feds Pay Obamacare Losses
<p>A pending appeals court ruling could force the Trump administration to pay billions of dollars to Obamacare insurers – even as <a href="http://www.newsmax.com/Politics/Obamacare-healthcare-legislation-President-Donald-Trump-Congress/2017/07/29/id/804572/" type="external">President Donald Trump is threatening</a> to let the Affordable Care Act “implode,” <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2017/07/30/lawsuits-obamacare-insurers-241112" type="external">Politico reported.</a></p>
<p>The decision involves two cases: one filed last November by Land of Lincoln Health, a now-defunct nonprofit startup in Illinois, which lost its case in the Court of Federal Claims seeking more than $70 million — and one filed in April, when Oregon-based Moda Health was awarded more than $200 million.</p>
<p>They’ll be considered together by the same three-judge panel in Washington, with legal briefs expected to be finished in September, Politico reported.</p>
<p>According to Politico, health insurers have filed nearly two dozen lawsuits claiming the government owes them payments from a program meant to blunt their losses in the Obamacare marketplaces. Insurers are owed more than $8 billion in payments, and the tab is likely to grow, the outlet reported.</p>
<p>“[The Obama administration] repeatedly assured us it was there and it would be a clear obligation of the government,” Tom Policelli, CEO of Minuteman Health, told Politico. “Even the federal government is subject to the rules.”</p>
<p>The risk corridor program was one of three established by Obamacare to protect insurers entering the marketplaces under rules requiring them to accept patients regardless of medical condition. Insurers making more money than expected in the markets were required to pay into the program, while those with big losses would receive payments.</p>
<p>“The whole system was to attract insurers like my client, Land of Lincoln, to participate in the first place,” lawyer Daniel Albers, who’s representing the failed co-op told Politico. “The Republicans want to say it’s a bailout. It’s not a bailout.”</p> | 1,001 |
<p>Seven people have died in a rural house fire in southeastern Kentucky, Knox County Coroner Mike Blevins said Saturday.</p>
<p>The victims were a man, a woman and five children.</p>
<p><a href="http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/coroner-adults-children-killed-ky-fire-18693394" type="external">AP reports</a> that Blevins said the victims' names will not be released immediately since officials are still trying to confirm their identities.</p>
<p>The female victim was the mother of three of the children, and the other two children were from another family, he added.</p>
<p>It is unclear when the fire broke out but the <a href="http://www.courier-journal.com/viewart/20130309/NEWS01/303090064/Knox-County-fire-kills-2-adults-5-children" type="external">Louisville Courier-Journal reports</a> that someone called 911 at 9:57am on Saturday.</p>
<p>Troopers said that firefighters stayed on the scene until the fire was out at 1 p.m.</p>
<p>The rural community of Gray is in a coal field region about about halfway between Lexington, Ky., and Knoxville, Tenn.</p> | Knox Co. Kentuky house fire kills 2 adults, 5 children | false | https://pri.org/stories/2013-03-09/knox-co-kentuky-house-fire-kills-2-adults-5-children | 2013-03-09 | 3left-center
| Knox Co. Kentuky house fire kills 2 adults, 5 children
<p>Seven people have died in a rural house fire in southeastern Kentucky, Knox County Coroner Mike Blevins said Saturday.</p>
<p>The victims were a man, a woman and five children.</p>
<p><a href="http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/coroner-adults-children-killed-ky-fire-18693394" type="external">AP reports</a> that Blevins said the victims' names will not be released immediately since officials are still trying to confirm their identities.</p>
<p>The female victim was the mother of three of the children, and the other two children were from another family, he added.</p>
<p>It is unclear when the fire broke out but the <a href="http://www.courier-journal.com/viewart/20130309/NEWS01/303090064/Knox-County-fire-kills-2-adults-5-children" type="external">Louisville Courier-Journal reports</a> that someone called 911 at 9:57am on Saturday.</p>
<p>Troopers said that firefighters stayed on the scene until the fire was out at 1 p.m.</p>
<p>The rural community of Gray is in a coal field region about about halfway between Lexington, Ky., and Knoxville, Tenn.</p> | 1,002 |
<p>Silence, secrecy and shoddy attempts at debunking the facts have led to Congressional scrutiny</p>
<p>(Info Wars) – The failure on behalf of the federal government to provide any explanation for why the Department of Homeland Security is arming to the teeth with high powered weapons and billions of hollow point bullets, as well as crude efforts by mainstream media mouthpieces to debunk the war-like preparations, have backfired massively, propelling the story to a viral status.</p>
<p>As we reported today, 15 Congressmen have written a letter to the DHS demanding to know why the federal agency is buying so many rounds of ammunition and whether the purchases are part of a deliberate attempt to restrict supply to the American people.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">FAX BLAST SPECIAL: Impeach Obama NOW! For Sedition against the Constitution!</a></p>
<p>Big Sis has remained silent on the issue, refusing to answer questions from reporters and even from multiple elected representatives, about the ammo buys.</p>
<p>The continued huge orders for weapons and bullets have prompted attendances at gun shows to explode, as gun store owners say they are having to contend with significant national shortages.</p>
<p>Efforts to portray the very real stockpiling by the federal agency as a conspiracy theory have fallen flat on their face, and have only served to further highlight how suspect the DHS’ actions are.</p>
<p>When Media Matters and Raw Story both recently attacked Fox Business host Lou Dobbs for daring to raise the issue on his show, it quickly became clear that neither had any prevailing&#160; counter point, and were dismissing the facts only by regurgitating a glib statement of a single DHS official.</p>
<p>Media Matters, which has been documented to be little more than an Obama administration mouthpiece, reported that, “The claim that DHS bought a 1.6 billion bullet stockpile is also misleading,” while simultaneously admitting that “DHS did buy 1.6 billion rounds of ammunition.”</p>
<p>The source of the claim that concerns over the bullet buys are a conspiracy theory or “misleading,” is a February 14 Associated Press report which did not conduct any actual investigation into why the DHS was purchasing the ammo, instead regurgitating a statement from DHS official Peggy Dixon, who claimed the bullets were bought in bulk to save money and were for training purposes only.</p>
<p>As we have tirelessly noted, however, hollow point bullets are completely unsuitable for training purposes because they cost significantly more money compared to standard firing range bullets. In one fell swoop, this fact debunks claims that the agency was attempting to save money argument and is intending to use the ammo in training exercises.</p>
<p>Military veterans and ammunition experts have also confirmed that they have never used hollow points for training purposes, expressing confusion at why the DHS is buying up so many of them.</p>
<p>When Atlantic Wire and Politico also attempted to debunk the issue, they completely ignored the DHS’ admitted purchases of&#160; close to 2 billion bullets, instead focusing only on the Social Security Administration’s purchase of 174,000 bullets, as if it were somehow proof that the DHS is not involved in stockpiling at all.</p>
<p>Snopes.com, a site that profits from debunking anything and everything, also failed to even address the DHS bullet purchases, again pointing only to SSA and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration purchases.</p>
<p>Apparently, the mainstream media has failed to grasp that concerns about government activity cannot be “debunked” by merely repeating glib statements issued by government officials, particularly given the amount of times the DHS has been caught lying about other issues such as TSA body scanners and most recently with Janet Napolitano’s erroneous claim that the sequester debate was causing delays in airports.</p>
<p>Amidst all the so-called “debunkings” of the bullet buys, the aforementioned media sources have also conveniently omitted details regarding the DHS’ purchase of 7,000 fully automatic assault rifles, as well as a $2 million dollar relationship with a contractor that recently had to apologize for producing shooting targets of pregnant women, children and elderly gun owners depicted in residential settings.</p>
<p>The DHS has also been busy buying large supplies of body armor, leading to shortages. Last year, the agency put out an urgent order for “riot gear” in anticipation of civil unrest. The agency has also ordered bullet-proof checkpoint booths and hired hundreds of new security guards to protect government buildings over the course of the last 12 months. There have also been reported purchases of around 2,700 armored trucks.</p>
<p>None of this has been addressed by the mainstream media. Government silence, sustained secrecy, and media mouthpieces declaring it isn’t real has only served to implode an already shoddy cover-up attempt, further shining a light on the secretive prepping actions of Big Sis and her army of goons.</p>
<p>http://www.infowars.com/government-cover-up-of-ammo-buys-implodes/</p> | Government Cover-up of Ammo Buys Implodes | true | http://teaparty.org/government-cover-up-of-ammo-buys-implodes-22013/ | 0right
| Government Cover-up of Ammo Buys Implodes
<p>Silence, secrecy and shoddy attempts at debunking the facts have led to Congressional scrutiny</p>
<p>(Info Wars) – The failure on behalf of the federal government to provide any explanation for why the Department of Homeland Security is arming to the teeth with high powered weapons and billions of hollow point bullets, as well as crude efforts by mainstream media mouthpieces to debunk the war-like preparations, have backfired massively, propelling the story to a viral status.</p>
<p>As we reported today, 15 Congressmen have written a letter to the DHS demanding to know why the federal agency is buying so many rounds of ammunition and whether the purchases are part of a deliberate attempt to restrict supply to the American people.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">FAX BLAST SPECIAL: Impeach Obama NOW! For Sedition against the Constitution!</a></p>
<p>Big Sis has remained silent on the issue, refusing to answer questions from reporters and even from multiple elected representatives, about the ammo buys.</p>
<p>The continued huge orders for weapons and bullets have prompted attendances at gun shows to explode, as gun store owners say they are having to contend with significant national shortages.</p>
<p>Efforts to portray the very real stockpiling by the federal agency as a conspiracy theory have fallen flat on their face, and have only served to further highlight how suspect the DHS’ actions are.</p>
<p>When Media Matters and Raw Story both recently attacked Fox Business host Lou Dobbs for daring to raise the issue on his show, it quickly became clear that neither had any prevailing&#160; counter point, and were dismissing the facts only by regurgitating a glib statement of a single DHS official.</p>
<p>Media Matters, which has been documented to be little more than an Obama administration mouthpiece, reported that, “The claim that DHS bought a 1.6 billion bullet stockpile is also misleading,” while simultaneously admitting that “DHS did buy 1.6 billion rounds of ammunition.”</p>
<p>The source of the claim that concerns over the bullet buys are a conspiracy theory or “misleading,” is a February 14 Associated Press report which did not conduct any actual investigation into why the DHS was purchasing the ammo, instead regurgitating a statement from DHS official Peggy Dixon, who claimed the bullets were bought in bulk to save money and were for training purposes only.</p>
<p>As we have tirelessly noted, however, hollow point bullets are completely unsuitable for training purposes because they cost significantly more money compared to standard firing range bullets. In one fell swoop, this fact debunks claims that the agency was attempting to save money argument and is intending to use the ammo in training exercises.</p>
<p>Military veterans and ammunition experts have also confirmed that they have never used hollow points for training purposes, expressing confusion at why the DHS is buying up so many of them.</p>
<p>When Atlantic Wire and Politico also attempted to debunk the issue, they completely ignored the DHS’ admitted purchases of&#160; close to 2 billion bullets, instead focusing only on the Social Security Administration’s purchase of 174,000 bullets, as if it were somehow proof that the DHS is not involved in stockpiling at all.</p>
<p>Snopes.com, a site that profits from debunking anything and everything, also failed to even address the DHS bullet purchases, again pointing only to SSA and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration purchases.</p>
<p>Apparently, the mainstream media has failed to grasp that concerns about government activity cannot be “debunked” by merely repeating glib statements issued by government officials, particularly given the amount of times the DHS has been caught lying about other issues such as TSA body scanners and most recently with Janet Napolitano’s erroneous claim that the sequester debate was causing delays in airports.</p>
<p>Amidst all the so-called “debunkings” of the bullet buys, the aforementioned media sources have also conveniently omitted details regarding the DHS’ purchase of 7,000 fully automatic assault rifles, as well as a $2 million dollar relationship with a contractor that recently had to apologize for producing shooting targets of pregnant women, children and elderly gun owners depicted in residential settings.</p>
<p>The DHS has also been busy buying large supplies of body armor, leading to shortages. Last year, the agency put out an urgent order for “riot gear” in anticipation of civil unrest. The agency has also ordered bullet-proof checkpoint booths and hired hundreds of new security guards to protect government buildings over the course of the last 12 months. There have also been reported purchases of around 2,700 armored trucks.</p>
<p>None of this has been addressed by the mainstream media. Government silence, sustained secrecy, and media mouthpieces declaring it isn’t real has only served to implode an already shoddy cover-up attempt, further shining a light on the secretive prepping actions of Big Sis and her army of goons.</p>
<p>http://www.infowars.com/government-cover-up-of-ammo-buys-implodes/</p> | 1,003 |
|
<p>Lannis Waters/ZUMA</p>
<p>The Senate unexpectedly moved forward on extending much-needed unemployment insurance for the <a href="" type="internal">1.3 million Americans</a> who lost benefits shortly after Christmas. On Tuesday morning the extension cleared an early filibuster by a 60-37 vote, with six Republicans joining the Democrats in voting for advancement. The <a href="https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/113/s1845" type="external">Emergency Unemployment Compensation Extension Act</a>, introduced by&#160;Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.), extends&#160;benefits for the long-term unemployed for only three months—but 37 Republicans still voted to block debate on the bill. Some of those Republicans who blocked the bill represent states with the&#160;highest unemployment rates in the country.&#160;</p>
<p>Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nev.), the bill’s Republican cosponsor and one of the few GOPers to vote to move the bill towards final passage in the Senate, comes from a state with the worst unemployment rate in the United States—at 9 percent. It’s no surprise that he might vote to extend benefits to those Americans who have been out of the job for six months or more. But that doesn’t explain the no-votes from Republican Sen. Mark Kirk from Illinois, which has the fourth-worst unemployment rate—8.7 percent—and the two Republicans senators from Mississippi, which has an unemployment rate of 8.3 percent. Republicans have cited the <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2014/01/06/white-house-unemployment-insurance-senate-vote/4342199/" type="external">high cost of the bill</a> as the reason they don’t want to extend emergency benefits, although they’ve done so repeatedly in the past.&#160;</p>
<p>Sens. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.), Dan Coats (R-Ind.), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), and Rob Portman (R-Ohio) joined Heller as the only Republicans to vote for cloture.</p>
<p>So what will happen now? The bill still has a long way to go before it passes the Senate. Some of the Republicans who voted for cloture on Tuesday might still join another filibuster against the final vote. Portman, for example, wants to proceed to debate but is <a href="https://twitter.com/jonathanweisman/status/420590924016926720" type="external">demanding</a> that the cost be offset if Democrats hope to win his vote next time. And even if the extension clears the Senate, it will likely flounder in the Republican-controlled House. In the meantime, as America continues to face the <a href="" type="internal">worst long-term unemployment crisis since the Great Depression</a>, families who have been using the recession-era emergency benefits to scrape by will now fall even deeper into the poverty well.&#160;Last year, unemployment benefits helped lift&#160;1.7 million people (including 446,000 children)&#160;out of poverty, according to the <a href="" type="internal">National Employment Law Project</a>. As one New Yorker who has lost her benefits told <a href="" type="internal">Mother Jones</a>, “I’m thoroughly petrified.”&#160;</p>
<p />
<p>Here is a list of every Republican who voted against the bill (or abstained) as well as the unemployment rates in their states, based on the <a href="http://www.bls.gov/web/laus/laumstrk.htm" type="external">most recent data released by the Department of Labor</a>. No Democrats voted against the bill, and it has been <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/video/white-house-encourages-congress-extend-unemployment-benefits-21439883" type="external">backed by the White House.&#160;</a></p>
<p /> | These GOPers Tried (and Failed) to Kill the Benefits Bill. Here’s How High Unemployment Is in Their States | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2014/01/senate-republicans-vote-unemployment-extension/ | 2014-01-07 | 4left
| These GOPers Tried (and Failed) to Kill the Benefits Bill. Here’s How High Unemployment Is in Their States
<p>Lannis Waters/ZUMA</p>
<p>The Senate unexpectedly moved forward on extending much-needed unemployment insurance for the <a href="" type="internal">1.3 million Americans</a> who lost benefits shortly after Christmas. On Tuesday morning the extension cleared an early filibuster by a 60-37 vote, with six Republicans joining the Democrats in voting for advancement. The <a href="https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/113/s1845" type="external">Emergency Unemployment Compensation Extension Act</a>, introduced by&#160;Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.), extends&#160;benefits for the long-term unemployed for only three months—but 37 Republicans still voted to block debate on the bill. Some of those Republicans who blocked the bill represent states with the&#160;highest unemployment rates in the country.&#160;</p>
<p>Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nev.), the bill’s Republican cosponsor and one of the few GOPers to vote to move the bill towards final passage in the Senate, comes from a state with the worst unemployment rate in the United States—at 9 percent. It’s no surprise that he might vote to extend benefits to those Americans who have been out of the job for six months or more. But that doesn’t explain the no-votes from Republican Sen. Mark Kirk from Illinois, which has the fourth-worst unemployment rate—8.7 percent—and the two Republicans senators from Mississippi, which has an unemployment rate of 8.3 percent. Republicans have cited the <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2014/01/06/white-house-unemployment-insurance-senate-vote/4342199/" type="external">high cost of the bill</a> as the reason they don’t want to extend emergency benefits, although they’ve done so repeatedly in the past.&#160;</p>
<p>Sens. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.), Dan Coats (R-Ind.), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), and Rob Portman (R-Ohio) joined Heller as the only Republicans to vote for cloture.</p>
<p>So what will happen now? The bill still has a long way to go before it passes the Senate. Some of the Republicans who voted for cloture on Tuesday might still join another filibuster against the final vote. Portman, for example, wants to proceed to debate but is <a href="https://twitter.com/jonathanweisman/status/420590924016926720" type="external">demanding</a> that the cost be offset if Democrats hope to win his vote next time. And even if the extension clears the Senate, it will likely flounder in the Republican-controlled House. In the meantime, as America continues to face the <a href="" type="internal">worst long-term unemployment crisis since the Great Depression</a>, families who have been using the recession-era emergency benefits to scrape by will now fall even deeper into the poverty well.&#160;Last year, unemployment benefits helped lift&#160;1.7 million people (including 446,000 children)&#160;out of poverty, according to the <a href="" type="internal">National Employment Law Project</a>. As one New Yorker who has lost her benefits told <a href="" type="internal">Mother Jones</a>, “I’m thoroughly petrified.”&#160;</p>
<p />
<p>Here is a list of every Republican who voted against the bill (or abstained) as well as the unemployment rates in their states, based on the <a href="http://www.bls.gov/web/laus/laumstrk.htm" type="external">most recent data released by the Department of Labor</a>. No Democrats voted against the bill, and it has been <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/video/white-house-encourages-congress-extend-unemployment-benefits-21439883" type="external">backed by the White House.&#160;</a></p>
<p /> | 1,004 |
<p>The oily eco-nightmare that the BP spill has become in the Gulf of Mexico isn’t going to go away for a long while. According to Coast Guard chief Thad Allen, it probably will take “years” to restore affected regions to some semblance of their pre-spill existence. –KA</p>
<p>BBC:</p>
<p>Adm Allen told reporters it would take a couple of months to clear the oil slick from the surface of the Gulf.</p>
<p>But, he said: “Long-term issues of restoring environments and habitats will be years.”</p>
<p />
<p>He said that while BP had nearly doubled the amount of oil being funnelled off the leaking wellhead since Friday, it was now “trying to increase that production rate, close the venting valves and move to a greater capacity”.</p>
<p><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/us_and_canada/10258612.stm" type="external">Read more</a></p> | Surprise News Bulletin: Oil Spill Cleanup Will Take Years | true | https://truthdig.com/articles/surprise-news-bulletin-oil-spill-cleanup-will-take-years/ | 2010-06-07 | 4left
| Surprise News Bulletin: Oil Spill Cleanup Will Take Years
<p>The oily eco-nightmare that the BP spill has become in the Gulf of Mexico isn’t going to go away for a long while. According to Coast Guard chief Thad Allen, it probably will take “years” to restore affected regions to some semblance of their pre-spill existence. –KA</p>
<p>BBC:</p>
<p>Adm Allen told reporters it would take a couple of months to clear the oil slick from the surface of the Gulf.</p>
<p>But, he said: “Long-term issues of restoring environments and habitats will be years.”</p>
<p />
<p>He said that while BP had nearly doubled the amount of oil being funnelled off the leaking wellhead since Friday, it was now “trying to increase that production rate, close the venting valves and move to a greater capacity”.</p>
<p><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/us_and_canada/10258612.stm" type="external">Read more</a></p> | 1,005 |
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<p />
<p>But considering the way the UNM Lobos have lost their past three basketball games - not just with poor play, but troubling signs of bigger issues that have fans as uneasy as they've been in years - getting a victory in today's 7th/8th place game of the Diamond Head Classic in Honolulu against a Washington State team picked to finish last in the Pac-12 sure would be significant.</p>
<p>UNM (7-5) is coming off a 30-point loss to BYU on Wednesday, a lackluster defensive effort that led to the most points allowed and largest margin of defeat for the program since the 2006-07 season.</p>
<p>That game followed a troubling loss Tuesday to Auburn that saw UNM commit 22 turnovers while looking increasingly frustrated against a more athletic team while head coach Craig Neal abandoned his bench in the second half.</p>
<p>That game followed a Saturday night debacle against Rice in which the heavily favored Lobos let a 17-point second half lead evaporate down the stretch with undisciplined play and multiple mental lapses.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>In those three losses, UNM has allowed 89.7 points per game, 37 3-pointers, five or more 3-pointers by one opposing player in each game, and allowed the opposing team's leading scorer - Rice's Egor Koulechov (32), Auburn's Kareem Canty (27) and BYU's Chase Fischer (41) - to score an average of 33.3 points. UNM also averaged 19.0 turnovers leading to an average of 24 points for the opponent.</p>
<p>"Right now they're not playing together," Craig Neal said on a postgame radio show on 770 KKOB-AM.</p>
<p>The coach was heavy on the player criticism on Wednesday, saying "Our game has become an entitlement game," and several of his players couldn't get out of their own way and were doing their own thing while not yet showing an understanding of what it means to be a part of the UNM program.</p>
<p>He said his reserves have been inconsistent in their play when on the court, though the box scores show most of them have not seen very consistent minutes from game to game.</p>
<p>After not playing many reserve players in the Auburn game, Neal did so against BYU and said all that proved was those backup players "aren't as good as the guys starting."</p>
<p>Last Thursday, after UNM beat New Mexico State by 18 points the night before, Neal held his big three - Elijah Brown, Cullen Neal and Tim Williams - out of practice saying he was worried about the minutes those three had logged this season. In a pre-BYU game radio interview when talking about the big minutes of his starters, Neal said "If they can't play 30 minutes a game, they shouldn't be Division I players."</p>
<p>UNM is the only team in the Mountain West with three active players logging more than 30 minutes per game (Brown, 32.8; Williams, 31.6; and Cullen Neal, 31.1).</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>The coach also said he was disappointed in his team not following the coaching staff's instructions in the BYU game. He said the team went over at length Tuesday night how to defend the Cougars 3-point shooters, but in the game, his team "just didn't do it."</p>
<p>Despite it all, the Lobos are still in a position, with a win today, to still feel relatively confident heading into league play Wednesday at home against Nevada as the Mountain West race appears to be wide open.</p>
<p>"We'll get it corrected," Craig Neal said. "? We've got a whole conference season to go and this is a great learning process. You don't lose. You learn."</p>
<p>TOURNEY TROUBLES: The Lobos are 3-5 under Craig Neal in nonconference tournaments events with at least one double-digit loss in each and high turnovers becoming a theme.</p>
<p>In those five losses, the Lobos have averaged 18.0 turnovers (they are averaging 19.5 in the two losses this week in Hawaii).</p>
<p />
<p /> | Desperate for win, Lobos draw the ire of their coach | false | https://abqjournal.com/696655/lobos-recent-disappointing-play-draws-the-ire-of-craig-neal.html | 2015-12-24 | 2least
| Desperate for win, Lobos draw the ire of their coach
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<p />
<p>But considering the way the UNM Lobos have lost their past three basketball games - not just with poor play, but troubling signs of bigger issues that have fans as uneasy as they've been in years - getting a victory in today's 7th/8th place game of the Diamond Head Classic in Honolulu against a Washington State team picked to finish last in the Pac-12 sure would be significant.</p>
<p>UNM (7-5) is coming off a 30-point loss to BYU on Wednesday, a lackluster defensive effort that led to the most points allowed and largest margin of defeat for the program since the 2006-07 season.</p>
<p>That game followed a troubling loss Tuesday to Auburn that saw UNM commit 22 turnovers while looking increasingly frustrated against a more athletic team while head coach Craig Neal abandoned his bench in the second half.</p>
<p>That game followed a Saturday night debacle against Rice in which the heavily favored Lobos let a 17-point second half lead evaporate down the stretch with undisciplined play and multiple mental lapses.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>In those three losses, UNM has allowed 89.7 points per game, 37 3-pointers, five or more 3-pointers by one opposing player in each game, and allowed the opposing team's leading scorer - Rice's Egor Koulechov (32), Auburn's Kareem Canty (27) and BYU's Chase Fischer (41) - to score an average of 33.3 points. UNM also averaged 19.0 turnovers leading to an average of 24 points for the opponent.</p>
<p>"Right now they're not playing together," Craig Neal said on a postgame radio show on 770 KKOB-AM.</p>
<p>The coach was heavy on the player criticism on Wednesday, saying "Our game has become an entitlement game," and several of his players couldn't get out of their own way and were doing their own thing while not yet showing an understanding of what it means to be a part of the UNM program.</p>
<p>He said his reserves have been inconsistent in their play when on the court, though the box scores show most of them have not seen very consistent minutes from game to game.</p>
<p>After not playing many reserve players in the Auburn game, Neal did so against BYU and said all that proved was those backup players "aren't as good as the guys starting."</p>
<p>Last Thursday, after UNM beat New Mexico State by 18 points the night before, Neal held his big three - Elijah Brown, Cullen Neal and Tim Williams - out of practice saying he was worried about the minutes those three had logged this season. In a pre-BYU game radio interview when talking about the big minutes of his starters, Neal said "If they can't play 30 minutes a game, they shouldn't be Division I players."</p>
<p>UNM is the only team in the Mountain West with three active players logging more than 30 minutes per game (Brown, 32.8; Williams, 31.6; and Cullen Neal, 31.1).</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>The coach also said he was disappointed in his team not following the coaching staff's instructions in the BYU game. He said the team went over at length Tuesday night how to defend the Cougars 3-point shooters, but in the game, his team "just didn't do it."</p>
<p>Despite it all, the Lobos are still in a position, with a win today, to still feel relatively confident heading into league play Wednesday at home against Nevada as the Mountain West race appears to be wide open.</p>
<p>"We'll get it corrected," Craig Neal said. "? We've got a whole conference season to go and this is a great learning process. You don't lose. You learn."</p>
<p>TOURNEY TROUBLES: The Lobos are 3-5 under Craig Neal in nonconference tournaments events with at least one double-digit loss in each and high turnovers becoming a theme.</p>
<p>In those five losses, the Lobos have averaged 18.0 turnovers (they are averaging 19.5 in the two losses this week in Hawaii).</p>
<p />
<p /> | 1,006 |
<p>National Diversity Coalition CEO Pastor Darrell Scott on Chicago gangs wanting to work with President Trump to fight crime.</p>
<p>Pastor Darrell Scott, a pro-Trump pastor from Ohio, on Thursday said President Trump whole-heartedly embraced former gang thugs’ request to pro-actively address violence in Chicago.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Scott said a top former Chicago gang leader contacted him due to his proximity to President Trump.</p>
<p>“[Trump] gives us access and lends us his ear,” Scott told the FOX Business Network’s Stuart Varney. “When we offer suggestions to him he’s able to process them very quickly and he’s always helpful—he’s never denied me anything that I’ve requested.”</p>
<p>Scott added that he appreciates Trump’s efforts to engage with the African American community.</p>
<p>“I’ve been trying to tell everybody, I’ve been a voice crying in the wilderness—he wants to engage and he wants to do something to alleviate whatever depressed or disenfranchised conditions that we experienced,” he said.</p> | Ohio Pastor Says Trump Whole-Heartedly Embraced Ex-Gang Efforts on Chicago Violence | true | http://foxbusiness.com/politics/2017/02/02/ohio-pastor-says-trump-whole-heartedly-embraced-ex-gang-efforts-on-chicago-violence.html | 2017-02-02 | 0right
| Ohio Pastor Says Trump Whole-Heartedly Embraced Ex-Gang Efforts on Chicago Violence
<p>National Diversity Coalition CEO Pastor Darrell Scott on Chicago gangs wanting to work with President Trump to fight crime.</p>
<p>Pastor Darrell Scott, a pro-Trump pastor from Ohio, on Thursday said President Trump whole-heartedly embraced former gang thugs’ request to pro-actively address violence in Chicago.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Scott said a top former Chicago gang leader contacted him due to his proximity to President Trump.</p>
<p>“[Trump] gives us access and lends us his ear,” Scott told the FOX Business Network’s Stuart Varney. “When we offer suggestions to him he’s able to process them very quickly and he’s always helpful—he’s never denied me anything that I’ve requested.”</p>
<p>Scott added that he appreciates Trump’s efforts to engage with the African American community.</p>
<p>“I’ve been trying to tell everybody, I’ve been a voice crying in the wilderness—he wants to engage and he wants to do something to alleviate whatever depressed or disenfranchised conditions that we experienced,” he said.</p> | 1,007 |
<p>&lt;a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/22007612@N05/6239093704/"&gt;Gage Skidmore&lt;/a&gt;/Flickr</p>
<p />
<p>When it comes to manipulating charitable giving for personal and political ends, Newt Gingrich wrote the book. In 1997, his charity work won him the dubious distinction of being the first House speaker ever disciplined by his peers for ethical wrongdoing. Congress <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/govt/leadership/stories/012297.htm" type="external">fined</a> Gingrich $300,000 in connection with claiming tax-exempt status for “Renewing American Civilization,” a college course he’d taught for political purposes.</p>
<p>Gingrich has been at it again. Over the past two years, a Gingrich charity called Renewing American Leadership <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/newt-gingrich-charity-paid-cash-gingrich-profit-business/story?id=13804431#.Tyr0vnFOF_k" type="external">paid</a> $220,000 to Gingrich Communications, one of his for-profit companies. The purchases included books authored by Gingrich, such as The Fight for America’s Future and Rediscovering God in America. Daniel Borochoff, president of the American Institute of Philanthropy, told ABC News that the arrangement violates the spirit of how nonprofits are supposed to work.</p>
<p>Of course, Gingrich isn’t the only cause that Gingrich supports. While his personal charitable contributions are opaque—he neglected to itemize the $71,593 he claimed in donations on his 2010 tax return—he did disclose a $9,540 payment to the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, a church where his wife, Callista, sings in the choir. The couple apparently gave considerably more through the Gingrich Foundation, a 501(c)3 nonprofit which listed Gingrich Holdings as its sole 2010 donor, with Newt as a board member and Callista as president. Here’s an annotated breakdown of its $120,000 in charitable donations for 2010. ( <a href="" type="internal">Click here for a look at</a> <a href="" type="internal">Mitt Romney’s charitable giving</a>.)</p>
<p>Mount Vernon Association: $10,000 Supports Mount Vernon</p>
<p>Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception: $20,000 More support for Gingrich’s church. A few years ago, he converted from Southern Baptism to Catholicism.</p>
<p>Shiloh Point Elementary: $1,000 An elementary school in Cumming,&#160;Ga. Gingrich formerly represented Georgia’s 6th Congressional&#160;District.</p>
<p>American&#160;Museum of Natural History: $15,000 The natural history museum in New York City</p>
<p>Washington National&#160;Opera (DC): $10,000 <a href="http://philipkennicott.com/2011/12/05/newt-gingrich-opera-lover/" type="external">Gingrich is a fan.</a></p>
<p>The Atlanta Ballet: $10,000 Speaking to C-Span in 1995, Gingrich <a href="http://woohooyeah.com/archives/30005" type="external">cited</a> the Atlanta Ballet as the kind of local arts organization that deserves more federal support. “There are institutions that are good, and there are institutions that do a good job,” he explained.</p>
<p>Learning Makes a Difference Foundation: $5,000 An educational nonprofit run by Gingrich’s daughter, Jackie Cushman, a conservative political columnist</p>
<p>Arthritis Foundation: $10,000 Gingrich’s other daughter, Kathy Lubbers, suffers from rheumatoid arthritis.</p>
<p>Mount Paran Christian School: $2,500 In 1992, George H.W. Bush <a href="http://archives.savannahnow.com/sav_pdf_archive/text/fr243/A_2342575.pdf" type="external">spoke here</a> in favor of increasing federal funding for parochial schools.</p>
<p>The Walker School: $2,500 A private, nonsectarian college prep school in Marietta,&#160;Ga.</p>
<p>Luther College: $30,000 Callista Gingrich’s alma mater</p>
<p>Susan Chambers Dance Company: $3,000 According to its website, this Sugar Hill, Ga. dance company is a training ground for “pre-professional dancers ages 7 to 18.”</p>
<p>Breast Cancer Research Foundation: $500 Atonement, perhaps, for Gingrich’s famously having dumped his ex-wife while she was in the hospital recovering from breast cancer treatment?</p>
<p>Alzheimer’s Association: $500 In July, the Washington Post‘s Philip Rucker <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/newt-gingrich-bets-on-alzheimers-as-key-to-a-2012-comeback/2011/06/29/AGR0JawH_story.html" type="external">cited</a> a Gingrich speech on Alzheimer’s as an example of how “Gingrich believes he can sew together enough narrow constituencies to make a coalition—an unconventional one, but a coalition nonetheless.”</p>
<p>( <a href="" type="internal">Click here for a look at</a> <a href="" type="internal">Mitt Romney’s charitable giving</a>.)</p>
<p /> | Newt Gingrich’s Gifts to Newt Gingrich—and Other Charities | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2012/02/newt-gingrich-charitable-donations-2012/ | 2012-02-03 | 4left
| Newt Gingrich’s Gifts to Newt Gingrich—and Other Charities
<p>&lt;a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/22007612@N05/6239093704/"&gt;Gage Skidmore&lt;/a&gt;/Flickr</p>
<p />
<p>When it comes to manipulating charitable giving for personal and political ends, Newt Gingrich wrote the book. In 1997, his charity work won him the dubious distinction of being the first House speaker ever disciplined by his peers for ethical wrongdoing. Congress <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/govt/leadership/stories/012297.htm" type="external">fined</a> Gingrich $300,000 in connection with claiming tax-exempt status for “Renewing American Civilization,” a college course he’d taught for political purposes.</p>
<p>Gingrich has been at it again. Over the past two years, a Gingrich charity called Renewing American Leadership <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/newt-gingrich-charity-paid-cash-gingrich-profit-business/story?id=13804431#.Tyr0vnFOF_k" type="external">paid</a> $220,000 to Gingrich Communications, one of his for-profit companies. The purchases included books authored by Gingrich, such as The Fight for America’s Future and Rediscovering God in America. Daniel Borochoff, president of the American Institute of Philanthropy, told ABC News that the arrangement violates the spirit of how nonprofits are supposed to work.</p>
<p>Of course, Gingrich isn’t the only cause that Gingrich supports. While his personal charitable contributions are opaque—he neglected to itemize the $71,593 he claimed in donations on his 2010 tax return—he did disclose a $9,540 payment to the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, a church where his wife, Callista, sings in the choir. The couple apparently gave considerably more through the Gingrich Foundation, a 501(c)3 nonprofit which listed Gingrich Holdings as its sole 2010 donor, with Newt as a board member and Callista as president. Here’s an annotated breakdown of its $120,000 in charitable donations for 2010. ( <a href="" type="internal">Click here for a look at</a> <a href="" type="internal">Mitt Romney’s charitable giving</a>.)</p>
<p>Mount Vernon Association: $10,000 Supports Mount Vernon</p>
<p>Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception: $20,000 More support for Gingrich’s church. A few years ago, he converted from Southern Baptism to Catholicism.</p>
<p>Shiloh Point Elementary: $1,000 An elementary school in Cumming,&#160;Ga. Gingrich formerly represented Georgia’s 6th Congressional&#160;District.</p>
<p>American&#160;Museum of Natural History: $15,000 The natural history museum in New York City</p>
<p>Washington National&#160;Opera (DC): $10,000 <a href="http://philipkennicott.com/2011/12/05/newt-gingrich-opera-lover/" type="external">Gingrich is a fan.</a></p>
<p>The Atlanta Ballet: $10,000 Speaking to C-Span in 1995, Gingrich <a href="http://woohooyeah.com/archives/30005" type="external">cited</a> the Atlanta Ballet as the kind of local arts organization that deserves more federal support. “There are institutions that are good, and there are institutions that do a good job,” he explained.</p>
<p>Learning Makes a Difference Foundation: $5,000 An educational nonprofit run by Gingrich’s daughter, Jackie Cushman, a conservative political columnist</p>
<p>Arthritis Foundation: $10,000 Gingrich’s other daughter, Kathy Lubbers, suffers from rheumatoid arthritis.</p>
<p>Mount Paran Christian School: $2,500 In 1992, George H.W. Bush <a href="http://archives.savannahnow.com/sav_pdf_archive/text/fr243/A_2342575.pdf" type="external">spoke here</a> in favor of increasing federal funding for parochial schools.</p>
<p>The Walker School: $2,500 A private, nonsectarian college prep school in Marietta,&#160;Ga.</p>
<p>Luther College: $30,000 Callista Gingrich’s alma mater</p>
<p>Susan Chambers Dance Company: $3,000 According to its website, this Sugar Hill, Ga. dance company is a training ground for “pre-professional dancers ages 7 to 18.”</p>
<p>Breast Cancer Research Foundation: $500 Atonement, perhaps, for Gingrich’s famously having dumped his ex-wife while she was in the hospital recovering from breast cancer treatment?</p>
<p>Alzheimer’s Association: $500 In July, the Washington Post‘s Philip Rucker <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/newt-gingrich-bets-on-alzheimers-as-key-to-a-2012-comeback/2011/06/29/AGR0JawH_story.html" type="external">cited</a> a Gingrich speech on Alzheimer’s as an example of how “Gingrich believes he can sew together enough narrow constituencies to make a coalition—an unconventional one, but a coalition nonetheless.”</p>
<p>( <a href="" type="internal">Click here for a look at</a> <a href="" type="internal">Mitt Romney’s charitable giving</a>.)</p>
<p /> | 1,008 |
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<p>LAS VEGAS, N.M. (AP) — The state Department of Transportation reports that winter weather is causing difficult driving conditions this morning on several northern New Mexico highways.</p>
<p>Those routes include Interstate 25 between Ilfield and Bernal where the highway is described as snow packed and icy.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | Driving Difficult on Some Roads Up North | false | https://abqjournal.com/164613/driving-difficult-on-some-roads-up-north.html | 2least
| Driving Difficult on Some Roads Up North
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<p>LAS VEGAS, N.M. (AP) — The state Department of Transportation reports that winter weather is causing difficult driving conditions this morning on several northern New Mexico highways.</p>
<p>Those routes include Interstate 25 between Ilfield and Bernal where the highway is described as snow packed and icy.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | 1,009 |
|
<p>Aug. 22 (UPI) — The state economy for Texas is capitalizing on cross-border movements of natural gas to Mexico, a director at a state energy regulator said.</p>
<p>Texas Secretary of State Rolando Pablos served as the moderator of a bilateral energy forum that counted members of a Mexican energy trade association and Mexico Energy Regulatory Commissioner <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Guillermo_Garcia/" type="external">Guillermo Garcia</a> Alcocer among its panelists.</p>
<p>The panel came one month after Mexico’s government held <a href="https://www.upi.com/Mexico-opens-gas-infrastructure-capacity-to-bidders/8171500553177/" type="external">its first auction</a> to access capacity to natural gas infrastructure as part of the country’s sweeping energy reforms. Those reforms could bring in up to $415 billion in investments over the next 20 years as the country establishes links to the rest of the world.</p>
<p>Ryan Sitton with the Texas Railroad Commission, the state’s energy regulator, said high U.S. natural gas production and Mexican energy sector reforms were opening economic doors.</p>
<p>“Right now, Mexico imports 60 percent of its natural gas from the U.S., most of which comes from Texas,” he said in <a href="http://www.rrc.texas.gov/all-news/082117a/" type="external">a statement</a>. “By 2019, U.S. natural gas exports to Mexico will double, and that means more money for our schools, roads, hospitals and economy.”</p>
<p>Sitton’s comments come as U.S. President <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Donald_Trump/" type="external">Donald Trump</a> worked <a href="https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2017/07/18/Trump-plan-to-renegotiate-NAFTA-targets-US-trade-deficit/1791500376152/" type="external">to renegotiate the terms</a> of the 23-year-old North American Free Trade Agreement. U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said the “new NAFTA” would ensure his country doesn’t face unfair subsidies or market-distorting practices by state-owned enterprises.</p>
<p>The Mexican energy reform program is meant to open the country up to outside oil investment for the first time since 1938, when the Mexican government took control of the country’s oil industry and sidelined foreign investments. State-controlled Petróleos Mexicanos, or Pemex, had a monopoly over the sector before reforms were initiated in 2014.</p> | Texas sees Mexico as important gas export market | false | https://newsline.com/texas-sees-mexico-as-important-gas-export-market/ | 2017-08-22 | 1right-center
| Texas sees Mexico as important gas export market
<p>Aug. 22 (UPI) — The state economy for Texas is capitalizing on cross-border movements of natural gas to Mexico, a director at a state energy regulator said.</p>
<p>Texas Secretary of State Rolando Pablos served as the moderator of a bilateral energy forum that counted members of a Mexican energy trade association and Mexico Energy Regulatory Commissioner <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Guillermo_Garcia/" type="external">Guillermo Garcia</a> Alcocer among its panelists.</p>
<p>The panel came one month after Mexico’s government held <a href="https://www.upi.com/Mexico-opens-gas-infrastructure-capacity-to-bidders/8171500553177/" type="external">its first auction</a> to access capacity to natural gas infrastructure as part of the country’s sweeping energy reforms. Those reforms could bring in up to $415 billion in investments over the next 20 years as the country establishes links to the rest of the world.</p>
<p>Ryan Sitton with the Texas Railroad Commission, the state’s energy regulator, said high U.S. natural gas production and Mexican energy sector reforms were opening economic doors.</p>
<p>“Right now, Mexico imports 60 percent of its natural gas from the U.S., most of which comes from Texas,” he said in <a href="http://www.rrc.texas.gov/all-news/082117a/" type="external">a statement</a>. “By 2019, U.S. natural gas exports to Mexico will double, and that means more money for our schools, roads, hospitals and economy.”</p>
<p>Sitton’s comments come as U.S. President <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Donald_Trump/" type="external">Donald Trump</a> worked <a href="https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2017/07/18/Trump-plan-to-renegotiate-NAFTA-targets-US-trade-deficit/1791500376152/" type="external">to renegotiate the terms</a> of the 23-year-old North American Free Trade Agreement. U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said the “new NAFTA” would ensure his country doesn’t face unfair subsidies or market-distorting practices by state-owned enterprises.</p>
<p>The Mexican energy reform program is meant to open the country up to outside oil investment for the first time since 1938, when the Mexican government took control of the country’s oil industry and sidelined foreign investments. State-controlled Petróleos Mexicanos, or Pemex, had a monopoly over the sector before reforms were initiated in 2014.</p> | 1,010 |
<p><a href="http://pienews.wpengine.com/?p=26062" type="external" />By Kyle Smith MORE FROM Kyle Smith Prediction: In 10 years, it'll be illegal to spank your kids. Progressivism's never-ending zeal to intrude into our lives, bust up families and force us all to march to its grim beat means that yesterday's absurdity turns into today's hot topic in [?]</p>
<p />
<p><a href="http://nypost.com/2014/07/26/why-liberals-will-try-to-outlaw-spanking/" type="external">Click here to view original web page at nypost.com</a></p>
<p /> | Why liberals will try to outlaw spanking | true | http://politicalillusionsexposed.com/why-liberals-will-try-to-outlaw-spanking/ | 0right
| Why liberals will try to outlaw spanking
<p><a href="http://pienews.wpengine.com/?p=26062" type="external" />By Kyle Smith MORE FROM Kyle Smith Prediction: In 10 years, it'll be illegal to spank your kids. Progressivism's never-ending zeal to intrude into our lives, bust up families and force us all to march to its grim beat means that yesterday's absurdity turns into today's hot topic in [?]</p>
<p />
<p><a href="http://nypost.com/2014/07/26/why-liberals-will-try-to-outlaw-spanking/" type="external">Click here to view original web page at nypost.com</a></p>
<p /> | 1,011 |
|
<p>The notion that a glass of red wine with dinner may protect against heart disease and cancer might prove to be false. It turns out those antioxidants might not be as effective in preserving heart and cell health as previously thought.</p>
<p>There is already a body of conflicting evidence that suggests that the antioxidant, Resveratrol may play a role in reducing cholesterol, blood pressure, inflammation, and diabetes, while other sources insist that no relation exists. The latest study released on the topic echoes the latter conclusion.</p>
<p>The study, from the John’s Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, studied 783 individuals aged 65 and up. They measured the levels of Resveratrol in urine every three years for nine years and compared that data with other markers of health which include cholesterol, heart disease, blood pressure and mortality rates. Over the course of the study, 34 percent of the participants died and 4.6 percent were diagnosed with cancer. The measured levels of Resveratrol in urine did not correlate with any of the markers related to the causes of death in the 34 percent.</p>
<p>Over the last two decades, research that indicated the potential benefits of red wine have been prone to garnering more attention from the general public. Experts indicate that this could be in part because people just really want wine to be good for them. However, there is a more substantial cause for this association. Often referred to as the “French Paradox,” the assumption has long been that the low rate of heart disease in spite of a customary diet high in cholesterol was the product of a cultural affinity for ingesting red wine.</p>
<p>Many experts do not agree with this popular explanation of the “French Paradox.” The World Health Organization recommends against any consumption of alcohol. Other organization, such as Canada’s Heart and Stroke Foundation and the American Heart Association agree with this recommendation of abstinence.</p>
<p /> | Antioxidants in red wine may not protect health as commonly thought | false | http://natmonitor.com/2014/05/12/antioxidants-in-red-wine-may-not-protect-health-as-commonly-thought/ | 2014-05-12 | 3left-center
| Antioxidants in red wine may not protect health as commonly thought
<p>The notion that a glass of red wine with dinner may protect against heart disease and cancer might prove to be false. It turns out those antioxidants might not be as effective in preserving heart and cell health as previously thought.</p>
<p>There is already a body of conflicting evidence that suggests that the antioxidant, Resveratrol may play a role in reducing cholesterol, blood pressure, inflammation, and diabetes, while other sources insist that no relation exists. The latest study released on the topic echoes the latter conclusion.</p>
<p>The study, from the John’s Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, studied 783 individuals aged 65 and up. They measured the levels of Resveratrol in urine every three years for nine years and compared that data with other markers of health which include cholesterol, heart disease, blood pressure and mortality rates. Over the course of the study, 34 percent of the participants died and 4.6 percent were diagnosed with cancer. The measured levels of Resveratrol in urine did not correlate with any of the markers related to the causes of death in the 34 percent.</p>
<p>Over the last two decades, research that indicated the potential benefits of red wine have been prone to garnering more attention from the general public. Experts indicate that this could be in part because people just really want wine to be good for them. However, there is a more substantial cause for this association. Often referred to as the “French Paradox,” the assumption has long been that the low rate of heart disease in spite of a customary diet high in cholesterol was the product of a cultural affinity for ingesting red wine.</p>
<p>Many experts do not agree with this popular explanation of the “French Paradox.” The World Health Organization recommends against any consumption of alcohol. Other organization, such as Canada’s Heart and Stroke Foundation and the American Heart Association agree with this recommendation of abstinence.</p>
<p /> | 1,012 |
<p>CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — A man who authorities say was shot by officers after he rammed several police cars while trying to run from police has been charged after his release from the hospital.</p>
<p>Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police said 30-year-old Nicholas Poulos was taken to police headquarters after being discharged from the hospital Friday. He was then taken to jail after his interview with a detective.</p>
<p>Police say officers tried to pull over Poulos for outstanding warrants near Interstate 77 in south Charlotte on Wednesday night. They say Poulos rammed several police cars as officers were out of their cruisers trying to arrest him. He was shot in the hand.</p>
<p>Poulos faces one count of assault with a deadly weapon on a law enforcement officer as well as a number of other charges.</p>
<p>CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — A man who authorities say was shot by officers after he rammed several police cars while trying to run from police has been charged after his release from the hospital.</p>
<p>Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police said 30-year-old Nicholas Poulos was taken to police headquarters after being discharged from the hospital Friday. He was then taken to jail after his interview with a detective.</p>
<p>Police say officers tried to pull over Poulos for outstanding warrants near Interstate 77 in south Charlotte on Wednesday night. They say Poulos rammed several police cars as officers were out of their cruisers trying to arrest him. He was shot in the hand.</p>
<p>Poulos faces one count of assault with a deadly weapon on a law enforcement officer as well as a number of other charges.</p> | Man shot after ramming police cars charged after treatment | false | https://apnews.com/amp/ebd9fec6f8d3478293af87ec5bb2a11d | 2017-12-30 | 2least
| Man shot after ramming police cars charged after treatment
<p>CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — A man who authorities say was shot by officers after he rammed several police cars while trying to run from police has been charged after his release from the hospital.</p>
<p>Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police said 30-year-old Nicholas Poulos was taken to police headquarters after being discharged from the hospital Friday. He was then taken to jail after his interview with a detective.</p>
<p>Police say officers tried to pull over Poulos for outstanding warrants near Interstate 77 in south Charlotte on Wednesday night. They say Poulos rammed several police cars as officers were out of their cruisers trying to arrest him. He was shot in the hand.</p>
<p>Poulos faces one count of assault with a deadly weapon on a law enforcement officer as well as a number of other charges.</p>
<p>CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — A man who authorities say was shot by officers after he rammed several police cars while trying to run from police has been charged after his release from the hospital.</p>
<p>Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police said 30-year-old Nicholas Poulos was taken to police headquarters after being discharged from the hospital Friday. He was then taken to jail after his interview with a detective.</p>
<p>Police say officers tried to pull over Poulos for outstanding warrants near Interstate 77 in south Charlotte on Wednesday night. They say Poulos rammed several police cars as officers were out of their cruisers trying to arrest him. He was shot in the hand.</p>
<p>Poulos faces one count of assault with a deadly weapon on a law enforcement officer as well as a number of other charges.</p> | 1,013 |
<p />
<p>This feels like a compromise in search of a conflict. The Democrats in Congress are ready to pass an energy bill that, in exchange for “investments in clean and renewable energies, a crackdown on oil speculators, and proof that the oil and gas companies are fully utilizing land that is already leased for exploration,” will <a href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0708/11649.html" type="external">legalize additional offshore drilling</a>.</p>
<p>Really? Am I just out of touch? Has there been a public outcry in support of offshore drilling? There was a <a href="/mojoblog/archives/2008/06/8708_mccain_on_off_s.html" type="external">media war</a> on the subject a while back, and I thought we were able to prove the idea is a <a href="/mojoblog/archives/2008/06/8776_florida_republi.html" type="external">useless pander</a> — it won’t lower gas prices substantially, it won’t put any additional oil on the market for seven to 10 years, it distracts us from serious and long-term energy solutions, etc. And after all that, congressional Dems are just going to cede the issue? Maybe they need to include offshore drilling as a sop to the Republicans in order to get renewable energy provisions in this upcoming bill. Those better be some pretty substantial provisions…</p>
<p /> | Dems Ready to Cave on Offshore Drilling… In Face of What Pressure? | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2008/07/dems-ready-cave-offshore-drilling-face-what-pressure/ | 2008-07-10 | 4left
| Dems Ready to Cave on Offshore Drilling… In Face of What Pressure?
<p />
<p>This feels like a compromise in search of a conflict. The Democrats in Congress are ready to pass an energy bill that, in exchange for “investments in clean and renewable energies, a crackdown on oil speculators, and proof that the oil and gas companies are fully utilizing land that is already leased for exploration,” will <a href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0708/11649.html" type="external">legalize additional offshore drilling</a>.</p>
<p>Really? Am I just out of touch? Has there been a public outcry in support of offshore drilling? There was a <a href="/mojoblog/archives/2008/06/8708_mccain_on_off_s.html" type="external">media war</a> on the subject a while back, and I thought we were able to prove the idea is a <a href="/mojoblog/archives/2008/06/8776_florida_republi.html" type="external">useless pander</a> — it won’t lower gas prices substantially, it won’t put any additional oil on the market for seven to 10 years, it distracts us from serious and long-term energy solutions, etc. And after all that, congressional Dems are just going to cede the issue? Maybe they need to include offshore drilling as a sop to the Republicans in order to get renewable energy provisions in this upcoming bill. Those better be some pretty substantial provisions…</p>
<p /> | 1,014 |
<p />
<p>Image source: TASER International.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Shares of Taser and body-camera maker TASER International, Inc. (NASDAQ: TASR) fell 21.8% in October, according to data provided by <a href="https://www.capitaliq.com/home.aspx" type="external">S&amp;P Global Market Intelligence Opens a New Window.</a>, after investors worried the company may lose its dominant market position.</p>
<p>When TASER lost a contract to <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/2016/10/12/tickercoverage-introducing-tasers-new-archenemy-vi.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">sell 1,000 body cameras to the NYPD Opens a New Window.</a> to upstart VieVu, investors got worried that the company was in real trouble. VieVu offered much lower prices than TASER International, and if the former continues to be aggressive in bidding for contracts, it could put pressure on TASER's sales volume as well as margins.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Since then, TASER International has fought back by offering 1,000 body cameras for the NYPD to test out, arguing that its product is better than VieVu's. That could help it break into the country's largest law enforcement agency, which would be a big win.</p>
<p>There was a tantrum in the market when the NYPD contract appeared lost, but it was ultimately one contract out of many TASER has won this year. Recently, it signed a deal with the Seattle Police Department, which happens to be where VieVu is headquartered -- another sign the company isn't going to go quietly into the night. I think long-term, the NYPD deal will be a bump in the road, but it got TASER investors worried last month.</p>
<p>10 stocks we like better than Taser International When investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.*</p>
<p>David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the <a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-dyn%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;impression=113f2108-f1cf-476f-86f9-e3726b95b7f2&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">ten best stocks Opens a New Window.</a> for investors to buy right now and Taser International 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;impression=113f2108-f1cf-476f-86f9-e3726b95b7f2&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&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 November 7, 2016</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFFlushDraw/info.aspx" type="external">Travis Hoium Opens a New Window.</a> owns shares of Taser International. The Motley Fool recommends Taser International. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services <a href="http://www.fool.com/shop/newsletters/index.aspx?source=isiedilnk018048&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">free for 30 days Opens a New Window.</a>. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that <a href="http://www.fool.com/knowledge-center/motley.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">considering a diverse range of insights Opens a New Window.</a> makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> | Why TASER International, Inc. Shares Plunged 21.8% Last Month | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/11/08/why-taser-international-inc-shares-plunged-218-last-month.html | 2016-11-08 | 0right
| Why TASER International, Inc. Shares Plunged 21.8% Last Month
<p />
<p>Image source: TASER International.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Shares of Taser and body-camera maker TASER International, Inc. (NASDAQ: TASR) fell 21.8% in October, according to data provided by <a href="https://www.capitaliq.com/home.aspx" type="external">S&amp;P Global Market Intelligence Opens a New Window.</a>, after investors worried the company may lose its dominant market position.</p>
<p>When TASER lost a contract to <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/2016/10/12/tickercoverage-introducing-tasers-new-archenemy-vi.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">sell 1,000 body cameras to the NYPD Opens a New Window.</a> to upstart VieVu, investors got worried that the company was in real trouble. VieVu offered much lower prices than TASER International, and if the former continues to be aggressive in bidding for contracts, it could put pressure on TASER's sales volume as well as margins.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Since then, TASER International has fought back by offering 1,000 body cameras for the NYPD to test out, arguing that its product is better than VieVu's. That could help it break into the country's largest law enforcement agency, which would be a big win.</p>
<p>There was a tantrum in the market when the NYPD contract appeared lost, but it was ultimately one contract out of many TASER has won this year. Recently, it signed a deal with the Seattle Police Department, which happens to be where VieVu is headquartered -- another sign the company isn't going to go quietly into the night. I think long-term, the NYPD deal will be a bump in the road, but it got TASER investors worried last month.</p>
<p>10 stocks we like better than Taser International When investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.*</p>
<p>David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the <a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-dyn%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;impression=113f2108-f1cf-476f-86f9-e3726b95b7f2&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">ten best stocks Opens a New Window.</a> for investors to buy right now and Taser International 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;impression=113f2108-f1cf-476f-86f9-e3726b95b7f2&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&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 November 7, 2016</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFFlushDraw/info.aspx" type="external">Travis Hoium Opens a New Window.</a> owns shares of Taser International. The Motley Fool recommends Taser International. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services <a href="http://www.fool.com/shop/newsletters/index.aspx?source=isiedilnk018048&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">free for 30 days Opens a New Window.</a>. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that <a href="http://www.fool.com/knowledge-center/motley.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">considering a diverse range of insights Opens a New Window.</a> makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> | 1,015 |
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<p />
<p>With rhino horns considered a cure in Asia for everything from cancer, colds and fevers to high blood pressure, hangovers, impotence and other ailments, poachers have decimated rhino populations in Africa and elsewhere.</p>
<p>The attack at the Thoiry Zoo earlier this month was a warning sign for zookeepers around the globe that poaching could be spreading beyond the killing fields of Africa and Asia.</p>
<p>The Dvur Kralove Zoo, 110 kilometers (70 miles) northeast of Prague, has four southern white rhinos and 17 black ones, the largest group of its kind in Europe. Director Premysl Rabas said Tuesday that it was a tough decision to saw off the horns.</p>
<p>“However, the risk that the rhinos currently face not only in the wild but even in zoos is too high. The safety of the animals is our first concern,” he said. “A dehorned rhino is definitely a better option than a dead rhino.”</p>
<p>The zoo said the procedure is painless for the animals and has been used before for safety reasons, especially when the rhinos are moved to other places.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>“There is no live tissue (in the horn),” said Jan Stejskal, director of communications and international projects at Dvur Kralove. “It’s just compact matter, similar to nails or to hair. If you cut it, it’s like cutting your hair or your nails. So it has no impact on the life of the animal.”</p>
<p>Palmir, a 10-year-old male rhino, was the first to have his horn cut off on Monday. It will grow back again.</p>
<p>“Pamir was anaesthetized. The intervention took less than one hour and it was performed without any complications,” said Jiri Hruby, a rhino curator.</p>
<p>The horns will be initially stored in a “safe place” outside the park.</p>
<p>The Czech zoo is not the only one to take such measures. It said its experts helped the Bandia reserve in Senegal do the same with their rhinos last week and says the Pairi Daiza Zoo in Belgium plans to follow suit.</p> | Czech zoo saws off rhino horns to keep its animals safe | false | https://abqjournal.com/973214/czech-zoo-saws-off-rhino-horns-to-keep-its-animals-safe.html | 2017-03-21 | 2least
| Czech zoo saws off rhino horns to keep its animals safe
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>With rhino horns considered a cure in Asia for everything from cancer, colds and fevers to high blood pressure, hangovers, impotence and other ailments, poachers have decimated rhino populations in Africa and elsewhere.</p>
<p>The attack at the Thoiry Zoo earlier this month was a warning sign for zookeepers around the globe that poaching could be spreading beyond the killing fields of Africa and Asia.</p>
<p>The Dvur Kralove Zoo, 110 kilometers (70 miles) northeast of Prague, has four southern white rhinos and 17 black ones, the largest group of its kind in Europe. Director Premysl Rabas said Tuesday that it was a tough decision to saw off the horns.</p>
<p>“However, the risk that the rhinos currently face not only in the wild but even in zoos is too high. The safety of the animals is our first concern,” he said. “A dehorned rhino is definitely a better option than a dead rhino.”</p>
<p>The zoo said the procedure is painless for the animals and has been used before for safety reasons, especially when the rhinos are moved to other places.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>“There is no live tissue (in the horn),” said Jan Stejskal, director of communications and international projects at Dvur Kralove. “It’s just compact matter, similar to nails or to hair. If you cut it, it’s like cutting your hair or your nails. So it has no impact on the life of the animal.”</p>
<p>Palmir, a 10-year-old male rhino, was the first to have his horn cut off on Monday. It will grow back again.</p>
<p>“Pamir was anaesthetized. The intervention took less than one hour and it was performed without any complications,” said Jiri Hruby, a rhino curator.</p>
<p>The horns will be initially stored in a “safe place” outside the park.</p>
<p>The Czech zoo is not the only one to take such measures. It said its experts helped the Bandia reserve in Senegal do the same with their rhinos last week and says the Pairi Daiza Zoo in Belgium plans to follow suit.</p> | 1,016 |
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<p />
<p>We’d like to clarify a few points in light of the recent public conversation and relay the details of a new Fairness Doctrine that has been implemented to facilitate the process.</p>
<p>STOP was originally instituted to curb dangerous driving behaviors on city roadways. Excessive speed and red-light running has injured or claimed the lives of many innocent Albuquerque citizens throughout the years. The STOP program was designed to serve as a deterrent to dangerous driving, and to provide law enforcement officers with a means to hold unsafe drivers accountable for their actions.</p>
<p>While the program is no longer operating, the traffic violations that occurred during its operation are still valid. They are treated like any other traffic violation issued by an officer at the scene.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Drivers who received STOP citations are expected and required to either lawfully contest the citation or pay the fine. There are consequences for those who fail to pay, just as there would be with other types of unpaid citations.</p>
<p>It’s also important to point out that the city’s collection effort is mandated by the Charter of the City of Albuquerque and the New Mexico Constitution, Article 4, Section 32.</p>
<p>Specifically, the city has a legal responsibility to collect the fines from drivers who received citations for breaking the law. Thus, payment of the traffic fine is mandatory, unless dismissed.</p>
<p>To ease this process, we have been working with the city and the collection agency to implement flexible policies that accommodate some of the more prominent concerns voiced by the public:</p>
<p>♦ Citation holders with two or fewer violations will be responsible for the violation amount and service fee, which is $100 in total for each violation.</p>
<p>♦ Those with three or more violations will be responsible for the violation and service fee, but will also have to pay some portion of their default fees. A portion of the default fees may be waived at the sole discretion of the collector.</p>
<p>♦ Any negative credit reporting resulting from the lack of timely payment will be removed on satisfaction of the outstanding obligation.</p>
<p>♦ An arbiter has been appointed for consideration of select cases requiring individual consideration due to special circumstances.</p>
<p>Drivers who have outstanding violations can still submit their payments and avoid a negative impact on their credit report by calling (877) 444-3343 or visiting <a href="http://www.creditwatchservices.com" type="external">www.creditwatchservices.com</a>. Drivers who have questions about their rights and obligations can also contact the city of Albuquerque by dialing the administrative assistance telephone number 311.</p>
<p>As we move forward, let’s not forget that red-light running and speeding are not just dangerous or risky, but often deadly for vehicle operators, passengers and pedestrians. These types of unsafe driving behaviors shouldn’t be taken lightly or accepted without penalty.</p>
<p>Robert T. DeVincenzi is president and CEO of Redflex Holdings Limited.</p> | Some flexibility for red-light ticket holders | false | https://abqjournal.com/200990/some-flexibility-for-redlight-ticket-holders.html | 2least
| Some flexibility for red-light ticket holders
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<p>We’d like to clarify a few points in light of the recent public conversation and relay the details of a new Fairness Doctrine that has been implemented to facilitate the process.</p>
<p>STOP was originally instituted to curb dangerous driving behaviors on city roadways. Excessive speed and red-light running has injured or claimed the lives of many innocent Albuquerque citizens throughout the years. The STOP program was designed to serve as a deterrent to dangerous driving, and to provide law enforcement officers with a means to hold unsafe drivers accountable for their actions.</p>
<p>While the program is no longer operating, the traffic violations that occurred during its operation are still valid. They are treated like any other traffic violation issued by an officer at the scene.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Drivers who received STOP citations are expected and required to either lawfully contest the citation or pay the fine. There are consequences for those who fail to pay, just as there would be with other types of unpaid citations.</p>
<p>It’s also important to point out that the city’s collection effort is mandated by the Charter of the City of Albuquerque and the New Mexico Constitution, Article 4, Section 32.</p>
<p>Specifically, the city has a legal responsibility to collect the fines from drivers who received citations for breaking the law. Thus, payment of the traffic fine is mandatory, unless dismissed.</p>
<p>To ease this process, we have been working with the city and the collection agency to implement flexible policies that accommodate some of the more prominent concerns voiced by the public:</p>
<p>♦ Citation holders with two or fewer violations will be responsible for the violation amount and service fee, which is $100 in total for each violation.</p>
<p>♦ Those with three or more violations will be responsible for the violation and service fee, but will also have to pay some portion of their default fees. A portion of the default fees may be waived at the sole discretion of the collector.</p>
<p>♦ Any negative credit reporting resulting from the lack of timely payment will be removed on satisfaction of the outstanding obligation.</p>
<p>♦ An arbiter has been appointed for consideration of select cases requiring individual consideration due to special circumstances.</p>
<p>Drivers who have outstanding violations can still submit their payments and avoid a negative impact on their credit report by calling (877) 444-3343 or visiting <a href="http://www.creditwatchservices.com" type="external">www.creditwatchservices.com</a>. Drivers who have questions about their rights and obligations can also contact the city of Albuquerque by dialing the administrative assistance telephone number 311.</p>
<p>As we move forward, let’s not forget that red-light running and speeding are not just dangerous or risky, but often deadly for vehicle operators, passengers and pedestrians. These types of unsafe driving behaviors shouldn’t be taken lightly or accepted without penalty.</p>
<p>Robert T. DeVincenzi is president and CEO of Redflex Holdings Limited.</p> | 1,017 |
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<p>Meghan O’Brien is shown during one of her many hospitalizations over the past 15 months. Meghan is a nonsmoker who is battling stage 4 lung cancer. (Courtesy Meghan O’Brien via Chicago Tribune/MCT)</p>
<p>CHICAGO – November was Lung Cancer Awareness Month, but you’d never know it. Consumers aren’t bombarded by products in blue, the color designated by some to raise the profile of the disease. No NFL players or coaches wore blue-ribboned apparel, despite donning pink just a month earlier for breast cancer.</p>
<p>“It just doesn’t seem fair,” said Meghan O’Brien, 31, a nonsmoker diagnosed with stage 4 of the disease last year. There is no stage 5.</p>
<p>The lack of buzz is especially perplexing because lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in the United States, claiming more lives than breast, prostate, colon and pancreatic cancers combined. The five-year survival rate is just 16 percent – a statistic that has barely budged since 1975, according to the American Cancer Society.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>But lung cancer is seen as a tobacco-related illness that patients somehow bring upon themselves.</p>
<p>About 10 percent to 15 percent of the roughly 228,000 people diagnosed with the disease each year were never smokers, according to the LUNGevity Foundation, a Chicago-based support organization.</p>
<p>Stigma negatively affects everything from emotional support to the anemic November awareness campaign. Even in obituaries, family members feel compelled to include the “nonsmoker” status, lest the deceased be unfairly judged.</p>
<p>However, nowhere is the disparity felt more acutely than in funding research. The National Cancer Institute estimates that $17,835 is spent per breast cancer death versus $1,378 for lung cancer, even though lung cancer accounts for almost 23,000 deaths annually among nonsmokers.</p>
<p>“If we don’t start paying attention and changing attitudes, we will have a losing battle ahead of us,” said Dr. Ravi Salgia, O’Brien’s oncologist at University of Chicago Medicine.</p>
<p>Not that it’s easy to build awareness. Forget the pink marketing blitz; just try to find a ribbon for lung cancer. There’s even dispute over the appropriate color, according to Andrea Ferris, president and chair of the LUNGevity Foundation, who says it’s blue. Others say it’s clear or pearl.</p>
<p>“In every other disease, the first question people ask is, ‘How can I help?’ But with lung cancer, there’s no empathy. It’s always, ‘Did you smoke?’ After a while, it’s just easier not to say anything,” Ferris said.</p>
<p>In O’Brien’s case, doctors pinpointed a rare genetic mutation, called ALK, created when two normal genes fuse together to form a new, cancer-causing one.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>The University of Chicago is one of the nation’s major treatment centers because of a clinical trial for crizotinib, part of a new arsenal of drugs designed to help patients by blocking ALK. This pharmaceutical “Hail Mary” helped contain O’Brien’s cancer for a while, but now it has come roaring back, invading her lungs and brain. Two months ago, a scan revealed a liver studded with tumors.</p>
<p>Meghan O’Brien, of Huntley, Ill., takes a walk in the woods with her father, Ken O’Brien, and their dog, Max. Meghan, 31, says the woods are her “happy place” as she struggles with stage 4 lung cancer. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune/MCT)</p>
<p>O’Brien is now in another early stage clinical trial and channeling her waning energy into chipping away at the “blame and shame” that has impeded progress. She also started a blog to chronicle her lung cancer journey.</p>
<p>“I try not to get too mad when people ask if I smoked,” she said. “Instead, I try to turn it into an opportunity to talk about it … to educate. I guess that’s the teacher in me.”</p>
<p>Even so, O’Brien immediately recited her virtuous health habits: Physical education teacher. Avid tennis player. An “almost vegetarian” who hasn’t rolled through a fast-food window since age 13. No cigarettes, ever.</p>
<p>At first she had experienced back pain, which she attributed to muscle strain, a logical explanation for someone so active. But in May 2012 it became excruciating. X-rays were inconclusive.</p>
<p>By the end of summer she had landed a full-time job teaching high school physical education, allowing her to move out of her parents’ home and into her own apartment.</p>
<p>However, just as her “grown-up life” was taking off, it splintered apart.</p>
<p>She received varying diagnoses, including scoliosis, sinus infection and pneumonia. On Sept. 1, the first day of her new job, she went to her neighborhood clinic. The physician took one look at her test results and sent her to University of Illinois at Chicago’s emergency room. Six hours later, a nurse told her to call her parents.</p>
<p>Even after being admitted to the oncology floor, cancer didn’t enter her mind. “I thought maybe this was the only place where they had an open bed … or it was pneumonia or tuberculosis, and this was the only room where I could be quarantined.”</p>
<p>But two weeks later, a doctor confirmed the worst: stage 4 non-small cell lung cancer, already assaulting other organs. All she remembers is her father reaching out to steady himself on a nearby radiator.</p>
<p>O’Brien spent most of the next four months in the hospital. Before she could start therapy, she needed emergency spinal surgery to remove the malignant tumors wrapped tenaciously around her spinal cord. Surgeons removed several of her vertebrae, replacing them with titanium rods and screws.</p>
<p><a href="https://d3el53au0d7w62.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Health_j16Dec_LungCancer-copy.jpg" type="external" />After discharge, O’Brien moved back in with her parents so they could help with caregiving. After almost three years of trying to obtain a full-time teaching job, her tenure had lasted about a month.</p>
<p>O’Brien’s eyes glistened with tears as she ticked off her unfulfilled dreams – having a profession, getting married, having kids, buying a home.</p>
<p>“When I was first diagnosed, I asked about freezing my eggs,” she said. “They basically told me that there was no point because I wouldn’t live long enough … to get the procedure done.”</p>
<p>Besides, she said, dating isn’t really on her radar now. Treatment caused her to lose her hair, while steroids added 50 pounds.</p>
<p>The ultimate indignity, she said, “is when people ask, ‘Are you sure you never smoked?’ As if I forgot.”</p>
<p>Not that anyone deserves the deadly diagnosis. It wasn’t so long ago that the military dispensed cigarettes to soldiers, and many lung cancer patients kicked the smoking habit decades ago, she said. “But it doesn’t matter. … People still think it’s your fault.”</p>
<p /> | Lung cancer stigma hurts awareness, hampers research | false | https://abqjournal.com/320669/lung-cancer-stigma-hurts-awareness-hampers-research.html | 2least
| Lung cancer stigma hurts awareness, hampers research
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<p>Meghan O’Brien is shown during one of her many hospitalizations over the past 15 months. Meghan is a nonsmoker who is battling stage 4 lung cancer. (Courtesy Meghan O’Brien via Chicago Tribune/MCT)</p>
<p>CHICAGO – November was Lung Cancer Awareness Month, but you’d never know it. Consumers aren’t bombarded by products in blue, the color designated by some to raise the profile of the disease. No NFL players or coaches wore blue-ribboned apparel, despite donning pink just a month earlier for breast cancer.</p>
<p>“It just doesn’t seem fair,” said Meghan O’Brien, 31, a nonsmoker diagnosed with stage 4 of the disease last year. There is no stage 5.</p>
<p>The lack of buzz is especially perplexing because lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in the United States, claiming more lives than breast, prostate, colon and pancreatic cancers combined. The five-year survival rate is just 16 percent – a statistic that has barely budged since 1975, according to the American Cancer Society.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>But lung cancer is seen as a tobacco-related illness that patients somehow bring upon themselves.</p>
<p>About 10 percent to 15 percent of the roughly 228,000 people diagnosed with the disease each year were never smokers, according to the LUNGevity Foundation, a Chicago-based support organization.</p>
<p>Stigma negatively affects everything from emotional support to the anemic November awareness campaign. Even in obituaries, family members feel compelled to include the “nonsmoker” status, lest the deceased be unfairly judged.</p>
<p>However, nowhere is the disparity felt more acutely than in funding research. The National Cancer Institute estimates that $17,835 is spent per breast cancer death versus $1,378 for lung cancer, even though lung cancer accounts for almost 23,000 deaths annually among nonsmokers.</p>
<p>“If we don’t start paying attention and changing attitudes, we will have a losing battle ahead of us,” said Dr. Ravi Salgia, O’Brien’s oncologist at University of Chicago Medicine.</p>
<p>Not that it’s easy to build awareness. Forget the pink marketing blitz; just try to find a ribbon for lung cancer. There’s even dispute over the appropriate color, according to Andrea Ferris, president and chair of the LUNGevity Foundation, who says it’s blue. Others say it’s clear or pearl.</p>
<p>“In every other disease, the first question people ask is, ‘How can I help?’ But with lung cancer, there’s no empathy. It’s always, ‘Did you smoke?’ After a while, it’s just easier not to say anything,” Ferris said.</p>
<p>In O’Brien’s case, doctors pinpointed a rare genetic mutation, called ALK, created when two normal genes fuse together to form a new, cancer-causing one.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>The University of Chicago is one of the nation’s major treatment centers because of a clinical trial for crizotinib, part of a new arsenal of drugs designed to help patients by blocking ALK. This pharmaceutical “Hail Mary” helped contain O’Brien’s cancer for a while, but now it has come roaring back, invading her lungs and brain. Two months ago, a scan revealed a liver studded with tumors.</p>
<p>Meghan O’Brien, of Huntley, Ill., takes a walk in the woods with her father, Ken O’Brien, and their dog, Max. Meghan, 31, says the woods are her “happy place” as she struggles with stage 4 lung cancer. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune/MCT)</p>
<p>O’Brien is now in another early stage clinical trial and channeling her waning energy into chipping away at the “blame and shame” that has impeded progress. She also started a blog to chronicle her lung cancer journey.</p>
<p>“I try not to get too mad when people ask if I smoked,” she said. “Instead, I try to turn it into an opportunity to talk about it … to educate. I guess that’s the teacher in me.”</p>
<p>Even so, O’Brien immediately recited her virtuous health habits: Physical education teacher. Avid tennis player. An “almost vegetarian” who hasn’t rolled through a fast-food window since age 13. No cigarettes, ever.</p>
<p>At first she had experienced back pain, which she attributed to muscle strain, a logical explanation for someone so active. But in May 2012 it became excruciating. X-rays were inconclusive.</p>
<p>By the end of summer she had landed a full-time job teaching high school physical education, allowing her to move out of her parents’ home and into her own apartment.</p>
<p>However, just as her “grown-up life” was taking off, it splintered apart.</p>
<p>She received varying diagnoses, including scoliosis, sinus infection and pneumonia. On Sept. 1, the first day of her new job, she went to her neighborhood clinic. The physician took one look at her test results and sent her to University of Illinois at Chicago’s emergency room. Six hours later, a nurse told her to call her parents.</p>
<p>Even after being admitted to the oncology floor, cancer didn’t enter her mind. “I thought maybe this was the only place where they had an open bed … or it was pneumonia or tuberculosis, and this was the only room where I could be quarantined.”</p>
<p>But two weeks later, a doctor confirmed the worst: stage 4 non-small cell lung cancer, already assaulting other organs. All she remembers is her father reaching out to steady himself on a nearby radiator.</p>
<p>O’Brien spent most of the next four months in the hospital. Before she could start therapy, she needed emergency spinal surgery to remove the malignant tumors wrapped tenaciously around her spinal cord. Surgeons removed several of her vertebrae, replacing them with titanium rods and screws.</p>
<p><a href="https://d3el53au0d7w62.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Health_j16Dec_LungCancer-copy.jpg" type="external" />After discharge, O’Brien moved back in with her parents so they could help with caregiving. After almost three years of trying to obtain a full-time teaching job, her tenure had lasted about a month.</p>
<p>O’Brien’s eyes glistened with tears as she ticked off her unfulfilled dreams – having a profession, getting married, having kids, buying a home.</p>
<p>“When I was first diagnosed, I asked about freezing my eggs,” she said. “They basically told me that there was no point because I wouldn’t live long enough … to get the procedure done.”</p>
<p>Besides, she said, dating isn’t really on her radar now. Treatment caused her to lose her hair, while steroids added 50 pounds.</p>
<p>The ultimate indignity, she said, “is when people ask, ‘Are you sure you never smoked?’ As if I forgot.”</p>
<p>Not that anyone deserves the deadly diagnosis. It wasn’t so long ago that the military dispensed cigarettes to soldiers, and many lung cancer patients kicked the smoking habit decades ago, she said. “But it doesn’t matter. … People still think it’s your fault.”</p>
<p /> | 1,018 |
|
<p>The Obama administration is doing its best to spin its undeniable failures in the Middle East as some sort of long-term, tactfully executed strategy to strengthen American interests. One particularly embarrassing development is Russia's resurgence as Vladimir Putin aggressively moves in to fill the void left by a retreating United States. The most recent talking point peddled by the administration is that Russia's intervention in Syria is somehow a sign of weakness and its mission there will be short-lived.</p>
<p>"Russia is not flexing its muscles when it comes to Syria, but it’s propping up an investment about to go south," White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest <a href="http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2015/09/30/white-house-russia-is-acting-out-of-weakness-in-syria/" type="external">said</a> when Russia first ramped up its campaign in the war-torn country.</p>
<p>Over the weekend, the administration reiterated the "going south" argument, Deputy Sec. of State <a href="http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/biog/236057.htm" type="external">Antony Blinken</a> reassuring an audience at the IISS Manama Dialogue <a href="http://www.iiss.org/en/events/manama%20dialogue/archive/manama-dialogue-2015-0220/plenary1-bb97/blinken-77f5" type="external">Regional Security Summit</a>that Russia will soon regret its intervention in the region, suggesting that they'd be pulling out any day now:</p>
<p>Russia's intervention is a powerful example of the law of unintended consequences. It will have two primary effects. First, it will increase Russia's leverage over Asad. But second, it will increase the conflict's leverage over Russia. And that in turn creates a compelling incentive for Russia to work for, not against, a political transition.</p>
<p>Russia cannot afford to sustain its military onslaught against everyone opposed to Asad’s brutal rule. The costs will mount every day in economic, political, and security terms—but at best only to prevent Asad from losing, not to make him win. There is no military victory to be had.</p>
<p>Meanwhile the quagmire will spread and deepen, drawing Russia further in. And Russia will be seen to be in league with Asad, Hezbollah, and Iran—alienating millions of Sunnis in Syria, the region, and in Russia itself. Already, Russia's indiscriminate air campaign—while dropping many bombs—is making virtually no gains on the ground.</p>
<p>Despite the "tough" talk, Blinken followed the administration's pattern of ambiguity concerning foreign policy, stressing that America and Russia "share many important interests" in the region and saying we "can and should make common cause" with Putin's aggressive government.</p>
<p>But, as <a href="http://hotair.com/archives/2015/11/01/obama-on-a-lonely-island-when-it-comes-to-russia-and-syria/" type="external">Taylor Millard</a> points out, the Obama administration seems to be alone in its assessment of Russian involvement in the region. Britain foresees Russian intervention as having a longer shelf-life and a totally different goal in mind than the U.S.</p>
<p>"There’s a school of thought that says that as the Russians get drawn into this conflict, they will more and more looking for a way to get a political solution," <a href="http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-10-31/no-one-but-u-s-believes-russia-will-abandon-assad" type="external">said</a> British foreign secretary Phillip Hammond, but "it’s not my government’s assessment." Hammond explained that Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov made clear to him that Russia was committed to Assad staying in power and thus no "common cause" with America on that issue could be found. Russia insisted that only a legitimate political election would be the reason they'd let Assad lose power.</p>
<p>France, meanwhile, is openly encouraging Russia and the pro-Assad forces to unite with anti-Assad forces (which once was supposed to be led by the U.S.) to defeat ISIS. Russia, says former French President Nicolas Sarkozy, is " <a href="https://www.rt.com/news/320099-sarkozy-moscow-putin-mgimo/" type="external">destined to be a great power</a>" and will prove to be an "essential partner" in the most important conflict in the region, pushing back the Islamic State.</p>
<p>While the rest of the world takes Putin ever more seriously, the Obama administration makes dismissive remarks about the former KGB leaders' "muscles."</p>
<p>Image (via AP): United States President Barack Obama, right, and Russia's President President Vladimir Putin pose for members of the media before a bilateral meeting Monday, Sept. 28, 2015, at United Nations headquarters.</p> | Obama Administration Tells Itself Putin Isn't Winning. No One Else Agrees. | true | https://dailywire.com/news/824/obama-administration-tells-itself-putin-isnt-james-barrett | 2015-11-02 | 0right
| Obama Administration Tells Itself Putin Isn't Winning. No One Else Agrees.
<p>The Obama administration is doing its best to spin its undeniable failures in the Middle East as some sort of long-term, tactfully executed strategy to strengthen American interests. One particularly embarrassing development is Russia's resurgence as Vladimir Putin aggressively moves in to fill the void left by a retreating United States. The most recent talking point peddled by the administration is that Russia's intervention in Syria is somehow a sign of weakness and its mission there will be short-lived.</p>
<p>"Russia is not flexing its muscles when it comes to Syria, but it’s propping up an investment about to go south," White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest <a href="http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2015/09/30/white-house-russia-is-acting-out-of-weakness-in-syria/" type="external">said</a> when Russia first ramped up its campaign in the war-torn country.</p>
<p>Over the weekend, the administration reiterated the "going south" argument, Deputy Sec. of State <a href="http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/biog/236057.htm" type="external">Antony Blinken</a> reassuring an audience at the IISS Manama Dialogue <a href="http://www.iiss.org/en/events/manama%20dialogue/archive/manama-dialogue-2015-0220/plenary1-bb97/blinken-77f5" type="external">Regional Security Summit</a>that Russia will soon regret its intervention in the region, suggesting that they'd be pulling out any day now:</p>
<p>Russia's intervention is a powerful example of the law of unintended consequences. It will have two primary effects. First, it will increase Russia's leverage over Asad. But second, it will increase the conflict's leverage over Russia. And that in turn creates a compelling incentive for Russia to work for, not against, a political transition.</p>
<p>Russia cannot afford to sustain its military onslaught against everyone opposed to Asad’s brutal rule. The costs will mount every day in economic, political, and security terms—but at best only to prevent Asad from losing, not to make him win. There is no military victory to be had.</p>
<p>Meanwhile the quagmire will spread and deepen, drawing Russia further in. And Russia will be seen to be in league with Asad, Hezbollah, and Iran—alienating millions of Sunnis in Syria, the region, and in Russia itself. Already, Russia's indiscriminate air campaign—while dropping many bombs—is making virtually no gains on the ground.</p>
<p>Despite the "tough" talk, Blinken followed the administration's pattern of ambiguity concerning foreign policy, stressing that America and Russia "share many important interests" in the region and saying we "can and should make common cause" with Putin's aggressive government.</p>
<p>But, as <a href="http://hotair.com/archives/2015/11/01/obama-on-a-lonely-island-when-it-comes-to-russia-and-syria/" type="external">Taylor Millard</a> points out, the Obama administration seems to be alone in its assessment of Russian involvement in the region. Britain foresees Russian intervention as having a longer shelf-life and a totally different goal in mind than the U.S.</p>
<p>"There’s a school of thought that says that as the Russians get drawn into this conflict, they will more and more looking for a way to get a political solution," <a href="http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-10-31/no-one-but-u-s-believes-russia-will-abandon-assad" type="external">said</a> British foreign secretary Phillip Hammond, but "it’s not my government’s assessment." Hammond explained that Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov made clear to him that Russia was committed to Assad staying in power and thus no "common cause" with America on that issue could be found. Russia insisted that only a legitimate political election would be the reason they'd let Assad lose power.</p>
<p>France, meanwhile, is openly encouraging Russia and the pro-Assad forces to unite with anti-Assad forces (which once was supposed to be led by the U.S.) to defeat ISIS. Russia, says former French President Nicolas Sarkozy, is " <a href="https://www.rt.com/news/320099-sarkozy-moscow-putin-mgimo/" type="external">destined to be a great power</a>" and will prove to be an "essential partner" in the most important conflict in the region, pushing back the Islamic State.</p>
<p>While the rest of the world takes Putin ever more seriously, the Obama administration makes dismissive remarks about the former KGB leaders' "muscles."</p>
<p>Image (via AP): United States President Barack Obama, right, and Russia's President President Vladimir Putin pose for members of the media before a bilateral meeting Monday, Sept. 28, 2015, at United Nations headquarters.</p> | 1,019 |
<p>By David Shepardson</p>
<p>WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV (MI:) said on Wednesday it hopes to reach an agreement over a fix for vehicles linked to a U.S. diesel emissions scandal by next spring if not earlier.</p>
<p>In May, the U.S. Justice Department sued Fiat Chrysler, accusing the company of illegally using software that led to excess emissions in nearly 104,000 diesel vehicles sold in the United States since 2014. It also faces numerous lawsuits from owners of those vehicles.</p>
<p>Company lawyer Robert Giuffra said at a court hearing in San Francisco the company expects to win U.S. approval of its proposed fix for the emissions issue by the end of March or early April. Testing is expected to last about three months and start later this month, he said.</p>
<p>In July, Fiat Chrysler won approval from federal and California regulators to sell 2017 diesel vehicles after it came under scrutiny for alleged excess emissions in older diesel models.</p>
<p>Giuffra has said the company hopes to be able to use updated emissions software in the 2017 vehicles to address concerns over 2014-2016 Fiat Chrysler diesel vehicles. A court mediator, Ken Feinberg, on Wednesday met with the company, government and lawyers for owners to talk about the testing plans.</p>
<p>Giuffra has said the engine and emissions controls were identical in the older vehicles to those in the 2017 models.</p>
<p>Regulators have said that the older Fiat Chrysler diesel vehicles had undisclosed emissions controls that allowed vehicles to emit excess pollution during normal driving.</p>
<p>The company has denied wrongdoing, saying there was never an attempt to create software to cheat emissions rules.</p>
<p>Fiat Chrysler’s emissions case came after Volkswagen AG’s (DE:) diesel emissions scandal prompted increased industry scrutiny. The German automaker pleaded guilty in March to having intentionally cheated on emissions tests for vehicles it sold since 2009.</p>
<p>Volkswagen has agreed to spend up to $25 billion to address claims from U.S. owners, environmental regulators, states and dealers, and offered to buy back about 500,000 polluting U.S. vehicles.</p>
<p>Regulators are also investigating emissions in Daimler AG Mercedes-Benz diesel vehicles, but have yet to take any action. Daimler AG (DE:) withdrew a request for approval to sell its 2017 Mercedes-Benz diesel models in the United States in May.</p>
<p />
<p>Fusion Media or anyone involved with Fusion Media will not accept any liability for loss or damage as a result of reliance on the information including data, quotes, charts and buy/sell signals contained within this website. Please be fully informed regarding the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, it is one of the riskiest investment forms possible.</p> | Fiat Chrysler hopes to win approval for diesel fix by early '18: lawyer | false | https://newsline.com/fiat-chrysler-hopes-to-win-approval-for-diesel-fix-by-early-03918-lawyer/ | 2017-11-08 | 1right-center
| Fiat Chrysler hopes to win approval for diesel fix by early '18: lawyer
<p>By David Shepardson</p>
<p>WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV (MI:) said on Wednesday it hopes to reach an agreement over a fix for vehicles linked to a U.S. diesel emissions scandal by next spring if not earlier.</p>
<p>In May, the U.S. Justice Department sued Fiat Chrysler, accusing the company of illegally using software that led to excess emissions in nearly 104,000 diesel vehicles sold in the United States since 2014. It also faces numerous lawsuits from owners of those vehicles.</p>
<p>Company lawyer Robert Giuffra said at a court hearing in San Francisco the company expects to win U.S. approval of its proposed fix for the emissions issue by the end of March or early April. Testing is expected to last about three months and start later this month, he said.</p>
<p>In July, Fiat Chrysler won approval from federal and California regulators to sell 2017 diesel vehicles after it came under scrutiny for alleged excess emissions in older diesel models.</p>
<p>Giuffra has said the company hopes to be able to use updated emissions software in the 2017 vehicles to address concerns over 2014-2016 Fiat Chrysler diesel vehicles. A court mediator, Ken Feinberg, on Wednesday met with the company, government and lawyers for owners to talk about the testing plans.</p>
<p>Giuffra has said the engine and emissions controls were identical in the older vehicles to those in the 2017 models.</p>
<p>Regulators have said that the older Fiat Chrysler diesel vehicles had undisclosed emissions controls that allowed vehicles to emit excess pollution during normal driving.</p>
<p>The company has denied wrongdoing, saying there was never an attempt to create software to cheat emissions rules.</p>
<p>Fiat Chrysler’s emissions case came after Volkswagen AG’s (DE:) diesel emissions scandal prompted increased industry scrutiny. The German automaker pleaded guilty in March to having intentionally cheated on emissions tests for vehicles it sold since 2009.</p>
<p>Volkswagen has agreed to spend up to $25 billion to address claims from U.S. owners, environmental regulators, states and dealers, and offered to buy back about 500,000 polluting U.S. vehicles.</p>
<p>Regulators are also investigating emissions in Daimler AG Mercedes-Benz diesel vehicles, but have yet to take any action. Daimler AG (DE:) withdrew a request for approval to sell its 2017 Mercedes-Benz diesel models in the United States in May.</p>
<p />
<p>Fusion Media or anyone involved with Fusion Media will not accept any liability for loss or damage as a result of reliance on the information including data, quotes, charts and buy/sell signals contained within this website. Please be fully informed regarding the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, it is one of the riskiest investment forms possible.</p> | 1,020 |
<p>You just can't make this stuff up, which is why Off The Main Page is here - to give you all the dirtiest, most embarrassing news!</p>
<p>Apparently a man in Manchester was called after he got stuck in a urinal on January 7th. A crazy call for help rang out from the public toilet in a city center after a man's clothes became snagged on the toilet. Naturally, he could be heard cursing and a passerby heard and called the police.</p>
<p>No word yet on exactly how this happened, but the ending was about as happy as can be in this embarrassing situation. The security guards cut him free.</p> | Man Gets Stuck In Urinal, Police Are Called | true | http://offthemainpage.com/2016/01/17/man-gets-stuck-in-urinal-police-are-called/ | 2016-01-17 | 4left
| Man Gets Stuck In Urinal, Police Are Called
<p>You just can't make this stuff up, which is why Off The Main Page is here - to give you all the dirtiest, most embarrassing news!</p>
<p>Apparently a man in Manchester was called after he got stuck in a urinal on January 7th. A crazy call for help rang out from the public toilet in a city center after a man's clothes became snagged on the toilet. Naturally, he could be heard cursing and a passerby heard and called the police.</p>
<p>No word yet on exactly how this happened, but the ending was about as happy as can be in this embarrassing situation. The security guards cut him free.</p> | 1,021 |
<p>(Adds details on renewable fuels policy)</p>
<p>By Michael Hirtzer</p>
<p>CHICAGO, Jan 22 (Reuters) - Valero Energy Corp, America’s largest oil refiner, has left the Renewable Fuels Association due to cost cutting, just over a year after becoming the powerful ethanol lobbying group’s biggest member, the company said in a statement.</p>
<p>Valero had joined the RFA in November 2016 as part of an unsuccessful influence campaign to win support for reforms to the nation’s biofuels policy - which it says costs it hundreds of millions of dollars a year - according to a Reuters investigation.</p>
<p>The biofuels law, called the Renewable Fuel Standard, requires oil refiners to blend increasing volumes of biofuels such as corn-based ethanol into the nation’s fuel each year, or buy paper credits from companies that do.</p>
<p>The regulation was introduced by former President George W. Bush to help farmers and reduce petroleum imports. But as the program has grown, refiners that lack sufficient blending infrastructure have complained of rising costs.</p>
<p>Valero in 2016 spent $750 million buying fuel credits to comply with the program administered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, according to its financial statements.</p>
<p>Valero had wanted to tweak the RFS program by shifting the responsibility for fuel blending away from refiners and further down the supply chain to storage terminals. Last February, months after Valero joined the RFA, the association announced it had dropped its opposition to that proposal, triggering a backlash from much of the biofuels industry, which was opposed to the change.</p>
<p>The proposal, however, was ultimately rejected by the EPA in October, under pressure from Midwest lawmakers and the corn lobby.</p>
<p>Valero spokeswoman Lillian Riojas in the statement said the reason the company did not renew its RFA membership was cost cutting. “As one of the nation’s largest producers of renewable fuels, we expect to continue to work with RFA on the issues that impact our renewables business,” she added.</p>
<p>Bob Dinneen, president of the RFA, confirmed Valero was no longer a member of the group. (Additional reporting by Chris Prentice in New York; editing by Richard Valdmanis and Cynthia Osterman)</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany must do all it can to avert driving bans for diesel cars, the country’s new finance minister said in an interview published on Thursday, urging cities and local communities to boost investments in charging stations for electric cars.</p> German Finance Minister and Vice Chancellor Olaf Scholz attends a news conference following his meeting with French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire in Paris, France March 16, 2018. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier
<p>In an interview with the Funke Mediengruppe newspaper chain, Olaf Scholz expressed scepticism that changes in taxation - for instance, scrapping tax breaks for diesel as a fuel - would speed moves by the car industry to introduce cleaner cars.</p>
<p>He also rejected calls for the government to offer financial incentives to get more clean-burning diesel cars on the road and bring down emissions in heavily polluted cities.</p>
<p>“It is the task of industry to develop vehicles that meet existing and future rules for clean air,” Scholz told the newspaper group, adding: “We must talk seriously about how we can get more electric cars or expand public transportation.”</p>
<p>Scholz, who owns a diesel car himself, said he shared other drivers’ concerns about limited access to certain areas in the future, if driving bans were imposed. “We must do all we can to prevent driving bans for diesel vehicles,” he said.</p>
<p>Instead, he said cities and local communities seeking to reduce overall emissions should build more charging stations to promote use of electric cars and buses, and the car industry should accelerate its work on clean car technologies.</p>
<p>“Industry must deliver now. It would be good if such a technological advance came from Germany.”</p>
<p>Scholz, a Social Democrat, joined conservative Transportation Minister Andreas Scheuer and Chancellor Angela Merkel in speaking out against comprehensive diesel driving bans.</p>
<p>Merkel last week told lawmakers she favored tailored solutions to bring down car emissions in heavily polluted cities.</p>
<p>Reporting by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Mark Potter</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>BEIJING (Reuters) - Beijing’s air quality index (AQI) soared to hazardous levels on Wednesday as a sandstorm blew in from Inner Mongolia and smothered the Chinese capital and other parts of northern China in dust.</p>
<p>China’s National Meteorological Center (NMC) issued a ‘blue’ sandstorm warning late on Tuesday. It is the lowest in China’s four-tier alert system, telling citizens in some northern regions to close doors and windows, wear scarves and dust masks and drive slowly due to poor visibility. The alert would remain in place until 1200 GMT on Wednesday, the agency said.</p>
<p>In an update at 0500 GMT on Wednesday, it said dust and sand had covered an area of 1.5 million square kilometers, including parts of Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Shanxi, Jilin, Liaoning, Heilongjiang, Inner Mongolia and Xinjiang.</p>
<p>Because atmospheric diffusion conditions in Beijing had not improved, the city will still be affected by dust on Thursday, although the impact will gradually weaken, the NMC said.</p>
<p>The AQI reading for Beijing provided by the U.S. State Department, based on the concentration of breathable particles known as PM2.5, was 164 as of 0900 GMT, rated as “unhealthy”, down from a “very unhealthy” 244 at 0100 GMT.</p>
<p>The notoriously polluted Chinese capital was one of 34 cities in northern China to issue major smog alerts over the weekend, as industrial activity starts to ramp up again after winter curbs.</p>
<p>China’s own official AQI reading for Beijing - calculated using measurements of six different pollutants including PM2.5 - was 871 by 0800 GMT, rated as “hazardous”. That was down from 999 earlier in the day, when readings provided by some mobile phone applications gave figures as high as 2000. Sandstorms register on the index as larger particles known as PM10.</p> Apartment blocks are seen as a dust storm hits Beijing, China March 28, 2018. REUTERS/Jason Lee
<p>The NMC said the sandstorm had originated in China’s Inner Mongolia region and been blown eastward.</p>
<p>China normally blames Mongolia’s Gobi desert for its annual sandstorms. Delegates from China’s arid, desertified Gansu region said in a proposal to China’s parliament earlier this month that more than half of the dust storms that descend on China each year come from abroad, mainly from southern Mongolia.</p>
<p>Beijing has been planting millions of trees along its border in order to block out sandstorms, part of a project known as the “Great Green Wall”.</p> Slideshow (5 Images)
<p>The number of dust events recorded in northern China stands at four in 2018, the NMC said, noting that this was slightly below the average for the period of 4.4 in the last 10 years.</p>
<p>Additional reporting by David Stanway in SHANGHAI; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell and Matthew Mpoke Bigg</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>JOHOR BAHRU, Malaysia (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - When palm oil farmer Isnin Kasno eventually retires, his three children will turn their backs on the family’s small plantation in Malaysia’s southern state of Johor.</p> Palm oil fruit bunches at a dealer collection centre near Johor, Malaysia March 22, 2018. Thomson Reuters Foundation / Michael Taylor
<p>Like many ageing oil palm growers in Southeast Asia, the 58-year-old struggles to make ends meet from his 2 hectares (5 acres), and his adult children have little appetite for the physically demanding work and dwindling financial rewards.</p>
<p>“It makes me very sad,” said Kasno, who planted his land in 1983 after working in Singapore’s construction industry. “Soon, when I no longer have the energy to help with the harvesting, my only option will be to lease my farm.”</p>
<p>There are more than 2 million smallholders tending 5.6 million hectares of land in Malaysia and Indonesia - the two countries that dominate the world’s supply of the vegetable oil used widely in food, household products and biodiesel.</p>
<p>This army of farmers produces about 40 percent of palm oil from those two countries.</p>
<p>Over the last decade, growing pressure from green groups and consumers has pushed big companies that produce, trade or buy palm oil to tackle labor abuses on plantations and commit to ending deforestation that is contributing to climate change.</p>
<p>But smallholders like Kasno have been left behind, say industry officials.</p> Related Coverage
<a href="/article/us-asia-palmoil-environment-factbox/factbox-the-worlds-most-controversial-vegetable-oil-idUSKBN1H505C" type="external">Factbox: The world's most controversial vegetable oil</a>
<p>Only 78,000 smallholders are certified by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), a body of consumer organizations, environmental groups and plantation firms that aims to make the industry greener and more ethical.</p>
<p>Some 35 years ago, Kasno and three workers spent 12 months clearing a plot of lush forest land near the city of Johor Bahru using chainsaws and burning.</p>
<p>The farmer planted oil palm on the carbon-rich peatland and then registered the land in his name for a nominal fee.</p>
<p>Kasno, who also does a part-time job to support his family, pays two Indonesians a monthly wage of 150 ringgit ($39) each to help harvest his plantation.</p>
<p>The father of three has heard of, but knows little about RSPO certification, a sustainability scheme that promotes best practice and is backed by major European buyers of palm oil.</p>
<p>The challenge for international companies now - faced with a scarcity of land to expand and the need to secure future supplies - is to work with small growers like Kasno, even though many farmers find it hard to follow sustainability rules.</p> “FALSE DREAM”
<p>Smallholders across the region often live in poverty and have only a basic education level, industry officials said.</p>
<p>Averaging from 2 to 7 hectares of land each, they struggle to make large profits because they do not use the latest farming methods, cannot buy the best fertilisers and pesticides cheaply, and their yields are usually lower than the industry average.</p>
<p>Unlike major palm growers, independent farmers also face logistical problems getting their fresh palm fruit to mills for processing, and are inefficient because they cannot afford modern farming equipment.</p>
<p>During low output months when seasonal monsoon rains are at their heaviest, their income can plummet, forcing them to cut down on labor costs or spending on fertilisers. This harms harvests and quality further.</p>
<p>Fluctuating global palm prices also hurt farmers - many of whom cannot access credit or insurance that would help them when extreme weather damages their crops.</p> Smallholder farmer Isnin Kasno on his palm oil plantation near Johor, Malaysia March 22, 2018. Thomson Reuters Foundation / Michael Taylor
<p>Growing oil palm promised big profits 25 years ago but has turned out to be a “false dream” for many smallholders, said Marianne Martinet of The Forest Trust, a non-profit that works with large plantations, consumers and smallholders.</p>
<p>“The common challenge now is low productivity and yields ... also the financial ability to manage a business.”</p>
<p>Smallholders outside Johor Bahru said they need lower or subsidized fertilizer prices, training in the best farming practices, more help to increase yields and financial support from governments - especially when palm oil prices drop.</p>
<p>The children of smallholders in Malaysia, who complain about a lack of entertainment and the difficulty of finding a partner in rural areas, often seek better-paid work in urban areas. Halting that trend is crucial, farmers and dealers said.</p>
<p>“The priorities of smallholders, in most cases, (are) to put food on the table,” said Carl Bek-Nielsen, chief executive director of United Plantations, which has palm plantations in Malaysia and Indonesia.</p>
<p>“More resources need to be channeled to help smallholders, simply because they make up such a huge part of the (palm) cake. It’s a huge, huge task, but you have to start somewhere.”</p> CERTIFICATION
<p>Established back in 2004, the RSPO’s focus has been mostly on making large and medium-sized palm oil companies more sustainable, trying to achieve the maximum with limited funds.</p>
<p>But in 2012, it certified a first batch of smallholders, and three years later, set up a working group to look at how best to help them. In July last year, a roadmap was completed to open up the RSPO to more small growers, aimed at improving their livelihoods, sustainability and yields.</p>
<p>Eventually, with more funding and training, the goal is to make it easier for smallholders to get RSPO certification and access international markets. RSPO-certified palm oil is preferred by many European buyers, and is sold at a premium.</p>
<p>The RSPO launched a two-year pilot project late last year, partly funded by UN Environment, which will train smallholders in Sabah, Malaysia and Central Kalimantan in Indonesia.</p>
<p>“This is not only about economics but access to education, better healthcare,” said Julia Majail, RSPO associate director.</p>
<p>The RSPO project is similar to schemes backed by big palm buyers like Nestle, Unilever and Procter &amp; Gamble (P&amp;G), which partner with sustainability advisors like The Forest Trust, Wild Asia and Proforest.</p>
<p>Such schemes train pockets of smallholders to adopt modern farming techniques and ensure workplace safety, as well as to avoid planting on peatland or burning during land clearance.</p> A palm oil smallholder (right) and a Wild Asia consultant discuss sustainable farming ideas on a plantation near Johor, Malaysia March 22, 2018. Thomson Reuters Foundation / Michael Taylor
<p>Smoke from slash-and-burn agriculture is blamed for the polluting haze that brings health risks across Southeast Asia most years.</p>
<p>Besides helping farmers achieve RSPO certification, the hope is that other smallholders will notice the gains made by participating growers, and change their methods too.</p>
<p>“If we want to drive more production with the same land - improve productivity (and) minimize deforestation - the way to go about it is to work with the smallholders,” said Girish Deshpande, a global business planner at P&amp;G.</p> CAREER CHOICE
<p>But some say achieving RSPO certification is too costly and complicated for most smallholders, citing the remoteness of plantations, the number of middlemen in the supply chain and the scale of monitoring required.</p>
<p>“I’m now beginning to question whether certification is the route for smallholders,” said Simon Lord, chief sustainability officer at Sime Darby Plantation and former chair of the RSPO smallholders’ working group.</p>
<p>“It’s just sheer logistics. The number of audit hours to do that just blows it out of the water, in terms of expense.”</p>
<p>Lord, who has more than 30 years of industry experience, said smallholders should form collectives, while government-run schemes offer them an easier “entry level” into sustainability.</p>
<p>The RSPO is reviewing how to simplify its certification process and standards for smallholders, said Majail, a process likely to be finalised by November.</p>
<p>Back in rural Johor, Malaysian navy veteran Farid Harith, 48, spotted a trend of smallholders leaving their land back in 2004, and now manages 70 plantations for owners who have moved to the cities or are too elderly to manage their crops.</p>
<p>“A lot of young people go to study at university and then pursue corporate careers,” said Harith, who employs some 17 Indonesian workers to help him.</p>
<p>“It is a great loss, because I see the opportunities there are to make money in the palm plantations,” he added. “We need to change the mindset.”</p>
<p>Reporting by Michael Taylor, Editing by Megan Rowling; Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women's rights, trafficking, property rights, climate change and resilience. Visit <a href="http://news.trust.org" type="external">news.trust.org</a></p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a> | UPDATE 1-Valero leaves U.S. ethanol trade group due to cost cutting German finance minister aims to avoid bans on diesel cars Beijing chokes in heavy dust as sandstorm blows in Too late to plant green seed among world's forgotten palm oil farmers? | false | https://reuters.com/article/valero-energy-ethanol/update-1-valero-leaves-us-ethanol-trade-group-due-to-cost-cutting-idUSL2N1PH1FN | 2018-01-22 | 2least
| UPDATE 1-Valero leaves U.S. ethanol trade group due to cost cutting German finance minister aims to avoid bans on diesel cars Beijing chokes in heavy dust as sandstorm blows in Too late to plant green seed among world's forgotten palm oil farmers?
<p>(Adds details on renewable fuels policy)</p>
<p>By Michael Hirtzer</p>
<p>CHICAGO, Jan 22 (Reuters) - Valero Energy Corp, America’s largest oil refiner, has left the Renewable Fuels Association due to cost cutting, just over a year after becoming the powerful ethanol lobbying group’s biggest member, the company said in a statement.</p>
<p>Valero had joined the RFA in November 2016 as part of an unsuccessful influence campaign to win support for reforms to the nation’s biofuels policy - which it says costs it hundreds of millions of dollars a year - according to a Reuters investigation.</p>
<p>The biofuels law, called the Renewable Fuel Standard, requires oil refiners to blend increasing volumes of biofuels such as corn-based ethanol into the nation’s fuel each year, or buy paper credits from companies that do.</p>
<p>The regulation was introduced by former President George W. Bush to help farmers and reduce petroleum imports. But as the program has grown, refiners that lack sufficient blending infrastructure have complained of rising costs.</p>
<p>Valero in 2016 spent $750 million buying fuel credits to comply with the program administered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, according to its financial statements.</p>
<p>Valero had wanted to tweak the RFS program by shifting the responsibility for fuel blending away from refiners and further down the supply chain to storage terminals. Last February, months after Valero joined the RFA, the association announced it had dropped its opposition to that proposal, triggering a backlash from much of the biofuels industry, which was opposed to the change.</p>
<p>The proposal, however, was ultimately rejected by the EPA in October, under pressure from Midwest lawmakers and the corn lobby.</p>
<p>Valero spokeswoman Lillian Riojas in the statement said the reason the company did not renew its RFA membership was cost cutting. “As one of the nation’s largest producers of renewable fuels, we expect to continue to work with RFA on the issues that impact our renewables business,” she added.</p>
<p>Bob Dinneen, president of the RFA, confirmed Valero was no longer a member of the group. (Additional reporting by Chris Prentice in New York; editing by Richard Valdmanis and Cynthia Osterman)</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany must do all it can to avert driving bans for diesel cars, the country’s new finance minister said in an interview published on Thursday, urging cities and local communities to boost investments in charging stations for electric cars.</p> German Finance Minister and Vice Chancellor Olaf Scholz attends a news conference following his meeting with French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire in Paris, France March 16, 2018. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier
<p>In an interview with the Funke Mediengruppe newspaper chain, Olaf Scholz expressed scepticism that changes in taxation - for instance, scrapping tax breaks for diesel as a fuel - would speed moves by the car industry to introduce cleaner cars.</p>
<p>He also rejected calls for the government to offer financial incentives to get more clean-burning diesel cars on the road and bring down emissions in heavily polluted cities.</p>
<p>“It is the task of industry to develop vehicles that meet existing and future rules for clean air,” Scholz told the newspaper group, adding: “We must talk seriously about how we can get more electric cars or expand public transportation.”</p>
<p>Scholz, who owns a diesel car himself, said he shared other drivers’ concerns about limited access to certain areas in the future, if driving bans were imposed. “We must do all we can to prevent driving bans for diesel vehicles,” he said.</p>
<p>Instead, he said cities and local communities seeking to reduce overall emissions should build more charging stations to promote use of electric cars and buses, and the car industry should accelerate its work on clean car technologies.</p>
<p>“Industry must deliver now. It would be good if such a technological advance came from Germany.”</p>
<p>Scholz, a Social Democrat, joined conservative Transportation Minister Andreas Scheuer and Chancellor Angela Merkel in speaking out against comprehensive diesel driving bans.</p>
<p>Merkel last week told lawmakers she favored tailored solutions to bring down car emissions in heavily polluted cities.</p>
<p>Reporting by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Mark Potter</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>BEIJING (Reuters) - Beijing’s air quality index (AQI) soared to hazardous levels on Wednesday as a sandstorm blew in from Inner Mongolia and smothered the Chinese capital and other parts of northern China in dust.</p>
<p>China’s National Meteorological Center (NMC) issued a ‘blue’ sandstorm warning late on Tuesday. It is the lowest in China’s four-tier alert system, telling citizens in some northern regions to close doors and windows, wear scarves and dust masks and drive slowly due to poor visibility. The alert would remain in place until 1200 GMT on Wednesday, the agency said.</p>
<p>In an update at 0500 GMT on Wednesday, it said dust and sand had covered an area of 1.5 million square kilometers, including parts of Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Shanxi, Jilin, Liaoning, Heilongjiang, Inner Mongolia and Xinjiang.</p>
<p>Because atmospheric diffusion conditions in Beijing had not improved, the city will still be affected by dust on Thursday, although the impact will gradually weaken, the NMC said.</p>
<p>The AQI reading for Beijing provided by the U.S. State Department, based on the concentration of breathable particles known as PM2.5, was 164 as of 0900 GMT, rated as “unhealthy”, down from a “very unhealthy” 244 at 0100 GMT.</p>
<p>The notoriously polluted Chinese capital was one of 34 cities in northern China to issue major smog alerts over the weekend, as industrial activity starts to ramp up again after winter curbs.</p>
<p>China’s own official AQI reading for Beijing - calculated using measurements of six different pollutants including PM2.5 - was 871 by 0800 GMT, rated as “hazardous”. That was down from 999 earlier in the day, when readings provided by some mobile phone applications gave figures as high as 2000. Sandstorms register on the index as larger particles known as PM10.</p> Apartment blocks are seen as a dust storm hits Beijing, China March 28, 2018. REUTERS/Jason Lee
<p>The NMC said the sandstorm had originated in China’s Inner Mongolia region and been blown eastward.</p>
<p>China normally blames Mongolia’s Gobi desert for its annual sandstorms. Delegates from China’s arid, desertified Gansu region said in a proposal to China’s parliament earlier this month that more than half of the dust storms that descend on China each year come from abroad, mainly from southern Mongolia.</p>
<p>Beijing has been planting millions of trees along its border in order to block out sandstorms, part of a project known as the “Great Green Wall”.</p> Slideshow (5 Images)
<p>The number of dust events recorded in northern China stands at four in 2018, the NMC said, noting that this was slightly below the average for the period of 4.4 in the last 10 years.</p>
<p>Additional reporting by David Stanway in SHANGHAI; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell and Matthew Mpoke Bigg</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>JOHOR BAHRU, Malaysia (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - When palm oil farmer Isnin Kasno eventually retires, his three children will turn their backs on the family’s small plantation in Malaysia’s southern state of Johor.</p> Palm oil fruit bunches at a dealer collection centre near Johor, Malaysia March 22, 2018. Thomson Reuters Foundation / Michael Taylor
<p>Like many ageing oil palm growers in Southeast Asia, the 58-year-old struggles to make ends meet from his 2 hectares (5 acres), and his adult children have little appetite for the physically demanding work and dwindling financial rewards.</p>
<p>“It makes me very sad,” said Kasno, who planted his land in 1983 after working in Singapore’s construction industry. “Soon, when I no longer have the energy to help with the harvesting, my only option will be to lease my farm.”</p>
<p>There are more than 2 million smallholders tending 5.6 million hectares of land in Malaysia and Indonesia - the two countries that dominate the world’s supply of the vegetable oil used widely in food, household products and biodiesel.</p>
<p>This army of farmers produces about 40 percent of palm oil from those two countries.</p>
<p>Over the last decade, growing pressure from green groups and consumers has pushed big companies that produce, trade or buy palm oil to tackle labor abuses on plantations and commit to ending deforestation that is contributing to climate change.</p>
<p>But smallholders like Kasno have been left behind, say industry officials.</p> Related Coverage
<a href="/article/us-asia-palmoil-environment-factbox/factbox-the-worlds-most-controversial-vegetable-oil-idUSKBN1H505C" type="external">Factbox: The world's most controversial vegetable oil</a>
<p>Only 78,000 smallholders are certified by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), a body of consumer organizations, environmental groups and plantation firms that aims to make the industry greener and more ethical.</p>
<p>Some 35 years ago, Kasno and three workers spent 12 months clearing a plot of lush forest land near the city of Johor Bahru using chainsaws and burning.</p>
<p>The farmer planted oil palm on the carbon-rich peatland and then registered the land in his name for a nominal fee.</p>
<p>Kasno, who also does a part-time job to support his family, pays two Indonesians a monthly wage of 150 ringgit ($39) each to help harvest his plantation.</p>
<p>The father of three has heard of, but knows little about RSPO certification, a sustainability scheme that promotes best practice and is backed by major European buyers of palm oil.</p>
<p>The challenge for international companies now - faced with a scarcity of land to expand and the need to secure future supplies - is to work with small growers like Kasno, even though many farmers find it hard to follow sustainability rules.</p> “FALSE DREAM”
<p>Smallholders across the region often live in poverty and have only a basic education level, industry officials said.</p>
<p>Averaging from 2 to 7 hectares of land each, they struggle to make large profits because they do not use the latest farming methods, cannot buy the best fertilisers and pesticides cheaply, and their yields are usually lower than the industry average.</p>
<p>Unlike major palm growers, independent farmers also face logistical problems getting their fresh palm fruit to mills for processing, and are inefficient because they cannot afford modern farming equipment.</p>
<p>During low output months when seasonal monsoon rains are at their heaviest, their income can plummet, forcing them to cut down on labor costs or spending on fertilisers. This harms harvests and quality further.</p>
<p>Fluctuating global palm prices also hurt farmers - many of whom cannot access credit or insurance that would help them when extreme weather damages their crops.</p> Smallholder farmer Isnin Kasno on his palm oil plantation near Johor, Malaysia March 22, 2018. Thomson Reuters Foundation / Michael Taylor
<p>Growing oil palm promised big profits 25 years ago but has turned out to be a “false dream” for many smallholders, said Marianne Martinet of The Forest Trust, a non-profit that works with large plantations, consumers and smallholders.</p>
<p>“The common challenge now is low productivity and yields ... also the financial ability to manage a business.”</p>
<p>Smallholders outside Johor Bahru said they need lower or subsidized fertilizer prices, training in the best farming practices, more help to increase yields and financial support from governments - especially when palm oil prices drop.</p>
<p>The children of smallholders in Malaysia, who complain about a lack of entertainment and the difficulty of finding a partner in rural areas, often seek better-paid work in urban areas. Halting that trend is crucial, farmers and dealers said.</p>
<p>“The priorities of smallholders, in most cases, (are) to put food on the table,” said Carl Bek-Nielsen, chief executive director of United Plantations, which has palm plantations in Malaysia and Indonesia.</p>
<p>“More resources need to be channeled to help smallholders, simply because they make up such a huge part of the (palm) cake. It’s a huge, huge task, but you have to start somewhere.”</p> CERTIFICATION
<p>Established back in 2004, the RSPO’s focus has been mostly on making large and medium-sized palm oil companies more sustainable, trying to achieve the maximum with limited funds.</p>
<p>But in 2012, it certified a first batch of smallholders, and three years later, set up a working group to look at how best to help them. In July last year, a roadmap was completed to open up the RSPO to more small growers, aimed at improving their livelihoods, sustainability and yields.</p>
<p>Eventually, with more funding and training, the goal is to make it easier for smallholders to get RSPO certification and access international markets. RSPO-certified palm oil is preferred by many European buyers, and is sold at a premium.</p>
<p>The RSPO launched a two-year pilot project late last year, partly funded by UN Environment, which will train smallholders in Sabah, Malaysia and Central Kalimantan in Indonesia.</p>
<p>“This is not only about economics but access to education, better healthcare,” said Julia Majail, RSPO associate director.</p>
<p>The RSPO project is similar to schemes backed by big palm buyers like Nestle, Unilever and Procter &amp; Gamble (P&amp;G), which partner with sustainability advisors like The Forest Trust, Wild Asia and Proforest.</p>
<p>Such schemes train pockets of smallholders to adopt modern farming techniques and ensure workplace safety, as well as to avoid planting on peatland or burning during land clearance.</p> A palm oil smallholder (right) and a Wild Asia consultant discuss sustainable farming ideas on a plantation near Johor, Malaysia March 22, 2018. Thomson Reuters Foundation / Michael Taylor
<p>Smoke from slash-and-burn agriculture is blamed for the polluting haze that brings health risks across Southeast Asia most years.</p>
<p>Besides helping farmers achieve RSPO certification, the hope is that other smallholders will notice the gains made by participating growers, and change their methods too.</p>
<p>“If we want to drive more production with the same land - improve productivity (and) minimize deforestation - the way to go about it is to work with the smallholders,” said Girish Deshpande, a global business planner at P&amp;G.</p> CAREER CHOICE
<p>But some say achieving RSPO certification is too costly and complicated for most smallholders, citing the remoteness of plantations, the number of middlemen in the supply chain and the scale of monitoring required.</p>
<p>“I’m now beginning to question whether certification is the route for smallholders,” said Simon Lord, chief sustainability officer at Sime Darby Plantation and former chair of the RSPO smallholders’ working group.</p>
<p>“It’s just sheer logistics. The number of audit hours to do that just blows it out of the water, in terms of expense.”</p>
<p>Lord, who has more than 30 years of industry experience, said smallholders should form collectives, while government-run schemes offer them an easier “entry level” into sustainability.</p>
<p>The RSPO is reviewing how to simplify its certification process and standards for smallholders, said Majail, a process likely to be finalised by November.</p>
<p>Back in rural Johor, Malaysian navy veteran Farid Harith, 48, spotted a trend of smallholders leaving their land back in 2004, and now manages 70 plantations for owners who have moved to the cities or are too elderly to manage their crops.</p>
<p>“A lot of young people go to study at university and then pursue corporate careers,” said Harith, who employs some 17 Indonesian workers to help him.</p>
<p>“It is a great loss, because I see the opportunities there are to make money in the palm plantations,” he added. “We need to change the mindset.”</p>
<p>Reporting by Michael Taylor, Editing by Megan Rowling; Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women's rights, trafficking, property rights, climate change and resilience. Visit <a href="http://news.trust.org" type="external">news.trust.org</a></p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a> | 1,022 |
<p>(Reuters) – Pre-owned aircraft broker Jetcraft on Wednesday forecast an increase in business jet deliveries over the next 10 years, as corporate America spends more money and the rich get wealthier and open their wallets, especially in Asia.</p>
<p>Jetcraft forecast deliveries of 8,349 aircraft worth about $252 billion based on 2017 prices, with North America having the greatest market share at 62 percent. Europe and Asia follow with 17 percent and 12 percent, respectively.</p>
<p>Jetcraft predicts demand will keep moving towards widebody jets at the expense of narrowbodied ones, with the large jet category constituting 31 percent of the total unit delivery forecast, and accounting for more than 63 percent of revenue.</p>
<p>Jetcraft’s forecast comes as business jet shipments have struggled to recover after the financial crisis, having been cut in half from their peak of 1,317 in 2008 to 661 in 2016, according to General Aviation Manufacturers Association.</p>
<p>Business jet deliveries fell in 2016, as billionaires in key markets like China, Brazil and Russia tightened their purse strings as economies faltered, companies slashed budgets and oil tycoons retrenched with record low oil prices.</p>
<p>“Our forecast indicates we are finally exiting the post-2008 recession period, entering several years of steadier, healthier growth and expanding revenues. This new business cycle should shape our industry for years to come,” Jetcraft’s Chairman Jahid Fazal-Karim said.</p>
<p>Canada’s Bombardier Inc (TO:) will be the world’s leading business jet maker by revenue over the next 10 years, with a revenue share of about 29.2 percent of the $252 billion predicted, followed by General Dynamics Corp (N:) at 27.8 percent and France’s Dassault Aviation SA (PA:) at 15.2 percent, Jetcraft said.</p>
<p>In terms of unit sales, Textron Inc’s (N:) Cessna aircraft will hold the top spot – cornering about 27.3 percent of the 8,349 business jet deliveries by year 2026, followed by Bombardier at 20.9 percent and Brazil’s Embraer SA (SA:) at 17.2 percent.</p>
<p />
<p>Fusion Media or anyone involved with Fusion Media will not accept any liability for loss or damage as a result of reliance on the information including data, quotes, charts and buy/sell signals contained within this website. Please be fully informed regarding the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, it is one of the riskiest investment forms possible.</p> | Jetcraft predicts upward trend for business jets over 10 years | false | https://newsline.com/jetcraft-predicts-upward-trend-for-business-jets-over-10-years/ | 2017-10-04 | 1right-center
| Jetcraft predicts upward trend for business jets over 10 years
<p>(Reuters) – Pre-owned aircraft broker Jetcraft on Wednesday forecast an increase in business jet deliveries over the next 10 years, as corporate America spends more money and the rich get wealthier and open their wallets, especially in Asia.</p>
<p>Jetcraft forecast deliveries of 8,349 aircraft worth about $252 billion based on 2017 prices, with North America having the greatest market share at 62 percent. Europe and Asia follow with 17 percent and 12 percent, respectively.</p>
<p>Jetcraft predicts demand will keep moving towards widebody jets at the expense of narrowbodied ones, with the large jet category constituting 31 percent of the total unit delivery forecast, and accounting for more than 63 percent of revenue.</p>
<p>Jetcraft’s forecast comes as business jet shipments have struggled to recover after the financial crisis, having been cut in half from their peak of 1,317 in 2008 to 661 in 2016, according to General Aviation Manufacturers Association.</p>
<p>Business jet deliveries fell in 2016, as billionaires in key markets like China, Brazil and Russia tightened their purse strings as economies faltered, companies slashed budgets and oil tycoons retrenched with record low oil prices.</p>
<p>“Our forecast indicates we are finally exiting the post-2008 recession period, entering several years of steadier, healthier growth and expanding revenues. This new business cycle should shape our industry for years to come,” Jetcraft’s Chairman Jahid Fazal-Karim said.</p>
<p>Canada’s Bombardier Inc (TO:) will be the world’s leading business jet maker by revenue over the next 10 years, with a revenue share of about 29.2 percent of the $252 billion predicted, followed by General Dynamics Corp (N:) at 27.8 percent and France’s Dassault Aviation SA (PA:) at 15.2 percent, Jetcraft said.</p>
<p>In terms of unit sales, Textron Inc’s (N:) Cessna aircraft will hold the top spot – cornering about 27.3 percent of the 8,349 business jet deliveries by year 2026, followed by Bombardier at 20.9 percent and Brazil’s Embraer SA (SA:) at 17.2 percent.</p>
<p />
<p>Fusion Media or anyone involved with Fusion Media will not accept any liability for loss or damage as a result of reliance on the information including data, quotes, charts and buy/sell signals contained within this website. Please be fully informed regarding the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, it is one of the riskiest investment forms possible.</p> | 1,023 |
<p>Rapper <a href="http://variety.com/2017/music/news/lil-peep-dead-dies-rapper-1202616389/" type="external">Lil Peep died Wednesday night</a> of a suspected drug overdose, according to police in Tucson, Arizona, the Associated Press reports. Sgt. Pete Dugan told the <a href="http://tucson.com/news/local/drug-overdose-suspected-in-tucson-death-of-rapper-lil-peep/article_37f1dfd8-cad8-11e7-b7fd-2389b2d767da.html#tracking-source=home-featured" type="external">Associated Press</a> that evidence points to an overdose of Xanax, although no official cause of death has been announced. The rapper (real name: Gustav Ahr) was found dead on his tour bus before a scheduled concert in the city.</p>
<p>Sgt. Dugan’s comments were based on a report from the Pima County medical examiner’s office, although the report noted that it will take six to eight weeks to complete the toxicology report and make a final determination of the cause of death.</p>
<p>The rapper published a series of <a href="https://www.instagram.com/lilpeep/" type="external">disturbing Instagram posts</a> in the hours and days before his death, including one with a photograph of him with pills on his tongue, another saying “When I die you’ll love me,” and another that reads: “I just wana be everybody’s everything I want too much from people but then I don’t want anything from them at the same time u feel me I don’t let people help me but I need help but not when I have my pills but that’s temporary one day maybe I won’t die young and I’ll be happy? What is happy I always have happiness for like 10 seconds and then it’s gone. I’m getting so tired of this.”</p>
<p>Social media was filled Thursday with <a href="http://variety.com/2017/music/news/lil-peep-dead-dies-rapper-1202616389/" type="external">artists and fans paying tribute to Lil Peep</a>, who was 21 at the time of his death.</p>
<p /> | Lil Peep Died of Suspected Drug Overdose, Medical Examiner Says | false | https://newsline.com/lil-peep-died-of-suspected-drug-overdose-medical-examiner-says/ | 2017-11-16 | 1right-center
| Lil Peep Died of Suspected Drug Overdose, Medical Examiner Says
<p>Rapper <a href="http://variety.com/2017/music/news/lil-peep-dead-dies-rapper-1202616389/" type="external">Lil Peep died Wednesday night</a> of a suspected drug overdose, according to police in Tucson, Arizona, the Associated Press reports. Sgt. Pete Dugan told the <a href="http://tucson.com/news/local/drug-overdose-suspected-in-tucson-death-of-rapper-lil-peep/article_37f1dfd8-cad8-11e7-b7fd-2389b2d767da.html#tracking-source=home-featured" type="external">Associated Press</a> that evidence points to an overdose of Xanax, although no official cause of death has been announced. The rapper (real name: Gustav Ahr) was found dead on his tour bus before a scheduled concert in the city.</p>
<p>Sgt. Dugan’s comments were based on a report from the Pima County medical examiner’s office, although the report noted that it will take six to eight weeks to complete the toxicology report and make a final determination of the cause of death.</p>
<p>The rapper published a series of <a href="https://www.instagram.com/lilpeep/" type="external">disturbing Instagram posts</a> in the hours and days before his death, including one with a photograph of him with pills on his tongue, another saying “When I die you’ll love me,” and another that reads: “I just wana be everybody’s everything I want too much from people but then I don’t want anything from them at the same time u feel me I don’t let people help me but I need help but not when I have my pills but that’s temporary one day maybe I won’t die young and I’ll be happy? What is happy I always have happiness for like 10 seconds and then it’s gone. I’m getting so tired of this.”</p>
<p>Social media was filled Thursday with <a href="http://variety.com/2017/music/news/lil-peep-dead-dies-rapper-1202616389/" type="external">artists and fans paying tribute to Lil Peep</a>, who was 21 at the time of his death.</p>
<p /> | 1,024 |
<p>BERLIN (Reuters) – The premier of Germany’s most populous state has become the most senior member of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative bloc to throw his weight behind French President Emmanuel Macron’s proposals for deepening and reforming the European Union.</p>
<p>In an article for Thursday’s Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper, Armin Laschet, premier of North Rhine-Westphalia, embraced proposals for a common European army, intelligence service and, in the long term, a common finance minister.</p>
<p>The proposals could offer a basis for cooperation with the Social Democrats (SPD), who vote on Thursday on whether to enter talks on supporting a new conservative-led government. SPD leader Martin Schulz, a former European Parliament president, is an outspoken advocate of closer European integration.</p>
<p>“In a time of ‘eurosclerosis’, with (eurosceptic) populists inside Europe and instability on the periphery, Macron wants to work with us to overcome the crisis,” wrote Laschet, his party’s vice-president. “Europe’s crisis, forced by Brexit, offers the chance at last to confront the challenges.”</p>
<p>Merkel and most of her party colleagues have been more cautious in their reception of Macron’s reform proposals, which include closer cooperation on defense, migration and a deeper integration of the euro currency zone.</p>
<p>He was less specific in addressing Macron’s proposals for changing the euro zone’s governance mechanisms, saying only: “We need better conditions for investment, and we need harmonization of corporation tax.”</p>
<p>Schulz has said that the SPD, reluctant to repeat the bruising experience of being deserted by voters after governing for four years with Merkel in coalition, will discuss Macron’s proposals at its three-day party congress starting on Thursday.</p>
<p>“What are our possibilities, our options, our instruments for ensuring that Germany embraces these French ideas?” Schulz asked earlier on Wednesday. “France is making proposals and Germany is not engaging. This is not acceptable.”</p>
<p />
<p>Fusion Media or anyone involved with Fusion Media will not accept any liability for loss or damage as a result of reliance on the information including data, quotes, charts and buy/sell signals contained within this website. Please be fully informed regarding the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, it is one of the riskiest investment forms possible.</p> | Top German conservative embraces Macron's EU proposals | false | https://newsline.com/top-german-conservative-embraces-macron039s-eu-proposals/ | 2017-12-06 | 1right-center
| Top German conservative embraces Macron's EU proposals
<p>BERLIN (Reuters) – The premier of Germany’s most populous state has become the most senior member of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative bloc to throw his weight behind French President Emmanuel Macron’s proposals for deepening and reforming the European Union.</p>
<p>In an article for Thursday’s Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper, Armin Laschet, premier of North Rhine-Westphalia, embraced proposals for a common European army, intelligence service and, in the long term, a common finance minister.</p>
<p>The proposals could offer a basis for cooperation with the Social Democrats (SPD), who vote on Thursday on whether to enter talks on supporting a new conservative-led government. SPD leader Martin Schulz, a former European Parliament president, is an outspoken advocate of closer European integration.</p>
<p>“In a time of ‘eurosclerosis’, with (eurosceptic) populists inside Europe and instability on the periphery, Macron wants to work with us to overcome the crisis,” wrote Laschet, his party’s vice-president. “Europe’s crisis, forced by Brexit, offers the chance at last to confront the challenges.”</p>
<p>Merkel and most of her party colleagues have been more cautious in their reception of Macron’s reform proposals, which include closer cooperation on defense, migration and a deeper integration of the euro currency zone.</p>
<p>He was less specific in addressing Macron’s proposals for changing the euro zone’s governance mechanisms, saying only: “We need better conditions for investment, and we need harmonization of corporation tax.”</p>
<p>Schulz has said that the SPD, reluctant to repeat the bruising experience of being deserted by voters after governing for four years with Merkel in coalition, will discuss Macron’s proposals at its three-day party congress starting on Thursday.</p>
<p>“What are our possibilities, our options, our instruments for ensuring that Germany embraces these French ideas?” Schulz asked earlier on Wednesday. “France is making proposals and Germany is not engaging. This is not acceptable.”</p>
<p />
<p>Fusion Media or anyone involved with Fusion Media will not accept any liability for loss or damage as a result of reliance on the information including data, quotes, charts and buy/sell signals contained within this website. Please be fully informed regarding the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, it is one of the riskiest investment forms possible.</p> | 1,025 |
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<p>Lazaro Viera, 19. (Courtesy of APD)</p>
<p>ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - A 19-year-old has been arrested for allegedly stabbing and running over his mother in southeast Albuquerque Tuesday.</p>
<p>Police say Lazaro Viera, 19, was spotted at an apartment complex on the 300 block of Pennsylvania and police tracked him down and arrested him Wednesday.</p>
<p>Viera is suspected of stabbing and running over his mother in what police called a "very violent attack." Officers found her outside the southeast substation Tuesday morning and rushed her to the hospital. She was expected to survive her injuries.</p>
<p>Police then spent hours searching for Viera in the surrounding neighborhoods, but he managed to elude them.</p>
<p>They filed a warrant for his arrest, which he was arrested on Wednesday.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | Police arrest 19-year-old who allegedly stabbed, ran over mom | false | https://abqjournal.com/764646/police-arrest-19yo-who-allegedly-stabbed-ran-over-mom.html | 2least
| Police arrest 19-year-old who allegedly stabbed, ran over mom
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<p>Lazaro Viera, 19. (Courtesy of APD)</p>
<p>ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - A 19-year-old has been arrested for allegedly stabbing and running over his mother in southeast Albuquerque Tuesday.</p>
<p>Police say Lazaro Viera, 19, was spotted at an apartment complex on the 300 block of Pennsylvania and police tracked him down and arrested him Wednesday.</p>
<p>Viera is suspected of stabbing and running over his mother in what police called a "very violent attack." Officers found her outside the southeast substation Tuesday morning and rushed her to the hospital. She was expected to survive her injuries.</p>
<p>Police then spent hours searching for Viera in the surrounding neighborhoods, but he managed to elude them.</p>
<p>They filed a warrant for his arrest, which he was arrested on Wednesday.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | 1,026 |
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<p />
<p>Kenneth Lonergan’s “Manchester by the Sea,” which Amazon plunked down $10 million for at the Sundance Film Festival last year, is widely expected to be among the leading contenders at the Academy Awards. It will be a triumphant moment for the nascent Amazon Studios, which acquired its first original film (Spike Lee’s “Chirac”) in 2015 but has, following in Netflix’s footsteps, quickly altered the landscape of Hollywood.</p>
<p>Netflix and Amazon are increasingly influencing the movie awards season, playing the role of both hero and villain in an industry where their entry into the movie business is welcomed and feared in equal measures.</p>
<p>Though viewed as disrupters, both have sought that powerful, old-fashioned Hollywood status — Oscar winner — to bolster their prestige. “We want to win an Oscar,” Amazon chief executive Jeff Bezos earlier pronounced . Netflix, a three-time documentary nominee, is still seeking its first win. Propelled by “Manchester,” Amazon is poised to beat its streaming rival to the top Oscar categories.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Starkly different approaches have led them here.</p>
<p>Though Netflix gave its 2015 Oscar horse, Cary Fukunaga’s “Beasts of No Nation,” a wide theatrical release, it has largely focused on acquiring films to debut on its streaming platform. It prefers a simultaneous streaming and theatrical release, something theaters largely reject. Many filmmakers, too, want their films on the big screen.</p>
<p>Amazon has held off on putting their movies onto its Amazon Prime subscription service until at least a partial traditional theatrical release has been mounted. It partnered with Roadside Attractions for the theatrical rollout for “Manchester by the Sea,” which has proven lucrative. It’s made $37.2 million domestically in nine weeks, making it one 2016’s biggest indie hits.</p>
<p>Lonergan, the veteran New York playwright whose last film, “Margaret,” became embroiled in lawsuits and acrimony before Fox Searchlight gave it a minuscule release, called his experience with Amazon “the most fancy treatment I’ve ever had.”</p>
<p>“If they want to get into the movie business, great, because the people who are already in the movie business could use some improvement,” said Lonergan.</p>
<p>The bar for eligibility to the Academy Awards isn’t high. Feature films generally need a Los Angeles theatrical run of at least seven consecutive days and cannot be broadcast in a non-theatrical format before showing in theaters, though day-and-date releases have been deemed OK.</p>
<p>But that regulation means some Netflix films weren’t eligible this year because they premiered only on Netflix. Jonathan Demme’s concert film “Justin Timberlake and the Tennessee Kids” went straight to streaming after being picked up around its Toronto Film Festival debut.</p>
<p>Though Netflix, like Amazon, doesn’t make viewing statistics available, its films have likely been seen by far more people, around the world, than they would have been in a limited theatrical release — and their makers pocketed bigger checks. But straight-to-streaming films (like Vikram Gandhi’s young Obama drama “Barry”) can receive muted fanfare upon release and quickly fade into a digital ocean.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>For a filmmaker like Demme (“The Silence of the Lambs,” “Philadelphia”), the loss of a theatrical release is painful.</p>
<p>“It seems to me that the streaming movies are skewing people from the movie theaters because the movie theaters are reluctant to show a film if a film is going to be streamed within three months,” said Demme. “I worry sometimes that the streamers would be perfectly happy to see movie theaters close up.”</p>
<p>In a statement to The Associated Press, Ted Sarandos, chief content officer for Netflix, defended his service as “pro-film, pro-filmmaker and pro-film lover.” He said he would book Netflix films into theaters if major exhibitor chains didn’t boycott movies simultaneously released via streaming and theatrically, “putting the status quo ahead of consumer desire and innovation.”</p>
<p>“We don’t see how it is in the best interest of anyone to hold back a film for 93 million fans around the world to make sure a few hundred or even a few thousand people in New York and LA can see the film in a dark room with strangers,” said Sarandos. “Theatrical attendance has been in decline for decades. Most people watch most films at home and we want to bring films to where the audience is.”</p>
<p>The competition has been heating up. Amazon, with Amazon Prime’s 30.5 million subscribers, last year spent $337 million on original content. It plans to produce 16 movies a year. Now in more than 200 countries, Amazon led a global rollout in December. Netflix, with nearly 94 million subscribers worldwide, dwarfed that spending, laying out $1.2 billion.</p>
<p>Those deep pockets have been a boon to an indie film marketplace that’s been squeezed by declining DVD revenue and diminishing box office. Netflix and Amazon now regularly outbid other distributors at film festivals.</p>
<p>“As they buy in and scoop up product, it’s making the ecosystem for these more independent distributors and specialized divisions very difficult,” said James Schamus, the former head of Focus Features and director of last year’s Philip Roth adaptation “Indignation.”</p>
<p>Some have recoiled from the streamers’ increasing sway. Director Craig Atkinson, whose police militarization documentary “Do Not Resist,” spoke out about what he described as Netflix’s strong-armed negotiation tactics.</p>
<p>Under motion picture production head Ted Hope, Amazon Studios has gone after well-respected filmmakers and largely art house releases, including films by Jim Jarmusch (“Paterson,” “Gimme Danger”), Woody Allen (“Cafe Society”), Whit Stillman (“Love &amp; Friendship”) and Park Chan-wook (“The Handmaiden”). The films, Hope has said, are “essentially advertising” for Amazon’s many other sales items.</p>
<p>Hints of a brewing battle have occasionally flared. Sarandos recently knocked Amazon for “not gaining much traction against all that spending.”</p>
<p>They may square off in one Oscar category in which Netflix has rapidly become a respected industry leader. Of the 15 documentaries shortlisted, four are from Netflix (“The 13th,” “Amanda Knox,” “The Ivory Game” and “Into the Inferno”) and one is from Amazon, (“Gleason”).</p>
<p>This year may be only a preview of what’s to come. Netflix has its starriest prestige films yet on tap for 2017, including Brad Pitt’s “War Machine” and Will Smith’s “Bright.” And on Wednesday, Amazon began lining its coffers, picking up an anticipated Grateful Dead documentary ahead of its Sundance premiere.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Follow AP Film Writer Jake Coyle on Twitter at: <a href="http://twitter.com/jakecoyleAP" type="external">http://twitter.com/jakecoyleAP</a></p> | Streaming giants play hero and villain in Oscar season | false | https://abqjournal.com/931565/streaming-giants-play-hero-and-villain-in-oscar-season.html | 2017-01-19 | 2least
| Streaming giants play hero and villain in Oscar season
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>Kenneth Lonergan’s “Manchester by the Sea,” which Amazon plunked down $10 million for at the Sundance Film Festival last year, is widely expected to be among the leading contenders at the Academy Awards. It will be a triumphant moment for the nascent Amazon Studios, which acquired its first original film (Spike Lee’s “Chirac”) in 2015 but has, following in Netflix’s footsteps, quickly altered the landscape of Hollywood.</p>
<p>Netflix and Amazon are increasingly influencing the movie awards season, playing the role of both hero and villain in an industry where their entry into the movie business is welcomed and feared in equal measures.</p>
<p>Though viewed as disrupters, both have sought that powerful, old-fashioned Hollywood status — Oscar winner — to bolster their prestige. “We want to win an Oscar,” Amazon chief executive Jeff Bezos earlier pronounced . Netflix, a three-time documentary nominee, is still seeking its first win. Propelled by “Manchester,” Amazon is poised to beat its streaming rival to the top Oscar categories.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Starkly different approaches have led them here.</p>
<p>Though Netflix gave its 2015 Oscar horse, Cary Fukunaga’s “Beasts of No Nation,” a wide theatrical release, it has largely focused on acquiring films to debut on its streaming platform. It prefers a simultaneous streaming and theatrical release, something theaters largely reject. Many filmmakers, too, want their films on the big screen.</p>
<p>Amazon has held off on putting their movies onto its Amazon Prime subscription service until at least a partial traditional theatrical release has been mounted. It partnered with Roadside Attractions for the theatrical rollout for “Manchester by the Sea,” which has proven lucrative. It’s made $37.2 million domestically in nine weeks, making it one 2016’s biggest indie hits.</p>
<p>Lonergan, the veteran New York playwright whose last film, “Margaret,” became embroiled in lawsuits and acrimony before Fox Searchlight gave it a minuscule release, called his experience with Amazon “the most fancy treatment I’ve ever had.”</p>
<p>“If they want to get into the movie business, great, because the people who are already in the movie business could use some improvement,” said Lonergan.</p>
<p>The bar for eligibility to the Academy Awards isn’t high. Feature films generally need a Los Angeles theatrical run of at least seven consecutive days and cannot be broadcast in a non-theatrical format before showing in theaters, though day-and-date releases have been deemed OK.</p>
<p>But that regulation means some Netflix films weren’t eligible this year because they premiered only on Netflix. Jonathan Demme’s concert film “Justin Timberlake and the Tennessee Kids” went straight to streaming after being picked up around its Toronto Film Festival debut.</p>
<p>Though Netflix, like Amazon, doesn’t make viewing statistics available, its films have likely been seen by far more people, around the world, than they would have been in a limited theatrical release — and their makers pocketed bigger checks. But straight-to-streaming films (like Vikram Gandhi’s young Obama drama “Barry”) can receive muted fanfare upon release and quickly fade into a digital ocean.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>For a filmmaker like Demme (“The Silence of the Lambs,” “Philadelphia”), the loss of a theatrical release is painful.</p>
<p>“It seems to me that the streaming movies are skewing people from the movie theaters because the movie theaters are reluctant to show a film if a film is going to be streamed within three months,” said Demme. “I worry sometimes that the streamers would be perfectly happy to see movie theaters close up.”</p>
<p>In a statement to The Associated Press, Ted Sarandos, chief content officer for Netflix, defended his service as “pro-film, pro-filmmaker and pro-film lover.” He said he would book Netflix films into theaters if major exhibitor chains didn’t boycott movies simultaneously released via streaming and theatrically, “putting the status quo ahead of consumer desire and innovation.”</p>
<p>“We don’t see how it is in the best interest of anyone to hold back a film for 93 million fans around the world to make sure a few hundred or even a few thousand people in New York and LA can see the film in a dark room with strangers,” said Sarandos. “Theatrical attendance has been in decline for decades. Most people watch most films at home and we want to bring films to where the audience is.”</p>
<p>The competition has been heating up. Amazon, with Amazon Prime’s 30.5 million subscribers, last year spent $337 million on original content. It plans to produce 16 movies a year. Now in more than 200 countries, Amazon led a global rollout in December. Netflix, with nearly 94 million subscribers worldwide, dwarfed that spending, laying out $1.2 billion.</p>
<p>Those deep pockets have been a boon to an indie film marketplace that’s been squeezed by declining DVD revenue and diminishing box office. Netflix and Amazon now regularly outbid other distributors at film festivals.</p>
<p>“As they buy in and scoop up product, it’s making the ecosystem for these more independent distributors and specialized divisions very difficult,” said James Schamus, the former head of Focus Features and director of last year’s Philip Roth adaptation “Indignation.”</p>
<p>Some have recoiled from the streamers’ increasing sway. Director Craig Atkinson, whose police militarization documentary “Do Not Resist,” spoke out about what he described as Netflix’s strong-armed negotiation tactics.</p>
<p>Under motion picture production head Ted Hope, Amazon Studios has gone after well-respected filmmakers and largely art house releases, including films by Jim Jarmusch (“Paterson,” “Gimme Danger”), Woody Allen (“Cafe Society”), Whit Stillman (“Love &amp; Friendship”) and Park Chan-wook (“The Handmaiden”). The films, Hope has said, are “essentially advertising” for Amazon’s many other sales items.</p>
<p>Hints of a brewing battle have occasionally flared. Sarandos recently knocked Amazon for “not gaining much traction against all that spending.”</p>
<p>They may square off in one Oscar category in which Netflix has rapidly become a respected industry leader. Of the 15 documentaries shortlisted, four are from Netflix (“The 13th,” “Amanda Knox,” “The Ivory Game” and “Into the Inferno”) and one is from Amazon, (“Gleason”).</p>
<p>This year may be only a preview of what’s to come. Netflix has its starriest prestige films yet on tap for 2017, including Brad Pitt’s “War Machine” and Will Smith’s “Bright.” And on Wednesday, Amazon began lining its coffers, picking up an anticipated Grateful Dead documentary ahead of its Sundance premiere.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Follow AP Film Writer Jake Coyle on Twitter at: <a href="http://twitter.com/jakecoyleAP" type="external">http://twitter.com/jakecoyleAP</a></p> | 1,027 |
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<p />
<p>Carlsbad police believe one man was responsible for hitting two banks in downtown Carlsbad in bank robberies that occurred within a short time of each other Thursday, the Carlsbad Current-Argus reported.</p>
<p>Police Detective Benjamin Baker told the newspaper Friday that the man has not been apprehended and investigators were continuing to follow up on leads and any new information they receive.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.currentargus.com/ci_15694699" type="external">Current-Argus</a> reported that the suspect, according to police, is a white man in his 40s or 50s who is 5-foot-11 and weighs 180 to 190 pounds. He was wearing a blue T-shirt, shorts and a Miami Heat baseball cap.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Anyone with any information about the man should contact Detective Sgt. Steve Slate or Baker at 575-885-2111, ext. 240.</p>
<p>The first robbery occurred at Pioneer Bank at 111 N. Canal St. when a man entered the bank, demanded money from a teller and left heading south on Canal, according to the Current-Argus. Witnesses told the newspaper a dye pack exploded in the white plastic bag with the money and the man dropped the bag and fled on foot.</p>
<p>The Current-Argus reported that police said a short time later the Western Commerce Bank branch 127 S. Canyon was robbed in the same manner as the Pioneer Bank and the robber left on foot.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>Thursday, 05 August 2010 13:04</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>One man robbed the Pioneer Bank while another man was robbing the Western Commerce Bank</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Two banks in downtown Carlsbad were hit at the same time Thursday morning by robbers, the Carlsbad Current-Argus reported.</p>
<p>The newspaper said one man robbed the Pioneer Bank, while another man robbed the Western Commerce Bank.</p>
<p>The man who robbed the Pioneer bank left with cash in a white plastic shopping bank, according to the Current-Argus. Witnesses said a dye pack that had been placed in the money by the bank exploded in front of a dental office next door to the bank and the man fled on foot.</p>
<p>The newspaper reported that the man who was robbing the Western Commerce Bank at the same time made off with an undetermined amount of cash — also in a white plastic shopping bag.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p> | UPDATED: Carlsbad Police: One Man Responsible for Two Bank Robberies | false | https://abqjournal.com/8764/updated-carlsbad-police-one-man-responsible-for-two-bank-robberies.html | 2least
| UPDATED: Carlsbad Police: One Man Responsible for Two Bank Robberies
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>Carlsbad police believe one man was responsible for hitting two banks in downtown Carlsbad in bank robberies that occurred within a short time of each other Thursday, the Carlsbad Current-Argus reported.</p>
<p>Police Detective Benjamin Baker told the newspaper Friday that the man has not been apprehended and investigators were continuing to follow up on leads and any new information they receive.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.currentargus.com/ci_15694699" type="external">Current-Argus</a> reported that the suspect, according to police, is a white man in his 40s or 50s who is 5-foot-11 and weighs 180 to 190 pounds. He was wearing a blue T-shirt, shorts and a Miami Heat baseball cap.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Anyone with any information about the man should contact Detective Sgt. Steve Slate or Baker at 575-885-2111, ext. 240.</p>
<p>The first robbery occurred at Pioneer Bank at 111 N. Canal St. when a man entered the bank, demanded money from a teller and left heading south on Canal, according to the Current-Argus. Witnesses told the newspaper a dye pack exploded in the white plastic bag with the money and the man dropped the bag and fled on foot.</p>
<p>The Current-Argus reported that police said a short time later the Western Commerce Bank branch 127 S. Canyon was robbed in the same manner as the Pioneer Bank and the robber left on foot.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>Thursday, 05 August 2010 13:04</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>One man robbed the Pioneer Bank while another man was robbing the Western Commerce Bank</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Two banks in downtown Carlsbad were hit at the same time Thursday morning by robbers, the Carlsbad Current-Argus reported.</p>
<p>The newspaper said one man robbed the Pioneer Bank, while another man robbed the Western Commerce Bank.</p>
<p>The man who robbed the Pioneer bank left with cash in a white plastic shopping bank, according to the Current-Argus. Witnesses said a dye pack that had been placed in the money by the bank exploded in front of a dental office next door to the bank and the man fled on foot.</p>
<p>The newspaper reported that the man who was robbing the Western Commerce Bank at the same time made off with an undetermined amount of cash — also in a white plastic shopping bag.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p> | 1,028 |
|
<p>Since the earliest days of Christianity, followers of Jesus have wrestled with the demands of dual citizenship — as citizens of God’s kingdom and of the nations of this world.</p>
<p>Jesus established the principle: “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.” But some American Christians, in particular, struggle with how to put the principle into practice.</p>
<p />
<p>About 10 years ago, theologian Marcus Borg said, “I’m convinced that for many Americans, their political loyalties run deeper than their religious loyalties.”</p>
<p>Jim Denison, theologian-in-residence with the Baptist General Convention of Texas, agrees.</p>
<p>“For many Americans, politics are more relevant, personal and passionate than religious loyalties,” said Denison, president of the Denison Forum on Truth and Culture.</p>
<p>Consequently, a significant number of Christians in the United States give greater allegiance to their nation than to the kingdom of God, Baylor University professor Greg Garrett asserts.</p>
<p>“Too many American Christians identify themselves first as Americans — self-reliant, hard-working individuals who aspire to a secular version of happiness that comes through acquisition and possession — rather than as Christians — other-directed, hard-working members of something larger than themselves who seek the joy and peace that comes from faithful service and love” Garrett writes in Faithful Citizenship: Christianity and Politics in the 21st Century.</p>
<p>Christian citizens need to distinguish that which is good — American virtues such as hard work and personal responsibility — from the highest good — love for God and one’s neighbor, Garrett insists.</p>
<p>“If we ask of our politicians and of ourselves what Jesus taught as our highest good — the love of God and of each other — we can most certainly achieve more peace, more justice and more happiness than we see now in a world seeking its own glory, in individuals glorying in their own selves. We can offer a broken world more wholeness, restore more respectful conversation to the political process and model in our entire lives the faith that too often we confine to private devotion,” he writes.</p>
<p>“If your highest good is to love and serve God, you will orient your life in that way. But if your highest goal is security — that is, not to be so afraid, and to feel as though you somehow exert some control over a chaotic world—then your orientation will be very different. … When security is our highest good, we tend to live tiny, frightened lives that keep us from loving fully, living generously, extending hospitality to the stranger.”</p>
<p>American Christians often fail to distinguish deeply held patriotic impulses from religious convictions, Garrett explained in an interview.</p>
<p>“It’s easy to take the beliefs we hold dear about America alongside our sacred religious beliefs and get them confused,” he said.</p>
<p>Ethicist David Gushee agreed, saying: “Some bleed Republican or Democrat more than Christian or Jewish or atheist. But it’s even worse when Christians confuse Republican or Democrat with Christian or Jewish or atheist. That probably happens just as often.”</p>
<p>Aaron Weaver, a doctoral student at Baylor University who blogs as&#160; “The Big Daddy Weave,” remains convinced many Americans cannot separate categories of political loyalties and religious loyalties.</p>
<p>“The political and religious have been fused into a hyper-Americanized, hyper-partisan Christianity,” said Weaver.</p>
<p>Weaver emphasizes the importance of responsible Christian involvement in the political system — which means engagement in political parties. “But this hyper-partisan Christianity that equates being a good Christian with being a member of a certain political party is what happens when party loyalty is put ahead of principles.”</p>
<p>So, if Christians need to be involved in the political process but not manipulated into confusing partisanship with discipleship, how can they choose the right candidates who deserve their vote?</p>
<p>“The primary criteria should be relevant experience and performance history, political principles and related moral values, history of building a strong work team, leadership gifts, character qualities, temperament, verbal and personal self-discipline, and performance under pressure,” said Gushee, professor of Christian ethics and director of the Center for Theology and Public Life at Mercer University.</p>
<p>Matters of personal faith and doctrinal commitments only matter to the degree that they affect those criteria, he added. “Christians should not hesitate to vote for a person of a different sect or faith.” Weaver insisted Christian voters should focus on how candidates’ proposed policies align with their own ethical principles and values.</p>
<p>“As a voter, I’m not concerned with Paul Ryan’s ecclesiology or Joe Biden’s view of baptism. But I am concerned with their respective understandings of social justice and what justice looks like in our pluralistic society,” he said.</p>
<p>In evaluating the relative importance of issues and how candidates stand on them, Christians need to weigh several factors, Gushee asserted.</p>
<p>“I think it is important to consider whether such matters as whether one believes the Bible speaks clearly to an issue, the level of significance given to an issue in Scripture (and perhaps also Christian tradition), whether the matter falls properly under the jurisdiction of the federal government, whether the personal beliefs of the candidate are likely to affect what actually happens in governance, and whether the stated policy goals of the candidate are likely to be effective in accomplishing the principles they say that they stand for,” he said.</p>
<p>Garrett approaches the question differently. He noted his position about evaluating candidates has changed over the last couple of years spent writing a blog about faithful citizenship for Patheos.com.</p>
<p>“If our political process is broken, I think it’s because our decision-making process is broken,” he said. “I’ve come to a point where I care less about a candidate’s drop-dead policy positions and more about the candidate’s willingness to listen to others.”</p>
<p>Likewise, if Christian citizens want to see candidates practice civility, they should get their own houses in order.</p>
<p>“If we are truly Christian, we will be doing a better job of listening to each other, forgiving each other when that’s necessary and not viewing those with whom we disagree as the enemy,” Garrett said. Humility should characterize faithful citizenship, he insisted.</p>
<p>“Rather than reject the other person completely, we should come and reason together,” he said.</p>
<p>Ken Camp ( <a href="mailto:kencamp@baptiststandard.org" type="external">kencamp@baptiststandard.org</a>) is managing editor of the Baptist Standard.</p> | God and Caesar: What does it mean to be a faithful citizen? | false | https://baptistnews.com/article/godandcaesarwhatdoesitmeantobeafaithfulcitizen/ | 3left-center
| God and Caesar: What does it mean to be a faithful citizen?
<p>Since the earliest days of Christianity, followers of Jesus have wrestled with the demands of dual citizenship — as citizens of God’s kingdom and of the nations of this world.</p>
<p>Jesus established the principle: “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.” But some American Christians, in particular, struggle with how to put the principle into practice.</p>
<p />
<p>About 10 years ago, theologian Marcus Borg said, “I’m convinced that for many Americans, their political loyalties run deeper than their religious loyalties.”</p>
<p>Jim Denison, theologian-in-residence with the Baptist General Convention of Texas, agrees.</p>
<p>“For many Americans, politics are more relevant, personal and passionate than religious loyalties,” said Denison, president of the Denison Forum on Truth and Culture.</p>
<p>Consequently, a significant number of Christians in the United States give greater allegiance to their nation than to the kingdom of God, Baylor University professor Greg Garrett asserts.</p>
<p>“Too many American Christians identify themselves first as Americans — self-reliant, hard-working individuals who aspire to a secular version of happiness that comes through acquisition and possession — rather than as Christians — other-directed, hard-working members of something larger than themselves who seek the joy and peace that comes from faithful service and love” Garrett writes in Faithful Citizenship: Christianity and Politics in the 21st Century.</p>
<p>Christian citizens need to distinguish that which is good — American virtues such as hard work and personal responsibility — from the highest good — love for God and one’s neighbor, Garrett insists.</p>
<p>“If we ask of our politicians and of ourselves what Jesus taught as our highest good — the love of God and of each other — we can most certainly achieve more peace, more justice and more happiness than we see now in a world seeking its own glory, in individuals glorying in their own selves. We can offer a broken world more wholeness, restore more respectful conversation to the political process and model in our entire lives the faith that too often we confine to private devotion,” he writes.</p>
<p>“If your highest good is to love and serve God, you will orient your life in that way. But if your highest goal is security — that is, not to be so afraid, and to feel as though you somehow exert some control over a chaotic world—then your orientation will be very different. … When security is our highest good, we tend to live tiny, frightened lives that keep us from loving fully, living generously, extending hospitality to the stranger.”</p>
<p>American Christians often fail to distinguish deeply held patriotic impulses from religious convictions, Garrett explained in an interview.</p>
<p>“It’s easy to take the beliefs we hold dear about America alongside our sacred religious beliefs and get them confused,” he said.</p>
<p>Ethicist David Gushee agreed, saying: “Some bleed Republican or Democrat more than Christian or Jewish or atheist. But it’s even worse when Christians confuse Republican or Democrat with Christian or Jewish or atheist. That probably happens just as often.”</p>
<p>Aaron Weaver, a doctoral student at Baylor University who blogs as&#160; “The Big Daddy Weave,” remains convinced many Americans cannot separate categories of political loyalties and religious loyalties.</p>
<p>“The political and religious have been fused into a hyper-Americanized, hyper-partisan Christianity,” said Weaver.</p>
<p>Weaver emphasizes the importance of responsible Christian involvement in the political system — which means engagement in political parties. “But this hyper-partisan Christianity that equates being a good Christian with being a member of a certain political party is what happens when party loyalty is put ahead of principles.”</p>
<p>So, if Christians need to be involved in the political process but not manipulated into confusing partisanship with discipleship, how can they choose the right candidates who deserve their vote?</p>
<p>“The primary criteria should be relevant experience and performance history, political principles and related moral values, history of building a strong work team, leadership gifts, character qualities, temperament, verbal and personal self-discipline, and performance under pressure,” said Gushee, professor of Christian ethics and director of the Center for Theology and Public Life at Mercer University.</p>
<p>Matters of personal faith and doctrinal commitments only matter to the degree that they affect those criteria, he added. “Christians should not hesitate to vote for a person of a different sect or faith.” Weaver insisted Christian voters should focus on how candidates’ proposed policies align with their own ethical principles and values.</p>
<p>“As a voter, I’m not concerned with Paul Ryan’s ecclesiology or Joe Biden’s view of baptism. But I am concerned with their respective understandings of social justice and what justice looks like in our pluralistic society,” he said.</p>
<p>In evaluating the relative importance of issues and how candidates stand on them, Christians need to weigh several factors, Gushee asserted.</p>
<p>“I think it is important to consider whether such matters as whether one believes the Bible speaks clearly to an issue, the level of significance given to an issue in Scripture (and perhaps also Christian tradition), whether the matter falls properly under the jurisdiction of the federal government, whether the personal beliefs of the candidate are likely to affect what actually happens in governance, and whether the stated policy goals of the candidate are likely to be effective in accomplishing the principles they say that they stand for,” he said.</p>
<p>Garrett approaches the question differently. He noted his position about evaluating candidates has changed over the last couple of years spent writing a blog about faithful citizenship for Patheos.com.</p>
<p>“If our political process is broken, I think it’s because our decision-making process is broken,” he said. “I’ve come to a point where I care less about a candidate’s drop-dead policy positions and more about the candidate’s willingness to listen to others.”</p>
<p>Likewise, if Christian citizens want to see candidates practice civility, they should get their own houses in order.</p>
<p>“If we are truly Christian, we will be doing a better job of listening to each other, forgiving each other when that’s necessary and not viewing those with whom we disagree as the enemy,” Garrett said. Humility should characterize faithful citizenship, he insisted.</p>
<p>“Rather than reject the other person completely, we should come and reason together,” he said.</p>
<p>Ken Camp ( <a href="mailto:kencamp@baptiststandard.org" type="external">kencamp@baptiststandard.org</a>) is managing editor of the Baptist Standard.</p> | 1,029 |
|
<p>NEW YORK (AP) — The 17-year-old kid from Kalamazoo drew all sorts of raves.</p>
<p>He was a "young colt" with a "perfect SS body" and was a "top student" who planned to study medicine at the University of Michigan, too.</p>
<p>"This guy is special," one big league scout even wrote.</p>
<p>But, could anyone back then have projected that Derek Jeter the high schooler would someday become Derek Jeter the future Hall of Famer?</p>
<p>Now 40, Jeter is set to retire after this season. A five-time World Series champion and sixth on the career hits list, he spent two decades as the shortstop for the New York Yankees.</p>
<p>Five big league teams bypassed Jeter in baseball's amateur draft in 1992 before New York selected him with the No. 6 pick. A year earlier, Yankees scout Dick Grouch had first spotted Jeter after his junior year.</p>
<p>"It was one of those serendipitous events," Grouch recalled last week. "I was going to cover a tournament on the other side of the state, and I knew they were having this talent identification camp at Mount Morris High School, so I stopped just to get a glance as to what was transpiring."</p>
<p>This time, there was indeed something worth seeing.</p>
<p>"About 5 or 10 minutes in, he was taking groundballs at the time, and then he did things that caught my eye," Grouch said.</p>
<p>With the short high school season, Jeter didn't play many games during the school year, so Grouch watched him with the Kalamazoo Maroons summer league team. And then Jeter injured an ankle early in his senior season, limiting his playing time.</p>
<p>But Jeter already had caught the attention of scouts for many teams, according to reports that later went to baseball's Hall of Fame.</p>
<p>Cincinnati scout Gene Bennett wrote in April 1992 that Jeter aimed to study medicine at Michigan, adding he "has leadership ability with good makeup" and possessed "skills similar to (Barry) Larkin as high school player."</p>
<p>Larkin, who played college ball at Michigan, became a Hall of Fame shortstop with the Reds.</p>
<p>The California Angels' Jon Niederer noticed Jeter was "somewhat thin-chested and 'pointy shouldered,'" saying he had a "good face — very young looking" and was a "top student from a high class family."</p>
<p>Niederer said Jeter had "all the tools to play the game at a high level." He took note of his "very quick hands and feet — so quick they can get him set up to make a play before the ball arrives and he looks out of synch."</p>
<p>Ed Santa of the Colorado Rockies said Jeter had a "perfect SS body" and projected him to have All-Star potential.</p>
<p>"You get excited just watching him warm up," he wrote in May 1992.</p>
<p>Dave Littlefield, who scouted Jeter for the Montreal Expos and went on to become Pittsburgh's general manager, wrote a report that praised Jeter's body type and bode well for future success.</p>
<p>"Hi butt, longish arms &amp; legs, leanish torso," he said. Among his other remarks was the "young colt" description.</p>
<p>"I think I got most of that right," said Littlefield, who now scouts for the Chicago Cubs. "I wish in retrospect we had picked him."</p>
<p>Jeter says he never really focused on scouts and is pretty sure they first showed up to scout another player on his summer team. Grouch observed Jeter for about a year but tried not to interact with him.</p>
<p>"He always stayed away. He kept his distance," Jeter said.</p>
<p>Grouch had a reason for his behavior.</p>
<p>"I did not want him to know that I was at the ballpark," he said. "I sat in my car. I was in the bushes. I was in the woods. I didn't want him to play for me, because I wanted to see how he handled failure. And every game that he played was the same."</p>
<p>As the draft approached, Yankees' director of scouting Bill Livesey made the trip to Michigan to watch him play. But the entire organization avoided contact. Five other teams were ahead of New York.</p>
<p>"We pretty much zeroed in on him, but none of us wanted to get our hopes up," Livesey said. And when Yankees executives met on the day before the draft, there was one last internal hurdle to overcome — and it was a big one.</p>
<p>"Mr. Steinbrenner was not real high on taking high school kids, simply because they were too long from the big leagues. So we had to convince him," Livesey said, referring to late owner George Steinbrenner, who was suspended from baseball at the time.</p>
<p>"He asked me how long it was going to take for him to be in the big leagues," Livesey said. "It was a little bit of the fib: I told him four years."</p>
<p>The five teams ahead of the Yankees didn't take Jeter. Not Houston, not Cleveland, not Montreal, not Baltimore, not Cincinnati. When the Yankees were up, Jeter was there for the picking.</p>
<p>Jeter signed for a $700,000 bonus (he would make $266 million from the Yankees), reached the major leagues for the first time in 1995 and quickly blossomed.</p>
<p>Grouch says he had a feeling.</p>
<p>"He's going to be able to play in the toughest venue in all of athletics, and that's Yankee Stadium," he said.</p>
<p>"And this guy, he was going to capture this entire city. He was going to capture New York."</p>
<p>NEW YORK (AP) — The 17-year-old kid from Kalamazoo drew all sorts of raves.</p>
<p>He was a "young colt" with a "perfect SS body" and was a "top student" who planned to study medicine at the University of Michigan, too.</p>
<p>"This guy is special," one big league scout even wrote.</p>
<p>But, could anyone back then have projected that Derek Jeter the high schooler would someday become Derek Jeter the future Hall of Famer?</p>
<p>Now 40, Jeter is set to retire after this season. A five-time World Series champion and sixth on the career hits list, he spent two decades as the shortstop for the New York Yankees.</p>
<p>Five big league teams bypassed Jeter in baseball's amateur draft in 1992 before New York selected him with the No. 6 pick. A year earlier, Yankees scout Dick Grouch had first spotted Jeter after his junior year.</p>
<p>"It was one of those serendipitous events," Grouch recalled last week. "I was going to cover a tournament on the other side of the state, and I knew they were having this talent identification camp at Mount Morris High School, so I stopped just to get a glance as to what was transpiring."</p>
<p>This time, there was indeed something worth seeing.</p>
<p>"About 5 or 10 minutes in, he was taking groundballs at the time, and then he did things that caught my eye," Grouch said.</p>
<p>With the short high school season, Jeter didn't play many games during the school year, so Grouch watched him with the Kalamazoo Maroons summer league team. And then Jeter injured an ankle early in his senior season, limiting his playing time.</p>
<p>But Jeter already had caught the attention of scouts for many teams, according to reports that later went to baseball's Hall of Fame.</p>
<p>Cincinnati scout Gene Bennett wrote in April 1992 that Jeter aimed to study medicine at Michigan, adding he "has leadership ability with good makeup" and possessed "skills similar to (Barry) Larkin as high school player."</p>
<p>Larkin, who played college ball at Michigan, became a Hall of Fame shortstop with the Reds.</p>
<p>The California Angels' Jon Niederer noticed Jeter was "somewhat thin-chested and 'pointy shouldered,'" saying he had a "good face — very young looking" and was a "top student from a high class family."</p>
<p>Niederer said Jeter had "all the tools to play the game at a high level." He took note of his "very quick hands and feet — so quick they can get him set up to make a play before the ball arrives and he looks out of synch."</p>
<p>Ed Santa of the Colorado Rockies said Jeter had a "perfect SS body" and projected him to have All-Star potential.</p>
<p>"You get excited just watching him warm up," he wrote in May 1992.</p>
<p>Dave Littlefield, who scouted Jeter for the Montreal Expos and went on to become Pittsburgh's general manager, wrote a report that praised Jeter's body type and bode well for future success.</p>
<p>"Hi butt, longish arms &amp; legs, leanish torso," he said. Among his other remarks was the "young colt" description.</p>
<p>"I think I got most of that right," said Littlefield, who now scouts for the Chicago Cubs. "I wish in retrospect we had picked him."</p>
<p>Jeter says he never really focused on scouts and is pretty sure they first showed up to scout another player on his summer team. Grouch observed Jeter for about a year but tried not to interact with him.</p>
<p>"He always stayed away. He kept his distance," Jeter said.</p>
<p>Grouch had a reason for his behavior.</p>
<p>"I did not want him to know that I was at the ballpark," he said. "I sat in my car. I was in the bushes. I was in the woods. I didn't want him to play for me, because I wanted to see how he handled failure. And every game that he played was the same."</p>
<p>As the draft approached, Yankees' director of scouting Bill Livesey made the trip to Michigan to watch him play. But the entire organization avoided contact. Five other teams were ahead of New York.</p>
<p>"We pretty much zeroed in on him, but none of us wanted to get our hopes up," Livesey said. And when Yankees executives met on the day before the draft, there was one last internal hurdle to overcome — and it was a big one.</p>
<p>"Mr. Steinbrenner was not real high on taking high school kids, simply because they were too long from the big leagues. So we had to convince him," Livesey said, referring to late owner George Steinbrenner, who was suspended from baseball at the time.</p>
<p>"He asked me how long it was going to take for him to be in the big leagues," Livesey said. "It was a little bit of the fib: I told him four years."</p>
<p>The five teams ahead of the Yankees didn't take Jeter. Not Houston, not Cleveland, not Montreal, not Baltimore, not Cincinnati. When the Yankees were up, Jeter was there for the picking.</p>
<p>Jeter signed for a $700,000 bonus (he would make $266 million from the Yankees), reached the major leagues for the first time in 1995 and quickly blossomed.</p>
<p>Grouch says he had a feeling.</p>
<p>"He's going to be able to play in the toughest venue in all of athletics, and that's Yankee Stadium," he said.</p>
<p>"And this guy, he was going to capture this entire city. He was going to capture New York."</p> | 5 teams passed on 'young colt' Jeter before Yanks | false | https://apnews.com/amp/601d81ceaf62467d960e74bfb162b2d7 | 2014-09-19 | 2least
| 5 teams passed on 'young colt' Jeter before Yanks
<p>NEW YORK (AP) — The 17-year-old kid from Kalamazoo drew all sorts of raves.</p>
<p>He was a "young colt" with a "perfect SS body" and was a "top student" who planned to study medicine at the University of Michigan, too.</p>
<p>"This guy is special," one big league scout even wrote.</p>
<p>But, could anyone back then have projected that Derek Jeter the high schooler would someday become Derek Jeter the future Hall of Famer?</p>
<p>Now 40, Jeter is set to retire after this season. A five-time World Series champion and sixth on the career hits list, he spent two decades as the shortstop for the New York Yankees.</p>
<p>Five big league teams bypassed Jeter in baseball's amateur draft in 1992 before New York selected him with the No. 6 pick. A year earlier, Yankees scout Dick Grouch had first spotted Jeter after his junior year.</p>
<p>"It was one of those serendipitous events," Grouch recalled last week. "I was going to cover a tournament on the other side of the state, and I knew they were having this talent identification camp at Mount Morris High School, so I stopped just to get a glance as to what was transpiring."</p>
<p>This time, there was indeed something worth seeing.</p>
<p>"About 5 or 10 minutes in, he was taking groundballs at the time, and then he did things that caught my eye," Grouch said.</p>
<p>With the short high school season, Jeter didn't play many games during the school year, so Grouch watched him with the Kalamazoo Maroons summer league team. And then Jeter injured an ankle early in his senior season, limiting his playing time.</p>
<p>But Jeter already had caught the attention of scouts for many teams, according to reports that later went to baseball's Hall of Fame.</p>
<p>Cincinnati scout Gene Bennett wrote in April 1992 that Jeter aimed to study medicine at Michigan, adding he "has leadership ability with good makeup" and possessed "skills similar to (Barry) Larkin as high school player."</p>
<p>Larkin, who played college ball at Michigan, became a Hall of Fame shortstop with the Reds.</p>
<p>The California Angels' Jon Niederer noticed Jeter was "somewhat thin-chested and 'pointy shouldered,'" saying he had a "good face — very young looking" and was a "top student from a high class family."</p>
<p>Niederer said Jeter had "all the tools to play the game at a high level." He took note of his "very quick hands and feet — so quick they can get him set up to make a play before the ball arrives and he looks out of synch."</p>
<p>Ed Santa of the Colorado Rockies said Jeter had a "perfect SS body" and projected him to have All-Star potential.</p>
<p>"You get excited just watching him warm up," he wrote in May 1992.</p>
<p>Dave Littlefield, who scouted Jeter for the Montreal Expos and went on to become Pittsburgh's general manager, wrote a report that praised Jeter's body type and bode well for future success.</p>
<p>"Hi butt, longish arms &amp; legs, leanish torso," he said. Among his other remarks was the "young colt" description.</p>
<p>"I think I got most of that right," said Littlefield, who now scouts for the Chicago Cubs. "I wish in retrospect we had picked him."</p>
<p>Jeter says he never really focused on scouts and is pretty sure they first showed up to scout another player on his summer team. Grouch observed Jeter for about a year but tried not to interact with him.</p>
<p>"He always stayed away. He kept his distance," Jeter said.</p>
<p>Grouch had a reason for his behavior.</p>
<p>"I did not want him to know that I was at the ballpark," he said. "I sat in my car. I was in the bushes. I was in the woods. I didn't want him to play for me, because I wanted to see how he handled failure. And every game that he played was the same."</p>
<p>As the draft approached, Yankees' director of scouting Bill Livesey made the trip to Michigan to watch him play. But the entire organization avoided contact. Five other teams were ahead of New York.</p>
<p>"We pretty much zeroed in on him, but none of us wanted to get our hopes up," Livesey said. And when Yankees executives met on the day before the draft, there was one last internal hurdle to overcome — and it was a big one.</p>
<p>"Mr. Steinbrenner was not real high on taking high school kids, simply because they were too long from the big leagues. So we had to convince him," Livesey said, referring to late owner George Steinbrenner, who was suspended from baseball at the time.</p>
<p>"He asked me how long it was going to take for him to be in the big leagues," Livesey said. "It was a little bit of the fib: I told him four years."</p>
<p>The five teams ahead of the Yankees didn't take Jeter. Not Houston, not Cleveland, not Montreal, not Baltimore, not Cincinnati. When the Yankees were up, Jeter was there for the picking.</p>
<p>Jeter signed for a $700,000 bonus (he would make $266 million from the Yankees), reached the major leagues for the first time in 1995 and quickly blossomed.</p>
<p>Grouch says he had a feeling.</p>
<p>"He's going to be able to play in the toughest venue in all of athletics, and that's Yankee Stadium," he said.</p>
<p>"And this guy, he was going to capture this entire city. He was going to capture New York."</p>
<p>NEW YORK (AP) — The 17-year-old kid from Kalamazoo drew all sorts of raves.</p>
<p>He was a "young colt" with a "perfect SS body" and was a "top student" who planned to study medicine at the University of Michigan, too.</p>
<p>"This guy is special," one big league scout even wrote.</p>
<p>But, could anyone back then have projected that Derek Jeter the high schooler would someday become Derek Jeter the future Hall of Famer?</p>
<p>Now 40, Jeter is set to retire after this season. A five-time World Series champion and sixth on the career hits list, he spent two decades as the shortstop for the New York Yankees.</p>
<p>Five big league teams bypassed Jeter in baseball's amateur draft in 1992 before New York selected him with the No. 6 pick. A year earlier, Yankees scout Dick Grouch had first spotted Jeter after his junior year.</p>
<p>"It was one of those serendipitous events," Grouch recalled last week. "I was going to cover a tournament on the other side of the state, and I knew they were having this talent identification camp at Mount Morris High School, so I stopped just to get a glance as to what was transpiring."</p>
<p>This time, there was indeed something worth seeing.</p>
<p>"About 5 or 10 minutes in, he was taking groundballs at the time, and then he did things that caught my eye," Grouch said.</p>
<p>With the short high school season, Jeter didn't play many games during the school year, so Grouch watched him with the Kalamazoo Maroons summer league team. And then Jeter injured an ankle early in his senior season, limiting his playing time.</p>
<p>But Jeter already had caught the attention of scouts for many teams, according to reports that later went to baseball's Hall of Fame.</p>
<p>Cincinnati scout Gene Bennett wrote in April 1992 that Jeter aimed to study medicine at Michigan, adding he "has leadership ability with good makeup" and possessed "skills similar to (Barry) Larkin as high school player."</p>
<p>Larkin, who played college ball at Michigan, became a Hall of Fame shortstop with the Reds.</p>
<p>The California Angels' Jon Niederer noticed Jeter was "somewhat thin-chested and 'pointy shouldered,'" saying he had a "good face — very young looking" and was a "top student from a high class family."</p>
<p>Niederer said Jeter had "all the tools to play the game at a high level." He took note of his "very quick hands and feet — so quick they can get him set up to make a play before the ball arrives and he looks out of synch."</p>
<p>Ed Santa of the Colorado Rockies said Jeter had a "perfect SS body" and projected him to have All-Star potential.</p>
<p>"You get excited just watching him warm up," he wrote in May 1992.</p>
<p>Dave Littlefield, who scouted Jeter for the Montreal Expos and went on to become Pittsburgh's general manager, wrote a report that praised Jeter's body type and bode well for future success.</p>
<p>"Hi butt, longish arms &amp; legs, leanish torso," he said. Among his other remarks was the "young colt" description.</p>
<p>"I think I got most of that right," said Littlefield, who now scouts for the Chicago Cubs. "I wish in retrospect we had picked him."</p>
<p>Jeter says he never really focused on scouts and is pretty sure they first showed up to scout another player on his summer team. Grouch observed Jeter for about a year but tried not to interact with him.</p>
<p>"He always stayed away. He kept his distance," Jeter said.</p>
<p>Grouch had a reason for his behavior.</p>
<p>"I did not want him to know that I was at the ballpark," he said. "I sat in my car. I was in the bushes. I was in the woods. I didn't want him to play for me, because I wanted to see how he handled failure. And every game that he played was the same."</p>
<p>As the draft approached, Yankees' director of scouting Bill Livesey made the trip to Michigan to watch him play. But the entire organization avoided contact. Five other teams were ahead of New York.</p>
<p>"We pretty much zeroed in on him, but none of us wanted to get our hopes up," Livesey said. And when Yankees executives met on the day before the draft, there was one last internal hurdle to overcome — and it was a big one.</p>
<p>"Mr. Steinbrenner was not real high on taking high school kids, simply because they were too long from the big leagues. So we had to convince him," Livesey said, referring to late owner George Steinbrenner, who was suspended from baseball at the time.</p>
<p>"He asked me how long it was going to take for him to be in the big leagues," Livesey said. "It was a little bit of the fib: I told him four years."</p>
<p>The five teams ahead of the Yankees didn't take Jeter. Not Houston, not Cleveland, not Montreal, not Baltimore, not Cincinnati. When the Yankees were up, Jeter was there for the picking.</p>
<p>Jeter signed for a $700,000 bonus (he would make $266 million from the Yankees), reached the major leagues for the first time in 1995 and quickly blossomed.</p>
<p>Grouch says he had a feeling.</p>
<p>"He's going to be able to play in the toughest venue in all of athletics, and that's Yankee Stadium," he said.</p>
<p>"And this guy, he was going to capture this entire city. He was going to capture New York."</p> | 1,030 |
<p>Who needs clean air? I have Jesus as my copilot AND my asthma pump!</p>
<p>Awarded to Michelle Bachmann for perpetuating the Right’s ignorant crusade against the Environmental Protection Agency.</p>
<p>“And I guarantee you the EPA (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency) will have doors locked and lights turned off and they will only be about conservation,” she said earlier today at a campaign stop in Cedar Rapids. “It will be a new day and a new sheriff in Washington, D.C.”</p>
<p>And what does “conservation” mean to a conservative? Why, they put the “serve” in conserving corporate profits, of course!</p>
<p>Honestly, Michelle, if I thought for a second you and your dim-witted followers actually understood what the EPA does as opposed to what the Koch brothers TELL you it does, I would find your eagerness to shut it down incomprehensible. As it is, it’s obvious you’re simply parroting the talking points handed to you by your&#160;corporate&#160;masters and they DO know what the EPA does.</p>
<p>The EPA keeps them from making the maximum amount of profit by polluting as much as they want. That has just got to stop! And the best way to do it is to have a dumbass on the payroll who will not question your orders.</p>
<p>The only thing worse than being a slave is being too stupid to know you’re a slave.</p>
<p>Michelle “Who cares if my kids’ water is laced with lead?” Bachmann, Congratulations! You’re a dumbass!!</p>
<p>Feel free to tell me what a terrible person I am on Facebook <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Proud-to-be-a-Filthy-Liberal-Scum/134176153323755" type="external">here (public)</a> or <a href="http://www.facebook.com/Jrosario1701" type="external">here (not so public)</a> or follow me on Twitter @FilthyLbrlScum.&#160; Share and Tweet the love.</p>
<p />
<p /> | Conservative Smackdown of the Day: 8-8-2011 | true | http://addictinginfo.org/2011/08/08/conservative-smackdown-of-the-day-8-8-2011/ | 2011-08-08 | 4left
| Conservative Smackdown of the Day: 8-8-2011
<p>Who needs clean air? I have Jesus as my copilot AND my asthma pump!</p>
<p>Awarded to Michelle Bachmann for perpetuating the Right’s ignorant crusade against the Environmental Protection Agency.</p>
<p>“And I guarantee you the EPA (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency) will have doors locked and lights turned off and they will only be about conservation,” she said earlier today at a campaign stop in Cedar Rapids. “It will be a new day and a new sheriff in Washington, D.C.”</p>
<p>And what does “conservation” mean to a conservative? Why, they put the “serve” in conserving corporate profits, of course!</p>
<p>Honestly, Michelle, if I thought for a second you and your dim-witted followers actually understood what the EPA does as opposed to what the Koch brothers TELL you it does, I would find your eagerness to shut it down incomprehensible. As it is, it’s obvious you’re simply parroting the talking points handed to you by your&#160;corporate&#160;masters and they DO know what the EPA does.</p>
<p>The EPA keeps them from making the maximum amount of profit by polluting as much as they want. That has just got to stop! And the best way to do it is to have a dumbass on the payroll who will not question your orders.</p>
<p>The only thing worse than being a slave is being too stupid to know you’re a slave.</p>
<p>Michelle “Who cares if my kids’ water is laced with lead?” Bachmann, Congratulations! You’re a dumbass!!</p>
<p>Feel free to tell me what a terrible person I am on Facebook <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Proud-to-be-a-Filthy-Liberal-Scum/134176153323755" type="external">here (public)</a> or <a href="http://www.facebook.com/Jrosario1701" type="external">here (not so public)</a> or follow me on Twitter @FilthyLbrlScum.&#160; Share and Tweet the love.</p>
<p />
<p /> | 1,031 |
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<p />
<p>Sun Mountain delivered its latest report on the SIC’s private equity program this month to the council’s investment committee. The full 11-member council is expected to discuss it at its next monthly meeting on Tuesday.</p>
<p>The firm manages the SIC’s $190 million Co-Investment Fund for direct investments in local companies, and it advises the council on its commitments to independent venture funds that do business in New Mexico.</p>
<p>By state statute, the SIC can commit up to 9 percent of the Severance Tax Permanent Fund in the private equity program, which the council launched in 1993. But in recent years, the council has set a more conservative, 5 percent target to first allow the program to earn more returns before committing higher levels of capital.</p>
<p>As of Dec. 31, 2016, the council had $271 million in net deployed capital in the program, including money in venture funds that are committed to investing in local companies, plus the funds managed by Sun Mountain. It also included $10 million the SIC committed last year to a new Catalyst Fund that will channel money to investment entities around the state to provide seed and early-stage capital for local startups.</p>
<p>That net deployed capital equals 5.8 percent of the Severance Tax Permanent Fund, which stood at $4.67 billion as of the end of 2016. A total of $420.4 million is available for the private equity program under the 9 percent statutory cap. But Sun Mountain projects the percentage to steadily decrease in coming years to meet the council’s 5 percent target by 2020.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>The report shows a 9.8 percent rate of return on investments over the last five years.</p>
<p>“That’s 9.8 percent on the dollar, year in and year out,” said Sun Mountain managing partner Brian Birk. “We’re performing on a par with a number of national benchmarks.”</p>
<p>Brian Birk Managing Partner, Sun Mountain Capital Partners</p>
<p>Some venture-backed local startups with SIC capital have been acquired in recent years. Those “exits” allow venture investors to earn returns on their commitments, driving up SIC earnings.</p>
<p>Overall, the private equity program has generated 5.6 percent in returns since 2004, when Sun Mountain began advising the SIC and managing funds. A total of $151.7 million has flowed back into the permanent fund since then.</p>
<p>The private equity investments have also had a significant economic impact. SIC’s commitments have helped generate about $2 billion more in private investment in companies receiving SIC-backed venture funding. That, in turn, has created 1,532 mostly high-wage jobs, a $28 million annual payroll, and nearly $26 million in local purchases.</p> | State earns nearly 10 percent on venture investments | false | https://abqjournal.com/1006044/state-earns-nearly-10-percent-on-venture-investments.html | 2least
| State earns nearly 10 percent on venture investments
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>Sun Mountain delivered its latest report on the SIC’s private equity program this month to the council’s investment committee. The full 11-member council is expected to discuss it at its next monthly meeting on Tuesday.</p>
<p>The firm manages the SIC’s $190 million Co-Investment Fund for direct investments in local companies, and it advises the council on its commitments to independent venture funds that do business in New Mexico.</p>
<p>By state statute, the SIC can commit up to 9 percent of the Severance Tax Permanent Fund in the private equity program, which the council launched in 1993. But in recent years, the council has set a more conservative, 5 percent target to first allow the program to earn more returns before committing higher levels of capital.</p>
<p>As of Dec. 31, 2016, the council had $271 million in net deployed capital in the program, including money in venture funds that are committed to investing in local companies, plus the funds managed by Sun Mountain. It also included $10 million the SIC committed last year to a new Catalyst Fund that will channel money to investment entities around the state to provide seed and early-stage capital for local startups.</p>
<p>That net deployed capital equals 5.8 percent of the Severance Tax Permanent Fund, which stood at $4.67 billion as of the end of 2016. A total of $420.4 million is available for the private equity program under the 9 percent statutory cap. But Sun Mountain projects the percentage to steadily decrease in coming years to meet the council’s 5 percent target by 2020.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>The report shows a 9.8 percent rate of return on investments over the last five years.</p>
<p>“That’s 9.8 percent on the dollar, year in and year out,” said Sun Mountain managing partner Brian Birk. “We’re performing on a par with a number of national benchmarks.”</p>
<p>Brian Birk Managing Partner, Sun Mountain Capital Partners</p>
<p>Some venture-backed local startups with SIC capital have been acquired in recent years. Those “exits” allow venture investors to earn returns on their commitments, driving up SIC earnings.</p>
<p>Overall, the private equity program has generated 5.6 percent in returns since 2004, when Sun Mountain began advising the SIC and managing funds. A total of $151.7 million has flowed back into the permanent fund since then.</p>
<p>The private equity investments have also had a significant economic impact. SIC’s commitments have helped generate about $2 billion more in private investment in companies receiving SIC-backed venture funding. That, in turn, has created 1,532 mostly high-wage jobs, a $28 million annual payroll, and nearly $26 million in local purchases.</p> | 1,032 |
|
<p>Critics of anti-poverty&#160;programs long have warned about what’s called the Welfare State or “Cradle-to-Grave” government programs. The late Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, a liberal Democrat from New York, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1987/02/19/us/washington-talk-q-a-daniel-patrick-moynihan-welfare-and-the-politics-of-poverty.html" type="external">worked</a>for decades&#160;to try to avoid that. He helped craft the <a href="http://www.welfareinfo.org/reform/" type="external">1996 Welfare Reform Act</a> with Democratic President Clinton and Republicans in Congress.</p>
<p>The idea was that welfare would go back to being temporary to get families back on their feet, not a permanent lifestyle.</p>
<p>In recent years, including under the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, things have returned more to the Welfare State model. This is especially true in California, once one of America’s wealthiest states, but now the one with the <a href="http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article2916749.html" type="external">highest level of poverty</a>, at about a quarter of our people.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.kidsdata.org/topic/518/free-school-meals-eligible/table#fmt=675&amp;loc=2,127,347,1763,331,348,336,171,321,345,357,332,324,369,358,362,360,337,327,364,356,217,353,328,354,323,352,320,339,334,365,343,330,367,344,355,366,368,265,349,361,4,273,59,370,326,333,322,341,338,350,342,329,325,359,351,363,340,335&amp;tf=73" type="external">According to the Lucille Packard Foundation</a>, 58 percent of California kids now are eligible to receive free or reduced-price school meals.</p>
<p>Now, California schools even are becoming centers for signing families&#160;up for Covered California, the state’s implementation of Obamacare. Reported <a href="http://edsource.org/2015/schools-help-families-enroll-in-covered-california-medi-cal/74097#.VN4cd_nF_h5" type="external">EdSource</a>:</p>
<p>In school libraries and courtyards from Sacramento to Los Angeles and beyond, trained enrollment counselors have been invited to set up folding tables, commandeer desk space and corral parents before the Feb. 15 sign-up deadline for <a href="http://www.coveredca.com/" type="external">Covered California</a>, the state’s online health insurance marketplace created under the federal Affordable Care Act.</p>
<p>And the outreach will increase. Under a new state law, all California schools must include in their 2015-16 enrollment packets information about options for health care coverage and how to get help with the sign-up process. The law, <a href="http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201320140AB2706" type="external">Assembly Bill 2706</a>, authored by Roger Hernández, D-West Covina, is intended to reduce the number of children who are eligible for health insurance subsidies but remain uninsured.</p>
<p>For perspective, here’s an excerpt from a 1987 <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1987/02/19/us/washington-talk-q-a-daniel-patrick-moynihan-welfare-and-the-politics-of-poverty.html" type="external">interview</a>with Moynihan, still relevant today:</p>
<p>There is a lot of vigorous research on welfare being done again, and it has really told us things we didn’t know. One of the most important things is that people who receive welfare cannot be regarded as one undifferentiated mass of people, and you can’t treat them all alike.</p>
<p>For instance, about a quarter of mothers who receive Aid to Families with Dependent Children do so for less than one year. These are self-sustaining, capable people who have had a sudden divorce or separation. They’ll get their lives put back together and we won’t see them again.</p>
<p>At the other end of the spectrum – about a quarter of the people – are those who are unmarried and in real trouble and go on welfare very young. If you don’t get hold of those people very quickly and work very hard and put a lot of resources into them, you have a spoiled life. And their children have fairly chancy prospects.</p>
<p>When you know these things, the problem doesn’t seem quite so overwhelming. You don’t have to change the way people behave, because nobody knows how to change the way people behave. But you’ve got to make more equitable arrangements in areas like child support.</p> | Schools signing up families for Covered CA | false | https://calwatchdog.com/2015/02/13/schools-signing-up-families-for-covered-ca/ | 2018-02-20 | 3left-center
| Schools signing up families for Covered CA
<p>Critics of anti-poverty&#160;programs long have warned about what’s called the Welfare State or “Cradle-to-Grave” government programs. The late Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, a liberal Democrat from New York, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1987/02/19/us/washington-talk-q-a-daniel-patrick-moynihan-welfare-and-the-politics-of-poverty.html" type="external">worked</a>for decades&#160;to try to avoid that. He helped craft the <a href="http://www.welfareinfo.org/reform/" type="external">1996 Welfare Reform Act</a> with Democratic President Clinton and Republicans in Congress.</p>
<p>The idea was that welfare would go back to being temporary to get families back on their feet, not a permanent lifestyle.</p>
<p>In recent years, including under the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, things have returned more to the Welfare State model. This is especially true in California, once one of America’s wealthiest states, but now the one with the <a href="http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article2916749.html" type="external">highest level of poverty</a>, at about a quarter of our people.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.kidsdata.org/topic/518/free-school-meals-eligible/table#fmt=675&amp;loc=2,127,347,1763,331,348,336,171,321,345,357,332,324,369,358,362,360,337,327,364,356,217,353,328,354,323,352,320,339,334,365,343,330,367,344,355,366,368,265,349,361,4,273,59,370,326,333,322,341,338,350,342,329,325,359,351,363,340,335&amp;tf=73" type="external">According to the Lucille Packard Foundation</a>, 58 percent of California kids now are eligible to receive free or reduced-price school meals.</p>
<p>Now, California schools even are becoming centers for signing families&#160;up for Covered California, the state’s implementation of Obamacare. Reported <a href="http://edsource.org/2015/schools-help-families-enroll-in-covered-california-medi-cal/74097#.VN4cd_nF_h5" type="external">EdSource</a>:</p>
<p>In school libraries and courtyards from Sacramento to Los Angeles and beyond, trained enrollment counselors have been invited to set up folding tables, commandeer desk space and corral parents before the Feb. 15 sign-up deadline for <a href="http://www.coveredca.com/" type="external">Covered California</a>, the state’s online health insurance marketplace created under the federal Affordable Care Act.</p>
<p>And the outreach will increase. Under a new state law, all California schools must include in their 2015-16 enrollment packets information about options for health care coverage and how to get help with the sign-up process. The law, <a href="http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201320140AB2706" type="external">Assembly Bill 2706</a>, authored by Roger Hernández, D-West Covina, is intended to reduce the number of children who are eligible for health insurance subsidies but remain uninsured.</p>
<p>For perspective, here’s an excerpt from a 1987 <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1987/02/19/us/washington-talk-q-a-daniel-patrick-moynihan-welfare-and-the-politics-of-poverty.html" type="external">interview</a>with Moynihan, still relevant today:</p>
<p>There is a lot of vigorous research on welfare being done again, and it has really told us things we didn’t know. One of the most important things is that people who receive welfare cannot be regarded as one undifferentiated mass of people, and you can’t treat them all alike.</p>
<p>For instance, about a quarter of mothers who receive Aid to Families with Dependent Children do so for less than one year. These are self-sustaining, capable people who have had a sudden divorce or separation. They’ll get their lives put back together and we won’t see them again.</p>
<p>At the other end of the spectrum – about a quarter of the people – are those who are unmarried and in real trouble and go on welfare very young. If you don’t get hold of those people very quickly and work very hard and put a lot of resources into them, you have a spoiled life. And their children have fairly chancy prospects.</p>
<p>When you know these things, the problem doesn’t seem quite so overwhelming. You don’t have to change the way people behave, because nobody knows how to change the way people behave. But you’ve got to make more equitable arrangements in areas like child support.</p> | 1,033 |
<p />
<p>Toyota (NYSE:TM) may be facing tougher competition, but the world’s largest automaker appears confident it can take advantage of a swell in demand as the global economy rebounds.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>The Japanese automaker raised its full-year outlook on Friday after more than doubling net income in its most recent quarter. The first-quarter profit of 562.1 billion yen ($5.64 billion), up from 290.4 billion yen last year, topped analyst expectations in the period ended June 30.</p>
<p>Toyota sold about 36,700 fewer cars than last year, hurt my softness in Europe and Japan and a land dispute with China. However, it still managed to extend its reign in the U.S. despite rivals like Ford (NYSE:F) and General Motors (NYSE:GM) boosting domestic production.</p>
<p>Vehicle sales were up by 26,309 units in North America to 688,656, helping to offset a decline of 50,893 in Toyota's domestic market and a decrease of 16,336 units in Europe.</p>
<p>“Operating income increased due to the impact of foreign exchange rates and our global efforts for profit improvement,” Toyota Managing Officer Takuo Sasaki said in a statement.</p>
<p>He also attributed the growth to “cost reduction activities” and marketing activities.</p>
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<p>The automaker now sees full-year earnings reaching 1.48 trillion yen ($14.94 billion), up from just 1.37 trillion yen previously, on vehicle sales of 9.1 million units. That profit would mark a year-over-year improvement of 54%.</p>
<p>Shares of Toyota climbed about 3% to $129.99 in recent U.S. trade. They are up about 40% year-to-date.</p> | After Doubling 1Q Profit, Toyota Lifts Full-Year Outlook | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2013/08/02/after-doubling-1q-profit-toyota-lifts-full-year-outlook.html | 2016-01-25 | 0right
| After Doubling 1Q Profit, Toyota Lifts Full-Year Outlook
<p />
<p>Toyota (NYSE:TM) may be facing tougher competition, but the world’s largest automaker appears confident it can take advantage of a swell in demand as the global economy rebounds.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>The Japanese automaker raised its full-year outlook on Friday after more than doubling net income in its most recent quarter. The first-quarter profit of 562.1 billion yen ($5.64 billion), up from 290.4 billion yen last year, topped analyst expectations in the period ended June 30.</p>
<p>Toyota sold about 36,700 fewer cars than last year, hurt my softness in Europe and Japan and a land dispute with China. However, it still managed to extend its reign in the U.S. despite rivals like Ford (NYSE:F) and General Motors (NYSE:GM) boosting domestic production.</p>
<p>Vehicle sales were up by 26,309 units in North America to 688,656, helping to offset a decline of 50,893 in Toyota's domestic market and a decrease of 16,336 units in Europe.</p>
<p>“Operating income increased due to the impact of foreign exchange rates and our global efforts for profit improvement,” Toyota Managing Officer Takuo Sasaki said in a statement.</p>
<p>He also attributed the growth to “cost reduction activities” and marketing activities.</p>
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<p>The automaker now sees full-year earnings reaching 1.48 trillion yen ($14.94 billion), up from just 1.37 trillion yen previously, on vehicle sales of 9.1 million units. That profit would mark a year-over-year improvement of 54%.</p>
<p>Shares of Toyota climbed about 3% to $129.99 in recent U.S. trade. They are up about 40% year-to-date.</p> | 1,034 |
<p>While both men have their respective senatorial primary races to contend with, the table is all but set for a November general election showdown between Republican <a href="http://sharktankmu.wpengine.com/2016/06/22/marco-rubio-runs-for-re-election/" type="external">U.S. Senator Marco Rubio</a> and Democratic candidate Rep. Patrick Murphy.</p>
<p>Rubio, and environmental land attorney from Miami, has never claimed to have ever been a small business owner, rather focused on his public service in the Florida House when he ran for the U.S. Senate in 2010, and his record in the U.S. Senate when he ran for president earlier this year.</p>
<p>Murphy on the other hand, ran for the U.S. Congress on his supposed background as a CPA and small business owner.</p>
<p>A CBS 4 investigation into Murphy’s claims has uncovered that the south Florida congressman “exaggerate” his experience or made “misleading or outright false” claims about his past work as a CPA and small business owner.</p>
<p>The truth of the matter is that Murphy has never been a licensed CPA in Florida, rather was licensed in Colorado, where he never lived.</p>
<p>After scrutinizing his experience as a CPA, the investigation uncovered that Murphy took the CPA exam nine times before passing the test in its entirety, and that his former employer, Deloitte &amp; Touché, had officially hired as an Audit Assistant, not a CPA.</p>
<p>CBS then dug into Murphy’s claim to have been a small business owner.</p>
<p>Back during the 2010 Deep Water Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, Murphy said he started Coastal Environmental Services to assist in the oil clean up efforts.</p>
<p>In a September 2015 sit down interview with CBS’ Jim DeFede, Murphy stated that his upstart did “ok” but never divulged how much the company made, nor how much each contract was worth.</p>
<p>The truth is, Murphy was never a small business owner. Coastal Environmental was “controlled and financed” by his father’s company Coastal Construction.</p>
<p>Upon closer inspection, all of the marine vessels that Coastal Environment own bare the same logo a Coastal Construction.</p>
<p>According to the investigation, neither Murphy or Coastal Environmental were ever given a single contract to clean up oil in the Gulf of Mexico.</p>
<p>Not only will Team Rubio, the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) and other GOP groups pounce on Murphy over this report, but his senatorial primary opponent, the ever-so-lovable (sarc) and outspoken Rep. Alan Grayson (D), will surely take a pound of flesh out of him over it.</p>
<p>Only one term comes to mind when reading into Murphy’s CPA and small business ownership:</p>
<p>Ay Caramba!</p>
<p>Watch the video of the CBS investigation below. Share the story</p>
<p />
<p /> | Patrick Murphy’s “Exaggerated” And “Misleading” CPA And Business Background | true | http://shark-tank.com/2016/06/23/patrick-murphys-exaggerated-and-misleading-cpa-and-business-background/ | 0right
| Patrick Murphy’s “Exaggerated” And “Misleading” CPA And Business Background
<p>While both men have their respective senatorial primary races to contend with, the table is all but set for a November general election showdown between Republican <a href="http://sharktankmu.wpengine.com/2016/06/22/marco-rubio-runs-for-re-election/" type="external">U.S. Senator Marco Rubio</a> and Democratic candidate Rep. Patrick Murphy.</p>
<p>Rubio, and environmental land attorney from Miami, has never claimed to have ever been a small business owner, rather focused on his public service in the Florida House when he ran for the U.S. Senate in 2010, and his record in the U.S. Senate when he ran for president earlier this year.</p>
<p>Murphy on the other hand, ran for the U.S. Congress on his supposed background as a CPA and small business owner.</p>
<p>A CBS 4 investigation into Murphy’s claims has uncovered that the south Florida congressman “exaggerate” his experience or made “misleading or outright false” claims about his past work as a CPA and small business owner.</p>
<p>The truth of the matter is that Murphy has never been a licensed CPA in Florida, rather was licensed in Colorado, where he never lived.</p>
<p>After scrutinizing his experience as a CPA, the investigation uncovered that Murphy took the CPA exam nine times before passing the test in its entirety, and that his former employer, Deloitte &amp; Touché, had officially hired as an Audit Assistant, not a CPA.</p>
<p>CBS then dug into Murphy’s claim to have been a small business owner.</p>
<p>Back during the 2010 Deep Water Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, Murphy said he started Coastal Environmental Services to assist in the oil clean up efforts.</p>
<p>In a September 2015 sit down interview with CBS’ Jim DeFede, Murphy stated that his upstart did “ok” but never divulged how much the company made, nor how much each contract was worth.</p>
<p>The truth is, Murphy was never a small business owner. Coastal Environmental was “controlled and financed” by his father’s company Coastal Construction.</p>
<p>Upon closer inspection, all of the marine vessels that Coastal Environment own bare the same logo a Coastal Construction.</p>
<p>According to the investigation, neither Murphy or Coastal Environmental were ever given a single contract to clean up oil in the Gulf of Mexico.</p>
<p>Not only will Team Rubio, the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) and other GOP groups pounce on Murphy over this report, but his senatorial primary opponent, the ever-so-lovable (sarc) and outspoken Rep. Alan Grayson (D), will surely take a pound of flesh out of him over it.</p>
<p>Only one term comes to mind when reading into Murphy’s CPA and small business ownership:</p>
<p>Ay Caramba!</p>
<p>Watch the video of the CBS investigation below. Share the story</p>
<p />
<p /> | 1,035 |
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<p>Bryce Owens came up with a crucial steal in the closing seconds, and UNM escaped the Pit with a nail-biting 60-59 victory over the Aggies on Saturday afternoon. It was the Lobos’ second straight win and fifth in seven games, even though this one ended with a sigh of relief.</p>
<p>UNM (6-9, 2-2 Mountain West) led by as many as 11 points in the second half but had a terrible time putting away USU (3-13, 0-4). The Lobos hurt their cause with missed free throws and untimely turnovers in the closing minutes, but more credit went to Utah State point guard Funda Nakkasoglu.</p>
<p>The freshman racked up a game-high 28 points and was dazzling in the second half. Nakkasoglu hit 3 of 5 from 3-point range and scored on a variety of drives and floaters, effectively keeping her team in the game.</p>
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<p>“She’s like a miniature Jennifer Schlott,” said UNM’s Antiesha Brown, referring to the since-graduated Aggie point guard who lit up the Lobos three times last season for an average of more than 30 points a game. “(Nakkasoglu) can shoot the 3 and she does a great job using her body and getting to the basket. She’s a really crafty player.”</p>
<p>Fortunately for the Lobos, Nakkasoglu was not able to deliver a game-ending dagger the way Schlott so often did. It was Nakkasoglu’s final pass that was knocked loose by Owens and recovered by Brown on a dive to the floor with two seconds remaining.</p>
<p>“I was so excited when I saw that,” UNM’s Alexa Chavez said. “When Antiesha dove and got the ball, I knew we had it.”</p>
<p>New Mexico’s Antiesha Brown (15) drives past Utah State’s Elise Nelson to the basket. Brown scored a team-high 19 points in the Lobos’ victory on Saturday at the Pit. (Jim Thompson/Journal)</p>
<p>Brown, Chavez and Cherise Beynon played key roles for the Lobos. Brown had a team-high 19 points, while Chavez and Beynon scored 12 apiece.</p>
<p>Lobos coach Yvonne Sanchez and her players were all too aware they missed opportunities to secure an easier win. However, they also remembered seeing similar games slip away in painful fashion over the last two seasons.</p>
<p>“Just to finish a game and get a win like this is so big for us,” Sanchez said. “I know some of our players feel bad about missing free throws late, but in the end they found a way to win. We didn’t do that a year ago.”</p>
<p>Nakkasoglu’s heroics aside, UNM outplayed the Aggies in nearly every area. The Lobos outrebounded USU 33-29, had the edge in assists (16-8) and forced 19 turnovers while committing 11. UNM also outscored Utah State 36-22 in the paint.</p>
<p>After trailing 13-8 early, New Mexico came up with four consecutive steals during an 11-0 run. Brown scored 13 of her points in the first half as UNM built a 34-28 lead.</p>
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<p>When Owens hit a 3-pointer and Chavez followed with a put-back early in the second half, the home team’s lead ballooned to 39-28 and it seemed the Lobos might be able to put USU away. Nakkasoglu and Julianne Anchling thought otherwise.</p>
<p>Anchling buried a pair of open 3s and Nakkasoglu began having her way against a string of Lobo defenders during a 14-3 Aggies run that tied the score at 42 with 12:31 remaining.</p>
<p>The game remained tight the rest of the way.</p>
<p>“(Nakkasoglu) had a great game,” Sanchez said, also making comparisons to Schlott. “We were finally able to slow her down by denying her the ball late, but she was something else.”</p>
<p>UNM finally regained a little separation when Laneah Bryan and Owens hit 3-pointers on consecutive possessions. The second gave the Lobos a 59-54 lead with 5:30 left.</p>
<p>But UNM went 0 for 5 from the field the rest of the way, including three missed 3s by Owens, leaving the door open for Utah State. Beynon and Brown then missed the front end of one-and-one opportunities in the final 18 seconds.</p>
<p>Defense saved the day for the Lobos, who forced four USU turnovers in the final minutes, including Owens’ clinching steal.</p>
<p>“Those last few minutes were intense,” Chavez said. “We just knew we had to be more aggressive and find a way.”</p>
<p>Chavez had a particularly strong game despite spending most of it in foul trouble. The junior had five rebounds, two assists and a team-best four steals to go with her 12 points.</p>
<p><a href="https://d3el53au0d7w62.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/New-Mexico-60-Utah-State-59.pdf" type="external">Box score: New Mexico 60, Utah State 59</a></p> | Owens’ takeaway saves win for Lobo women | false | https://abqjournal.com/524352/owens-takeaway-saves-win-for-lobo-women.html | 2least
| Owens’ takeaway saves win for Lobo women
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<p>Bryce Owens came up with a crucial steal in the closing seconds, and UNM escaped the Pit with a nail-biting 60-59 victory over the Aggies on Saturday afternoon. It was the Lobos’ second straight win and fifth in seven games, even though this one ended with a sigh of relief.</p>
<p>UNM (6-9, 2-2 Mountain West) led by as many as 11 points in the second half but had a terrible time putting away USU (3-13, 0-4). The Lobos hurt their cause with missed free throws and untimely turnovers in the closing minutes, but more credit went to Utah State point guard Funda Nakkasoglu.</p>
<p>The freshman racked up a game-high 28 points and was dazzling in the second half. Nakkasoglu hit 3 of 5 from 3-point range and scored on a variety of drives and floaters, effectively keeping her team in the game.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>“She’s like a miniature Jennifer Schlott,” said UNM’s Antiesha Brown, referring to the since-graduated Aggie point guard who lit up the Lobos three times last season for an average of more than 30 points a game. “(Nakkasoglu) can shoot the 3 and she does a great job using her body and getting to the basket. She’s a really crafty player.”</p>
<p>Fortunately for the Lobos, Nakkasoglu was not able to deliver a game-ending dagger the way Schlott so often did. It was Nakkasoglu’s final pass that was knocked loose by Owens and recovered by Brown on a dive to the floor with two seconds remaining.</p>
<p>“I was so excited when I saw that,” UNM’s Alexa Chavez said. “When Antiesha dove and got the ball, I knew we had it.”</p>
<p>New Mexico’s Antiesha Brown (15) drives past Utah State’s Elise Nelson to the basket. Brown scored a team-high 19 points in the Lobos’ victory on Saturday at the Pit. (Jim Thompson/Journal)</p>
<p>Brown, Chavez and Cherise Beynon played key roles for the Lobos. Brown had a team-high 19 points, while Chavez and Beynon scored 12 apiece.</p>
<p>Lobos coach Yvonne Sanchez and her players were all too aware they missed opportunities to secure an easier win. However, they also remembered seeing similar games slip away in painful fashion over the last two seasons.</p>
<p>“Just to finish a game and get a win like this is so big for us,” Sanchez said. “I know some of our players feel bad about missing free throws late, but in the end they found a way to win. We didn’t do that a year ago.”</p>
<p>Nakkasoglu’s heroics aside, UNM outplayed the Aggies in nearly every area. The Lobos outrebounded USU 33-29, had the edge in assists (16-8) and forced 19 turnovers while committing 11. UNM also outscored Utah State 36-22 in the paint.</p>
<p>After trailing 13-8 early, New Mexico came up with four consecutive steals during an 11-0 run. Brown scored 13 of her points in the first half as UNM built a 34-28 lead.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>When Owens hit a 3-pointer and Chavez followed with a put-back early in the second half, the home team’s lead ballooned to 39-28 and it seemed the Lobos might be able to put USU away. Nakkasoglu and Julianne Anchling thought otherwise.</p>
<p>Anchling buried a pair of open 3s and Nakkasoglu began having her way against a string of Lobo defenders during a 14-3 Aggies run that tied the score at 42 with 12:31 remaining.</p>
<p>The game remained tight the rest of the way.</p>
<p>“(Nakkasoglu) had a great game,” Sanchez said, also making comparisons to Schlott. “We were finally able to slow her down by denying her the ball late, but she was something else.”</p>
<p>UNM finally regained a little separation when Laneah Bryan and Owens hit 3-pointers on consecutive possessions. The second gave the Lobos a 59-54 lead with 5:30 left.</p>
<p>But UNM went 0 for 5 from the field the rest of the way, including three missed 3s by Owens, leaving the door open for Utah State. Beynon and Brown then missed the front end of one-and-one opportunities in the final 18 seconds.</p>
<p>Defense saved the day for the Lobos, who forced four USU turnovers in the final minutes, including Owens’ clinching steal.</p>
<p>“Those last few minutes were intense,” Chavez said. “We just knew we had to be more aggressive and find a way.”</p>
<p>Chavez had a particularly strong game despite spending most of it in foul trouble. The junior had five rebounds, two assists and a team-best four steals to go with her 12 points.</p>
<p><a href="https://d3el53au0d7w62.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/New-Mexico-60-Utah-State-59.pdf" type="external">Box score: New Mexico 60, Utah State 59</a></p> | 1,036 |
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<p>&#160; &#160; Author Juan Cole at the 2015 Detroit Auto Show on Saturday. Informed Content</p>
<p>This post originally ran on <a href="http://www.juancole.com/2015/01/amazing-green-detroit.html" type="external">Juan Cole’s Web page</a>.</p>
<p>I caught the Detroit Auto Show on Saturday afternoon. As always, it was great to see the concept cars of the future. But if you know me, you know I was there for news about electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrids. This is mostly just window shopping — most of the EV concept cars there are beyond a middle class budget. But then window shopping is fun, and there are some models that are becoming affordable.</p>
<p>Electric vehicles are best paired with rooftop solar panels, both for price reasons and to reduce hydrocarbon use (the combination typically pays for itself in 6 years, after which the free fuel is cream). I know everyone can’t afford an EV, though they are coming down fast in price, and nor can everyone put solar panels on their roof — even assuming that they are homeowners. But for those who can, it is really important to make this switch as quickly as possible. And better, it is a quite pleasurable switch that saves a lot of money, in my experience.</p>
<p />
<p>This is <a href="http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1096340_is-the-2016-chevy-volt-gms-future-hybrid-system-in-disguise%20" type="external">Chevrolet’s 2016 Volt</a>, which gets 50 miles on an electric charge and has been redesigned very pleasingly. It has the longest range of any plug-in hybrid (it goes to gasoline when the battery runs down). You can now fit 5 in the car, something families with 3 children had been asking for. I have the older model and I think it is a dream car– and much more affordable, with the dealer price drop the Federal tax break, than is commonly believed. I love the way it handles on the road, and the new version is even better.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.juancole.com/images/2015/01/DSC00934.jpg" type="external" /></p>
<p><a href="http://www.juancole.com/images/2015/01/DSC00941.jpg" type="external" /></p>
<p>And here is Chevrolet’s sporty little electric Bolt concept car, which <a href="http://hereandnow.wbur.org/2015/01/14/chevy-bolt-electric%20" type="external">will go 200 miles on a charge and will cost $30,000</a> after rebates.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.juancole.com/images/2015/01/DSC00926.jpg" type="external" /></p>
<p>Ford has a good position as you enter the hall, so this model caught my eye first– the Fusion Energi:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.juancole.com/images/2015/01/DSC00841.jpg" type="external" /></p>
<p>The innovative thing here is that you <a href="http://www.digitaljournal.com/pr/2411869%20" type="external">can choose among 3 modes in which to drive, including electric-only.</a> This is an in-city commuter car, getting about 19 miles on electricity, after which it runs like an ordinary non-EV gasoline hybrid. It says it gets 88 m/hr when operating in the joint EV/ gasoline motor mode.</p>
<p>Ford also displayed a purely electric Focus, which is still only a concept car and apparently won’t be on the road very soon:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.juancole.com/images/2015/01/DSC00849.jpg" type="external" /></p>
<p>Of course, they had a Tesla S:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.juancole.com/images/2015/01/DSC00865-.png" type="external" /></p>
<p>It goes an average 209 miles on a charge but starts at like $80,000. Tesla is putting in free fast-charge stations around the country. <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/cars/2015/01/16/what-i-learned-driving-a-tesla/21872777/%20" type="external">Dan Sparks recently wrote about his experiences with this dream car</a>.</p>
<p>They also had the Model S P85D, with its dual motor and 3.2 second acceleration from 0 to 60. This electric automobile can give a sports car a run for its money.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.juancole.com/images/2015/01/DSC00871.jpg" type="external" /></p>
<p>The Tesla Model 3, scheduled for 2017, will cost $35,000 and that will come down to $27,500 with the Federal tax break. I want one.</p>
<p>Mercedes Benz weighed in with the C350 Plug-in Hybrid</p>
<p><a href="http://www.gizmag.com/mercedes-c350-plug-in-hybrid-detroit-naias/35586/" type="external">Gizmag</a>explains:</p>
<p>“The C350 Plug-In Hybrid is powered by a 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder motor, producing 211 hp (155 kW) and 350 Nm (258 lb.ft) of torque – slightly more than the base C200’s engine produces. Supplementing the petrol engine is an electric motor, which draws its power from a 6.2 kw/h lithium-ion battery mounted under the rear axle. Mercedes says this battery can be charged directly from a wall socket in just under two hours.</p>
<p>When fully charged, the C-Class’ battery pack will allow drivers to travel up to 31 km (19 mi) without help from the petrol engine, perfect for people who commute short distances around the city on a daily basis. As with plenty of other modern hybrids, the electric motor can also provide a handy power boost to the petrol engine when you want to pick up the pace.”</p>
<p><a href="http://www.juancole.com/images/2015/01/DSC00856.jpg" type="external" /></p>
<p>Here’s a <a href="http://www.bmw.com/com/en/newvehicles/i/i8/2014/showroom/" type="external">BMW i8 plug-in hybrid</a> with the DeLorean wing doors (not visible in this picture):</p>
<p><a href="http://www.juancole.com/images/2015/01/DSC00888.jpg" type="external" /></p>
<p>An all-electric Nissan Leaf with a range of around 80 miles, though <a href="http://www.leftlanenews.com/next-gen-nissan-leaf-to-get-200-mile-range-to-take-on-chevy-bolt.html%20" type="external">the next generation will get 200 miles on a full charge</a> so as to compete with the Chevy Bolt (due in 2017):</p>
<p><a href="http://www.juancole.com/images/2015/01/DSC00944.jpg" type="external" /></p>
<p>And here is a <a href="http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1096312_volkswagen-cross-coupe-plug-in-hybrid-concept-mid-size-suv-previewed-for-2016%20" type="external">Volkswagon concept car, a mid-size plug-in hybrid SUV, the Cross Coupe,</a> with four wheel drive. It will get 20 miles running just on electricity:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.juancole.com/images/2015/01/DSC00902.jpg" type="external" /></p>
<p>Personally I doubt very many people will be buying gasoline cars ten years from now. With the fall in prices of EVs and more efficient batteries (something Tesla’s gigafactory will probably accelerate), it will make more sense to go electric. And, as solar and wind energy become dominant, the fuel will be virtually free in EV’s. Why pay for gas?</p>
<p>The US produces 5.5 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide annually. It is causing dangerous global warming. That needs to become zero as soon as humanly possible. Automobiles are one of the major polluters, and a quick move to EVs is essential. People are always alleging to me that it is better to have everyone move downtown in a city and use public transport. This is true, but it isn’t going to happen or at least not quickly. But, the number of EVs on the road can increase exponentially and if they are fueled from renewables, we can cut a billion or two tons of our CO2 production this way. We should.</p> | The Amazing New Green Cars at the 2015 Detroit Auto Show | true | https://truthdig.com/articles/the-amazing-new-green-cars-at-the-2015-detroit-auto-show/ | 2015-01-18 | 4left
| The Amazing New Green Cars at the 2015 Detroit Auto Show
<p>&#160; &#160; Author Juan Cole at the 2015 Detroit Auto Show on Saturday. Informed Content</p>
<p>This post originally ran on <a href="http://www.juancole.com/2015/01/amazing-green-detroit.html" type="external">Juan Cole’s Web page</a>.</p>
<p>I caught the Detroit Auto Show on Saturday afternoon. As always, it was great to see the concept cars of the future. But if you know me, you know I was there for news about electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrids. This is mostly just window shopping — most of the EV concept cars there are beyond a middle class budget. But then window shopping is fun, and there are some models that are becoming affordable.</p>
<p>Electric vehicles are best paired with rooftop solar panels, both for price reasons and to reduce hydrocarbon use (the combination typically pays for itself in 6 years, after which the free fuel is cream). I know everyone can’t afford an EV, though they are coming down fast in price, and nor can everyone put solar panels on their roof — even assuming that they are homeowners. But for those who can, it is really important to make this switch as quickly as possible. And better, it is a quite pleasurable switch that saves a lot of money, in my experience.</p>
<p />
<p>This is <a href="http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1096340_is-the-2016-chevy-volt-gms-future-hybrid-system-in-disguise%20" type="external">Chevrolet’s 2016 Volt</a>, which gets 50 miles on an electric charge and has been redesigned very pleasingly. It has the longest range of any plug-in hybrid (it goes to gasoline when the battery runs down). You can now fit 5 in the car, something families with 3 children had been asking for. I have the older model and I think it is a dream car– and much more affordable, with the dealer price drop the Federal tax break, than is commonly believed. I love the way it handles on the road, and the new version is even better.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.juancole.com/images/2015/01/DSC00934.jpg" type="external" /></p>
<p><a href="http://www.juancole.com/images/2015/01/DSC00941.jpg" type="external" /></p>
<p>And here is Chevrolet’s sporty little electric Bolt concept car, which <a href="http://hereandnow.wbur.org/2015/01/14/chevy-bolt-electric%20" type="external">will go 200 miles on a charge and will cost $30,000</a> after rebates.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.juancole.com/images/2015/01/DSC00926.jpg" type="external" /></p>
<p>Ford has a good position as you enter the hall, so this model caught my eye first– the Fusion Energi:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.juancole.com/images/2015/01/DSC00841.jpg" type="external" /></p>
<p>The innovative thing here is that you <a href="http://www.digitaljournal.com/pr/2411869%20" type="external">can choose among 3 modes in which to drive, including electric-only.</a> This is an in-city commuter car, getting about 19 miles on electricity, after which it runs like an ordinary non-EV gasoline hybrid. It says it gets 88 m/hr when operating in the joint EV/ gasoline motor mode.</p>
<p>Ford also displayed a purely electric Focus, which is still only a concept car and apparently won’t be on the road very soon:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.juancole.com/images/2015/01/DSC00849.jpg" type="external" /></p>
<p>Of course, they had a Tesla S:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.juancole.com/images/2015/01/DSC00865-.png" type="external" /></p>
<p>It goes an average 209 miles on a charge but starts at like $80,000. Tesla is putting in free fast-charge stations around the country. <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/cars/2015/01/16/what-i-learned-driving-a-tesla/21872777/%20" type="external">Dan Sparks recently wrote about his experiences with this dream car</a>.</p>
<p>They also had the Model S P85D, with its dual motor and 3.2 second acceleration from 0 to 60. This electric automobile can give a sports car a run for its money.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.juancole.com/images/2015/01/DSC00871.jpg" type="external" /></p>
<p>The Tesla Model 3, scheduled for 2017, will cost $35,000 and that will come down to $27,500 with the Federal tax break. I want one.</p>
<p>Mercedes Benz weighed in with the C350 Plug-in Hybrid</p>
<p><a href="http://www.gizmag.com/mercedes-c350-plug-in-hybrid-detroit-naias/35586/" type="external">Gizmag</a>explains:</p>
<p>“The C350 Plug-In Hybrid is powered by a 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder motor, producing 211 hp (155 kW) and 350 Nm (258 lb.ft) of torque – slightly more than the base C200’s engine produces. Supplementing the petrol engine is an electric motor, which draws its power from a 6.2 kw/h lithium-ion battery mounted under the rear axle. Mercedes says this battery can be charged directly from a wall socket in just under two hours.</p>
<p>When fully charged, the C-Class’ battery pack will allow drivers to travel up to 31 km (19 mi) without help from the petrol engine, perfect for people who commute short distances around the city on a daily basis. As with plenty of other modern hybrids, the electric motor can also provide a handy power boost to the petrol engine when you want to pick up the pace.”</p>
<p><a href="http://www.juancole.com/images/2015/01/DSC00856.jpg" type="external" /></p>
<p>Here’s a <a href="http://www.bmw.com/com/en/newvehicles/i/i8/2014/showroom/" type="external">BMW i8 plug-in hybrid</a> with the DeLorean wing doors (not visible in this picture):</p>
<p><a href="http://www.juancole.com/images/2015/01/DSC00888.jpg" type="external" /></p>
<p>An all-electric Nissan Leaf with a range of around 80 miles, though <a href="http://www.leftlanenews.com/next-gen-nissan-leaf-to-get-200-mile-range-to-take-on-chevy-bolt.html%20" type="external">the next generation will get 200 miles on a full charge</a> so as to compete with the Chevy Bolt (due in 2017):</p>
<p><a href="http://www.juancole.com/images/2015/01/DSC00944.jpg" type="external" /></p>
<p>And here is a <a href="http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1096312_volkswagen-cross-coupe-plug-in-hybrid-concept-mid-size-suv-previewed-for-2016%20" type="external">Volkswagon concept car, a mid-size plug-in hybrid SUV, the Cross Coupe,</a> with four wheel drive. It will get 20 miles running just on electricity:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.juancole.com/images/2015/01/DSC00902.jpg" type="external" /></p>
<p>Personally I doubt very many people will be buying gasoline cars ten years from now. With the fall in prices of EVs and more efficient batteries (something Tesla’s gigafactory will probably accelerate), it will make more sense to go electric. And, as solar and wind energy become dominant, the fuel will be virtually free in EV’s. Why pay for gas?</p>
<p>The US produces 5.5 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide annually. It is causing dangerous global warming. That needs to become zero as soon as humanly possible. Automobiles are one of the major polluters, and a quick move to EVs is essential. People are always alleging to me that it is better to have everyone move downtown in a city and use public transport. This is true, but it isn’t going to happen or at least not quickly. But, the number of EVs on the road can increase exponentially and if they are fueled from renewables, we can cut a billion or two tons of our CO2 production this way. We should.</p> | 1,037 |
<p>“Fresh Off the Boat” star Constance Wu went on a Twitter rant on Tuesday, blasting Casey Affleck’s Oscar nomination for “Manchester by the Sea” and criticizing the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for apparently overlooking allegations of sexual harassment against him.</p>
<p>“Men who sexually harass women 4 OSCAR!” Ms. Wu <a href="https://twitter.com/ConstanceWu/status/823906218963939328" type="external">tweeted</a>. “Bc good acting performance matters more than humanity, human integrity! Bc poor kid rly needs the help!”</p>
<p>Mr. Affleck was sued in 2010 by two female former colleagues who worked with him on the Joaquin Phoenix mockumentary “I’m Still Here.” The women alleged that Mr. Affleck made unwanted sexual advances toward them on set, which he denied.&#160;The lawsuits were mediated and settled out of court for an undisclosed sum.</p>
<p><a href="/news/2016/aug/1/constance-wu-matt-damons-casting-in-the-great-wall/" type="external">SEE ALSO: Constance Wu: Matt Damon’s casting in ‘The Great Wall’ perpetuates ‘racist myth’</a></p>
<p>Ms. Wu <a href="https://twitter.com/ConstanceWu/status/823908642705412096" type="external">wrote</a>: “Boys! BUY ur way out of trouble by settling out of court!Just do a good acting job,thats all that matters!bc Art isn’t about humanity,right?”</p>
<p>The actress then posted a longer statement that she wrote during a conversation with actor Peter Shinkoda about how Mr. Affleck’s win would be a “nod” to President Trump, who has also been accused of being inappropriate with women.</p>
<p>Mr. Affleck is “running for an award that honors a craft whose purpose is examining the dignity of the human experience &amp; young women are deeply human. The absence of awards doesn’t diminish a great performance,” Ms. Wu wrote.</p>
<p>“But the choices an awarding committee makes DOES increase the dignity of an award and brings light to the pursuit our craft seeks to honor,” she continued. “It signifies said committee’s awareness of the harmful oversights it may have unknowingly participated in in the past, and the respect and dignity to learn from the past, not to repeat it and not to use it as an excuse to reinforce the industry’s gross and often hidden mistreatment of women.”</p>
<p>“Art doesn’t exist for the sake of awards, but awards DO exist to honor all that art is trying to accomplish in life,” the actress wrote. “So context matters. Because in acting, human life matters. It’s why art exists. I know it’s just an award but I guess I’m in this career, not for awards, but because the treatment of human life matters to me. So I stand the [expletive] up for it.”</p>
<p>Ms. Wu ended her rant by saying she would continue to speak out on the issue despite any possible repercussions to her career.</p>
<p>“I’ve been counseled not to talk about this for career’s sake,” she <a href="https://twitter.com/ConstanceWu/status/823915581963284480" type="external">wrote</a>. “F my career then, I’m a woman &amp; human first. That’s what my craft is built on.”</p>
<p>Copyright © 2018 The Washington Times, LLC. <a href="http://license.icopyright.net/3.7280?icx_id=/news/2017/jan/25/constance-wu-blasts-casey-affleck-oscar-nomination/" type="external">Click here for reprint permission</a>.</p>
<p>&#160;</p> | Constance Wu blasts Casey Affleck’s Oscar nomination, says win would be ‘nod’ to Donald Trump | true | http://washingtontimes.com/news/2017/jan/25/constance-wu-blasts-casey-affleck-oscar-nomination/ | 2017-01-25 | 0right
| Constance Wu blasts Casey Affleck’s Oscar nomination, says win would be ‘nod’ to Donald Trump
<p>“Fresh Off the Boat” star Constance Wu went on a Twitter rant on Tuesday, blasting Casey Affleck’s Oscar nomination for “Manchester by the Sea” and criticizing the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for apparently overlooking allegations of sexual harassment against him.</p>
<p>“Men who sexually harass women 4 OSCAR!” Ms. Wu <a href="https://twitter.com/ConstanceWu/status/823906218963939328" type="external">tweeted</a>. “Bc good acting performance matters more than humanity, human integrity! Bc poor kid rly needs the help!”</p>
<p>Mr. Affleck was sued in 2010 by two female former colleagues who worked with him on the Joaquin Phoenix mockumentary “I’m Still Here.” The women alleged that Mr. Affleck made unwanted sexual advances toward them on set, which he denied.&#160;The lawsuits were mediated and settled out of court for an undisclosed sum.</p>
<p><a href="/news/2016/aug/1/constance-wu-matt-damons-casting-in-the-great-wall/" type="external">SEE ALSO: Constance Wu: Matt Damon’s casting in ‘The Great Wall’ perpetuates ‘racist myth’</a></p>
<p>Ms. Wu <a href="https://twitter.com/ConstanceWu/status/823908642705412096" type="external">wrote</a>: “Boys! BUY ur way out of trouble by settling out of court!Just do a good acting job,thats all that matters!bc Art isn’t about humanity,right?”</p>
<p>The actress then posted a longer statement that she wrote during a conversation with actor Peter Shinkoda about how Mr. Affleck’s win would be a “nod” to President Trump, who has also been accused of being inappropriate with women.</p>
<p>Mr. Affleck is “running for an award that honors a craft whose purpose is examining the dignity of the human experience &amp; young women are deeply human. The absence of awards doesn’t diminish a great performance,” Ms. Wu wrote.</p>
<p>“But the choices an awarding committee makes DOES increase the dignity of an award and brings light to the pursuit our craft seeks to honor,” she continued. “It signifies said committee’s awareness of the harmful oversights it may have unknowingly participated in in the past, and the respect and dignity to learn from the past, not to repeat it and not to use it as an excuse to reinforce the industry’s gross and often hidden mistreatment of women.”</p>
<p>“Art doesn’t exist for the sake of awards, but awards DO exist to honor all that art is trying to accomplish in life,” the actress wrote. “So context matters. Because in acting, human life matters. It’s why art exists. I know it’s just an award but I guess I’m in this career, not for awards, but because the treatment of human life matters to me. So I stand the [expletive] up for it.”</p>
<p>Ms. Wu ended her rant by saying she would continue to speak out on the issue despite any possible repercussions to her career.</p>
<p>“I’ve been counseled not to talk about this for career’s sake,” she <a href="https://twitter.com/ConstanceWu/status/823915581963284480" type="external">wrote</a>. “F my career then, I’m a woman &amp; human first. That’s what my craft is built on.”</p>
<p>Copyright © 2018 The Washington Times, LLC. <a href="http://license.icopyright.net/3.7280?icx_id=/news/2017/jan/25/constance-wu-blasts-casey-affleck-oscar-nomination/" type="external">Click here for reprint permission</a>.</p>
<p>&#160;</p> | 1,038 |
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<p>Retired Albuquerque police detective Keith Sandy on Wednesday describes his decision to shoot homeless camper James Boyd on March 16, 2014. (Greg Sorber/Albuquerque Journal)</p>
<p>ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Testimony ended Wednesday in the criminal trial of two former Albuquerque police officers charged in the fatal shooting of homeless camper James Boyd without jurors ever hearing from the Albuquerque Police Department K-9 handler whose questionable, last-minute actions in the March 2014 police standoff helped trigger the defendants’ use of force.</p>
<p>Both former officers Keith Sandy and Dominique Perez, who are charged with second-degree murder in Boyd’s death, testified this week that they fired at the mentally ill Boyd because K-9 officer Scott Weimerskirch moved close enough during the confrontation for Boyd to stab him with two pocketknives he was brandishing.</p>
<p>But neither side chose to call Weimerskirch, now retired, as a witness over the 12 days of trial in state District Court in Albuquerque. Final arguments are set to begin today at 10 a.m. with jury deliberations to follow.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>After resting their case Wednesday, defense attorneys asked Judge Alisa Hadfield for a directed verdict of acquittal, contending the special prosecution team failed to present sufficient evidence to prove Sandy and Perez did not commit justifiable homicide by a peace officer. Hadfield denied the motions.</p>
<p>For most of Wednesday, Sandy was on the witness stand. He recounted the final minutes leading up to the shooting, saying Boyd became agitated and drew his knives after officers used three less-lethal tactics to try to subdue him.</p>
<p>Sandy was questioned as to why Boyd wasn’t permitted to come down the hillside after keeping officers at bay for hours. Sandy, echoing Perez, said that as long as Boyd hadn’t dropped his knives he still posed a threat.</p>
<p>“We can’t allow him to leave that point armed with a knife,” Sandy testified. “He’s made a decision, and he’s pushing the issue.”</p>
<p>Transcripts from Weimerskirch’s Taser camera shown to the jury on Sandy’s cross-examination by special prosecutor Randi McGinn showed the dog handler asked Boyd five times to come down the hillside, without ever demanding he disarm.</p>
<p>Sandy testified that at other times in the back-and-forth with Boyd, police had made such demands.</p>
<p>The prosecution has been especially critical of Sandy’s conduct, accusing him of inserting himself into the standoff that began hours earlier when two APD Open Space officers confronted Boyd at his makeshift illegal campsite in the Sandia foothills east of Copper Road and Tramway Boulevard.</p>
<p>Former APD detective Keith Sandy recreates the positioning of homeless camper James Boyd using attorney Sam Bregman standing in for Boyd while testifying in his own defense Wednesday. (Via TV Pool)</p>
<p>In his five hours on the witness stand Wednesday, Sandy testified that he had been the primary on-call detective working in the APD undercover unit that targeted violent career criminals when he responded to a dispatcher call for a Taser shotgun to be brought to the scene. He testified that he believed that when the Taser shotgun was requested, the sergeant at the scene also wanted the officer who delivered the weapon “to go up there and effect an arrest.”</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Once he arrived, Sandy testified, he “stepped into the role” of gathering intelligence on Boyd by using his rifle scope as binoculars to track Boyd’s movements as he ranted and threatened police officers for more than an hour.</p>
<p>Sandy then described how he, Sgt. Rick Ingram, and Weimerskirch, acting as a negotiator, moved toward Boyd and came within 25 feet of him.</p>
<p>Sandy said he became alarmed when Boyd picked up his bags and his Styrofoam cup, preparing to go down the hill.</p>
<p>That’s when, Sandy testified, that he threw a flash-bang device designed to disorient Boyd, but the device hit at Boyd’s feet and bounced away. Ingram fired a Taser shotgun, which had no effect, and the police dog was released but refused to bite.</p>
<p>Sandy confirmed that there was earlier discussion among the officers that the Taser shotgun might not be effective and that Weimerskirch warned that the usually effective police dog might not bite Boyd once a Taser was used.</p>
<p>The tactics seemed to aggravate Boyd, who pulled the knives from his pockets. “It was a defensive posture,” Sandy said of Boyd. “It’s how you describe someone when they assume a fighting stance.”</p>
<p>At that time, Sandy testified, he noticed Weimerskirch follow the dog and move closer to Boyd.</p>
<p>“My duty was to provide cover and protection for Weimerskirch and Ingram if Mr. Boyd posed a deadly force threat,” Sandy said.</p>
<p>Weimerskirch then kneeled down to grab the dog, coming within 10 to 12 feet of Boyd, Sandy testified.</p>
<p>Sandy testified he moved in and “stopped and leaned over the top of him (Weimerskirch)” to take the initial shots at Boyd.</p>
<p>Sandy testified that he saw Boyd take a “quarter of a turn” to the left, and that’s when Sandy fired.</p>
<p>The prosecution contends Boyd was turning around to obey police demands to lie on the ground.</p>
<p>But Sandy, a 19-year law enforcement veteran, testified he interpreted that move as a “flanking maneuver that he was going to attack us from a different angle.”</p>
<p />
<p /> | Sandy re-enacts final, fatal moments | false | https://abqjournal.com/861368/sandy-reenacts-final-moments.html | 2016-10-06 | 2least
| Sandy re-enacts final, fatal moments
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p>Retired Albuquerque police detective Keith Sandy on Wednesday describes his decision to shoot homeless camper James Boyd on March 16, 2014. (Greg Sorber/Albuquerque Journal)</p>
<p>ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Testimony ended Wednesday in the criminal trial of two former Albuquerque police officers charged in the fatal shooting of homeless camper James Boyd without jurors ever hearing from the Albuquerque Police Department K-9 handler whose questionable, last-minute actions in the March 2014 police standoff helped trigger the defendants’ use of force.</p>
<p>Both former officers Keith Sandy and Dominique Perez, who are charged with second-degree murder in Boyd’s death, testified this week that they fired at the mentally ill Boyd because K-9 officer Scott Weimerskirch moved close enough during the confrontation for Boyd to stab him with two pocketknives he was brandishing.</p>
<p>But neither side chose to call Weimerskirch, now retired, as a witness over the 12 days of trial in state District Court in Albuquerque. Final arguments are set to begin today at 10 a.m. with jury deliberations to follow.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>After resting their case Wednesday, defense attorneys asked Judge Alisa Hadfield for a directed verdict of acquittal, contending the special prosecution team failed to present sufficient evidence to prove Sandy and Perez did not commit justifiable homicide by a peace officer. Hadfield denied the motions.</p>
<p>For most of Wednesday, Sandy was on the witness stand. He recounted the final minutes leading up to the shooting, saying Boyd became agitated and drew his knives after officers used three less-lethal tactics to try to subdue him.</p>
<p>Sandy was questioned as to why Boyd wasn’t permitted to come down the hillside after keeping officers at bay for hours. Sandy, echoing Perez, said that as long as Boyd hadn’t dropped his knives he still posed a threat.</p>
<p>“We can’t allow him to leave that point armed with a knife,” Sandy testified. “He’s made a decision, and he’s pushing the issue.”</p>
<p>Transcripts from Weimerskirch’s Taser camera shown to the jury on Sandy’s cross-examination by special prosecutor Randi McGinn showed the dog handler asked Boyd five times to come down the hillside, without ever demanding he disarm.</p>
<p>Sandy testified that at other times in the back-and-forth with Boyd, police had made such demands.</p>
<p>The prosecution has been especially critical of Sandy’s conduct, accusing him of inserting himself into the standoff that began hours earlier when two APD Open Space officers confronted Boyd at his makeshift illegal campsite in the Sandia foothills east of Copper Road and Tramway Boulevard.</p>
<p>Former APD detective Keith Sandy recreates the positioning of homeless camper James Boyd using attorney Sam Bregman standing in for Boyd while testifying in his own defense Wednesday. (Via TV Pool)</p>
<p>In his five hours on the witness stand Wednesday, Sandy testified that he had been the primary on-call detective working in the APD undercover unit that targeted violent career criminals when he responded to a dispatcher call for a Taser shotgun to be brought to the scene. He testified that he believed that when the Taser shotgun was requested, the sergeant at the scene also wanted the officer who delivered the weapon “to go up there and effect an arrest.”</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Once he arrived, Sandy testified, he “stepped into the role” of gathering intelligence on Boyd by using his rifle scope as binoculars to track Boyd’s movements as he ranted and threatened police officers for more than an hour.</p>
<p>Sandy then described how he, Sgt. Rick Ingram, and Weimerskirch, acting as a negotiator, moved toward Boyd and came within 25 feet of him.</p>
<p>Sandy said he became alarmed when Boyd picked up his bags and his Styrofoam cup, preparing to go down the hill.</p>
<p>That’s when, Sandy testified, that he threw a flash-bang device designed to disorient Boyd, but the device hit at Boyd’s feet and bounced away. Ingram fired a Taser shotgun, which had no effect, and the police dog was released but refused to bite.</p>
<p>Sandy confirmed that there was earlier discussion among the officers that the Taser shotgun might not be effective and that Weimerskirch warned that the usually effective police dog might not bite Boyd once a Taser was used.</p>
<p>The tactics seemed to aggravate Boyd, who pulled the knives from his pockets. “It was a defensive posture,” Sandy said of Boyd. “It’s how you describe someone when they assume a fighting stance.”</p>
<p>At that time, Sandy testified, he noticed Weimerskirch follow the dog and move closer to Boyd.</p>
<p>“My duty was to provide cover and protection for Weimerskirch and Ingram if Mr. Boyd posed a deadly force threat,” Sandy said.</p>
<p>Weimerskirch then kneeled down to grab the dog, coming within 10 to 12 feet of Boyd, Sandy testified.</p>
<p>Sandy testified he moved in and “stopped and leaned over the top of him (Weimerskirch)” to take the initial shots at Boyd.</p>
<p>Sandy testified that he saw Boyd take a “quarter of a turn” to the left, and that’s when Sandy fired.</p>
<p>The prosecution contends Boyd was turning around to obey police demands to lie on the ground.</p>
<p>But Sandy, a 19-year law enforcement veteran, testified he interpreted that move as a “flanking maneuver that he was going to attack us from a different angle.”</p>
<p />
<p /> | 1,039 |
<p>Katy Grimes: Yesterday the Assembly passed a myriad of budget trailer bills. Sounds innocuous enough, right? Not according to Assemblyman Jim Nielsen who called the process “strange,” and said the trailer bills are really “individual budget bills.”</p>
<p>Nielsen objected to the more than 30 trailer bills following the primary budget bill, and challenged the process that has been used for the past 10 years of legislative budgets. “We need to get back to historical practice of very few trailer bills,” said Nielsen.</p>
<p>The Department of Finance <a href="http://www.dof.ca.gov/fisa/bag/process.htm" type="external">explains trailer bills</a>: “There are generally budget changes proposed by the Governor or the Legislature which necessitate changes to existing law in order to implement the budget changes. If this is the case, separate bills are introduced to implement the change. These budget implementation bills are called “trailer bills” and are heard concurrently with the Budget Bill. By law, all proposed statutory changes necessary to implement the&#160;Governor’s&#160;Budget are due to the Legislature by February 1.”</p>
<p>Nielsen said the process has been abused, with trailer bills being used as a conduit for individual pieces of legislation that did not make it into the budget. “Every fast track deal becomes a trailer bill,” said Nielsen. “Legislators can run an entire legislative process in one trailer bill.”</p>
<p>Nielsen said this is a “perversion of the process,” and will be calling for reforms in the <a href="http://www.sen.ca.gov/budget/" type="external">Conference Committee on the Budget</a>hearing today.</p>
<p>Be sure to take a look at the <a href="http://www.sen.ca.gov/budget/201112ConfComMajorIssues.pdf" type="external">2011-12 Conference Committee Major Issues Document</a>. And watch the hearing on <a href="http://www.calchannel.com/" type="external">The California Channel</a>.</p>
<p>Stay tuned.</p>
<p>FEB. 23, 2011</p> | "Strange" Budget Process | false | https://calwatchdog.com/2011/02/23/strange-budget-process/ | 2018-02-20 | 3left-center
| "Strange" Budget Process
<p>Katy Grimes: Yesterday the Assembly passed a myriad of budget trailer bills. Sounds innocuous enough, right? Not according to Assemblyman Jim Nielsen who called the process “strange,” and said the trailer bills are really “individual budget bills.”</p>
<p>Nielsen objected to the more than 30 trailer bills following the primary budget bill, and challenged the process that has been used for the past 10 years of legislative budgets. “We need to get back to historical practice of very few trailer bills,” said Nielsen.</p>
<p>The Department of Finance <a href="http://www.dof.ca.gov/fisa/bag/process.htm" type="external">explains trailer bills</a>: “There are generally budget changes proposed by the Governor or the Legislature which necessitate changes to existing law in order to implement the budget changes. If this is the case, separate bills are introduced to implement the change. These budget implementation bills are called “trailer bills” and are heard concurrently with the Budget Bill. By law, all proposed statutory changes necessary to implement the&#160;Governor’s&#160;Budget are due to the Legislature by February 1.”</p>
<p>Nielsen said the process has been abused, with trailer bills being used as a conduit for individual pieces of legislation that did not make it into the budget. “Every fast track deal becomes a trailer bill,” said Nielsen. “Legislators can run an entire legislative process in one trailer bill.”</p>
<p>Nielsen said this is a “perversion of the process,” and will be calling for reforms in the <a href="http://www.sen.ca.gov/budget/" type="external">Conference Committee on the Budget</a>hearing today.</p>
<p>Be sure to take a look at the <a href="http://www.sen.ca.gov/budget/201112ConfComMajorIssues.pdf" type="external">2011-12 Conference Committee Major Issues Document</a>. And watch the hearing on <a href="http://www.calchannel.com/" type="external">The California Channel</a>.</p>
<p>Stay tuned.</p>
<p>FEB. 23, 2011</p> | 1,040 |
<p>As if the situation in the Middle East couldn’t get any worse, this week’s news that scandal-plagued Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will resign has been seized upon by right-wing Israeli politicians, who believe the parliamentary chaos caused by Olmert’s departure will open the door for a return to hard-line, ultranationalist government.</p>
<p>The Guardian:</p>
<p>Israel’s ultra nationalist parties yesterday [Thursday] seized on Ehud Olmert’s decision to stand aside as prime minister to push for an early election, which would most likely return the hawkish Likud leader, Binyamin Netanyahu, to the helm.</p>
<p>While Olmert’s decision has thrown Kadima, his centrist party, and the nation into turmoil, Israel’s rightwing parties appeared to galvanise in calling for an end to the coalition government.</p>
<p />
<p>Netanyahu, a former prime minister who was also dogged by corruption allegations but nevertheless has led the polls as a potential prime minister for months, said: “This government has reached an end. National responsibility requires a return to the people and new elections.”</p>
<p><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/aug/01/israelandthepalestinians.middleeast%20" type="external">Read more</a></p> | Israeli Right Sees Opening in Political Chaos | true | https://truthdig.com/articles/israeli-right-sees-opening-in-political-chaos/ | 2008-08-01 | 4left
| Israeli Right Sees Opening in Political Chaos
<p>As if the situation in the Middle East couldn’t get any worse, this week’s news that scandal-plagued Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will resign has been seized upon by right-wing Israeli politicians, who believe the parliamentary chaos caused by Olmert’s departure will open the door for a return to hard-line, ultranationalist government.</p>
<p>The Guardian:</p>
<p>Israel’s ultra nationalist parties yesterday [Thursday] seized on Ehud Olmert’s decision to stand aside as prime minister to push for an early election, which would most likely return the hawkish Likud leader, Binyamin Netanyahu, to the helm.</p>
<p>While Olmert’s decision has thrown Kadima, his centrist party, and the nation into turmoil, Israel’s rightwing parties appeared to galvanise in calling for an end to the coalition government.</p>
<p />
<p>Netanyahu, a former prime minister who was also dogged by corruption allegations but nevertheless has led the polls as a potential prime minister for months, said: “This government has reached an end. National responsibility requires a return to the people and new elections.”</p>
<p><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/aug/01/israelandthepalestinians.middleeast%20" type="external">Read more</a></p> | 1,041 |
<p>December 4, 1991By Russell Eshleman, Jr. Staff Writer, The Philadelphia Inquirer <a href="" type="internal">How do I use this BNW Brown Bag?</a>I. <a href="" type="internal">The Power of Brevity</a>An introduction.II. Award winning short stories• <a href="" type="internal">Desperate Days at the Merlin: Donald "Joe" Peak</a>, by Julie Sullivan• <a href="" type="internal">Lottery has its own take on the story</a>, by Russell Eshleman, Jr.• <a href="" type="internal">Fighting for Life 50 Floors Up, With One Tool and Ingenuity</a>, by Jim DwyerIII. <a href="" type="internal">Talking Points &amp; Assignment Desk</a>How to learn from BNW winners' work, with a group or on your own.IV. <a href="" type="internal">Feedback</a>How do you achieve brevity&#160;in your stories?&gt;&gt; Download the PDF: <a href="/content/resource_popup_view.asp?id=16215" type="external">Brown Bag #3</a>&gt;&gt; <a href="" type="internal">BNW Index</a>More profiles and brown bags.</p> | Lottery has its own take on the story | false | https://poynter.org/news/lottery-has-its-own-take-story | 2003-05-01 | 2least
| Lottery has its own take on the story
<p>December 4, 1991By Russell Eshleman, Jr. Staff Writer, The Philadelphia Inquirer <a href="" type="internal">How do I use this BNW Brown Bag?</a>I. <a href="" type="internal">The Power of Brevity</a>An introduction.II. Award winning short stories• <a href="" type="internal">Desperate Days at the Merlin: Donald "Joe" Peak</a>, by Julie Sullivan• <a href="" type="internal">Lottery has its own take on the story</a>, by Russell Eshleman, Jr.• <a href="" type="internal">Fighting for Life 50 Floors Up, With One Tool and Ingenuity</a>, by Jim DwyerIII. <a href="" type="internal">Talking Points &amp; Assignment Desk</a>How to learn from BNW winners' work, with a group or on your own.IV. <a href="" type="internal">Feedback</a>How do you achieve brevity&#160;in your stories?&gt;&gt; Download the PDF: <a href="/content/resource_popup_view.asp?id=16215" type="external">Brown Bag #3</a>&gt;&gt; <a href="" type="internal">BNW Index</a>More profiles and brown bags.</p> | 1,042 |
<p>MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — An Eden Prairie man has been sentenced to 61 years in prison for killing with parents with a screwdriver.</p>
<p>Thirty-eight-year-old Nathan Lehman was sentenced Monday after earlier pleading guilty to two counts of second-degree murder. He was charged in the deaths of Robert and Debra Lehman of Eden Prairie last May.</p>
<p>Prosecutors say Lehman has a history of mental illness and methamphetamine addiction and wasn't following orders of his mental health caseworkers. He was accused of breaking into his parents' home and stabbing them both nearly 60 times with screwdrivers before fleeing. The couple was found dead on a bathroom floor, holding homes.</p>
<p>Lehman declined to say anything in court. The <a href="http://www.startribune.com/as-family-weeps-man-who-murdered-his-parents-in-eden-prairie-gets-61-year-sentence/468337153/" type="external">Star Tribune</a> reports with good behavior, Lehman could be eligible for release when he's 78 years old.</p>
<p>MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — An Eden Prairie man has been sentenced to 61 years in prison for killing with parents with a screwdriver.</p>
<p>Thirty-eight-year-old Nathan Lehman was sentenced Monday after earlier pleading guilty to two counts of second-degree murder. He was charged in the deaths of Robert and Debra Lehman of Eden Prairie last May.</p>
<p>Prosecutors say Lehman has a history of mental illness and methamphetamine addiction and wasn't following orders of his mental health caseworkers. He was accused of breaking into his parents' home and stabbing them both nearly 60 times with screwdrivers before fleeing. The couple was found dead on a bathroom floor, holding homes.</p>
<p>Lehman declined to say anything in court. The <a href="http://www.startribune.com/as-family-weeps-man-who-murdered-his-parents-in-eden-prairie-gets-61-year-sentence/468337153/" type="external">Star Tribune</a> reports with good behavior, Lehman could be eligible for release when he's 78 years old.</p> | Minnesota man sentenced to 61 years for killing parents | false | https://apnews.com/amp/9bf9d39d762c43d7b1542ba4b02848aa | 2018-01-08 | 2least
| Minnesota man sentenced to 61 years for killing parents
<p>MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — An Eden Prairie man has been sentenced to 61 years in prison for killing with parents with a screwdriver.</p>
<p>Thirty-eight-year-old Nathan Lehman was sentenced Monday after earlier pleading guilty to two counts of second-degree murder. He was charged in the deaths of Robert and Debra Lehman of Eden Prairie last May.</p>
<p>Prosecutors say Lehman has a history of mental illness and methamphetamine addiction and wasn't following orders of his mental health caseworkers. He was accused of breaking into his parents' home and stabbing them both nearly 60 times with screwdrivers before fleeing. The couple was found dead on a bathroom floor, holding homes.</p>
<p>Lehman declined to say anything in court. The <a href="http://www.startribune.com/as-family-weeps-man-who-murdered-his-parents-in-eden-prairie-gets-61-year-sentence/468337153/" type="external">Star Tribune</a> reports with good behavior, Lehman could be eligible for release when he's 78 years old.</p>
<p>MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — An Eden Prairie man has been sentenced to 61 years in prison for killing with parents with a screwdriver.</p>
<p>Thirty-eight-year-old Nathan Lehman was sentenced Monday after earlier pleading guilty to two counts of second-degree murder. He was charged in the deaths of Robert and Debra Lehman of Eden Prairie last May.</p>
<p>Prosecutors say Lehman has a history of mental illness and methamphetamine addiction and wasn't following orders of his mental health caseworkers. He was accused of breaking into his parents' home and stabbing them both nearly 60 times with screwdrivers before fleeing. The couple was found dead on a bathroom floor, holding homes.</p>
<p>Lehman declined to say anything in court. The <a href="http://www.startribune.com/as-family-weeps-man-who-murdered-his-parents-in-eden-prairie-gets-61-year-sentence/468337153/" type="external">Star Tribune</a> reports with good behavior, Lehman could be eligible for release when he's 78 years old.</p> | 1,043 |
<p>University of Chicago graduate employees, after more than a decade of organizing, will finally get to vote for our union, Graduate Students United, on October 17-18. But the university administration — helmed by President Robert Zimmer, who <a href="http://www.brown.edu/Administration/News_Bureau/2004-05/04-004.html" type="external">led the charge</a> to take away private-sector grads’ bargaining rights more than a decade ago when he was provost of Brown University — is relying on the looming threat by the Trump administration to once again take away our right to organize under the National Labor Relations Act, and is doing everything it can to try and prevent graduate employees from having a voice in their work and their future.</p>
<p>The latest move by the administration included petitioning the National Labor Relations Board to stall the grad workers’ union election after weeks of hearings culminated in the board’s regional director finally ordering an election. The problem isn’t that the university is worried about whether they can afford a union for its graduate workers — Zimmer has admitted that unionization wouldn’t significantly impact the university financially, and in any case, UChicago <a href="https://uchicagogsu.org/2017/02/24/upcoming-event-32-are-they-broke-or-rolling-in-money/" type="external">c</a> <a href="https://uchicagogsu.org/2017/02/24/upcoming-event-32-are-they-broke-or-rolling-in-money/" type="external">urrently</a> <a href="https://uchicagogsu.org/2017/02/24/upcoming-event-32-are-they-broke-or-rolling-in-money/" type="external">pays</a> <a href="https://uchicagogsu.org/2017/02/24/upcoming-event-32-are-they-broke-or-rolling-in-money/" type="external">enough</a> <a href="https://uchicagogsu.org/2017/02/24/upcoming-event-32-are-they-broke-or-rolling-in-money/" type="external">in hedge fund fees</a> each year than it collects in undergraduate tuition. He knows they can afford to provide better health insurance, living wages, and affordable childcare.</p>
<p>But for some reason, despite many years of what Provost Daniel Diermeier calls “continuously improv[ing] the graduate experience,” these basic benefits which our colleagues at many other institutions — including public institutions facing severe budget crises — enjoy continue to prove beyond the imagination of the UChicago administration.</p>
<p>If graduate employees actually had a meaningful say in the terms of our employment by the university, we could move beyond vague promises of administration support and platitudes about the life of the mind, and actually institute policies that would allow grads — both as students and workers — to reach their full potential without worrying if they will be able to pay the thousands of dollars in medical bills, meet their rising rents, or afford child care.</p>
<p>Work is something UChicago’s graduate employees are familiar with. We do a lot of it: from working in labs, to teaching courses and leading discussion sections, to running workshops and helping faculty with research and editing tasks. We hold office hours for our students, serve on committees on diversity, plan conferences, organize reading groups and film screenings, grade papers, tutor students in the writing center, and more.</p>
<p>Our labor is fundamental to the basic functioning of the university and a crucial component of its intellectual life.</p>
<p>Most of us are deeply invested in our work and find it personally rewarding, but we know that a life of the mind alone won’t pay our bills or ensure ideal learning conditions for our students. At issue for graduate employees are a range of issues which all center around a basic respect for our labor.</p>
<p>If work is a familiar terrain to its graduate employees, remaking work is equally familiar to the University of Chicago, one of the strongest bastions of neoliberal economic thought in the United States. Since the term was coined in the 1950s, the ideas which circulated among the members of the Chicago School of Economics, including Milton Friedman, Gary Becker, and George Stigler — all of whom served as presidents of the right-wing Mont Pelerin Society — played a central role in reshaping the American economy and what it means to be a worker in the United States.</p>
<p>Marrying a long tradition of individualism in American political thought to a policy program of deregulation and a globalizing world economy, these ideas have played a substantial role in stagnating wages, degrading working conditions, and cementing workforce casualization, an updated <a href="" type="internal">logistics industry</a>, and “just-in-time” production. Most of the time, we think about these changes in the context of manufacturing, which saw corporations turn to the Global South in search of cheaper labor, but even those industries which cannot be offshored&#160; have been <a href="" type="internal">subjected to these changes</a>.</p>
<p>Institutions of higher education have not been immune from this labor market restructuring. In fact, casualization of the labor force in higher education — the rise of the adjunct tier of the professoriate — and enormous increases in administrative hires mirror changes in employment in other industries. Far from being protected by our dual status as student-workers, graduate employees have suffered under the neoliberal assault on higher education.</p>
<p>As Michael Billeaux and I <a href="" type="internal">wrote</a> in 2015: “Graduate workers are on the front lines in the battle over the neoliberalization of higher education. As both students and workers, they’re doubly targeted: at the same time states and university administrations are raising tuition and fees, they’re cutting wages and benefits and weakening job protections.” These policies aren’t just the product of a few administrators, but part of an industry-wide restructuring.</p>
<p>The fact that the administration’s opposition is rooted in this broader transformation of higher education in the United States — a transformation which values management over research and instruction, which sees higher education as a commodity that can be managed alongside the university’s endowment and real estate holdings — has become apparent in the extent to which the University of Chicago administration has gone to fight a decade of organizing by Graduate Students United to improve both graduate employment at the university and the UChicago community as a whole.</p>
<p>Not only have they refused to voluntarily recognize our union in the wake of the <a href="http://www.chronicle.com/article/Ruling-Pushes-Door-to/237544" type="external">August 2016 NLRB decision</a> which once again secured our legal right to form a union, but they have fought us at every step of the way since we filed for an election after they refused to recognize the union which had been formed by a majority of the university’s graduate students. They dragged out hearings and engaged in what seemed to be a contest over which of their lawyers and administration witnesses could better insult the graduate employees who make the university run.</p>
<p>And now, after they managed to stall us in hearings and delay the election by four months, they have filed another petition to prevent us from voting on October 17-18. The stakes are high for them, too: their long game is to overturn in the Columbia ruling which returned us to worker status under the NLRA last year — a prospect that appears to be a matter of if rather than when.</p>
<p>In a recent email to the university’s academic employees, Provost Diermeier claims that the administration “respect the divergent viewpoints that exist on this topic [grad unionization]” and suggests that the administration encourages “the expression of those viewpoints in rigorous and mutually respectful debate.” But listening to the approach the administration and its lawyers took in our hearings before the NLRB, it was hard to feel respected.</p>
<p>We listened to lawyers perform linguistic gymnastics in order to suggest that graduate employees “are not working. They are teaching,” and weren’t really employees because “most of their experiments fail,” (which, in addition to being insulting, also demonstrated a clear misunderstanding of the process of scientific research).</p>
<p>In the most generous reading, the administration’s lawyers and the faculty they called to testify seemed ignorant of or misinformed about the amount of work graduate employees actually do, claiming that we do not hold office hours, do not substitute for faculty during TAships, and do not design syllabi.</p>
<p>They claimed that research assisting that graduate employees in labs do was different that the work of an employee lab assistant. But even where they acknowledged the actual place of graduate employees in the research and teaching mission of the university, they tried to suggest that our contributions were suspect, inferior, and more a hindrance than a help.</p>
<p>Dean Anne Walters Robertson of the Humanities Division claimed that it didn’t really benefit her to have grads lead discussion sections. Then-dean, now-Executive Vice Provost David Nirenberg suggested that the hours graduate employees dedicate to teaching resulted in inferior education for our students, and that graduate employees assisting professors in their courses were more of a hindrance than a help — stating, in words that have become infamous among University of Chicago TAs, “Having someone grading is not a relief to me.”</p>
<p>This does not, however, seem to be the majority opinion of the faculty. But the administration’s legal team chose not showcase the diverse ideas they claim to support. Instead, they declined to call faculty witnesses who believed that the work of graduate employees is fundamental to the basic functioning of the university and a core part of the university’s intellectual community.</p>
<p>Fortunately, many faculty support the graduate students they work with, value our contributions to the university, and respect our right to unionize because of it. Many of these faculty volunteered to testify to it on our behalf. As mathematics professor Denis Hirschfeldt stated in his hearing testimony, “Our undergraduate mathematics program could not possibly be run anywhere near the way it is without graduate student work.”</p>
<p>He was echoed by Anton Ford, a faculty member in the department of philosophy: “We don’t have enough faculty to teach those classes [small, focused seminars] as well as the big lecture courses that we’re responsible for doing, so if it weren’t for these graduate students, the majors would not have access to small seminars.”</p>
<p>This industry-wide restructuring raises the stakes for unionization, especially at a place like the University of Chicago, one of the nation’s elite “Ivy-Plus” institutions that sets standards for the rest of academia. Improving graduate employment here can help improve working conditions at other private universities where graduate employees have not yet unionized as well as help to normalize collective bargaining as a standard part of academic life in the private sector — as it already is for many of our colleagues at public institutions — including the nation’s “Public Ivies” like the University of California, the University of Wisconsin, and the University of Michigan — and internationally.</p>
<p>The struggle to unionize the nation’s private-sector graduate employees, as well as a new layer of public-sector grads at places like Mizzou, has impacts far beyond our years as graduate students. The all-but-collapse of the academic job market (a friend who recently received his PhD has yet to see a job posted in his field for this year’s job search) means that many of us look forward to a career of adjuncting. Increasingly, universities are investing in programs that encourage students to look for employment beyond academia — when as recently as five years ago, the subject of the “alt-ac” track was taboo in many departments. Particularly for graduate employees of color, these disparities in employment have magnified effects.</p>
<p>The experience of building solidarity and bargaining collectively to improve our working conditions in graduate school must be carried into our post-graduate employment, where groundbreaking research, exceptional teaching, and impeccable service records have not been enough to stave off casualization. We do not live in a society that values the work of higher education; like all workers, we must fight to win the respect deserve.</p>
<p>The University of Chicago has poured untold amounts of money into a decade of opposition to our effort to form a legally recognized union that would allow us to collectively improve our institution. Since we filed for an election this spring, they have done everything in their power to stop us from voting. But you can’t have “rigorous and mutually respectful debate” — which the administration claims to aspire to — when one side has billions of dollars at its disposal and the other side worry if they will be able to afford to go to the doctor if they get sick. Through collective bargaining, graduate employees would finally have meaningful input into the issues that matter most to our lives and work.</p> | Trump vs. Graduate Workers | true | https://jacobinmag.com/2017/10/university-chicago-graduate-union-trump-nlra | 2018-10-02 | 4left
| Trump vs. Graduate Workers
<p>University of Chicago graduate employees, after more than a decade of organizing, will finally get to vote for our union, Graduate Students United, on October 17-18. But the university administration — helmed by President Robert Zimmer, who <a href="http://www.brown.edu/Administration/News_Bureau/2004-05/04-004.html" type="external">led the charge</a> to take away private-sector grads’ bargaining rights more than a decade ago when he was provost of Brown University — is relying on the looming threat by the Trump administration to once again take away our right to organize under the National Labor Relations Act, and is doing everything it can to try and prevent graduate employees from having a voice in their work and their future.</p>
<p>The latest move by the administration included petitioning the National Labor Relations Board to stall the grad workers’ union election after weeks of hearings culminated in the board’s regional director finally ordering an election. The problem isn’t that the university is worried about whether they can afford a union for its graduate workers — Zimmer has admitted that unionization wouldn’t significantly impact the university financially, and in any case, UChicago <a href="https://uchicagogsu.org/2017/02/24/upcoming-event-32-are-they-broke-or-rolling-in-money/" type="external">c</a> <a href="https://uchicagogsu.org/2017/02/24/upcoming-event-32-are-they-broke-or-rolling-in-money/" type="external">urrently</a> <a href="https://uchicagogsu.org/2017/02/24/upcoming-event-32-are-they-broke-or-rolling-in-money/" type="external">pays</a> <a href="https://uchicagogsu.org/2017/02/24/upcoming-event-32-are-they-broke-or-rolling-in-money/" type="external">enough</a> <a href="https://uchicagogsu.org/2017/02/24/upcoming-event-32-are-they-broke-or-rolling-in-money/" type="external">in hedge fund fees</a> each year than it collects in undergraduate tuition. He knows they can afford to provide better health insurance, living wages, and affordable childcare.</p>
<p>But for some reason, despite many years of what Provost Daniel Diermeier calls “continuously improv[ing] the graduate experience,” these basic benefits which our colleagues at many other institutions — including public institutions facing severe budget crises — enjoy continue to prove beyond the imagination of the UChicago administration.</p>
<p>If graduate employees actually had a meaningful say in the terms of our employment by the university, we could move beyond vague promises of administration support and platitudes about the life of the mind, and actually institute policies that would allow grads — both as students and workers — to reach their full potential without worrying if they will be able to pay the thousands of dollars in medical bills, meet their rising rents, or afford child care.</p>
<p>Work is something UChicago’s graduate employees are familiar with. We do a lot of it: from working in labs, to teaching courses and leading discussion sections, to running workshops and helping faculty with research and editing tasks. We hold office hours for our students, serve on committees on diversity, plan conferences, organize reading groups and film screenings, grade papers, tutor students in the writing center, and more.</p>
<p>Our labor is fundamental to the basic functioning of the university and a crucial component of its intellectual life.</p>
<p>Most of us are deeply invested in our work and find it personally rewarding, but we know that a life of the mind alone won’t pay our bills or ensure ideal learning conditions for our students. At issue for graduate employees are a range of issues which all center around a basic respect for our labor.</p>
<p>If work is a familiar terrain to its graduate employees, remaking work is equally familiar to the University of Chicago, one of the strongest bastions of neoliberal economic thought in the United States. Since the term was coined in the 1950s, the ideas which circulated among the members of the Chicago School of Economics, including Milton Friedman, Gary Becker, and George Stigler — all of whom served as presidents of the right-wing Mont Pelerin Society — played a central role in reshaping the American economy and what it means to be a worker in the United States.</p>
<p>Marrying a long tradition of individualism in American political thought to a policy program of deregulation and a globalizing world economy, these ideas have played a substantial role in stagnating wages, degrading working conditions, and cementing workforce casualization, an updated <a href="" type="internal">logistics industry</a>, and “just-in-time” production. Most of the time, we think about these changes in the context of manufacturing, which saw corporations turn to the Global South in search of cheaper labor, but even those industries which cannot be offshored&#160; have been <a href="" type="internal">subjected to these changes</a>.</p>
<p>Institutions of higher education have not been immune from this labor market restructuring. In fact, casualization of the labor force in higher education — the rise of the adjunct tier of the professoriate — and enormous increases in administrative hires mirror changes in employment in other industries. Far from being protected by our dual status as student-workers, graduate employees have suffered under the neoliberal assault on higher education.</p>
<p>As Michael Billeaux and I <a href="" type="internal">wrote</a> in 2015: “Graduate workers are on the front lines in the battle over the neoliberalization of higher education. As both students and workers, they’re doubly targeted: at the same time states and university administrations are raising tuition and fees, they’re cutting wages and benefits and weakening job protections.” These policies aren’t just the product of a few administrators, but part of an industry-wide restructuring.</p>
<p>The fact that the administration’s opposition is rooted in this broader transformation of higher education in the United States — a transformation which values management over research and instruction, which sees higher education as a commodity that can be managed alongside the university’s endowment and real estate holdings — has become apparent in the extent to which the University of Chicago administration has gone to fight a decade of organizing by Graduate Students United to improve both graduate employment at the university and the UChicago community as a whole.</p>
<p>Not only have they refused to voluntarily recognize our union in the wake of the <a href="http://www.chronicle.com/article/Ruling-Pushes-Door-to/237544" type="external">August 2016 NLRB decision</a> which once again secured our legal right to form a union, but they have fought us at every step of the way since we filed for an election after they refused to recognize the union which had been formed by a majority of the university’s graduate students. They dragged out hearings and engaged in what seemed to be a contest over which of their lawyers and administration witnesses could better insult the graduate employees who make the university run.</p>
<p>And now, after they managed to stall us in hearings and delay the election by four months, they have filed another petition to prevent us from voting on October 17-18. The stakes are high for them, too: their long game is to overturn in the Columbia ruling which returned us to worker status under the NLRA last year — a prospect that appears to be a matter of if rather than when.</p>
<p>In a recent email to the university’s academic employees, Provost Diermeier claims that the administration “respect the divergent viewpoints that exist on this topic [grad unionization]” and suggests that the administration encourages “the expression of those viewpoints in rigorous and mutually respectful debate.” But listening to the approach the administration and its lawyers took in our hearings before the NLRB, it was hard to feel respected.</p>
<p>We listened to lawyers perform linguistic gymnastics in order to suggest that graduate employees “are not working. They are teaching,” and weren’t really employees because “most of their experiments fail,” (which, in addition to being insulting, also demonstrated a clear misunderstanding of the process of scientific research).</p>
<p>In the most generous reading, the administration’s lawyers and the faculty they called to testify seemed ignorant of or misinformed about the amount of work graduate employees actually do, claiming that we do not hold office hours, do not substitute for faculty during TAships, and do not design syllabi.</p>
<p>They claimed that research assisting that graduate employees in labs do was different that the work of an employee lab assistant. But even where they acknowledged the actual place of graduate employees in the research and teaching mission of the university, they tried to suggest that our contributions were suspect, inferior, and more a hindrance than a help.</p>
<p>Dean Anne Walters Robertson of the Humanities Division claimed that it didn’t really benefit her to have grads lead discussion sections. Then-dean, now-Executive Vice Provost David Nirenberg suggested that the hours graduate employees dedicate to teaching resulted in inferior education for our students, and that graduate employees assisting professors in their courses were more of a hindrance than a help — stating, in words that have become infamous among University of Chicago TAs, “Having someone grading is not a relief to me.”</p>
<p>This does not, however, seem to be the majority opinion of the faculty. But the administration’s legal team chose not showcase the diverse ideas they claim to support. Instead, they declined to call faculty witnesses who believed that the work of graduate employees is fundamental to the basic functioning of the university and a core part of the university’s intellectual community.</p>
<p>Fortunately, many faculty support the graduate students they work with, value our contributions to the university, and respect our right to unionize because of it. Many of these faculty volunteered to testify to it on our behalf. As mathematics professor Denis Hirschfeldt stated in his hearing testimony, “Our undergraduate mathematics program could not possibly be run anywhere near the way it is without graduate student work.”</p>
<p>He was echoed by Anton Ford, a faculty member in the department of philosophy: “We don’t have enough faculty to teach those classes [small, focused seminars] as well as the big lecture courses that we’re responsible for doing, so if it weren’t for these graduate students, the majors would not have access to small seminars.”</p>
<p>This industry-wide restructuring raises the stakes for unionization, especially at a place like the University of Chicago, one of the nation’s elite “Ivy-Plus” institutions that sets standards for the rest of academia. Improving graduate employment here can help improve working conditions at other private universities where graduate employees have not yet unionized as well as help to normalize collective bargaining as a standard part of academic life in the private sector — as it already is for many of our colleagues at public institutions — including the nation’s “Public Ivies” like the University of California, the University of Wisconsin, and the University of Michigan — and internationally.</p>
<p>The struggle to unionize the nation’s private-sector graduate employees, as well as a new layer of public-sector grads at places like Mizzou, has impacts far beyond our years as graduate students. The all-but-collapse of the academic job market (a friend who recently received his PhD has yet to see a job posted in his field for this year’s job search) means that many of us look forward to a career of adjuncting. Increasingly, universities are investing in programs that encourage students to look for employment beyond academia — when as recently as five years ago, the subject of the “alt-ac” track was taboo in many departments. Particularly for graduate employees of color, these disparities in employment have magnified effects.</p>
<p>The experience of building solidarity and bargaining collectively to improve our working conditions in graduate school must be carried into our post-graduate employment, where groundbreaking research, exceptional teaching, and impeccable service records have not been enough to stave off casualization. We do not live in a society that values the work of higher education; like all workers, we must fight to win the respect deserve.</p>
<p>The University of Chicago has poured untold amounts of money into a decade of opposition to our effort to form a legally recognized union that would allow us to collectively improve our institution. Since we filed for an election this spring, they have done everything in their power to stop us from voting. But you can’t have “rigorous and mutually respectful debate” — which the administration claims to aspire to — when one side has billions of dollars at its disposal and the other side worry if they will be able to afford to go to the doctor if they get sick. Through collective bargaining, graduate employees would finally have meaningful input into the issues that matter most to our lives and work.</p> | 1,044 |
<p>Source: Verizon.</p>
<p>Samsung just released its Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge devices, and they've received glowing reviews. The electronics giant is hoping the smartphones will spur new interest in its devices as it tries to rebuild its <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2015/11/21/samsungs-smartphone-slide-in-1-chart.aspx%20?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">crumbling mobile dominance Opens a New Window.</a>. Meanwhile, Verizon Communications is hoping the new Galaxy S phones could spur on more sales for its new upgrade plan.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Verizon announced this week that customers can sign up for its Annual Upgrade Program with Samsung's latest devices -- a deal that was previously only available for those buying Apple's iPhones.</p>
<p>What are the details? Customers have to buy a new Galaxy S7 or S7 Edge to be eligible for an upgrade once per year. They can then upgrade to a new Samsung Galaxy S device just 30 days after signing up, as long as more than 50% of their current device is paid for.</p>
<p>If customers don't want to upgrade, they simply continue paying for the device over a 24-month period.</p>
<p>This plan isn't all that different than what some other carriers are offering, thoughSprint and T-Mobile have a few different options.</p>
<p>How the other plans differSprint offers its customers the ability to upgrade Samsung devices as well, but it's doing it through a leasing option rather than Verizon's installment plan.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Sprint calls its plan Galaxy Forever (just like its iPhone Forever plan), but instead of being able to upgrade as soon as 30 days after signing up, Sprint customers must wait until they've made at least 12 payments on their devices.</p>
<p>But T-Mobile offers the most flexibility with its Jump! On Demand leasing option. Customers can upgrade to a new device up to three time per year, and can select a variety of phones including the new iPhones, Galaxy S7 and Note devices, and high-end LG models. Customers can also opt to pay for their device in full (and not upgrade) once the lease term reaches 18 months.</p>
<p>So why are all these carriers pushing their own yearly upgrade options?</p>
<p>Keeping customers right where they areUpgrades are nothing new in the wireless industry, but they've changed a bit recently.</p>
<p>When T-Mobile first moved away from two-year contracts (a trend the other carriers followed), it helped encourage customers to upgrade more often. Carriers no longer have to collect over a year's worth of payments to make up for subsidized phone prices; instead, they collect more each month via installment plans and leases.</p>
<p>This gives the carriers the ability to offer special deals that encourage customers to upgrade their devices even more frequently -- which dovetails nicely with the fact that high-end smartphones are updated on a 12-month cycle.</p>
<p>But the carriers aren't just competing against each other for the best yearly upgrade plans. They're also competing against Apple and Samsung's <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2016/02/03/heres-how-samsung-plans-to-copy-apple-again.aspx%20?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">own plans Opens a New Window.</a>as well.</p>
<p>Both companies offer upgrade programs that encourage users to buy smartphones from the manufacturer, select any major carrier they want, and pay monthly device installments, with the option of upgrading when the next device debuts.</p>
<p>While Verizon's new Samsung upgrade plan is mostly aimed at other carriers' customers, it's also likely the company is looking to give them an incentive not to buy their phones directly from Samsung. When customers switch to Samsung's upgrade plan, it moves the customer relationship away from Verizon and puts it in the hands of Samsung.</p>
<p>Verizon brought in $5.4 billion in equipment revenue in the fourth quarter of 2015 -- much of it from sales of smartphones -- an increase from $4.1 billion in the year-ago quarter. Verizon is now looking to its new Annual Upgrade Program to further spur device sales and increase revenue in that segment.</p>
<p>So while Verizon really wants customers to buy a new Galaxy S7 -- it especially wants them to do so through its own upgrade program.</p>
<p>The article <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2016/03/18/verizon-really-wants-you-to-get-a-new-samsung-phon.aspx" type="external">Verizon Really Wants You to Get a New Samsung Phone Every Year Opens a New Window.</a> originally appeared on Fool.com.</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFNewsie/info.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">Chris Neiger Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Apple. The Motley Fool recommends Verizon Communications. 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> | Verizon Really Wants You to Get a New Samsung Phone Every Year | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/03/18/verizon-really-wants-to-get-new-samsung-phone-every-year.html | 2016-03-18 | 0right
| Verizon Really Wants You to Get a New Samsung Phone Every Year
<p>Source: Verizon.</p>
<p>Samsung just released its Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge devices, and they've received glowing reviews. The electronics giant is hoping the smartphones will spur new interest in its devices as it tries to rebuild its <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2015/11/21/samsungs-smartphone-slide-in-1-chart.aspx%20?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">crumbling mobile dominance Opens a New Window.</a>. Meanwhile, Verizon Communications is hoping the new Galaxy S phones could spur on more sales for its new upgrade plan.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Verizon announced this week that customers can sign up for its Annual Upgrade Program with Samsung's latest devices -- a deal that was previously only available for those buying Apple's iPhones.</p>
<p>What are the details? Customers have to buy a new Galaxy S7 or S7 Edge to be eligible for an upgrade once per year. They can then upgrade to a new Samsung Galaxy S device just 30 days after signing up, as long as more than 50% of their current device is paid for.</p>
<p>If customers don't want to upgrade, they simply continue paying for the device over a 24-month period.</p>
<p>This plan isn't all that different than what some other carriers are offering, thoughSprint and T-Mobile have a few different options.</p>
<p>How the other plans differSprint offers its customers the ability to upgrade Samsung devices as well, but it's doing it through a leasing option rather than Verizon's installment plan.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Sprint calls its plan Galaxy Forever (just like its iPhone Forever plan), but instead of being able to upgrade as soon as 30 days after signing up, Sprint customers must wait until they've made at least 12 payments on their devices.</p>
<p>But T-Mobile offers the most flexibility with its Jump! On Demand leasing option. Customers can upgrade to a new device up to three time per year, and can select a variety of phones including the new iPhones, Galaxy S7 and Note devices, and high-end LG models. Customers can also opt to pay for their device in full (and not upgrade) once the lease term reaches 18 months.</p>
<p>So why are all these carriers pushing their own yearly upgrade options?</p>
<p>Keeping customers right where they areUpgrades are nothing new in the wireless industry, but they've changed a bit recently.</p>
<p>When T-Mobile first moved away from two-year contracts (a trend the other carriers followed), it helped encourage customers to upgrade more often. Carriers no longer have to collect over a year's worth of payments to make up for subsidized phone prices; instead, they collect more each month via installment plans and leases.</p>
<p>This gives the carriers the ability to offer special deals that encourage customers to upgrade their devices even more frequently -- which dovetails nicely with the fact that high-end smartphones are updated on a 12-month cycle.</p>
<p>But the carriers aren't just competing against each other for the best yearly upgrade plans. They're also competing against Apple and Samsung's <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2016/02/03/heres-how-samsung-plans-to-copy-apple-again.aspx%20?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">own plans Opens a New Window.</a>as well.</p>
<p>Both companies offer upgrade programs that encourage users to buy smartphones from the manufacturer, select any major carrier they want, and pay monthly device installments, with the option of upgrading when the next device debuts.</p>
<p>While Verizon's new Samsung upgrade plan is mostly aimed at other carriers' customers, it's also likely the company is looking to give them an incentive not to buy their phones directly from Samsung. When customers switch to Samsung's upgrade plan, it moves the customer relationship away from Verizon and puts it in the hands of Samsung.</p>
<p>Verizon brought in $5.4 billion in equipment revenue in the fourth quarter of 2015 -- much of it from sales of smartphones -- an increase from $4.1 billion in the year-ago quarter. Verizon is now looking to its new Annual Upgrade Program to further spur device sales and increase revenue in that segment.</p>
<p>So while Verizon really wants customers to buy a new Galaxy S7 -- it especially wants them to do so through its own upgrade program.</p>
<p>The article <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2016/03/18/verizon-really-wants-you-to-get-a-new-samsung-phon.aspx" type="external">Verizon Really Wants You to Get a New Samsung Phone Every Year Opens a New Window.</a> originally appeared on Fool.com.</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFNewsie/info.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">Chris Neiger Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Apple. The Motley Fool recommends Verizon Communications. 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> | 1,045 |
<p />
<p>New at Mother Jones:</p>
<p>U.S. forces in Iraq recently uncovered an Iraqi-run torture center in Baghdad. But as David Enders reports, the torture chambers were common knowledge in Iraq long before being reported in the American press. ( <a href="" type="internal">LINK</a>)</p>
<p>Mark Levine writes on the Christian Peacemakers in Iraq and the failure of “cheap activism” among the antiwar movement here at home. ( <a href="" type="internal">LINK</a>)</p>
<p>Tom Engelhardt reflects on how 9/11 saved George W. Bush’s faltering presidency, and notes that even before the attacks, “a few aspects of our post-9/11 political world were quite recognizable even then.” ( <a href="" type="internal">LINK</a>)</p>
<p>Also, see Mark Fiore’s cartoon on the impending Stanley “Tookie” Williams execution. “A really good way to show that killing is wrong… is to kill people. Got it kids?” ( <a href="" type="internal">LINK</a>)</p>
<p /> | Torture Chambers Uncovered | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2005/12/torture-chambers-uncovered/ | 2005-12-08 | 4left
| Torture Chambers Uncovered
<p />
<p>New at Mother Jones:</p>
<p>U.S. forces in Iraq recently uncovered an Iraqi-run torture center in Baghdad. But as David Enders reports, the torture chambers were common knowledge in Iraq long before being reported in the American press. ( <a href="" type="internal">LINK</a>)</p>
<p>Mark Levine writes on the Christian Peacemakers in Iraq and the failure of “cheap activism” among the antiwar movement here at home. ( <a href="" type="internal">LINK</a>)</p>
<p>Tom Engelhardt reflects on how 9/11 saved George W. Bush’s faltering presidency, and notes that even before the attacks, “a few aspects of our post-9/11 political world were quite recognizable even then.” ( <a href="" type="internal">LINK</a>)</p>
<p>Also, see Mark Fiore’s cartoon on the impending Stanley “Tookie” Williams execution. “A really good way to show that killing is wrong… is to kill people. Got it kids?” ( <a href="" type="internal">LINK</a>)</p>
<p /> | 1,046 |
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>The settlement with Markstone Capital Group, which was ratified earlier this month by the SIC’s settlement committee and announced Tuesday, is the second-largest payout to be recovered by the state investment agency since 2011.</p>
<p>In all, the SIC has now secured roughly $28 million in settlements from firms and individuals. The agency claims the state lost hundreds of millions of dollars in politically influenced investment deals during former Gov. Bill Richardson’s administration.</p>
<p>Gov. Susana Martinez, who serves as the SIC’s chairwoman, described the latest recovery settlement as “welcome news for New Mexico’s taxpayers.”</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>“Our taxpayers expect and deserve responsible stewardship of their hard-earned tax dollars and I applaud the council’s continuing efforts to restore accountability following a deeply disappointing chapter in New Mexico history,” Martinez said in a Tuesday statement.</p>
<p>The SIC invested $20 million in 2004 in Markstone, which was founded to pursue investment opportunities in Israel.</p>
<p>Currently, the total value of that investment – in terms of recent valuations and money paid back to the state – is less than $17 million, SIC spokesman Charles Wollmann said. The state has not invested any additional money with the firm.</p>
<p>“The fund performance has been less than hoped for,” Wollmann said Tuesday.</p>
<p>Former U.S. Rep. Bob Carr, a Michigan Democrat, helped broker the Markstone deal. He was listed as a defendant in the SIC’s ongoing pay-to-play lawsuit but was dismissed from the case after he agreed to cooperate with the state’s recovery efforts.</p>
<p>Carr, who served with Richardson in Congress, was not a congressman when he received a $100,000 placement fee from Markstone for helping the firm land the state investment deal.</p>
<p>As part of Tuesday’s agreement, Markstone agreed to make the $1 million payment within 30 days but denied any wrongdoing, according to a copy of the document. Both Carr and Richardson have also denied wrongdoing.</p>
<p>Top-ranking SIC officials have described the settlements with investment firms and placement agents, including Carr, as part of a plan to recover large amounts of money. A trial date for the remaining defendants has not been set, but could happen next year.</p>
<p>The SIC’s plan has come under some criticism. Frank Foy, a former investment officer for the state teacher pension fund who filed a pair of whistleblower lawsuits, has blasted the SIC and its attorneys for not negotiating larger settlement amounts.</p>
<p>The SIC oversees more than $19 billion in state investments. Its earnings help pay for the state’s public schools and other expenditures.</p>
<p />
<p /> | Equity firm to pay SIC $1M | false | https://abqjournal.com/420426/equity-firm-to-pay-sic-1m.html | 2least
| Equity firm to pay SIC $1M
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>The settlement with Markstone Capital Group, which was ratified earlier this month by the SIC’s settlement committee and announced Tuesday, is the second-largest payout to be recovered by the state investment agency since 2011.</p>
<p>In all, the SIC has now secured roughly $28 million in settlements from firms and individuals. The agency claims the state lost hundreds of millions of dollars in politically influenced investment deals during former Gov. Bill Richardson’s administration.</p>
<p>Gov. Susana Martinez, who serves as the SIC’s chairwoman, described the latest recovery settlement as “welcome news for New Mexico’s taxpayers.”</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>“Our taxpayers expect and deserve responsible stewardship of their hard-earned tax dollars and I applaud the council’s continuing efforts to restore accountability following a deeply disappointing chapter in New Mexico history,” Martinez said in a Tuesday statement.</p>
<p>The SIC invested $20 million in 2004 in Markstone, which was founded to pursue investment opportunities in Israel.</p>
<p>Currently, the total value of that investment – in terms of recent valuations and money paid back to the state – is less than $17 million, SIC spokesman Charles Wollmann said. The state has not invested any additional money with the firm.</p>
<p>“The fund performance has been less than hoped for,” Wollmann said Tuesday.</p>
<p>Former U.S. Rep. Bob Carr, a Michigan Democrat, helped broker the Markstone deal. He was listed as a defendant in the SIC’s ongoing pay-to-play lawsuit but was dismissed from the case after he agreed to cooperate with the state’s recovery efforts.</p>
<p>Carr, who served with Richardson in Congress, was not a congressman when he received a $100,000 placement fee from Markstone for helping the firm land the state investment deal.</p>
<p>As part of Tuesday’s agreement, Markstone agreed to make the $1 million payment within 30 days but denied any wrongdoing, according to a copy of the document. Both Carr and Richardson have also denied wrongdoing.</p>
<p>Top-ranking SIC officials have described the settlements with investment firms and placement agents, including Carr, as part of a plan to recover large amounts of money. A trial date for the remaining defendants has not been set, but could happen next year.</p>
<p>The SIC’s plan has come under some criticism. Frank Foy, a former investment officer for the state teacher pension fund who filed a pair of whistleblower lawsuits, has blasted the SIC and its attorneys for not negotiating larger settlement amounts.</p>
<p>The SIC oversees more than $19 billion in state investments. Its earnings help pay for the state’s public schools and other expenditures.</p>
<p />
<p /> | 1,047 |
|
<p><a href="" type="internal" /></p>
<p>It’s called LEAP: Law Enforcement Against Prohibition. With a growing army of law enforcement and criminal justice personnel who actually support legalizing drugs like marijuana, this public policy initiative is starting to gain traction.</p>
<p>On its <a href="http://www.leap.cc/cms/index.php" type="external">website</a>, LEAP describes itself as “current and former members of the law enforcement and criminal justice communities who are speaking out about the failures of our existing drug policies.” What are those failures? LEAP says:</p>
<p>&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160; By continuing to fight the so-called ‘War on Drugs’, the US government has worsened these problems of society instead of alleviating them. A system of regulation and control of these substances (by the government, replacing the current system of control by the black market) would be a less harmful, less costly, more ethical and more effective public policy.</p>
<p>Just who are these law enforcement and criminal justice officials, and do they really want to legalize drugs? Judge Jim Gray served as a Superior Court judge in Orange County for 25 years. Speaking in favor of the Regulate, Control, and Tax Cannabis Act of 2010, Judge Gray recently had this to say:</p>
<p>&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160; California simply can’t afford to continue to waste hundreds of millions of dollars and countless hours of law enforcement time targeting non-violent cannabis consumers who have hurt no one. Our police waste countless hours targeting and arresting non-violent cannabis consumers. Those arrested are then sent to court, where judges waste countless hours hearing their cases and sentencing them. Then they wind up in jail, where we waste hundreds of millions of dollars incarcerating them.</p>
<p>But the judge goes even further. For Judge Gray, legalizing the cultivation, sale, and recreational use of marijuana is not only an effective way to help balance California’s battered budget, it will actually make Californians safer. In a recent advertisement for the Tax Cannabis initiative, Judge Gray <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4n75x19_TQ8" type="external">explained why</a>.</p>
<p>But the California Police Chiefs Association disagrees with the characterization of their work on drugs as wasteful, <a href="http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/politics/local_elections&amp;id=7361565" type="external">arguing</a> that they “just don’t spend their time on cases involving less than an ounce. If someone is caught with less than an ounce of pot now it’s a citation with a small fine.”</p>
<p>Though Judge Gray is quick to rebut that “we have thousands of people in state prisons simply because they smoked marijuana while on parole. This often puts their families back on welfare when they are placed back in prison.”</p>
<p>While the controversy rages on, the activity of LEAP shows that not all law enforcement agents or self-described “conservatives” are necessarily opposed to the legalization of drugs like marijuana.</p>
<p>If the issue appears black and white to some, there are still others who see it in varying shades of gray.</p>
<p>&#160;</p> | Law enforcement organization opposes War on Drugs | false | https://ivn.us/2010/05/08/law-enforcement-organization-opposes-war-drugs/ | 2010-05-08 | 2least
| Law enforcement organization opposes War on Drugs
<p><a href="" type="internal" /></p>
<p>It’s called LEAP: Law Enforcement Against Prohibition. With a growing army of law enforcement and criminal justice personnel who actually support legalizing drugs like marijuana, this public policy initiative is starting to gain traction.</p>
<p>On its <a href="http://www.leap.cc/cms/index.php" type="external">website</a>, LEAP describes itself as “current and former members of the law enforcement and criminal justice communities who are speaking out about the failures of our existing drug policies.” What are those failures? LEAP says:</p>
<p>&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160; By continuing to fight the so-called ‘War on Drugs’, the US government has worsened these problems of society instead of alleviating them. A system of regulation and control of these substances (by the government, replacing the current system of control by the black market) would be a less harmful, less costly, more ethical and more effective public policy.</p>
<p>Just who are these law enforcement and criminal justice officials, and do they really want to legalize drugs? Judge Jim Gray served as a Superior Court judge in Orange County for 25 years. Speaking in favor of the Regulate, Control, and Tax Cannabis Act of 2010, Judge Gray recently had this to say:</p>
<p>&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160; California simply can’t afford to continue to waste hundreds of millions of dollars and countless hours of law enforcement time targeting non-violent cannabis consumers who have hurt no one. Our police waste countless hours targeting and arresting non-violent cannabis consumers. Those arrested are then sent to court, where judges waste countless hours hearing their cases and sentencing them. Then they wind up in jail, where we waste hundreds of millions of dollars incarcerating them.</p>
<p>But the judge goes even further. For Judge Gray, legalizing the cultivation, sale, and recreational use of marijuana is not only an effective way to help balance California’s battered budget, it will actually make Californians safer. In a recent advertisement for the Tax Cannabis initiative, Judge Gray <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4n75x19_TQ8" type="external">explained why</a>.</p>
<p>But the California Police Chiefs Association disagrees with the characterization of their work on drugs as wasteful, <a href="http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/politics/local_elections&amp;id=7361565" type="external">arguing</a> that they “just don’t spend their time on cases involving less than an ounce. If someone is caught with less than an ounce of pot now it’s a citation with a small fine.”</p>
<p>Though Judge Gray is quick to rebut that “we have thousands of people in state prisons simply because they smoked marijuana while on parole. This often puts their families back on welfare when they are placed back in prison.”</p>
<p>While the controversy rages on, the activity of LEAP shows that not all law enforcement agents or self-described “conservatives” are necessarily opposed to the legalization of drugs like marijuana.</p>
<p>If the issue appears black and white to some, there are still others who see it in varying shades of gray.</p>
<p>&#160;</p> | 1,048 |
<p>U.S. stocks paused Thursday after two days of strong gains as crude prices retreated from the $50 a barrel level and investors brushed off better-than-expected economic reports.</p>
<p>Orders for durable goods manufactured in the U.S. jumped in April, fueled by higher demand for new cars, trucks and commercial jets. But a key measure of business investment fell again. Meanwhile, jobless claims fell to a one-month low last week, suggesting the labor market remained robust.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>A gauge of pending home sales jumped in April, rising to the highest since February 2006. Sales of new and existing homes also surged in April, a sign that builders are stepping up construction as demand for housing remains robust.</p>
<p>The Dow Jones Industrial Average was off by 30 points, or 0.2%, to 17,821, following a 359-point rally over the previous two sessions. The S&amp;P 500 pulled back 1 point to 2,089, weighed down by the financials and materials sectors.</p>
<p>The Nasdaq Composite , which fluctuated between slight gains and losses, was last up 1 point at 4,896.</p>
<p>"While we saw a nice rally over the past few days, and it appeared the market is signalling that it can handle rate hikes, I would question whether this rally is sustainable, because earnings growth is still negative," said Karyn Cavanaugh, market strategist at Voya Investment Management.</p>
<p>Brent crude briefly rose above $50 a barrel on Thursday for the first time in six months, and West Texas Intermediate crude also has briefly traded above the $50 mark.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>WTI futures slipped 7 cents to $49.49 a barrel.</p>
<p>The Dow average turned 120 years old on Thursday. Read how to use that market to your advantage.</p>
<p>Individual movers:Dollar Tree Inc.(DLTR) shares jumped 13% after the discount retailer boosted its outlook, while Dollar General Corp.(DG) shares rose 4.8% even as adjusted quarterly profit missed forecasts, with revenue topping expectations.</p>
<p>HP Inc.(HPQ) shares rose 5.6% after the PC and printer maker reported quarterly results late Wednesday.</p>
<p>PVH Corp.(PVH) shares rose 5.3% after the Calvin Klein parent company raised its guidance for the year.</p>
<p>Signet Jewelers Ltd.(SIG) posted adjusted quarterly profit that beat, but revenue missed. Shares fell 7.8%.</p>
<p>Abercrombie &amp; Fitch Co.(ANF) shares sank 18% as the retailer's same-store sales fell 4% and its quarterly loss was bigger than expected.</p>
<p>Costco Wholesale Corp.(COST) revealed late Wednesday that its sales stagnated in its third quarter, but shares were up 3.8%.</p>
<p>Other markets:European stocks have been trading slightly higher, and most Asian markets closed with modest gains. Gold futures advanced, and a key dollar index inched lower.</p>
<p>Economic news: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Thursday reportedly warned that the commodities selloff in the last two years could indicate another global financial crisis is coming.</p>
<p>Pending home sales for April jumped 5.1% to their highest level since February 2006, soundly topping an expected 0.8% increase.</p>
<p>On the Federal Reserve front, Fed Gov. Jerome Powell said at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington, D.C. that a hike in interest rates hike may come soon but weak productivity will curb further hikes.</p>
<p>Speaking in Singapore, St. Louis Fed President James Bullard noted the U.S. job market is relatively tight and could put upward pressure on inflation, according to a Reuters report.</p>
<p>--Victor Reklaitis in London contributed to this report.</p>
<p>By Anora Mahmudova and Wallace Witkowski, MarketWatch</p> | U.S. Stocks Take A Breather As Oil Retreats From $50 Mark | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/05/26/u-s-stocks-take-breather-as-oil-retreats-from-50-mark.html | 2016-07-06 | 0right
| U.S. Stocks Take A Breather As Oil Retreats From $50 Mark
<p>U.S. stocks paused Thursday after two days of strong gains as crude prices retreated from the $50 a barrel level and investors brushed off better-than-expected economic reports.</p>
<p>Orders for durable goods manufactured in the U.S. jumped in April, fueled by higher demand for new cars, trucks and commercial jets. But a key measure of business investment fell again. Meanwhile, jobless claims fell to a one-month low last week, suggesting the labor market remained robust.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>A gauge of pending home sales jumped in April, rising to the highest since February 2006. Sales of new and existing homes also surged in April, a sign that builders are stepping up construction as demand for housing remains robust.</p>
<p>The Dow Jones Industrial Average was off by 30 points, or 0.2%, to 17,821, following a 359-point rally over the previous two sessions. The S&amp;P 500 pulled back 1 point to 2,089, weighed down by the financials and materials sectors.</p>
<p>The Nasdaq Composite , which fluctuated between slight gains and losses, was last up 1 point at 4,896.</p>
<p>"While we saw a nice rally over the past few days, and it appeared the market is signalling that it can handle rate hikes, I would question whether this rally is sustainable, because earnings growth is still negative," said Karyn Cavanaugh, market strategist at Voya Investment Management.</p>
<p>Brent crude briefly rose above $50 a barrel on Thursday for the first time in six months, and West Texas Intermediate crude also has briefly traded above the $50 mark.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>WTI futures slipped 7 cents to $49.49 a barrel.</p>
<p>The Dow average turned 120 years old on Thursday. Read how to use that market to your advantage.</p>
<p>Individual movers:Dollar Tree Inc.(DLTR) shares jumped 13% after the discount retailer boosted its outlook, while Dollar General Corp.(DG) shares rose 4.8% even as adjusted quarterly profit missed forecasts, with revenue topping expectations.</p>
<p>HP Inc.(HPQ) shares rose 5.6% after the PC and printer maker reported quarterly results late Wednesday.</p>
<p>PVH Corp.(PVH) shares rose 5.3% after the Calvin Klein parent company raised its guidance for the year.</p>
<p>Signet Jewelers Ltd.(SIG) posted adjusted quarterly profit that beat, but revenue missed. Shares fell 7.8%.</p>
<p>Abercrombie &amp; Fitch Co.(ANF) shares sank 18% as the retailer's same-store sales fell 4% and its quarterly loss was bigger than expected.</p>
<p>Costco Wholesale Corp.(COST) revealed late Wednesday that its sales stagnated in its third quarter, but shares were up 3.8%.</p>
<p>Other markets:European stocks have been trading slightly higher, and most Asian markets closed with modest gains. Gold futures advanced, and a key dollar index inched lower.</p>
<p>Economic news: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Thursday reportedly warned that the commodities selloff in the last two years could indicate another global financial crisis is coming.</p>
<p>Pending home sales for April jumped 5.1% to their highest level since February 2006, soundly topping an expected 0.8% increase.</p>
<p>On the Federal Reserve front, Fed Gov. Jerome Powell said at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington, D.C. that a hike in interest rates hike may come soon but weak productivity will curb further hikes.</p>
<p>Speaking in Singapore, St. Louis Fed President James Bullard noted the U.S. job market is relatively tight and could put upward pressure on inflation, according to a Reuters report.</p>
<p>--Victor Reklaitis in London contributed to this report.</p>
<p>By Anora Mahmudova and Wallace Witkowski, MarketWatch</p> | 1,049 |
<p>A busy public square in Pyongyang, North Korea. (Photo: Eva Bartlett)</p>
<p><a href="https://ingaza.wordpress.com/2017/09/07/patreon-yes-people-exist-in-pyongyang/" type="external">Eva Bartlett</a></p>
<p>“A common comment I’ve gotten on the fraction of photos/videos I’ve posted from North Korea (as I continue to sift through hundreds of them) is the lack of people on the streets. Bearing in mind that I haven’t yet posted videos and photos from busy places like the metro/subway system and public places, I’m sharing these screenshots from a video of a busy public square near the train station, a square that was filled with people, mostly sitting, each time I passed it.”</p>
<p>See the video and more of Eva’s visit to the DPRK on <a href="https://www.patreon.com/posts/14266611" type="external">Patreon</a>.</p>
<p>READ MORE NORTH KOREA NEWS AT:&#160; <a href="" type="internal">21st Century Wire North Korea Files</a></p>
<p>SUPPORT OUR&#160;WORK BY SUBSCRIBING &amp; BECOMING A MEMBER&#160; <a href="https://21wire.tv/membership/plans/" type="external">@21WIRE.TV</a></p> | Eva Bartlett in North Korea: ‘Yes, People Exist in Pyongyang’ | true | http://21stcenturywire.com/2017/09/07/eva-bartlett-in-north-korea-yes-people-exist-in-pyongyang/ | 2017-09-07 | 4left
| Eva Bartlett in North Korea: ‘Yes, People Exist in Pyongyang’
<p>A busy public square in Pyongyang, North Korea. (Photo: Eva Bartlett)</p>
<p><a href="https://ingaza.wordpress.com/2017/09/07/patreon-yes-people-exist-in-pyongyang/" type="external">Eva Bartlett</a></p>
<p>“A common comment I’ve gotten on the fraction of photos/videos I’ve posted from North Korea (as I continue to sift through hundreds of them) is the lack of people on the streets. Bearing in mind that I haven’t yet posted videos and photos from busy places like the metro/subway system and public places, I’m sharing these screenshots from a video of a busy public square near the train station, a square that was filled with people, mostly sitting, each time I passed it.”</p>
<p>See the video and more of Eva’s visit to the DPRK on <a href="https://www.patreon.com/posts/14266611" type="external">Patreon</a>.</p>
<p>READ MORE NORTH KOREA NEWS AT:&#160; <a href="" type="internal">21st Century Wire North Korea Files</a></p>
<p>SUPPORT OUR&#160;WORK BY SUBSCRIBING &amp; BECOMING A MEMBER&#160; <a href="https://21wire.tv/membership/plans/" type="external">@21WIRE.TV</a></p> | 1,050 |
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<p />
<p>But get beyond the visuals and the hikers, made by Hoka One One, are a unique experience on the trail. They roll as you hike, the sole a rocker shape to give a fast pace.</p>
<p>The company calls the boots "category-defining." They come with a defining price tag, too, at $230. But for that cost you get solid construction and a boot unlike most anything on the trail.</p>
<p>Hoka is known for its running shoes, which have massive cushioning to absorb terrain. The Tor boot does the same, sucking up bumps, rocks, and other obstacles underfoot.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>I tested the Tor boots over a month, including hiking, backpacking, and even for some trail runs. It performed as promised by the brand with a "blend of running shoe cushioning and supportive trekking uppers."</p>
<p>A Vibram outsole was good for grip on gravel, mud and dirt, yet at 5mm, the lugs are not too knobby when the trail was smooth and I wanted to go fast.</p>
<p>The thick foam midsole makes you tall. It's at first noticeable, and you feel like you could roll an ankle. But the shoe's construction compensates for that, and the high-top design supports and protects.</p>
<p>Underneath the boot's leather and nylon-mesh upper is a waterproof-breathable membrane. I stood ankle-deep in a river for a few minutes on an initial hike; not a drop seeped through.</p>
<p>For a boot, the Tor is of average weight, measuring at about 19 ounces (in men's size 12) per foot. The company designed the Tor with a 4mm offset, or drop, meaning the foot sits fairly flat inside the boot.</p>
<p>In the end, I like the Tor boot in concept but also had a hard time finding a use for its in-between design. Most of my pursuits require fast motion and light footwear, for which I grab running shoes, or else big backpacks and long, rocky trails in the mountains or snow, where beefier boots are needed.</p>
<p>The Tor Ultra is not as burly as the mountain boots I prefer, though it is much heavier than my trail-running shoes. Its waterproof upper is great for wet grass and lowlands, though this footwear was not designed to stand in for winter boots or for long use in snow.</p>
<p>Fans of the big-sole Hoka running shoes might love the hiking boot adaptation when they want to slow down and go long distances. I could see backpackers and thru-hikers, especially on rough and rocky trails, syncing with the design, too.</p>
<p>These are "fat tire" boots, big and cushioned, but they still roll fast. Hike or run in them, and the Tor Ultras give a platform to crush out the miles like little else.</p>
<p>Stephen Regenold writes about outdoors gear at gearjunkie.com.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p /> | Get a grip on mud or dirt with Tor Ultra boots | false | https://abqjournal.com/674258/get-a-grip-on-mud-or-dirt-with-tor-ultra-boots.html | 2least
| Get a grip on mud or dirt with Tor Ultra boots
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>But get beyond the visuals and the hikers, made by Hoka One One, are a unique experience on the trail. They roll as you hike, the sole a rocker shape to give a fast pace.</p>
<p>The company calls the boots "category-defining." They come with a defining price tag, too, at $230. But for that cost you get solid construction and a boot unlike most anything on the trail.</p>
<p>Hoka is known for its running shoes, which have massive cushioning to absorb terrain. The Tor boot does the same, sucking up bumps, rocks, and other obstacles underfoot.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>I tested the Tor boots over a month, including hiking, backpacking, and even for some trail runs. It performed as promised by the brand with a "blend of running shoe cushioning and supportive trekking uppers."</p>
<p>A Vibram outsole was good for grip on gravel, mud and dirt, yet at 5mm, the lugs are not too knobby when the trail was smooth and I wanted to go fast.</p>
<p>The thick foam midsole makes you tall. It's at first noticeable, and you feel like you could roll an ankle. But the shoe's construction compensates for that, and the high-top design supports and protects.</p>
<p>Underneath the boot's leather and nylon-mesh upper is a waterproof-breathable membrane. I stood ankle-deep in a river for a few minutes on an initial hike; not a drop seeped through.</p>
<p>For a boot, the Tor is of average weight, measuring at about 19 ounces (in men's size 12) per foot. The company designed the Tor with a 4mm offset, or drop, meaning the foot sits fairly flat inside the boot.</p>
<p>In the end, I like the Tor boot in concept but also had a hard time finding a use for its in-between design. Most of my pursuits require fast motion and light footwear, for which I grab running shoes, or else big backpacks and long, rocky trails in the mountains or snow, where beefier boots are needed.</p>
<p>The Tor Ultra is not as burly as the mountain boots I prefer, though it is much heavier than my trail-running shoes. Its waterproof upper is great for wet grass and lowlands, though this footwear was not designed to stand in for winter boots or for long use in snow.</p>
<p>Fans of the big-sole Hoka running shoes might love the hiking boot adaptation when they want to slow down and go long distances. I could see backpackers and thru-hikers, especially on rough and rocky trails, syncing with the design, too.</p>
<p>These are "fat tire" boots, big and cushioned, but they still roll fast. Hike or run in them, and the Tor Ultras give a platform to crush out the miles like little else.</p>
<p>Stephen Regenold writes about outdoors gear at gearjunkie.com.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p /> | 1,051 |
|
<p>Australian retail sales rose 0.5% in October from September the Australian Bureau of Statistics said Tuesday.</p>
<p>Sales increased in all states, led by higher spending on cafes, restaurants and clothing.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>The rise was slightly higher than the 0.3% gain forecast by economists ahead of the release. The September result was revised up slightly to a gain of 0.1%. It was originally flat.</p>
<p>The October figure was the strongest since May, helping ease concern that spending has stalled across the economy in recent months. Consumers are grappling with huge household debt, record low wages growth and a slack job market.</p>
<p>The consumer is one of the key risks to Australia's economic outlook for 2018. At nearly 60% of the economy, the outlook for consumption is central to growth forecasts.</p>
<p>More recently, gasoline prices have surged, rising more than 4% in both October and November. At the same time, house price growth is slowing, denting wealth creation.</p>
<p>The Reserve Bank of Australia is expected to keep interest rates on hold at a record low 1.5% in a policy decision due 0330 GMT, citing soft wages growth and a lack of inflation pressure.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>-Write to James Glynn at james.glynn@wsj.com</p>
<p>(END) Dow Jones Newswires</p>
<p>December 04, 2017 19:50 ET (00:50 GMT)</p> | Australian Retail Sales Rise in October | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2017/12/04/australian-retail-sales-rise-in-october.html | 2017-12-04 | 0right
| Australian Retail Sales Rise in October
<p>Australian retail sales rose 0.5% in October from September the Australian Bureau of Statistics said Tuesday.</p>
<p>Sales increased in all states, led by higher spending on cafes, restaurants and clothing.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>The rise was slightly higher than the 0.3% gain forecast by economists ahead of the release. The September result was revised up slightly to a gain of 0.1%. It was originally flat.</p>
<p>The October figure was the strongest since May, helping ease concern that spending has stalled across the economy in recent months. Consumers are grappling with huge household debt, record low wages growth and a slack job market.</p>
<p>The consumer is one of the key risks to Australia's economic outlook for 2018. At nearly 60% of the economy, the outlook for consumption is central to growth forecasts.</p>
<p>More recently, gasoline prices have surged, rising more than 4% in both October and November. At the same time, house price growth is slowing, denting wealth creation.</p>
<p>The Reserve Bank of Australia is expected to keep interest rates on hold at a record low 1.5% in a policy decision due 0330 GMT, citing soft wages growth and a lack of inflation pressure.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>-Write to James Glynn at james.glynn@wsj.com</p>
<p>(END) Dow Jones Newswires</p>
<p>December 04, 2017 19:50 ET (00:50 GMT)</p> | 1,052 |
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<p>Udall shared the No. 1 designation with Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn. Both senators scored a 90.7 percent liberal ranking in vote records compiled by National Journal, an independent publication.</p>
<p>The No. 1 ranking is a jump for Udall, who ranked No. 5 “most liberal” in the National Journal’s 2011 rankings.</p>
<p>And it means Udall ranked above many Democratic senators identified with liberal politics, including Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, of Nevada, Sen. Al Franken, of Minnesota and Sen. Dick Durbin, of Illinois.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Durbin and Franken tied for No. 3; Reid placed in a three-way tie for seventh.</p>
<p>Republican Sen. James Risch, of Idaho, was ranked “most conservative.”</p>
<p>The National Journal ratings released Wednesday listed only the top 15 most liberal and most conservative members from 2012. The ranking for former Sen. Jeff Bingaman, a Democrat, was not released. National Journal said it would release its full chamber rankings today.</p>
<p>Udall was elected to the Senate in 2008, taking the seat of retiring Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M. This year, Udall was tapped by Senate leadership to serve on the Senate Appropriations Committee, a highly sought after assignment.</p>
<p>— James Monteleone <a href="" type="internal">jmonteleone@abqjournal.com</a></p>
<p>Governors meet: Gov. Susana Martinez is headed to Washington, D.C., today for a four-day gathering of the National Governors Association.</p>
<p>Martinez also will meet with officials from the National Nuclear Security Administration to discuss funding for New Mexico’s national laboratories and keeping their missions intact, a Martinez spokesman said Wednesday.</p>
<p>She is scheduled to meet with U.S. Department of Education officials and attend events hosted by the Republican Governors Association, according to the Governor’s Office.</p>
<p>Martinez might miss out on a gubernatorial gathering with President Barack Obama and his wife on Sunday evening at the White House. That’s because Martinez is slated to return to New Mexico on Sunday.</p>
<p>—&#160;Dan Boyd — This article appeared on page C3 of the Albuquerque Journal</p> | Udall ties for No. 1 most liberal | false | https://abqjournal.com/171033/udall-ties-for-no-1-most-liberal.html | 2013-02-21 | 2least
| Udall ties for No. 1 most liberal
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<p />
<p>Udall shared the No. 1 designation with Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn. Both senators scored a 90.7 percent liberal ranking in vote records compiled by National Journal, an independent publication.</p>
<p>The No. 1 ranking is a jump for Udall, who ranked No. 5 “most liberal” in the National Journal’s 2011 rankings.</p>
<p>And it means Udall ranked above many Democratic senators identified with liberal politics, including Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, of Nevada, Sen. Al Franken, of Minnesota and Sen. Dick Durbin, of Illinois.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Durbin and Franken tied for No. 3; Reid placed in a three-way tie for seventh.</p>
<p>Republican Sen. James Risch, of Idaho, was ranked “most conservative.”</p>
<p>The National Journal ratings released Wednesday listed only the top 15 most liberal and most conservative members from 2012. The ranking for former Sen. Jeff Bingaman, a Democrat, was not released. National Journal said it would release its full chamber rankings today.</p>
<p>Udall was elected to the Senate in 2008, taking the seat of retiring Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M. This year, Udall was tapped by Senate leadership to serve on the Senate Appropriations Committee, a highly sought after assignment.</p>
<p>— James Monteleone <a href="" type="internal">jmonteleone@abqjournal.com</a></p>
<p>Governors meet: Gov. Susana Martinez is headed to Washington, D.C., today for a four-day gathering of the National Governors Association.</p>
<p>Martinez also will meet with officials from the National Nuclear Security Administration to discuss funding for New Mexico’s national laboratories and keeping their missions intact, a Martinez spokesman said Wednesday.</p>
<p>She is scheduled to meet with U.S. Department of Education officials and attend events hosted by the Republican Governors Association, according to the Governor’s Office.</p>
<p>Martinez might miss out on a gubernatorial gathering with President Barack Obama and his wife on Sunday evening at the White House. That’s because Martinez is slated to return to New Mexico on Sunday.</p>
<p>—&#160;Dan Boyd — This article appeared on page C3 of the Albuquerque Journal</p> | 1,053 |
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<p />
<p>Jona Caldwell joins a long line of job seekers outside the Ferguson Community Center in Cordova, Tenn. on Nov. 7, 2013. (AP Photo/The Commercial Appeal, Jim Weber, File)</p>
<p>But economists say the figures from late November and December are warped by seasonal volatility around the Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s holidays.</p>
<p>The Labor Department reported Thursday that the less-volatile four-week average rose 4,250 to 348,000.</p>
<p>Claims had jumped 75,000 over the two weeks that ended Dec. 14 before plunging last week. The Labor Department struggles to account for seasonal hiring by retailers and other businesses, as well as for temporary layoffs of cafeteria workers and other employees at schools that close for the holidays.</p>
<p>Unemployment claims are a proxy for layoffs, and the recent declines are consistent with a solid job market.</p>
<p>The economy has shown signs of improvement recently, so much so that the Federal Reserve announced Dec. 18 that it would reduce its stimulus spending on bonds by $10 billion – to $75 billion a month.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>The economy expanded at a 4.1 percent annual pace from July through September, the fastest rate since late 2011 and much greater than previously thought.</p>
<p>Hiring has been healthy the past four months. The economy added an average of 204,000 jobs every month from August through November, an improvement from earlier this year.</p>
<p>The unemployment rate fell in November to a five-year low of 7 percent. Still, that remains above the 5 percent to 6 percent rate that would signal a normal job market.</p>
<p>And long-term unemployment remains a big blot on the economy’s performance: Nearly 4.1 million Americans have been unemployed for six months or more.</p>
<p>Before 2008, the number of long-term unemployed had never surpassed 3 million people, according to records dating back to 1948.</p> | Weekly US jobless claims drop 42K to 338K | false | https://abqjournal.com/326595/latest-business-news-37.html | 2least
| Weekly US jobless claims drop 42K to 338K
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<p />
<p>Jona Caldwell joins a long line of job seekers outside the Ferguson Community Center in Cordova, Tenn. on Nov. 7, 2013. (AP Photo/The Commercial Appeal, Jim Weber, File)</p>
<p>But economists say the figures from late November and December are warped by seasonal volatility around the Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s holidays.</p>
<p>The Labor Department reported Thursday that the less-volatile four-week average rose 4,250 to 348,000.</p>
<p>Claims had jumped 75,000 over the two weeks that ended Dec. 14 before plunging last week. The Labor Department struggles to account for seasonal hiring by retailers and other businesses, as well as for temporary layoffs of cafeteria workers and other employees at schools that close for the holidays.</p>
<p>Unemployment claims are a proxy for layoffs, and the recent declines are consistent with a solid job market.</p>
<p>The economy has shown signs of improvement recently, so much so that the Federal Reserve announced Dec. 18 that it would reduce its stimulus spending on bonds by $10 billion – to $75 billion a month.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>The economy expanded at a 4.1 percent annual pace from July through September, the fastest rate since late 2011 and much greater than previously thought.</p>
<p>Hiring has been healthy the past four months. The economy added an average of 204,000 jobs every month from August through November, an improvement from earlier this year.</p>
<p>The unemployment rate fell in November to a five-year low of 7 percent. Still, that remains above the 5 percent to 6 percent rate that would signal a normal job market.</p>
<p>And long-term unemployment remains a big blot on the economy’s performance: Nearly 4.1 million Americans have been unemployed for six months or more.</p>
<p>Before 2008, the number of long-term unemployed had never surpassed 3 million people, according to records dating back to 1948.</p> | 1,054 |
|
<p>GREEN BAY, Wis. — Quarterback <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Aaron_Rodgers/" type="external">Aaron Rodgers</a> returned to practice on Saturday in hopes of getting back into the lineup to aid in the <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Green_Bay_Packers/" type="external">Green Bay Packers</a>‘ desperate playoff push.</p>
<p>Those playoff hopes stayed alive as Aaron Jones rushed for a 20-yard touchdown with 5:59 remaining in overtime as the Packers posted a 26-20 win over the <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Tampa-Bay-Buccaneers/" type="external">Tampa Bay Buccaneers</a> on Sunday at Lambeau Field.</p>
<p>Green Bay won the overtime coin toss and won the game on the first carry of the contest for Jones, who missed the last two games with a knee injury. He was stacked up at the line of scrimmage, bounced left, got a block from receiver <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Jordy_Nelson/" type="external">Jordy Nelson</a> and dived into the end zone.</p>
<p>Quarterback Brett Hundley escaped a sack and ran for 7 yards on third-and-4. He also rushed for 18 yards on a read-option and completed a swing pass to running back Jamaal Williams for a gain of 12 to set up Jones’ winning run.</p>
<p>The Packers improved to 6-6 and broke a three-game home losing streak.</p>
<p>Tampa Bay fell to 4-8 as quarterback <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Jameis-Winston/" type="external">Jameis Winston</a> returned after missing the past three games with a shoulder injury. He passed for 270 yards and two touchdowns and running back Peyton Barber ran for 102 yards.</p>
<p>Winston threw the go-ahead touchdown pass with 6:02 remaining. One play after being two yards past the line of scrimmage on a touchdown pass to <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/DeSean_Jackson/" type="external">DeSean Jackson</a>, he hit tight end Cameron Brate for an 11-yard touchdown on third-and-goal.</p>
<p>The Packers had no first downs in the second half as they embarked on a game-tying drive. Hundley’s 14-yard run on a read-option converted a third-and-2, and a 14-yard pass to <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Davante-Adams/" type="external">Davante Adams</a>, paired with a roughing-the-passer penalty on defensive end William Gholston, gave the Packers a first down at the 14. The drive stalled, however, when safety Justin Evans tackled Nelson a foot short of the first down on third-and-1.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Mason_Crosby/" type="external">Mason Crosby</a>‘s 22-yard field goal tied the game with 2:01 remaining.</p>
<p>The Buccaneers went nowhere, due in large part to center Evan Smith’s illegal block eliminating a big gain on a screen and a second-down sack by defensive tackle Kenny Clark. The Packers had one chance in regulation, starting at their 38 with 44 seconds remaining, but failed to effectively move the ball.</p>
<p>The NFL’s last-ranked pass defense had its way with Rodgers’ backup, Hundley. Making his sixth start with Rodgers sidelined with a broken collarbone, Hundley completed 13-of-22 passes for 84 yards and one interception. Green Bay had 47 net passing yards before its game-tying series.</p>
<p>A key moment came at the start of the fourth quarter, which started with the Bucs having a second-and-goal at the 3. After an incomplete pass made it third down, Winston lined up in shotgun and walked to the line of scrimmage to adjust the play. Smith snapped the ball, with Winston scurrying back to the 12 to recover. Patrick Murray’s 30-yard field goal cut the margin to 17-13 with 14:31 remaining.</p>
<p>Two big plays by Green Bay’s beleaguered special teams and defense provided a 17-10 halftime lead.</p>
<p>With the Buccaneers leading 7-3 in the second quarter, Evans made a leaping interception. Winston and Co. couldn’t take advantage, and Packers linebacker Kyler Fackrell blew through Tampa Bay’s interior protection to block the punt. That gave the Packers the ball at the Bucs’ 45. A 25-yard run by Williams set up his 1-yard touchdown.</p>
<p>Tampa Bay advanced past midfield on the ensuing possession, but Clark sacked Winston. The ball popped loose and was caught by defensive tackle Dean Lowry, who sprinted 62 yards for a touchdown that made it 17-7.</p>
<p>Murray’s 36-yard field goal cut the deficit to 17-10 at halftime.</p>
<p>Tampa Bay took a quick 7-0 lead on Winston’s 28-yard touchdown pass to Brate, who made a one-handed catch and beat defensive back Jermaine Whitehead to the end zone.</p>
<p>The Packers answered with a 14-play scoring drive that managed only a field goal. Hundley threw a poor pass to receiver <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Geronimo-Allison/" type="external">Geronimo Allison</a>, who was all alone for what should have been a 19-yard touchdown.</p>
<p>NOTES: With a kickoff temperature of 42, this was the ninth December game in Lambeau Field history with a temperature of at least 40. The Packers were 8-0 in those games. … Tampa Bay played without starting DE <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Robert-Ayers/" type="external">Robert Ayers</a> (concussion), CB <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Vernon-Hargreaves/" type="external">Vernon Hargreaves</a> (hamstring) and RB <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Doug_Martin/" type="external">Doug Martin</a> (concussion). … Packers OLB <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Clay-Matthews/" type="external">Clay Matthews</a>, who missed last week’s game and had 3.5 sacks on the season, had 2.5 on Sunday. Green Bay had seven sacks, second-most in franchise history behind its eight vs. Philadelphia in 2004.</p> | Aaron Jones scores in OT as Green Bay Packers topple Tampa Bay Buccaneers | false | https://newsline.com/aaron-jones-scores-in-ot-as-green-bay-packers-topple-tampa-bay-buccaneers/ | 2017-12-03 | 1right-center
| Aaron Jones scores in OT as Green Bay Packers topple Tampa Bay Buccaneers
<p>GREEN BAY, Wis. — Quarterback <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Aaron_Rodgers/" type="external">Aaron Rodgers</a> returned to practice on Saturday in hopes of getting back into the lineup to aid in the <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Green_Bay_Packers/" type="external">Green Bay Packers</a>‘ desperate playoff push.</p>
<p>Those playoff hopes stayed alive as Aaron Jones rushed for a 20-yard touchdown with 5:59 remaining in overtime as the Packers posted a 26-20 win over the <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Tampa-Bay-Buccaneers/" type="external">Tampa Bay Buccaneers</a> on Sunday at Lambeau Field.</p>
<p>Green Bay won the overtime coin toss and won the game on the first carry of the contest for Jones, who missed the last two games with a knee injury. He was stacked up at the line of scrimmage, bounced left, got a block from receiver <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Jordy_Nelson/" type="external">Jordy Nelson</a> and dived into the end zone.</p>
<p>Quarterback Brett Hundley escaped a sack and ran for 7 yards on third-and-4. He also rushed for 18 yards on a read-option and completed a swing pass to running back Jamaal Williams for a gain of 12 to set up Jones’ winning run.</p>
<p>The Packers improved to 6-6 and broke a three-game home losing streak.</p>
<p>Tampa Bay fell to 4-8 as quarterback <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Jameis-Winston/" type="external">Jameis Winston</a> returned after missing the past three games with a shoulder injury. He passed for 270 yards and two touchdowns and running back Peyton Barber ran for 102 yards.</p>
<p>Winston threw the go-ahead touchdown pass with 6:02 remaining. One play after being two yards past the line of scrimmage on a touchdown pass to <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/DeSean_Jackson/" type="external">DeSean Jackson</a>, he hit tight end Cameron Brate for an 11-yard touchdown on third-and-goal.</p>
<p>The Packers had no first downs in the second half as they embarked on a game-tying drive. Hundley’s 14-yard run on a read-option converted a third-and-2, and a 14-yard pass to <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Davante-Adams/" type="external">Davante Adams</a>, paired with a roughing-the-passer penalty on defensive end William Gholston, gave the Packers a first down at the 14. The drive stalled, however, when safety Justin Evans tackled Nelson a foot short of the first down on third-and-1.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Mason_Crosby/" type="external">Mason Crosby</a>‘s 22-yard field goal tied the game with 2:01 remaining.</p>
<p>The Buccaneers went nowhere, due in large part to center Evan Smith’s illegal block eliminating a big gain on a screen and a second-down sack by defensive tackle Kenny Clark. The Packers had one chance in regulation, starting at their 38 with 44 seconds remaining, but failed to effectively move the ball.</p>
<p>The NFL’s last-ranked pass defense had its way with Rodgers’ backup, Hundley. Making his sixth start with Rodgers sidelined with a broken collarbone, Hundley completed 13-of-22 passes for 84 yards and one interception. Green Bay had 47 net passing yards before its game-tying series.</p>
<p>A key moment came at the start of the fourth quarter, which started with the Bucs having a second-and-goal at the 3. After an incomplete pass made it third down, Winston lined up in shotgun and walked to the line of scrimmage to adjust the play. Smith snapped the ball, with Winston scurrying back to the 12 to recover. Patrick Murray’s 30-yard field goal cut the margin to 17-13 with 14:31 remaining.</p>
<p>Two big plays by Green Bay’s beleaguered special teams and defense provided a 17-10 halftime lead.</p>
<p>With the Buccaneers leading 7-3 in the second quarter, Evans made a leaping interception. Winston and Co. couldn’t take advantage, and Packers linebacker Kyler Fackrell blew through Tampa Bay’s interior protection to block the punt. That gave the Packers the ball at the Bucs’ 45. A 25-yard run by Williams set up his 1-yard touchdown.</p>
<p>Tampa Bay advanced past midfield on the ensuing possession, but Clark sacked Winston. The ball popped loose and was caught by defensive tackle Dean Lowry, who sprinted 62 yards for a touchdown that made it 17-7.</p>
<p>Murray’s 36-yard field goal cut the deficit to 17-10 at halftime.</p>
<p>Tampa Bay took a quick 7-0 lead on Winston’s 28-yard touchdown pass to Brate, who made a one-handed catch and beat defensive back Jermaine Whitehead to the end zone.</p>
<p>The Packers answered with a 14-play scoring drive that managed only a field goal. Hundley threw a poor pass to receiver <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Geronimo-Allison/" type="external">Geronimo Allison</a>, who was all alone for what should have been a 19-yard touchdown.</p>
<p>NOTES: With a kickoff temperature of 42, this was the ninth December game in Lambeau Field history with a temperature of at least 40. The Packers were 8-0 in those games. … Tampa Bay played without starting DE <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Robert-Ayers/" type="external">Robert Ayers</a> (concussion), CB <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Vernon-Hargreaves/" type="external">Vernon Hargreaves</a> (hamstring) and RB <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Doug_Martin/" type="external">Doug Martin</a> (concussion). … Packers OLB <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Clay-Matthews/" type="external">Clay Matthews</a>, who missed last week’s game and had 3.5 sacks on the season, had 2.5 on Sunday. Green Bay had seven sacks, second-most in franchise history behind its eight vs. Philadelphia in 2004.</p> | 1,055 |
<p>By Mort RosenblumNote: This article is reprinted by permission of the author.</p>
<p>That hoary fable has it wrong. Frogs have the sense to hop out of heating pots. We Americans don’t. Degree by degree over decades, we’ve been scalded senseless. It is time to snap out of our stupor.</p>
<p>Consider the ironies.</p>
<p>Back in 1967, I went to the Congo and then kept going, curious to find the strangest society on earth. These days, I could just stay home.</p>
<p />
<p>Americans in the 70s loved the Waltons, a hardscrabble West Virginia fictional family who fed any stranger at the door. Today, six real Waltons are worth $115 billion, more than the bottom third of the nation. For one of their Walmart peons, that is seven million years of base pay.</p>
<p>No one thought about climate then. Water made headlines in 1972 but only with “gate” attached to it. Reporters revealed Richard Nixon burgled the Democrats’ Watergate offices. Outraged citizens impeached him. Today, most of us just shrug when we learn how the White House snoops on us all.</p>
<p>Congress cripples essential services to save a few trillion dollars over 10 years. We squandered twice that on two unwinnable wars, despite the lessons of Vietnam, only to make yet more people hate us. Iraqi oil now goes to China.</p>
<p>When allies who need our leadership warn that we are bumbling toward the scrapheap of ex-empires, we wave bigger flags. If sovereign states thwart us, our generals fondle their drones.</p>
<p>We vaunt our generosity but, per capita, our foreign aid is the stingiest among rich nations. As George Packer notes in the New Yorker, it is “an awkward exercise of high-minded self-interest, humanitarian goals uneasily balanced with strategic calculations.”</p>
<p>At home, we take comfort in our bedrock strength, defended over centuries: our freedoms to choose. Yet we allow ourselves to be fleeced by partisan politics and a tiny fringe of big-money players.</p>
<p>Two pals visiting from Arizona offered a diagnosis. Workaday Americans, overwhelmed, focus on their own narrow bread-and-circus worlds. Kids, seeing bullshit all around them, thumb alternative realities on tiny screens. The way out, my friends conclude, is to build awareness and incrementally spur action.</p>
<p>That is like a flight crew’s directions as a troubled airliner nears a mountain: Buckle up, lean forward, and kiss your ass goodbye.</p>
<p>We need to move fast, as a collective. We can each act locally, but we’ve got to think on a planetary plane. Borders in today’s world are only lines on a map.</p>
<p>For starters, let’s face reality. Sure, we’re a great nation. But I’d love to see Alexis de Tocqueville back for an update at a Phoenix mall among feckless golden youth. Or at a Tucson gun show where old guys in boots arm themselves for Armageddon.</p>
<p>Tocqueville came in 1831 to see how France might improve its prisons. Now I could show him Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s pink-clad inmates frying in summer sun. He would find we lock up 760 of every 100,000 inhabitants, seven times France’s rate, more than Cuba and China combined.</p>
<p>He marveled at how people stayed free and happy by holding governments to account. When citizens grow apathetic, he wrote, democracies slide toward “soft despotism,” and majorities tyrannize minorities. (He’d likely be amused by our term, sequester. In French, sequestrer means kidnap.)</p>
<p>We are no longer so exceptional. In a lot of countries any kid can grow up to be president. An American must raise a billion dollars and show Donald Trump a birth certificate. We sneer at others’ corruption, yet ours is built into our institutions. Special interests can legally rent all the legislators they need.</p>
<p>Obsessed with ourselves, we don’t see how others view our violence. A terrorist band killed 3,000 people in 2001, and we still rain fire halfway around the world. Our guns at home take 11,000 lives each year. In Japan, by contrast, gun deaths totaled seven in 2012, two fewer than deaths by scissors.</p>
<p>Here are some urgent priorities:</p>
<p>–First, we need a firm grip on global realities. That requires professional reporters along with thoughtful readers who absorb what they report. Today’s avalanche of “news” from multiple directions would be great if we knew what to trust. Mostly, it only confuses us. Good stuff gets lost in a tower of babble.</p>
<p>Too often, we reduce “news” to nuggets that feed prejudice and agenda. Example: It was senseless to fixate on the Benghazi calamity. No government can field enough agents and troops to secure countless far-flung snake pits. We need to reduce frustrations that breed enemies who target easy prey.</p>
<p>–Second, we have to elect people who remember their oaths of office. Here is Robert Reich: “Conservative Republicans…basically shut Congress down. Their refusal to compromise is working just as they hoped: No jobs agenda. No budget. No grand bargain on the deficit. No background checks on guns. Nothing on climate change. No tax reform. No hike in the minimum wage. Nothing so far on immigration reform.”</p>
<p>Our legislators do not shoot their way into office. We vote them in, and we can bounce them out when they put their own interests ahead of ours. We need to undo gerrymandering that lets minorities hold majorities for ransom.</p>
<p>–Third, we need to realize that in the long run schools matter most. When I start a class, I’m always stunned at how little 21-year-old journalism students know about the world they are about to inherit. At the end, I’m thrilled at how eager they are to keep learning more. That interest should start in third grade.</p>
<p>Each Reaper drone missile load costs at least $320,000, enough to hire a handful of teachers who can explain to future generations why it is a bad idea to blow up distant strangers. If some kids disagree, fair enough, as long as facts, context, and critical thinking factor into the process.</p>
<p>Half a century of poking into other societies has shown me that people are more alike than they are different. They know injustice when they see it, social and otherwise. Muscular nations with big appetites need to keep that in mind.</p>
<p>Latin America is finally narrowing the rich-poor gap. Ours widens. Corporations rule. Banks we bailed out squeeze us at every turn. Other nations see health care as a human right. Our version enriches insurance companies, overburdens doctors, and does little for many it was meant to help.</p>
<p>This is no commie rant. I reported from the Evil Empire when it collapsed. Soviet socialism didn’t kill it. People finally had enough of leaders who used state power to favor a chosen few and quell dissent. Sound familiar?</p>
<p>But only half of us even bother to vote, let alone protest. Look how Turks reacted when the prime minister tried to make Taksim Square into a shopping mall.</p>
<p>Wherever I go, friends tell me they miss what America was and could be. Gustavo Gorriti, the most respected reporter in Peru, sent chills up my spine.</p>
<p>“I admire the United States profoundly,” he said. “Some of my best years were spent there.” Like so many others, he studied the American style of journalism that set the world standard. Now, he says, that is over.</p>
<p>“We now all pay the price of your having devastated real newspapers,” he said. As he sees it, few Americans realize that a complex public-private universe operates over their heads. When an Edward Snowden attempts to shed some light, he is hounded as a traitor into the enemy camp.</p>
<p>“Orwell would have thought this was too crazy for his novels,” Gorriti said. He fears Europe is being muscled to follow along, eroding democratic foundations built up over centuries.</p>
<p>“There has to be a reaction from the people,” he concluded. “Americans have to take their country back. If people don’t act in the United States, in Europe, we are going to lose the greatest achievement of human history.”</p>
<p>Farfetched? Orwell wrote “1984” on the Scottish island of Jura. Just recently, the BBC reported, Jura vanished from view. Google inexplicably wiped it off the map. This was later corrected, but the point was made. When virtual replaces real, anything is possible.</p>
<p>We need to bang away at family and friends and then widen our circles. TV won’t help much. John-Boy Walton narrated how Franklin Roosevelt shepherded America out of the Great Depression. Today we have faux reality and that porcine putz with preposterous hair on Celebrity Apprentice, who takes such delight in bellowing, “You’re fired.”</p>
<p>People can be inspired. Stéphane Hessel, in his 90s, sold four million copies worldwide of a pamphlet, Indignez-vous! Roughly, Get Off Your Butt. Then he wrote Engagez-vous. Stay Off Your Butt, and Keep At It.</p>
<p>Hessel was French but his message was universal. He advocates simple firm action, not violence. Civil disobedience only incites police to break heads. We need to understand that those cops work for us. And so does Congress.</p>
<p>In America, if a 99 percent majority cannot revive a hallmark democracy and a free-choice economy, that metaphoric frog has already croaked.</p>
<p>Mort Rosenblum, former Associated Press special correspondent and ex-editor of the International Herald Tribune, jabs a Quixote lance at world failings in his spare moments. Join in on Facebook at <a href="https://www.facebook.com/reportingunlimited" type="external">Reporting Unlimited</a>, or drop a note to mort.rosenblum@gmail.com.</p>
<p /> | Yes We Could. So Why Don't We? | true | https://truthdig.com/articles/yes-we-could-so-why-dont-we/ | 2013-07-31 | 4left
| Yes We Could. So Why Don't We?
<p>By Mort RosenblumNote: This article is reprinted by permission of the author.</p>
<p>That hoary fable has it wrong. Frogs have the sense to hop out of heating pots. We Americans don’t. Degree by degree over decades, we’ve been scalded senseless. It is time to snap out of our stupor.</p>
<p>Consider the ironies.</p>
<p>Back in 1967, I went to the Congo and then kept going, curious to find the strangest society on earth. These days, I could just stay home.</p>
<p />
<p>Americans in the 70s loved the Waltons, a hardscrabble West Virginia fictional family who fed any stranger at the door. Today, six real Waltons are worth $115 billion, more than the bottom third of the nation. For one of their Walmart peons, that is seven million years of base pay.</p>
<p>No one thought about climate then. Water made headlines in 1972 but only with “gate” attached to it. Reporters revealed Richard Nixon burgled the Democrats’ Watergate offices. Outraged citizens impeached him. Today, most of us just shrug when we learn how the White House snoops on us all.</p>
<p>Congress cripples essential services to save a few trillion dollars over 10 years. We squandered twice that on two unwinnable wars, despite the lessons of Vietnam, only to make yet more people hate us. Iraqi oil now goes to China.</p>
<p>When allies who need our leadership warn that we are bumbling toward the scrapheap of ex-empires, we wave bigger flags. If sovereign states thwart us, our generals fondle their drones.</p>
<p>We vaunt our generosity but, per capita, our foreign aid is the stingiest among rich nations. As George Packer notes in the New Yorker, it is “an awkward exercise of high-minded self-interest, humanitarian goals uneasily balanced with strategic calculations.”</p>
<p>At home, we take comfort in our bedrock strength, defended over centuries: our freedoms to choose. Yet we allow ourselves to be fleeced by partisan politics and a tiny fringe of big-money players.</p>
<p>Two pals visiting from Arizona offered a diagnosis. Workaday Americans, overwhelmed, focus on their own narrow bread-and-circus worlds. Kids, seeing bullshit all around them, thumb alternative realities on tiny screens. The way out, my friends conclude, is to build awareness and incrementally spur action.</p>
<p>That is like a flight crew’s directions as a troubled airliner nears a mountain: Buckle up, lean forward, and kiss your ass goodbye.</p>
<p>We need to move fast, as a collective. We can each act locally, but we’ve got to think on a planetary plane. Borders in today’s world are only lines on a map.</p>
<p>For starters, let’s face reality. Sure, we’re a great nation. But I’d love to see Alexis de Tocqueville back for an update at a Phoenix mall among feckless golden youth. Or at a Tucson gun show where old guys in boots arm themselves for Armageddon.</p>
<p>Tocqueville came in 1831 to see how France might improve its prisons. Now I could show him Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s pink-clad inmates frying in summer sun. He would find we lock up 760 of every 100,000 inhabitants, seven times France’s rate, more than Cuba and China combined.</p>
<p>He marveled at how people stayed free and happy by holding governments to account. When citizens grow apathetic, he wrote, democracies slide toward “soft despotism,” and majorities tyrannize minorities. (He’d likely be amused by our term, sequester. In French, sequestrer means kidnap.)</p>
<p>We are no longer so exceptional. In a lot of countries any kid can grow up to be president. An American must raise a billion dollars and show Donald Trump a birth certificate. We sneer at others’ corruption, yet ours is built into our institutions. Special interests can legally rent all the legislators they need.</p>
<p>Obsessed with ourselves, we don’t see how others view our violence. A terrorist band killed 3,000 people in 2001, and we still rain fire halfway around the world. Our guns at home take 11,000 lives each year. In Japan, by contrast, gun deaths totaled seven in 2012, two fewer than deaths by scissors.</p>
<p>Here are some urgent priorities:</p>
<p>–First, we need a firm grip on global realities. That requires professional reporters along with thoughtful readers who absorb what they report. Today’s avalanche of “news” from multiple directions would be great if we knew what to trust. Mostly, it only confuses us. Good stuff gets lost in a tower of babble.</p>
<p>Too often, we reduce “news” to nuggets that feed prejudice and agenda. Example: It was senseless to fixate on the Benghazi calamity. No government can field enough agents and troops to secure countless far-flung snake pits. We need to reduce frustrations that breed enemies who target easy prey.</p>
<p>–Second, we have to elect people who remember their oaths of office. Here is Robert Reich: “Conservative Republicans…basically shut Congress down. Their refusal to compromise is working just as they hoped: No jobs agenda. No budget. No grand bargain on the deficit. No background checks on guns. Nothing on climate change. No tax reform. No hike in the minimum wage. Nothing so far on immigration reform.”</p>
<p>Our legislators do not shoot their way into office. We vote them in, and we can bounce them out when they put their own interests ahead of ours. We need to undo gerrymandering that lets minorities hold majorities for ransom.</p>
<p>–Third, we need to realize that in the long run schools matter most. When I start a class, I’m always stunned at how little 21-year-old journalism students know about the world they are about to inherit. At the end, I’m thrilled at how eager they are to keep learning more. That interest should start in third grade.</p>
<p>Each Reaper drone missile load costs at least $320,000, enough to hire a handful of teachers who can explain to future generations why it is a bad idea to blow up distant strangers. If some kids disagree, fair enough, as long as facts, context, and critical thinking factor into the process.</p>
<p>Half a century of poking into other societies has shown me that people are more alike than they are different. They know injustice when they see it, social and otherwise. Muscular nations with big appetites need to keep that in mind.</p>
<p>Latin America is finally narrowing the rich-poor gap. Ours widens. Corporations rule. Banks we bailed out squeeze us at every turn. Other nations see health care as a human right. Our version enriches insurance companies, overburdens doctors, and does little for many it was meant to help.</p>
<p>This is no commie rant. I reported from the Evil Empire when it collapsed. Soviet socialism didn’t kill it. People finally had enough of leaders who used state power to favor a chosen few and quell dissent. Sound familiar?</p>
<p>But only half of us even bother to vote, let alone protest. Look how Turks reacted when the prime minister tried to make Taksim Square into a shopping mall.</p>
<p>Wherever I go, friends tell me they miss what America was and could be. Gustavo Gorriti, the most respected reporter in Peru, sent chills up my spine.</p>
<p>“I admire the United States profoundly,” he said. “Some of my best years were spent there.” Like so many others, he studied the American style of journalism that set the world standard. Now, he says, that is over.</p>
<p>“We now all pay the price of your having devastated real newspapers,” he said. As he sees it, few Americans realize that a complex public-private universe operates over their heads. When an Edward Snowden attempts to shed some light, he is hounded as a traitor into the enemy camp.</p>
<p>“Orwell would have thought this was too crazy for his novels,” Gorriti said. He fears Europe is being muscled to follow along, eroding democratic foundations built up over centuries.</p>
<p>“There has to be a reaction from the people,” he concluded. “Americans have to take their country back. If people don’t act in the United States, in Europe, we are going to lose the greatest achievement of human history.”</p>
<p>Farfetched? Orwell wrote “1984” on the Scottish island of Jura. Just recently, the BBC reported, Jura vanished from view. Google inexplicably wiped it off the map. This was later corrected, but the point was made. When virtual replaces real, anything is possible.</p>
<p>We need to bang away at family and friends and then widen our circles. TV won’t help much. John-Boy Walton narrated how Franklin Roosevelt shepherded America out of the Great Depression. Today we have faux reality and that porcine putz with preposterous hair on Celebrity Apprentice, who takes such delight in bellowing, “You’re fired.”</p>
<p>People can be inspired. Stéphane Hessel, in his 90s, sold four million copies worldwide of a pamphlet, Indignez-vous! Roughly, Get Off Your Butt. Then he wrote Engagez-vous. Stay Off Your Butt, and Keep At It.</p>
<p>Hessel was French but his message was universal. He advocates simple firm action, not violence. Civil disobedience only incites police to break heads. We need to understand that those cops work for us. And so does Congress.</p>
<p>In America, if a 99 percent majority cannot revive a hallmark democracy and a free-choice economy, that metaphoric frog has already croaked.</p>
<p>Mort Rosenblum, former Associated Press special correspondent and ex-editor of the International Herald Tribune, jabs a Quixote lance at world failings in his spare moments. Join in on Facebook at <a href="https://www.facebook.com/reportingunlimited" type="external">Reporting Unlimited</a>, or drop a note to mort.rosenblum@gmail.com.</p>
<p /> | 1,056 |
<p>Tony Choi is an undocumented immigrant who obtained relief under DACA. (Photo courtesy Tony Choi)</p>
<p>In the aftermath of President Trump’s decision to nix an Obama-era immigration program allowing young, undocumented immigrants to stay in the United States, Tony Choi doesn’t know his fate — but realizes one possibility is he’ll be deported to South Korea.</p>
<p>Speaking to the Washington Blade by phone while taking part in a rally just outside Trump Tower in New York City, Choi said he felt uncertainty since news reports emerged&#160;Trump would phase out Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA.</p>
<p>“I’ve had a few weeks to think about it, but for the first two weeks, I was incredibly stressed out that my life was swinging on a pendulum, and I felt like I couldn’t do anything about it,” Choi said. “I didn’t know what could happen.”</p>
<p>Choi, a gay 28-year-old native of Seoul, South Korea, came to the United States as a child in 1998 with his family as an undocumented immigrant. When former President Obama created DACA in 2012, Choi obtained documentation under the program.</p>
<p>A graduate of Berea College in Kentucky, Choi is&#160;one of an estimated 800,000 immigrants in DACA as well as 75,000 LGBT immigrants who are eligible for DACA, 36,000 of whom are enrolled.&#160;They’re known as DREAMers based on legislation known as the DREAM Act, which would grant them legal status.</p>
<p>Potential deportation to South Korea unless Trump reverses course or Congress passes an immigration bill allowing him to stay in the United States weighs heavily on Choi as well as thousands of other immigrants who face uncertainty about their future.</p>
<p>“It’s been 20 years since I’ve last set foot in Korea,” Choi said. “All my extended family is here in America or elsewhere. I don’t know what I would do. My language skills aren’t really up to par and I would have to serve in the Korean military because of mandatory conscription. It’s something that I really, really wish didn’t happen.”</p>
<p>Being gay in Korea would be no walk in the park for Choi. In addition to mandatory conscription, homosexual acts are barred and subject to punishment in the Korean military.</p>
<p>Choi said the stress of potential removal from his home in New York City, where he works as the social media manager for the American Asian and Pacific Islanders group called 18 Million Rising, has manifested itself physically. Among the ailments he cited were not being able to sleep more than four hours at a time, sinus trouble and stiffness in his neck.</p>
<p>“I felt like my body was falling apart, just like everything in my world was,” Choi said. “Everything that I had built in the past five years would be coming to an end.”</p>
<p>The Trump administration announced Tuesday it would phase out DACA over a six-month period ending March 5. Although no new&#160;Employment Authorization Documents will be granted, DACA recipients with such authorization will be allowed to stay in the United States until that paperwork. After that, they lose their immigration status and their fate is unknown.</p>
<p>Trump explained his decision to rescind DACA — after making a campaign promise to cut back immigration on one hand, but telling recipients they can “rest easy” on the other — by making the dubious claim the program is unlawful. In fact, immigration law grants the executive branch authority for “establishing national immigration enforcement policies and priorities,” which includes deferred action on removals.</p>
<p>Negative consequences cited as a result of DACA by Trump were equally dubious. They included the humanitarian crisis under the Obama administration at the U.S.-Mexico border in which children from Central America were sent without their parents to the United States. Trump also suggested DACA contributed to the rise of the transnational crime gang MS-13, whose members are principally of Central American origin.</p>
<p>Trump made the decision on the day Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said would be the deadline before he’d amend a 2014 lawsuit pending before federal court to end DACA through litigation.</p>
<p>But Choi, citing calls from faith leaders, members of Congress — even Republicans — to maintain DACA, rejected the idea litigation was responsible for Trump’s decision and said the president capitulated instead because of internal pressure.</p>
<p>“We’re here, I think, because Trump is caving into the influences within his administration that are very anti-immigrant,” Choi said. “As you can see from people like Stephen Miller, Jeff Sessions, they are pretty heavily anti-immigrant within the administration, and they would like to see America shoot itself in its feet rather than letting us live with dignity.”</p>
<p>Amid discontent with the decision to roll back DACA (75 percent of the American public supports allowing recipients to stay, according to a <a href="https://morningconsult.com/2017/09/05/despite-daca-reversal-voters-tend-to-support-citizenship-for-dreamers/" type="external">Sept. 5 Morning Consult poll</a>), Trump has said Congress should pass a comprehensive immigration bill that would fix immigration law in favor of young, undocumented immigrants who obtained status under the program.</p>
<p>Choi, whose work documentation expires in December 2018 is clinging to the hope of congressional action within the six-month period before DACA is eliminated — which is unlikely in a Republican-controlled Congress — to ensure he and other DREAMers can remain in the United States.</p>
<p>“We’re really going to have to pivot to Congress to really find ways to find a solution for us,” Choi said. “It’s like living on a ticking time bomb because the program is supposed to end in six months. And six months, that’s not a long time, and to expect the Congress to come up with something when the House and the Senate are being held by Republicans, it’s very difficult, but what else can we do? We came this far.”</p>
<p>On the same day he announced he’d end DACA, Trump said he’d “revisit” the issue if Congress doesn’t come forward with a legislative solution. It remains to be seen if Congress will produce a solution, and, if not, whether Trump will change his administrative decision.</p>
<p>One action Choi said isn’t available to him under immigration law — despite his presence in the United States for 20 years and education at a U.S. college — is applying for U.S. citizenship to eliminate the risk of deportation. The lack of the option, Choi said, is what keeps undocumented immigrants in that status.</p>
<p>“There is no line that we can stand on,” Choi said. “Immigration law is very complex, and frankly, very broken in terms of people who want to become U.S. citizens. So there is no line we can stand on. There is no application that we can just magically go out and get rid of our undocumented-ness. We’re not undocumented because it’s all fun and games; we’re undocumented because our circumstances drove us here.”</p>
<p>DACA recipient Sheridan Aguirre of Austin, Texas, left, stands with two other DACA supporters in front of the White House on Sept. 5, 2017. (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)</p>
<p>Among those participating in rallies throughout the country Tuesday as the Trump administration announced it would roll back DACA were LGBT immigrants covered under the program.</p>
<p>Sheridan Aguirre, a 23-year-old queer undocumented immigrant who’s covered under DACA and resides in Austin, Texas, took in the protest outside of the White House on the day Trump made the announcement.</p>
<p>“DACA means the world to me,”&#160;Aguirre said. “It’s allowed me to graduate from the University of Texas, it’s allowed me to be able to provide an income for me and my partner and so if it were to be taken away, it would really disrupt my life and the life of my family.”</p>
<p>Born in Iguala, Mexico, Aguirre came to the United States with his mother in 1996 as an undocumented immigrant at the age of 1. The two joined his father who was already in the country working as a migrant worker picking cotton. After&#160;Aguirre enrolled in school and took part in advanced placement classes, his family decided to stay.</p>
<p>“I have no memories of living in Mexico,”&#160;Aguirre said. “There’s nothing left for me in the place where I was born and especially now, particularly in Aguirre, Mexico. That’s the site of the murders of organizers and activists, the Ayotzinapa 43, and so since then, the city has changed dramatically, and if I were ever to be deported, I know it would not be safe for me to live authentically in my place of birth.”</p>
<p>Aguirre, an activist with United We Dream, said Trump’s decision to end DACA “is rooted in white supremacy” and part and parcel of the president’s actions against other minority groups, such as the travel ban on Muslim majority countries.</p>
<p>“It’s really about making sure that brown and black young people are not able to be a free part of the country where we call home,”&#160;Aguirre said. “It’s about putting us in danger of being incarcerated and being deported and having our families targeted.”</p>
<p>LGBT groups across the board have condemned Trump for eliminating DACA — calling it a betrayal of those who signed for up the program and are now at risk of deportation. As <a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/jurisprudence/2017/09/the_u_s_government_betrayed_dreamers_and_transgender_troops.html" type="external">Slate’s Mark Joseph Stern points out</a>, the reversal of the U.S. government’s position on DACA eligibility is similar to Trump’s elimination of transgender military service, which imperiled transgender troops who came out after the Obama administration lifted the ban on transgender service last year.</p>
<p>Among the LGBT groups taking action is the&#160;National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance.&#160;On Tuesday,&#160;NQAPIA delivered to Trump&#160;971 postcards from LGBT Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders and allies in favor of preserving DACA.</p>
<p>“DACA was never a perfect program, but it was a step in the right direction,”&#160;NQAPIA&#160;Executive Director&#160;Glenn Magpantay said.&#160;“President Trump’s mean-spirited cancellation of&#160;DACA will&#160;force 800,000 people to live in even greater fear.&#160;Talented and hard-working DACA young people are the ones who are truly making America great.&#160;Again the president cuts back on the American dream and contributors to our economy.”</p>
<p>In the meantime,&#160;Aguirre said he’ll rely on ties to his community and family to get him through an uncertain time and a new immigration status.</p>
<p>“I really try to draw back on the fact that we’ve lived here for 20 years, and that’s not going to change,”&#160;Aguirre said. “I know that I have my community. I know that I have allies that are here with me to fight alongside me.”</p>
<p>Choi said he’ll try to keep pressure on Congress — and potentially encourage Trump to reverse course on DACA — as he remains with few options and the real risk of losing his home.</p>
<p>“We came this far,” Choi said. “A lot of us we built our livelihoods over the past five years, and it’s not just us. There are people who depend on us. Some of us have children, some of us have families that we support, so this is not a fight that we need to simply give up and go away. We really need to rally around and engage our members of Congress, really. We have the power to do this.”</p>
<p>Michael K. Lavers contributed to this report.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">DACA</a> <a href="" type="internal">Donald Trump</a> <a href="" type="internal">dream act</a> <a href="" type="internal">National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance</a> <a href="" type="internal">Sheridan Aguirre</a> <a href="" type="internal">Tony Choi</a></p> | LGBT immigrants among DREAMers facing uncertainty | false | http://washingtonblade.com/2017/09/06/uncertain-future-for-lgbt-dreamers-as-trump-nixes-daca/ | 3left-center
| LGBT immigrants among DREAMers facing uncertainty
<p>Tony Choi is an undocumented immigrant who obtained relief under DACA. (Photo courtesy Tony Choi)</p>
<p>In the aftermath of President Trump’s decision to nix an Obama-era immigration program allowing young, undocumented immigrants to stay in the United States, Tony Choi doesn’t know his fate — but realizes one possibility is he’ll be deported to South Korea.</p>
<p>Speaking to the Washington Blade by phone while taking part in a rally just outside Trump Tower in New York City, Choi said he felt uncertainty since news reports emerged&#160;Trump would phase out Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA.</p>
<p>“I’ve had a few weeks to think about it, but for the first two weeks, I was incredibly stressed out that my life was swinging on a pendulum, and I felt like I couldn’t do anything about it,” Choi said. “I didn’t know what could happen.”</p>
<p>Choi, a gay 28-year-old native of Seoul, South Korea, came to the United States as a child in 1998 with his family as an undocumented immigrant. When former President Obama created DACA in 2012, Choi obtained documentation under the program.</p>
<p>A graduate of Berea College in Kentucky, Choi is&#160;one of an estimated 800,000 immigrants in DACA as well as 75,000 LGBT immigrants who are eligible for DACA, 36,000 of whom are enrolled.&#160;They’re known as DREAMers based on legislation known as the DREAM Act, which would grant them legal status.</p>
<p>Potential deportation to South Korea unless Trump reverses course or Congress passes an immigration bill allowing him to stay in the United States weighs heavily on Choi as well as thousands of other immigrants who face uncertainty about their future.</p>
<p>“It’s been 20 years since I’ve last set foot in Korea,” Choi said. “All my extended family is here in America or elsewhere. I don’t know what I would do. My language skills aren’t really up to par and I would have to serve in the Korean military because of mandatory conscription. It’s something that I really, really wish didn’t happen.”</p>
<p>Being gay in Korea would be no walk in the park for Choi. In addition to mandatory conscription, homosexual acts are barred and subject to punishment in the Korean military.</p>
<p>Choi said the stress of potential removal from his home in New York City, where he works as the social media manager for the American Asian and Pacific Islanders group called 18 Million Rising, has manifested itself physically. Among the ailments he cited were not being able to sleep more than four hours at a time, sinus trouble and stiffness in his neck.</p>
<p>“I felt like my body was falling apart, just like everything in my world was,” Choi said. “Everything that I had built in the past five years would be coming to an end.”</p>
<p>The Trump administration announced Tuesday it would phase out DACA over a six-month period ending March 5. Although no new&#160;Employment Authorization Documents will be granted, DACA recipients with such authorization will be allowed to stay in the United States until that paperwork. After that, they lose their immigration status and their fate is unknown.</p>
<p>Trump explained his decision to rescind DACA — after making a campaign promise to cut back immigration on one hand, but telling recipients they can “rest easy” on the other — by making the dubious claim the program is unlawful. In fact, immigration law grants the executive branch authority for “establishing national immigration enforcement policies and priorities,” which includes deferred action on removals.</p>
<p>Negative consequences cited as a result of DACA by Trump were equally dubious. They included the humanitarian crisis under the Obama administration at the U.S.-Mexico border in which children from Central America were sent without their parents to the United States. Trump also suggested DACA contributed to the rise of the transnational crime gang MS-13, whose members are principally of Central American origin.</p>
<p>Trump made the decision on the day Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said would be the deadline before he’d amend a 2014 lawsuit pending before federal court to end DACA through litigation.</p>
<p>But Choi, citing calls from faith leaders, members of Congress — even Republicans — to maintain DACA, rejected the idea litigation was responsible for Trump’s decision and said the president capitulated instead because of internal pressure.</p>
<p>“We’re here, I think, because Trump is caving into the influences within his administration that are very anti-immigrant,” Choi said. “As you can see from people like Stephen Miller, Jeff Sessions, they are pretty heavily anti-immigrant within the administration, and they would like to see America shoot itself in its feet rather than letting us live with dignity.”</p>
<p>Amid discontent with the decision to roll back DACA (75 percent of the American public supports allowing recipients to stay, according to a <a href="https://morningconsult.com/2017/09/05/despite-daca-reversal-voters-tend-to-support-citizenship-for-dreamers/" type="external">Sept. 5 Morning Consult poll</a>), Trump has said Congress should pass a comprehensive immigration bill that would fix immigration law in favor of young, undocumented immigrants who obtained status under the program.</p>
<p>Choi, whose work documentation expires in December 2018 is clinging to the hope of congressional action within the six-month period before DACA is eliminated — which is unlikely in a Republican-controlled Congress — to ensure he and other DREAMers can remain in the United States.</p>
<p>“We’re really going to have to pivot to Congress to really find ways to find a solution for us,” Choi said. “It’s like living on a ticking time bomb because the program is supposed to end in six months. And six months, that’s not a long time, and to expect the Congress to come up with something when the House and the Senate are being held by Republicans, it’s very difficult, but what else can we do? We came this far.”</p>
<p>On the same day he announced he’d end DACA, Trump said he’d “revisit” the issue if Congress doesn’t come forward with a legislative solution. It remains to be seen if Congress will produce a solution, and, if not, whether Trump will change his administrative decision.</p>
<p>One action Choi said isn’t available to him under immigration law — despite his presence in the United States for 20 years and education at a U.S. college — is applying for U.S. citizenship to eliminate the risk of deportation. The lack of the option, Choi said, is what keeps undocumented immigrants in that status.</p>
<p>“There is no line that we can stand on,” Choi said. “Immigration law is very complex, and frankly, very broken in terms of people who want to become U.S. citizens. So there is no line we can stand on. There is no application that we can just magically go out and get rid of our undocumented-ness. We’re not undocumented because it’s all fun and games; we’re undocumented because our circumstances drove us here.”</p>
<p>DACA recipient Sheridan Aguirre of Austin, Texas, left, stands with two other DACA supporters in front of the White House on Sept. 5, 2017. (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)</p>
<p>Among those participating in rallies throughout the country Tuesday as the Trump administration announced it would roll back DACA were LGBT immigrants covered under the program.</p>
<p>Sheridan Aguirre, a 23-year-old queer undocumented immigrant who’s covered under DACA and resides in Austin, Texas, took in the protest outside of the White House on the day Trump made the announcement.</p>
<p>“DACA means the world to me,”&#160;Aguirre said. “It’s allowed me to graduate from the University of Texas, it’s allowed me to be able to provide an income for me and my partner and so if it were to be taken away, it would really disrupt my life and the life of my family.”</p>
<p>Born in Iguala, Mexico, Aguirre came to the United States with his mother in 1996 as an undocumented immigrant at the age of 1. The two joined his father who was already in the country working as a migrant worker picking cotton. After&#160;Aguirre enrolled in school and took part in advanced placement classes, his family decided to stay.</p>
<p>“I have no memories of living in Mexico,”&#160;Aguirre said. “There’s nothing left for me in the place where I was born and especially now, particularly in Aguirre, Mexico. That’s the site of the murders of organizers and activists, the Ayotzinapa 43, and so since then, the city has changed dramatically, and if I were ever to be deported, I know it would not be safe for me to live authentically in my place of birth.”</p>
<p>Aguirre, an activist with United We Dream, said Trump’s decision to end DACA “is rooted in white supremacy” and part and parcel of the president’s actions against other minority groups, such as the travel ban on Muslim majority countries.</p>
<p>“It’s really about making sure that brown and black young people are not able to be a free part of the country where we call home,”&#160;Aguirre said. “It’s about putting us in danger of being incarcerated and being deported and having our families targeted.”</p>
<p>LGBT groups across the board have condemned Trump for eliminating DACA — calling it a betrayal of those who signed for up the program and are now at risk of deportation. As <a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/jurisprudence/2017/09/the_u_s_government_betrayed_dreamers_and_transgender_troops.html" type="external">Slate’s Mark Joseph Stern points out</a>, the reversal of the U.S. government’s position on DACA eligibility is similar to Trump’s elimination of transgender military service, which imperiled transgender troops who came out after the Obama administration lifted the ban on transgender service last year.</p>
<p>Among the LGBT groups taking action is the&#160;National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance.&#160;On Tuesday,&#160;NQAPIA delivered to Trump&#160;971 postcards from LGBT Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders and allies in favor of preserving DACA.</p>
<p>“DACA was never a perfect program, but it was a step in the right direction,”&#160;NQAPIA&#160;Executive Director&#160;Glenn Magpantay said.&#160;“President Trump’s mean-spirited cancellation of&#160;DACA will&#160;force 800,000 people to live in even greater fear.&#160;Talented and hard-working DACA young people are the ones who are truly making America great.&#160;Again the president cuts back on the American dream and contributors to our economy.”</p>
<p>In the meantime,&#160;Aguirre said he’ll rely on ties to his community and family to get him through an uncertain time and a new immigration status.</p>
<p>“I really try to draw back on the fact that we’ve lived here for 20 years, and that’s not going to change,”&#160;Aguirre said. “I know that I have my community. I know that I have allies that are here with me to fight alongside me.”</p>
<p>Choi said he’ll try to keep pressure on Congress — and potentially encourage Trump to reverse course on DACA — as he remains with few options and the real risk of losing his home.</p>
<p>“We came this far,” Choi said. “A lot of us we built our livelihoods over the past five years, and it’s not just us. There are people who depend on us. Some of us have children, some of us have families that we support, so this is not a fight that we need to simply give up and go away. We really need to rally around and engage our members of Congress, really. We have the power to do this.”</p>
<p>Michael K. Lavers contributed to this report.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">DACA</a> <a href="" type="internal">Donald Trump</a> <a href="" type="internal">dream act</a> <a href="" type="internal">National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance</a> <a href="" type="internal">Sheridan Aguirre</a> <a href="" type="internal">Tony Choi</a></p> | 1,057 |
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<p>Former Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Kordell Stewart says that he’s not gay and has never dated Andrew Caldwell, the infamous “I’m not gay no more” guy – despite such claims by Caldwell, who is apparently NOT not gay no more. TMZ Sports <a href="http://www.tmz.com/2015/10/05/kordell-stewart-andrew-caldwell-gay-video-star-is-lying-i-straight/" type="external">reports</a>:</p>
<p>The rumors started when Caldwell went on a radio show last week and proclaimed the two were in a secret relationship … and Stewart bought him everything from purses to expensive cars. But Stewart tells TMZ Sports … Caldwell is simply delusional — “I don’t know the guy. I’ve never heard of him.” “There’s no room in my personality for that lifestyle. It’s not what I believe in. I’m a heterosexual man.” As our friends at BSO pointed out, Caldwell shot to cyber-fame last year when he denounced his homosexuality onstage at a St. Louis church — saying, “I’m not gay no more. I am delivered. I don’t like mens no more. I like women. Women, women, women, women!” Stewart says he believes Caldwell has defamed him — but when asked if he plans to sue, the ex-Pittsburgh Steelers star says he’s not sure yet.</p>
<p>In 2011 Stewart married a Real Housewives Of Atlanta cast member in a ceremony that was, of course, carried on another reality show, Platinum Weddings. Stewart filed for divorce 18 months later.</p>
<p /> | Former NFL Star Kordell Stewart: I’m Not Gay And I Never Dated The “I’m Not Gay No More” Guy | true | http://joemygod.com/2015/10/06/former-nfl-star-kordell-stewart-im-not-gay-and-i-never-dated-the-im-not-gay-no-more-guy/ | 2015-10-06 | 4left
| Former NFL Star Kordell Stewart: I’m Not Gay And I Never Dated The “I’m Not Gay No More” Guy
<p>Former Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Kordell Stewart says that he’s not gay and has never dated Andrew Caldwell, the infamous “I’m not gay no more” guy – despite such claims by Caldwell, who is apparently NOT not gay no more. TMZ Sports <a href="http://www.tmz.com/2015/10/05/kordell-stewart-andrew-caldwell-gay-video-star-is-lying-i-straight/" type="external">reports</a>:</p>
<p>The rumors started when Caldwell went on a radio show last week and proclaimed the two were in a secret relationship … and Stewart bought him everything from purses to expensive cars. But Stewart tells TMZ Sports … Caldwell is simply delusional — “I don’t know the guy. I’ve never heard of him.” “There’s no room in my personality for that lifestyle. It’s not what I believe in. I’m a heterosexual man.” As our friends at BSO pointed out, Caldwell shot to cyber-fame last year when he denounced his homosexuality onstage at a St. Louis church — saying, “I’m not gay no more. I am delivered. I don’t like mens no more. I like women. Women, women, women, women!” Stewart says he believes Caldwell has defamed him — but when asked if he plans to sue, the ex-Pittsburgh Steelers star says he’s not sure yet.</p>
<p>In 2011 Stewart married a Real Housewives Of Atlanta cast member in a ceremony that was, of course, carried on another reality show, Platinum Weddings. Stewart filed for divorce 18 months later.</p>
<p /> | 1,058 |
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<p>RIO RANCHO – If nothing else the Hope Christian Huskies will write a different ending this season.</p>
<p>Top-seeded Hope ended an unpleasant streak Friday by knocking off rival Sandia Prep 3-1 in a Class 3A baseball semifinal at Cleveland High School. The Sundevils had defeated the Huskies in state tournament play each of the past three seasons.</p>
<p>“I hadn’t pitched against them in this situation, but the upperclassmen told me about that,” Hope freshman pitcher Joe Standley said. “It made me mad. Before this game I was just saying, ‘This isn’t their year. It’s our year to end their season.’ ”</p>
<p>The win earned Hope Christian a meeting with Ruidoso in today’s championship game at 10 a.m. at Lobo Field. The Warriors knocked off St. Michael’s 9-3 in Friday’s other semifinal.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>No. 1 HOPE CHRISTIAN 3, No. 5 SANDIA PREP 1: Pitchers Standley and Keenan Dodd combined on a four-hitter and struck out 10 to propel the Huskies into the final. It was only appropriate, according to Hope coach Sean Anthony.</p>
<p>“Pitching and defense have carried us all year,” Anthony said. “We don’t always score a lot of runs, but we don’t usually have to.”</p>
<p>Hope (25-4) managed only five hits off Prep starter Dalton Turpen, but bunched three in the pivotal third inning.</p>
<p>Josh Ray doubled, moved to third on John Jensen’s single, and a walk to Dodd loaded the bases. Standley followed with a sacrifice fly, and Kyle Howell doubled in a run to give the Huskies a 2-0 lead.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, Standley had a no-hitter working until two outs in the fifth. It ended when Sandia Prep’s Joe Martinez rocked a ground-rule double over the left-field fence.</p>
<p>The Sundevils (16-14) threatened to finally get to Standley in the sixth, loading the bases on two walks and Marshall Grandjean’s single with two outs. But Dodd relieved and struck out Turpen on three pitches to end the inning.</p>
<p>Hope added a run in the top of the seventh, then held off a final Sandia Prep effort in the bottom of the inning. Mikey Gangwish’s RBI double made the score 3-1 and brought the tying run to the plate with two outs, but Dodd got the final out on a pop-up.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Jensen was the only player on either team to collect two hits, going 2-for-3. Gangwish ended up 1-for-1, with three walks, for the Sundevils.</p>
<p>– Ken Sickenger HOPE CHRISTIAN 3, SANDIA PREP 1Hope Christian 002 000 1- 3 5 0Sandia Prep 000 000 1- 1 4 1Batteries: HC, Joe Standley, Keenan Dodd (6) and John Jensen. SP, Dalton Turpin and Mikey Gangwish. Leading Hitters: HC, Jensen 2-3, 2B, SB; Kyle Howell 1-3, 2B, RBI. SP, Gangwish 1-1, 2B, RBI; Joe Martinez 1-1, 2B, SB. Rec.: HC 25-4; SP 16-14.</p>
<p>No. 7 RUIDOSO 9, No. 6 ST. MICHAEL’S 3: At about this time of year, Parker Johnson would normally be getting ready for the 100-meter finals over at UNM. But on this Friday at Cleveland High, while the Ruidoso sophomore’s speed was still on full display, his primary audience would be the Horsemen.</p>
<p>The Warriors used a seven-run fourth inning to advance to their first state baseball title game with a victory over St. Michael’s (22-9).</p>
<p>Johnson set the tone for Ruidoso (15-13), legging out a routine ground ball to second base to lead off the decisive inning. He then stole second, and headed home on a Jordan Wright single before St. Mike’s knew what hit it.</p>
<p>“That infield hit started it,” Horsemen coach David Vigil said. “He got up the line so quick, I think it even surprised our second baseman. That was the start of a big inning.”</p>
<p>Aaron Shelley’s three-RBI triple capped off the scoring for Ruidoso’s at-bat, but the damage had already been done. The Horsemen committed three errors in the frame, which led to consecutive runs and ultimately a 7-2 deficit.</p>
<p>“I just wanted to mess with the pitcher by taking big leads and making him pay attention to me,” Johnson said. “I think it worked, because the pitcher lost his focus.”</p>
<p>Horsemen starter Marc Brandt was chased after allowing his second free pass of the at-bat, including hitting the second batter of the inning. Brandt tossed a one-hitter through three innings, but allowed seven runs on seven hits in the fourth.</p>
<p>And to think, Johnson nearly opted to run track again this season, but will now play for a 3A title.</p>
<p>“The kids coaxed him to play baseball – I stayed out of it,” Ruidoso coach Gilbert Alvarado said. “The only thing I told him was, ‘If you ever get tired of running 100 meters and turning left, let me know. (In baseball), you only need to go 90 feet before going left.’ ”</p>
<p>Said Johnson: “I think I made the right decision.”</p>
<p>Ryan Francis earned the complete-game victory, scattering three runs on six hits, while striking out three.</p>
<p>– Vince Kong RUIDOSO 9, ST. MICHAEL’S 3Ruidoso 000 702 0- 9 11 4St. Mike’s 110 000 1- 3 5 5Batteries: R, Ryan Francis and Ryan Yaksich. SM, Marc Brandt, Jeremy Trujillo (5), Marcus Pinchera-Sandoval (7) and Josh Castañeda. Leading Hitters: R, Jordan Wright 2-4, 2 RBIs; Bryce Thompson 2-4, 2B, 2 runs. SM, Brandt 1-2, 3B, 2 RBIs. Records: R 15-13; SM 22-9.Hope has role reversal vs. Sandia Prep7-run 4th propels Ruidoso to final</p>
<p>class 3a</p> | Hope has role reversal vs. Sandia Prep | false | https://abqjournal.com/39927/hope-has-role-reversal-vs-sandia-prep.html | 2least
| Hope has role reversal vs. Sandia Prep
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<p>RIO RANCHO – If nothing else the Hope Christian Huskies will write a different ending this season.</p>
<p>Top-seeded Hope ended an unpleasant streak Friday by knocking off rival Sandia Prep 3-1 in a Class 3A baseball semifinal at Cleveland High School. The Sundevils had defeated the Huskies in state tournament play each of the past three seasons.</p>
<p>“I hadn’t pitched against them in this situation, but the upperclassmen told me about that,” Hope freshman pitcher Joe Standley said. “It made me mad. Before this game I was just saying, ‘This isn’t their year. It’s our year to end their season.’ ”</p>
<p>The win earned Hope Christian a meeting with Ruidoso in today’s championship game at 10 a.m. at Lobo Field. The Warriors knocked off St. Michael’s 9-3 in Friday’s other semifinal.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>No. 1 HOPE CHRISTIAN 3, No. 5 SANDIA PREP 1: Pitchers Standley and Keenan Dodd combined on a four-hitter and struck out 10 to propel the Huskies into the final. It was only appropriate, according to Hope coach Sean Anthony.</p>
<p>“Pitching and defense have carried us all year,” Anthony said. “We don’t always score a lot of runs, but we don’t usually have to.”</p>
<p>Hope (25-4) managed only five hits off Prep starter Dalton Turpen, but bunched three in the pivotal third inning.</p>
<p>Josh Ray doubled, moved to third on John Jensen’s single, and a walk to Dodd loaded the bases. Standley followed with a sacrifice fly, and Kyle Howell doubled in a run to give the Huskies a 2-0 lead.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, Standley had a no-hitter working until two outs in the fifth. It ended when Sandia Prep’s Joe Martinez rocked a ground-rule double over the left-field fence.</p>
<p>The Sundevils (16-14) threatened to finally get to Standley in the sixth, loading the bases on two walks and Marshall Grandjean’s single with two outs. But Dodd relieved and struck out Turpen on three pitches to end the inning.</p>
<p>Hope added a run in the top of the seventh, then held off a final Sandia Prep effort in the bottom of the inning. Mikey Gangwish’s RBI double made the score 3-1 and brought the tying run to the plate with two outs, but Dodd got the final out on a pop-up.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Jensen was the only player on either team to collect two hits, going 2-for-3. Gangwish ended up 1-for-1, with three walks, for the Sundevils.</p>
<p>– Ken Sickenger HOPE CHRISTIAN 3, SANDIA PREP 1Hope Christian 002 000 1- 3 5 0Sandia Prep 000 000 1- 1 4 1Batteries: HC, Joe Standley, Keenan Dodd (6) and John Jensen. SP, Dalton Turpin and Mikey Gangwish. Leading Hitters: HC, Jensen 2-3, 2B, SB; Kyle Howell 1-3, 2B, RBI. SP, Gangwish 1-1, 2B, RBI; Joe Martinez 1-1, 2B, SB. Rec.: HC 25-4; SP 16-14.</p>
<p>No. 7 RUIDOSO 9, No. 6 ST. MICHAEL’S 3: At about this time of year, Parker Johnson would normally be getting ready for the 100-meter finals over at UNM. But on this Friday at Cleveland High, while the Ruidoso sophomore’s speed was still on full display, his primary audience would be the Horsemen.</p>
<p>The Warriors used a seven-run fourth inning to advance to their first state baseball title game with a victory over St. Michael’s (22-9).</p>
<p>Johnson set the tone for Ruidoso (15-13), legging out a routine ground ball to second base to lead off the decisive inning. He then stole second, and headed home on a Jordan Wright single before St. Mike’s knew what hit it.</p>
<p>“That infield hit started it,” Horsemen coach David Vigil said. “He got up the line so quick, I think it even surprised our second baseman. That was the start of a big inning.”</p>
<p>Aaron Shelley’s three-RBI triple capped off the scoring for Ruidoso’s at-bat, but the damage had already been done. The Horsemen committed three errors in the frame, which led to consecutive runs and ultimately a 7-2 deficit.</p>
<p>“I just wanted to mess with the pitcher by taking big leads and making him pay attention to me,” Johnson said. “I think it worked, because the pitcher lost his focus.”</p>
<p>Horsemen starter Marc Brandt was chased after allowing his second free pass of the at-bat, including hitting the second batter of the inning. Brandt tossed a one-hitter through three innings, but allowed seven runs on seven hits in the fourth.</p>
<p>And to think, Johnson nearly opted to run track again this season, but will now play for a 3A title.</p>
<p>“The kids coaxed him to play baseball – I stayed out of it,” Ruidoso coach Gilbert Alvarado said. “The only thing I told him was, ‘If you ever get tired of running 100 meters and turning left, let me know. (In baseball), you only need to go 90 feet before going left.’ ”</p>
<p>Said Johnson: “I think I made the right decision.”</p>
<p>Ryan Francis earned the complete-game victory, scattering three runs on six hits, while striking out three.</p>
<p>– Vince Kong RUIDOSO 9, ST. MICHAEL’S 3Ruidoso 000 702 0- 9 11 4St. Mike’s 110 000 1- 3 5 5Batteries: R, Ryan Francis and Ryan Yaksich. SM, Marc Brandt, Jeremy Trujillo (5), Marcus Pinchera-Sandoval (7) and Josh Castañeda. Leading Hitters: R, Jordan Wright 2-4, 2 RBIs; Bryce Thompson 2-4, 2B, 2 runs. SM, Brandt 1-2, 3B, 2 RBIs. Records: R 15-13; SM 22-9.Hope has role reversal vs. Sandia Prep7-run 4th propels Ruidoso to final</p>
<p>class 3a</p> | 1,059 |
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<p>SANTA FE – With no deal in place to bolster New Mexico’s cash reserves and pay for state government operations, Gov. Susana Martinez has directed Cabinet secretaries in her administration to come up with employee furlough plans that could be rolled out by as soon as next week.</p>
<p>Gov. Susana Martinez</p>
<p>Top-ranking Democratic lawmakers claim the move is misguided and politically motivated, with House Speaker Brian Egolf, D-Santa Fe, saying, “There’s no need to do it.”</p>
<p>The Republican governor gave the instructions at a Cabinet meeting earlier this week, but her office signaled Wednesday that the unpaid furlough days can still be avoided if Martinez and leading lawmakers can reach an agreement.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>“Here’s the thing: We shouldn’t even be having this conversation,” Martinez spokesman Michael Lonergan said. “But the fact is, lawmakers continue to stick their heads into the sand and ignore that we have a crisis before us.”</p>
<p>The governor’s decision to forge ahead with employee furlough plans is the latest twist in a high-stakes showdown between her administration and the Democratic-controlled Legislature.</p>
<p>Martinez met last week with Egolf and Senate Majority Leader Peter Wirth, D-Santa Fe, but the meeting did not lead to an agreement. Wirth said Wednesday that he has not had any subsequent meetings with Martinez.</p>
<p>Top-ranking lawmakers have blasted Martinez for line-item vetoing all proposed funding for higher education – roughly $750 million – and legislative agencies from a budget bill approved by the Legislature during the 60-day legislative session that ended last month.</p>
<p>They’ve also authorized contract attorneys to file a court challenge against Martinez’s line-item vetoes with the state Supreme Court. A petition is expected to be filed in the coming days.</p>
<p>The Governor’s Office has insisted the veto was aimed at bringing legislators back to the negotiating table, and that higher education and legislative funding will be part of a stand-alone appropriations bill passed before July.</p>
<p>On Wednesday, Wirth questioned the need for furloughs, pointing out that lawmakers approved a $190 million solvency package in January aimed at plugging a projected deficit for the fiscal year that ends June 30.</p>
<p>“It does seem like this is an effort to make the crisis bigger than it already is,” Wirth told the Journal.</p>
<p>The solvency package signed into law in January, the second revision to this year’s budget, left the state with about $90 million in reserves, or roughly 1.5 percent of spending. State economists say that might not be enough to ensure the state is able to pay its bills for the next two-plus months.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Wirth also accused Martinez of being “punitive” toward state workers, saying the governor has also proposed making state employees pay 3.5 percentage points more into their retirement accounts – the state’s taxpayer-funded contribution would decrease by a corresponding amount – as a cost-saving measure of roughly $25 million.</p>
<p>Martinez administration officials have previously indicated they are weighing ordering most rank-and-file state workers to take at least five unpaid furlough days between now and June 30, which would save an estimated $8 million.</p>
<p>Such a move could mean temporary closures of state parks, museums and Motor Vehicle Division field offices around the state.</p>
<p>Both immediate funding for reserves and next year’s budget predicament could be addressed in a special session the governor has vowed to call in the coming weeks. However, she had expressed hope she and lawmakers could agree on a budget deal before she called a session. That appears to be at a standstill. And with no deal in place, such a session could end up being lengthy – special sessions can cost up to $50,000 a day – and contentious.</p>
<p>The Governor’s Office said the first phase of the furlough plan could go into effect by as soon as next week but did not provide details on what that might entail. A Martinez spokesman said the rollout would depend on the plan each Cabinet secretary submits.</p>
<p>Martinez has already implemented a hiring freeze on all nonessential job positions, and her administration is considering canceling certain contracts, a Department of Finance and Administration spokeswoman said Wednesday.</p>
<p>New Mexico lawmakers have been grappling with budget problems for two consecutive years, as plummeting oil and natural gas prices – along with other economic trends – have led to lower-than-expected revenue collections.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, Martinez’s line-item vetoes on next year’s budget – and her veto of a $350 million package of tax and fee increases to help cover proposed spending levels – have received national attention and generated concern among university leaders.</p>
<p>And New Mexico Democrats have sharply criticized the governor’s actions.</p>
<p>“We’ve got a chief executive that’s willing to use higher education as a political playing piece,” Egolf said Wednesday.</p>
<p>Lawmakers could reconvene in a rare extraordinary session, which would require a three-fifths vote of all elected members in both the House and Senate. Unlike a special session, the governor would not be able to set the agenda for an extraordinary session.</p>
<p />
<p /> | Gov. Martinez directs Cabinet secretaries to create furlough plans | false | https://abqjournal.com/990508/martine-zforges-ahead-with-furloughs.html | 2least
| Gov. Martinez directs Cabinet secretaries to create furlough plans
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<p />
<p>SANTA FE – With no deal in place to bolster New Mexico’s cash reserves and pay for state government operations, Gov. Susana Martinez has directed Cabinet secretaries in her administration to come up with employee furlough plans that could be rolled out by as soon as next week.</p>
<p>Gov. Susana Martinez</p>
<p>Top-ranking Democratic lawmakers claim the move is misguided and politically motivated, with House Speaker Brian Egolf, D-Santa Fe, saying, “There’s no need to do it.”</p>
<p>The Republican governor gave the instructions at a Cabinet meeting earlier this week, but her office signaled Wednesday that the unpaid furlough days can still be avoided if Martinez and leading lawmakers can reach an agreement.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>“Here’s the thing: We shouldn’t even be having this conversation,” Martinez spokesman Michael Lonergan said. “But the fact is, lawmakers continue to stick their heads into the sand and ignore that we have a crisis before us.”</p>
<p>The governor’s decision to forge ahead with employee furlough plans is the latest twist in a high-stakes showdown between her administration and the Democratic-controlled Legislature.</p>
<p>Martinez met last week with Egolf and Senate Majority Leader Peter Wirth, D-Santa Fe, but the meeting did not lead to an agreement. Wirth said Wednesday that he has not had any subsequent meetings with Martinez.</p>
<p>Top-ranking lawmakers have blasted Martinez for line-item vetoing all proposed funding for higher education – roughly $750 million – and legislative agencies from a budget bill approved by the Legislature during the 60-day legislative session that ended last month.</p>
<p>They’ve also authorized contract attorneys to file a court challenge against Martinez’s line-item vetoes with the state Supreme Court. A petition is expected to be filed in the coming days.</p>
<p>The Governor’s Office has insisted the veto was aimed at bringing legislators back to the negotiating table, and that higher education and legislative funding will be part of a stand-alone appropriations bill passed before July.</p>
<p>On Wednesday, Wirth questioned the need for furloughs, pointing out that lawmakers approved a $190 million solvency package in January aimed at plugging a projected deficit for the fiscal year that ends June 30.</p>
<p>“It does seem like this is an effort to make the crisis bigger than it already is,” Wirth told the Journal.</p>
<p>The solvency package signed into law in January, the second revision to this year’s budget, left the state with about $90 million in reserves, or roughly 1.5 percent of spending. State economists say that might not be enough to ensure the state is able to pay its bills for the next two-plus months.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Wirth also accused Martinez of being “punitive” toward state workers, saying the governor has also proposed making state employees pay 3.5 percentage points more into their retirement accounts – the state’s taxpayer-funded contribution would decrease by a corresponding amount – as a cost-saving measure of roughly $25 million.</p>
<p>Martinez administration officials have previously indicated they are weighing ordering most rank-and-file state workers to take at least five unpaid furlough days between now and June 30, which would save an estimated $8 million.</p>
<p>Such a move could mean temporary closures of state parks, museums and Motor Vehicle Division field offices around the state.</p>
<p>Both immediate funding for reserves and next year’s budget predicament could be addressed in a special session the governor has vowed to call in the coming weeks. However, she had expressed hope she and lawmakers could agree on a budget deal before she called a session. That appears to be at a standstill. And with no deal in place, such a session could end up being lengthy – special sessions can cost up to $50,000 a day – and contentious.</p>
<p>The Governor’s Office said the first phase of the furlough plan could go into effect by as soon as next week but did not provide details on what that might entail. A Martinez spokesman said the rollout would depend on the plan each Cabinet secretary submits.</p>
<p>Martinez has already implemented a hiring freeze on all nonessential job positions, and her administration is considering canceling certain contracts, a Department of Finance and Administration spokeswoman said Wednesday.</p>
<p>New Mexico lawmakers have been grappling with budget problems for two consecutive years, as plummeting oil and natural gas prices – along with other economic trends – have led to lower-than-expected revenue collections.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, Martinez’s line-item vetoes on next year’s budget – and her veto of a $350 million package of tax and fee increases to help cover proposed spending levels – have received national attention and generated concern among university leaders.</p>
<p>And New Mexico Democrats have sharply criticized the governor’s actions.</p>
<p>“We’ve got a chief executive that’s willing to use higher education as a political playing piece,” Egolf said Wednesday.</p>
<p>Lawmakers could reconvene in a rare extraordinary session, which would require a three-fifths vote of all elected members in both the House and Senate. Unlike a special session, the governor would not be able to set the agenda for an extraordinary session.</p>
<p />
<p /> | 1,060 |
|
<p>If you take a nighttime drive along highway N329 in Oss, the Netherlands, it's going to be awesome.</p>
<p>When the sun sets over the Dutch highway, a 500 meter stretch transforms into a glow-in-the-dark highway-of-the-future, thanks to a collaboration between a Dutch design firm, Studio Roosegaarde, and Dutch civil engineering firm, Heijmans.</p>
<p>It's the pilot program of a larger vision by Dan Roosegaarde, the studio's founder and lead designer, to create technological advanced and interactive highways.</p>
<p>"One day I was sitting in my car in the Netherlands, and I was amazed by these roads we spend millions on but no one seems to care what they look like and how they behave," he <a href="http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2014-04/11/glow-in-the-dark-highway-launches" type="external">told</a> Wired in October of 2012. "I started imagining this Route 66 of the future where technology jumps out of the computer screen and becomes part of us."</p>
<p>Roosegaarde released a concept video for his road in January of 2013.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>He imagined a road marked with photo-luminscent paint that would charge during the day and glow at night, replacing the energy and cost of streetlights.</p>
<p>Drive down N329 in the afternoon, and it'd look like this.&#160;</p>
<p>(Studio Roosegaarde/Youtube)</p>
<p>Standard-issue road, right?</p>
<p>Not after sunset. At night, here's the strip you'd be cruising along.</p>
<p>(Studio Roosegaarde/Youtube)</p>
<p>The concept road had other features, too. Temperature-sensitive paint would light up to alert drivers that road conditions might be icy. And "induction priority lanes" would use induction coils to charge electric cars in motion.</p>
<p>(Studio Roosegaarde/Youtube)</p>
<p>The 500-meter pilot program is just a first step. Sure, it's only about 1/3 of a mile long, and it only incorporates one of Roosegaarde's planned elements: the glow-in-the-dark lane markers. But it still looks awesome. Twitter confirms it:</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>The future looks bright in Roosegaarde's world. It also looks cleaner. He's working on a <a href="http://science.time.com/2013/10/28/how-a-dutch-artist-will-suck-the-smog-out-of-beijings-polluted-air/" type="external">project</a> to use a smog vacuum in Beijing that would suck up pollution using electrostatic fields.</p> | The Netherlands debuts a futuristic highway that glows in the dark | false | https://pri.org/stories/2014-04-15/netherlands-debuts-futuristic-highway-glows-dark | 2014-04-15 | 3left-center
| The Netherlands debuts a futuristic highway that glows in the dark
<p>If you take a nighttime drive along highway N329 in Oss, the Netherlands, it's going to be awesome.</p>
<p>When the sun sets over the Dutch highway, a 500 meter stretch transforms into a glow-in-the-dark highway-of-the-future, thanks to a collaboration between a Dutch design firm, Studio Roosegaarde, and Dutch civil engineering firm, Heijmans.</p>
<p>It's the pilot program of a larger vision by Dan Roosegaarde, the studio's founder and lead designer, to create technological advanced and interactive highways.</p>
<p>"One day I was sitting in my car in the Netherlands, and I was amazed by these roads we spend millions on but no one seems to care what they look like and how they behave," he <a href="http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2014-04/11/glow-in-the-dark-highway-launches" type="external">told</a> Wired in October of 2012. "I started imagining this Route 66 of the future where technology jumps out of the computer screen and becomes part of us."</p>
<p>Roosegaarde released a concept video for his road in January of 2013.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>He imagined a road marked with photo-luminscent paint that would charge during the day and glow at night, replacing the energy and cost of streetlights.</p>
<p>Drive down N329 in the afternoon, and it'd look like this.&#160;</p>
<p>(Studio Roosegaarde/Youtube)</p>
<p>Standard-issue road, right?</p>
<p>Not after sunset. At night, here's the strip you'd be cruising along.</p>
<p>(Studio Roosegaarde/Youtube)</p>
<p>The concept road had other features, too. Temperature-sensitive paint would light up to alert drivers that road conditions might be icy. And "induction priority lanes" would use induction coils to charge electric cars in motion.</p>
<p>(Studio Roosegaarde/Youtube)</p>
<p>The 500-meter pilot program is just a first step. Sure, it's only about 1/3 of a mile long, and it only incorporates one of Roosegaarde's planned elements: the glow-in-the-dark lane markers. But it still looks awesome. Twitter confirms it:</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>The future looks bright in Roosegaarde's world. It also looks cleaner. He's working on a <a href="http://science.time.com/2013/10/28/how-a-dutch-artist-will-suck-the-smog-out-of-beijings-polluted-air/" type="external">project</a> to use a smog vacuum in Beijing that would suck up pollution using electrostatic fields.</p> | 1,061 |
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<p />
<p>Hosted by the Mid-Region Council of Governments, the meetings Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday are seeking feedback on a list of potential bus routes. It’s all part of the ongoing UNM/CNM/Sunport Transit Study, which started in June and is expected to wrap up this fall.</p>
<p>A news release from MRCOG says “the UNM/CNM/Sunport area is the region’s largest activity center, serving more than 90,000 residents, students, and employees. It also houses UNM Hospital and several key stadiums and special events venues. While the area has excellent east/west transit service, a 2011 study found that there are key opportunities to improve transit access to businesses, jobs, classes, and other destinations along the north/south corridor.”</p>
<p>Those improvements could include “bus-only lanes that would allow buses to bypass traffic congestion, comfortable stations with real-time information displays, off-bus ticket purchasing, specialized buses, and unique branding.”</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Study results will “form the basis for potential federal funding and implementation. The study will also provide land use and parking recommendations that will help support and encourage transit use to create a more vibrant corridor with more transportation options.”</p>
<p>The public can check out the preliminary list from 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday at the Loma Linda Community Center, 1700 Yale SE; from noon to 1 p.m. Wednesday at the UNM Student Union Building, Lobo Room A/B; and from noon to 1 p.m. Thursday at the CNM Student Resource Center, Room 204.</p>
<p>N.M. DISCRIMINATES AGAINST SENIOR DRIVERS: And that’s got Gordon Jemeyson upset.</p>
<p>He emails, “New Mexico is the only state in the nation requiring 75-year-olds and up to renew their licenses annually — the only one. You’ll find in other states it’s a gap of three to even eight years on average for seniors of any age.”</p>
<p>“Illinois does require annual renewal — at the age of 87.”</p>
<p>According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, Illinois also requires a road test for drivers age 75 and older (they can renew every four years like the state’s other drivers), as well as renewals every two years for ages 81-86. And Hawaii requires drivers over age 72 renew every two years, Rhode Island every two years starting at age 75, and Texas every two years at age 85.</p>
<p>Gordon’s point is “this is not a driving issue but one of blatant discrimination against a certain segment of the population, something the other states apparently realize. All driving is inherently dangerous; it would only be safe to not allow it at all. And since young people cause the most accidents, it would be logical that only they be tested yearly, but that would be wrongful discrimination too.</p>
<p>“This state is telling seniors it’s my way or the highway — but of course only after taking the annual exam.”</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>CAN DRIVEWAY PARKERS BLOCK THE SIDEWALK? Herb Aamodt emails “while walking our dog, (we) sometimes come across cars spilling out of driveway and into the street. This is usually in (the) mornings; then (we) have to go out into the street to get around the obstruction. Are there any city ordinances regarding this type of nuisance?”</p>
<p>Yes.</p>
<p>It is against the law in Albuquerque to park on or block a sidewalk — it’s a pedestrian safety issue. City Traffic Code 8-5-1-1 Stopping, Standing or Parking Prohibited No Signs Required, states “No person shall stop, stand or park a vehicle except when necessary to avoid conflict with other traffic or in compliance with law or the directions of a police officer or traffic control device, in any of the following places: …</p>
<p>(B) On a sidewalk.”</p>
<p>In 2001, 2005 and 2010, Albuquerque Police Department officers have reiterated in this column that it is illegal for you to block any sidewalk.</p>
<p>Even the one that crosses your driveway.</p>
<p>Assistant editorial page editor D’Val Westphal tackles commuter issues for the Metro area on Mondays and West Siders and Rio Ranchoans on Saturdays. Reach her at 823-3858; <a href="" type="internal">road@abqjournal.com</a>; P.O. Drawer J, Albuquerque, NM 87103; or go to ABQjournal.com/traffic to read previous columns and join in the conversation. — This article appeared on page A4 of the Albuquerque Journal</p> | Meetings will address bus services in city | false | https://abqjournal.com/193833/meetings-will-address-bus-services-in-city.html | 2013-04-29 | 2least
| Meetings will address bus services in city
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<p />
<p>Hosted by the Mid-Region Council of Governments, the meetings Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday are seeking feedback on a list of potential bus routes. It’s all part of the ongoing UNM/CNM/Sunport Transit Study, which started in June and is expected to wrap up this fall.</p>
<p>A news release from MRCOG says “the UNM/CNM/Sunport area is the region’s largest activity center, serving more than 90,000 residents, students, and employees. It also houses UNM Hospital and several key stadiums and special events venues. While the area has excellent east/west transit service, a 2011 study found that there are key opportunities to improve transit access to businesses, jobs, classes, and other destinations along the north/south corridor.”</p>
<p>Those improvements could include “bus-only lanes that would allow buses to bypass traffic congestion, comfortable stations with real-time information displays, off-bus ticket purchasing, specialized buses, and unique branding.”</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Study results will “form the basis for potential federal funding and implementation. The study will also provide land use and parking recommendations that will help support and encourage transit use to create a more vibrant corridor with more transportation options.”</p>
<p>The public can check out the preliminary list from 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday at the Loma Linda Community Center, 1700 Yale SE; from noon to 1 p.m. Wednesday at the UNM Student Union Building, Lobo Room A/B; and from noon to 1 p.m. Thursday at the CNM Student Resource Center, Room 204.</p>
<p>N.M. DISCRIMINATES AGAINST SENIOR DRIVERS: And that’s got Gordon Jemeyson upset.</p>
<p>He emails, “New Mexico is the only state in the nation requiring 75-year-olds and up to renew their licenses annually — the only one. You’ll find in other states it’s a gap of three to even eight years on average for seniors of any age.”</p>
<p>“Illinois does require annual renewal — at the age of 87.”</p>
<p>According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, Illinois also requires a road test for drivers age 75 and older (they can renew every four years like the state’s other drivers), as well as renewals every two years for ages 81-86. And Hawaii requires drivers over age 72 renew every two years, Rhode Island every two years starting at age 75, and Texas every two years at age 85.</p>
<p>Gordon’s point is “this is not a driving issue but one of blatant discrimination against a certain segment of the population, something the other states apparently realize. All driving is inherently dangerous; it would only be safe to not allow it at all. And since young people cause the most accidents, it would be logical that only they be tested yearly, but that would be wrongful discrimination too.</p>
<p>“This state is telling seniors it’s my way or the highway — but of course only after taking the annual exam.”</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>CAN DRIVEWAY PARKERS BLOCK THE SIDEWALK? Herb Aamodt emails “while walking our dog, (we) sometimes come across cars spilling out of driveway and into the street. This is usually in (the) mornings; then (we) have to go out into the street to get around the obstruction. Are there any city ordinances regarding this type of nuisance?”</p>
<p>Yes.</p>
<p>It is against the law in Albuquerque to park on or block a sidewalk — it’s a pedestrian safety issue. City Traffic Code 8-5-1-1 Stopping, Standing or Parking Prohibited No Signs Required, states “No person shall stop, stand or park a vehicle except when necessary to avoid conflict with other traffic or in compliance with law or the directions of a police officer or traffic control device, in any of the following places: …</p>
<p>(B) On a sidewalk.”</p>
<p>In 2001, 2005 and 2010, Albuquerque Police Department officers have reiterated in this column that it is illegal for you to block any sidewalk.</p>
<p>Even the one that crosses your driveway.</p>
<p>Assistant editorial page editor D’Val Westphal tackles commuter issues for the Metro area on Mondays and West Siders and Rio Ranchoans on Saturdays. Reach her at 823-3858; <a href="" type="internal">road@abqjournal.com</a>; P.O. Drawer J, Albuquerque, NM 87103; or go to ABQjournal.com/traffic to read previous columns and join in the conversation. — This article appeared on page A4 of the Albuquerque Journal</p> | 1,062 |
<p>Tourists who fly to Colorado to try legal pot can forget about buying souvenir boxer shorts, socks or sandals with a marijuana leaf on them at the Denver airport.</p>
<p>The airport has banned pot-themed souvenirs, fearing the kitsch could taint the state's image.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Marijuana possession and any pot-related advertising were already forbidden. Airport executives extended the ban this month after a retailer sought a kiosk to sell the boxer shorts and similar items that played off Colorado's place as the first state to allow recreational marijuana sales.</p>
<p>Ann Jordan is owner of High-ly Legal Colorado, which makes the souvenirs.</p>
<p>She asked why airport officials were "so riled up about the picture of a plant," and she noted that the airport has an exhibit celebrating another adult product, Colorado craft beer.</p> | Denver airport bans sales of pot-themed souvenirs after retailer asks to sell boxer shorts | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2015/01/28/denver-airport-bans-sales-pot-themed-souvenirs-after-retailer-asks-to-sell.html | 2016-03-09 | 0right
| Denver airport bans sales of pot-themed souvenirs after retailer asks to sell boxer shorts
<p>Tourists who fly to Colorado to try legal pot can forget about buying souvenir boxer shorts, socks or sandals with a marijuana leaf on them at the Denver airport.</p>
<p>The airport has banned pot-themed souvenirs, fearing the kitsch could taint the state's image.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Marijuana possession and any pot-related advertising were already forbidden. Airport executives extended the ban this month after a retailer sought a kiosk to sell the boxer shorts and similar items that played off Colorado's place as the first state to allow recreational marijuana sales.</p>
<p>Ann Jordan is owner of High-ly Legal Colorado, which makes the souvenirs.</p>
<p>She asked why airport officials were "so riled up about the picture of a plant," and she noted that the airport has an exhibit celebrating another adult product, Colorado craft beer.</p> | 1,063 |
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<p />
<p>— The Monsignor</p>
<p>FROM MADISON, WIS. (cheeseheads) to Fayetteville, Ark.(hillbillies). Climate and culture shock: From Ruston, La. (small town rural) to Berkeley,Ca. (urban weird).. Good luck to both coaches.</p>
<p>— MHD</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>BIG KUDOS to UNM personnel for having the color guard on the court for the national anthem. It shows respect to the singer of the national anthem and every one is focused on center court. I dislike when the people from the south end of the court and Lobo players have to turn their back on the singer. …</p>
<p>— Adam</p> | Sports Speak Up | false | https://abqjournal.com/238449/sports-speak-up-94.html | 2least
| Sports Speak Up
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<p />
<p>— The Monsignor</p>
<p>FROM MADISON, WIS. (cheeseheads) to Fayetteville, Ark.(hillbillies). Climate and culture shock: From Ruston, La. (small town rural) to Berkeley,Ca. (urban weird).. Good luck to both coaches.</p>
<p>— MHD</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>BIG KUDOS to UNM personnel for having the color guard on the court for the national anthem. It shows respect to the singer of the national anthem and every one is focused on center court. I dislike when the people from the south end of the court and Lobo players have to turn their back on the singer. …</p>
<p>— Adam</p> | 1,064 |
|
<p>Bob Dylan’s new film, “Masked and Anonymous,” has met with almost universal condemnation (or worse, condescension) from critics in the corporate media. According to most reviewers, in lieu of a plot the film offers “rambling incoherence” and “incomprehensible dialogue.” It is “an exercise in self-indulgence.” Several reviewers have actually worried in print that Dylan made the movie in order to have some kind of joke at their expense. Dylan’s character, Jack Fate, has little or nothing to say, we are repeatedly told, and more or less just “sits there like a toad,” in the words of Roger Ebert, who should be the last person to accuse anyone of that.</p>
<p>Could the movie really be this bad? It wouldn’t matter if it were equal to “The Tempest” or “Julius Caesar,” it has already been pronounced D.O.A.</p>
<p>Anytime the nation’s media are this unanimous about anything, one would do well to be suspicious. After all, President Bush’s decision to invade Iraq in search of “weapons of mass destruction” was met not with skepticism but with near-unanimous cheerleading and boosterizing in the corporate media.</p>
<p>Reviewers had already effectively killed Dylan’s film by the time it arrived in Portland, Oregon for a perfunctory one-week run. Although attendance grew steadily during the week, it started sparse and grew toward respectable.</p>
<p>Not ten minutes after the opening credits I could see why the film had been marked for assassination by big newspaper media critics. They are the villains of the piece! “Masked and Anonymous” portrays the reporters who wrote the bad reviews as people who have to wear ankle monitors. Editors hold the keys that control them. Who owns the editors is pretty clear, too. The sight of superstar critic and Sixties specialist “Tom Friend” (Jeff Bridges) being beaten to death with Blind Lemon Jefferson’s guitar must have been too much for them.</p>
<p>“Friend,” obsessed with his own memories of the Sixties but oblivious to what is going on outside the window, never seems to notice that Fate, his quarry, answers none of his questions.</p>
<p>Officials of the “network” televising the “benefit” on which Fate is to appear see him as self-indulgent, too. They want him to sing “Jailhouse Rock,” “Jumping Jack Flash” and “Revolution — the slow version.”</p>
<p>He gives them “Dixie.”</p>
<p>The infamous “rambling and incomprehensible” plot is in fact rather well-constructed and makes abundant sense. Although the project could have used some tighter editing and more attention to minor issues of continuity, anyone who couldn’t follow this movie probably couldn’t be trusted with a comic book. The storyline is no more “obscure” or “disjointed” than “A Hard Day’s Night.”</p>
<p>But it hits a great deal harder. When the camera pans slowly down a desolate L.A. avenue, and Dylan is heard singing “Seen the arrow on the doorpost, saying This Land is Condemned, all the way from New Orleans to Jerusalem,” try to keep tears from welling. (Or sit there like a toad eating popcorn and stuff the feeling, it’s your call.)</p>
<p>Whereas the concert finale of “A Hard Day’s Night” is witnessed by screaming teenagers and an adoring TV audience, the concert performed by Fate in “Masked and Anonymous” is seen by no one except stage hands and extras because it is pre-empted by a presidential speech and interrupted by guns and bayonets.</p>
<p>In spite of what you may have read, the film is not “set in some imaginary third-world country at some point in the future,” anymore than King Lear is about prehistoric England. Failure to recognize the true setting should immediately disqualify any reviewer. “Masked and Anonymous” is a spot-on accurate portrayal of what is going on RIGHT NOW, seen through the eyes of someone with vision and not just eyesight, someone who has looked through the eyes not only of Charley Patton and Elizabeth Cotton but also of Emmett Miller and even Daniel Decatur Emmett.</p>
<p>All America’s chicken-hawk foreign wars have come home to roost. The horrors once visited upon El Salvador, Nicaragua, Vietnam, Somalia and Iraq are now rolling through the streets of California. All the electoral disgrace of recent campaigns has been compressed into one presidential speech. As for the major media as portrayed in this film, it is impossible not to think of Christiane Amanpour’s recent admission that CNN “was intimidated” by the Bush administration and operated in a “climate of fear and self-censorship” during the invasion of Iraq.</p>
<p>When the new president (Mickey Roarke) concludes his “war-is-peace” oration at the end of the film with the sarcastic words “May God help you all,” it is merely what anyone with a perceptive imagination can hear Bush or Cheney saying when they conclude their speeches with the formulaic “God Bless America.” Certainly the administration portrayed in “Masked and Anonymous” is no more thuggish than the one currently rooting at the trough in Washington.</p>
<p>Or, as Uncle Sweetheart (John Goodman) puts it, “It’s the dark princes, the democratic republicans, working for a barbarian who can scarcely spell his own name.”</p>
<p>When a soldier (Giovanni Ribisi) tells Fate of fighting first with the rebels, then with the counter-insurgents, then with the Government, then with the rebels again, only to discover that some of the rebels are in fact funded by the very Government they’re supposed to be opposing, how strange does that seem to anyone familiar with the betrayals and capitulations of contemporary politics, especially movement politics? It’s like finding out who sponsors “Earth Day.”</p>
<p>My favorite exchange: “I’m trying to be on your side, Jack,” says Uncle Sweetheart, the promoter who is, naturally, “only trying to help.”</p>
<p>“You have to be born on my side, Sweetheart,” says Fate.</p>
<p>To be on the side of workers, of animals, of oppressed people, of love, of the truth is to court destruction. Before singing his final song and meeting his own fate, Jack Fate experiences a visitation by his ghostly forerunner, Oscar Vogel (Ed Harris), a banjo-playing entertainer who worked in blackface and who disappeared after raising his voice against the times. When Fate looks back to catch a last glimpse of Vogel, the vaudevillian has been replaced by a young Black man who could be a janitor, a Reggae artist or a rising Hip-Hop truth teller, next in the line of destiny, or line of fire.</p>
<p>This film isn’t perfect. I have read the original screenplay and far too much has been cut out of it to try to make it acceptable to people who would have had none of it under any circumstances. But it is the only motion picture I have seen so far in this millennium that seems to have a clue about what is going on in America. Moviegoers will get it or they won’t. Great pains have been taken to ensure that they won’t even see it.</p>
<p>It is a tale of almost unbearable sadness and loss. When Dylan sings “I’ll Remember You,” as electrifying a performance as has ever been caught on camera (all the songs are performed live, there’s no lip-synching in this movie) you feel that he may well be singing not merely about a person but also about that “lost America of love” that Ginsberg mourned in “A Supermarket in California,” a work that in its visionary aspect and intensity “Masked and Anonymous” resembles. (Its ultimate antecedents are of course Shakespeare’s history plays.)</p>
<p>When Dylan’s character, Fate, is reunited with his lost/doomed love (Angela Bassett, magnificent in the role), she endeavors with great tenderness to console him for his losses, and without a word Dylan manages to convey that Fate’s grief is inconsolable. It is a scene of considerable beauty and delicacy.</p>
<p>Dylan’s performance has been called “inscrutable.” But who else could have played this role? There are people who find his songs inscrutable as well, and I suppose arguing with them would be as pointless as trying to answer “Tom Friend’s” interview questions. (These days, anything an idiot can’t or won’t bother to understand is “incomprehensible” and “inscrutable.”)</p>
<p>The most daring (and intriguing) line in the film slips by almost unnoticed: moments after Jack Fate is arrested for a sudden act of violence committed by his sidekick Bobby Cupid (Luke Wilson), he thinks to himself, “Sometimes it’s not enough to know the meaning of things. Sometimes we have to know what things don’t mean as well. Like, what does it mean to not know what the person you love is capable of?”</p>
<p>Unlike D. A. Pennebaker’s “Don’t Look Back,” which showed a young Dylan eating dumb but presumptuous critics alive, “Masked and Anonymous” depicts an aging Jack Fate with nothing whatever to say to them. “I was always a singer and maybe no more than that,” he says.</p>
<p>So much for “self-indulgence.”</p>
<p>DAVID VEST writes the Rebel Angel column for CounterPunch. He and his band, The Willing Victims, just released a scorching new CD, <a href="" type="internal">Way Down Here</a>.</p>
<p>He can be reached at: <a href="mailto:davidvest@springmail.com" type="external">davidvest@springmail.com</a></p>
<p>Visit his website at <a href="http://www.rebelangel.com/" type="external">http://www.rebelangel.com</a></p>
<p>&#160;</p> | Masked and Anonymous, Dylan’s Elegy for a Lost America | true | https://counterpunch.org/2003/09/19/masked-and-anonymous-dylan-s-elegy-for-a-lost-america/ | 2003-09-19 | 4left
| Masked and Anonymous, Dylan’s Elegy for a Lost America
<p>Bob Dylan’s new film, “Masked and Anonymous,” has met with almost universal condemnation (or worse, condescension) from critics in the corporate media. According to most reviewers, in lieu of a plot the film offers “rambling incoherence” and “incomprehensible dialogue.” It is “an exercise in self-indulgence.” Several reviewers have actually worried in print that Dylan made the movie in order to have some kind of joke at their expense. Dylan’s character, Jack Fate, has little or nothing to say, we are repeatedly told, and more or less just “sits there like a toad,” in the words of Roger Ebert, who should be the last person to accuse anyone of that.</p>
<p>Could the movie really be this bad? It wouldn’t matter if it were equal to “The Tempest” or “Julius Caesar,” it has already been pronounced D.O.A.</p>
<p>Anytime the nation’s media are this unanimous about anything, one would do well to be suspicious. After all, President Bush’s decision to invade Iraq in search of “weapons of mass destruction” was met not with skepticism but with near-unanimous cheerleading and boosterizing in the corporate media.</p>
<p>Reviewers had already effectively killed Dylan’s film by the time it arrived in Portland, Oregon for a perfunctory one-week run. Although attendance grew steadily during the week, it started sparse and grew toward respectable.</p>
<p>Not ten minutes after the opening credits I could see why the film had been marked for assassination by big newspaper media critics. They are the villains of the piece! “Masked and Anonymous” portrays the reporters who wrote the bad reviews as people who have to wear ankle monitors. Editors hold the keys that control them. Who owns the editors is pretty clear, too. The sight of superstar critic and Sixties specialist “Tom Friend” (Jeff Bridges) being beaten to death with Blind Lemon Jefferson’s guitar must have been too much for them.</p>
<p>“Friend,” obsessed with his own memories of the Sixties but oblivious to what is going on outside the window, never seems to notice that Fate, his quarry, answers none of his questions.</p>
<p>Officials of the “network” televising the “benefit” on which Fate is to appear see him as self-indulgent, too. They want him to sing “Jailhouse Rock,” “Jumping Jack Flash” and “Revolution — the slow version.”</p>
<p>He gives them “Dixie.”</p>
<p>The infamous “rambling and incomprehensible” plot is in fact rather well-constructed and makes abundant sense. Although the project could have used some tighter editing and more attention to minor issues of continuity, anyone who couldn’t follow this movie probably couldn’t be trusted with a comic book. The storyline is no more “obscure” or “disjointed” than “A Hard Day’s Night.”</p>
<p>But it hits a great deal harder. When the camera pans slowly down a desolate L.A. avenue, and Dylan is heard singing “Seen the arrow on the doorpost, saying This Land is Condemned, all the way from New Orleans to Jerusalem,” try to keep tears from welling. (Or sit there like a toad eating popcorn and stuff the feeling, it’s your call.)</p>
<p>Whereas the concert finale of “A Hard Day’s Night” is witnessed by screaming teenagers and an adoring TV audience, the concert performed by Fate in “Masked and Anonymous” is seen by no one except stage hands and extras because it is pre-empted by a presidential speech and interrupted by guns and bayonets.</p>
<p>In spite of what you may have read, the film is not “set in some imaginary third-world country at some point in the future,” anymore than King Lear is about prehistoric England. Failure to recognize the true setting should immediately disqualify any reviewer. “Masked and Anonymous” is a spot-on accurate portrayal of what is going on RIGHT NOW, seen through the eyes of someone with vision and not just eyesight, someone who has looked through the eyes not only of Charley Patton and Elizabeth Cotton but also of Emmett Miller and even Daniel Decatur Emmett.</p>
<p>All America’s chicken-hawk foreign wars have come home to roost. The horrors once visited upon El Salvador, Nicaragua, Vietnam, Somalia and Iraq are now rolling through the streets of California. All the electoral disgrace of recent campaigns has been compressed into one presidential speech. As for the major media as portrayed in this film, it is impossible not to think of Christiane Amanpour’s recent admission that CNN “was intimidated” by the Bush administration and operated in a “climate of fear and self-censorship” during the invasion of Iraq.</p>
<p>When the new president (Mickey Roarke) concludes his “war-is-peace” oration at the end of the film with the sarcastic words “May God help you all,” it is merely what anyone with a perceptive imagination can hear Bush or Cheney saying when they conclude their speeches with the formulaic “God Bless America.” Certainly the administration portrayed in “Masked and Anonymous” is no more thuggish than the one currently rooting at the trough in Washington.</p>
<p>Or, as Uncle Sweetheart (John Goodman) puts it, “It’s the dark princes, the democratic republicans, working for a barbarian who can scarcely spell his own name.”</p>
<p>When a soldier (Giovanni Ribisi) tells Fate of fighting first with the rebels, then with the counter-insurgents, then with the Government, then with the rebels again, only to discover that some of the rebels are in fact funded by the very Government they’re supposed to be opposing, how strange does that seem to anyone familiar with the betrayals and capitulations of contemporary politics, especially movement politics? It’s like finding out who sponsors “Earth Day.”</p>
<p>My favorite exchange: “I’m trying to be on your side, Jack,” says Uncle Sweetheart, the promoter who is, naturally, “only trying to help.”</p>
<p>“You have to be born on my side, Sweetheart,” says Fate.</p>
<p>To be on the side of workers, of animals, of oppressed people, of love, of the truth is to court destruction. Before singing his final song and meeting his own fate, Jack Fate experiences a visitation by his ghostly forerunner, Oscar Vogel (Ed Harris), a banjo-playing entertainer who worked in blackface and who disappeared after raising his voice against the times. When Fate looks back to catch a last glimpse of Vogel, the vaudevillian has been replaced by a young Black man who could be a janitor, a Reggae artist or a rising Hip-Hop truth teller, next in the line of destiny, or line of fire.</p>
<p>This film isn’t perfect. I have read the original screenplay and far too much has been cut out of it to try to make it acceptable to people who would have had none of it under any circumstances. But it is the only motion picture I have seen so far in this millennium that seems to have a clue about what is going on in America. Moviegoers will get it or they won’t. Great pains have been taken to ensure that they won’t even see it.</p>
<p>It is a tale of almost unbearable sadness and loss. When Dylan sings “I’ll Remember You,” as electrifying a performance as has ever been caught on camera (all the songs are performed live, there’s no lip-synching in this movie) you feel that he may well be singing not merely about a person but also about that “lost America of love” that Ginsberg mourned in “A Supermarket in California,” a work that in its visionary aspect and intensity “Masked and Anonymous” resembles. (Its ultimate antecedents are of course Shakespeare’s history plays.)</p>
<p>When Dylan’s character, Fate, is reunited with his lost/doomed love (Angela Bassett, magnificent in the role), she endeavors with great tenderness to console him for his losses, and without a word Dylan manages to convey that Fate’s grief is inconsolable. It is a scene of considerable beauty and delicacy.</p>
<p>Dylan’s performance has been called “inscrutable.” But who else could have played this role? There are people who find his songs inscrutable as well, and I suppose arguing with them would be as pointless as trying to answer “Tom Friend’s” interview questions. (These days, anything an idiot can’t or won’t bother to understand is “incomprehensible” and “inscrutable.”)</p>
<p>The most daring (and intriguing) line in the film slips by almost unnoticed: moments after Jack Fate is arrested for a sudden act of violence committed by his sidekick Bobby Cupid (Luke Wilson), he thinks to himself, “Sometimes it’s not enough to know the meaning of things. Sometimes we have to know what things don’t mean as well. Like, what does it mean to not know what the person you love is capable of?”</p>
<p>Unlike D. A. Pennebaker’s “Don’t Look Back,” which showed a young Dylan eating dumb but presumptuous critics alive, “Masked and Anonymous” depicts an aging Jack Fate with nothing whatever to say to them. “I was always a singer and maybe no more than that,” he says.</p>
<p>So much for “self-indulgence.”</p>
<p>DAVID VEST writes the Rebel Angel column for CounterPunch. He and his band, The Willing Victims, just released a scorching new CD, <a href="" type="internal">Way Down Here</a>.</p>
<p>He can be reached at: <a href="mailto:davidvest@springmail.com" type="external">davidvest@springmail.com</a></p>
<p>Visit his website at <a href="http://www.rebelangel.com/" type="external">http://www.rebelangel.com</a></p>
<p>&#160;</p> | 1,065 |
<p>Most discussion of China in the mainstream press, especially the left liberal press, focuses on China’s human rights record or freedom of press and speech or labor issues or family planning policies.&#160; One may argue endlessly about those matters.&#160; But they are China’s internal affairs, and for a genuine anti-interventionist they are none of our government’s business and have no place in setting foreign policy.&#160; There is a world of difference between an anti-interventionist and an advocate for “humanitarian” imperialism, witting or not.&#160;&#160; How does an anti-interventionist look at China?</p>
<p>Let us begin with some stubborn, cold hard facts about the US and China.&#160; In very round numbers the world’s annual GDP is about $ 60 trillion.&#160; That of the U.S. is $15 trillion, that of the EU is $15 trillion, that of China and Japan about $5 trillion each, with China about to pull a bit ahead of Japan this year.&#160; The per capita GDP of the U.S. is about $46,000 and that of China is about $4000.&#160; In sum, China is still a developing country although one with a very large aggregate GDP.&#160; It is number two to the US but not a close number two, and it trails the developed world considerably in its standard of living.</p>
<p>What about trade?&#160; Is China not the world’s largest exporter?&#160; Yes, it is; but until last year, it was number two; Germany was number one - and Germany has slipped now to number two.&#160; So Germany with its high wages and generous social benefits was able to outdo both the U.S. and China in exports until recently.&#160; How did Germany do this?&#160; By exporting high quality, high tech and well-branded goods.&#160; (Germany has not outsourced production to other countries as has the US.)&#160; In fact as China came into the number one exporter spot, its leaders proclaimed that they were not really number one but number one only in quantity.&#160; They said China’s goal was to follow in Germany’s path to become an exporter of “high tech, high quality, well-branded goods.”&#160; Why cannot the U.S. do this instead of blaming China for its unemployment.</p>
<p>What about China as a military “threat” to the U.S.?&#160;&#160; The US now spends about $1 trillion a year on “national security,” a staggering 1 dollar in 15 of our total GDP and 1 dollar in 60 of the world’s GDP, a colossal waste.&#160; And that does not include the military spending forced upon our “allies,” the NATO countries, South Korea, Japan and now India.&#160; Simply to equal US military spending alone China would have to spend 20 per cent of its GDP on the military, an impossibility unless development is forsaken.&#160; Its navy is not powerful but soon it will at least be able to patrol and defend the nearby seas.&#160; Most assuredly the US will not for long be able to sail aircraft carriers within sight of China’s shores - and that is to the good.&#160; It will make for less tension.&#160; Consider how the US would react if a Chinese fleet were conducting maneuvers within sight of Los Angeles or Seattle.</p>
<p>Next let us consider U.S. military doctrine in the ways it might affect relations with China.&#160; U.S. doctrine is clear and unchanging from one administration to the next since the end of the Cold War.&#160; No country is to be allowed to come close to the U.S. in military might.&#160; The most explicit statement of this came in the Defense Planning Guide for 1994-1999, a secret document prepared in 1992 and leaked to the NYT and Washington Post. “Our first objective,” the highly classified document stated, “is to prevent the re-emergence of a new rival, either on the territory of the former Soviet Union or elsewhere, that poses a threat on the order of that posed formerly by the Soviet Union.”</p>
<p>From the outset Obama has left no doubt that the policy of permanent military superiority continues under him, proclaiming just after his election, on the occasion of appointing his “foreign policy team” of Clinton, Gates, and others: “?we all share the belief we have to maintain the strongest military on the planet.” Just last week Pentagon chief, Robert Gates, declared in a speech in Tokyo that the 47,000 troops in Japan were there to “keep China’s rising power in check” and so will remain for the indefinite future .&#160; One must also conclude that the wars in Central Asia and the implantation of US bases there, right on China’s back doorstep, and the courting of India over the past ten years are also part of the “containment” policy, whatever other purposes those wars and bases may have. This dimension of the U.S. wars is rarely discussed in the mainstream or liberal press.</p>
<p>The implications of this doctrine are pernicious in the extreme.&#160; First, the very threat encourages those who might want to be friends to arm themselves to preserve their independence and sovereignty.&#160; Second and much more important, military might grows out of economic power, as we have known at least since Thucydides.&#160; Thus the US is declaring that China cannot have a total GDP which comes close to that of the US.&#160; Let us consider the consequences of that.&#160; What would it mean for China if it achieved an aggregate GDP not larger that of the US but simply the same size? Quite simply, since China has four or five times our population, it would mean that China would have a per capita GDP one fourth of ours - or about $10,000 a year.&#160; That means unending poverty for the Chinese people. Thus China is forced to choose between poverty or provoking the ire of the U.S.&#160;&#160; Such is the iron logic of US military policy.</p>
<p>The U.S. must either content itself to be eclipsed by China in the economic and therefore military sphere if indeed China continues to be successful in developing - or prevent China from rising to the standard of living in Europe and the U.S.&#160; That is the meaning of the policy of “containing China.”&#160; Sadly this policy also forecloses a win-win outcome whereby China and the US and the entire globe prosper.&#160; US policy dictates a win-lose outcome. Such is the bellicose strategy and dismal future dictated by US military policy. And in the sweet talk from Obama and Clinton leading up to the visit of President Hu Jintao of China, there has been no suggestion of a change in U.S. military policy, not even a hint of such a change.&#160; It is long overdue.</p>
<p>John V. Walsh can be reached at <a href="mailto:john.endwar@gmail.com" type="external">john.endwar@gmail.com</a></p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p />
<p>&#160;</p>
<p /> | An Anti-Interventionist Looks at China | true | https://counterpunch.org/2011/01/19/an-anti-interventionist-looks-at-china/ | 2011-01-19 | 4left
| An Anti-Interventionist Looks at China
<p>Most discussion of China in the mainstream press, especially the left liberal press, focuses on China’s human rights record or freedom of press and speech or labor issues or family planning policies.&#160; One may argue endlessly about those matters.&#160; But they are China’s internal affairs, and for a genuine anti-interventionist they are none of our government’s business and have no place in setting foreign policy.&#160; There is a world of difference between an anti-interventionist and an advocate for “humanitarian” imperialism, witting or not.&#160;&#160; How does an anti-interventionist look at China?</p>
<p>Let us begin with some stubborn, cold hard facts about the US and China.&#160; In very round numbers the world’s annual GDP is about $ 60 trillion.&#160; That of the U.S. is $15 trillion, that of the EU is $15 trillion, that of China and Japan about $5 trillion each, with China about to pull a bit ahead of Japan this year.&#160; The per capita GDP of the U.S. is about $46,000 and that of China is about $4000.&#160; In sum, China is still a developing country although one with a very large aggregate GDP.&#160; It is number two to the US but not a close number two, and it trails the developed world considerably in its standard of living.</p>
<p>What about trade?&#160; Is China not the world’s largest exporter?&#160; Yes, it is; but until last year, it was number two; Germany was number one - and Germany has slipped now to number two.&#160; So Germany with its high wages and generous social benefits was able to outdo both the U.S. and China in exports until recently.&#160; How did Germany do this?&#160; By exporting high quality, high tech and well-branded goods.&#160; (Germany has not outsourced production to other countries as has the US.)&#160; In fact as China came into the number one exporter spot, its leaders proclaimed that they were not really number one but number one only in quantity.&#160; They said China’s goal was to follow in Germany’s path to become an exporter of “high tech, high quality, well-branded goods.”&#160; Why cannot the U.S. do this instead of blaming China for its unemployment.</p>
<p>What about China as a military “threat” to the U.S.?&#160;&#160; The US now spends about $1 trillion a year on “national security,” a staggering 1 dollar in 15 of our total GDP and 1 dollar in 60 of the world’s GDP, a colossal waste.&#160; And that does not include the military spending forced upon our “allies,” the NATO countries, South Korea, Japan and now India.&#160; Simply to equal US military spending alone China would have to spend 20 per cent of its GDP on the military, an impossibility unless development is forsaken.&#160; Its navy is not powerful but soon it will at least be able to patrol and defend the nearby seas.&#160; Most assuredly the US will not for long be able to sail aircraft carriers within sight of China’s shores - and that is to the good.&#160; It will make for less tension.&#160; Consider how the US would react if a Chinese fleet were conducting maneuvers within sight of Los Angeles or Seattle.</p>
<p>Next let us consider U.S. military doctrine in the ways it might affect relations with China.&#160; U.S. doctrine is clear and unchanging from one administration to the next since the end of the Cold War.&#160; No country is to be allowed to come close to the U.S. in military might.&#160; The most explicit statement of this came in the Defense Planning Guide for 1994-1999, a secret document prepared in 1992 and leaked to the NYT and Washington Post. “Our first objective,” the highly classified document stated, “is to prevent the re-emergence of a new rival, either on the territory of the former Soviet Union or elsewhere, that poses a threat on the order of that posed formerly by the Soviet Union.”</p>
<p>From the outset Obama has left no doubt that the policy of permanent military superiority continues under him, proclaiming just after his election, on the occasion of appointing his “foreign policy team” of Clinton, Gates, and others: “?we all share the belief we have to maintain the strongest military on the planet.” Just last week Pentagon chief, Robert Gates, declared in a speech in Tokyo that the 47,000 troops in Japan were there to “keep China’s rising power in check” and so will remain for the indefinite future .&#160; One must also conclude that the wars in Central Asia and the implantation of US bases there, right on China’s back doorstep, and the courting of India over the past ten years are also part of the “containment” policy, whatever other purposes those wars and bases may have. This dimension of the U.S. wars is rarely discussed in the mainstream or liberal press.</p>
<p>The implications of this doctrine are pernicious in the extreme.&#160; First, the very threat encourages those who might want to be friends to arm themselves to preserve their independence and sovereignty.&#160; Second and much more important, military might grows out of economic power, as we have known at least since Thucydides.&#160; Thus the US is declaring that China cannot have a total GDP which comes close to that of the US.&#160; Let us consider the consequences of that.&#160; What would it mean for China if it achieved an aggregate GDP not larger that of the US but simply the same size? Quite simply, since China has four or five times our population, it would mean that China would have a per capita GDP one fourth of ours - or about $10,000 a year.&#160; That means unending poverty for the Chinese people. Thus China is forced to choose between poverty or provoking the ire of the U.S.&#160;&#160; Such is the iron logic of US military policy.</p>
<p>The U.S. must either content itself to be eclipsed by China in the economic and therefore military sphere if indeed China continues to be successful in developing - or prevent China from rising to the standard of living in Europe and the U.S.&#160; That is the meaning of the policy of “containing China.”&#160; Sadly this policy also forecloses a win-win outcome whereby China and the US and the entire globe prosper.&#160; US policy dictates a win-lose outcome. Such is the bellicose strategy and dismal future dictated by US military policy. And in the sweet talk from Obama and Clinton leading up to the visit of President Hu Jintao of China, there has been no suggestion of a change in U.S. military policy, not even a hint of such a change.&#160; It is long overdue.</p>
<p>John V. Walsh can be reached at <a href="mailto:john.endwar@gmail.com" type="external">john.endwar@gmail.com</a></p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p />
<p>&#160;</p>
<p /> | 1,066 |
<p>U.S. worker productivity improved in the third quarter at the best rate in three years.</p>
<p>Nonfarm business-sector productivity, measured as the goods and services produced per hour worked, increased at a 3.0% seasonally adjusted annual rate in the third quarter, up from a 1.5% growth rate for the second quarter of 2017, the Labor Department said Thursday. Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal had expected a 2.8% growth rate for the latest quarter.</p>
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<p>Output rose at a 3.8% rate from the second quarter, while hours worked were up at a 0.8% pace.</p>
<p>Compared with a year earlier, productivity was up 1.5% in the third quarter, reflecting that output rose modestly faster than hours worked.</p>
<p>Productivity declined last quarter at manufacturing firms, but that was well more than offset by strong gains at other businesses.</p>
<p>Unit labor costs at nonfarm businesses rose at a 0.5% rate in the third quarter, the Labor Department said. Economists had expected a 0.6% growth pace. Unit labor costs are the ratio of hourly pay to productivity. From a year earlier, unit labor costs fell 0.1%.</p>
<p>Tempered labor-cost pressures is consistent with soft wage growth and consumer-price inflation in recent years.</p>
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<p>Productivity data tend to be volatile from quarter to quarter, but improvements have been sluggish since the recession. Annual growth averaged 1.2% from 2007 to 2016, well below the long-term average of 2.1%.</p>
<p>Productivity has increased for six straight quarters, and the most recent gain was the best since the third quarter of 2014.</p>
<p>Better productivity gains could point to an improving wage trend. Average hourly earnings increased 2.9% from a year earlier in September, matching the best gain since the recession ended.</p>
<p>Weak productivity gains may have made it difficult for businesses to justify larger pay increases for workers. If individual workers can't produce more, firms may opt to add more employees rather than give current staff raises.</p>
<p>"Productivity growth has been quite weak in recent years," Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen said in a speech in late September. "And empirical analysis suggests that it is has been holding down aggregate growth in labor compensation independent of labor utilization in recent years."</p>
<p>The wage figure and the productivity data could be skewed by hurricanes that struck the U.S. in recent months, though the Labor Department did not report a specific effect on productivity. Other government reports showed the storms caused payrolls to decrease, while economic output maintained the strongest rates since the recession ended. That's a recipe for a short-lived bump in productivity because many of the storm-related job losses are expected to be temporary.</p>
<p>President Donald Trump has targeted economic growth of at least a 3% annually. That pace has been achieved the past two quarters. For it to be maintained during period of shrinking supply of unemployed Americans, worker productivity will need to continue to improve.</p>
<p>The Labor Department's report on labor productivity and costs can be accessed at: https://www.bls.gov/news.release/prod2.nr0.htm</p>
<p>Write to Eric Morath at eric.morath@wsj.com and Sharon Nunn at sharon.nunn@wsj.com.</p>
<p>(END) Dow Jones Newswires</p>
<p>November 02, 2017 08:45 ET (12:45 GMT)</p> | U.S. Worker Productivity Jumps in Third Quarter | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2017/11/02/u-s-worker-productivity-jumps-in-third-quarter.html | 2017-11-02 | 0right
| U.S. Worker Productivity Jumps in Third Quarter
<p>U.S. worker productivity improved in the third quarter at the best rate in three years.</p>
<p>Nonfarm business-sector productivity, measured as the goods and services produced per hour worked, increased at a 3.0% seasonally adjusted annual rate in the third quarter, up from a 1.5% growth rate for the second quarter of 2017, the Labor Department said Thursday. Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal had expected a 2.8% growth rate for the latest quarter.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Output rose at a 3.8% rate from the second quarter, while hours worked were up at a 0.8% pace.</p>
<p>Compared with a year earlier, productivity was up 1.5% in the third quarter, reflecting that output rose modestly faster than hours worked.</p>
<p>Productivity declined last quarter at manufacturing firms, but that was well more than offset by strong gains at other businesses.</p>
<p>Unit labor costs at nonfarm businesses rose at a 0.5% rate in the third quarter, the Labor Department said. Economists had expected a 0.6% growth pace. Unit labor costs are the ratio of hourly pay to productivity. From a year earlier, unit labor costs fell 0.1%.</p>
<p>Tempered labor-cost pressures is consistent with soft wage growth and consumer-price inflation in recent years.</p>
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<p>Productivity data tend to be volatile from quarter to quarter, but improvements have been sluggish since the recession. Annual growth averaged 1.2% from 2007 to 2016, well below the long-term average of 2.1%.</p>
<p>Productivity has increased for six straight quarters, and the most recent gain was the best since the third quarter of 2014.</p>
<p>Better productivity gains could point to an improving wage trend. Average hourly earnings increased 2.9% from a year earlier in September, matching the best gain since the recession ended.</p>
<p>Weak productivity gains may have made it difficult for businesses to justify larger pay increases for workers. If individual workers can't produce more, firms may opt to add more employees rather than give current staff raises.</p>
<p>"Productivity growth has been quite weak in recent years," Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen said in a speech in late September. "And empirical analysis suggests that it is has been holding down aggregate growth in labor compensation independent of labor utilization in recent years."</p>
<p>The wage figure and the productivity data could be skewed by hurricanes that struck the U.S. in recent months, though the Labor Department did not report a specific effect on productivity. Other government reports showed the storms caused payrolls to decrease, while economic output maintained the strongest rates since the recession ended. That's a recipe for a short-lived bump in productivity because many of the storm-related job losses are expected to be temporary.</p>
<p>President Donald Trump has targeted economic growth of at least a 3% annually. That pace has been achieved the past two quarters. For it to be maintained during period of shrinking supply of unemployed Americans, worker productivity will need to continue to improve.</p>
<p>The Labor Department's report on labor productivity and costs can be accessed at: https://www.bls.gov/news.release/prod2.nr0.htm</p>
<p>Write to Eric Morath at eric.morath@wsj.com and Sharon Nunn at sharon.nunn@wsj.com.</p>
<p>(END) Dow Jones Newswires</p>
<p>November 02, 2017 08:45 ET (12:45 GMT)</p> | 1,067 |
<p />
<p>The Obama administration has chalked up a win in the first appellate court decision on the Affordable Care Act. On&#160;Wednesday, a three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled that the portion of the 2010 health reform law that requires Americans to obtain health insurance or pay a penalty is constitutional.</p>
<p>The decision came in response to an appeal by the conservative Thomas More Law Center in Michigan. A judge in the federal district court in Detroit <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/08/health/policy/08health.html" type="external">ruled last October</a> that the “mandate” portion of the law was, in fact, constitutional, but Thomas More appealed to the 6th&#160;Circuit.</p>
<p>There are still two decisions pending from other appeals courts regarding portions of the health care law: the 4th Circuit in Richmond and the 11th Circuit in Atlanta. It’s expected that at least one of the suits will end up in front of the Supreme Court. The <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/30/us/30health.html" type="external">New York Times explains</a>:</p>
<p>Lawyers on both sides of the case widely expect the Supreme Court to take one or more of the cases, perhaps as soon as its coming term, which starts in October. The speed of the Sixth Circuit ruling could help ensure that timing.</p>
<p>The Sixth Circuit opinion was the first on the merits that has not broken down strictly along seemingly partisan lines. Two of the judges on the panel were appointed by Republican presidents and one was appointed by a Democrat. At the lower District Court level, five judges have divided on the question, with three Democratic appointees ruling in favor of the law and two Republican appointees rejecting it.</p>
<p>The law might not fare as well in the other appeals courts, both of which are expected to rule soon. But the Department of Justice <a href="http://blogs.usdoj.gov/blog/archives/1435" type="external">issued a statement</a> cheering the news. “Throughout history, there have been similar challenges to other landmark legislation such as the Social Security Act, the Civil Rights Act, and the Voting Rights Act, and all of those challenges failed,” said Tracy Schmaler, deputy director of the DOJ’s Office of Public Affairs. “We believe these challenges to health reform will also fail.”</p>
<p /> | Appeals Court Upholds Health Care Reform Law | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2011/06/obama-chalks-win-appeals-court-decision-health-care/ | 2011-06-29 | 4left
| Appeals Court Upholds Health Care Reform Law
<p />
<p>The Obama administration has chalked up a win in the first appellate court decision on the Affordable Care Act. On&#160;Wednesday, a three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled that the portion of the 2010 health reform law that requires Americans to obtain health insurance or pay a penalty is constitutional.</p>
<p>The decision came in response to an appeal by the conservative Thomas More Law Center in Michigan. A judge in the federal district court in Detroit <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/08/health/policy/08health.html" type="external">ruled last October</a> that the “mandate” portion of the law was, in fact, constitutional, but Thomas More appealed to the 6th&#160;Circuit.</p>
<p>There are still two decisions pending from other appeals courts regarding portions of the health care law: the 4th Circuit in Richmond and the 11th Circuit in Atlanta. It’s expected that at least one of the suits will end up in front of the Supreme Court. The <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/30/us/30health.html" type="external">New York Times explains</a>:</p>
<p>Lawyers on both sides of the case widely expect the Supreme Court to take one or more of the cases, perhaps as soon as its coming term, which starts in October. The speed of the Sixth Circuit ruling could help ensure that timing.</p>
<p>The Sixth Circuit opinion was the first on the merits that has not broken down strictly along seemingly partisan lines. Two of the judges on the panel were appointed by Republican presidents and one was appointed by a Democrat. At the lower District Court level, five judges have divided on the question, with three Democratic appointees ruling in favor of the law and two Republican appointees rejecting it.</p>
<p>The law might not fare as well in the other appeals courts, both of which are expected to rule soon. But the Department of Justice <a href="http://blogs.usdoj.gov/blog/archives/1435" type="external">issued a statement</a> cheering the news. “Throughout history, there have been similar challenges to other landmark legislation such as the Social Security Act, the Civil Rights Act, and the Voting Rights Act, and all of those challenges failed,” said Tracy Schmaler, deputy director of the DOJ’s Office of Public Affairs. “We believe these challenges to health reform will also fail.”</p>
<p /> | 1,068 |
<p>It seems like a hazy memory today, but there was a time when the Palestinian struggle was a key element in a popular upsurge which seemed to be on its way to triumph over colonialism and its remnants all over the world.</p>
<p>Long before The Two-State Solution, before Oslo and the endlessly futile Peace Process, before the so-called “Authority” in the fragmented cantons of the West Bank, filmmaker Mohanad Yaqubi reminds us, there was the Palestinian Revolution. &#160;In the new documentary “OFF FRAME AKA REVOLUTION UNTIL VICTORY”&#160;we can&#160;see on film fragmentary scenes from&#160; those heady days during the 1960’s and 70’s when militant Palestinian fighters, buoyed by the world-wide currents of national liberation and anti-colonialism, took up arms to overthrow the Zionist project. These were not “jihadists” in the current parlance of the Global War on Terror, but revolutionaries fighting for the return of an exiled people to their homeland — and to build a radical non-sectarian democratic state in Palestine.</p>
<p>The film is both a resurrection of that era and a self-conscious meditation on the efforts of the Palestinian film makers to produce a representation of the struggle in their own terms during the 1960s and 1970s.&#160; The memory of the period is reanimated through what was on film and a critical reflection on what was outside it – or “off Frame,” as the title indicates.&#160; “Revolution Until Victory” was a popular slogan among Palestinian resistors.</p>
<p>The documentary is based on the director’s rediscovery of the work of the PLO’s Palestine Film Unit through sometimes grainy prints surviving in archives around the world.&#160; The original negatives, like much of the documentary record of the Palestine resistance, were lost in the intentional destruction of the PLO archives by the Israeli invaders of Lebanon in 1982.</p>
<p>The film begins with stills and newsreel clips of British Mandatory Palestine, ending in the expulsion of at least 750,000 Palestinians from their homes to refugee camps, first of tents and then with more permanent, though still impoverished housing as the years went by. &#160;Yaqubi reveals again and again in contemporary documentary and PLO propaganda footage how the Palestinians struggled to create their own narrative and gradually transformed from victims to resistors, from exiles to self-conscious freedom fighters.&#160; In the words of author and historian Elias Sandbar “For people who suffer from invisibility, the camera would be their weapon.”</p>
<p>The struggle against historical “erasure” is one thread that animated Palestinian resistance throughout those years and it continues to this day.&#160; A segment of Yaqubi’s film reproduces clips from a PLO documentary response to Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir’s infamous 1969 statement that “The Palestinians Do Not Exist.”&#160; &#160;In 2011 former House Speaker and presidential aspirant Newt Gingrich called the Palestinians an “invented people.”&#160; A few years later, influential billionaire Republican funder (and “Friend of Bibi”) Sheldon Adelson asserted that the Palestinians were “a made-up nation” and his campaign donations have helped to make this a near universal dogma on the Conservative Right.</p>
<p>“Revolution Until Victory” is also a vivid reminder that the image projected by the PLO in those days was defiantly leftist and secular.&#160; Scenes of fighters (men and women) are interspersed with clips of people learning how to read, weapons shown alongside books and teachers citing Che Guevara on revolution and love. &#160;The analysis portrayed in the clips is overtly Marxist. Everyone from Arafat to individual fighters speaking about the struggle as one for liberation, not against “the Jews” but for a free Palestine where everyone could live in peace.&#160; &#160;It was a cause – along with the contemporary Vietnam War – that resonated among prominent radicals across the world. We see clips of international celebrities like filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard and actress Vanessa Redgrave. As well as footage narrated in French and Italian. &#160;(Writer Jean Genet’s posthumous work “A Prisoner of Love” would document his meditation on the time he spent with Palestinian fighters in the 1970s.)</p>
<p>In the late 1970s Palestinians trained together with South African ANC fighters, Mozambican FRELIMO and ZAPU (Zimbabwe) troops, alongside Lebanese Communists in Algerian and Soviet military camps.&#160; An ANC soldier I knew in Zambia during the 1980s was called “Ya Habibi” by his comrades (and also years later on the streets of Pretoria when he became a colonel in the new South African Army) because that is how they heard him greeted by PLO fighters in the same Crimean training camp.</p>
<p>In retrospect, of course, it was unlikely that Palestinian freedom fighters alone could ever have defeated the mighty Israeli military machine, armed and supported by the US and its allies.&#160; Palestine was not Vietnam.&#160; But the PLO armed resistance – like the ANC’s during the same period – played an important role in bolstering morale among the Palestinians under occupation and in the diaspora.&#160; Without it the Intifadas of the 1980s in Palestine and South Africa might not have been possible. In the case of Apartheid South Africa the result was the growth of an unstoppable internal resistance and powerful international sanctions that brought about a democratic de-colonization.&#160; Palestinians are still waiting.</p>
<p>But, as filmmaker Yaqubi has written: “Resorting to cinema’s temporal nature and time being an elastic concept, Off Frame” assumes the role of a time machine. . .&#160; by opening a portal into the life, hopes and desires of a people living in a revolution, fighting to be recognized and to reclaim control over their representation.”</p>
<p>The film ends on a hopeful contemporary note.&#160; Interspersed with the final credits are scenes from a classroom in contemporary Ramallah where the teacher and students (boys and girls together) speak about “peace with dignity.”&#160; On the walls are photos of Yasser Arafat and the poet Mahmoud Darwish.&#160; As the last credits roll, a student assembly salutes the Palestinian flag, accompanied by the strains of the stirring Palestinian anthem&#160;Biladi&#160;– “My Land.”</p>
<p>Jeff Klein&#160;is a frequent visitor to the Middle East, a speaker and author of many articles on regional issues and Palestine-Israel.&#160; In the 1980s he worked for the exiled African National Congress in Zambia.&#160; He has an occasional blog:&#160; <a href="http://atmyangle.blogspot.com/" type="external">At a slight angle to the universe</a>.</p>
<p>The Film will be shown on Sunday, October 22 as part of the&#160; <a href="" type="internal">Boston Palestine Film Festival.</a></p> | “Revolution Until Victory:” a New Film About the Palestine Liberation Struggle | true | https://counterpunch.org/2017/10/13/revolution-until-victory-a-new-film-about-the-palestine-liberation-struggle/ | 2017-10-13 | 4left
| “Revolution Until Victory:” a New Film About the Palestine Liberation Struggle
<p>It seems like a hazy memory today, but there was a time when the Palestinian struggle was a key element in a popular upsurge which seemed to be on its way to triumph over colonialism and its remnants all over the world.</p>
<p>Long before The Two-State Solution, before Oslo and the endlessly futile Peace Process, before the so-called “Authority” in the fragmented cantons of the West Bank, filmmaker Mohanad Yaqubi reminds us, there was the Palestinian Revolution. &#160;In the new documentary “OFF FRAME AKA REVOLUTION UNTIL VICTORY”&#160;we can&#160;see on film fragmentary scenes from&#160; those heady days during the 1960’s and 70’s when militant Palestinian fighters, buoyed by the world-wide currents of national liberation and anti-colonialism, took up arms to overthrow the Zionist project. These were not “jihadists” in the current parlance of the Global War on Terror, but revolutionaries fighting for the return of an exiled people to their homeland — and to build a radical non-sectarian democratic state in Palestine.</p>
<p>The film is both a resurrection of that era and a self-conscious meditation on the efforts of the Palestinian film makers to produce a representation of the struggle in their own terms during the 1960s and 1970s.&#160; The memory of the period is reanimated through what was on film and a critical reflection on what was outside it – or “off Frame,” as the title indicates.&#160; “Revolution Until Victory” was a popular slogan among Palestinian resistors.</p>
<p>The documentary is based on the director’s rediscovery of the work of the PLO’s Palestine Film Unit through sometimes grainy prints surviving in archives around the world.&#160; The original negatives, like much of the documentary record of the Palestine resistance, were lost in the intentional destruction of the PLO archives by the Israeli invaders of Lebanon in 1982.</p>
<p>The film begins with stills and newsreel clips of British Mandatory Palestine, ending in the expulsion of at least 750,000 Palestinians from their homes to refugee camps, first of tents and then with more permanent, though still impoverished housing as the years went by. &#160;Yaqubi reveals again and again in contemporary documentary and PLO propaganda footage how the Palestinians struggled to create their own narrative and gradually transformed from victims to resistors, from exiles to self-conscious freedom fighters.&#160; In the words of author and historian Elias Sandbar “For people who suffer from invisibility, the camera would be their weapon.”</p>
<p>The struggle against historical “erasure” is one thread that animated Palestinian resistance throughout those years and it continues to this day.&#160; A segment of Yaqubi’s film reproduces clips from a PLO documentary response to Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir’s infamous 1969 statement that “The Palestinians Do Not Exist.”&#160; &#160;In 2011 former House Speaker and presidential aspirant Newt Gingrich called the Palestinians an “invented people.”&#160; A few years later, influential billionaire Republican funder (and “Friend of Bibi”) Sheldon Adelson asserted that the Palestinians were “a made-up nation” and his campaign donations have helped to make this a near universal dogma on the Conservative Right.</p>
<p>“Revolution Until Victory” is also a vivid reminder that the image projected by the PLO in those days was defiantly leftist and secular.&#160; Scenes of fighters (men and women) are interspersed with clips of people learning how to read, weapons shown alongside books and teachers citing Che Guevara on revolution and love. &#160;The analysis portrayed in the clips is overtly Marxist. Everyone from Arafat to individual fighters speaking about the struggle as one for liberation, not against “the Jews” but for a free Palestine where everyone could live in peace.&#160; &#160;It was a cause – along with the contemporary Vietnam War – that resonated among prominent radicals across the world. We see clips of international celebrities like filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard and actress Vanessa Redgrave. As well as footage narrated in French and Italian. &#160;(Writer Jean Genet’s posthumous work “A Prisoner of Love” would document his meditation on the time he spent with Palestinian fighters in the 1970s.)</p>
<p>In the late 1970s Palestinians trained together with South African ANC fighters, Mozambican FRELIMO and ZAPU (Zimbabwe) troops, alongside Lebanese Communists in Algerian and Soviet military camps.&#160; An ANC soldier I knew in Zambia during the 1980s was called “Ya Habibi” by his comrades (and also years later on the streets of Pretoria when he became a colonel in the new South African Army) because that is how they heard him greeted by PLO fighters in the same Crimean training camp.</p>
<p>In retrospect, of course, it was unlikely that Palestinian freedom fighters alone could ever have defeated the mighty Israeli military machine, armed and supported by the US and its allies.&#160; Palestine was not Vietnam.&#160; But the PLO armed resistance – like the ANC’s during the same period – played an important role in bolstering morale among the Palestinians under occupation and in the diaspora.&#160; Without it the Intifadas of the 1980s in Palestine and South Africa might not have been possible. In the case of Apartheid South Africa the result was the growth of an unstoppable internal resistance and powerful international sanctions that brought about a democratic de-colonization.&#160; Palestinians are still waiting.</p>
<p>But, as filmmaker Yaqubi has written: “Resorting to cinema’s temporal nature and time being an elastic concept, Off Frame” assumes the role of a time machine. . .&#160; by opening a portal into the life, hopes and desires of a people living in a revolution, fighting to be recognized and to reclaim control over their representation.”</p>
<p>The film ends on a hopeful contemporary note.&#160; Interspersed with the final credits are scenes from a classroom in contemporary Ramallah where the teacher and students (boys and girls together) speak about “peace with dignity.”&#160; On the walls are photos of Yasser Arafat and the poet Mahmoud Darwish.&#160; As the last credits roll, a student assembly salutes the Palestinian flag, accompanied by the strains of the stirring Palestinian anthem&#160;Biladi&#160;– “My Land.”</p>
<p>Jeff Klein&#160;is a frequent visitor to the Middle East, a speaker and author of many articles on regional issues and Palestine-Israel.&#160; In the 1980s he worked for the exiled African National Congress in Zambia.&#160; He has an occasional blog:&#160; <a href="http://atmyangle.blogspot.com/" type="external">At a slight angle to the universe</a>.</p>
<p>The Film will be shown on Sunday, October 22 as part of the&#160; <a href="" type="internal">Boston Palestine Film Festival.</a></p> | 1,069 |
<p />
<p>There's no way around it: Where you <a href="http://www.fool.com/retirement/ira/index.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">open an IRA Opens a New Window.</a> matters to your investment portfolio, and it affects more than the price you pay. Brokers offer different investment menus, research capabilities, and tools to help you plan for retirement. Today we're taking a look at how Capital One and Merrill Edge compare on key criteria for retirement investors.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Capital One and Merrill Edge offer the exact same pricing at their standard rates.</p>
<p>Data source: company websites.</p>
<p>Having the same commission schedule doesn't mean that customers will ultimately pay the same amount, however. Keep in mind that both brokers offer ways to save. Capital One's ShareBuilder program can be used to make trades for just $3.95 each, as long as you don't mind waiting until the next Tuesday for the trade to process. Merrill Edge customers who maintain a minimum balance in their account (Bank of America accounts included) can receive up to 30 commission-free trades every month.</p>
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<p>Beyond these money-saving opportunities, some brokers' <a href="http://www.fool.com/retirement/ira/index.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">special offers for IRAs Opens a New Window.</a>include cash bonuses that top off your account with free money just for signing up. At any rate, with most trades starting at less than $7, neither broker will break the bank.</p>
<p>You won't find commission-free ETFs at either broker, but both offer no-load, not-transaction-fee mutual funds that you can buy or sell without paying a fee.</p>
<p>Data source: company websites and representatives.</p>
<p>Over time, fee-free fund choices can save you a fortune. At nearly $20 per purchase, an investor who made a bi-weekly investment in a mutual fund that didn't qualify for free trades would pay more than $500 in transaction fees at the standard price of $19.95.</p>
<p>While there aren't many investments that you can make for just $1.00, you can open an account with that amount. Merrill Edge and Capital One offer no-minimum IRAs, which allow you to open an account without making a massive deposit on day one.</p>
<p>Start building your portfolio from the ground up with a no-minimum IRA account. Image source: Getty Images.</p>
<p>Online brokers make it possible to invest in companies located all around the world, but there are a few limitations. Here's how Merrill Edge and Capital One compare for foreign investments.</p>
<p>Data source: company websites and representatives.</p>
<p>The biggest limitation to each brokers' service is that they don't offer the ability to send trades to international stock exchanges. Thus, investors who want to invest overseas will have to invest in funds, or invest in companies with U.S. tickers. (To be fair, <a href="http://www.fool.com/retirement/ira/index.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">only a few brokers Opens a New Window.</a> offer trading on international exchanges.)</p>
<p>Mobile phones and tablets enable you to trade from just about anywhere. Here's how each brokers' users and customers rated their mobile trading apps, as of Jan. 31, 2017:</p>
<p>Data source: relevant app stores.</p>
<p>Fees that may go unnoticed on large accounts can add up quickly on smaller account sizes. Keep on the lookout for two fees: maintenance fees (recurring charges for simply having an account) and inactivity fees (for trading too infrequently).</p>
<p>Merrill Edge and Capital One do not charge an annual maintenance fee or inactivity fee, so you won't have to go out of your way to avoid a service charge.</p>
<p>We tend to think that it's beneficial to have a wide range of opinions at your fingertips. Most brokers provide a laundry list of research and retirement planning tools to help their clients make better investment decisions.</p>
<p>Merrill Edge offers access to research from Bank of America Merrill Lynch analysts, S&amp;P Capital IQ, and Morningstar. It also offers a collection of retirement planning tools to see how your portfolio stands up against your retirement goals and timelines.</p>
<p>Capital One's research center is powered by Morningstar data for easy comparison of individual stocks and funds. Its Fund Evaluator tool makes it easy to compare funds, and find lower-cost alternatives to the funds in your portfolio.</p>
<p>Both brokers offer something different that make them better for certain types of investors. Capital One's ShareBuilder program makes it very inexpensive to make recurring purchases of stocks and funds at a tiny commission of just $3.95 per trade. Merrill Edge offers a longer list of fee-free mutual funds, and may win over customers who already have an account with Bank of America.</p>
<p>Ultimately, it's really all about how each broker fits your specific needs. To be clear, The Motley Fool does not endorse any particular brokerage, but we can help you find one that is a good fit for you. Visit <a href="http://www.fool.com/retirement/ira/index.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Fool.com's IRA Center Opens a New Window.</a>to compare several brokers all on one page and see if you qualify for any special offers for opening a new account.</p>
<p>10 stocks we like better thanWal-MartWhen investing geniuses David and TomGardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter theyhave run for over a decade, the Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.*</p>
<p>David and Tomjust revealed what they believe are the <a href="http://www.fool.com/mms/mark/e-sa-bbn-eg?aid=8867&amp;source=isaeditxt0000476&amp;ftm_cam=sa-bbn-evergreen&amp;ftm_pit=6627&amp;ftm_veh=article_pitch&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">ten best stocks Opens a New Window.</a>for investors to buy right now... and Wal-Mart wasn't one of them! That's right -- theythink these 10 stocks are even better buys.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.fool.com/mms/mark/e-sa-bbn-eg?aid=8867&amp;source=isaeditxt0000476&amp;ftm_cam=sa-bbn-evergreen&amp;ftm_pit=6627&amp;ftm_veh=article_pitch&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Click here Opens a New Window.</a>to learn about these picks!</p>
<p>*StockAdvisor returns as of December 12, 2016The author(s) may have a position in any stocks mentioned.</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFValueMagnet/info.aspx" type="external">Jordan Wathen Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> | Brokers for IRAs: Comparing Capital One and Merrill Edge | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/02/05/brokers-for-iras-comparing-capital-one-and-merrill-edge.html | 2017-02-05 | 0right
| Brokers for IRAs: Comparing Capital One and Merrill Edge
<p />
<p>There's no way around it: Where you <a href="http://www.fool.com/retirement/ira/index.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">open an IRA Opens a New Window.</a> matters to your investment portfolio, and it affects more than the price you pay. Brokers offer different investment menus, research capabilities, and tools to help you plan for retirement. Today we're taking a look at how Capital One and Merrill Edge compare on key criteria for retirement investors.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Capital One and Merrill Edge offer the exact same pricing at their standard rates.</p>
<p>Data source: company websites.</p>
<p>Having the same commission schedule doesn't mean that customers will ultimately pay the same amount, however. Keep in mind that both brokers offer ways to save. Capital One's ShareBuilder program can be used to make trades for just $3.95 each, as long as you don't mind waiting until the next Tuesday for the trade to process. Merrill Edge customers who maintain a minimum balance in their account (Bank of America accounts included) can receive up to 30 commission-free trades every month.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Beyond these money-saving opportunities, some brokers' <a href="http://www.fool.com/retirement/ira/index.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">special offers for IRAs Opens a New Window.</a>include cash bonuses that top off your account with free money just for signing up. At any rate, with most trades starting at less than $7, neither broker will break the bank.</p>
<p>You won't find commission-free ETFs at either broker, but both offer no-load, not-transaction-fee mutual funds that you can buy or sell without paying a fee.</p>
<p>Data source: company websites and representatives.</p>
<p>Over time, fee-free fund choices can save you a fortune. At nearly $20 per purchase, an investor who made a bi-weekly investment in a mutual fund that didn't qualify for free trades would pay more than $500 in transaction fees at the standard price of $19.95.</p>
<p>While there aren't many investments that you can make for just $1.00, you can open an account with that amount. Merrill Edge and Capital One offer no-minimum IRAs, which allow you to open an account without making a massive deposit on day one.</p>
<p>Start building your portfolio from the ground up with a no-minimum IRA account. Image source: Getty Images.</p>
<p>Online brokers make it possible to invest in companies located all around the world, but there are a few limitations. Here's how Merrill Edge and Capital One compare for foreign investments.</p>
<p>Data source: company websites and representatives.</p>
<p>The biggest limitation to each brokers' service is that they don't offer the ability to send trades to international stock exchanges. Thus, investors who want to invest overseas will have to invest in funds, or invest in companies with U.S. tickers. (To be fair, <a href="http://www.fool.com/retirement/ira/index.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">only a few brokers Opens a New Window.</a> offer trading on international exchanges.)</p>
<p>Mobile phones and tablets enable you to trade from just about anywhere. Here's how each brokers' users and customers rated their mobile trading apps, as of Jan. 31, 2017:</p>
<p>Data source: relevant app stores.</p>
<p>Fees that may go unnoticed on large accounts can add up quickly on smaller account sizes. Keep on the lookout for two fees: maintenance fees (recurring charges for simply having an account) and inactivity fees (for trading too infrequently).</p>
<p>Merrill Edge and Capital One do not charge an annual maintenance fee or inactivity fee, so you won't have to go out of your way to avoid a service charge.</p>
<p>We tend to think that it's beneficial to have a wide range of opinions at your fingertips. Most brokers provide a laundry list of research and retirement planning tools to help their clients make better investment decisions.</p>
<p>Merrill Edge offers access to research from Bank of America Merrill Lynch analysts, S&amp;P Capital IQ, and Morningstar. It also offers a collection of retirement planning tools to see how your portfolio stands up against your retirement goals and timelines.</p>
<p>Capital One's research center is powered by Morningstar data for easy comparison of individual stocks and funds. Its Fund Evaluator tool makes it easy to compare funds, and find lower-cost alternatives to the funds in your portfolio.</p>
<p>Both brokers offer something different that make them better for certain types of investors. Capital One's ShareBuilder program makes it very inexpensive to make recurring purchases of stocks and funds at a tiny commission of just $3.95 per trade. Merrill Edge offers a longer list of fee-free mutual funds, and may win over customers who already have an account with Bank of America.</p>
<p>Ultimately, it's really all about how each broker fits your specific needs. To be clear, The Motley Fool does not endorse any particular brokerage, but we can help you find one that is a good fit for you. Visit <a href="http://www.fool.com/retirement/ira/index.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Fool.com's IRA Center Opens a New Window.</a>to compare several brokers all on one page and see if you qualify for any special offers for opening a new account.</p>
<p>10 stocks we like better thanWal-MartWhen investing geniuses David and TomGardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter theyhave run for over a decade, the Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.*</p>
<p>David and Tomjust revealed what they believe are the <a href="http://www.fool.com/mms/mark/e-sa-bbn-eg?aid=8867&amp;source=isaeditxt0000476&amp;ftm_cam=sa-bbn-evergreen&amp;ftm_pit=6627&amp;ftm_veh=article_pitch&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">ten best stocks Opens a New Window.</a>for investors to buy right now... and Wal-Mart wasn't one of them! That's right -- theythink these 10 stocks are even better buys.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.fool.com/mms/mark/e-sa-bbn-eg?aid=8867&amp;source=isaeditxt0000476&amp;ftm_cam=sa-bbn-evergreen&amp;ftm_pit=6627&amp;ftm_veh=article_pitch&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Click here Opens a New Window.</a>to learn about these picks!</p>
<p>*StockAdvisor returns as of December 12, 2016The author(s) may have a position in any stocks mentioned.</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFValueMagnet/info.aspx" type="external">Jordan Wathen Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> | 1,070 |
<p>Dili, Timor-Leste.</p>
<p>Recently, thousands of U.S. military veterans travelled to North Dakota to support the peaceful struggle of the Standing Rock Sioux to defend their sovereignty and protect their land and water. I watched the veterans bend down to ask forgiveness from the many indigenous tribes gathered there. They apologized as veterans from the same military that has carried out genocide against Native Americans since before the U.S. achieved independence. In this way, they acknowledged the past and affirmed their commitment to ensuring the bitter past doesn’t repeat itself.</p>
<p>This December 7, I bent down in Timor-Leste to apologize for the crimes of my government against the East Timorese people. On that day in 1975, U.S.-armed and -trained Indonesian troops launched their illegal invasion. I feel a deep sadness and shame that my government has not yet formally and responsibly acknowledged its support for crimes committed here on that day and the 24-year Indonesian occupation which followed. An important first step would be for the U.S. to declassify and release all its records related to Indonesia and its invasion and occupation of Timor-Leste.</p>
<p>As a citizen of the United States, I have a responsibility to learn and respond to injustices done by my own government. While my government would prefer not to emphasize or even acknowledge this past, I can still access this information, and I can speak freely. I am obligated to act when I see injustice – to use nonviolent means to prevent, reduce or acknowledge my complicity in my government’s actions.</p>
<p>In the U.S., most people know December 7 as Pearl Harbor Day, the anniversary of the 1941 Japanese bombing of a U.S. Navy base in Hawaii. Japan’s target was strictly military, and the pre-emptive strike was carried out because Japan believed that the U.S. was close to joining the war. In contrast, Indonesia’s invasion of Timor-Leste was an attack on a civilian population who did not want war with Indonesia. Most people in the U.S. don’t know about Timor-Leste, but the Indonesian invasion could not have happened without the military, economic and diplomatic backing of the U.S.</p>
<p>From December 6, 1975, until 1999, the U.S. supported Indonesia’s invasion and occupation. For this, they are responsible for numerous serious crimes committed here.</p>
<p>Some basic facts:</p>
<p>+ December 6, 1975: President Gerald Ford <a href="http://www.etan.org/issues/kissinger.htm" type="external">and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger</a> met with Suharto in Jakarta and gave a green light to the invasion.</p>
<p>+&#160; <a href="" type="internal">December 7</a>, 1975: Indonesia launched the invasion; 90% of the weapons used came from the U.S.</p>
<p>+ December 1975-1976: President Ford’s Ambassador to the UN <a href="" type="internal">, Daniel Patrick Moynihan</a>, wrote proudly that the U.S. wanted the UN to be “utterly ineffective in whatever measures it undertook [on Timor-Leste], …and I carried it forward with no inconsiderable success.” From 1976 to 1983, the U.S. voted against every General Assembly resolution supporting Timor-Leste.</p>
<p>+ January 1976: A U.S. State Department official stated: “In terms of the bilateral relations between the U.S. and Indonesia, we are more or less condoning the incursion into East Timor…. The United States wants to keep its relations with Indonesia close and friendly. [It’s] a nation we do a lot of business with.”</p>
<p>+ 1977: <a href="" type="internal">President Jimmy Carter</a> (known by many as ‘the human rights president’) increased military aid to Indonesia, including authorizing an additional $112 million worth of weapons. U.S. support for the occupation continued under the Reagan and Bush administrations of the 1980s.</p>
<p>+ December 10, 1991: A month after the notorious <a href="http://www.etan.org/factsheets/santa_cruz.htm" type="external">Santa Cruz massacre</a> in Dili, capitol of Timor-Leste – witnessed by U.S. journalists Amy Goodman and <a href="" type="internal">Allan Nairn</a> — U.S. officials met with Indonesian military leaders to reinforce their support, telling them: “We do not believe that friends should abandon friends in times of adversity.”</p>
<p>+ 1992-1999: East Timor Action Network (ETAN) activists worked with members of Congress to restrict U.S. government support for the occupation, resulting in a decrease in military assistance, training and arms sales to Indonesia. Despite this, President Clinton authorized hundreds of millions of dollars in weapons sales and provided over US$500 million in economic aid.</p>
<p>+ Early September 1999: Despite the killings and massive destruction by the Indonesian military and their militia which preceded and followed Timor’s vote for independence – the Clinton administration delayed ending military and economic support for Indonesia. U.S. Ambassador to Indonesia, <a href="https://etan.org/estafeta/99/autumn/against.htm" type="external">Stapleton Roy</a>, told a journalist: “The dilemma is that Indonesia matters and East Timor doesn’t.” Finally, on September 10, in the face of strong public and Congressional pressure, President Clinton suspended all U.S. economic aid and military ties to Indonesia.</p>
<p>The U.S. government has not yet responded to the basic recommendations presented in <a href="" type="internal">Chega</a>!, the report of Timor’s truth commission. The commission <a href="" type="internal">called on</a> the U.S. and others to support an international tribunal to bring perpetrators of crimes committed during Indonesian illegal occupation to justice. The commission recommended reparations to the Timorese people from countries like the U.S. that backed Indonesia.</p>
<p>Fidel Castro is now dead, and Donald Trump will be the next U.S. president. People in Cuba have access to quality healthcare. In the U.S., 17% of the population are food insecure and at least a million people have no permanent home. While the health system doesn’t yet cover everyone, many people’s insurance is now threatened with elimination by Trump.</p>
<p>While Cuba has little money, they have <a href="" type="internal">sent doctors and provide medical education</a> to develop the health sector in many countries, including Timor-Leste. The U.S., a far richer nation, gives relatively small amount in aid, largely focused on promoting private business and supporting militaries.</p>
<p>As a U.S. citizen, I acknowledge this and redouble my commitment and solidarity as an individual, as an activist, and as a member of ETAN, to struggle to ensure genuine accountability and justice for crimes committed in Timor-Leste. I will continue to push my government to make people and their basic needs the priority, as opposed to corporate profits and the rich. I will continue to demand that my government:</p>
<p>+ release all U.S. government documents relating to Timor-Leste from 1974-1999, including intelligence files and intercepted communications between different parts of the military and government.</p>
<p>+ create an independent commission with the power to investigate, analyze and report on U.S. involvement in Indonesia’s invasion and occupation of Timor-Leste.</p>
<p>+ actively support the establishment of an international tribunal or other mechanism that can end impunity for those who committed crimes against humanity.</p>
<p>+ follow through on all the recommendations laid out in the Chega! report, including continuing to block visas to military officers who are mentioned in the report as possible perpetrators or command officers, and stopping weapon sales to Indonesia if human rights violations continue (as they do in West Papua).</p>
<p>+ apologize to the Timorese people for U.S. support for Indonesia and the crimes against humanity and war crimes carried out as part of the invasion and occupation.</p>
<p>+ begin discussions with Timorese people from various sectors about reparations from the U.S. government to the people of Timor-Leste.</p>
<p>A luta kontinua…</p>
<p>See also, Nevins, Joseph. <a href="http://etan.org/resource/books.htm#B55" type="external">A not-so-distant horror: mass violence in East Timor</a>, Cornell University Press, 2005</p>
<p>Pam Sexton currently lives and works in Timor-Leste. She is a member of the Executive Committee of the U.S-based East Timor and Indonesia Action Network (ETAN, <a href="http://www.etan.org/" type="external">www.etan.org</a></p> | East Timor: Reflections 41 Years After Invasion Day | true | https://counterpunch.org/2016/12/21/east-timor-reflections-41-years-after-invasion-day/ | 2016-12-21 | 4left
| East Timor: Reflections 41 Years After Invasion Day
<p>Dili, Timor-Leste.</p>
<p>Recently, thousands of U.S. military veterans travelled to North Dakota to support the peaceful struggle of the Standing Rock Sioux to defend their sovereignty and protect their land and water. I watched the veterans bend down to ask forgiveness from the many indigenous tribes gathered there. They apologized as veterans from the same military that has carried out genocide against Native Americans since before the U.S. achieved independence. In this way, they acknowledged the past and affirmed their commitment to ensuring the bitter past doesn’t repeat itself.</p>
<p>This December 7, I bent down in Timor-Leste to apologize for the crimes of my government against the East Timorese people. On that day in 1975, U.S.-armed and -trained Indonesian troops launched their illegal invasion. I feel a deep sadness and shame that my government has not yet formally and responsibly acknowledged its support for crimes committed here on that day and the 24-year Indonesian occupation which followed. An important first step would be for the U.S. to declassify and release all its records related to Indonesia and its invasion and occupation of Timor-Leste.</p>
<p>As a citizen of the United States, I have a responsibility to learn and respond to injustices done by my own government. While my government would prefer not to emphasize or even acknowledge this past, I can still access this information, and I can speak freely. I am obligated to act when I see injustice – to use nonviolent means to prevent, reduce or acknowledge my complicity in my government’s actions.</p>
<p>In the U.S., most people know December 7 as Pearl Harbor Day, the anniversary of the 1941 Japanese bombing of a U.S. Navy base in Hawaii. Japan’s target was strictly military, and the pre-emptive strike was carried out because Japan believed that the U.S. was close to joining the war. In contrast, Indonesia’s invasion of Timor-Leste was an attack on a civilian population who did not want war with Indonesia. Most people in the U.S. don’t know about Timor-Leste, but the Indonesian invasion could not have happened without the military, economic and diplomatic backing of the U.S.</p>
<p>From December 6, 1975, until 1999, the U.S. supported Indonesia’s invasion and occupation. For this, they are responsible for numerous serious crimes committed here.</p>
<p>Some basic facts:</p>
<p>+ December 6, 1975: President Gerald Ford <a href="http://www.etan.org/issues/kissinger.htm" type="external">and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger</a> met with Suharto in Jakarta and gave a green light to the invasion.</p>
<p>+&#160; <a href="" type="internal">December 7</a>, 1975: Indonesia launched the invasion; 90% of the weapons used came from the U.S.</p>
<p>+ December 1975-1976: President Ford’s Ambassador to the UN <a href="" type="internal">, Daniel Patrick Moynihan</a>, wrote proudly that the U.S. wanted the UN to be “utterly ineffective in whatever measures it undertook [on Timor-Leste], …and I carried it forward with no inconsiderable success.” From 1976 to 1983, the U.S. voted against every General Assembly resolution supporting Timor-Leste.</p>
<p>+ January 1976: A U.S. State Department official stated: “In terms of the bilateral relations between the U.S. and Indonesia, we are more or less condoning the incursion into East Timor…. The United States wants to keep its relations with Indonesia close and friendly. [It’s] a nation we do a lot of business with.”</p>
<p>+ 1977: <a href="" type="internal">President Jimmy Carter</a> (known by many as ‘the human rights president’) increased military aid to Indonesia, including authorizing an additional $112 million worth of weapons. U.S. support for the occupation continued under the Reagan and Bush administrations of the 1980s.</p>
<p>+ December 10, 1991: A month after the notorious <a href="http://www.etan.org/factsheets/santa_cruz.htm" type="external">Santa Cruz massacre</a> in Dili, capitol of Timor-Leste – witnessed by U.S. journalists Amy Goodman and <a href="" type="internal">Allan Nairn</a> — U.S. officials met with Indonesian military leaders to reinforce their support, telling them: “We do not believe that friends should abandon friends in times of adversity.”</p>
<p>+ 1992-1999: East Timor Action Network (ETAN) activists worked with members of Congress to restrict U.S. government support for the occupation, resulting in a decrease in military assistance, training and arms sales to Indonesia. Despite this, President Clinton authorized hundreds of millions of dollars in weapons sales and provided over US$500 million in economic aid.</p>
<p>+ Early September 1999: Despite the killings and massive destruction by the Indonesian military and their militia which preceded and followed Timor’s vote for independence – the Clinton administration delayed ending military and economic support for Indonesia. U.S. Ambassador to Indonesia, <a href="https://etan.org/estafeta/99/autumn/against.htm" type="external">Stapleton Roy</a>, told a journalist: “The dilemma is that Indonesia matters and East Timor doesn’t.” Finally, on September 10, in the face of strong public and Congressional pressure, President Clinton suspended all U.S. economic aid and military ties to Indonesia.</p>
<p>The U.S. government has not yet responded to the basic recommendations presented in <a href="" type="internal">Chega</a>!, the report of Timor’s truth commission. The commission <a href="" type="internal">called on</a> the U.S. and others to support an international tribunal to bring perpetrators of crimes committed during Indonesian illegal occupation to justice. The commission recommended reparations to the Timorese people from countries like the U.S. that backed Indonesia.</p>
<p>Fidel Castro is now dead, and Donald Trump will be the next U.S. president. People in Cuba have access to quality healthcare. In the U.S., 17% of the population are food insecure and at least a million people have no permanent home. While the health system doesn’t yet cover everyone, many people’s insurance is now threatened with elimination by Trump.</p>
<p>While Cuba has little money, they have <a href="" type="internal">sent doctors and provide medical education</a> to develop the health sector in many countries, including Timor-Leste. The U.S., a far richer nation, gives relatively small amount in aid, largely focused on promoting private business and supporting militaries.</p>
<p>As a U.S. citizen, I acknowledge this and redouble my commitment and solidarity as an individual, as an activist, and as a member of ETAN, to struggle to ensure genuine accountability and justice for crimes committed in Timor-Leste. I will continue to push my government to make people and their basic needs the priority, as opposed to corporate profits and the rich. I will continue to demand that my government:</p>
<p>+ release all U.S. government documents relating to Timor-Leste from 1974-1999, including intelligence files and intercepted communications between different parts of the military and government.</p>
<p>+ create an independent commission with the power to investigate, analyze and report on U.S. involvement in Indonesia’s invasion and occupation of Timor-Leste.</p>
<p>+ actively support the establishment of an international tribunal or other mechanism that can end impunity for those who committed crimes against humanity.</p>
<p>+ follow through on all the recommendations laid out in the Chega! report, including continuing to block visas to military officers who are mentioned in the report as possible perpetrators or command officers, and stopping weapon sales to Indonesia if human rights violations continue (as they do in West Papua).</p>
<p>+ apologize to the Timorese people for U.S. support for Indonesia and the crimes against humanity and war crimes carried out as part of the invasion and occupation.</p>
<p>+ begin discussions with Timorese people from various sectors about reparations from the U.S. government to the people of Timor-Leste.</p>
<p>A luta kontinua…</p>
<p>See also, Nevins, Joseph. <a href="http://etan.org/resource/books.htm#B55" type="external">A not-so-distant horror: mass violence in East Timor</a>, Cornell University Press, 2005</p>
<p>Pam Sexton currently lives and works in Timor-Leste. She is a member of the Executive Committee of the U.S-based East Timor and Indonesia Action Network (ETAN, <a href="http://www.etan.org/" type="external">www.etan.org</a></p> | 1,071 |
<p />
<p>Target Corp. (NYSE:TGT) said it is raising its minimum wage to $11 an hour starting next month and to $15 an hour within three years, as the retailer competes to fill low-wage jobs in a tighter labor market.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>The retailer, which employs about 323,000 people, said the new rate will apply to current staff as well as 100,000 temporary workers it plans to hire for the holidays. In the past, Target has resisted publicly commenting on its minimum wages. It quietly boosted starting pay to $10 an hour in 2016, after Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE:WMT) said it would increase wages for most of its U.S. workers.</p>
<p>The U.S. unemployment rate is near its lowest levels in 16 years, driving competition in unskilled jobs such as cashiers and clerks where turnover is often high and big chains must add tens of thousands of seasonal staff. Meanwhile, 19 states raised their minimum pay levels in January.</p>
<p>"We're investing to make sure that we recruit and retain the existing team, that we attract new team members and, importantly, that we provide an exceptional service environment," Chief Executive Brian Cornell said to reporters, adding that the move was tied to Target's holiday hiring plans. He declined to say how much more Target would be spending on wages following the change, but maintained the company's previous financial projections for the year.</p>
<p>Mr. Cornell is trying to turn around the retail chain's fortunes after it reported weak holiday sales last year and was forced to lower its profit and sales goals for the current fiscal year. The company, whose stock is down 19% so far this year, has been cutting prices, remodeling stores and ramping up spending on its supply chain and e-commerce capabilities. Some of those efforts paid off last quarter as sales rose for the first time in a year.</p>
<p>Retail is the largest private sector employer in the U.S., and competition for hourly workers has ratcheted up in recent years. There were 625,000 seasonally adjusted retail job openings in July, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the industry's rate of openings is about double what it was in 2010.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>An hourly wage of $11 will match minimums in Massachusetts and Washington and is higher than required in the other 48 states. Two of the most populous states, New York and California, have passed legislation that would lift their lowest pay rate to $15 over several years. Currently, 29 states have set rates higher than the federal minimum wage, which has been $7.25 since 2009.</p>
<p>State and municipal-level wage increases won't pressure retailers much because market forces have already compelled them to raise their minimums in those areas, said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics. "They've got a broad, long-term problem because the labor market is tight and it's going to get tighter."</p>
<p>A 2014 study from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office found raising the federal minimum wage to $10.10 an hour would reduce job creation by 500,000 over two years. At the same time, the report estimated that the increase in the federal minimum wage would raise the pay of 16.5 million workers who kept their jobs, including moving about 900,000 people above the poverty line.</p>
<p>For years, retailers have been increasing minimum wages to reduce costly turnover endemic to the industry. In early 2014, Gap Inc. (NYSE:GPS) told employees it would raise pay to at least $10 an hour by the next year, saying it hoped to gain an advantage over competitors. Last year, Costco Wholesale Corp. (NASDAQ:COST) raised its starting hourly wage to $13.</p>
<p>Wal-Mart, which employs about 1.5 million Americans, helped accelerate the wage war in 2015, when it announced plans to raise wages to $9 an hour. The following year Wal-Mart said new hires could earn $10 after a monthslong training course. Executives have said the wage investment and new training programs cost the company $2.7 billion, an expense that ate into profits and weighed on the stock.</p>
<p>Mr. Cornell dismissed concerns that existing staff would bristle at the prospect of new workers starting at a wage that it took them longer to attain. "I think this news is going to be very well received by our team," he said.</p>
<p>Target said it expects fiscal year per-share profit of $4.34 to $4.54, the same range it disclosed in August because the wage increase had already been factored into the outlook. It expects full-year comparable sales growth to remain around flat.</p>
<p>-Sarah Nassauer and Eric Morath contributed to this article.</p> | Target to boost minimum wages in battle for store workers | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2017/09/25/target-to-boost-minimum-wages-in-battle-for-store-workers.html | 2017-09-25 | 0right
| Target to boost minimum wages in battle for store workers
<p />
<p>Target Corp. (NYSE:TGT) said it is raising its minimum wage to $11 an hour starting next month and to $15 an hour within three years, as the retailer competes to fill low-wage jobs in a tighter labor market.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>The retailer, which employs about 323,000 people, said the new rate will apply to current staff as well as 100,000 temporary workers it plans to hire for the holidays. In the past, Target has resisted publicly commenting on its minimum wages. It quietly boosted starting pay to $10 an hour in 2016, after Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE:WMT) said it would increase wages for most of its U.S. workers.</p>
<p>The U.S. unemployment rate is near its lowest levels in 16 years, driving competition in unskilled jobs such as cashiers and clerks where turnover is often high and big chains must add tens of thousands of seasonal staff. Meanwhile, 19 states raised their minimum pay levels in January.</p>
<p>"We're investing to make sure that we recruit and retain the existing team, that we attract new team members and, importantly, that we provide an exceptional service environment," Chief Executive Brian Cornell said to reporters, adding that the move was tied to Target's holiday hiring plans. He declined to say how much more Target would be spending on wages following the change, but maintained the company's previous financial projections for the year.</p>
<p>Mr. Cornell is trying to turn around the retail chain's fortunes after it reported weak holiday sales last year and was forced to lower its profit and sales goals for the current fiscal year. The company, whose stock is down 19% so far this year, has been cutting prices, remodeling stores and ramping up spending on its supply chain and e-commerce capabilities. Some of those efforts paid off last quarter as sales rose for the first time in a year.</p>
<p>Retail is the largest private sector employer in the U.S., and competition for hourly workers has ratcheted up in recent years. There were 625,000 seasonally adjusted retail job openings in July, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the industry's rate of openings is about double what it was in 2010.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>An hourly wage of $11 will match minimums in Massachusetts and Washington and is higher than required in the other 48 states. Two of the most populous states, New York and California, have passed legislation that would lift their lowest pay rate to $15 over several years. Currently, 29 states have set rates higher than the federal minimum wage, which has been $7.25 since 2009.</p>
<p>State and municipal-level wage increases won't pressure retailers much because market forces have already compelled them to raise their minimums in those areas, said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics. "They've got a broad, long-term problem because the labor market is tight and it's going to get tighter."</p>
<p>A 2014 study from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office found raising the federal minimum wage to $10.10 an hour would reduce job creation by 500,000 over two years. At the same time, the report estimated that the increase in the federal minimum wage would raise the pay of 16.5 million workers who kept their jobs, including moving about 900,000 people above the poverty line.</p>
<p>For years, retailers have been increasing minimum wages to reduce costly turnover endemic to the industry. In early 2014, Gap Inc. (NYSE:GPS) told employees it would raise pay to at least $10 an hour by the next year, saying it hoped to gain an advantage over competitors. Last year, Costco Wholesale Corp. (NASDAQ:COST) raised its starting hourly wage to $13.</p>
<p>Wal-Mart, which employs about 1.5 million Americans, helped accelerate the wage war in 2015, when it announced plans to raise wages to $9 an hour. The following year Wal-Mart said new hires could earn $10 after a monthslong training course. Executives have said the wage investment and new training programs cost the company $2.7 billion, an expense that ate into profits and weighed on the stock.</p>
<p>Mr. Cornell dismissed concerns that existing staff would bristle at the prospect of new workers starting at a wage that it took them longer to attain. "I think this news is going to be very well received by our team," he said.</p>
<p>Target said it expects fiscal year per-share profit of $4.34 to $4.54, the same range it disclosed in August because the wage increase had already been factored into the outlook. It expects full-year comparable sales growth to remain around flat.</p>
<p>-Sarah Nassauer and Eric Morath contributed to this article.</p> | 1,072 |
<p>Homophobes, it seems, are obsessed with who might be sitting in the bathroom stall next to them. <a href="" type="internal">Planet Fitness</a> kicked a woman out of their gym for complaining about a transgender woman in the locker room. It’s such a big issue that legislatures are trying to figure out how to <a href="http://time.com/3734714/transgender-bathroom-bills-lgbt-discrimination/" type="external">solve the problem</a> that doesn’t need to exist.</p>
<p>Supporters of transgender people have long been complaining that there isn’t a way to know if a person is a man or a woman and the wrong person is bound to get caught up in the crossfire. I’m sure that happens on a daily basis, actually, but Courtney Bogorad of Detroit is one of the first to sue for it.</p>
<p>Bogorad is a CIS woman, meaning she is not transgender. She has short hair and for that reason, is sometimes mistaken for a boy. In January, she was dining at Fishbones restaurant in Detroit and when she went to use the restroom, a security worker yelled at her to leave the restroom.</p>
<p>“As I came out of the stall, this gentleman – who was a security guard – came in the bathroom, and before I was even completely out of the bathroom he grabbed me by the arms and pushed me up against the wall, told me that boys aren’t allowed in this restroom,” she says. “This could have happened to anybody. There are lots of females out there with short hair. some people might think we’re boys, but, at the end of the day, we’re not.”</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://www.wxyz.com/news/region/detroit/woman-suing-fishbones-after-being-mistaken-for-a-man-and-kicked-out-of-the-womans-restroom" type="external">WXYZ.com</a></p>
<p>She is now suing for $25,000 claiming her civil rights were violated and that she experienced emotional distress.</p>
<p>Here’s the video:</p>
<p>I’m sure the right is complaining that this is a frivolous lawsuit, but what should she have done? She was a paying customer and she has a legal right to use the restroom.</p>
<p>There is legal precedent supporting Bogorad. In 2007, following New York’s Pride Parade, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/14/nyregion/14gender.html" type="external">Khadijah Farmer</a>, who described herself as “not the most feminine” used a restroom on a West Village restaurant. She was also kicked out, despite showing her ID. Then, the restaurant bounced her entire group. Farmer sued and won $35,000.</p>
<p>Featured image via WXYZ video screen capture</p> | Woman Kicked Out Of Restroom For Looking Like A Boy (VIDEO) | true | http://addictinginfo.org/2015/06/17/woman-kicked-out-of-restroom-for-looking-like-a-boy-video/ | 2015-06-17 | 4left
| Woman Kicked Out Of Restroom For Looking Like A Boy (VIDEO)
<p>Homophobes, it seems, are obsessed with who might be sitting in the bathroom stall next to them. <a href="" type="internal">Planet Fitness</a> kicked a woman out of their gym for complaining about a transgender woman in the locker room. It’s such a big issue that legislatures are trying to figure out how to <a href="http://time.com/3734714/transgender-bathroom-bills-lgbt-discrimination/" type="external">solve the problem</a> that doesn’t need to exist.</p>
<p>Supporters of transgender people have long been complaining that there isn’t a way to know if a person is a man or a woman and the wrong person is bound to get caught up in the crossfire. I’m sure that happens on a daily basis, actually, but Courtney Bogorad of Detroit is one of the first to sue for it.</p>
<p>Bogorad is a CIS woman, meaning she is not transgender. She has short hair and for that reason, is sometimes mistaken for a boy. In January, she was dining at Fishbones restaurant in Detroit and when she went to use the restroom, a security worker yelled at her to leave the restroom.</p>
<p>“As I came out of the stall, this gentleman – who was a security guard – came in the bathroom, and before I was even completely out of the bathroom he grabbed me by the arms and pushed me up against the wall, told me that boys aren’t allowed in this restroom,” she says. “This could have happened to anybody. There are lots of females out there with short hair. some people might think we’re boys, but, at the end of the day, we’re not.”</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://www.wxyz.com/news/region/detroit/woman-suing-fishbones-after-being-mistaken-for-a-man-and-kicked-out-of-the-womans-restroom" type="external">WXYZ.com</a></p>
<p>She is now suing for $25,000 claiming her civil rights were violated and that she experienced emotional distress.</p>
<p>Here’s the video:</p>
<p>I’m sure the right is complaining that this is a frivolous lawsuit, but what should she have done? She was a paying customer and she has a legal right to use the restroom.</p>
<p>There is legal precedent supporting Bogorad. In 2007, following New York’s Pride Parade, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/14/nyregion/14gender.html" type="external">Khadijah Farmer</a>, who described herself as “not the most feminine” used a restroom on a West Village restaurant. She was also kicked out, despite showing her ID. Then, the restaurant bounced her entire group. Farmer sued and won $35,000.</p>
<p>Featured image via WXYZ video screen capture</p> | 1,073 |
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>Dr. Nichol: Cognitive dysfunction is a gradually advancing thief of a great pet’s life. Anybody with a cat or dog over age 8 or 10 should be observant. Disorientation or changes in behavior are common signs. Some are needier for attention or may be less interested in interacting. Many sleep more during the day but pace restlessly at night. A lot of them bark or cry for no reason. Be suspicious if housetraining skills have slipped or if simple commands have been forgotten. Just like humans with Alzheimer’s, this is no fun for anybody.</p>
<p>Cats and dogs whose grasp on life is slipping need to see their doctors for a thorough physical exam and a lab profile to hunt for all of their problems. For those with uncomplicated CDS a special diet, medication, the appropriate supplements, and gentle exercise may help bring back some of their vitality and joy of life.</p>
<p>There is no cure for CDS but there are chewable, and clinically proven nutritional supplements like Novifit, Neutricks and Senilife. Anipryl, a prescription medication, can improve cognition and protect brain cells from early death. It usually has its greatest benefit early in the course of aging brain disease.</p>
<p>None of us wants to let go. Your cocker’s refusal to eat suggests that he may already have made his choice not to go on. Despite how painful it must be for you to consider life without him, it would be unkind to try to prop him up any longer. He has already outlived his dignity.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>It’s so hard to face this crisis alone. An excellent licensed counselor, Ann Beyke, (505-265-3087, <a href="mailto:Petlosscounselor@aol.com" type="external">Petlosscounselor@aol.com</a>), specializes in pet loss. She helps people before and after a pet has died. I advise contacting her right away.</p>
<p>Dr. Jeff Nichol treats behavior disorders at the Veterinary Specialty Centers in Albuquerque and Santa Fe (505-792-5131). He cares for the medical needs of pets at the Petroglyph Animal Hospital in Albuquerque (898-8874). Question? Post it on facebook.com/drjeffnichol or by mail to 4000 Montgomery NE, Albuquerque, NM 87109. Unpublished questions may not be answered individually.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p /> | Councilor can help in pet loss | false | https://abqjournal.com/269985/councilor-can-help-in-pet-loss.html | 2013-09-27 | 2least
| Councilor can help in pet loss
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>Dr. Nichol: Cognitive dysfunction is a gradually advancing thief of a great pet’s life. Anybody with a cat or dog over age 8 or 10 should be observant. Disorientation or changes in behavior are common signs. Some are needier for attention or may be less interested in interacting. Many sleep more during the day but pace restlessly at night. A lot of them bark or cry for no reason. Be suspicious if housetraining skills have slipped or if simple commands have been forgotten. Just like humans with Alzheimer’s, this is no fun for anybody.</p>
<p>Cats and dogs whose grasp on life is slipping need to see their doctors for a thorough physical exam and a lab profile to hunt for all of their problems. For those with uncomplicated CDS a special diet, medication, the appropriate supplements, and gentle exercise may help bring back some of their vitality and joy of life.</p>
<p>There is no cure for CDS but there are chewable, and clinically proven nutritional supplements like Novifit, Neutricks and Senilife. Anipryl, a prescription medication, can improve cognition and protect brain cells from early death. It usually has its greatest benefit early in the course of aging brain disease.</p>
<p>None of us wants to let go. Your cocker’s refusal to eat suggests that he may already have made his choice not to go on. Despite how painful it must be for you to consider life without him, it would be unkind to try to prop him up any longer. He has already outlived his dignity.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>It’s so hard to face this crisis alone. An excellent licensed counselor, Ann Beyke, (505-265-3087, <a href="mailto:Petlosscounselor@aol.com" type="external">Petlosscounselor@aol.com</a>), specializes in pet loss. She helps people before and after a pet has died. I advise contacting her right away.</p>
<p>Dr. Jeff Nichol treats behavior disorders at the Veterinary Specialty Centers in Albuquerque and Santa Fe (505-792-5131). He cares for the medical needs of pets at the Petroglyph Animal Hospital in Albuquerque (898-8874). Question? Post it on facebook.com/drjeffnichol or by mail to 4000 Montgomery NE, Albuquerque, NM 87109. Unpublished questions may not be answered individually.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p /> | 1,074 |
<p><a href="" type="internal" /></p>
<p>The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), released a report on&#160;the poverty and well-being of children in a total of 35 developed nations. How did the United States rank?</p>
<p>First? Second? Third???</p>
<p>The United States ranked 34th out of 35 countries in child poverty and welfare rankings, barely beating out Romania. UNICEF documents in their U.N. report “ <a href="http://www.unicef-irc.org/publications/pdf/rc11_eng.pdf" type="external">Child Well-Being In Rich Countries: A Comparative Review</a>”,&#160;that more than one in five American children – 20% – fall below a relative poverty line. UNICEF defines this rate relatively, rather than with a fixed dollar amount, stating that this means one is living in a household making less than half of the national median.</p>
<p>Using this definition, the United States ranks nearly all of Europe plus Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Japan. Using&#160; <a href="https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2172rank.html" type="external">one metric of inequality</a>&#160;employed by the CIA –&#160;a statistical measurement known as the gini coefficient – the U.S. economy is one of the most unequal&#160;economies in the entire developed world.</p>
<p>Thus, even though the U.S. has six times more money than countries like Bulgaria and Romania, the relative inequality and poverty is much higher.&#160;</p>
<p>Below is the UNICEF report, showing relative child poverty rates. Countries marked in grey are separate because they could not provide data for all other indices:</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal" /></p>
<p>As the UNICEF study focuses on so-called relative inequality, it naturally highlights and compares only so-called “developed” countries. It does not, however, rank the United States or Europe compare to children in the so-called “Third World.”</p>
<p>UNICEF employed a relative definition of poverty because as income goes up in dollars and cents, so too does cost of living. Thus, it would be disingenuous to compare a family of four making $15,000 a year in Chicago to a sub-Saharan African family of four making much less and say “Look how much better we have it in America.”</p>
<p>Internal to the United States, the definition of poverty is set at around $22,000 per year. This includes 15% of Americans already, without considering UNICEF’s relative measurement of poverty.</p>
<p>The UNICEF report also examines what they call the “child poverty gap,” showing how far below the relative poverty line children fall.</p>
<p>This is determined by comparing the relative poverty line and the average income of poor families. The U.S. once again comes in second-to-last.&#160;The average poor child living in a U.S. home makes 36% less than the relative poverty line. Using this scale, the U.S. beats only Italy. Below is the UNICEF chart for child poverty gaps:</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal" /></p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>Read this. Share this. Refuse to accept this as “just the way things are.” We’re better than this.</p>
<p>(Article by Simeon Ari; image edited by PBSpot, chart images via UNICEF)</p> | U.S. Ranks 34th out of 35 in Childhood Poverty | true | http://politicalblindspot.com/u-s-ranks-34th-out-of-35-in-childhood-poverty/ | 2014-01-27 | 4left
| U.S. Ranks 34th out of 35 in Childhood Poverty
<p><a href="" type="internal" /></p>
<p>The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), released a report on&#160;the poverty and well-being of children in a total of 35 developed nations. How did the United States rank?</p>
<p>First? Second? Third???</p>
<p>The United States ranked 34th out of 35 countries in child poverty and welfare rankings, barely beating out Romania. UNICEF documents in their U.N. report “ <a href="http://www.unicef-irc.org/publications/pdf/rc11_eng.pdf" type="external">Child Well-Being In Rich Countries: A Comparative Review</a>”,&#160;that more than one in five American children – 20% – fall below a relative poverty line. UNICEF defines this rate relatively, rather than with a fixed dollar amount, stating that this means one is living in a household making less than half of the national median.</p>
<p>Using this definition, the United States ranks nearly all of Europe plus Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Japan. Using&#160; <a href="https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2172rank.html" type="external">one metric of inequality</a>&#160;employed by the CIA –&#160;a statistical measurement known as the gini coefficient – the U.S. economy is one of the most unequal&#160;economies in the entire developed world.</p>
<p>Thus, even though the U.S. has six times more money than countries like Bulgaria and Romania, the relative inequality and poverty is much higher.&#160;</p>
<p>Below is the UNICEF report, showing relative child poverty rates. Countries marked in grey are separate because they could not provide data for all other indices:</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal" /></p>
<p>As the UNICEF study focuses on so-called relative inequality, it naturally highlights and compares only so-called “developed” countries. It does not, however, rank the United States or Europe compare to children in the so-called “Third World.”</p>
<p>UNICEF employed a relative definition of poverty because as income goes up in dollars and cents, so too does cost of living. Thus, it would be disingenuous to compare a family of four making $15,000 a year in Chicago to a sub-Saharan African family of four making much less and say “Look how much better we have it in America.”</p>
<p>Internal to the United States, the definition of poverty is set at around $22,000 per year. This includes 15% of Americans already, without considering UNICEF’s relative measurement of poverty.</p>
<p>The UNICEF report also examines what they call the “child poverty gap,” showing how far below the relative poverty line children fall.</p>
<p>This is determined by comparing the relative poverty line and the average income of poor families. The U.S. once again comes in second-to-last.&#160;The average poor child living in a U.S. home makes 36% less than the relative poverty line. Using this scale, the U.S. beats only Italy. Below is the UNICEF chart for child poverty gaps:</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal" /></p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>Read this. Share this. Refuse to accept this as “just the way things are.” We’re better than this.</p>
<p>(Article by Simeon Ari; image edited by PBSpot, chart images via UNICEF)</p> | 1,075 |
<p />
<p>Many workers would love to retire in their mid-30s or early 40s to enjoy their youth, health and families. But is this realistic?</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Retiring super early can be a downright dangerous idea, says Mike Lynch, vice president of strategic markets at Hartford Funds.</p>
<p>"If you stop funding your retirement and start using it 30 years ahead of schedule," says Lynch, "it is therefore unlikely that you will receive Social Security benefits. And if you do, the amount will be significantly reduced due to early retirement."</p>
<p>Arguments Against Radical Retirement</p>
<p>Lynch says that because our financial needs change significantly as we age, it's nearly impossible to predict how our preferences might change. For example, a childless couple might think retiring young and traveling the world is a great idea, but there may come a time when they want to have children, put down roots and buy a home.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>"To retire, your nest egg needs to be a 25:1 ratio to spending. That means if you want $40,000 in income, you need 25 times that for your nest egg, which is a $1 million portfolio."</p>
<p>"By taking an early retirement, it might be quite difficult to factor into the budget how we as people evolve," says Lynch.</p>
<p>Then there's the practical matter of losing out on long-term growth of financial assets. "While a long retirement seems idyllic, the financial consequences may not be worthwhile," says Lynch.</p>
<p>"If you start using your retirement savings at a young age, that also means you have chosen to stop funding your retirement. The longer we contribute to our retirement and savings, the greater it will grow," he says.</p>
<p>ADVISER SEARCH: Need some assistance with managing your money? <a href="http://www.bankrate.com/funnel/certified-financial-planner/cfp.aspx?pid=p:foxbz/?ic_id=Content_CTA1_/finance/retirement/can-you-retire-in-30s-40s.aspx?pid=p:foxbz" type="external">Find a financial adviser today to help you Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
<p>How Much Money Would You Need?</p>
<p>Greg Brown, financial adviser and owner of Pathway Financial Planning, says he can attest to the difficulty of pulling off early retirement.</p>
<p>"Here's a helpful, and daunting statistic," says Brown. "To retire, your nest egg needs to be a 25:1 ratio to spending. That means if you want $40,000 in income, you need 25 times that for your nest egg, which is a $1 million portfolio."</p>
<p>The ratio today is more like 30:1, given current market conditions, he adds.</p>
<p>Retiring radically early also means waiting for Social Security, so you'd have to live entirely on your investment portfolio, says Brown. You might need that money to last for 50 years or more.</p>
<p>Rather than exiting the job market completely, people might consider doing a "soft retirement," suggests Brown. He recommends leaving low satisfactory, high-paying jobs for part-time consulting work in something enjoyable.</p>
<p>Can You Achieve Radical Retirement?</p>
<p>"I'm all about retiring early if you can afford it, though I like to think of early retirement as financial independence or financial freedom," says Cathy Derus, financial planner and founder of Chicago-based Brightwater Financial. She likes the definition that comes from fee-only financial planner Matt Becker of Mom and Dad Money. "He says financial independence is the freedom to make decisions based on what makes you happy instead of what makes you money."</p>
<p>When you're financially independent, you have options, she says. You can choose to spend more time with your family or travel or volunteer. You can also decide to work, but you might want to find something more fulfilling than a standard 9-to-5 job -- perhaps working reduced hours.</p>
<p>As for how much you can safely withdraw from a portfolio, Derus, like Brown, subscribes to the "4% rule," generally considered a safe withdrawal rate that reduces the risk of depleting portfolio assets early. To generate this income, you need to have saved 25 times your annual expenses and invest the money in income-generating assets, says Derus.</p>
<p>So, for example, if you want to live on $75,000 per year, you need to have nearly $1.9 million in your portfolio.</p>
<p>The Math Behind Financial Independence</p>
<p>"Not to say it's not possible, but it's exceedingly challenging to retire early. The math is against you," says Brown.</p>
<p>ADVISER SEARCH: Is retiring early on your list of things to do? <a href="http://www.bankrate.com/funnel/certified-financial-planner/cfp.aspx?pid=p:foxbz/?ic_id=Content_CTA2_/finance/retirement/can-you-retire-in-30s-40s.aspx?pid=p:foxbz" type="external">Find a financial adviser now to help you achieve your goals Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
<p>Copyright 2016, Bankrate Inc.</p> | Is it Possible to Retire in Your 30s or 40s? | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2016/08/15/is-it-possible-to-retire-in-your-30s-or-40s.html | 2016-08-15 | 0right
| Is it Possible to Retire in Your 30s or 40s?
<p />
<p>Many workers would love to retire in their mid-30s or early 40s to enjoy their youth, health and families. But is this realistic?</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Retiring super early can be a downright dangerous idea, says Mike Lynch, vice president of strategic markets at Hartford Funds.</p>
<p>"If you stop funding your retirement and start using it 30 years ahead of schedule," says Lynch, "it is therefore unlikely that you will receive Social Security benefits. And if you do, the amount will be significantly reduced due to early retirement."</p>
<p>Arguments Against Radical Retirement</p>
<p>Lynch says that because our financial needs change significantly as we age, it's nearly impossible to predict how our preferences might change. For example, a childless couple might think retiring young and traveling the world is a great idea, but there may come a time when they want to have children, put down roots and buy a home.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>"To retire, your nest egg needs to be a 25:1 ratio to spending. That means if you want $40,000 in income, you need 25 times that for your nest egg, which is a $1 million portfolio."</p>
<p>"By taking an early retirement, it might be quite difficult to factor into the budget how we as people evolve," says Lynch.</p>
<p>Then there's the practical matter of losing out on long-term growth of financial assets. "While a long retirement seems idyllic, the financial consequences may not be worthwhile," says Lynch.</p>
<p>"If you start using your retirement savings at a young age, that also means you have chosen to stop funding your retirement. The longer we contribute to our retirement and savings, the greater it will grow," he says.</p>
<p>ADVISER SEARCH: Need some assistance with managing your money? <a href="http://www.bankrate.com/funnel/certified-financial-planner/cfp.aspx?pid=p:foxbz/?ic_id=Content_CTA1_/finance/retirement/can-you-retire-in-30s-40s.aspx?pid=p:foxbz" type="external">Find a financial adviser today to help you Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
<p>How Much Money Would You Need?</p>
<p>Greg Brown, financial adviser and owner of Pathway Financial Planning, says he can attest to the difficulty of pulling off early retirement.</p>
<p>"Here's a helpful, and daunting statistic," says Brown. "To retire, your nest egg needs to be a 25:1 ratio to spending. That means if you want $40,000 in income, you need 25 times that for your nest egg, which is a $1 million portfolio."</p>
<p>The ratio today is more like 30:1, given current market conditions, he adds.</p>
<p>Retiring radically early also means waiting for Social Security, so you'd have to live entirely on your investment portfolio, says Brown. You might need that money to last for 50 years or more.</p>
<p>Rather than exiting the job market completely, people might consider doing a "soft retirement," suggests Brown. He recommends leaving low satisfactory, high-paying jobs for part-time consulting work in something enjoyable.</p>
<p>Can You Achieve Radical Retirement?</p>
<p>"I'm all about retiring early if you can afford it, though I like to think of early retirement as financial independence or financial freedom," says Cathy Derus, financial planner and founder of Chicago-based Brightwater Financial. She likes the definition that comes from fee-only financial planner Matt Becker of Mom and Dad Money. "He says financial independence is the freedom to make decisions based on what makes you happy instead of what makes you money."</p>
<p>When you're financially independent, you have options, she says. You can choose to spend more time with your family or travel or volunteer. You can also decide to work, but you might want to find something more fulfilling than a standard 9-to-5 job -- perhaps working reduced hours.</p>
<p>As for how much you can safely withdraw from a portfolio, Derus, like Brown, subscribes to the "4% rule," generally considered a safe withdrawal rate that reduces the risk of depleting portfolio assets early. To generate this income, you need to have saved 25 times your annual expenses and invest the money in income-generating assets, says Derus.</p>
<p>So, for example, if you want to live on $75,000 per year, you need to have nearly $1.9 million in your portfolio.</p>
<p>The Math Behind Financial Independence</p>
<p>"Not to say it's not possible, but it's exceedingly challenging to retire early. The math is against you," says Brown.</p>
<p>ADVISER SEARCH: Is retiring early on your list of things to do? <a href="http://www.bankrate.com/funnel/certified-financial-planner/cfp.aspx?pid=p:foxbz/?ic_id=Content_CTA2_/finance/retirement/can-you-retire-in-30s-40s.aspx?pid=p:foxbz" type="external">Find a financial adviser now to help you achieve your goals Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
<p>Copyright 2016, Bankrate Inc.</p> | 1,076 |
<p>For an industry that is supposed to be in the dumps right now, oil refiner HollyFrontier (NYSE: HFC) put together a second quarter that really exceeded expectations. Part of that has to do with a recent acquisition, but it also helped that management shored up one of its weakest-performing&#160;business segments.</p>
<p>Here's a review of HollyFrontier's most recent results, what went right this quarter, and whether we can expect performance like this to continue.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>HollyFrontier has long prided itself as a geographically advantaged and efficiently operated oil refiner. This quarter, we got to see that geographic advantage in action. Most other independent oil refiners that have reported earnings have shown weaker gross margins. HollyFrontier's refineries in the Permian Basin and the Rocky Mountains, however, were able to take advantage of lower crude oil costs and selling to constrained retail markets to produce a gross profit margin of $11.47 per barrel.</p>
<p>Another big contributing factor to this surprising earnings result was its high refinery utilization rate. HollyFrontier was able to run its entire refining operation at a utilization rate of 102%. This run rate was well above the prior quarter's, which came in at 81% because of <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/05/03/hollyfrontiers-unusually-high-levels-of-maintenanc.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=ff8daa28-7906-11e7-9f06-0050569d32b9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">a heavy slate of maintenance and turnaround work Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
<p>What was so encouraging about this performance was that the company was able to get great results from its Rocky Mountain refining segment. This segment has historically been the weakest of the business, but management has dedicated some extra time to these refineries lately. As a result, the combined utilization rate for its Cheyenne and Woods Cross refineries increased from 67% to 77% and produced a $19.47-per-barrel gross margin. There is still some room for improvement at these refineries, but their geographic advantages scream potential.</p>
<p>The other key to HollyFrontier's impressive quarter was the addition of its Petro-Canada Lubricants business. Management is still integrating this recent purchase into the rest of HollyFrontier's business, and there was some down time for maintenance. Overall, though, it provided $17.5 million in operating income for the quarter.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Finally, its midstream subsidiary&#160;Holly Energy Partners maintained its growth trajectory even though <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/2017/08/03/holly-energy-partners-earnings-rebound-from-last-q.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=ff8daa28-7906-11e7-9f06-0050569d32b9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">it didn't add any assets in the quarter Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
<p>Aside from the small amount of downtime at its lubricant business, HollyFrontier didn't have much to highlight during its conference call apart from its great operating results. According to CEO George Damiris, we can reasonably expect to see similar operating results for at least another quarter.</p>
<p>From an operating standpoint, asking anything more from HollyFrontier in any given quarter is just being nitpicky. It had its highest refinery throughput in the company's history and generated higher-than-industry-average margins.</p>
<p>It's hard to tell what the refining market will throw at refining companies in any given quarter, but HollyFrontier's inherent geographic advantages and well-run operations are signs of a good investment in the oil refining business.</p>
<p>10 stocks we like better than HollyFrontierWhen investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.*</p>
<p>David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the <a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-static%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;impression=aa806fd1-f618-4a8d-a213-c44f10d9eaf9&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=ff8daa28-7906-11e7-9f06-0050569d32b9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">10 best stocks Opens a New Window.</a> for investors to buy right now... and HollyFrontier wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys.</p>
<p><a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-static%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;impression=aa806fd1-f618-4a8d-a213-c44f10d9eaf9&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=ff8daa28-7906-11e7-9f06-0050569d32b9&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 August 1, 2017</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFDirtyBird/info.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=ff8daa28-7906-11e7-9f06-0050569d32b9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" 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;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=ff8daa28-7906-11e7-9f06-0050569d32b9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> | HollyFrontier Posts Exceptional Operational Results and Higher Profits | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/08/04/hollyfrontier-posts-exceptional-operational-results-and-higher-profits.html | 2017-08-04 | 0right
| HollyFrontier Posts Exceptional Operational Results and Higher Profits
<p>For an industry that is supposed to be in the dumps right now, oil refiner HollyFrontier (NYSE: HFC) put together a second quarter that really exceeded expectations. Part of that has to do with a recent acquisition, but it also helped that management shored up one of its weakest-performing&#160;business segments.</p>
<p>Here's a review of HollyFrontier's most recent results, what went right this quarter, and whether we can expect performance like this to continue.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>HollyFrontier has long prided itself as a geographically advantaged and efficiently operated oil refiner. This quarter, we got to see that geographic advantage in action. Most other independent oil refiners that have reported earnings have shown weaker gross margins. HollyFrontier's refineries in the Permian Basin and the Rocky Mountains, however, were able to take advantage of lower crude oil costs and selling to constrained retail markets to produce a gross profit margin of $11.47 per barrel.</p>
<p>Another big contributing factor to this surprising earnings result was its high refinery utilization rate. HollyFrontier was able to run its entire refining operation at a utilization rate of 102%. This run rate was well above the prior quarter's, which came in at 81% because of <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/05/03/hollyfrontiers-unusually-high-levels-of-maintenanc.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=ff8daa28-7906-11e7-9f06-0050569d32b9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">a heavy slate of maintenance and turnaround work Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
<p>What was so encouraging about this performance was that the company was able to get great results from its Rocky Mountain refining segment. This segment has historically been the weakest of the business, but management has dedicated some extra time to these refineries lately. As a result, the combined utilization rate for its Cheyenne and Woods Cross refineries increased from 67% to 77% and produced a $19.47-per-barrel gross margin. There is still some room for improvement at these refineries, but their geographic advantages scream potential.</p>
<p>The other key to HollyFrontier's impressive quarter was the addition of its Petro-Canada Lubricants business. Management is still integrating this recent purchase into the rest of HollyFrontier's business, and there was some down time for maintenance. Overall, though, it provided $17.5 million in operating income for the quarter.</p>
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<p>Finally, its midstream subsidiary&#160;Holly Energy Partners maintained its growth trajectory even though <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/2017/08/03/holly-energy-partners-earnings-rebound-from-last-q.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=ff8daa28-7906-11e7-9f06-0050569d32b9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">it didn't add any assets in the quarter Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
<p>Aside from the small amount of downtime at its lubricant business, HollyFrontier didn't have much to highlight during its conference call apart from its great operating results. According to CEO George Damiris, we can reasonably expect to see similar operating results for at least another quarter.</p>
<p>From an operating standpoint, asking anything more from HollyFrontier in any given quarter is just being nitpicky. It had its highest refinery throughput in the company's history and generated higher-than-industry-average margins.</p>
<p>It's hard to tell what the refining market will throw at refining companies in any given quarter, but HollyFrontier's inherent geographic advantages and well-run operations are signs of a good investment in the oil refining business.</p>
<p>10 stocks we like better than HollyFrontierWhen investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.*</p>
<p>David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the <a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-static%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;impression=aa806fd1-f618-4a8d-a213-c44f10d9eaf9&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=ff8daa28-7906-11e7-9f06-0050569d32b9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">10 best stocks Opens a New Window.</a> for investors to buy right now... and HollyFrontier wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys.</p>
<p><a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-static%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;impression=aa806fd1-f618-4a8d-a213-c44f10d9eaf9&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=ff8daa28-7906-11e7-9f06-0050569d32b9&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 August 1, 2017</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFDirtyBird/info.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=ff8daa28-7906-11e7-9f06-0050569d32b9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" 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;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=ff8daa28-7906-11e7-9f06-0050569d32b9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> | 1,077 |
<p>Judge Jay Reiss helps Mythbusters' co-host Adam Savage pronounce a wordPhoto by Emily Loftis</p>
<p />
<p>The atmosphere at San Francisco’s <a href="http://sfwmpac.org/herbst/ht_index.html" type="external">Herbst Theater</a> on Thursday night felt more like a high school auditorium than its usual elegant performance space. Hundreds had come to observe the <a href="http://www.826valencia.org/spellingbee/" type="external">Spelling Bee for Cheaters</a>, a fundraiser for literary nonprofit and tutoring center <a href="http://www.826valencia.org/" type="external">826 Valencia</a>, and the air bubbled with the sounds of peppy teams cheering on their spellers. A team of librarians near stage right quietly practiced snarky rhyming chants, and teens dressed in bee costumes flitted around the orchestra seats. As the lights dimmed, the “Black Swan” team near the front row turned on their twinkling electric crowns, stood up, and in unison did a ballerina spin in support of their tutu-clad teammate on stage.</p>
<p>As the costumes and spirit suggested, this wasn’t going to be a normal spelling bee. Contestants would be allowed to cheat, using tickets like “Try Again,” “Free Letter,” and “Ask a Teammate” they had purchased as a part of the fundraiser. And rather than rooting for the standard crop of awkward child prodigies, this audience could expect to cheer on the likes of writer <a href="http://www.michaelchabon.com/Michael_Chabon/Home.html" type="external">Michael Chabon</a>, <a href="http://www.lemonysnicket.com/" type="external">Lemony Snicket</a> series author Daniel Handler and his artist wife Lisa Brown, Mythbusters co-host <a href="http://www.adamsavage.com/" type="external">Adam Savage</a>, former bank robber and now-author <a href="http://www.joeloya.com/" type="external">Joe Loya</a>, indie rocker <a href="http://thaomusic.com/" type="external">Thao Nguyen</a>, demure folk singer <a href="http://www.tracychapman.com/" type="external">Tracy Chapman</a>, and, the contestant with the most groupies present, beaming high school counselor Ms. Sortino. The trio of judges were improv actors Rebecca Feldman, Liz Feldman, and Jay Reiss, creators of the Tony-winning musical “ <a href="http://www.spellingbeethemusical.com/" type="external">The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee</a>.”</p>
<p>After the audience recited the Pledge of Allegiance, Jack (short for Gloria Jaqueline) Mejia, the first and possibly the youngest speller at around age 16, approached the mic nervously. Her word: “Strabismus.” Definition? A disorder in which the two eyes do not line up in the same direction. With her technique of writing out the letters on her palm and a little help from the judges (“We’re going to ask for another spelling…the spelling you’d like it to be”), she aced it and sat back down.</p>
<p>Judge Jay Reiss strokes the flag while leading the Pledge of Allegiance: Photo by Emily Loftis</p>
<p>What ensued over the next three hours was a farcical linguistic competition slash comedy show that held the audience in states of belly-clutching laughter. When contestant #4 approached the mic, he was introduced by the judges as “the only seventh grader with a soul patch” (the man was clearly in his 50s). His word? “Cystitis,” an inflammation of the bladder. When asked to use the word in a sentence, Judge Reiss replied: “Sally’s mother told her it was her cystitis that made her special.”</p>
<p>We present a smattering of other words, their definitions, and the wacky sentences presented to contextualize them:</p>
<p>Kumkum: A powder used for a Hindu religious marking between the eyes</p>
<p>“Mary, put down that kumkum, we’re Episcopalian.”</p>
<p>Chablis: A French white wine made from the Chardonnay grape (word given to <a href="http://www.7x7.com/" type="external">7×7</a> editor Robin Rinaldi)</p>
<p>“Soft lights…a bottle of Chablis…every time.“</p>
<p>Palaestra: An ancient Greek wrestling school</p>
<p>“What happens in the palaestra, stays in the palaestra.“</p>
<p>Wanigan: A small lumber shed for keeping supplies (word given to Adam Savage)</p>
<p>“Kenny took refuge in the wanigan when he didn’t make friends at lumber camp.“</p>
<p>Spaniard: A person from Spain</p>
<p>“Billy giggled when he learned the Spaniards were once a world power.”</p>
<p>Kraal: A rural African village (word given to Michael Chabon)</p>
<p>“Oppressive regimes and rampant malaria helped to keep kraal prices low.“</p>
<p>Evaginate: To turn inside out (word presented to Thao Nguyen)</p>
<p>“Evaginate.com is not the website you think it is.“</p>
<p>With help from their purchased “Cheats,” most spellers stayed on until the second round. But as soon as words like “xeropthalmiology” and “gidgee” were introduced into the bee, the stage emptied fast. At around 9:45, two contestants remained: librarian team representative Sunil Patel and high school counselor Ms. Sortino. After Patel stumbled, Ms. Sortino was left facing the daunting “lysergicaciddiethylamide” (commonly known as LSD). Her students from <a href="http://www.csus.org/Default.asp?bhcp=1" type="external">Crystal Springs Upland School</a>, dressed as bees and bee keepers, jumped up and down in their seats. “If you miss this, you’ll lose the respect of all your students,” joked Judge Reiss. Remarkably, she spelled the word correctly, with arguably no cheating (though her students did mime the letter “y” as she almost stumbled on the second letter).</p>
<p>After the show, clutching an enormous gold trophy and surrounded by gushing high school girls, Sortino was still buzzing: “My goal was to get past the first round. When I ended up in the top three with Savage, I&#160;just couldn’t believe it.” A group of students had recruited her for the event at noon that day because, as one of them explained, “she’s a beast in every way.”</p>
<p>But the biggest winner was certainly 826 Valencia. At intermission, executive director Leigh Lehman announced that the fundraiser had raised $93,000. “Our goal is $100,000,” she urged the audience. “Do you think we can do it?” By the end of the evening, the number had risen to $95,000, and early Friday morning, staff members were at $102,000 and still counting, proving that cheating in a spelling bee can be something to be proud of.</p>
<p /> | 826 Valencia’s Spelling Bee for Cheaters | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2011/02/826-valencia-spelling-bee-cheaters/ | 2011-02-18 | 4left
| 826 Valencia’s Spelling Bee for Cheaters
<p>Judge Jay Reiss helps Mythbusters' co-host Adam Savage pronounce a wordPhoto by Emily Loftis</p>
<p />
<p>The atmosphere at San Francisco’s <a href="http://sfwmpac.org/herbst/ht_index.html" type="external">Herbst Theater</a> on Thursday night felt more like a high school auditorium than its usual elegant performance space. Hundreds had come to observe the <a href="http://www.826valencia.org/spellingbee/" type="external">Spelling Bee for Cheaters</a>, a fundraiser for literary nonprofit and tutoring center <a href="http://www.826valencia.org/" type="external">826 Valencia</a>, and the air bubbled with the sounds of peppy teams cheering on their spellers. A team of librarians near stage right quietly practiced snarky rhyming chants, and teens dressed in bee costumes flitted around the orchestra seats. As the lights dimmed, the “Black Swan” team near the front row turned on their twinkling electric crowns, stood up, and in unison did a ballerina spin in support of their tutu-clad teammate on stage.</p>
<p>As the costumes and spirit suggested, this wasn’t going to be a normal spelling bee. Contestants would be allowed to cheat, using tickets like “Try Again,” “Free Letter,” and “Ask a Teammate” they had purchased as a part of the fundraiser. And rather than rooting for the standard crop of awkward child prodigies, this audience could expect to cheer on the likes of writer <a href="http://www.michaelchabon.com/Michael_Chabon/Home.html" type="external">Michael Chabon</a>, <a href="http://www.lemonysnicket.com/" type="external">Lemony Snicket</a> series author Daniel Handler and his artist wife Lisa Brown, Mythbusters co-host <a href="http://www.adamsavage.com/" type="external">Adam Savage</a>, former bank robber and now-author <a href="http://www.joeloya.com/" type="external">Joe Loya</a>, indie rocker <a href="http://thaomusic.com/" type="external">Thao Nguyen</a>, demure folk singer <a href="http://www.tracychapman.com/" type="external">Tracy Chapman</a>, and, the contestant with the most groupies present, beaming high school counselor Ms. Sortino. The trio of judges were improv actors Rebecca Feldman, Liz Feldman, and Jay Reiss, creators of the Tony-winning musical “ <a href="http://www.spellingbeethemusical.com/" type="external">The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee</a>.”</p>
<p>After the audience recited the Pledge of Allegiance, Jack (short for Gloria Jaqueline) Mejia, the first and possibly the youngest speller at around age 16, approached the mic nervously. Her word: “Strabismus.” Definition? A disorder in which the two eyes do not line up in the same direction. With her technique of writing out the letters on her palm and a little help from the judges (“We’re going to ask for another spelling…the spelling you’d like it to be”), she aced it and sat back down.</p>
<p>Judge Jay Reiss strokes the flag while leading the Pledge of Allegiance: Photo by Emily Loftis</p>
<p>What ensued over the next three hours was a farcical linguistic competition slash comedy show that held the audience in states of belly-clutching laughter. When contestant #4 approached the mic, he was introduced by the judges as “the only seventh grader with a soul patch” (the man was clearly in his 50s). His word? “Cystitis,” an inflammation of the bladder. When asked to use the word in a sentence, Judge Reiss replied: “Sally’s mother told her it was her cystitis that made her special.”</p>
<p>We present a smattering of other words, their definitions, and the wacky sentences presented to contextualize them:</p>
<p>Kumkum: A powder used for a Hindu religious marking between the eyes</p>
<p>“Mary, put down that kumkum, we’re Episcopalian.”</p>
<p>Chablis: A French white wine made from the Chardonnay grape (word given to <a href="http://www.7x7.com/" type="external">7×7</a> editor Robin Rinaldi)</p>
<p>“Soft lights…a bottle of Chablis…every time.“</p>
<p>Palaestra: An ancient Greek wrestling school</p>
<p>“What happens in the palaestra, stays in the palaestra.“</p>
<p>Wanigan: A small lumber shed for keeping supplies (word given to Adam Savage)</p>
<p>“Kenny took refuge in the wanigan when he didn’t make friends at lumber camp.“</p>
<p>Spaniard: A person from Spain</p>
<p>“Billy giggled when he learned the Spaniards were once a world power.”</p>
<p>Kraal: A rural African village (word given to Michael Chabon)</p>
<p>“Oppressive regimes and rampant malaria helped to keep kraal prices low.“</p>
<p>Evaginate: To turn inside out (word presented to Thao Nguyen)</p>
<p>“Evaginate.com is not the website you think it is.“</p>
<p>With help from their purchased “Cheats,” most spellers stayed on until the second round. But as soon as words like “xeropthalmiology” and “gidgee” were introduced into the bee, the stage emptied fast. At around 9:45, two contestants remained: librarian team representative Sunil Patel and high school counselor Ms. Sortino. After Patel stumbled, Ms. Sortino was left facing the daunting “lysergicaciddiethylamide” (commonly known as LSD). Her students from <a href="http://www.csus.org/Default.asp?bhcp=1" type="external">Crystal Springs Upland School</a>, dressed as bees and bee keepers, jumped up and down in their seats. “If you miss this, you’ll lose the respect of all your students,” joked Judge Reiss. Remarkably, she spelled the word correctly, with arguably no cheating (though her students did mime the letter “y” as she almost stumbled on the second letter).</p>
<p>After the show, clutching an enormous gold trophy and surrounded by gushing high school girls, Sortino was still buzzing: “My goal was to get past the first round. When I ended up in the top three with Savage, I&#160;just couldn’t believe it.” A group of students had recruited her for the event at noon that day because, as one of them explained, “she’s a beast in every way.”</p>
<p>But the biggest winner was certainly 826 Valencia. At intermission, executive director Leigh Lehman announced that the fundraiser had raised $93,000. “Our goal is $100,000,” she urged the audience. “Do you think we can do it?” By the end of the evening, the number had risen to $95,000, and early Friday morning, staff members were at $102,000 and still counting, proving that cheating in a spelling bee can be something to be proud of.</p>
<p /> | 1,078 |
<p>If you watched Olympic track and field on Monday, you might have seen Ruth Jebet of Bahrain win the country's first-ever Olympic gold medal, in the women's 3,000-meter steeplechase.</p>
<p>The NBCSN television announcer described the 19-year-old as running for Bahrain for "financial reasons," because she was born and raised in Kenya, and still lives and trains there. Jebet is just one example of tiny Middle Eastern nations paying big bucks to import top-notch African talent.</p>
<p>Bahrain's Olympic track and field team is composed primarily of runners from Kenya and Ethiopia, along with more from Jamaica, Morocco and Nigeria. The team includes almost no runners born in Bahrain.</p>
<p>Eunice Kirwa won a silver medal in Sunday's women's marathon. She, too, was born in Kenya, but transferred her eligibility to Bahrain. Including past Olympics, every medal ever won by Bahrain in the Olympics was by individuals born in Africa.</p>
<p>This isn't unique to Bahrain, as nearby countries Qatar, United Arab Emirates and Turkey have all been known in the past decade to pay to import elite athletes.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.cnbc.com/2016/08/15/singapore-government-allows-joseph-schooling-to-defer-national-service-until-after-2020-games.html" type="external">Read More From CNBC: Singapore Allows Gold Medal Winner to Defer National Service Until After 2020 Games</a></p>
<p>The International Association of Athletics Federations records when athletes change their national allegiances for international competition, and many of those athletes go on to run in the Olympics.</p>
<p>This practice of paying athletes to renounce citizenship in their home country to compete for another has led to all kinds of controversy — as well as some plain-old bad imagery.</p>
<p>Here's an anecdote about what happened in 2003 to a 20-year-old Qatari runner named Saif Saaeed Shaheen, as reported by <a href="http://bidoun.org/articles/the-work-of-sport-in-the-age-of-international-acquisition" type="external">Bidoun</a>magazine:</p>
<p>"Until that August, Shaheen had been Stephen Cherono. He was not well-known in Kenya, where there is such a surfeit of world-class runners that few qualify for the national team. Hardly anyone took notice when Cherono switched his citizenship and name in exchange for a lifetime monthly salary of $1,000 and the standard complement of elite trainers and cutting-edge facilities. But then he started winning races. In a surprise victory at the World Championships in Athletics, held in Paris that spring, Shaheen broke the world record for the 3,000-meter steeplechase. After crossing the finish line he fell to his knees and began to cross himself, but an official rushed to stop him; he then took a Qatari flag, wrapped it around his shoulders, and ran a victory lap; when he stepped up to the podium he forgot his new name and had to check the scoreboard. His brother, a runner on the Kenyan team, finished fifth in the same race, and refused to congratulate him."</p>
<p>The story says it all. A huge portion of the imported athletes will actually change their names to sound more Arabic, even if they don't remember it when it matters. They switch citizenship for more money, better facilities and a guaranteed chance to make an Olympic team. In countries like Kenya and Ethiopia, where there is so much talent depth, cracking the country's top three just to qualify for the Olympics is a difficult task.</p>
<p>Then there's the case of Mushir Salem Jawher, running for Bahrain in a marathon in Israel. He said some things to the press about Israel that didn't go over well with the big brass in Bahrain, and as a result got his citizenship revoked. He begged his home country Kenya to take him back, and eventually competed again, this time for Kenya, under his original name Leonard Mucheru.</p>
<p>In 2000, Qatar bought an entire weightlifting team from Bulgaria, which helped it win a bronze medal by Angel Popov, competing under the name Said Saif Asaad.</p>
<p>So when you track those medal counts during the Olympics, perhaps take them with a grain of salt.</p>
<p>Disclosure: CNBC parent NBCUniversal owns NBC Sports and NBC Olympics. NBC Olympics is the U.S. broadcast rights holder to all Summer and Winter Games through the year 2032.</p> | Oil-Rich Countries Are Importing Elite Athletes to Bump up National Medal Count | false | http://nbcnews.com/storyline/2016-rio-summer-olympics/oil-rich-countries-are-importing-elite-athletes-bump-national-medal-n632566 | 2016-08-17 | 3left-center
| Oil-Rich Countries Are Importing Elite Athletes to Bump up National Medal Count
<p>If you watched Olympic track and field on Monday, you might have seen Ruth Jebet of Bahrain win the country's first-ever Olympic gold medal, in the women's 3,000-meter steeplechase.</p>
<p>The NBCSN television announcer described the 19-year-old as running for Bahrain for "financial reasons," because she was born and raised in Kenya, and still lives and trains there. Jebet is just one example of tiny Middle Eastern nations paying big bucks to import top-notch African talent.</p>
<p>Bahrain's Olympic track and field team is composed primarily of runners from Kenya and Ethiopia, along with more from Jamaica, Morocco and Nigeria. The team includes almost no runners born in Bahrain.</p>
<p>Eunice Kirwa won a silver medal in Sunday's women's marathon. She, too, was born in Kenya, but transferred her eligibility to Bahrain. Including past Olympics, every medal ever won by Bahrain in the Olympics was by individuals born in Africa.</p>
<p>This isn't unique to Bahrain, as nearby countries Qatar, United Arab Emirates and Turkey have all been known in the past decade to pay to import elite athletes.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.cnbc.com/2016/08/15/singapore-government-allows-joseph-schooling-to-defer-national-service-until-after-2020-games.html" type="external">Read More From CNBC: Singapore Allows Gold Medal Winner to Defer National Service Until After 2020 Games</a></p>
<p>The International Association of Athletics Federations records when athletes change their national allegiances for international competition, and many of those athletes go on to run in the Olympics.</p>
<p>This practice of paying athletes to renounce citizenship in their home country to compete for another has led to all kinds of controversy — as well as some plain-old bad imagery.</p>
<p>Here's an anecdote about what happened in 2003 to a 20-year-old Qatari runner named Saif Saaeed Shaheen, as reported by <a href="http://bidoun.org/articles/the-work-of-sport-in-the-age-of-international-acquisition" type="external">Bidoun</a>magazine:</p>
<p>"Until that August, Shaheen had been Stephen Cherono. He was not well-known in Kenya, where there is such a surfeit of world-class runners that few qualify for the national team. Hardly anyone took notice when Cherono switched his citizenship and name in exchange for a lifetime monthly salary of $1,000 and the standard complement of elite trainers and cutting-edge facilities. But then he started winning races. In a surprise victory at the World Championships in Athletics, held in Paris that spring, Shaheen broke the world record for the 3,000-meter steeplechase. After crossing the finish line he fell to his knees and began to cross himself, but an official rushed to stop him; he then took a Qatari flag, wrapped it around his shoulders, and ran a victory lap; when he stepped up to the podium he forgot his new name and had to check the scoreboard. His brother, a runner on the Kenyan team, finished fifth in the same race, and refused to congratulate him."</p>
<p>The story says it all. A huge portion of the imported athletes will actually change their names to sound more Arabic, even if they don't remember it when it matters. They switch citizenship for more money, better facilities and a guaranteed chance to make an Olympic team. In countries like Kenya and Ethiopia, where there is so much talent depth, cracking the country's top three just to qualify for the Olympics is a difficult task.</p>
<p>Then there's the case of Mushir Salem Jawher, running for Bahrain in a marathon in Israel. He said some things to the press about Israel that didn't go over well with the big brass in Bahrain, and as a result got his citizenship revoked. He begged his home country Kenya to take him back, and eventually competed again, this time for Kenya, under his original name Leonard Mucheru.</p>
<p>In 2000, Qatar bought an entire weightlifting team from Bulgaria, which helped it win a bronze medal by Angel Popov, competing under the name Said Saif Asaad.</p>
<p>So when you track those medal counts during the Olympics, perhaps take them with a grain of salt.</p>
<p>Disclosure: CNBC parent NBCUniversal owns NBC Sports and NBC Olympics. NBC Olympics is the U.S. broadcast rights holder to all Summer and Winter Games through the year 2032.</p> | 1,079 |
<p>I'm in a waiting room in a large courthouse in San Francisco. Immigration court. Sitting next to me is Magdalena Martinez. She's here for her mom: Bertha Mejia, from El Salvador. Bertha's undocumented.</p>
<p>In 2011, immigration officers came to Mejia's home in Oakland. There was raid in the neighborhood. Martinez remembers that morning.</p>
<p>"I got a phone call from my sister, Vanessa, saying that immigration had come and picked my mom up. So I rushed to my mom's home and, yeah, she wasn't here," says Martinez.</p>
<p>Here's her sister, Vanessa Madrigal, was there when officers approached her mother's home.</p>
<p>"They came and knocked on the door, so they asked for identification and as my mom gave them the identification she stepped out, and as soon as she stepped out, they grabbed here and arrested her and said, 'Call immigration.'"</p>
<p>Mejia was one of several people arrested that day. That was nearly two years ago. Ever since, she's fought to remain in the US, from a jail used for immigrant detainees that's hours away.</p>
<p>Madrigal says they hope the judge will let Mejia fight deportation from outside a cell and rejoin the family.</p>
<p>"She's the caretaker for Pablo, my sister's son, and for my daughter, Jasmine," says Madrigal. "So, they spent a lot of time with her."</p>
<p>We see Mejia walk into the courtroom, ushered by a guard. She is 54 years old, petite, with curly hair. She wears an orange uniform and has shackles on her ankles and wrists.</p>
<p>There is a lot at stake. Mejia left El Salvador over 30 years ago. All of her family is here in the US: siblings, her daughters, her mom, grandkids.</p>
<p>Her case also is not rare. America's population of detained immigrants has ballooned to more than 400,000 as enforcement tightens. Most detainees are like Mejia: undocumented–but not violent criminals. Critics say there are cheaper, more humane ways to treat these immigrants while their cases are pending.</p>
<p>Rosy Cho is Mejia's lawyer. She says, "I think if the American public knew really what was going on and how their taxpayer dollars were spent–and also that we are spending our energy detaining women with no history of violent crimes, I think a lot of minds would be changed and I think reform what happened more quickly."</p>
<p>In court, Mejia tells her story in Spanish. Judge Anthony Murry listens through an interpreter. She tells how she left El Salvador because of war, poverty and sexual abuse. In California, she has worked as a cook and housecleaner.</p>
<p>Then, in 2005, she was raped by a man whose house she cleaned. It added to Mejia's history of abuse. After the rape, she got a DUI and got caught several times shoplifting food. A psychologist testifies at the hearing that Mejia's crimes stem from post-traumatic stress disorder, arising out of a childhood of sexual abuse and which the 2005 rape exacerbated.</p>
<p>Then, the family waits for several hours in a hallway outside of the courtroom, hoping for a ruling to be issued the same day. Turns out, the ruling comes in a few days later.</p>
<p>The judge rules that Mejia must remain in detention. He rules that she poses a danger to society because of her history of petty theft and driving under the influence—and that she is a flight risk despite her close family ties in California and the persistence she has shown to continue her case.</p>
<p>Mejia's lawyer, Rosy Cho, is also fighting back with appeals. She says Mejia is eager to improve herself. "This a woman who has suffered a lot in the past and hasn't always made the right decisions," says Cho. "Does that mean that we throw her away and separate her permanently from all her family in the United States?"</p>
<p>I talk to Mejia in the courthouse, behind Plexiglass. I ask her about the judge's position, that she'd disappear if let out of detention.</p>
<p>"Where would I go?" she says. "I have children, grandchildren here. I'll try to win my case."</p>
<p>And what if she's deported to El Salvador, after 30 years away? Mejia says she's afraid. She only has distant, ugly memories of the place. Then, Mejia is bused back to detention. The latest news is she'll be transferred to another facility, farther away.</p> | A Grandmother Fights Deportation After 30 Years in the United States | false | https://pri.org/stories/2013-08-01/grandmother-fights-deportation-after-30-years-united-states | 2013-08-01 | 3left-center
| A Grandmother Fights Deportation After 30 Years in the United States
<p>I'm in a waiting room in a large courthouse in San Francisco. Immigration court. Sitting next to me is Magdalena Martinez. She's here for her mom: Bertha Mejia, from El Salvador. Bertha's undocumented.</p>
<p>In 2011, immigration officers came to Mejia's home in Oakland. There was raid in the neighborhood. Martinez remembers that morning.</p>
<p>"I got a phone call from my sister, Vanessa, saying that immigration had come and picked my mom up. So I rushed to my mom's home and, yeah, she wasn't here," says Martinez.</p>
<p>Here's her sister, Vanessa Madrigal, was there when officers approached her mother's home.</p>
<p>"They came and knocked on the door, so they asked for identification and as my mom gave them the identification she stepped out, and as soon as she stepped out, they grabbed here and arrested her and said, 'Call immigration.'"</p>
<p>Mejia was one of several people arrested that day. That was nearly two years ago. Ever since, she's fought to remain in the US, from a jail used for immigrant detainees that's hours away.</p>
<p>Madrigal says they hope the judge will let Mejia fight deportation from outside a cell and rejoin the family.</p>
<p>"She's the caretaker for Pablo, my sister's son, and for my daughter, Jasmine," says Madrigal. "So, they spent a lot of time with her."</p>
<p>We see Mejia walk into the courtroom, ushered by a guard. She is 54 years old, petite, with curly hair. She wears an orange uniform and has shackles on her ankles and wrists.</p>
<p>There is a lot at stake. Mejia left El Salvador over 30 years ago. All of her family is here in the US: siblings, her daughters, her mom, grandkids.</p>
<p>Her case also is not rare. America's population of detained immigrants has ballooned to more than 400,000 as enforcement tightens. Most detainees are like Mejia: undocumented–but not violent criminals. Critics say there are cheaper, more humane ways to treat these immigrants while their cases are pending.</p>
<p>Rosy Cho is Mejia's lawyer. She says, "I think if the American public knew really what was going on and how their taxpayer dollars were spent–and also that we are spending our energy detaining women with no history of violent crimes, I think a lot of minds would be changed and I think reform what happened more quickly."</p>
<p>In court, Mejia tells her story in Spanish. Judge Anthony Murry listens through an interpreter. She tells how she left El Salvador because of war, poverty and sexual abuse. In California, she has worked as a cook and housecleaner.</p>
<p>Then, in 2005, she was raped by a man whose house she cleaned. It added to Mejia's history of abuse. After the rape, she got a DUI and got caught several times shoplifting food. A psychologist testifies at the hearing that Mejia's crimes stem from post-traumatic stress disorder, arising out of a childhood of sexual abuse and which the 2005 rape exacerbated.</p>
<p>Then, the family waits for several hours in a hallway outside of the courtroom, hoping for a ruling to be issued the same day. Turns out, the ruling comes in a few days later.</p>
<p>The judge rules that Mejia must remain in detention. He rules that she poses a danger to society because of her history of petty theft and driving under the influence—and that she is a flight risk despite her close family ties in California and the persistence she has shown to continue her case.</p>
<p>Mejia's lawyer, Rosy Cho, is also fighting back with appeals. She says Mejia is eager to improve herself. "This a woman who has suffered a lot in the past and hasn't always made the right decisions," says Cho. "Does that mean that we throw her away and separate her permanently from all her family in the United States?"</p>
<p>I talk to Mejia in the courthouse, behind Plexiglass. I ask her about the judge's position, that she'd disappear if let out of detention.</p>
<p>"Where would I go?" she says. "I have children, grandchildren here. I'll try to win my case."</p>
<p>And what if she's deported to El Salvador, after 30 years away? Mejia says she's afraid. She only has distant, ugly memories of the place. Then, Mejia is bused back to detention. The latest news is she'll be transferred to another facility, farther away.</p> | 1,080 |
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<p />
<p>First, if you must run outside, here are a few tips that will help you prepare for the elements.</p>
<p>The foam roller is a great way to activate the hamstrings and any other muscles that are tight when you begin your run. The foam roller can be used at anytime, whether your body is warm or not.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>If a foam roller is unavailable or you are traveling, a tennis ball can dig into those muscles and help workout those knots.</p>
<p>Stepping it up a bit, the basic indoor bike session can serve as a great warmup before heading outside on the run. Make sure you begin indoors with light clothing and then put the warmer clothes on before heading out, leave the wet gear at home. During the winter, I try leaving a bike on the indoor trainer. Having a bike ready to go on the trainer, at all times makes, the early morning sessions that much easier to begin.</p>
<p>When mother nature just won’t let you out the front door, here is what I turn to.</p>
<p>When it is snowing outside, I love to swim. There is nothing better than watching the steam buildup on the glass of the pool enclosure while completing lap after lap in the 81degree water.</p>
<p>The stationary bicycle and treadmill always go hand-in-hand while training indoors.</p>
<p>Warmup 15min Bike/10min Treadmill (Zone 2)</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>2X(10min Bike / 5min Treadmill (Zone 4)/ Recover 5min Easy Bike)</p>
<p>Cool Down 10min Zone 2 on the Bike</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>Last season I really fell in love with the rowing machine. Use the same workout as above, but substitute the rowing machine for the Treadmill. You can really achieve an amazing workout with the rowing machine. Activating the legs with the back rapidly accelerates the heart rate.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>Don’t forget the classes offered by your fitness club. Try to get creative by combining a workout with a class. Getting a 45min swim right before a Spin Class is a great 2 hour workout. The next time you and a friend have a few hours free, try to build your own indoor triathlon. Begin with a 45minute swim, spin class and then a treadmill or elliptical run. The winner is the one who goes the furthest distance during the indoor triathlon.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>There is no right or wrong indoor training session. Don’t be afraid to challenge yourself, throw on a few old Tour de France videos and try to ride with the peleton.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>Jaime Dispenza has been a triathlete for over 15 years and is a USA Triathlon and USA Cycling certified coach. Contact him at SWTri.com</p>
<p>&#160;</p> | Warming Up to Winter | false | https://abqjournal.com/510129/warming-up-to-winter.html | 2least
| Warming Up to Winter
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<p />
<p>First, if you must run outside, here are a few tips that will help you prepare for the elements.</p>
<p>The foam roller is a great way to activate the hamstrings and any other muscles that are tight when you begin your run. The foam roller can be used at anytime, whether your body is warm or not.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>If a foam roller is unavailable or you are traveling, a tennis ball can dig into those muscles and help workout those knots.</p>
<p>Stepping it up a bit, the basic indoor bike session can serve as a great warmup before heading outside on the run. Make sure you begin indoors with light clothing and then put the warmer clothes on before heading out, leave the wet gear at home. During the winter, I try leaving a bike on the indoor trainer. Having a bike ready to go on the trainer, at all times makes, the early morning sessions that much easier to begin.</p>
<p>When mother nature just won’t let you out the front door, here is what I turn to.</p>
<p>When it is snowing outside, I love to swim. There is nothing better than watching the steam buildup on the glass of the pool enclosure while completing lap after lap in the 81degree water.</p>
<p>The stationary bicycle and treadmill always go hand-in-hand while training indoors.</p>
<p>Warmup 15min Bike/10min Treadmill (Zone 2)</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>2X(10min Bike / 5min Treadmill (Zone 4)/ Recover 5min Easy Bike)</p>
<p>Cool Down 10min Zone 2 on the Bike</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>Last season I really fell in love with the rowing machine. Use the same workout as above, but substitute the rowing machine for the Treadmill. You can really achieve an amazing workout with the rowing machine. Activating the legs with the back rapidly accelerates the heart rate.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>Don’t forget the classes offered by your fitness club. Try to get creative by combining a workout with a class. Getting a 45min swim right before a Spin Class is a great 2 hour workout. The next time you and a friend have a few hours free, try to build your own indoor triathlon. Begin with a 45minute swim, spin class and then a treadmill or elliptical run. The winner is the one who goes the furthest distance during the indoor triathlon.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>There is no right or wrong indoor training session. Don’t be afraid to challenge yourself, throw on a few old Tour de France videos and try to ride with the peleton.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>Jaime Dispenza has been a triathlete for over 15 years and is a USA Triathlon and USA Cycling certified coach. Contact him at SWTri.com</p>
<p>&#160;</p> | 1,081 |
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<p>ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A 1974 Sandia High School graduate replaces Libby as Cheney’s top aide.</p>
<p>David S. Addington joins the ranks of people like Nobel Prize winner Ralph Bunche, Modern Jazz Quartet pianist John Lewis, Doors legend Jim Morrison and mega-gazillionaire Bill Gates — a notable personage who used to live down the block.</p>
<p>Addington, a longtime Dick Cheney aide, now steps into the shoes left vacant by last week’s indictment of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby on perjury and other charges in the two-year CIA leak probe and will serve as the vice president’s chief of staff.</p>
<p>Addington, a 1974 graduate of Sandia High School, actually once worked as general counsel for the CIA (from 1981 to 1984). A 1978 summa cum laude graduate of Georgetown with a bachelor’s degree in foreign service, he went on to get a law degree from Duke University in 1981.</p>
<p>According to a <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/02/politics/02aide.html?oref=login" type="external">profile</a> (registration required) in today’s New York Times, the 48-year-old Addington is no slouch at working the levers of Washington’s Byzantine bureaucracy.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | 6:20am — Local Boy Makes Good | false | https://abqjournal.com/21849/620am-local-boy-makes-good.html | 2least
| 6:20am — Local Boy Makes Good
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<p>ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A 1974 Sandia High School graduate replaces Libby as Cheney’s top aide.</p>
<p>David S. Addington joins the ranks of people like Nobel Prize winner Ralph Bunche, Modern Jazz Quartet pianist John Lewis, Doors legend Jim Morrison and mega-gazillionaire Bill Gates — a notable personage who used to live down the block.</p>
<p>Addington, a longtime Dick Cheney aide, now steps into the shoes left vacant by last week’s indictment of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby on perjury and other charges in the two-year CIA leak probe and will serve as the vice president’s chief of staff.</p>
<p>Addington, a 1974 graduate of Sandia High School, actually once worked as general counsel for the CIA (from 1981 to 1984). A 1978 summa cum laude graduate of Georgetown with a bachelor’s degree in foreign service, he went on to get a law degree from Duke University in 1981.</p>
<p>According to a <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/02/politics/02aide.html?oref=login" type="external">profile</a> (registration required) in today’s New York Times, the 48-year-old Addington is no slouch at working the levers of Washington’s Byzantine bureaucracy.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | 1,082 |
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<p>Early voting for a school board election that includes a question on a $100 million general obligation bond to fund the work over the next four years is underway at the Santa Fe County clerk’s office, Santa Fe Community College, the SFPS’s central office on Alta Vista and Nina Otero Community School – the latter an example of what was built under a 2013 G.O. bond.</p>
<p>Turnout is traditionally low for school board elections and there’s less incentive to show up at the polls this year as the two seats on the board up for vote are uncontested. Board Vice President Lorraine Price is poised to return for another four-year term in District 5, and Kate Noble is the only candidate running for the District 3 seat being vacated by Susan Duncan, the current board president who decided not to run for re-election.</p>
<p>There is also one seat up for grabs on the Santa Fe Community College Governing Board this election. Incumbent Pablo Sedillo Sr. will defend his seat against challenger George Gamble.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>But even after combining the public schools and community college elections in 2015, there seems to be a declining trend in terms of turnout for school elections.</p>
<p>Fewer than 5,000 people, or about 5 percent of approximately 87,000 eligible voters, turned out in 2015 for an election where there was one contested race for school board and one contested seat for the SFCC governing body. Turnout was closer to 7 percent in 2013, when 5,632 people voted in favor of a $107 million G.O. bond for public schools by close to a 3-to-1 margin.</p>
<p>Last year, fewer than 3,000 voters, 62 percent of the mere 4,647 voters who cast ballots, approved continuation of a $55 million Education Technology Note, supported by property taxes, to pay for technology upgrades for charter and district schools over a five-year period.</p>
<p>If the G.O. bond is approved this time, property taxes for a home with a market value of $300,000 would increase by about $6.67 per month, or $80 per year.</p>
<p>“We know it’s a burden on people,” said Maureen Cashmon, a school board member who previously served on the Citizen Review Committee, which identifies and prioritizes district building projects. “This is about our kids’ future. We need to give them a leg up.”</p>
<p>If the bond question is defeated, owners of homes in the $300,000 range would see a phased reduction in their property tax bill, cutting it by about $100 two years from now. But Cashmon said it would be “a disaster” for the public schools, which has identified $260 million in current needs.</p>
<p>Rudy Garcia, current chairman of the Citizens Review Committee, said the property tax rate would not have gone up if the school district had decided to ask for a $75 million G.O. bond. “The committee talked about it quite a bit,” he said. “We felt that ($100 million) was minimal to meet the needs of the community.”</p>
<p>Focus on alternatives</p>
<p>New Mexico schools consistently rank near the bottom on national education lists and, while Santa Fe has shown some progress in recent years, it has lagged below state averages in reading and math proficiency scores, and, until this year, graduation rates.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>In addition, school funding from the state isn’t expected to increase while the Legislature works to close a cavernous budget deficit.</p>
<p>“The need (for facilities) never goes down,” said Cashmon, who has seen the construction of two new schools and the rebuild or renovation of several others during her two years on the board. “What we can do is ask taxpayers to continue to support us.”</p>
<p>Much of the money from bonds approved in recent years has been spent on accommodating growth on the city’s south side, but the new proposal reflects a need to maintain and improve buildings district-wide. “So many of them are health and safety needs, and bread-and-butter stuff,” Superintendent Veronica Garcia said in a recent interview.</p>
<p>About $13.6 million would be allocated for improvements to such fundamentals as air conditioning, plumbing, roofing, electricity and paved parking lots district-wide. About two-thirds of the money would be earmarked for jobs at specific schools – the biggest of which is the construction of what the school board last week decided to name Milagro Middle School. About $27.8 million to build the school would come out of the bond, along with another $2 million left over from the 2013 bonds.</p>
<p>“We definitely need a new middle school,” Garcia said.</p>
<p>The need for a new one came after the school board decided to consolidate Capshaw and De Vargas middle schools, both of which had experienced declining enrollment. The new school is to be located on the current De Vargas campus on Llano Street, with about 60 percent of the existing school set to be demolished as part of the project. Construction is expected to last through June 2018.</p>
<p>According to Kristy Janda Wagner, chief operations officer for the district, the school will accommodate approximately 650 students and be outfitted with classrooms; spaces for art, music, band, orchestra and physical education; a second-floor media center adjacent to a digital design lab; a workout and dance room; and a synthetic turf athletic field.</p>
<p>But Janda Wagner said the main focus of the 2017 G.O. bond is for improvements at the high schools.</p>
<p>“The last two bonds have been about elementary and K through 8; the goal now is supporting high schools,” she said, adding that about $200 million has been spent on SFPS facility improvements since 2009. “And the focus of the 2017 bond is alternative programs, such as Early College Opportunities, providing options and hands-on learning.”</p>
<p>The approved bonds also would provide $2 million for the school district’s in-house construction team. That 2 percent portion of the bond proceeds is cheaper than the at least 5 percent the district used to pay private contractors for the work, said a district spokesman.</p>
<p>More options for students</p>
<p>Janda Wagner spoke during a district-sponsored bus tour last week that ended at Early College Opportunities, or ECO, billed as SFPS’s “applied science magnet school.”</p>
<p>ECO is the latest iteration of the vocational trades school on the south campus of Santa Fe High School. It offers programs in automobile technology, auto collision, construction, environmental science and natural resource management, sustainable technologies, greenhouse management and welding.</p>
<p>“Not every kid is college bound,” said school board member Steven Carrillo, who was also on the tour, “so we’re preparing them for 21st-century trades and technologies. And kids are excited about coming to school because it’s relevant to them.”</p>
<p>Dana Richards heads the ECO program. “Trade programs help with engagement, attendance and graduation rates,” he said. “We’re mostly targeting students with lower academics and students that want to learn by doing. The upside is more options for students.”</p>
<p>“They also get dual credit,” added Chris Coriz, who teaches auto collision, auto tech and welding classes. “So, by the time they graduate, they either have an associate’s degree or a certification in welding and make twice as much money as I did when I got out of school.”</p>
<p>In all, more than $10 million of the proposed 2017 bonds would be allocated to improvements at ECO.</p>
<p>Another alternative program that would receive funding is the Mandela International Magnet School, which recently received authorization to become an International Baccalaureate World School. It was also recently announced that the Mandela school would be relocating from a wing of De Vargas Middle School to the former location of the Larragoite Elementary School on Agua Fría Street. About $4 million would help that transition, if voters approve.</p>
<p>The Academy for Technology and the Classics, a charter school catering to college-bound students, would benefit with nearly $6.6 million in funding, much of it to pay for a gym and locker rooms it currently does not have.</p>
<p>Stewardship of tax dollars</p>
<p>There’s also an emphasis on keeping pace with technology advances and steps toward increased efficiency through sustainability. Some of the 2017 bond money would go toward upgrading infrastructure, Neil Weaver, the district’s director of digital learning said.</p>
<p>“Public schools are charged with preparing students for college and careers that are becoming more and more technology based,” he said. So the school district is integrating technology in every classroom.</p>
<p>The school district is also investing funds into sustainability efforts. This bond would allocate $7.3 million into such things as LED lighting, solar power and synthetic turf athletic fields.</p>
<p>Lisa Randall, the district’s energy and water conservation program coordinator, was never a fan of plastic grass until she saw the water savings. Not only that, but the fields can be used year-round and the district doesn’t have to deal with the removal and safety concerns that result from prairie dog and mole holes.</p>
<p>Randall added that a roofwater catchment cistern at the recently renovated Atalaya Elementary School has kept the school from having to use any city water to water the grounds. Overall, the district has managed to reduce its water usage by 40 percent, she said.</p>
<p>She also touted the energy efficiency of the district’s buildings, especially the new ones. Nina Otero and Amy Biehl community schools, for example, have an Energy Use Index, where the lower the number the better, of 31 when the regional average is 71.</p>
<p>School board member Carrillo said the school district should also be given credit for good use of public dollars.</p>
<p>“All these projects are coming in on time and under budget,” he said. “Once again, it’s good stewardship of tax dollars at work.”</p>
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<p /> | SFPS seeks public support for $100M G.O. bond issue | false | https://abqjournal.com/931915/sfps-seeks-public-support-for-100m-go-bond.html | 2017-01-20 | 2least
| SFPS seeks public support for $100M G.O. bond issue
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<p />
<p>Early voting for a school board election that includes a question on a $100 million general obligation bond to fund the work over the next four years is underway at the Santa Fe County clerk’s office, Santa Fe Community College, the SFPS’s central office on Alta Vista and Nina Otero Community School – the latter an example of what was built under a 2013 G.O. bond.</p>
<p>Turnout is traditionally low for school board elections and there’s less incentive to show up at the polls this year as the two seats on the board up for vote are uncontested. Board Vice President Lorraine Price is poised to return for another four-year term in District 5, and Kate Noble is the only candidate running for the District 3 seat being vacated by Susan Duncan, the current board president who decided not to run for re-election.</p>
<p>There is also one seat up for grabs on the Santa Fe Community College Governing Board this election. Incumbent Pablo Sedillo Sr. will defend his seat against challenger George Gamble.</p>
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<p>But even after combining the public schools and community college elections in 2015, there seems to be a declining trend in terms of turnout for school elections.</p>
<p>Fewer than 5,000 people, or about 5 percent of approximately 87,000 eligible voters, turned out in 2015 for an election where there was one contested race for school board and one contested seat for the SFCC governing body. Turnout was closer to 7 percent in 2013, when 5,632 people voted in favor of a $107 million G.O. bond for public schools by close to a 3-to-1 margin.</p>
<p>Last year, fewer than 3,000 voters, 62 percent of the mere 4,647 voters who cast ballots, approved continuation of a $55 million Education Technology Note, supported by property taxes, to pay for technology upgrades for charter and district schools over a five-year period.</p>
<p>If the G.O. bond is approved this time, property taxes for a home with a market value of $300,000 would increase by about $6.67 per month, or $80 per year.</p>
<p>“We know it’s a burden on people,” said Maureen Cashmon, a school board member who previously served on the Citizen Review Committee, which identifies and prioritizes district building projects. “This is about our kids’ future. We need to give them a leg up.”</p>
<p>If the bond question is defeated, owners of homes in the $300,000 range would see a phased reduction in their property tax bill, cutting it by about $100 two years from now. But Cashmon said it would be “a disaster” for the public schools, which has identified $260 million in current needs.</p>
<p>Rudy Garcia, current chairman of the Citizens Review Committee, said the property tax rate would not have gone up if the school district had decided to ask for a $75 million G.O. bond. “The committee talked about it quite a bit,” he said. “We felt that ($100 million) was minimal to meet the needs of the community.”</p>
<p>Focus on alternatives</p>
<p>New Mexico schools consistently rank near the bottom on national education lists and, while Santa Fe has shown some progress in recent years, it has lagged below state averages in reading and math proficiency scores, and, until this year, graduation rates.</p>
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<p>In addition, school funding from the state isn’t expected to increase while the Legislature works to close a cavernous budget deficit.</p>
<p>“The need (for facilities) never goes down,” said Cashmon, who has seen the construction of two new schools and the rebuild or renovation of several others during her two years on the board. “What we can do is ask taxpayers to continue to support us.”</p>
<p>Much of the money from bonds approved in recent years has been spent on accommodating growth on the city’s south side, but the new proposal reflects a need to maintain and improve buildings district-wide. “So many of them are health and safety needs, and bread-and-butter stuff,” Superintendent Veronica Garcia said in a recent interview.</p>
<p>About $13.6 million would be allocated for improvements to such fundamentals as air conditioning, plumbing, roofing, electricity and paved parking lots district-wide. About two-thirds of the money would be earmarked for jobs at specific schools – the biggest of which is the construction of what the school board last week decided to name Milagro Middle School. About $27.8 million to build the school would come out of the bond, along with another $2 million left over from the 2013 bonds.</p>
<p>“We definitely need a new middle school,” Garcia said.</p>
<p>The need for a new one came after the school board decided to consolidate Capshaw and De Vargas middle schools, both of which had experienced declining enrollment. The new school is to be located on the current De Vargas campus on Llano Street, with about 60 percent of the existing school set to be demolished as part of the project. Construction is expected to last through June 2018.</p>
<p>According to Kristy Janda Wagner, chief operations officer for the district, the school will accommodate approximately 650 students and be outfitted with classrooms; spaces for art, music, band, orchestra and physical education; a second-floor media center adjacent to a digital design lab; a workout and dance room; and a synthetic turf athletic field.</p>
<p>But Janda Wagner said the main focus of the 2017 G.O. bond is for improvements at the high schools.</p>
<p>“The last two bonds have been about elementary and K through 8; the goal now is supporting high schools,” she said, adding that about $200 million has been spent on SFPS facility improvements since 2009. “And the focus of the 2017 bond is alternative programs, such as Early College Opportunities, providing options and hands-on learning.”</p>
<p>The approved bonds also would provide $2 million for the school district’s in-house construction team. That 2 percent portion of the bond proceeds is cheaper than the at least 5 percent the district used to pay private contractors for the work, said a district spokesman.</p>
<p>More options for students</p>
<p>Janda Wagner spoke during a district-sponsored bus tour last week that ended at Early College Opportunities, or ECO, billed as SFPS’s “applied science magnet school.”</p>
<p>ECO is the latest iteration of the vocational trades school on the south campus of Santa Fe High School. It offers programs in automobile technology, auto collision, construction, environmental science and natural resource management, sustainable technologies, greenhouse management and welding.</p>
<p>“Not every kid is college bound,” said school board member Steven Carrillo, who was also on the tour, “so we’re preparing them for 21st-century trades and technologies. And kids are excited about coming to school because it’s relevant to them.”</p>
<p>Dana Richards heads the ECO program. “Trade programs help with engagement, attendance and graduation rates,” he said. “We’re mostly targeting students with lower academics and students that want to learn by doing. The upside is more options for students.”</p>
<p>“They also get dual credit,” added Chris Coriz, who teaches auto collision, auto tech and welding classes. “So, by the time they graduate, they either have an associate’s degree or a certification in welding and make twice as much money as I did when I got out of school.”</p>
<p>In all, more than $10 million of the proposed 2017 bonds would be allocated to improvements at ECO.</p>
<p>Another alternative program that would receive funding is the Mandela International Magnet School, which recently received authorization to become an International Baccalaureate World School. It was also recently announced that the Mandela school would be relocating from a wing of De Vargas Middle School to the former location of the Larragoite Elementary School on Agua Fría Street. About $4 million would help that transition, if voters approve.</p>
<p>The Academy for Technology and the Classics, a charter school catering to college-bound students, would benefit with nearly $6.6 million in funding, much of it to pay for a gym and locker rooms it currently does not have.</p>
<p>Stewardship of tax dollars</p>
<p>There’s also an emphasis on keeping pace with technology advances and steps toward increased efficiency through sustainability. Some of the 2017 bond money would go toward upgrading infrastructure, Neil Weaver, the district’s director of digital learning said.</p>
<p>“Public schools are charged with preparing students for college and careers that are becoming more and more technology based,” he said. So the school district is integrating technology in every classroom.</p>
<p>The school district is also investing funds into sustainability efforts. This bond would allocate $7.3 million into such things as LED lighting, solar power and synthetic turf athletic fields.</p>
<p>Lisa Randall, the district’s energy and water conservation program coordinator, was never a fan of plastic grass until she saw the water savings. Not only that, but the fields can be used year-round and the district doesn’t have to deal with the removal and safety concerns that result from prairie dog and mole holes.</p>
<p>Randall added that a roofwater catchment cistern at the recently renovated Atalaya Elementary School has kept the school from having to use any city water to water the grounds. Overall, the district has managed to reduce its water usage by 40 percent, she said.</p>
<p>She also touted the energy efficiency of the district’s buildings, especially the new ones. Nina Otero and Amy Biehl community schools, for example, have an Energy Use Index, where the lower the number the better, of 31 when the regional average is 71.</p>
<p>School board member Carrillo said the school district should also be given credit for good use of public dollars.</p>
<p>“All these projects are coming in on time and under budget,” he said. “Once again, it’s good stewardship of tax dollars at work.”</p>
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<p>FILE - In this Jan. 31, 2016 file photo, Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton gets off the plane at the Mineta San Jose International Airport in San Jose, Calif. The Panthers play the Denver Broncos on Sunday, Feb. 7, 2015, in Super Bowl 50. Newton was snapped Sunday in the zebra stripe, gold swirl rocker pants immediately setting social media and TV talking heads into a frenzy. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel, File)</p>
<p>NEW YORK - Lots of athletes have style, but could they rock the Cam pants?</p>
<p>Super Bowl 50 is just days away and already has a breakout star: the $849 Versace skinny pants of Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton.</p>
<p>Newton was snapped Sunday in the zebra stripe, gold swirl rocker pants as he boarded a plane to California, immediately setting off a frenzy on social media and among TV talking heads.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>We know Newton likes his flashy shoes. We know he can pull off a bushy foxtail hanging down one hip, but those tight, hair metal pants came straight out of left field. Would other pros dare to try?</p>
<p>New York Mets pitcher Matt Harvey, fond of old school rock, great tuxedos and a little cool, fun experimentation in clothes, said there will be no rocking of Cam pants for him.</p>
<p>"I don't know if many people can, but I know he enjoyed wearing them," Harvey smiled Tuesday night at a fashion presentation by designer John Varvatos during a round of men's shows in New York.</p>
<p>He was joined at Varvatos by Eric Decker, a wide receiver for the New York Jets - and another underachiever when it comes to football's most famous pants.</p>
<p>"Oh, I don't know if I could rock those pants but Cam definitely put a statement on Super Bowl week for sure," Decker said.</p>
<p>How about Patriots quarterback Tom Brady?</p>
<p>"I don't know if Tom would. I'm sure he could. He could rock anything," Decker said. "I haven't seen him in skintight pants like that yet so that would be a new style for him."</p>
<p>Brady's fellow Patriot, Julian Edelman, took in the rock-themed Varvatos show as well. The Patriots missed out on Super Bowl 50, but he considers himself a Cam pants contender.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>"The Cam pants? - If you go out with a confidence I think I could. I think I could," Edelman smiled.</p>
<p>As for Brady, he added: "Tom could rock anything. He's Tom Brady."</p>
<p>Newton kept the look classy up top, pairing his fancy pants with a V-neck sweater, a tie and some gold-tip shoes. His black leather motorcycle jacket added extra oomph.</p>
<p>So what's the word within the fashion industry? We asked football fan Tommy Hilfiger to weigh in.</p>
<p>"I think he's very cool," the designer said ahead of his own fashion presentation, "and I think he's not only an iconic athlete but he's a fashion icon as well. People look up to him."</p>
<p>The Panthers meet the Denver Broncos on Sunday. Could Newton's nemesis, Bronco quarterback Peyton Manning, succeed in similar pants?</p>
<p>"Uh, I think Peyton might be a little old for them," Hilfiger said, "but Peyton has rocked quite a few great things over the years."</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Follow Leanne Italie on Twitter at <a href="http://twitter.com/litalie" type="external">http://twitter.com/litalie</a></p> | Cam Newton took fancy pants where other pros dare not go | false | https://abqjournal.com/717792/cam-newton-took-fancy-pants-where-other-pros-dare-not-go.html | 2least
| Cam Newton took fancy pants where other pros dare not go
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<p>FILE - In this Jan. 31, 2016 file photo, Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton gets off the plane at the Mineta San Jose International Airport in San Jose, Calif. The Panthers play the Denver Broncos on Sunday, Feb. 7, 2015, in Super Bowl 50. Newton was snapped Sunday in the zebra stripe, gold swirl rocker pants immediately setting social media and TV talking heads into a frenzy. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel, File)</p>
<p>NEW YORK - Lots of athletes have style, but could they rock the Cam pants?</p>
<p>Super Bowl 50 is just days away and already has a breakout star: the $849 Versace skinny pants of Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton.</p>
<p>Newton was snapped Sunday in the zebra stripe, gold swirl rocker pants as he boarded a plane to California, immediately setting off a frenzy on social media and among TV talking heads.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>We know Newton likes his flashy shoes. We know he can pull off a bushy foxtail hanging down one hip, but those tight, hair metal pants came straight out of left field. Would other pros dare to try?</p>
<p>New York Mets pitcher Matt Harvey, fond of old school rock, great tuxedos and a little cool, fun experimentation in clothes, said there will be no rocking of Cam pants for him.</p>
<p>"I don't know if many people can, but I know he enjoyed wearing them," Harvey smiled Tuesday night at a fashion presentation by designer John Varvatos during a round of men's shows in New York.</p>
<p>He was joined at Varvatos by Eric Decker, a wide receiver for the New York Jets - and another underachiever when it comes to football's most famous pants.</p>
<p>"Oh, I don't know if I could rock those pants but Cam definitely put a statement on Super Bowl week for sure," Decker said.</p>
<p>How about Patriots quarterback Tom Brady?</p>
<p>"I don't know if Tom would. I'm sure he could. He could rock anything," Decker said. "I haven't seen him in skintight pants like that yet so that would be a new style for him."</p>
<p>Brady's fellow Patriot, Julian Edelman, took in the rock-themed Varvatos show as well. The Patriots missed out on Super Bowl 50, but he considers himself a Cam pants contender.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>"The Cam pants? - If you go out with a confidence I think I could. I think I could," Edelman smiled.</p>
<p>As for Brady, he added: "Tom could rock anything. He's Tom Brady."</p>
<p>Newton kept the look classy up top, pairing his fancy pants with a V-neck sweater, a tie and some gold-tip shoes. His black leather motorcycle jacket added extra oomph.</p>
<p>So what's the word within the fashion industry? We asked football fan Tommy Hilfiger to weigh in.</p>
<p>"I think he's very cool," the designer said ahead of his own fashion presentation, "and I think he's not only an iconic athlete but he's a fashion icon as well. People look up to him."</p>
<p>The Panthers meet the Denver Broncos on Sunday. Could Newton's nemesis, Bronco quarterback Peyton Manning, succeed in similar pants?</p>
<p>"Uh, I think Peyton might be a little old for them," Hilfiger said, "but Peyton has rocked quite a few great things over the years."</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Follow Leanne Italie on Twitter at <a href="http://twitter.com/litalie" type="external">http://twitter.com/litalie</a></p> | 1,084 |
|
<p>President Donald Trump said Wednesday he is "not happy" with Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price following reports that Price used a private plane for official business.</p>
<p>And Trump says he let Price know it.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Asked whether he's planning on firing Price, Trump responded: "We'll see."</p>
<p>Trump spoke to reporters Wednesday as he departed the White House for a trip to Indianapolis to sell his tax plan.</p>
<p>Price said Saturday he would stop flying private planes on official business while an internal review of the flights is being done. He's also said he welcomes the review.</p>
<p>Trump's comments came as a congressional committee launched a wide-ranging examination of air travel by high-ranking Trump officials following reports that Price used pricey charters when cheaper commercial flights were available.</p>
<p>The House Oversight and Government Reform committee sent detailed records requests to the White House and 24 federal agencies.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Signed by committee's top Republican and Democrat, the requests demand information on political appointees' use of government planes for personal travel, as well as their use of private charters for official travel.</p>
<p>Congressional investigators are asking for records dating back to Trump's first day in office.</p>
<p>Separately, the Health and Human Services inspector general's office is also looking into some two dozen trips reportedly taken by Price.</p>
<p>Lawmakers are demanding records by Oct. 10.</p> | Trump says he's not happy with HHS Secretary Tom Price | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/09/27/trump-says-hes-not-happy-with-hhs-secretary-tom-price.html | 2017-09-27 | 0right
| Trump says he's not happy with HHS Secretary Tom Price
<p>President Donald Trump said Wednesday he is "not happy" with Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price following reports that Price used a private plane for official business.</p>
<p>And Trump says he let Price know it.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Asked whether he's planning on firing Price, Trump responded: "We'll see."</p>
<p>Trump spoke to reporters Wednesday as he departed the White House for a trip to Indianapolis to sell his tax plan.</p>
<p>Price said Saturday he would stop flying private planes on official business while an internal review of the flights is being done. He's also said he welcomes the review.</p>
<p>Trump's comments came as a congressional committee launched a wide-ranging examination of air travel by high-ranking Trump officials following reports that Price used pricey charters when cheaper commercial flights were available.</p>
<p>The House Oversight and Government Reform committee sent detailed records requests to the White House and 24 federal agencies.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Signed by committee's top Republican and Democrat, the requests demand information on political appointees' use of government planes for personal travel, as well as their use of private charters for official travel.</p>
<p>Congressional investigators are asking for records dating back to Trump's first day in office.</p>
<p>Separately, the Health and Human Services inspector general's office is also looking into some two dozen trips reportedly taken by Price.</p>
<p>Lawmakers are demanding records by Oct. 10.</p> | 1,085 |
<p>This summer I caught up with an old friend from college by phone. We hadn’t been in touch since the 1990’s, so had a lot to talk about it. We got into politics, of course, and he mentioned that “our turn” – that is, Generation X’s – is coming up, as the Baby Boomers are reaching the end of their run.</p>
<p>That’s true. Gen Xers are increasingly in positions of leadership in business and government, and in art and culture we took the reins long ago. This is probably the last or second-to-last presidential election that will be contested exclusively among Boomers. Especially given this year’s candidates, I believe I can speak for much of Generation X when I say, “It’s about time!”</p>
<p>About time that the Boomers get out of the way, that is. But not necessarily for Gen X to step up. As I have reflected on my conversation with my college buddy over the last few months, I have come to believe that even though we have the right of way, so to speak, that we should yield and hand the torch directly to the Millennials instead.</p>
<p>Previous generations have made quite a mess of the world, to put it mildly, and the multiple crises that we face today threaten all life on earth. Nuclear radiation, pesticides, deforestation, water and air pollution, all produced for the purpose of profit: these are the legacies of the “Greatest Generation” and the Boomers. Not only is there no chance that the Millennials will “do as well” as their parents economically, it is plausible that they won’t live lives that are as long either. Climate Change might already be on a runaway track, with lethal conditions inevitable in the near future. Things are looking grim.</p>
<p>I see this situation and look at my generation, and it strikes to me that we are not up for the task. Enough of us benefited from the status quo that there is no collective desire to change it. We just want to tinker with the tuning and ignore the engine. We lack imagination, inspiration and idealism. We are already done trying.</p>
<p>We are also behind the times. We needed to be convinced that gays weren’t perverts, that blacks weren’t crooks and that women were fully human. The Millennials grew up in a different world. Sexuality, race and gender that isn’t hetero, white and male is no big deal to them. There’s nothing scandalous about a mixed race couple of whatever orientation.</p>
<p>“56% of millennials in their late teens and 20s said they had no problem with same-sex relationships. Only 26% of Gen Xers felt the same way when they were that age, as did a mere 21% of baby boomers” (Changes in American Adults’ Sexual Behavior and Attitudes, 1972–2012)</p>
<p>Politically, the massive support for Bernie Sanders among Millennials was a bright sign, even given his limitations (namely, his refusal to address imperialism and the military industrial complex). The Millennials don’t have much interest in Hillary or Trump. In fact, according to a poll just released by UMass Lowell, “nearly a quarter of Americans ages 18 to 35 would rather see a giant meteor strike the Earth than see either Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump in the White House.”</p>
<p>Frankly, that settles it for me! That’s some clear vision compared to the myopia of my Generation X.</p>
<p>Unconvinced? Here’s some details about the Millennials (sources listed at end of article):</p>
<p>43% non-white Best educated generation in US history Only 1/4 are married; 44% say that marriage is becoming obsolete More tolerant of races and groups than older generations (47% vs. 19%) Less religious Views of media growing more negative 61% “worried about the state of the world and feel personally responsible to make a difference” 92% “believe that business success should be measured by more than just profit” 83% “agreed with the statement, ‘there is too much power concentrated in the hands of a few big companies,’” which is higher than all other generations 64% “would rather make $40,000 a year at a job they love than $100,000 a year at a job they think is boring” 88% “prefer a collaborative work culture rather than a competitive one” These are helpful characteristics and admirable traits for the challenges that face us. By 2020, Millennials will make up 40% of the electorate so we could be in for a big shake-up. I for one would welcome that!</p>
<p>Of course, some people will insist that the Millennials aren’t ready for leadership, that they are too young. My counter to that is simple: Letting the geezers run things certainly hasn’t been working out too well, has it? And we Gen Xers are already over-the-hill. Old dogs can’t learn new tricks, and it’s new tricks that we desperately need now.</p>
<p>A Millennial that I met recently asked me if I thought it’s true that people get more conservative as they age.</p>
<p>I asked, “You mean like that old cliche, ‘Whoever isn’t liberal in their youth has no heart, but who isn’t conservative in their old age has no head?’”</p>
<p>She nodded.</p>
<p>“Yes, in this culture I think that’s usually true. But it doesn’t have to be. I myself am getting more radical with age. Your generation can break that cycle.”</p>
<p>She smiled, pleased at the encouragement. I was so glad I got to deliver that message.</p>
<p>It is true that Millennials have higher rates of depression than preceding generations. But does that have to be viewed as negative? Don’t they have more to be depressed about, after all? Perhaps they are simply less in denial. If so, and even if this sensitivity is not fully conscious, isn’t less denial essential if we are going to make the changes that need to be made in the world?</p>
<p>Basically, it boils down to this for me: the Millennials will be bearing the brunt of the shitstorm that the Greatest/Boomers manufactured and the Xers insist on maintaining. Let’s not make them wait to defend themselves and this beautiful planet we live on. This is our chance, fellow Gen Xers, to show that we aren’t a bunch of selfish pricks like our parents and grandparents. This could be our legacy: that we made the best choice we could by just getting out of the way.</p>
<p>Are you up for it? I am. Consider this my announcement that I would rather put my skills to use in a support role for the next generation than take charge as a member of my own. I really think they’ll do a better job than we can.</p>
<p>(I do have one request of the Millennials, though: Do you always have to put music on “shuffle”? Sometimes I want to listen to a whole “album”; you know, it’s a collection of music put together by a band that’s intended to be listened to in sequence from beginning to end? Aw, I guess college kids don’t listen to “Dark Side of the Moon” anymore, do they? Never mind.)</p>
<p>* * *</p>
<p>Sources of Statistics:</p>
<p>22 Shocking Stats About Millennials to Help You Chart Tomorrow’s Change 11 Facts about the Millennial Generation 74 Of The Most Interesting Facts About Millennials 29 Surprising Facts That Explain Why Millennials See the World Differently Amid The Stereotypes, Some Facts About Millennials Millennials section at Pew Research Center website The paradox of millennial sex: More casual hookups, fewer partners Clinton Gaining Among Millennials, But Obstacles Remain</p> | Dear Fellow Gen Xers: Let’s Step Aside for the Millennials | true | https://counterpunch.org/2016/10/21/dear-fellow-gen-xers-lets-step-aside-for-the-millennials/ | 2016-10-21 | 4left
| Dear Fellow Gen Xers: Let’s Step Aside for the Millennials
<p>This summer I caught up with an old friend from college by phone. We hadn’t been in touch since the 1990’s, so had a lot to talk about it. We got into politics, of course, and he mentioned that “our turn” – that is, Generation X’s – is coming up, as the Baby Boomers are reaching the end of their run.</p>
<p>That’s true. Gen Xers are increasingly in positions of leadership in business and government, and in art and culture we took the reins long ago. This is probably the last or second-to-last presidential election that will be contested exclusively among Boomers. Especially given this year’s candidates, I believe I can speak for much of Generation X when I say, “It’s about time!”</p>
<p>About time that the Boomers get out of the way, that is. But not necessarily for Gen X to step up. As I have reflected on my conversation with my college buddy over the last few months, I have come to believe that even though we have the right of way, so to speak, that we should yield and hand the torch directly to the Millennials instead.</p>
<p>Previous generations have made quite a mess of the world, to put it mildly, and the multiple crises that we face today threaten all life on earth. Nuclear radiation, pesticides, deforestation, water and air pollution, all produced for the purpose of profit: these are the legacies of the “Greatest Generation” and the Boomers. Not only is there no chance that the Millennials will “do as well” as their parents economically, it is plausible that they won’t live lives that are as long either. Climate Change might already be on a runaway track, with lethal conditions inevitable in the near future. Things are looking grim.</p>
<p>I see this situation and look at my generation, and it strikes to me that we are not up for the task. Enough of us benefited from the status quo that there is no collective desire to change it. We just want to tinker with the tuning and ignore the engine. We lack imagination, inspiration and idealism. We are already done trying.</p>
<p>We are also behind the times. We needed to be convinced that gays weren’t perverts, that blacks weren’t crooks and that women were fully human. The Millennials grew up in a different world. Sexuality, race and gender that isn’t hetero, white and male is no big deal to them. There’s nothing scandalous about a mixed race couple of whatever orientation.</p>
<p>“56% of millennials in their late teens and 20s said they had no problem with same-sex relationships. Only 26% of Gen Xers felt the same way when they were that age, as did a mere 21% of baby boomers” (Changes in American Adults’ Sexual Behavior and Attitudes, 1972–2012)</p>
<p>Politically, the massive support for Bernie Sanders among Millennials was a bright sign, even given his limitations (namely, his refusal to address imperialism and the military industrial complex). The Millennials don’t have much interest in Hillary or Trump. In fact, according to a poll just released by UMass Lowell, “nearly a quarter of Americans ages 18 to 35 would rather see a giant meteor strike the Earth than see either Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump in the White House.”</p>
<p>Frankly, that settles it for me! That’s some clear vision compared to the myopia of my Generation X.</p>
<p>Unconvinced? Here’s some details about the Millennials (sources listed at end of article):</p>
<p>43% non-white Best educated generation in US history Only 1/4 are married; 44% say that marriage is becoming obsolete More tolerant of races and groups than older generations (47% vs. 19%) Less religious Views of media growing more negative 61% “worried about the state of the world and feel personally responsible to make a difference” 92% “believe that business success should be measured by more than just profit” 83% “agreed with the statement, ‘there is too much power concentrated in the hands of a few big companies,’” which is higher than all other generations 64% “would rather make $40,000 a year at a job they love than $100,000 a year at a job they think is boring” 88% “prefer a collaborative work culture rather than a competitive one” These are helpful characteristics and admirable traits for the challenges that face us. By 2020, Millennials will make up 40% of the electorate so we could be in for a big shake-up. I for one would welcome that!</p>
<p>Of course, some people will insist that the Millennials aren’t ready for leadership, that they are too young. My counter to that is simple: Letting the geezers run things certainly hasn’t been working out too well, has it? And we Gen Xers are already over-the-hill. Old dogs can’t learn new tricks, and it’s new tricks that we desperately need now.</p>
<p>A Millennial that I met recently asked me if I thought it’s true that people get more conservative as they age.</p>
<p>I asked, “You mean like that old cliche, ‘Whoever isn’t liberal in their youth has no heart, but who isn’t conservative in their old age has no head?’”</p>
<p>She nodded.</p>
<p>“Yes, in this culture I think that’s usually true. But it doesn’t have to be. I myself am getting more radical with age. Your generation can break that cycle.”</p>
<p>She smiled, pleased at the encouragement. I was so glad I got to deliver that message.</p>
<p>It is true that Millennials have higher rates of depression than preceding generations. But does that have to be viewed as negative? Don’t they have more to be depressed about, after all? Perhaps they are simply less in denial. If so, and even if this sensitivity is not fully conscious, isn’t less denial essential if we are going to make the changes that need to be made in the world?</p>
<p>Basically, it boils down to this for me: the Millennials will be bearing the brunt of the shitstorm that the Greatest/Boomers manufactured and the Xers insist on maintaining. Let’s not make them wait to defend themselves and this beautiful planet we live on. This is our chance, fellow Gen Xers, to show that we aren’t a bunch of selfish pricks like our parents and grandparents. This could be our legacy: that we made the best choice we could by just getting out of the way.</p>
<p>Are you up for it? I am. Consider this my announcement that I would rather put my skills to use in a support role for the next generation than take charge as a member of my own. I really think they’ll do a better job than we can.</p>
<p>(I do have one request of the Millennials, though: Do you always have to put music on “shuffle”? Sometimes I want to listen to a whole “album”; you know, it’s a collection of music put together by a band that’s intended to be listened to in sequence from beginning to end? Aw, I guess college kids don’t listen to “Dark Side of the Moon” anymore, do they? Never mind.)</p>
<p>* * *</p>
<p>Sources of Statistics:</p>
<p>22 Shocking Stats About Millennials to Help You Chart Tomorrow’s Change 11 Facts about the Millennial Generation 74 Of The Most Interesting Facts About Millennials 29 Surprising Facts That Explain Why Millennials See the World Differently Amid The Stereotypes, Some Facts About Millennials Millennials section at Pew Research Center website The paradox of millennial sex: More casual hookups, fewer partners Clinton Gaining Among Millennials, But Obstacles Remain</p> | 1,086 |
<p />
<p>Tom Fiedler got his first look at <a href="http://www.journalistsfordefede.com/" type="external">it</a> when the numbers were still pretty low.</p>
<p>His name was at the top of the page along with that of his boss: "An open letter to Miami Herald Publisher Jesus Diaz and Executive Editor Tom Fiedler."</p>
<p>As Fiedler scrolled down the page, the names of more than 100 journalists crawled up the left margin of JournalistsForDeFede.com. He didn't have to scroll too far before spotting names from his own staff list:</p>
<p>Number 17: reporter Elinor J. Brecher.Number 18: copy editor Joe ModzelewskiNumber 29: columnist Dave Barry (on leave)Number 30: foreign correspondent Frances RoblesNumber 31: sports writer Michelle Kaufman</p>
<p>By 8:50 p.m.&#160;Tuesday evening, the list had grown to 513 names: 99 of them were&#160;current Herald employees,&#160;interspersed with the names of other journalists from around the country, 92 of whom had worked at the Herald earlier in their careers.</p>
<p>Fiedler recognized the names, knew many of the faces behind them, and counted them among his friends. He still does.</p>
<p>As editor of the newspaper that fired metro columnist Jim DeFede last week, Fiedler has found himself at the center of a journalistic maelstrom. Readers have written letters about it. Herald columnists have devoted dozens of column inches to it.&#160;</p>
<p>Peter Wallsten, a former political writer and Tallahassee bureau chief for The Herald who now covers the White House for the Los Angeles Times,&#160;created&#160;the online petition July 28.&#160;The&#160;Herald fired DeFede the day before, on July 27, after he told his editors that he had taped a telephone conversation with Arthur E. Teele Jr., a former city commissioner who later killed himself in the newspaper's lobby. In a column published July 31, Fiedler said he fired DeFede partly because he had violated a Florida law that prohibits such taping without the consent of both parties. But more importantly, he said, DeFede lost his job because the taping represented a breach of trust between the newspaper and its readers."It's all about trust," Fiedler wrote. "I could suspend Jim for a time, and he would, I am sure, never repeat his mistake. But the message that would send to all others who deal with us is that The Herald tolerates those who have breached that trust, even if just once."Challenging that decision, the petition in support of DeFede reads:&#160;"We are writing as journalists to express our sadness, distress and disappointment at the way the newspaper has treated Jim DeFede. He has been an important face of the newspaper in a community that has embraced him."</p>
<p>In a telephone interview Tuesday, Fiedler said he received a number of phone calls and e-mails from fellow journalists who had added their names to the petition site. He said they told him that they didn't want to blind-side him.</p>
<p>"I must say that what I have seen is an impressive list of influential and, from my view, respected group of colleagues," Fiedler said. "And it's a tremendous tribute to Jim's impact, and the respect with which Jim is held by so many people in our business. I certainly recognize that."For a group of people often averse to joining, signing or endorsing anything in the public eye, the letter represents a departure from business as usual in the newsroom.To the extent that signing the petition moves journalists out of the role of observers and into the role of participants in the story as it unfolds, it raises potentially tricky issues of independence and conflict of interest."I haven't really given it much thought yet," Fielder said when asked if a reporter who signed the petition would be disqualified from covering the DeFede story. He said the paper had produced only one news story so far about the firing.&#160;"I have no qualms or concerns about somebody who's an opinion columnist signing the petition and expressing their opinions,"&#160;he said.&#160;"But for a reporter… I hate to be the one to make that judgment, since I'm involved in [the story]."If a staff member is not actively covering the DeFede story, Fiedler said, he does not object to his or her decision to sign the petition."I would discourage a reporter from signing a petition that might be designed toward influencing public policy," he said. "That would clearly constitute a conflict of interest, just like putting a bumper sticker on their car for a candidate… but signing a petition that is more or less within the profession, I see no ethical issue arising there."Nicholas Spangler, a features columnist at The Herald, said he experienced no pressure in the newsroom –- either in favor of signing or against.&#160;"Certainly nobody from management leaned on us not to sign it," he said. "Nobody from management said a word about it. I think, as a matter of fact, my immediate supervisor may have signed on to it."He added: "We're allowed to sign a petition, right? I didn't think that by doing that I was putting myself at any risk. I didn't think that I was hurting the newspaper. I thought about this and I thought … it's a little thing I could do just to let my bosses know what I think, and let them know that I took Jim's firing pretty seriously."</p>
<p>Said Wallsten, one of the organizers: "It's not in my nature to organize anything. I'm an observer -– and an objective observer. But in this case, this was about my friend, my colleague, and someone I believe to be a first-rate journalist. And the one thing that I believe journalists should stand up for is great journalism."</p>
<p>Wallsten's name is followed on the list by fellow Herald alum Charlie Savage, who covers the Supreme Court and Homeland Security issues for the Boston Globe. Wallsten recruited him to help build support for the petition. &#160;Reporters in newsrooms from Anchorage to Philadelphia signed on as well. At number 17 on the list, metro reporter Elinor Brecher was the first Herald reporter to add her name.&#160;&#160;</p>
<p>"I signed it because I thought that Jim was too hastily judged, that there was not a proper investigation of all the factors before the decision was made, and that the punishment did not fit whatever the crime would have turned out to be," Brecher said. "My main issue is that it was done in such haste without a full investigation."</p>
<p>Brecher has spent 16 of her 28 years in journalism at the Herald. She recalled signing a paper petition about an internal newsroom issue at an earlier job, but said this was the first time she has ever signed an online petition. It was the extraordinary nature of the situation that pushed her to add her name to the list, she said.</p>
<p>"This is something deeply personal to people at The Herald, but it also transcends our particular workplace to general principles and standards," she said.</p>
<p>Herald alums Savage and Wallsten both said they launched the petition out of loyalty to the paper.</p>
<p>"Everyone who's ever worked for The Miami Herald has a great affection for that paper and wants it to be excellent," Savage said. "Jim was a huge asset to that because he may be the best political watchdog reporter and columnist in South Florida."</p>
<p>The goal of the letter, Wallsten said, is twofold: to encourage Herald editors to reconsider their decision and re-hire DeFede, and to help maintain his reputation as a respected member of the journalism community.</p>
<p>He added: "Oftentimes, the way that this business is going is that people who are fired from newspapers, in most cases, have become disgraced journalists and in most cases, that is appropriate. I wanted to make sure it was clear to the journalism community that Jim is well regarded and that he remains a first-rate journalist. I believe that the goal of protecting Jim’s professional standing has been achieved with this letter."</p>
<p>Wallsten acknowledges that it must have been a big step for many journalists to add their names to the letter.</p>
<p>Heidi Carr, an assistant city editor at The Herald, said she mulled the decision for days before becoming number 501 early Tuesday evening.</p>
<p>"I would have signed it immediately, and then I thought, 'You know, I don't want to rush into this,'" she said. "Frankly, I didn't want to do a knee-jerk reaction because I felt that there were so many questions."</p>
<p>Even before she decided to add her name to the letter, Carr e-mailed a link of the site to three or four former Herald colleagues who now work at different papers. Word of the petition quickly spread through The Herald newsroom and beyond, via internal postings and e-mail messages, she said.&#160;</p>
<p>"It's not (that) there's any fear of recriminations… it's not that at all," she said. "I think in a newsroom, where we tout the First Amendment rights, it's absolutely encouraged that we can disagree among ourselves and with the bosses."</p>
<p>Walker Lundy, retired editor of The Philadelphia Inquirer --&#160;a Knight Ridder newspaper, like&#160;The Herald --&#160;was number 438 on the list. The petition, he said, will help separate DeFede from a long line of "journalistic miscreants" who have been fired from other newspapers. Journalists should be able, in a situation such as this, to express their opinion without fear of retribution, he said.</p>
<p>"I think most editors feel as I do that people in journalism have their First Amendment rights, too," said Lundy. "This is just a statement that 'We think you made the wrong decision, and we hope you'll reconsider.' That sounds pretty respectful to me."</p>
<p>He said this is the first petition he has signed in all of&#160;his&#160;years as a journalist.</p>
<p>Lundy added: "When I was working, I didn't think it was appropriate for the editor of the paper to sign a petition, because I already had the biggest soapbox in town. But now I'm a free bird and thought that the petition might cause the people who made the decision to rethink it."</p>
<p>So far, Fiedler said, the petition hasn't made him rescind his initial decision to fire DeFede. But he didn't slam the door shut, either.</p>
<p>"I hate to say it's a done deal, because I don't know if the last word has been offered," he said. "I don't know what I don't know… But I have not heard anything in recent days that would essentially alter the decision that I made Wednesday night."</p>
<p>Wallsten and Savage said they planned to cut off signature submissions&#160;to the Web site at midnight Tuesday. They said they will print the site -– it amounted to 42 pages by 8 p.m. Tuesday -- and send the stack of paper to Fiedler and Diaz on Wednesday.</p>
<p>Fiedler is open to the petition -- and his newsroom's involvement in it: "I welcome the discussion and I again have great respect for the people who have put it together."He also said: "I think the newsroom is a place where there has to be a lot of latitude for discussions. If we were a place where people felt they had to speak in one voice, what a dull, intellectually constipated place we would be."</p> | Taking Sides: More than 500 Journalists Support DeFede | false | https://poynter.org/news/taking-sides-more-500-journalists-support-defede | 2005-08-02 | 2least
| Taking Sides: More than 500 Journalists Support DeFede
<p />
<p>Tom Fiedler got his first look at <a href="http://www.journalistsfordefede.com/" type="external">it</a> when the numbers were still pretty low.</p>
<p>His name was at the top of the page along with that of his boss: "An open letter to Miami Herald Publisher Jesus Diaz and Executive Editor Tom Fiedler."</p>
<p>As Fiedler scrolled down the page, the names of more than 100 journalists crawled up the left margin of JournalistsForDeFede.com. He didn't have to scroll too far before spotting names from his own staff list:</p>
<p>Number 17: reporter Elinor J. Brecher.Number 18: copy editor Joe ModzelewskiNumber 29: columnist Dave Barry (on leave)Number 30: foreign correspondent Frances RoblesNumber 31: sports writer Michelle Kaufman</p>
<p>By 8:50 p.m.&#160;Tuesday evening, the list had grown to 513 names: 99 of them were&#160;current Herald employees,&#160;interspersed with the names of other journalists from around the country, 92 of whom had worked at the Herald earlier in their careers.</p>
<p>Fiedler recognized the names, knew many of the faces behind them, and counted them among his friends. He still does.</p>
<p>As editor of the newspaper that fired metro columnist Jim DeFede last week, Fiedler has found himself at the center of a journalistic maelstrom. Readers have written letters about it. Herald columnists have devoted dozens of column inches to it.&#160;</p>
<p>Peter Wallsten, a former political writer and Tallahassee bureau chief for The Herald who now covers the White House for the Los Angeles Times,&#160;created&#160;the online petition July 28.&#160;The&#160;Herald fired DeFede the day before, on July 27, after he told his editors that he had taped a telephone conversation with Arthur E. Teele Jr., a former city commissioner who later killed himself in the newspaper's lobby. In a column published July 31, Fiedler said he fired DeFede partly because he had violated a Florida law that prohibits such taping without the consent of both parties. But more importantly, he said, DeFede lost his job because the taping represented a breach of trust between the newspaper and its readers."It's all about trust," Fiedler wrote. "I could suspend Jim for a time, and he would, I am sure, never repeat his mistake. But the message that would send to all others who deal with us is that The Herald tolerates those who have breached that trust, even if just once."Challenging that decision, the petition in support of DeFede reads:&#160;"We are writing as journalists to express our sadness, distress and disappointment at the way the newspaper has treated Jim DeFede. He has been an important face of the newspaper in a community that has embraced him."</p>
<p>In a telephone interview Tuesday, Fiedler said he received a number of phone calls and e-mails from fellow journalists who had added their names to the petition site. He said they told him that they didn't want to blind-side him.</p>
<p>"I must say that what I have seen is an impressive list of influential and, from my view, respected group of colleagues," Fiedler said. "And it's a tremendous tribute to Jim's impact, and the respect with which Jim is held by so many people in our business. I certainly recognize that."For a group of people often averse to joining, signing or endorsing anything in the public eye, the letter represents a departure from business as usual in the newsroom.To the extent that signing the petition moves journalists out of the role of observers and into the role of participants in the story as it unfolds, it raises potentially tricky issues of independence and conflict of interest."I haven't really given it much thought yet," Fielder said when asked if a reporter who signed the petition would be disqualified from covering the DeFede story. He said the paper had produced only one news story so far about the firing.&#160;"I have no qualms or concerns about somebody who's an opinion columnist signing the petition and expressing their opinions,"&#160;he said.&#160;"But for a reporter… I hate to be the one to make that judgment, since I'm involved in [the story]."If a staff member is not actively covering the DeFede story, Fiedler said, he does not object to his or her decision to sign the petition."I would discourage a reporter from signing a petition that might be designed toward influencing public policy," he said. "That would clearly constitute a conflict of interest, just like putting a bumper sticker on their car for a candidate… but signing a petition that is more or less within the profession, I see no ethical issue arising there."Nicholas Spangler, a features columnist at The Herald, said he experienced no pressure in the newsroom –- either in favor of signing or against.&#160;"Certainly nobody from management leaned on us not to sign it," he said. "Nobody from management said a word about it. I think, as a matter of fact, my immediate supervisor may have signed on to it."He added: "We're allowed to sign a petition, right? I didn't think that by doing that I was putting myself at any risk. I didn't think that I was hurting the newspaper. I thought about this and I thought … it's a little thing I could do just to let my bosses know what I think, and let them know that I took Jim's firing pretty seriously."</p>
<p>Said Wallsten, one of the organizers: "It's not in my nature to organize anything. I'm an observer -– and an objective observer. But in this case, this was about my friend, my colleague, and someone I believe to be a first-rate journalist. And the one thing that I believe journalists should stand up for is great journalism."</p>
<p>Wallsten's name is followed on the list by fellow Herald alum Charlie Savage, who covers the Supreme Court and Homeland Security issues for the Boston Globe. Wallsten recruited him to help build support for the petition. &#160;Reporters in newsrooms from Anchorage to Philadelphia signed on as well. At number 17 on the list, metro reporter Elinor Brecher was the first Herald reporter to add her name.&#160;&#160;</p>
<p>"I signed it because I thought that Jim was too hastily judged, that there was not a proper investigation of all the factors before the decision was made, and that the punishment did not fit whatever the crime would have turned out to be," Brecher said. "My main issue is that it was done in such haste without a full investigation."</p>
<p>Brecher has spent 16 of her 28 years in journalism at the Herald. She recalled signing a paper petition about an internal newsroom issue at an earlier job, but said this was the first time she has ever signed an online petition. It was the extraordinary nature of the situation that pushed her to add her name to the list, she said.</p>
<p>"This is something deeply personal to people at The Herald, but it also transcends our particular workplace to general principles and standards," she said.</p>
<p>Herald alums Savage and Wallsten both said they launched the petition out of loyalty to the paper.</p>
<p>"Everyone who's ever worked for The Miami Herald has a great affection for that paper and wants it to be excellent," Savage said. "Jim was a huge asset to that because he may be the best political watchdog reporter and columnist in South Florida."</p>
<p>The goal of the letter, Wallsten said, is twofold: to encourage Herald editors to reconsider their decision and re-hire DeFede, and to help maintain his reputation as a respected member of the journalism community.</p>
<p>He added: "Oftentimes, the way that this business is going is that people who are fired from newspapers, in most cases, have become disgraced journalists and in most cases, that is appropriate. I wanted to make sure it was clear to the journalism community that Jim is well regarded and that he remains a first-rate journalist. I believe that the goal of protecting Jim’s professional standing has been achieved with this letter."</p>
<p>Wallsten acknowledges that it must have been a big step for many journalists to add their names to the letter.</p>
<p>Heidi Carr, an assistant city editor at The Herald, said she mulled the decision for days before becoming number 501 early Tuesday evening.</p>
<p>"I would have signed it immediately, and then I thought, 'You know, I don't want to rush into this,'" she said. "Frankly, I didn't want to do a knee-jerk reaction because I felt that there were so many questions."</p>
<p>Even before she decided to add her name to the letter, Carr e-mailed a link of the site to three or four former Herald colleagues who now work at different papers. Word of the petition quickly spread through The Herald newsroom and beyond, via internal postings and e-mail messages, she said.&#160;</p>
<p>"It's not (that) there's any fear of recriminations… it's not that at all," she said. "I think in a newsroom, where we tout the First Amendment rights, it's absolutely encouraged that we can disagree among ourselves and with the bosses."</p>
<p>Walker Lundy, retired editor of The Philadelphia Inquirer --&#160;a Knight Ridder newspaper, like&#160;The Herald --&#160;was number 438 on the list. The petition, he said, will help separate DeFede from a long line of "journalistic miscreants" who have been fired from other newspapers. Journalists should be able, in a situation such as this, to express their opinion without fear of retribution, he said.</p>
<p>"I think most editors feel as I do that people in journalism have their First Amendment rights, too," said Lundy. "This is just a statement that 'We think you made the wrong decision, and we hope you'll reconsider.' That sounds pretty respectful to me."</p>
<p>He said this is the first petition he has signed in all of&#160;his&#160;years as a journalist.</p>
<p>Lundy added: "When I was working, I didn't think it was appropriate for the editor of the paper to sign a petition, because I already had the biggest soapbox in town. But now I'm a free bird and thought that the petition might cause the people who made the decision to rethink it."</p>
<p>So far, Fiedler said, the petition hasn't made him rescind his initial decision to fire DeFede. But he didn't slam the door shut, either.</p>
<p>"I hate to say it's a done deal, because I don't know if the last word has been offered," he said. "I don't know what I don't know… But I have not heard anything in recent days that would essentially alter the decision that I made Wednesday night."</p>
<p>Wallsten and Savage said they planned to cut off signature submissions&#160;to the Web site at midnight Tuesday. They said they will print the site -– it amounted to 42 pages by 8 p.m. Tuesday -- and send the stack of paper to Fiedler and Diaz on Wednesday.</p>
<p>Fiedler is open to the petition -- and his newsroom's involvement in it: "I welcome the discussion and I again have great respect for the people who have put it together."He also said: "I think the newsroom is a place where there has to be a lot of latitude for discussions. If we were a place where people felt they had to speak in one voice, what a dull, intellectually constipated place we would be."</p> | 1,087 |
<p />
<p>For more than a year, there have been signs that all our economic woes–the&#160;costs of the financial meltdown, and the bank bailout and stimulus spending that followed–would eventually be placed square on the backs of our so-called old-age entitlements: Social Security and Medicare. And lo, it is coming to pass, via President Obama’s euphemistically named National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, commonly called the Deficit Commission or the Debt Panel.</p>
<p>Despite the names, no one is even trying very hard to pretend that the commission has any purpose other than cutting Social Security, Medicare, and probably Medicaid as well. That was clear from the get-go, based on Obama’s choice of Alan Simpson to co-chair the commission. The former Republican senator from Wyoming&#160;has already <a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2010/02/22/simpson-debt-panel-aims-to-save-us-from-insolvency/?utm_source=feedburner&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_campaign=Feed%3A+wsj%2Fwashwire%2Ffeed+%28WSJ.com%3A+Washington+Wire%29" type="external">described his mission</a>as “saving” the United States from “insolvency” by hacking away at entitlements. And if we&#160;want any more proof, we need only look at Simpson’s&#160;background, as detailed by <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/saul-friedman/gray-matters--a-reach-too_b_479558.html" type="external">Saul Friedman</a>in his latest “Gray Matters” column:</p>
<p>This time President Obama, in his obsessive reaching across the political aisle, may have gone a stretch too far. For the Republican he picked to co-chair the so-called deficit reduction commission, former Sen. Alan Simpson, has been a harsh critic of Social Security and Medicare. And he sought to destroy their most powerful defenders, especially AARP.</p>
<p>That was 15 years ago, but as recently as 2005, Simpson, a conservative from Wyoming who left the Senate in 1997, supported attempts by President George Bush to privatize Social Security by turning part of the pension and insurance program into millions of individual investment accounts, which by now would have lost 20 percent of their value. Bush’s plan failed, largely because of the opposition of AARP and other advocates that Simpson sought to discredit.</p>
<p>Even now, Simpson, who should know better, conflates or deliberately confuses Social Security’s long term fiscal problems, which are minor, with its supposed contribution to the federal deficit, which is almost nil.</p>
<p>In an interview with the NewsHour after his appointment, Simpson said of Social Security, “You have two choices…you either raise the payroll tax or decrease the benefits or start affluence testing. The rest of it is B.S. And if the people are really ingesting B.S. all day long, their grandchildren will be picking grit with the chickens. This country is gonna go to the bow-wows unless we deal with entitlements, Social Security and Medicare.”</p>
<p>Simpson insists that he is keeping an open mind.&#160;He told the <a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2010/02/22/simpson-debt-panel-aims-to-save-us-from-insolvency/?utm_source=feedburner&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_campaign=Feed%3A+wsj%2Fwashwire%2Ffeed+%28WSJ.com%3A+Washington+Wire%29" type="external">Wall Street Journal</a>that he didn’t like politicians who “demonized” their opponents: “Instead of saying this guy’s ideas are as goofy as a peach orchard boar, they are saying this guy is as goofy as a peach orchard boar. I won’t demonize people.” But its eminently clear whose ideas Simpson agrees with. In an <a href="http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?play=1&amp;video=1421510966" type="external">interview on CNBC</a>, Simpson&#160;referred to cutting entitlements as “correcting Social Security.”&#160;He&#160;also&#160;told&#160;old people&#160;and their advocates to stay out of the debate, since the cuts would only apply to younger people.</p>
<p>Let me tell you, everything that Bush and Clinton or Obama have suggested with regard to Social Security doesn’t affect anyone over 60, and who are the people howling and bitching the most? The people over 60.&#160; This makes no sense.&#160; You’ve got scrub out [of] the equation the AARP, the Committee for the Preservation of Social Security and Medicare, the Gray Panthers, the Pink Panther, the whatever.&#160;</p>
<p>There’s an interesting twist to Simpson’s argument. Usually, we geezers are accused of being greedy and selfish for opposing entitlement cuts that&#160;would affect us. We’re told we should be willing to give up some of our&#160;government handouts for the good of future generations.&#160;This time we’re being attacked because we might actually give a damn about younger people, who won’t even be able to count on the modest social programs we enjoy if Simpson has his way.</p>
<p>But Simpson himself says he’s doing all this for his grandchildren, according to <a href="http://www.usnews.com/articles/opinion/2010/03/03/alan-simpson-on-bipartisanship-and-the-deficit-commission-.html" type="external">US News and World Report</a>. (Warning: This quote contains more animal metaphors.)</p>
<p>There are six little people running in and out of my house, called grandchildren, who are absolutely just little lambs led to slaughter.&#160;They are totally uncomprehending. They have no idea that when they reach 60—under the present system—they’ll be picking grit with the chickens.</p>
<p>This would be quite noble if not for the fact that what Simpson wants to do is cut his grandkids’ Social Security (presumably because he thinks the debt threatens them even more?) And if not for the fact that&#160;there is no crisis looming for the future of Social Security. Any long-term shortfalls&#160;in the system&#160;could be fixed with a minor adjustment:&#160; raising the ceiling on earnings subject to Social Security taxes, which currently stands at $106,000.&#160;Obama himself has suggested this in the past. More importantly, as Friedman points out.</p>
<p>Social Security’s long term fiscal problem has nothing, absolutely nothing, to do with Social Security’s role in the deficit. For, as I have emphasized in my column for years, Social Security costs the budget not one cent-aside from the one percent it spends on its thousands of employees and field offices. Indeed, Social Security helps finance the deficit by loaning the treasury money, for which it earns interest (about $700 million a year.) If what’s owed to Social Security must be cut as part of deficit reduction, will that help Social Security?</p>
<p>As for Medicare, the only way to deal with its fiscal problems are through comprehensive health care reform to address the skyrocketing cost of privatized medicine.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.truthout.org/americas-public-debt-the-least-our-worries57233" type="external">real contributors</a>to dangerously high deficits are health care costs and military spending, along with&#160;undertaxing of the rich. This means that what the “debt commission” really ought to be doing is raising taxes on the highest earners, getting us out of two wars, and&#160;instituting single-payer health care.</p>
<p>But as Alan Simpson might say, that dog won’t hunt.</p>
<p>This post originally appeared on James Ridgeway’s blog <a href="http://unsilentgeneration.com/" type="external">Unsilent Generation</a>.</p>
<p /> | “The Country Is Gonna Go to the Bow-wows” Warns Debt Commission Chair Alan Simpson | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2010/03/country-gonna-go-bow-wows-warns-debt-commission-chair-alan-simpson/ | 2010-03-10 | 4left
| “The Country Is Gonna Go to the Bow-wows” Warns Debt Commission Chair Alan Simpson
<p />
<p>For more than a year, there have been signs that all our economic woes–the&#160;costs of the financial meltdown, and the bank bailout and stimulus spending that followed–would eventually be placed square on the backs of our so-called old-age entitlements: Social Security and Medicare. And lo, it is coming to pass, via President Obama’s euphemistically named National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, commonly called the Deficit Commission or the Debt Panel.</p>
<p>Despite the names, no one is even trying very hard to pretend that the commission has any purpose other than cutting Social Security, Medicare, and probably Medicaid as well. That was clear from the get-go, based on Obama’s choice of Alan Simpson to co-chair the commission. The former Republican senator from Wyoming&#160;has already <a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2010/02/22/simpson-debt-panel-aims-to-save-us-from-insolvency/?utm_source=feedburner&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_campaign=Feed%3A+wsj%2Fwashwire%2Ffeed+%28WSJ.com%3A+Washington+Wire%29" type="external">described his mission</a>as “saving” the United States from “insolvency” by hacking away at entitlements. And if we&#160;want any more proof, we need only look at Simpson’s&#160;background, as detailed by <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/saul-friedman/gray-matters--a-reach-too_b_479558.html" type="external">Saul Friedman</a>in his latest “Gray Matters” column:</p>
<p>This time President Obama, in his obsessive reaching across the political aisle, may have gone a stretch too far. For the Republican he picked to co-chair the so-called deficit reduction commission, former Sen. Alan Simpson, has been a harsh critic of Social Security and Medicare. And he sought to destroy their most powerful defenders, especially AARP.</p>
<p>That was 15 years ago, but as recently as 2005, Simpson, a conservative from Wyoming who left the Senate in 1997, supported attempts by President George Bush to privatize Social Security by turning part of the pension and insurance program into millions of individual investment accounts, which by now would have lost 20 percent of their value. Bush’s plan failed, largely because of the opposition of AARP and other advocates that Simpson sought to discredit.</p>
<p>Even now, Simpson, who should know better, conflates or deliberately confuses Social Security’s long term fiscal problems, which are minor, with its supposed contribution to the federal deficit, which is almost nil.</p>
<p>In an interview with the NewsHour after his appointment, Simpson said of Social Security, “You have two choices…you either raise the payroll tax or decrease the benefits or start affluence testing. The rest of it is B.S. And if the people are really ingesting B.S. all day long, their grandchildren will be picking grit with the chickens. This country is gonna go to the bow-wows unless we deal with entitlements, Social Security and Medicare.”</p>
<p>Simpson insists that he is keeping an open mind.&#160;He told the <a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2010/02/22/simpson-debt-panel-aims-to-save-us-from-insolvency/?utm_source=feedburner&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_campaign=Feed%3A+wsj%2Fwashwire%2Ffeed+%28WSJ.com%3A+Washington+Wire%29" type="external">Wall Street Journal</a>that he didn’t like politicians who “demonized” their opponents: “Instead of saying this guy’s ideas are as goofy as a peach orchard boar, they are saying this guy is as goofy as a peach orchard boar. I won’t demonize people.” But its eminently clear whose ideas Simpson agrees with. In an <a href="http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?play=1&amp;video=1421510966" type="external">interview on CNBC</a>, Simpson&#160;referred to cutting entitlements as “correcting Social Security.”&#160;He&#160;also&#160;told&#160;old people&#160;and their advocates to stay out of the debate, since the cuts would only apply to younger people.</p>
<p>Let me tell you, everything that Bush and Clinton or Obama have suggested with regard to Social Security doesn’t affect anyone over 60, and who are the people howling and bitching the most? The people over 60.&#160; This makes no sense.&#160; You’ve got scrub out [of] the equation the AARP, the Committee for the Preservation of Social Security and Medicare, the Gray Panthers, the Pink Panther, the whatever.&#160;</p>
<p>There’s an interesting twist to Simpson’s argument. Usually, we geezers are accused of being greedy and selfish for opposing entitlement cuts that&#160;would affect us. We’re told we should be willing to give up some of our&#160;government handouts for the good of future generations.&#160;This time we’re being attacked because we might actually give a damn about younger people, who won’t even be able to count on the modest social programs we enjoy if Simpson has his way.</p>
<p>But Simpson himself says he’s doing all this for his grandchildren, according to <a href="http://www.usnews.com/articles/opinion/2010/03/03/alan-simpson-on-bipartisanship-and-the-deficit-commission-.html" type="external">US News and World Report</a>. (Warning: This quote contains more animal metaphors.)</p>
<p>There are six little people running in and out of my house, called grandchildren, who are absolutely just little lambs led to slaughter.&#160;They are totally uncomprehending. They have no idea that when they reach 60—under the present system—they’ll be picking grit with the chickens.</p>
<p>This would be quite noble if not for the fact that what Simpson wants to do is cut his grandkids’ Social Security (presumably because he thinks the debt threatens them even more?) And if not for the fact that&#160;there is no crisis looming for the future of Social Security. Any long-term shortfalls&#160;in the system&#160;could be fixed with a minor adjustment:&#160; raising the ceiling on earnings subject to Social Security taxes, which currently stands at $106,000.&#160;Obama himself has suggested this in the past. More importantly, as Friedman points out.</p>
<p>Social Security’s long term fiscal problem has nothing, absolutely nothing, to do with Social Security’s role in the deficit. For, as I have emphasized in my column for years, Social Security costs the budget not one cent-aside from the one percent it spends on its thousands of employees and field offices. Indeed, Social Security helps finance the deficit by loaning the treasury money, for which it earns interest (about $700 million a year.) If what’s owed to Social Security must be cut as part of deficit reduction, will that help Social Security?</p>
<p>As for Medicare, the only way to deal with its fiscal problems are through comprehensive health care reform to address the skyrocketing cost of privatized medicine.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.truthout.org/americas-public-debt-the-least-our-worries57233" type="external">real contributors</a>to dangerously high deficits are health care costs and military spending, along with&#160;undertaxing of the rich. This means that what the “debt commission” really ought to be doing is raising taxes on the highest earners, getting us out of two wars, and&#160;instituting single-payer health care.</p>
<p>But as Alan Simpson might say, that dog won’t hunt.</p>
<p>This post originally appeared on James Ridgeway’s blog <a href="http://unsilentgeneration.com/" type="external">Unsilent Generation</a>.</p>
<p /> | 1,088 |
<p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/egbertowillies/8663368214/" type="external" /></p>
<p>Less than 12 hours after the <a href="http://www.fbi.gov/news/updates-on-investigation-into-multiple-explosions-in-boston/updates-on-investigation-into-multiple-explosions-in-boston" type="external">release of the photographs by the FBI</a> one terrorist is dead and the other one is on the run, seemingly cornered. <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/19/boston-marathon-bombing_n_3114693.html#liveblog" type="external">Huffington Post</a> reports</p>
<p>A violent crime spree across Greater Boston that took the lives of a campus police officer and one of the suspects in the Marathon bombings morphed into a desperate door-to-door search for a man believed to be the second bomber in Monday’s dual blasts.</p>
<p>After a string of explosions and volleys of gunfire that seriously injured a transit officer, police cordoned off much of Watertown, Mass. Residents were ordered to “shelter in place” and not trust anyone they might see other than uniformed officers.</p>
<p>A Massachusetts State Police public information officer told HuffPost reporter Michael McLaughlin, "We believe this to be a terrorist, we believe he came here to kill people." [ <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/19/boston-marathon-bombing_n_3114693.html#liveblog" type="external">source</a>]</p>
<p>Tamerlan Tsarnaev (26) was killed. Dzhokar Tsarnaev (19) was still on the run by Friday 9:43 AM 2013-04-19. Both have been living in America for about 10 years.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal" /> LIKE My <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/EgbertoWilliescom/181893712536" type="external">Facebook Page</a> – Visit My Blog: <a href="http://www.EgbertoWillies.com" type="external">EgbertoWillies.com</a></p> | Tamerlan Tsarnaev & Dzhokar Tsarnaev Are The Alleged Terrorists That Bombed The Boston Marathon | true | http://egbertowillies.com/2013/04/19/tamerlan-tsarnaev-dzhokar-tsarnaev-are-the-terrorist-that-bombed-the-boston-marathon/?fb_source%3Dpubv1 | 2013-04-19 | 4left
| Tamerlan Tsarnaev & Dzhokar Tsarnaev Are The Alleged Terrorists That Bombed The Boston Marathon
<p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/egbertowillies/8663368214/" type="external" /></p>
<p>Less than 12 hours after the <a href="http://www.fbi.gov/news/updates-on-investigation-into-multiple-explosions-in-boston/updates-on-investigation-into-multiple-explosions-in-boston" type="external">release of the photographs by the FBI</a> one terrorist is dead and the other one is on the run, seemingly cornered. <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/19/boston-marathon-bombing_n_3114693.html#liveblog" type="external">Huffington Post</a> reports</p>
<p>A violent crime spree across Greater Boston that took the lives of a campus police officer and one of the suspects in the Marathon bombings morphed into a desperate door-to-door search for a man believed to be the second bomber in Monday’s dual blasts.</p>
<p>After a string of explosions and volleys of gunfire that seriously injured a transit officer, police cordoned off much of Watertown, Mass. Residents were ordered to “shelter in place” and not trust anyone they might see other than uniformed officers.</p>
<p>A Massachusetts State Police public information officer told HuffPost reporter Michael McLaughlin, "We believe this to be a terrorist, we believe he came here to kill people." [ <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/19/boston-marathon-bombing_n_3114693.html#liveblog" type="external">source</a>]</p>
<p>Tamerlan Tsarnaev (26) was killed. Dzhokar Tsarnaev (19) was still on the run by Friday 9:43 AM 2013-04-19. Both have been living in America for about 10 years.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal" /> LIKE My <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/EgbertoWilliescom/181893712536" type="external">Facebook Page</a> – Visit My Blog: <a href="http://www.EgbertoWillies.com" type="external">EgbertoWillies.com</a></p> | 1,089 |
<p>Following <a href="" type="internal">Monday morning’s bombshell report</a> from Eli Lake at Bloomberg that Obama national security advisor Susan Rice requested unmasked raw intelligence information about members of the Trump campaign and transition team, Fox News’ Adam Housely reports that top members of the Obama administration saw Rice’s requested information.</p>
<p>According to Housely, we know that there was incidental collection of information on Trump and his team for “up to a year” before the inauguration. “That information was disseminated…through NSA channels. It’s unprecedented, I’m told, the way this was done,” Housely explained. He added, “What I’m told is that when these reports came out, names were there, and that’s basically unprecedented….This unmasked information, these names of Americans who had done nothing wrong, was disseminated to all of NSC, some at DOD…Rice knew about this possibly as well.” Housely mentioned former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper.</p>
<p>This widens the circle of people who had access to classified intelligence that had been unmasked, reportedly at Rice’s behest – and includes a large swath of the top of the Obama administration intelligence apparatus. Unmasking American citizens by national security officials isn’t itself illegal – but leaking it to the press certainly is. And we now know that at the very least, the Obama administration was suspicious that Trump was involved in nefarious activity, even though we still have not a shred of evidence that such activity took place.</p>
<p>So what we have is a partisan use of power, which while not illegal, certainly made it easier for laws to be broken to target the Trump Team.</p> | BOMBSHELL REPORT II: ‘Unmasked’ Information on Trump Team ‘Disseminated…To The PEOPLE AT THE TOP’ Of Obama Administration | true | https://dailywire.com/news/15046/bombshell-report-ii-trump-team-unmasked-ben-shapiro | 2017-04-03 | 0right
| BOMBSHELL REPORT II: ‘Unmasked’ Information on Trump Team ‘Disseminated…To The PEOPLE AT THE TOP’ Of Obama Administration
<p>Following <a href="" type="internal">Monday morning’s bombshell report</a> from Eli Lake at Bloomberg that Obama national security advisor Susan Rice requested unmasked raw intelligence information about members of the Trump campaign and transition team, Fox News’ Adam Housely reports that top members of the Obama administration saw Rice’s requested information.</p>
<p>According to Housely, we know that there was incidental collection of information on Trump and his team for “up to a year” before the inauguration. “That information was disseminated…through NSA channels. It’s unprecedented, I’m told, the way this was done,” Housely explained. He added, “What I’m told is that when these reports came out, names were there, and that’s basically unprecedented….This unmasked information, these names of Americans who had done nothing wrong, was disseminated to all of NSC, some at DOD…Rice knew about this possibly as well.” Housely mentioned former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper.</p>
<p>This widens the circle of people who had access to classified intelligence that had been unmasked, reportedly at Rice’s behest – and includes a large swath of the top of the Obama administration intelligence apparatus. Unmasking American citizens by national security officials isn’t itself illegal – but leaking it to the press certainly is. And we now know that at the very least, the Obama administration was suspicious that Trump was involved in nefarious activity, even though we still have not a shred of evidence that such activity took place.</p>
<p>So what we have is a partisan use of power, which while not illegal, certainly made it easier for laws to be broken to target the Trump Team.</p> | 1,090 |
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<p>A screen shot of the home page for the Golden Apple Foundation of New Mexico. The foundation recognizes top teachers with annual awards. (Courtesy Of Golden Apple Foundation Of New Mexico)</p>
<p>ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Seven New Mexico high school teachers have been selected from among scores of their peers to receive the prestigious Golden Apple Award for Excellence in Teaching.</p>
<p>“One of the great lessons of this process is that excellent teaching is happening everywhere in New Mexico,” said Golden Apple Foundation of New Mexico Executive Director Brian O’Connell in a statement. “There are many more amazing teachers in our state than people commonly understand. Having said that, these Golden Apple recipients and Teachers of Distinction are truly exceptional. The impacts they have on their students and their communities are profound.”</p>
<p>The award — given every year since 1996 to seven outstanding recipients — recognizes that teaching excellence is the most important in-school factor in students’ academic success, organizers said in a news release. (Look for full coverage of this story on the education page of the Journal Monday.)</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>The award includes a cash stipend and $4,000 to be used by each recipient toward his or her professional development. Award recipients become part of the Golden Apple Academy of Fellows, an ongoing professional community of outstanding teachers.</p>
<p>The 2017 recipients are:</p>
<p>Miskee Blatner: Family and Consumer Sciences teacher at Eldorado High School in Albuquerque</p>
<p>Laura Carthy: Literature and Psychology teacher at Capital High School in Santa Fe</p>
<p>Travis Crawley: Government and Economics teacher at Volcano Vista High School in Albuquerque</p>
<p>Allison Dunn: English Language Arts teacher at Eldorado High School in Albuquerque</p>
<p>Melody Hagaman: Computer Science teacher at Centennial High School in Las Cruces</p>
<p>Stephanie Jaquez: English Language Arts teacher at Farmington High School in Farmington</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Mark Robinson: History teacher at St. Pius X High School in Albuquerque</p>
<p>There were more than 100 nominations submitted since spring from students, parents, colleagues, principals, or community members in almost two dozen New Mexico towns. Those who were nominated teachers completed lengthy applications outlining their teaching methodology, professional development experiences, community volunteerism, and other aspects of their teaching philosophy.</p>
<p>Sixteen teachers were selected as finalists, organizers said. In the final stage, a selection committee conducted a full-day site visit at each finalist’s school and members observed the teacher in the classroom and interviewed the principal, other teachers, parents, students, and the finalist.</p>
<p>Their quality of teaching was the primary criteria.</p>
<p>The awardees also demonstrated a commitment to the profession of teaching and to their own professional growth as well as that of their colleagues. Many mentor other teachers at their schools.</p>
<p>The selection committee, cognizant of so many teachers deserving recognition, also honored an additional nine finalists as Golden Apple Teachers of Distinction.</p>
<p>They are: Adia Corley- West Mesa High School, Albuquerque; Janet Delgado- Rio Grande High School, Albuquerque; Robert Hanson- V. Sue Cleveland High School, Rio Rancho; Laura Iverson- Del Norte High School, Albuquerque; Shara Montoya- Hot Springs High School, Truth or Consequences; Angela Seiler- V. Sue Cleveland High School, Rio Rancho; Amy Suman- Volcano Vista High School, Albuquerque; Masika Sweetwyne- Gallup High School, Gallup; Nikki Turman- Del Norte High School, Albuquerque.</p>
<p>The Golden Apple Tribute to Teacher Excellence luncheon is on Friday, April 7, 2017, at the Embassy Suites Hotel in Albuquerque. Individual tickets and table sponsorships for the Tribute to Teacher Excellence are available through the Golden Apple Foundation of New Mexico, (505) 268-5337, or by contacting <a href="mailto:brian@goldenapplenm.org" type="external">brian@goldenapplenm.org</a>.</p>
<p>If you would like to nominate a teacher for the Golden Apple Award for Excellence in Teaching, nominations for the 2018 (middle school) cycle are now open at <a href="http://www.goldenapplenm.org" type="external">www.goldenapplenm.org</a>.</p> | Seven NM teachers named as Golden Apple Award winners | false | https://abqjournal.com/892233/golden-apple-award.html | 2least
| Seven NM teachers named as Golden Apple Award winners
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<p>A screen shot of the home page for the Golden Apple Foundation of New Mexico. The foundation recognizes top teachers with annual awards. (Courtesy Of Golden Apple Foundation Of New Mexico)</p>
<p>ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Seven New Mexico high school teachers have been selected from among scores of their peers to receive the prestigious Golden Apple Award for Excellence in Teaching.</p>
<p>“One of the great lessons of this process is that excellent teaching is happening everywhere in New Mexico,” said Golden Apple Foundation of New Mexico Executive Director Brian O’Connell in a statement. “There are many more amazing teachers in our state than people commonly understand. Having said that, these Golden Apple recipients and Teachers of Distinction are truly exceptional. The impacts they have on their students and their communities are profound.”</p>
<p>The award — given every year since 1996 to seven outstanding recipients — recognizes that teaching excellence is the most important in-school factor in students’ academic success, organizers said in a news release. (Look for full coverage of this story on the education page of the Journal Monday.)</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>The award includes a cash stipend and $4,000 to be used by each recipient toward his or her professional development. Award recipients become part of the Golden Apple Academy of Fellows, an ongoing professional community of outstanding teachers.</p>
<p>The 2017 recipients are:</p>
<p>Miskee Blatner: Family and Consumer Sciences teacher at Eldorado High School in Albuquerque</p>
<p>Laura Carthy: Literature and Psychology teacher at Capital High School in Santa Fe</p>
<p>Travis Crawley: Government and Economics teacher at Volcano Vista High School in Albuquerque</p>
<p>Allison Dunn: English Language Arts teacher at Eldorado High School in Albuquerque</p>
<p>Melody Hagaman: Computer Science teacher at Centennial High School in Las Cruces</p>
<p>Stephanie Jaquez: English Language Arts teacher at Farmington High School in Farmington</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Mark Robinson: History teacher at St. Pius X High School in Albuquerque</p>
<p>There were more than 100 nominations submitted since spring from students, parents, colleagues, principals, or community members in almost two dozen New Mexico towns. Those who were nominated teachers completed lengthy applications outlining their teaching methodology, professional development experiences, community volunteerism, and other aspects of their teaching philosophy.</p>
<p>Sixteen teachers were selected as finalists, organizers said. In the final stage, a selection committee conducted a full-day site visit at each finalist’s school and members observed the teacher in the classroom and interviewed the principal, other teachers, parents, students, and the finalist.</p>
<p>Their quality of teaching was the primary criteria.</p>
<p>The awardees also demonstrated a commitment to the profession of teaching and to their own professional growth as well as that of their colleagues. Many mentor other teachers at their schools.</p>
<p>The selection committee, cognizant of so many teachers deserving recognition, also honored an additional nine finalists as Golden Apple Teachers of Distinction.</p>
<p>They are: Adia Corley- West Mesa High School, Albuquerque; Janet Delgado- Rio Grande High School, Albuquerque; Robert Hanson- V. Sue Cleveland High School, Rio Rancho; Laura Iverson- Del Norte High School, Albuquerque; Shara Montoya- Hot Springs High School, Truth or Consequences; Angela Seiler- V. Sue Cleveland High School, Rio Rancho; Amy Suman- Volcano Vista High School, Albuquerque; Masika Sweetwyne- Gallup High School, Gallup; Nikki Turman- Del Norte High School, Albuquerque.</p>
<p>The Golden Apple Tribute to Teacher Excellence luncheon is on Friday, April 7, 2017, at the Embassy Suites Hotel in Albuquerque. Individual tickets and table sponsorships for the Tribute to Teacher Excellence are available through the Golden Apple Foundation of New Mexico, (505) 268-5337, or by contacting <a href="mailto:brian@goldenapplenm.org" type="external">brian@goldenapplenm.org</a>.</p>
<p>If you would like to nominate a teacher for the Golden Apple Award for Excellence in Teaching, nominations for the 2018 (middle school) cycle are now open at <a href="http://www.goldenapplenm.org" type="external">www.goldenapplenm.org</a>.</p> | 1,091 |
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<p>SAN ANTONIO — An American Airlines plane veered off of a runway at the San Antonio airport during takeoff on Saturday morning and got stuck in the mud, authorities said.</p>
<p>No injuries were reported on American Airlines Flight 2214, said Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Lynn Lunsford.</p>
<p>Flights at San Antonio International Airport were suspended after the plane became stuck at about 9:45 a.m. but resumed about four hours later.</p>
<p>San Antonio International Airport spokeswoman Evelynn Bailey said Saturday afternoon that the plane was still stuck, but the airport got approval from the Federal Aviation Administration to open a second commercial runway that was closed for scheduled construction. The runway where the plane is stuck remains closed.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>American Airlines spokeswoman Alexis Aran Coello said the 38 passengers and six crew members aboard the plane were bused back to the terminal.</p>
<p>The Boeing 737 bound for Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport aborted takeoff for undetermined reasons and veered off the runway at a low speed, Coello said. The flight had originally left Albuquerque, New Mexico, on Friday for Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, she said. But she says the flight was diverted to San Antonio Friday because of storms in the Dallas area.</p>
<p>Lunsford says FAA investigators are on the scene and the National Transportation Safety Board has been notified.</p>
<p>The airport said the incident caused several delays and cancellations.</p> | American Airlines plane veers off Texas runway, stuck in mud | false | https://abqjournal.com/1012600/american-airlines-plane-veers-off-texas-runway-stuck-in-mud.html | 2017-06-03 | 2least
| American Airlines plane veers off Texas runway, stuck in mud
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<p>SAN ANTONIO — An American Airlines plane veered off of a runway at the San Antonio airport during takeoff on Saturday morning and got stuck in the mud, authorities said.</p>
<p>No injuries were reported on American Airlines Flight 2214, said Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Lynn Lunsford.</p>
<p>Flights at San Antonio International Airport were suspended after the plane became stuck at about 9:45 a.m. but resumed about four hours later.</p>
<p>San Antonio International Airport spokeswoman Evelynn Bailey said Saturday afternoon that the plane was still stuck, but the airport got approval from the Federal Aviation Administration to open a second commercial runway that was closed for scheduled construction. The runway where the plane is stuck remains closed.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>American Airlines spokeswoman Alexis Aran Coello said the 38 passengers and six crew members aboard the plane were bused back to the terminal.</p>
<p>The Boeing 737 bound for Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport aborted takeoff for undetermined reasons and veered off the runway at a low speed, Coello said. The flight had originally left Albuquerque, New Mexico, on Friday for Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, she said. But she says the flight was diverted to San Antonio Friday because of storms in the Dallas area.</p>
<p>Lunsford says FAA investigators are on the scene and the National Transportation Safety Board has been notified.</p>
<p>The airport said the incident caused several delays and cancellations.</p> | 1,092 |
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<p>Veteran John Christensen, who was paralyzed in the lower body in a motorcycle accident 32 years ago, has been part of the focus group trying to bring a prototype of a vertical wheelchair into production. (Richard Tsong-Taatarii/Minneapolis Star Tribune/TNS)</p>
<p>MINNEAPOLIS – The pan sizzles as Army vet John Christensen separates an egg over a pool of butter. He pivots his wheels, propels his chair to the cupboard and stretches for the salt shaker. He’s back to the stovetop before the egg burns.</p>
<p>“It’s my first time cooking and standing in 32 years.”</p>
<p>The Minneapolis VA hospital has revamped the traditional standing wheelchair to help make paralyzed veterans more functional in everyday life. Having had this vision of a more mobile chair nearly a decade ago, its creator has finally seen a workable prototype come to life.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>“For years, I’ve felt so frustrated because my patients who could benefit from standing didn’t have the ability to move once they stood up,” said Dr. Gary Goldish, the hospital’s director of extended care and rehabilitation.</p>
<p>With help from a team of biomedical engineers, Goldish modified a wheelchair already on the market by adding a drive wheel that allows the push rim to rise so patients can reach it when they stand, Goldish explained.</p>
<p>Dr. Gary Goldish, right, and engineer Andrew Hansen, left, along with Eric Nickel (not pictured) created a vertical wheelchair prototype they hope to bring to production. Using the chair is John Christensen. (Richard Tsong-Taatarii/Minneapolis Star Tribune/TNS)</p>
<p>Whether working in an assembly line, painting a living room, or reaching for a book, “the chair moves with the patient and gives them full functionality like we have when we stand,” according to Goldish.</p>
<p>In existing models, patients who can’t reach the push rim in the standing position are forced to sit before they can boost the chair and move themselves to a new location.</p>
<p>“They’re just hard to get going,” Christensen said.</p>
<p>The VA’s design also keeps the chair’s four wheels on the ground at all times, providing more stability – and much more maneuverability.</p>
<p>Goldish began pitching his ideas in 2006. And though his is not the first upright wheelchair, the VA hopes the doctor’s revisions will make it easier for paralyzed vets to complete daily tasks and improve their sense of well-being.</p>
<p>“I’d just like to be able to see what’s in the cupboard,” Christensen laughed.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Increasing functional reach comes with benefits far beyond the ability to grab a book from the top shelf. Because standing suddenly becomes convenient, patients will stand more often, reducing the risk of pressure sores from prolonged sitting, Goldish explained.</p>
<p>“If we gave them a chair that is functional, and that really is part of their life, they won’t have to be reminded to stand, because it becomes routine.”</p>
<p>VA inventors funded the project with a $150,000 grant from the Paralyzed Veterans of America. Goldish and his team have asked for more money to correct the imperfections of their first chair.</p>
<p>“We found the drive wheel is too far forward … we need to move it further towards the middle,” Goldish said. Doctors said the next project will also address the prototype’s bulkiness and wide frame, making it easier to transport.</p>
<p>They hope to hear back from the PVA sometime this month. With an additional $400,000 grant, inventors predict the developments made in the next project will result “in a commercially viable product.”</p>
<p>The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs reports that Minnesota is home to about 370,000 veterans, and nearly 90,000 receive pensions for a service-connected disability.</p>
<p>Dr. Gary Goldish and engineers created a vertical wheelchair prototype that can help paralyzed people function while standing up. (Richard Tsong-Taatarii/Minneapolis Star Tribune/TNS)</p>
<p>Ken Klein, president of the Minnesota PVA, said the wheelchair’s advancements will pave the way for further research and development.</p>
<p>“It can do things chairs couldn’t do before,” the Navy vet said.</p>
<p>While the MNPVA and other military advocacy groups do not normally offer insurance to help cover the cost of wheelchairs, Klein said it does make sure veterans “are receiving the benefits they’re entitled to.” He explained that those with service-connected disabilities often receive more benefits.</p>
<p>Existing upright wheelchairs can cost from $4,000 to $6,000. Power wheelchairs that use joysticks can sell for more than $30,000, Goldish said. Creators said they can’t predict how much it will cost to manufacture their adapted chair.</p>
<p>The chair has grabbed the attention of local news stations and many VA supporters.</p>
<p>“We’re kind of all over the Internet now, and that’s not what we were hoping for, ” Goldish said. “I really just wanted a product that works for my patients.”</p>
<p />
<p /> | Wheelchair gives paralyzed vets a chance to be upright | false | https://abqjournal.com/551514/taking-a-stand-2.html | 2least
| Wheelchair gives paralyzed vets a chance to be upright
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p>Veteran John Christensen, who was paralyzed in the lower body in a motorcycle accident 32 years ago, has been part of the focus group trying to bring a prototype of a vertical wheelchair into production. (Richard Tsong-Taatarii/Minneapolis Star Tribune/TNS)</p>
<p>MINNEAPOLIS – The pan sizzles as Army vet John Christensen separates an egg over a pool of butter. He pivots his wheels, propels his chair to the cupboard and stretches for the salt shaker. He’s back to the stovetop before the egg burns.</p>
<p>“It’s my first time cooking and standing in 32 years.”</p>
<p>The Minneapolis VA hospital has revamped the traditional standing wheelchair to help make paralyzed veterans more functional in everyday life. Having had this vision of a more mobile chair nearly a decade ago, its creator has finally seen a workable prototype come to life.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>“For years, I’ve felt so frustrated because my patients who could benefit from standing didn’t have the ability to move once they stood up,” said Dr. Gary Goldish, the hospital’s director of extended care and rehabilitation.</p>
<p>With help from a team of biomedical engineers, Goldish modified a wheelchair already on the market by adding a drive wheel that allows the push rim to rise so patients can reach it when they stand, Goldish explained.</p>
<p>Dr. Gary Goldish, right, and engineer Andrew Hansen, left, along with Eric Nickel (not pictured) created a vertical wheelchair prototype they hope to bring to production. Using the chair is John Christensen. (Richard Tsong-Taatarii/Minneapolis Star Tribune/TNS)</p>
<p>Whether working in an assembly line, painting a living room, or reaching for a book, “the chair moves with the patient and gives them full functionality like we have when we stand,” according to Goldish.</p>
<p>In existing models, patients who can’t reach the push rim in the standing position are forced to sit before they can boost the chair and move themselves to a new location.</p>
<p>“They’re just hard to get going,” Christensen said.</p>
<p>The VA’s design also keeps the chair’s four wheels on the ground at all times, providing more stability – and much more maneuverability.</p>
<p>Goldish began pitching his ideas in 2006. And though his is not the first upright wheelchair, the VA hopes the doctor’s revisions will make it easier for paralyzed vets to complete daily tasks and improve their sense of well-being.</p>
<p>“I’d just like to be able to see what’s in the cupboard,” Christensen laughed.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Increasing functional reach comes with benefits far beyond the ability to grab a book from the top shelf. Because standing suddenly becomes convenient, patients will stand more often, reducing the risk of pressure sores from prolonged sitting, Goldish explained.</p>
<p>“If we gave them a chair that is functional, and that really is part of their life, they won’t have to be reminded to stand, because it becomes routine.”</p>
<p>VA inventors funded the project with a $150,000 grant from the Paralyzed Veterans of America. Goldish and his team have asked for more money to correct the imperfections of their first chair.</p>
<p>“We found the drive wheel is too far forward … we need to move it further towards the middle,” Goldish said. Doctors said the next project will also address the prototype’s bulkiness and wide frame, making it easier to transport.</p>
<p>They hope to hear back from the PVA sometime this month. With an additional $400,000 grant, inventors predict the developments made in the next project will result “in a commercially viable product.”</p>
<p>The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs reports that Minnesota is home to about 370,000 veterans, and nearly 90,000 receive pensions for a service-connected disability.</p>
<p>Dr. Gary Goldish and engineers created a vertical wheelchair prototype that can help paralyzed people function while standing up. (Richard Tsong-Taatarii/Minneapolis Star Tribune/TNS)</p>
<p>Ken Klein, president of the Minnesota PVA, said the wheelchair’s advancements will pave the way for further research and development.</p>
<p>“It can do things chairs couldn’t do before,” the Navy vet said.</p>
<p>While the MNPVA and other military advocacy groups do not normally offer insurance to help cover the cost of wheelchairs, Klein said it does make sure veterans “are receiving the benefits they’re entitled to.” He explained that those with service-connected disabilities often receive more benefits.</p>
<p>Existing upright wheelchairs can cost from $4,000 to $6,000. Power wheelchairs that use joysticks can sell for more than $30,000, Goldish said. Creators said they can’t predict how much it will cost to manufacture their adapted chair.</p>
<p>The chair has grabbed the attention of local news stations and many VA supporters.</p>
<p>“We’re kind of all over the Internet now, and that’s not what we were hoping for, ” Goldish said. “I really just wanted a product that works for my patients.”</p>
<p />
<p /> | 1,093 |
|
<p>PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Tamenang Choh and Obi Okolie each hit a pair of free throws in the final five seconds on Friday night and Brown hung on to beat Yale 81-80.</p>
<p>The Bears (8-7, 1-1 Ivy League) took the lead for good on Okolie's free throws that made it 79-77 with 4.4 seconds to go. The Bulldogs (8-10, 1-1) advanced to midcourt, called timeout and attempted an alley oop on the ensuing inbounds play. Choh rebounded the miss and added two more at the foul line to make it 81-77 with two seconds left, and Yale's Alex Copeland hit a 3 as time expired that was too little, too late.</p>
<p>Desmond Cambridge had 16 points to lead Brown, which split the season series, having lost to Yale 78-72 in the conference opener on Jan. 12. Choh and Okolie added 12 points each and Brandon Anderson scored 11.</p>
<p>Copeland had 26 points on 10-of-13 shooting for Yale. Trey Phills added 19 points.</p>
<p>PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Tamenang Choh and Obi Okolie each hit a pair of free throws in the final five seconds on Friday night and Brown hung on to beat Yale 81-80.</p>
<p>The Bears (8-7, 1-1 Ivy League) took the lead for good on Okolie's free throws that made it 79-77 with 4.4 seconds to go. The Bulldogs (8-10, 1-1) advanced to midcourt, called timeout and attempted an alley oop on the ensuing inbounds play. Choh rebounded the miss and added two more at the foul line to make it 81-77 with two seconds left, and Yale's Alex Copeland hit a 3 as time expired that was too little, too late.</p>
<p>Desmond Cambridge had 16 points to lead Brown, which split the season series, having lost to Yale 78-72 in the conference opener on Jan. 12. Choh and Okolie added 12 points each and Brandon Anderson scored 11.</p>
<p>Copeland had 26 points on 10-of-13 shooting for Yale. Trey Phills added 19 points.</p> | Brown holds on to split the season series with Yale 81-80 | false | https://apnews.com/amp/48de8eb4445d4e62b74192428a2b9537 | 2018-01-20 | 2least
| Brown holds on to split the season series with Yale 81-80
<p>PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Tamenang Choh and Obi Okolie each hit a pair of free throws in the final five seconds on Friday night and Brown hung on to beat Yale 81-80.</p>
<p>The Bears (8-7, 1-1 Ivy League) took the lead for good on Okolie's free throws that made it 79-77 with 4.4 seconds to go. The Bulldogs (8-10, 1-1) advanced to midcourt, called timeout and attempted an alley oop on the ensuing inbounds play. Choh rebounded the miss and added two more at the foul line to make it 81-77 with two seconds left, and Yale's Alex Copeland hit a 3 as time expired that was too little, too late.</p>
<p>Desmond Cambridge had 16 points to lead Brown, which split the season series, having lost to Yale 78-72 in the conference opener on Jan. 12. Choh and Okolie added 12 points each and Brandon Anderson scored 11.</p>
<p>Copeland had 26 points on 10-of-13 shooting for Yale. Trey Phills added 19 points.</p>
<p>PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Tamenang Choh and Obi Okolie each hit a pair of free throws in the final five seconds on Friday night and Brown hung on to beat Yale 81-80.</p>
<p>The Bears (8-7, 1-1 Ivy League) took the lead for good on Okolie's free throws that made it 79-77 with 4.4 seconds to go. The Bulldogs (8-10, 1-1) advanced to midcourt, called timeout and attempted an alley oop on the ensuing inbounds play. Choh rebounded the miss and added two more at the foul line to make it 81-77 with two seconds left, and Yale's Alex Copeland hit a 3 as time expired that was too little, too late.</p>
<p>Desmond Cambridge had 16 points to lead Brown, which split the season series, having lost to Yale 78-72 in the conference opener on Jan. 12. Choh and Okolie added 12 points each and Brandon Anderson scored 11.</p>
<p>Copeland had 26 points on 10-of-13 shooting for Yale. Trey Phills added 19 points.</p> | 1,094 |
<p>This year could <a href="http://www.sacbee.com/opinion/op-ed/soapbox/article10985618.html" type="external">bring</a> gambling to Internet users in California. For years, online poker has been legal in the United States, but not in the Golden State. Now, amidst a host of competing interests, a spate of new bills has <a href="http://www.bakersfieldnow.com/news/local/Effort-launched-to-legalize-online-poker-in-California-294130371.html" type="external">emerged</a> in the hope of&#160;changing that.</p>
<p>Four pieces of legislation have been put into play:&#160; <a href="http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/15-16/bill/asm/ab_0001-0050/ab_9_bill_20141201_introduced.html" type="external">AB9</a>, <a href="http://www.californiaonlinepoker.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/2015-iPoker-Bill.pdf" type="external">AB167</a>, and two identical bills, <a href="http://www.casino.org/news/new-california-online-poker-bill-introduced-by-hall-and-gray" type="external">AB431 and SB278</a>. Of these, AB9 and AB167 have attracted the most attention.</p>
<p>Lawmakers have hesitated to act boldly, unsure which constituencies should be treated most favorably. But after so much wrangling, some kind of consensus&#160;has seemed inevitable: as analysts have agreed, the money in online gambling is too big to ignore.</p>
<p>The market for Internet poker has grown large enough that its would-be masters haven’t hesitated to push and pull for influence in Sacramento. As U-T San Diego <a href="http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2015/feb/01/internet-poker-online-sacramento-california/" type="external">reported</a>, legislators still disagree strongly, however, about how to choose among&#160;“card clubs, Indian tribes, race tracks&#160;and out-of-state gaming companies,” all of which want to&#160;play a leading role:</p>
<p>“Lawmakers and these groups have failed for nearly a decade to craft rules for who should control state-regulated poker sites and how much they should pay to do so. During this time, thousands of California poker players have migrated to playing online through unauthorized, often untrustworthy sites based overseas, letting industry and tax money slip away.”</p>
<p>Much of the uncertainty in the Legislature revolved around the way the law should treat California’s Indian tribes, some of which&#160;have proven especially eager to get in on the action. That question, in turn, has long been tangled up with controversies over federal policy.</p>
<p>Attention has focused around America’s biggest online poker website, an out-of-state business&#160;called Pokerstars. Because it has been working with California’s Morongo Band of Mission Indians and San Manuel Band of Mission Indians, Pokerstars has a vested interest in taking a robust share of the online poker business under a new regulatory regime.</p>
<p>But as the Sacramento Business Journal <a href="http://www.bizjournals.com/sacramento/news/2015/02/20/online-poker-builds-momentum-with-two-new-bills.html" type="external">noted</a>, a rival group of Indian interests, including the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians and the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians, has accused Pokerstars of raking in illegal profits&#160;between 2006 and 2011, when Congress briefly had outlawed online poker as a matter of federal law.</p>
<p>As a result, divisions&#160;on legislation have gathered around the battle lines set by the tribes. Pechanga and Agua Caliente have <a href="http://www.onlinepokerreport.com/14692/new-bill-seeks-regulate-online-poker-california/" type="external">sided</a> with AB9 — authored by Assemblyman Mike Gatto, D-Glendale — because it contains a so-called “bad actor” clause, barring Pokerstars from entering California’s online gambling market.</p>
<p>Morongo and San Manuel, meanwhile, have <a href="http://www.onlinepokerreport.com/15203/new-california-online-poker-bill/" type="external">rallied</a> around AB167, introduced by Assemblyman Reggie Jones-Sawyer, D-Los Angeles. In lieu of a bad actor clause, that bill would punt&#160;to&#160;the state Department of Justice on which companies could and couldn’t participate.</p>
<p>In an effort to break the impasse, yet another alternative was recently introduced by State Sen. Isadore Hall, D-South Bay, and Assemblyman Adam Gray, D-Merced. Their identical bills are <a href="http://www.casino.org/news/new-california-online-poker-bill-introduced-by-hall-and-gray" type="external">AB 431 and SB 278</a>.</p>
<p>In a statement, the two allies <a href="http://www.casino.org/news/new-california-online-poker-bill-introduced-by-hall-and-gray" type="external">played up</a> their potential to reach a consensus through their legislative authority:</p>
<p>“Hall and Gray serve as Chairmen of each legislative house’s policy committee that oversees gaming within the state and are best positioned to lead a productive dialogue on an iPoker regulatory framework. By working together, their legislation seeks to build consensus on a public policy matter that has eluded California for years.”</p>
<p>Despite the substantial market, the lack of movement on online gambling has been attributed to several stubborn factors. As Gatto <a href="http://www.pokernews.com/news/2015/02/several-factors-could-stall-california-s-igaming-legislation-20781.htm" type="external">explained</a> at the recent iGaming Legislative Symposium, legislators have proven risk-averse, and Californians haven’t exactly pushed them to action:</p>
<p>“If we pass a great bill, this isn’t going to make my career in terms of the voting public, and if we don’t pass a bill it’s not going to break anyone’s career.&#160;If you went to the average person on the street, I don’t think they’d even have an opinion on this and they would just want to know am I going to see some tax dollars go to my school and my neighborhood.”</p>
<p>Last year, Gatto noted, no more than five constituent&#160;emails out of&#160;57,263&#160;sent to him concerned online poker.</p> | Bets placed on dueling online poker bills | false | https://calwatchdog.com/2015/03/02/bets-placed-on-dueling-online-poker-bills/ | 2018-03-20 | 3left-center
| Bets placed on dueling online poker bills
<p>This year could <a href="http://www.sacbee.com/opinion/op-ed/soapbox/article10985618.html" type="external">bring</a> gambling to Internet users in California. For years, online poker has been legal in the United States, but not in the Golden State. Now, amidst a host of competing interests, a spate of new bills has <a href="http://www.bakersfieldnow.com/news/local/Effort-launched-to-legalize-online-poker-in-California-294130371.html" type="external">emerged</a> in the hope of&#160;changing that.</p>
<p>Four pieces of legislation have been put into play:&#160; <a href="http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/15-16/bill/asm/ab_0001-0050/ab_9_bill_20141201_introduced.html" type="external">AB9</a>, <a href="http://www.californiaonlinepoker.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/2015-iPoker-Bill.pdf" type="external">AB167</a>, and two identical bills, <a href="http://www.casino.org/news/new-california-online-poker-bill-introduced-by-hall-and-gray" type="external">AB431 and SB278</a>. Of these, AB9 and AB167 have attracted the most attention.</p>
<p>Lawmakers have hesitated to act boldly, unsure which constituencies should be treated most favorably. But after so much wrangling, some kind of consensus&#160;has seemed inevitable: as analysts have agreed, the money in online gambling is too big to ignore.</p>
<p>The market for Internet poker has grown large enough that its would-be masters haven’t hesitated to push and pull for influence in Sacramento. As U-T San Diego <a href="http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2015/feb/01/internet-poker-online-sacramento-california/" type="external">reported</a>, legislators still disagree strongly, however, about how to choose among&#160;“card clubs, Indian tribes, race tracks&#160;and out-of-state gaming companies,” all of which want to&#160;play a leading role:</p>
<p>“Lawmakers and these groups have failed for nearly a decade to craft rules for who should control state-regulated poker sites and how much they should pay to do so. During this time, thousands of California poker players have migrated to playing online through unauthorized, often untrustworthy sites based overseas, letting industry and tax money slip away.”</p>
<p>Much of the uncertainty in the Legislature revolved around the way the law should treat California’s Indian tribes, some of which&#160;have proven especially eager to get in on the action. That question, in turn, has long been tangled up with controversies over federal policy.</p>
<p>Attention has focused around America’s biggest online poker website, an out-of-state business&#160;called Pokerstars. Because it has been working with California’s Morongo Band of Mission Indians and San Manuel Band of Mission Indians, Pokerstars has a vested interest in taking a robust share of the online poker business under a new regulatory regime.</p>
<p>But as the Sacramento Business Journal <a href="http://www.bizjournals.com/sacramento/news/2015/02/20/online-poker-builds-momentum-with-two-new-bills.html" type="external">noted</a>, a rival group of Indian interests, including the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians and the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians, has accused Pokerstars of raking in illegal profits&#160;between 2006 and 2011, when Congress briefly had outlawed online poker as a matter of federal law.</p>
<p>As a result, divisions&#160;on legislation have gathered around the battle lines set by the tribes. Pechanga and Agua Caliente have <a href="http://www.onlinepokerreport.com/14692/new-bill-seeks-regulate-online-poker-california/" type="external">sided</a> with AB9 — authored by Assemblyman Mike Gatto, D-Glendale — because it contains a so-called “bad actor” clause, barring Pokerstars from entering California’s online gambling market.</p>
<p>Morongo and San Manuel, meanwhile, have <a href="http://www.onlinepokerreport.com/15203/new-california-online-poker-bill/" type="external">rallied</a> around AB167, introduced by Assemblyman Reggie Jones-Sawyer, D-Los Angeles. In lieu of a bad actor clause, that bill would punt&#160;to&#160;the state Department of Justice on which companies could and couldn’t participate.</p>
<p>In an effort to break the impasse, yet another alternative was recently introduced by State Sen. Isadore Hall, D-South Bay, and Assemblyman Adam Gray, D-Merced. Their identical bills are <a href="http://www.casino.org/news/new-california-online-poker-bill-introduced-by-hall-and-gray" type="external">AB 431 and SB 278</a>.</p>
<p>In a statement, the two allies <a href="http://www.casino.org/news/new-california-online-poker-bill-introduced-by-hall-and-gray" type="external">played up</a> their potential to reach a consensus through their legislative authority:</p>
<p>“Hall and Gray serve as Chairmen of each legislative house’s policy committee that oversees gaming within the state and are best positioned to lead a productive dialogue on an iPoker regulatory framework. By working together, their legislation seeks to build consensus on a public policy matter that has eluded California for years.”</p>
<p>Despite the substantial market, the lack of movement on online gambling has been attributed to several stubborn factors. As Gatto <a href="http://www.pokernews.com/news/2015/02/several-factors-could-stall-california-s-igaming-legislation-20781.htm" type="external">explained</a> at the recent iGaming Legislative Symposium, legislators have proven risk-averse, and Californians haven’t exactly pushed them to action:</p>
<p>“If we pass a great bill, this isn’t going to make my career in terms of the voting public, and if we don’t pass a bill it’s not going to break anyone’s career.&#160;If you went to the average person on the street, I don’t think they’d even have an opinion on this and they would just want to know am I going to see some tax dollars go to my school and my neighborhood.”</p>
<p>Last year, Gatto noted, no more than five constituent&#160;emails out of&#160;57,263&#160;sent to him concerned online poker.</p> | 1,095 |
<p>Kenya's government hit back at the extremists of Somalia's al-Shabab with airstrikes on Monday, but it's unclear whether those bombing runs have done much good.&#160;</p>
<p>"Sadly to say. I think it was just for show," says Jeffrey Gettleman, the East Africa bureau chief for the New York Times.&#160;</p>
<p>Kenyan fighter jets reportedly hit two targets in al-Shabaab camps in southern Somalia's Gedo region, near the border with Kenya. &#160;That was after Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta promised to retaliate in "the severest way possible" in the wake of a militant attack Thursday at Garissa University College. The siege killed 148 people, mainly students.&#160;</p>
<p>Striking back has proven difficult for Kenya. Gettleman says Shabab fighters in Somalia "go underground" after their militants wage a major attack. &#160;</p>
<p>"I'm sure they cleared out of any obvious camp well in advance of this attack at the university in Kenya," Gettleman notes. "The Kenyans have been bombing inside Somalia in various camps for a couple of years now. &#160;But I would be very surprised if anybody important was struck."</p>
<p>Al-Shabab formed in Kenya about eight years ago and affiliated with al-Qaeda. Kenya sent its soldiers into Somalia in 2011 to try to push the militants further from its border. Al-Shabab &#160;vowed revenge, threatening to make the streets in Kenya "run red with blood."&#160;</p>
<p>"They have managed to really rattle this place," Gettleman notes. "They've killed hundreds of people in the last couple years, in spectacular terrorist attacks, that have really freaked out the Kenyan public and have proven that the Kenyan government and its security services are rather powerless to really stop this Islamic group."&#160;</p>
<p>Washington has spent almost $1&#160;billion fighting al-Shabab's ragtag army. Most of those funds have gone to an African Union peacekeeping force that has chased al-Shabab out of much of its Somali strongholds. But that hasn't led to their demise.</p>
<p>"What we're learning is, it's not all about territory," Gettleman notes. "The Shabab have just gotten smaller and smaller, and in this concentrated form, they're incredibly dangerous."</p> | Targeting the militants of al-Shabab with airstrikes is easier said than done | false | https://pri.org/stories/2015-04-07/targeting-militants-al-shabab-airstrikes-easier-said-done | 2015-04-07 | 3left-center
| Targeting the militants of al-Shabab with airstrikes is easier said than done
<p>Kenya's government hit back at the extremists of Somalia's al-Shabab with airstrikes on Monday, but it's unclear whether those bombing runs have done much good.&#160;</p>
<p>"Sadly to say. I think it was just for show," says Jeffrey Gettleman, the East Africa bureau chief for the New York Times.&#160;</p>
<p>Kenyan fighter jets reportedly hit two targets in al-Shabaab camps in southern Somalia's Gedo region, near the border with Kenya. &#160;That was after Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta promised to retaliate in "the severest way possible" in the wake of a militant attack Thursday at Garissa University College. The siege killed 148 people, mainly students.&#160;</p>
<p>Striking back has proven difficult for Kenya. Gettleman says Shabab fighters in Somalia "go underground" after their militants wage a major attack. &#160;</p>
<p>"I'm sure they cleared out of any obvious camp well in advance of this attack at the university in Kenya," Gettleman notes. "The Kenyans have been bombing inside Somalia in various camps for a couple of years now. &#160;But I would be very surprised if anybody important was struck."</p>
<p>Al-Shabab formed in Kenya about eight years ago and affiliated with al-Qaeda. Kenya sent its soldiers into Somalia in 2011 to try to push the militants further from its border. Al-Shabab &#160;vowed revenge, threatening to make the streets in Kenya "run red with blood."&#160;</p>
<p>"They have managed to really rattle this place," Gettleman notes. "They've killed hundreds of people in the last couple years, in spectacular terrorist attacks, that have really freaked out the Kenyan public and have proven that the Kenyan government and its security services are rather powerless to really stop this Islamic group."&#160;</p>
<p>Washington has spent almost $1&#160;billion fighting al-Shabab's ragtag army. Most of those funds have gone to an African Union peacekeeping force that has chased al-Shabab out of much of its Somali strongholds. But that hasn't led to their demise.</p>
<p>"What we're learning is, it's not all about territory," Gettleman notes. "The Shabab have just gotten smaller and smaller, and in this concentrated form, they're incredibly dangerous."</p> | 1,096 |
<p />
<p>RAY: This is the easiest question we’ve had all day. As modern cars go, the horn system is a very simple one.</p>
<p>TOM: Even for my brother! There’s a horn pad on your steering wheel. When you press on it, you push together two metal contacts.</p>
<p>RAY: When those contacts touch, they don’t make the horn blow. “Why not?” you say. “That’s what happens in my car!” Well, yes, but there’s an intermediate step you don’t know about.</p>
<p>TOM: The horn takes too much current to safely run through your steering wheel, so those contacts in the wheel trigger a horn relay, which is just a heavy-duty switch that lives either under the dashboard or under the hood.</p>
<p>RAY: Then the relay closes and allows power to flow through to the horn itself, which sits in front of the radiator.</p>
<p>TOM: So, one of those three components is not working. Start by checking the horn itself first. The easiest way to test it is – when the horn’s not working – have someone try to honk the horn while you tap on the casing with a screwdriver or something. If you can get it to make any sound at all that means your problem is in the horn..</p>
<p>TOM: You also can test the horn by hooking up a test light to it. If the test light goes on when someone honks the horn for you but the horn doesn’t make any noise, then you know the horn is getting current and just isn’t working.</p>
<p>RAY: If the horn is not getting current, then it’s either the contacts in the steering wheel’s horn pad, or it’s the horn relay.</p>
<p>TOM: I’d bet on the relay first. Why? Because it’s easier to replace a $20 relay than it is to take apart a steering wheel.</p>
<p>RAY: If a new horn relay doesn’t fix it, then you know it’s in the steering wheel, and you’ll have to take it to a mechanic and shell out some money, Dan. Or go for that “add-on” horn button. Good luck.</p>
<p>Got a question about cars? Email Click and Clack by visiting the Car Talk website at <a href="http://www.cartalk.com" type="external">www.cartalk.com</a>.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p /> | Cold-hating horn in van easy to test | false | https://abqjournal.com/275484/coldhating-horn-in-van-easy-to-test.html | 2013-10-05 | 2least
| Cold-hating horn in van easy to test
<p />
<p>RAY: This is the easiest question we’ve had all day. As modern cars go, the horn system is a very simple one.</p>
<p>TOM: Even for my brother! There’s a horn pad on your steering wheel. When you press on it, you push together two metal contacts.</p>
<p>RAY: When those contacts touch, they don’t make the horn blow. “Why not?” you say. “That’s what happens in my car!” Well, yes, but there’s an intermediate step you don’t know about.</p>
<p>TOM: The horn takes too much current to safely run through your steering wheel, so those contacts in the wheel trigger a horn relay, which is just a heavy-duty switch that lives either under the dashboard or under the hood.</p>
<p>RAY: Then the relay closes and allows power to flow through to the horn itself, which sits in front of the radiator.</p>
<p>TOM: So, one of those three components is not working. Start by checking the horn itself first. The easiest way to test it is – when the horn’s not working – have someone try to honk the horn while you tap on the casing with a screwdriver or something. If you can get it to make any sound at all that means your problem is in the horn..</p>
<p>TOM: You also can test the horn by hooking up a test light to it. If the test light goes on when someone honks the horn for you but the horn doesn’t make any noise, then you know the horn is getting current and just isn’t working.</p>
<p>RAY: If the horn is not getting current, then it’s either the contacts in the steering wheel’s horn pad, or it’s the horn relay.</p>
<p>TOM: I’d bet on the relay first. Why? Because it’s easier to replace a $20 relay than it is to take apart a steering wheel.</p>
<p>RAY: If a new horn relay doesn’t fix it, then you know it’s in the steering wheel, and you’ll have to take it to a mechanic and shell out some money, Dan. Or go for that “add-on” horn button. Good luck.</p>
<p>Got a question about cars? Email Click and Clack by visiting the Car Talk website at <a href="http://www.cartalk.com" type="external">www.cartalk.com</a>.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p /> | 1,097 |
<p />
<p>Stockpiles held by U.S. wholesale businesses edged up in July by the smallest amount in a year while sales rose at a healthy clip.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>The Commerce Department says wholesalers increased their inventories by a slight 0.1 percent in July after a stronger 0.4 percent increase in June. It was the smallest gain since a 0.1 percent increase in stockpiles in July 2013.</p>
<p>Sales rose a solid 0.7 percent in July, matching the May gain. In June, sales rose 0.4 percent.</p>
<p>The July slowdown in inventory growth was likely to be temporary given the strength in sales during the month. That gain will likely spur wholesalers to resume faster restocking of store shelves to meet rising demand. Increasing orders to restock lifts factory production and overall economic growth.</p> | US wholesale stockpiles edge up 0.1 percent in July, slowest in 12 months, as sales advance | true | http://foxbusiness.com/politics/2014/09/10/us-wholesale-stockpiles-edge-up-01-percent-in-july-slowest-in-12-months-as.html | 2016-03-05 | 0right
| US wholesale stockpiles edge up 0.1 percent in July, slowest in 12 months, as sales advance
<p />
<p>Stockpiles held by U.S. wholesale businesses edged up in July by the smallest amount in a year while sales rose at a healthy clip.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>The Commerce Department says wholesalers increased their inventories by a slight 0.1 percent in July after a stronger 0.4 percent increase in June. It was the smallest gain since a 0.1 percent increase in stockpiles in July 2013.</p>
<p>Sales rose a solid 0.7 percent in July, matching the May gain. In June, sales rose 0.4 percent.</p>
<p>The July slowdown in inventory growth was likely to be temporary given the strength in sales during the month. That gain will likely spur wholesalers to resume faster restocking of store shelves to meet rising demand. Increasing orders to restock lifts factory production and overall economic growth.</p> | 1,098 |
<p>Anti-Semitism is on the rise and needs to be challenged. But the&#160; <a href="https://www.holocaustremembrance.com/sites/default/files/press_release_document_antisemitism.pdf" type="external">working definition of anti-Semitism</a>&#160;that was formally adopted this week by the British government is dangerous. It says that anyone who subjects Israel to ‘double standards by requiring of it behaviour not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation’ is an anti-Semite.</p>
<p>Setting aside the categorisation of Israel as a democracy (for me as an Israeli Jew it undoubtedly is, but for my Palestinian neighbours in South Hebron it undoubtedly is not), what if the double-standards clause were applied in other cases?</p>
<p>Given that the UK condemns Iran more harshly than China for human rights violations, one could conceivably accuse the British government of being Islamophobic.</p>
<p>But then the UK’s criticism of Saudi Arabia, which is reducing parts of Yemen to rubble (with the help of arms supplied by Britain), is lax when compared to its criticism of Sudan, which would imply the British government is guilty of another sort of racism.</p>
<p>The definition of anti-Semitism adopted by the British government is itself a manifestation of a double standard, since it treats Israel differently from every other country in the world rather than as a nation among nations.</p> | Anti-Semitism: Double Standards | true | https://counterpunch.org/2016/12/16/anti-semitism-double-standards/ | 2016-12-16 | 4left
| Anti-Semitism: Double Standards
<p>Anti-Semitism is on the rise and needs to be challenged. But the&#160; <a href="https://www.holocaustremembrance.com/sites/default/files/press_release_document_antisemitism.pdf" type="external">working definition of anti-Semitism</a>&#160;that was formally adopted this week by the British government is dangerous. It says that anyone who subjects Israel to ‘double standards by requiring of it behaviour not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation’ is an anti-Semite.</p>
<p>Setting aside the categorisation of Israel as a democracy (for me as an Israeli Jew it undoubtedly is, but for my Palestinian neighbours in South Hebron it undoubtedly is not), what if the double-standards clause were applied in other cases?</p>
<p>Given that the UK condemns Iran more harshly than China for human rights violations, one could conceivably accuse the British government of being Islamophobic.</p>
<p>But then the UK’s criticism of Saudi Arabia, which is reducing parts of Yemen to rubble (with the help of arms supplied by Britain), is lax when compared to its criticism of Sudan, which would imply the British government is guilty of another sort of racism.</p>
<p>The definition of anti-Semitism adopted by the British government is itself a manifestation of a double standard, since it treats Israel differently from every other country in the world rather than as a nation among nations.</p> | 1,099 |
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