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<p>You have to hand it to John McCain — his campaign ads are (inadvertently) the most incisive commentary on the death of Jeffersonian democracy ever broadcast.</p>
<p>Superficially, they lambaste Barack Obama’s worshipful crowds and messianic promises that a heavenly “light will shine down” on his candidacy. But what the ads really lampoon is what Vanderbilt professor Dana Nelson calls presidentialism: our paternalistic view that presidents are godlike saviors — and therefore democracy’s only important figures.</p>
<p>“The once-every-four-years hope for the lever pull sensation of democratic power blinds people to the opportunities for democratic representation, deliberation, activism and change that surrounds us in local elections,” she writes in her new book, “Bad for Democracy: How the Presidency Undermines the Power of the People.”</p>
<p>In a country whose anti-royalist founders constitutionally constrained executive authority, what explains the metastatic growth of presidentialism? The evisceration of journalism and social movements.</p>
<p />
<p>The media’s Watergate triumph sired the current Age of Stenography. With personal glory the new priority, correspondents figured out that transcribing White House prognostication is a far easier way to gain notoriety than Woodward and Bernstein’s shoe-leather investigations. The result is journalism run by grotesque sloth and vapid speculation — the kind exemplified by The New York Times’ top three political correspondents this week. As inflation hit crisis levels and the Russia-Georgia conflict inched the planet toward World War III, these “reporters” devoted a stunning 2,148 words to fact-free guesses about selections for vice president — a position with no power and zero impact on ordinary people’s lives.</p>
<p>Media consolidation and cost-cutting have sped up this decline, turning many local news outlets into collages of wire copy and presidential punditry from D.C. bureaus. Meanwhile, the 21st century’s most celebrated model of “grass-roots” movement-building is MoveOn.org — a top-down group whose primary function is to land stories about itself in Washington gossip rags and send e-mail spam about presidential candidates.</p>
<p>The resulting noise reiterates one message: The only thing that matters is 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.</p>
<p>Why is this dangerous? First and foremost, by ignoring local elections and issue-based organizing in favor of presidential politics, activists make presidential progress less likely. “Even the best presidents need social movements to accomplish transformational change,” warns community activist Deepak Bhargava in The Nation magazine’s latest White House-centric edition. “FDR could not have succeeded without the agitation of the unemployed workers’ councils and the unions, and LBJ’s greatest accomplishments were made possible by the civil rights movement.”</p>
<p>Worse, presidentialism leads us to ignore the arenas where issues are already being sorted out.</p>
<p>For example, how many of the Democratic convention delegates incensed by the Obama-McCain energy brouhaha have any idea that just beyond Denver’s Rocky Mountain horizon, a battle over Colorado’s massive gas reserves will more immediately impact the national energy crisis than the inane presidential back-and-forth about offshore drilling? Better yet, how many Democratic enthusiasts donning Obama T-shirts know who their state representative or city council member is — or even what a state legislature or city council does?</p>
<p>In his upcoming book, “You Can’t Be President,” journalist John MacArthur ponders the depressing answers to these kinds of questions, reminding readers of Alexis de Tocqueville’s 19th-century writing.</p>
<p>“It is in vain to summon a people, which has been rendered so dependent on the central power, to choose from time to time the representatives of that power,” he observed. “This rare and brief exercise of their free choice, however important it may be, will not prevent them from gradually losing the faculties of thinking, feeling and acting for themselves, and thus gradually falling below the level of humanity.”</p>
<p>Published 168 years ago, the passage is a prescient warning as the upcoming Democratic and Republican conventions toast presidentialism’s conquest of democracy in America.</p>
<p>David Sirota is a best-selling author whose newest book, “The Uprising,” was released in June. He is a fellow at the Campaign for America’s Future and a board member of the Progressive States Network, both nonpartisan organizations. His blog is at <a href="http://www.credoaction.com/sirota" type="external">www.credoaction.com/sirota</a>.</p>
<p>© 2008 Creators Syndicate Inc.</p> | The Conquest by Presidentialism | true | https://truthdig.com/articles/the-conquest-by-presidentialism/ | 2008-08-22 | 4left
| The Conquest by Presidentialism
<p>You have to hand it to John McCain — his campaign ads are (inadvertently) the most incisive commentary on the death of Jeffersonian democracy ever broadcast.</p>
<p>Superficially, they lambaste Barack Obama’s worshipful crowds and messianic promises that a heavenly “light will shine down” on his candidacy. But what the ads really lampoon is what Vanderbilt professor Dana Nelson calls presidentialism: our paternalistic view that presidents are godlike saviors — and therefore democracy’s only important figures.</p>
<p>“The once-every-four-years hope for the lever pull sensation of democratic power blinds people to the opportunities for democratic representation, deliberation, activism and change that surrounds us in local elections,” she writes in her new book, “Bad for Democracy: How the Presidency Undermines the Power of the People.”</p>
<p>In a country whose anti-royalist founders constitutionally constrained executive authority, what explains the metastatic growth of presidentialism? The evisceration of journalism and social movements.</p>
<p />
<p>The media’s Watergate triumph sired the current Age of Stenography. With personal glory the new priority, correspondents figured out that transcribing White House prognostication is a far easier way to gain notoriety than Woodward and Bernstein’s shoe-leather investigations. The result is journalism run by grotesque sloth and vapid speculation — the kind exemplified by The New York Times’ top three political correspondents this week. As inflation hit crisis levels and the Russia-Georgia conflict inched the planet toward World War III, these “reporters” devoted a stunning 2,148 words to fact-free guesses about selections for vice president — a position with no power and zero impact on ordinary people’s lives.</p>
<p>Media consolidation and cost-cutting have sped up this decline, turning many local news outlets into collages of wire copy and presidential punditry from D.C. bureaus. Meanwhile, the 21st century’s most celebrated model of “grass-roots” movement-building is MoveOn.org — a top-down group whose primary function is to land stories about itself in Washington gossip rags and send e-mail spam about presidential candidates.</p>
<p>The resulting noise reiterates one message: The only thing that matters is 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.</p>
<p>Why is this dangerous? First and foremost, by ignoring local elections and issue-based organizing in favor of presidential politics, activists make presidential progress less likely. “Even the best presidents need social movements to accomplish transformational change,” warns community activist Deepak Bhargava in The Nation magazine’s latest White House-centric edition. “FDR could not have succeeded without the agitation of the unemployed workers’ councils and the unions, and LBJ’s greatest accomplishments were made possible by the civil rights movement.”</p>
<p>Worse, presidentialism leads us to ignore the arenas where issues are already being sorted out.</p>
<p>For example, how many of the Democratic convention delegates incensed by the Obama-McCain energy brouhaha have any idea that just beyond Denver’s Rocky Mountain horizon, a battle over Colorado’s massive gas reserves will more immediately impact the national energy crisis than the inane presidential back-and-forth about offshore drilling? Better yet, how many Democratic enthusiasts donning Obama T-shirts know who their state representative or city council member is — or even what a state legislature or city council does?</p>
<p>In his upcoming book, “You Can’t Be President,” journalist John MacArthur ponders the depressing answers to these kinds of questions, reminding readers of Alexis de Tocqueville’s 19th-century writing.</p>
<p>“It is in vain to summon a people, which has been rendered so dependent on the central power, to choose from time to time the representatives of that power,” he observed. “This rare and brief exercise of their free choice, however important it may be, will not prevent them from gradually losing the faculties of thinking, feeling and acting for themselves, and thus gradually falling below the level of humanity.”</p>
<p>Published 168 years ago, the passage is a prescient warning as the upcoming Democratic and Republican conventions toast presidentialism’s conquest of democracy in America.</p>
<p>David Sirota is a best-selling author whose newest book, “The Uprising,” was released in June. He is a fellow at the Campaign for America’s Future and a board member of the Progressive States Network, both nonpartisan organizations. His blog is at <a href="http://www.credoaction.com/sirota" type="external">www.credoaction.com/sirota</a>.</p>
<p>© 2008 Creators Syndicate Inc.</p> | 700 |
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<p />
<p>“I’m very optimistic,” the superstar quarterback said, ending a short and tense postgame news conference.</p>
<p>The Packers were on a four-game losing streak, the last a 42-24 loss to the Washington Redskins on Nov. 20 that dropped their record to 4-6. Their impressive run of seven straight playoff appearances was in jeopardy.</p>
<p>Two months later, they’re in the NFC championship game.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Two months later, the fading memory of beating Green Bay is as close as the resilient, burgundy-and-gold gluttons for disappointment can get to meaningful football.</p>
<p>Go back to that night in Landover, Md., and there are few clues that this turnaround was about to happen. Except for Rodgers and what seemed to be delusional detachment. Rodgers, sports’ most universally praised enigma now that Tim Duncan is retired, always reacts with indifference to the drama. When he’s winning, his manner seems cool. When he’s losing, it seems peevish. But Rodgers is too complex to be captured in any isolated moment; he seldom allows such inspection, even to teammates. He’s forever somewhere else, on and off the field. Combine his brash nature with that level of mental and physical agility, and you have a quarterback who is at least a step ahead of any situation.</p>
<p>And so, while everyone spent the week after the Washington game burying the Packers, Rodgers made a remark that rivals his famous “R-E-L-A-X” command to Packers fans after a slow start to the 2014 season.</p>
<p>“I feel like we can run the table,” he said two months ago.</p>
<p>And the Packers are still sprinting on that table.</p>
<p>When it seemed the Packers were falling apart, Rodgers was encouraged. The week before the Washington loss, Rodgers had thrown for 371 yards in a 47-25 shellacking at Tennessee. And then tight end Jared Cook returned from injury against the Redskins, caught six passes for 105 yards and a touchdown, and Rodgers completed passes to nine receivers on the way to his 351-yard performance.</p>
<p>The focus was on the regression of a defense that allowed 40 points in back-to-back games, on Coach Mike McCarthy’s diminishing effectiveness and on Rodgers’s moderately human season. But Rodgers saw something different. He was at the start of what has turned into perhaps the most marvelous 10-game stretch of his career. The numbers, including two playoff games: 3,106 yards, 26 touchdowns, three interceptions and a .672 completion percentage – not to mention the untold tattered souls of Dallas Cowboys fans now crammed into his basement.</p>
<p>Okay, back to that Sunday night here. What happened afterward is a testament to how long an NFL season can be, even at the end. In the home locker room, Washington celebrated a resounding victory before a national television audience that brought its record to 6-3-1. Kirk Cousins, who had out-Aaroned the NFL’s most feared quarterback by throwing for 375 yards and three touchdowns and leading Washington to its highest point total of the season, reacted by yelling “How do you like me now?” to General Manager Scot McCloughan and rubbing the executive’s hair before embracing him.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>With six games remaining, Washington needed only a decent finish to earn a second consecutive postseason berth, and Cousins’s new contract was thought to be a foregone conclusion. On the other hand, Green Bay it seemed to need a miracle.</p>
<p>Perhaps Cousins should hand the keys to “How do you like me now?” to Rodgers. There’s a much lower risk of regret.</p>
<p>Looking back, Washington was never the same after a supposedly defining performance. It lost four of six to close the season, including setbacks in its last two home games when it could have made the playoffs by winning just one of them. Green Bay was frustrated, but here’s the difference between a team that goes to the playoffs every year and one that thought it had arrived after one postseason berth and a solid 10-game start to the next season: The Packers were far more focused on the process.</p>
<p>“We don’t have time to sit around and sulk on it,” Cook said after the Washington loss. “We’ve got to get to work. It’s time to pick it up and go to work. Put on your boots, pull up your boot straps, tie them tight, and let’s go. Period.”</p>
<p>And a few days later, Rodgers added an exclamation mark: Run the table!</p>
<p>Throughout his career, Rodgers has preferred to be a franchise player more than a franchise leader. He’d rather let his game set the tone. But when you’re as special as he is, it doesn’t take much talk to inspire people, especially when you can back it up by taking your game to places that few quarterbacks have seen. In November, his words mattered. His confidence mattered. Just when you thought the most consistent team in the NFC was ready to succumb to NFL parity, the Packers became the storied Team That Gets Hot At The Right Time.</p>
<p>But now Green Bay must overcome something more difficult than two months of must-win games. Since winning the Super Bowl six years ago, the Packers have a 5-5 playoff record. Two seasons ago, when they went from “R-E-L-A-X” to the NFC title game, they led Seattle by 12 points with less than three minutes remaining and lost in overtime. Last year, they lost to Arizona in overtime in the divisional round. Every one of those five playoff defeats has carried a devastating storyline, including the 37-20 divisional round loss to the New York Giants in 2012, which ruined a 15-1 season.</p>
<p>The way Rodgers is praised, you would think he already has won multiple championships. But No. 2 still eludes him. He’s 33 years old, and it has been nine seasons since he took over for Brett Favre in the best franchise quarterback handoff since Joe Montana-to-Steve Young. Rodgers could quit tomorrow and make the Hall of Fame. Nevertheless, his pursuit of a second title is one more painful playoff loss from being deemed excessively cruel.</p>
<p>Don’t expect difficulty to affect Rodgers’s optimism, however. He’s unbowed. If you had forgotten that two months ago, it’s impossible to underestimate him now.</p> | You don’t have to ‘get’ Aaron Rodgers, but doubt him at your own risk | false | https://abqjournal.com/932212/you-dont-have-to-get-aaron-rodgers-but-doubt-him-at-your-own-risk.html | 2least
| You don’t have to ‘get’ Aaron Rodgers, but doubt him at your own risk
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>“I’m very optimistic,” the superstar quarterback said, ending a short and tense postgame news conference.</p>
<p>The Packers were on a four-game losing streak, the last a 42-24 loss to the Washington Redskins on Nov. 20 that dropped their record to 4-6. Their impressive run of seven straight playoff appearances was in jeopardy.</p>
<p>Two months later, they’re in the NFC championship game.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Two months later, the fading memory of beating Green Bay is as close as the resilient, burgundy-and-gold gluttons for disappointment can get to meaningful football.</p>
<p>Go back to that night in Landover, Md., and there are few clues that this turnaround was about to happen. Except for Rodgers and what seemed to be delusional detachment. Rodgers, sports’ most universally praised enigma now that Tim Duncan is retired, always reacts with indifference to the drama. When he’s winning, his manner seems cool. When he’s losing, it seems peevish. But Rodgers is too complex to be captured in any isolated moment; he seldom allows such inspection, even to teammates. He’s forever somewhere else, on and off the field. Combine his brash nature with that level of mental and physical agility, and you have a quarterback who is at least a step ahead of any situation.</p>
<p>And so, while everyone spent the week after the Washington game burying the Packers, Rodgers made a remark that rivals his famous “R-E-L-A-X” command to Packers fans after a slow start to the 2014 season.</p>
<p>“I feel like we can run the table,” he said two months ago.</p>
<p>And the Packers are still sprinting on that table.</p>
<p>When it seemed the Packers were falling apart, Rodgers was encouraged. The week before the Washington loss, Rodgers had thrown for 371 yards in a 47-25 shellacking at Tennessee. And then tight end Jared Cook returned from injury against the Redskins, caught six passes for 105 yards and a touchdown, and Rodgers completed passes to nine receivers on the way to his 351-yard performance.</p>
<p>The focus was on the regression of a defense that allowed 40 points in back-to-back games, on Coach Mike McCarthy’s diminishing effectiveness and on Rodgers’s moderately human season. But Rodgers saw something different. He was at the start of what has turned into perhaps the most marvelous 10-game stretch of his career. The numbers, including two playoff games: 3,106 yards, 26 touchdowns, three interceptions and a .672 completion percentage – not to mention the untold tattered souls of Dallas Cowboys fans now crammed into his basement.</p>
<p>Okay, back to that Sunday night here. What happened afterward is a testament to how long an NFL season can be, even at the end. In the home locker room, Washington celebrated a resounding victory before a national television audience that brought its record to 6-3-1. Kirk Cousins, who had out-Aaroned the NFL’s most feared quarterback by throwing for 375 yards and three touchdowns and leading Washington to its highest point total of the season, reacted by yelling “How do you like me now?” to General Manager Scot McCloughan and rubbing the executive’s hair before embracing him.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>With six games remaining, Washington needed only a decent finish to earn a second consecutive postseason berth, and Cousins’s new contract was thought to be a foregone conclusion. On the other hand, Green Bay it seemed to need a miracle.</p>
<p>Perhaps Cousins should hand the keys to “How do you like me now?” to Rodgers. There’s a much lower risk of regret.</p>
<p>Looking back, Washington was never the same after a supposedly defining performance. It lost four of six to close the season, including setbacks in its last two home games when it could have made the playoffs by winning just one of them. Green Bay was frustrated, but here’s the difference between a team that goes to the playoffs every year and one that thought it had arrived after one postseason berth and a solid 10-game start to the next season: The Packers were far more focused on the process.</p>
<p>“We don’t have time to sit around and sulk on it,” Cook said after the Washington loss. “We’ve got to get to work. It’s time to pick it up and go to work. Put on your boots, pull up your boot straps, tie them tight, and let’s go. Period.”</p>
<p>And a few days later, Rodgers added an exclamation mark: Run the table!</p>
<p>Throughout his career, Rodgers has preferred to be a franchise player more than a franchise leader. He’d rather let his game set the tone. But when you’re as special as he is, it doesn’t take much talk to inspire people, especially when you can back it up by taking your game to places that few quarterbacks have seen. In November, his words mattered. His confidence mattered. Just when you thought the most consistent team in the NFC was ready to succumb to NFL parity, the Packers became the storied Team That Gets Hot At The Right Time.</p>
<p>But now Green Bay must overcome something more difficult than two months of must-win games. Since winning the Super Bowl six years ago, the Packers have a 5-5 playoff record. Two seasons ago, when they went from “R-E-L-A-X” to the NFC title game, they led Seattle by 12 points with less than three minutes remaining and lost in overtime. Last year, they lost to Arizona in overtime in the divisional round. Every one of those five playoff defeats has carried a devastating storyline, including the 37-20 divisional round loss to the New York Giants in 2012, which ruined a 15-1 season.</p>
<p>The way Rodgers is praised, you would think he already has won multiple championships. But No. 2 still eludes him. He’s 33 years old, and it has been nine seasons since he took over for Brett Favre in the best franchise quarterback handoff since Joe Montana-to-Steve Young. Rodgers could quit tomorrow and make the Hall of Fame. Nevertheless, his pursuit of a second title is one more painful playoff loss from being deemed excessively cruel.</p>
<p>Don’t expect difficulty to affect Rodgers’s optimism, however. He’s unbowed. If you had forgotten that two months ago, it’s impossible to underestimate him now.</p> | 701 |
|
<p>In a <a href="" type="internal">recent article</a>, I promised readers that I would address the mindset of the religious right as an addiction. In order to do so with accuracy and clarity, it is first necessary to define addiction and clarify the terms, Christian fundamentalism and Dominionism.</p>
<p>According to <a href="http://www.dictionary.com/" type="external">www.dictionary.com</a>, an addiction is “being abnormally tolerant to and dependent on something that is psychologically or physically habit-forming (especially alcohol or narcotic drugs) [syn: dependence, dependency, 2: an abnormally strong craving 3: (Roman law) under Roman law addiction was the justification for slavery”</p>
<p>For over seventy years, Twelve-Step programs have addressed issues of addiction not only to substances such as alcohol, drugs, and food, but to behaviors such as compulsive gambling, shopping, and even working. After a number of responses to my last article from former fundamentalist Christians, I began investigating Twelve-Step groups which address issues of religious compulsion and spiritual abuse. One group I discovered was <a href="http://www.geocities.com/church_of_hank/fundamentalists_anonymous..html" type="external">Fundamentalists Anonymous</a>(F.A.) and its Twelve Steps.</p>
<p>However, before I examine those steps, I would like to further define the terrorist and tyrannical aspects of Christian fundamentalism.</p>
<p>As many readers drew to my attention in response to my last article, Christian fundamentalism and Dominionism are not necessarily synonymous. According to Merriam-Webster, Christian fundamentalism is: “a movement in 20th century Protestantism emphasizing the literally interpreted Bible as fundamental to Christian life and teaching b : the beliefs of this movement c : adherence to such beliefs 2 : a movement or attitude stressing strict and literal adherence to a set of basic principles.”</p>
<p><a href="http://www.yuricareport.com/" type="external">Katherine Yurica</a>defines Dominionism as “the conversion of America to a theocracy by taking over the American Judiciary.” I would add that the conquest might begin with the judiciary, but the Dominonist agenda has targeted all aspects of government and society for the establishment of a theocracy.</p>
<p>For my purposes, the distinction between fundamentalist Christianity and Dominionism is incidental because what is most important to understand is that any religion, philosophy, or belief system can be addictive, fear-based, and terrorizing, and if it is used to justify changing the Constitution of the United States and creating a society in which the laws of that system are also fear-based and terrorizing, then regardless of the label, fundamentalist or Dominionist, that system is both terrorist and tyrannical. Whether one wishes to debate the differences between fundamentalist Christianity and Dominionism or not, both systems are about domination, power, control, right/wrong; win/lose. Moreover, as in my last article, I am reiterating that terrorism and tyranny, like the word addiction, have much broader definitions than crashing planes into buildings, establishing a superior race, or forcing women to cover their faces.</p>
<p>My focus here is on fundamentalist Christianity and Dominionism as religious systems which complement and support tyrannical political systems, specifically, fascism. I am well aware that not all fundamentalist Christians, and certainly not all folks who call themselves evangelicals, are of the Dominionist variety. Many are hard-working individuals who pay their bills and follow the rules and attempt to live the teachings of Jesus. I respect those individuals and consider them a mitigating force amid the onslaughts of the religious right.</p>
<p>For an in-depth analysis of religious right corruption and tyranny, I highly recommend the recent article “ <a href="http://www.insider-magazine.com/ChristianMafia.htm" type="external">The Christian Mafia</a>” by investigative journalist, Wayne Madsen.</p>
<p>Additionally, my intention in this article is to explore the addictive features of these systems which ultimately result not in spiritual well being but spiritual abuse.</p>
<p>Spiritual abuse is the manipulation, exploitation, and mistreatment– mentally, emotionally, or physically of another individual or masses of individuals, in the name of promoting spiritual principles or values. As we have seen from the rampant sexual abuse of children in the Roman Catholic Church, spiritual abuse can open the door to every other kind of abuse. And just as a plethora of Catholic priests for two thousand years have used their position of authority and piety to abuse children, countless children in fundamentalist Christian homes have been beaten, raped, molested, shamed, and emotionally devastated in the name of “children obey your parents in the Lord for this is right.” I suspect that in the not-too-distant future, we may see revelations of child abuse in fundamentalist Christian homes and churches break into the light of day that could pale by comparison the abuse scandal of the Roman Catholic Church. For the fundamentalist Christian, children too, born into “original sin”, are to be dominated and made into subservient born-again believers as soon as possible.</p>
<p>Also, before turning to the Twelve Steps of Fundamentalists Anonymous., I want to emphasize that religious intoxication is an ancient theme in human history. In fact, Carl Jung would have called it an archetype–a universal theme imbedded in the human psyche that is found in all eras and cultures. According to Jung, such an archetype is not necessarily toxic or pathological but points to an inherent human craving for meaningful spiritual experiences. Whether found in the spell for the revival of Osiris, the orgiastic rites of the cult of Dionysius in Ancient Greece, or the Native American sun dance, the need for sacred ritual and celebration of the divine is as old as human history. However, need and desire are not the same as physical, emotional, or mental dependence.</p>
<p>What makes a belief system, a ritual, or one’s relationship with other adherents addictive is the dependence one has on them. Is one able to think for oneself? Is one able to function without incessant participation in the rituals, and without obsessive contact with and validation from fellow devotees? Is one able to trust one’s intellect and emotions and not subordinate them to those who claim to have more spiritual authority, deeper spiritual understanding, or more extensive training in interpreting the Bible or other sacred writings?</p>
<p>In exploring this topic, a caveat is in order for all who are atheist, agnostic, or offended by the mention of “God” in the Twelve Steps. After many years of working with the Steps and atheists and agnostics who utilize them, I have discovered that there are many ways to interpret and apply the concept of a Higher Power, so I would ask the atheist or agnostic reader to consider this and continue reading.</p>
<p>Why do I think that Christian fundamentalism and/or Domininonism is an addiction? My answer to that question comes first of all from my own experience, as well as my observation of these individuals over the years. I recall my own dependency on what “the Bible says”–my own inability to trust my thoughts and feelings. I remember the need for the “fix” of the church service, the revival meeting, the prayer meeting, the Bible study, or listening to a fiery sermon on tape. I knew how to think on my own, but I was afraid to do so. Who knew what I might discover? But no “fix” was more deliciously validating than “winning souls for Christ”–that dramatic moment when I had manipulated someone else into a born-again experience. For this, the fundamentalist Christian addict lives and breathes. And this is precisely why the religious right is intractably hell-bent on converting the entire society and system of government in America to its fundamentalist theocracy. What could produce a greater “high”? And if this project should get interrupted by the Rapture, the resulting euphoria would be so well-earned–doing God’s work and getting the planet ready for Jesus’ return. The adrenaline-drenched grandiosity in such a scenario is palpably tantalizing. More addictive than heroin perhaps?</p>
<p>It is axiomatic in Christian fundamentalism that without the born-again experience, one cannot think clearly. Being born into the human condition, and therefore, being inherently sinful, one’s mind is deluded, clouded, and always potential putty in the hands of Satan. Once one has been born again, the mind is magically transformed, and one is now guided by the Holy Spirit who Jesus said would lead his followers into all truth. The more the born-again believer reads and studies the Bible, the more clearly and correctly he/she thinks. Therefore, the new convert to fundamentalist Christianity must depend on his/her minister, Bible teacher, evangelist, or other spiritual leader to interpret the Bible and guide him/her in living the Christian life. Eventually, with years of seasoning in the faith, one needs less guidance, but one always requires regular contact with the church, prayer group, or Bible study circle because even after decades of devotion, there is always the possibility that one could be deceived by the devil. Therefore, thinking for oneself is out of the question, and as a result, profound dependence on others is created for producing the “answers” one cannot discern by thinking for oneself.</p>
<p>In one of the responses to my last article, one actively fundamentalist reader, whom I am paraphrasing, stated that he does look to the Bible for answers and asked to whom or what else he should look–Darwin, Camus, or other great minds? I found the question itself very telling because inherent in it is the assumption that one cannot or should not trust oneself. This assumption constitutes the major underpinning of the addiction to Christian fundamentalism, hence Step One of Fundamentalists Anonymous:</p>
<p>1. I realize that I had turned control of my mind over to another person or group, who had assumed power over my thinking.</p>
<p>The convert to fundamentalist Christianity must be convinced that his/her thinking is irreparably in error. The underlying message is: “You don’t believe the Bible is the inerrant Word of God because your mind has been occupied by Satan. This has happened principally because you are a human being, but also because you have made the enormous mistake of trying to think for yourself. Of course you think there are contradictions in the Bible because Satan controls your mind. If you surrender your mind to Jesus (actually to me/us/the enlightened flock of believers), you will understand that there are no contradictions in the Bible and that your life should be guided only by the Bible and nothing else. What you cannot now understand, you must take on faith, and more will be revealed to you later. It may not be revealed on this earth, but by accepting Christ as your personal savior and having faith, you will be guaranteed eternity in heaven where everything you never understood will be completely revealed to you.”</p>
<p>Curiously, as stated in the definition of addiction above, under ancient Roman law, addiction was grounds for slavery. I found this detail particularly significant because obviously, addicted people are “enslaved” people</p>
<p>Any thinking person reading the Bible will discover dozens, if not hundreds, of contradictions. Moreover, any Bible student who also studies history will discover massive discrepancies regarding which books were chosen to be in the Bible and why. Studying that history reveals that the decision to incorporate certain books and exclude others was primarily a fourth-century political decision intended to strengthen the appeal of Christianity and prevent its demise in the face of Rome’s attempts to extinguish the religion.</p>
<p>An excellent analysis of this controversy has been done by religious historian, Elaine Pagels in her book <a href="" type="internal">Beyond Belief</a>. She explores the discoveries of the Nag Hammadi Library in Upper Egypt in 1945, which unearthed the existence of numerous gospels eliminated from the final canon of the New Testament. Both Pagels and another Biblical scholar, Marvin Meyer, have analyzed the Nag Hammadi writings and hypothesized the reasons for their exclusion. I particularly enjoyed reading Pagels’ Beyond Belief, because not only does she analyze the controversy surrounding the exclusion of these Gnostic Gospels, but she openly shares her own intellectual process of discovering the significance of their exclusion and its impact on her own spirituality. Very UN-fundamentalist indeed.</p>
<p>Reading the research of Pagels and others makes clear the reality that the Bible is not and cannot be the inerrant, impeccably-written, divinely dictated Word of God that fundamentalist Christians claim it to be. Thus Step Two of Fundamentalists Anonymous states:</p>
<p>2. That person or group persuaded me of the inerrancy of the Bible, in spite of its many internal contradictions.</p>
<p>One of the most significant aspects of my abandonment of Christian fundamentalism was the awareness that born-again Christians worship the Bible and not God. They argue that the only way to know God is through the Bible. They are forced to believe this because if they concede that God might speak through an inner voice, through a tree, or through a particular life experience, their entire belief system is toast. When I realized that contrary to their much-touted Ten Commandments, Bible worship is nothing less than “having other gods before me”, I finally realized the depth of the hypocrisy of their system. Part of my, and anyone’s recovery from fundamentalism is a commitment to develop a relationship with a Higher Power–whatever that may be–and not with a book. Step Three therefore states:</p>
<p>3. I became addicted to the Bible as the supreme focus of my faith, in spite of the commandment that God should come first.</p>
<p>Like the spiritual inventory of Alcoholics Anonymous and other Twelve-Step programs, Step Four asks the recovering fundamentalist to look at the damage one has done to oneself as a result of turning control of one’s mind over to another person or group. Not a pretty picture in most cases, but certainly a huge relief when the whole truth is finally faced and spoken.</p>
<p>4. I admit to God, to myself and to another person the shortcomings of my belief in the unbelievable.</p>
<p>Fundamentalist Christianity is filled with false claims about the Bible. It has to be in order to keep its system intact and use the Bible to manipulate, control, and above all, gain converts. So as part of recovering from addiction to fundamentalism, one must examine the various false claims one has made about the Bible. Step Five states:</p>
<p>5. I have made an inventory of my false claims about the Bible.</p>
<p>Ouch! This could be very painful–and it could go on for years as one recalls all the times one may have used “the Bible says” to beat up oneself or someone else. But again, there can be profound liberation with truth-telling.</p>
<p>Could it get more painful than Steps Four and Five? Yes. How many minds have I whacked beside my own? Who have I manipulated, controlled, cajoled, or conned by using false claims–things I could never absolutely know or prove about the Bible?</p>
<p>6. I have made a list of those whom I led into confusion about the Bible.</p>
<p>All Twelve Step programs require “searching and fearless” inventories of oneself and one’s actions while practicing one’s addiction. Moreover, they demand accountability to one’s Higher Power, oneself, and the persons harmed.</p>
<p>This could be excruciating! Admitting to someone that I may have led them astray with the Bible? As experienced Twelve-Steppers know, it may not be possible to make the amends in person or even by letter. Someone may be so hurt, so angry, so alienated that making contact with him/her is not feasible. Most important, however, is the admission to oneself. Hence Step Seven:</p>
<p>7. I am willing to make amends to all those whom I may have led astray.</p>
<p>And now comes the payoff: sanity. Sanity is not a mental health term but rather a state of acceptance and release often attended by a sense of relief. After one has admitted turning one’s mind over to another person or group and has faced the devastation the addiction has caused, and if possible, made amends to those harmed, it becomes possible to experience sanity.</p>
<p>Step Eight, in offering the hope of sanity refers to searching Scripture for the truth. Notice the Step says “search Scripture.” It doesn’t say, “search the Scripture.” One now has the freedom to search for one’s own truth–wherever, whenever, however. Step Eight:</p>
<p>8. I realize that I have the inner power to restore sanity to my life and to search Scripture for the truth.</p>
<p>Having completed the first eight Steps, the recovering fundamentalist can begin authentic relationships with others regarding spirituality. No longer does one need to “be right”, convert, admonish, exhort, or teach. The first eight Steps make it possible to share on a truly level playing field without right/wrong, either/or dichotomies. Step Nine:</p>
<p>9. I will reach out to friends who can help me clarify my thinking about the Bible, God and Jesus.</p>
<p>Reaching out to friends is not the same as dependence. It means information-gathering, exploring, dialoging, but most importantly, thinking for oneself.</p>
<p>Then brilliantly, Step Ten hastens to add that I do not need to figure it out all on my own; I can ask for help from a Higher Power. It humbly implies that I don’t have all the answers. I have help, but it is with my own mind that I grasp the truth, not with someone else’s.</p>
<p>10. I confess that only with God’s help can my mind grasp the truth.</p>
<p>How do I get help from a Higher Power? I practice Step Eleven which deals with conscious contact with that power. This may have nothing to do with reading the Bible or going to church. It may have nothing to do with meditating in a lotus posture or praying in the traditional sense. It may mean journaling, spending time in nature, painting, composing music or poetry.</p>
<p>11. I will seek through prayer and meditation to improve my conscious contact with God, praying for knowledge of God’s will for me and the power to carry that out.</p>
<p>One of the most profound aspects of recovering from any addiction is the compassion one experiences for others who are still ensnared in the addiction. One naturally wants to share the liberation, peace, and sense of well being that one has found with others who are suffering. What might be particularly challenging for the recovering fundamentalist, however, is to share the Twelve Steps of Fundamentalists Anonymous without falling back into one’s addiction to proselytize and “being right.” So Step Twelve must be practiced sensitively and compassionately.</p>
<p>12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these twelve steps, I will offer these steps to other former biblical fundamentalists.</p>
<p>Some may argue that I am being judgmental and lacking compassion in this article and my former article on Christian fundamentalism. However, I do not apologize for being uncompromising in my analysis. As with all addictions, compassion for the addict does not mean condoning addictive behavior. It means speaking the truth about the addiction to the addict him/herself, to the family and loved ones involved with the addict, or anyone else affected by his/her behavior. This is referred to in recovery circles as an intervention. Is it not appropriate for critically thinking individuals who desire to live in a diverse and open society to conduct “interventions” when those drunk on Dominionism and fundamentalist Christianity flagrantly attempt to construct a theocracy which requires everyone to be a born-again Christian in order to thrive in that society? Do we not have a moral obligation to confront destructive religious intoxication that tears apart families, communities, and nations? Hopefully, this article is an example of such an intervention.</p>
<p>The mainstream media does not seem to comprehend the inherent danger of the religious right let alone report it accurately. All of us need to challenge the addictive tyranny of Christian fundamentalism at every turn–for the sake of our sanity and for the sake of our civil liberties. We don’t allow street junkies into the halls of Congress, the Supreme Court, or the pulpits of America to admonish us how we should live and why we should demolish our Constitution. In fact, we confront the insanity and criminality of such individuals. Similarly, it’s time to confront the domination drug for what it is–a grave and perverse spiritual and moral illness.</p>
<p>CAROLYN BAKER is recovering fundamentalist Christian and an adjunct professor of history living in Southern New Mexico. She can be contacted at: <a href="mailto:cbaker@nmsu.edu" type="external">cbaker@nmsu.edu</a></p>
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<p>&#160;</p> | Spiritual Abuse by the Religious Right | true | https://counterpunch.org/2005/05/21/spiritual-abuse-by-the-religious-right/ | 2005-05-21 | 4left
| Spiritual Abuse by the Religious Right
<p>In a <a href="" type="internal">recent article</a>, I promised readers that I would address the mindset of the religious right as an addiction. In order to do so with accuracy and clarity, it is first necessary to define addiction and clarify the terms, Christian fundamentalism and Dominionism.</p>
<p>According to <a href="http://www.dictionary.com/" type="external">www.dictionary.com</a>, an addiction is “being abnormally tolerant to and dependent on something that is psychologically or physically habit-forming (especially alcohol or narcotic drugs) [syn: dependence, dependency, 2: an abnormally strong craving 3: (Roman law) under Roman law addiction was the justification for slavery”</p>
<p>For over seventy years, Twelve-Step programs have addressed issues of addiction not only to substances such as alcohol, drugs, and food, but to behaviors such as compulsive gambling, shopping, and even working. After a number of responses to my last article from former fundamentalist Christians, I began investigating Twelve-Step groups which address issues of religious compulsion and spiritual abuse. One group I discovered was <a href="http://www.geocities.com/church_of_hank/fundamentalists_anonymous..html" type="external">Fundamentalists Anonymous</a>(F.A.) and its Twelve Steps.</p>
<p>However, before I examine those steps, I would like to further define the terrorist and tyrannical aspects of Christian fundamentalism.</p>
<p>As many readers drew to my attention in response to my last article, Christian fundamentalism and Dominionism are not necessarily synonymous. According to Merriam-Webster, Christian fundamentalism is: “a movement in 20th century Protestantism emphasizing the literally interpreted Bible as fundamental to Christian life and teaching b : the beliefs of this movement c : adherence to such beliefs 2 : a movement or attitude stressing strict and literal adherence to a set of basic principles.”</p>
<p><a href="http://www.yuricareport.com/" type="external">Katherine Yurica</a>defines Dominionism as “the conversion of America to a theocracy by taking over the American Judiciary.” I would add that the conquest might begin with the judiciary, but the Dominonist agenda has targeted all aspects of government and society for the establishment of a theocracy.</p>
<p>For my purposes, the distinction between fundamentalist Christianity and Dominionism is incidental because what is most important to understand is that any religion, philosophy, or belief system can be addictive, fear-based, and terrorizing, and if it is used to justify changing the Constitution of the United States and creating a society in which the laws of that system are also fear-based and terrorizing, then regardless of the label, fundamentalist or Dominionist, that system is both terrorist and tyrannical. Whether one wishes to debate the differences between fundamentalist Christianity and Dominionism or not, both systems are about domination, power, control, right/wrong; win/lose. Moreover, as in my last article, I am reiterating that terrorism and tyranny, like the word addiction, have much broader definitions than crashing planes into buildings, establishing a superior race, or forcing women to cover their faces.</p>
<p>My focus here is on fundamentalist Christianity and Dominionism as religious systems which complement and support tyrannical political systems, specifically, fascism. I am well aware that not all fundamentalist Christians, and certainly not all folks who call themselves evangelicals, are of the Dominionist variety. Many are hard-working individuals who pay their bills and follow the rules and attempt to live the teachings of Jesus. I respect those individuals and consider them a mitigating force amid the onslaughts of the religious right.</p>
<p>For an in-depth analysis of religious right corruption and tyranny, I highly recommend the recent article “ <a href="http://www.insider-magazine.com/ChristianMafia.htm" type="external">The Christian Mafia</a>” by investigative journalist, Wayne Madsen.</p>
<p>Additionally, my intention in this article is to explore the addictive features of these systems which ultimately result not in spiritual well being but spiritual abuse.</p>
<p>Spiritual abuse is the manipulation, exploitation, and mistreatment– mentally, emotionally, or physically of another individual or masses of individuals, in the name of promoting spiritual principles or values. As we have seen from the rampant sexual abuse of children in the Roman Catholic Church, spiritual abuse can open the door to every other kind of abuse. And just as a plethora of Catholic priests for two thousand years have used their position of authority and piety to abuse children, countless children in fundamentalist Christian homes have been beaten, raped, molested, shamed, and emotionally devastated in the name of “children obey your parents in the Lord for this is right.” I suspect that in the not-too-distant future, we may see revelations of child abuse in fundamentalist Christian homes and churches break into the light of day that could pale by comparison the abuse scandal of the Roman Catholic Church. For the fundamentalist Christian, children too, born into “original sin”, are to be dominated and made into subservient born-again believers as soon as possible.</p>
<p>Also, before turning to the Twelve Steps of Fundamentalists Anonymous., I want to emphasize that religious intoxication is an ancient theme in human history. In fact, Carl Jung would have called it an archetype–a universal theme imbedded in the human psyche that is found in all eras and cultures. According to Jung, such an archetype is not necessarily toxic or pathological but points to an inherent human craving for meaningful spiritual experiences. Whether found in the spell for the revival of Osiris, the orgiastic rites of the cult of Dionysius in Ancient Greece, or the Native American sun dance, the need for sacred ritual and celebration of the divine is as old as human history. However, need and desire are not the same as physical, emotional, or mental dependence.</p>
<p>What makes a belief system, a ritual, or one’s relationship with other adherents addictive is the dependence one has on them. Is one able to think for oneself? Is one able to function without incessant participation in the rituals, and without obsessive contact with and validation from fellow devotees? Is one able to trust one’s intellect and emotions and not subordinate them to those who claim to have more spiritual authority, deeper spiritual understanding, or more extensive training in interpreting the Bible or other sacred writings?</p>
<p>In exploring this topic, a caveat is in order for all who are atheist, agnostic, or offended by the mention of “God” in the Twelve Steps. After many years of working with the Steps and atheists and agnostics who utilize them, I have discovered that there are many ways to interpret and apply the concept of a Higher Power, so I would ask the atheist or agnostic reader to consider this and continue reading.</p>
<p>Why do I think that Christian fundamentalism and/or Domininonism is an addiction? My answer to that question comes first of all from my own experience, as well as my observation of these individuals over the years. I recall my own dependency on what “the Bible says”–my own inability to trust my thoughts and feelings. I remember the need for the “fix” of the church service, the revival meeting, the prayer meeting, the Bible study, or listening to a fiery sermon on tape. I knew how to think on my own, but I was afraid to do so. Who knew what I might discover? But no “fix” was more deliciously validating than “winning souls for Christ”–that dramatic moment when I had manipulated someone else into a born-again experience. For this, the fundamentalist Christian addict lives and breathes. And this is precisely why the religious right is intractably hell-bent on converting the entire society and system of government in America to its fundamentalist theocracy. What could produce a greater “high”? And if this project should get interrupted by the Rapture, the resulting euphoria would be so well-earned–doing God’s work and getting the planet ready for Jesus’ return. The adrenaline-drenched grandiosity in such a scenario is palpably tantalizing. More addictive than heroin perhaps?</p>
<p>It is axiomatic in Christian fundamentalism that without the born-again experience, one cannot think clearly. Being born into the human condition, and therefore, being inherently sinful, one’s mind is deluded, clouded, and always potential putty in the hands of Satan. Once one has been born again, the mind is magically transformed, and one is now guided by the Holy Spirit who Jesus said would lead his followers into all truth. The more the born-again believer reads and studies the Bible, the more clearly and correctly he/she thinks. Therefore, the new convert to fundamentalist Christianity must depend on his/her minister, Bible teacher, evangelist, or other spiritual leader to interpret the Bible and guide him/her in living the Christian life. Eventually, with years of seasoning in the faith, one needs less guidance, but one always requires regular contact with the church, prayer group, or Bible study circle because even after decades of devotion, there is always the possibility that one could be deceived by the devil. Therefore, thinking for oneself is out of the question, and as a result, profound dependence on others is created for producing the “answers” one cannot discern by thinking for oneself.</p>
<p>In one of the responses to my last article, one actively fundamentalist reader, whom I am paraphrasing, stated that he does look to the Bible for answers and asked to whom or what else he should look–Darwin, Camus, or other great minds? I found the question itself very telling because inherent in it is the assumption that one cannot or should not trust oneself. This assumption constitutes the major underpinning of the addiction to Christian fundamentalism, hence Step One of Fundamentalists Anonymous:</p>
<p>1. I realize that I had turned control of my mind over to another person or group, who had assumed power over my thinking.</p>
<p>The convert to fundamentalist Christianity must be convinced that his/her thinking is irreparably in error. The underlying message is: “You don’t believe the Bible is the inerrant Word of God because your mind has been occupied by Satan. This has happened principally because you are a human being, but also because you have made the enormous mistake of trying to think for yourself. Of course you think there are contradictions in the Bible because Satan controls your mind. If you surrender your mind to Jesus (actually to me/us/the enlightened flock of believers), you will understand that there are no contradictions in the Bible and that your life should be guided only by the Bible and nothing else. What you cannot now understand, you must take on faith, and more will be revealed to you later. It may not be revealed on this earth, but by accepting Christ as your personal savior and having faith, you will be guaranteed eternity in heaven where everything you never understood will be completely revealed to you.”</p>
<p>Curiously, as stated in the definition of addiction above, under ancient Roman law, addiction was grounds for slavery. I found this detail particularly significant because obviously, addicted people are “enslaved” people</p>
<p>Any thinking person reading the Bible will discover dozens, if not hundreds, of contradictions. Moreover, any Bible student who also studies history will discover massive discrepancies regarding which books were chosen to be in the Bible and why. Studying that history reveals that the decision to incorporate certain books and exclude others was primarily a fourth-century political decision intended to strengthen the appeal of Christianity and prevent its demise in the face of Rome’s attempts to extinguish the religion.</p>
<p>An excellent analysis of this controversy has been done by religious historian, Elaine Pagels in her book <a href="" type="internal">Beyond Belief</a>. She explores the discoveries of the Nag Hammadi Library in Upper Egypt in 1945, which unearthed the existence of numerous gospels eliminated from the final canon of the New Testament. Both Pagels and another Biblical scholar, Marvin Meyer, have analyzed the Nag Hammadi writings and hypothesized the reasons for their exclusion. I particularly enjoyed reading Pagels’ Beyond Belief, because not only does she analyze the controversy surrounding the exclusion of these Gnostic Gospels, but she openly shares her own intellectual process of discovering the significance of their exclusion and its impact on her own spirituality. Very UN-fundamentalist indeed.</p>
<p>Reading the research of Pagels and others makes clear the reality that the Bible is not and cannot be the inerrant, impeccably-written, divinely dictated Word of God that fundamentalist Christians claim it to be. Thus Step Two of Fundamentalists Anonymous states:</p>
<p>2. That person or group persuaded me of the inerrancy of the Bible, in spite of its many internal contradictions.</p>
<p>One of the most significant aspects of my abandonment of Christian fundamentalism was the awareness that born-again Christians worship the Bible and not God. They argue that the only way to know God is through the Bible. They are forced to believe this because if they concede that God might speak through an inner voice, through a tree, or through a particular life experience, their entire belief system is toast. When I realized that contrary to their much-touted Ten Commandments, Bible worship is nothing less than “having other gods before me”, I finally realized the depth of the hypocrisy of their system. Part of my, and anyone’s recovery from fundamentalism is a commitment to develop a relationship with a Higher Power–whatever that may be–and not with a book. Step Three therefore states:</p>
<p>3. I became addicted to the Bible as the supreme focus of my faith, in spite of the commandment that God should come first.</p>
<p>Like the spiritual inventory of Alcoholics Anonymous and other Twelve-Step programs, Step Four asks the recovering fundamentalist to look at the damage one has done to oneself as a result of turning control of one’s mind over to another person or group. Not a pretty picture in most cases, but certainly a huge relief when the whole truth is finally faced and spoken.</p>
<p>4. I admit to God, to myself and to another person the shortcomings of my belief in the unbelievable.</p>
<p>Fundamentalist Christianity is filled with false claims about the Bible. It has to be in order to keep its system intact and use the Bible to manipulate, control, and above all, gain converts. So as part of recovering from addiction to fundamentalism, one must examine the various false claims one has made about the Bible. Step Five states:</p>
<p>5. I have made an inventory of my false claims about the Bible.</p>
<p>Ouch! This could be very painful–and it could go on for years as one recalls all the times one may have used “the Bible says” to beat up oneself or someone else. But again, there can be profound liberation with truth-telling.</p>
<p>Could it get more painful than Steps Four and Five? Yes. How many minds have I whacked beside my own? Who have I manipulated, controlled, cajoled, or conned by using false claims–things I could never absolutely know or prove about the Bible?</p>
<p>6. I have made a list of those whom I led into confusion about the Bible.</p>
<p>All Twelve Step programs require “searching and fearless” inventories of oneself and one’s actions while practicing one’s addiction. Moreover, they demand accountability to one’s Higher Power, oneself, and the persons harmed.</p>
<p>This could be excruciating! Admitting to someone that I may have led them astray with the Bible? As experienced Twelve-Steppers know, it may not be possible to make the amends in person or even by letter. Someone may be so hurt, so angry, so alienated that making contact with him/her is not feasible. Most important, however, is the admission to oneself. Hence Step Seven:</p>
<p>7. I am willing to make amends to all those whom I may have led astray.</p>
<p>And now comes the payoff: sanity. Sanity is not a mental health term but rather a state of acceptance and release often attended by a sense of relief. After one has admitted turning one’s mind over to another person or group and has faced the devastation the addiction has caused, and if possible, made amends to those harmed, it becomes possible to experience sanity.</p>
<p>Step Eight, in offering the hope of sanity refers to searching Scripture for the truth. Notice the Step says “search Scripture.” It doesn’t say, “search the Scripture.” One now has the freedom to search for one’s own truth–wherever, whenever, however. Step Eight:</p>
<p>8. I realize that I have the inner power to restore sanity to my life and to search Scripture for the truth.</p>
<p>Having completed the first eight Steps, the recovering fundamentalist can begin authentic relationships with others regarding spirituality. No longer does one need to “be right”, convert, admonish, exhort, or teach. The first eight Steps make it possible to share on a truly level playing field without right/wrong, either/or dichotomies. Step Nine:</p>
<p>9. I will reach out to friends who can help me clarify my thinking about the Bible, God and Jesus.</p>
<p>Reaching out to friends is not the same as dependence. It means information-gathering, exploring, dialoging, but most importantly, thinking for oneself.</p>
<p>Then brilliantly, Step Ten hastens to add that I do not need to figure it out all on my own; I can ask for help from a Higher Power. It humbly implies that I don’t have all the answers. I have help, but it is with my own mind that I grasp the truth, not with someone else’s.</p>
<p>10. I confess that only with God’s help can my mind grasp the truth.</p>
<p>How do I get help from a Higher Power? I practice Step Eleven which deals with conscious contact with that power. This may have nothing to do with reading the Bible or going to church. It may have nothing to do with meditating in a lotus posture or praying in the traditional sense. It may mean journaling, spending time in nature, painting, composing music or poetry.</p>
<p>11. I will seek through prayer and meditation to improve my conscious contact with God, praying for knowledge of God’s will for me and the power to carry that out.</p>
<p>One of the most profound aspects of recovering from any addiction is the compassion one experiences for others who are still ensnared in the addiction. One naturally wants to share the liberation, peace, and sense of well being that one has found with others who are suffering. What might be particularly challenging for the recovering fundamentalist, however, is to share the Twelve Steps of Fundamentalists Anonymous without falling back into one’s addiction to proselytize and “being right.” So Step Twelve must be practiced sensitively and compassionately.</p>
<p>12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these twelve steps, I will offer these steps to other former biblical fundamentalists.</p>
<p>Some may argue that I am being judgmental and lacking compassion in this article and my former article on Christian fundamentalism. However, I do not apologize for being uncompromising in my analysis. As with all addictions, compassion for the addict does not mean condoning addictive behavior. It means speaking the truth about the addiction to the addict him/herself, to the family and loved ones involved with the addict, or anyone else affected by his/her behavior. This is referred to in recovery circles as an intervention. Is it not appropriate for critically thinking individuals who desire to live in a diverse and open society to conduct “interventions” when those drunk on Dominionism and fundamentalist Christianity flagrantly attempt to construct a theocracy which requires everyone to be a born-again Christian in order to thrive in that society? Do we not have a moral obligation to confront destructive religious intoxication that tears apart families, communities, and nations? Hopefully, this article is an example of such an intervention.</p>
<p>The mainstream media does not seem to comprehend the inherent danger of the religious right let alone report it accurately. All of us need to challenge the addictive tyranny of Christian fundamentalism at every turn–for the sake of our sanity and for the sake of our civil liberties. We don’t allow street junkies into the halls of Congress, the Supreme Court, or the pulpits of America to admonish us how we should live and why we should demolish our Constitution. In fact, we confront the insanity and criminality of such individuals. Similarly, it’s time to confront the domination drug for what it is–a grave and perverse spiritual and moral illness.</p>
<p>CAROLYN BAKER is recovering fundamentalist Christian and an adjunct professor of history living in Southern New Mexico. She can be contacted at: <a href="mailto:cbaker@nmsu.edu" type="external">cbaker@nmsu.edu</a></p>
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<p>TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AP) — A Honduran judge has suspended five lawmakers accused of diverting public funds, but refused prosecutors’ request that they be held pending trial.</p>
<p>All five members of Congress declined to make statements during their initial appearances in court on Thursday.</p>
<p>Honduran prosecutors and the Organization of American States’ anti-corruption mission announced the case against the politicians earlier this month.</p>
<p>According to the investigation, the deputies allegedly requested the funds for a nonprofit organization, which cut checks to them immediately after receiving the money. The public projects never materialized, but banking records show the lawmakers deposited the checks in personal accounts or cashed them.</p>
<p>The judge barred them from leaving the country or having contact with their congressional colleagues.</p>
<p>TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AP) — A Honduran judge has suspended five lawmakers accused of diverting public funds, but refused prosecutors’ request that they be held pending trial.</p>
<p>All five members of Congress declined to make statements during their initial appearances in court on Thursday.</p>
<p>Honduran prosecutors and the Organization of American States’ anti-corruption mission announced the case against the politicians earlier this month.</p>
<p>According to the investigation, the deputies allegedly requested the funds for a nonprofit organization, which cut checks to them immediately after receiving the money. The public projects never materialized, but banking records show the lawmakers deposited the checks in personal accounts or cashed them.</p>
<p>The judge barred them from leaving the country or having contact with their congressional colleagues.</p> | Judge suspends 5 Honduran lawmakers accused of corruption | false | https://apnews.com/abb4825053f54f82979c1e8fdc2f9c9d | 2017-12-28 | 2least
| Judge suspends 5 Honduran lawmakers accused of corruption
<p>TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AP) — A Honduran judge has suspended five lawmakers accused of diverting public funds, but refused prosecutors’ request that they be held pending trial.</p>
<p>All five members of Congress declined to make statements during their initial appearances in court on Thursday.</p>
<p>Honduran prosecutors and the Organization of American States’ anti-corruption mission announced the case against the politicians earlier this month.</p>
<p>According to the investigation, the deputies allegedly requested the funds for a nonprofit organization, which cut checks to them immediately after receiving the money. The public projects never materialized, but banking records show the lawmakers deposited the checks in personal accounts or cashed them.</p>
<p>The judge barred them from leaving the country or having contact with their congressional colleagues.</p>
<p>TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AP) — A Honduran judge has suspended five lawmakers accused of diverting public funds, but refused prosecutors’ request that they be held pending trial.</p>
<p>All five members of Congress declined to make statements during their initial appearances in court on Thursday.</p>
<p>Honduran prosecutors and the Organization of American States’ anti-corruption mission announced the case against the politicians earlier this month.</p>
<p>According to the investigation, the deputies allegedly requested the funds for a nonprofit organization, which cut checks to them immediately after receiving the money. The public projects never materialized, but banking records show the lawmakers deposited the checks in personal accounts or cashed them.</p>
<p>The judge barred them from leaving the country or having contact with their congressional colleagues.</p> | 703 |
<p>These are sleepless nights and worry-filled days for many undocumented immigrants brought to the US as children.</p>
<p>"Every single day, when I leave my home I pray to God that I'm going to come back home to see my mother," says Martha Zavala Perez, an&#160;immigrant with DACA status living in Oxnard, California.&#160;DACA is short for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, a 2012 Obama administration executive order that offered temporary protection and work permits to immigrants who arrived in the US as children.</p>
<p>Beneficiaries of the program have been on edge since 23-year-old California resident Juan Manuel Montes —&#160;who thought he had DACA protection —&#160;was deported to his native Mexico in February.</p>
<p>"Now, I can't help but look over my shoulder. That is the new normal, to constantly be aware,"&#160;Zavala Perez says. "I'm constantly checking my wallet to make sure I have my DACA permit with me&#160;because nothing makes me feel safe at this point."</p>
<p>Attorneys for Montes say border agents apprehended their client and walked him across the border two months ago without an explanation. Montes was reportedly heading to a taxi stand in Calexico, California, when he was approached by an agent on a bicycle who asked him for identification. Montes had left his wallet in a friend's car and was unable to prove his DACA status. Hours later officials deposited him in Mexico where he's now living&#160;with relatives.</p>
<p>The Department of Homeland Security at first claimed that Montes' DACA status had expired in 2015, but&#160; <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2017/04/19/homeland-security-now-acknowledges-deported-dreamer-had-protective-status/100647846/" type="external">admitted on&#160;Wednesday that Montes did indeed have protected DACA status until 2018</a>. But DHS argued&#160;the status became invalid when Montes tried to re-enter the country illegally two days after his deportation. His attorneys countered&#160;that their client&#160;would never have been&#160;crossing the&#160;border if he hadn't been wrongly deported in the first place. They are suing for information about Montes' case.</p>
<p>Zavala Perez isn't surprised by what happened to the so-called "Dreamer," the term used by supporters of undocumented immigrants brought to the US as children.</p>
<p>"The immigrant community, we know how border patrol works. They funnel people through. They ignore due process," she says. "I knew it was going to happen, it was just a matter of time."</p>
<p>Some media reports suggest Montes is the first deported Dreamer.&#160;He's not, strictly speaking. The Obama administration also expelled several hundred&#160;DACA recipients who were convicted of&#160;a "significant misdemeanor" or had three misdemeanors.&#160;Montes was convicted for shoplifting in 2016, which did not disqualify him from&#160;DACA. Since President Donald Trump took office, several other DACA recipients have been detained but not deported, including <a href="" type="internal">Daniel Ramirez Medina in Washington</a> and <a href="" type="internal">Josue Romero in Texas</a>.</p>
<p>Trump has not stated what his policy will be toward people with deferred deportation status, such as DACA recipients.&#160;On the campaign trail in 2016, he vowed to do away with the DACA program. Any undocumented immigrant charged with a crime would become eligible for removal. But at a press conference in January, Trump hinted that he might be considering a compromise.</p>
<p>"We're going to show great heart. DACA is a very, very difficult subject for me," he told reporters. "I love these kids. I love kids. I have kids and grandkids ...&#160;And I find it very, very hard doing what the law says exactly to do, and, you know, the law is rough."</p>
<p>Ask the president:&#160; <a href="" type="internal">What are you going to do with DAPA and DACA?</a></p>
<p>Zavala Perez was born in Mexico and <a href="" type="internal">found out she was undocumented in high school</a>, when she applied to community college. She doesn't expect the Trump administration to continue to provide DACA protections, but she vowed to fight his policies publicly after <a href="" type="internal">she was invited to attend Trump's address to Congress at the end of February</a>.</p>
<p>"In the case of Juan Manuel Montes, why were his attorneys not notified?" she asks. "Why didn't he have his day in court?"</p>
<p>US Judge Gonzalo Curiel has now been assigned to hear the Montes case. Trump criticized Curiel last year over&#160;his handling of a lawsuit against Trump University, and argued that the judge could not impartially hear the case because of his Mexican heritage. Curiel was born in Indiana.</p> | Immigrants brought illegally to the US as kids have new reason to fear the worst under Trump | false | https://pri.org/stories/2017-04-21/uncertainty-isnt-new-undocumented-immigrants-brought-us-children-it-heightened | 2017-04-21 | 3left-center
| Immigrants brought illegally to the US as kids have new reason to fear the worst under Trump
<p>These are sleepless nights and worry-filled days for many undocumented immigrants brought to the US as children.</p>
<p>"Every single day, when I leave my home I pray to God that I'm going to come back home to see my mother," says Martha Zavala Perez, an&#160;immigrant with DACA status living in Oxnard, California.&#160;DACA is short for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, a 2012 Obama administration executive order that offered temporary protection and work permits to immigrants who arrived in the US as children.</p>
<p>Beneficiaries of the program have been on edge since 23-year-old California resident Juan Manuel Montes —&#160;who thought he had DACA protection —&#160;was deported to his native Mexico in February.</p>
<p>"Now, I can't help but look over my shoulder. That is the new normal, to constantly be aware,"&#160;Zavala Perez says. "I'm constantly checking my wallet to make sure I have my DACA permit with me&#160;because nothing makes me feel safe at this point."</p>
<p>Attorneys for Montes say border agents apprehended their client and walked him across the border two months ago without an explanation. Montes was reportedly heading to a taxi stand in Calexico, California, when he was approached by an agent on a bicycle who asked him for identification. Montes had left his wallet in a friend's car and was unable to prove his DACA status. Hours later officials deposited him in Mexico where he's now living&#160;with relatives.</p>
<p>The Department of Homeland Security at first claimed that Montes' DACA status had expired in 2015, but&#160; <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2017/04/19/homeland-security-now-acknowledges-deported-dreamer-had-protective-status/100647846/" type="external">admitted on&#160;Wednesday that Montes did indeed have protected DACA status until 2018</a>. But DHS argued&#160;the status became invalid when Montes tried to re-enter the country illegally two days after his deportation. His attorneys countered&#160;that their client&#160;would never have been&#160;crossing the&#160;border if he hadn't been wrongly deported in the first place. They are suing for information about Montes' case.</p>
<p>Zavala Perez isn't surprised by what happened to the so-called "Dreamer," the term used by supporters of undocumented immigrants brought to the US as children.</p>
<p>"The immigrant community, we know how border patrol works. They funnel people through. They ignore due process," she says. "I knew it was going to happen, it was just a matter of time."</p>
<p>Some media reports suggest Montes is the first deported Dreamer.&#160;He's not, strictly speaking. The Obama administration also expelled several hundred&#160;DACA recipients who were convicted of&#160;a "significant misdemeanor" or had three misdemeanors.&#160;Montes was convicted for shoplifting in 2016, which did not disqualify him from&#160;DACA. Since President Donald Trump took office, several other DACA recipients have been detained but not deported, including <a href="" type="internal">Daniel Ramirez Medina in Washington</a> and <a href="" type="internal">Josue Romero in Texas</a>.</p>
<p>Trump has not stated what his policy will be toward people with deferred deportation status, such as DACA recipients.&#160;On the campaign trail in 2016, he vowed to do away with the DACA program. Any undocumented immigrant charged with a crime would become eligible for removal. But at a press conference in January, Trump hinted that he might be considering a compromise.</p>
<p>"We're going to show great heart. DACA is a very, very difficult subject for me," he told reporters. "I love these kids. I love kids. I have kids and grandkids ...&#160;And I find it very, very hard doing what the law says exactly to do, and, you know, the law is rough."</p>
<p>Ask the president:&#160; <a href="" type="internal">What are you going to do with DAPA and DACA?</a></p>
<p>Zavala Perez was born in Mexico and <a href="" type="internal">found out she was undocumented in high school</a>, when she applied to community college. She doesn't expect the Trump administration to continue to provide DACA protections, but she vowed to fight his policies publicly after <a href="" type="internal">she was invited to attend Trump's address to Congress at the end of February</a>.</p>
<p>"In the case of Juan Manuel Montes, why were his attorneys not notified?" she asks. "Why didn't he have his day in court?"</p>
<p>US Judge Gonzalo Curiel has now been assigned to hear the Montes case. Trump criticized Curiel last year over&#160;his handling of a lawsuit against Trump University, and argued that the judge could not impartially hear the case because of his Mexican heritage. Curiel was born in Indiana.</p> | 704 |
<p>Do You Have The Word Of God?</p>
<p>"The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever. " <a href="http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Psa&amp;c=12&amp;v=1&amp;t=kjv" type="external">Psalm 12:6,7</a></p>
<p>There are many good works that one can read on the authority of the King James Bible, and this particular effort offers nothing really new. However, it does attempt to explain the issue in a simple and brief manner for all to understand. Over the years I have learned a great deal about this issue, and I believe that a truth worth learning is a truth worth telling. Many preachers and teachers across our land talk about "preferring" and "using" the KJV, but I haven't heard them speak much about BELIEVING it. Many prefer it and use it, because that's what their congregations prefer and use, but they do not BELIEVE it to be the infallible words of God. They are taught in college to USE, PREFER, and RECOMMEND the KJV, but they are NOT taught to BELIEVE it. Most "Christian colleges" teach that the King James Bible is only a translation, and that NO translation is infallible. Consequently, the average minister today uses a Book which he doesn't even believe. Now, I thank God that I don't have that problem. I don't have to play make-believe with anyone about the word of God. I believe it. I believe the King James Bible is the preserved and infallible words of God. It doesn't merely "contain" the word of God: it IS the word of God. I'm absolutely sure of it, and I'd like to give a few reasons why. Here are twelve reasons how I know that the KJV is the word of God:</p>
<p>God Promised to Preserve His Words</p>
<p>Psalm 12:6-7 says, "The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever." Then we read in Psalm 100:5 that ". . . . his truth endureth to all generations," and Jesus said in John 17:17 that God's WORD is truth. These words state very clearly that God's preserved word MUST be available to us today, because God PROMISED to preserve it for us. There MUST be an infallible Book somewhere. You say, "But ALL translations are God's word, not just one." That's impossible, because the various translations contain different readings, and God is not the author of confusion (I Cor. 14:33). Besides, if all of the versions are the word of God, then where are the "corrupt" and "perverted" versions that we are warned about in II Corinthians 2:17 and Jeremiah 23:36? If everyone is innocent, then where are those who are said to be GUILTY of subtracting from and adding to the word of God (Rev. 22:18-19)? God wouldn't have warned us about Bible perversion if it wasn't going to be a reality. According to the scriptures, there must be a single Book that is the word of God, and there must be MANY which are involved in CORRUPTING the word of God. Now, if the Authorized Version isn't the infallible word of God, then WHAT IS? There has to be a Book somewhere in "all generations" which is God's word; so what book is it? Those who "use" the new versions believe that these are good and reliable translations, but they do NOT believe these to be INFALLIBLE translations. However, I know MANY people who believe the King James Bible to be an infallible Book. Why? Because they know that the One True God has ONE TRUE BOOK. He promised to preserve His words, and we believe that He has done just that. Jesus said, "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away" (Matthew 24:35). If His words didn't pass away, then where are they? I want to read them. There has to be a perfect volume somewhere. I know the King James Bible is the word of God because God promised to preserve His words.</p>
<p>The Authorized Version Was Translated Under A God-Ordained English King</p>
<p>The main subject of the Bible is the kingdom which God intends to give to His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, Who will be crowned "KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS," according to Revelation 19:16. Ecclesiastes 8:4 says, "Where the word of a king is, there is power: and who may say unto him, What doest thou?" Unlike the modern versions, the KJV was translated under a king. In fact, the king's name was "James," which is the English word for "Jacob," whom God renamed "Israel," because he had power with God and with men (Gen. 32:28). The new versions have been translated in America, which is not a monarchy. God's form of government is a theocratic monarchy, not a democracy. Therefore, it makes perfect sense that His word would be translated for the English speaking people under a monarchy with an English king. I know the King James Bible is the word of God because it was translated under a king.</p>
<p />
<p>Because God Always Translates Perfectly</p>
<p>The words "translate" and "translated" occur three times in the Bible, and GOD is the Translator each time. The scholars insist that the KJV cannot be infallible, because it is "only a translation." Do you suppose that such scholars have checked II Samuel 3:10, Colossians 1:13, and Hebrews 11:5 to see what GOD has to say about translating? In II Samuel 3:10 we are told that it was God Who translated Saul's kingdom to David. We are told in Colossians 1:13 that Christians have been translated into the kingdom of Jesus Christ, and Hebrews 11:5 tells us that God translated Enoch that he should not see death. God was the One doing the translating each time. What's the point? The point is that a translation CAN be perfect, if God is involved in the translating. When the New Testament writers would quote the Old Testament (Mt. 1:23; Mk. 1:2; Lk. 4:4; Jn. 15:25; Acts 1:20; 7:42; I Cor. 2:9; Gal. 3:13, etc.), they had to TRANSLATE from Hebrew to Greek, because the Old Testament was written in Hebrew, but THEY wrote in Greek. So, if a translation cannot be infallible, then EVEN THE NEW TESTAMENT IN THE "ORIGINAL GREEK" ISN'T INFALLIBLE, because it contains translations from the Hebrew text! Obviously God assisted them in their translating by the leadership of the Holy Spirit, and He assisted the King James translators as well. The scholars will never understand this, for most of them have QUENCHED the Holy Spirit in their own lives by looking to higher education for truth, rather than seeking the Lord's leadership (Jn. 16:13). The Holy Spirit Who inspired the word of God through "holy men of God" (II Pet. 1:21) is quite capable of guiding His servants to KEEP the words which Jesus told us to keep (Jn. 14:23). In essence, the KJV translators were merely INSTRUMENTS which God used in translating and preserving His word. In fact, they said this themselves in the Dedicatory to the Authorized Version: ". . . . because we are poor instruments to make God's holy truth to be yet more and more known to the people. . . " I know the King James Bible is the word of God, because God is very capable of using anyone He pleases as His very own instruments of righteousness in order to preserve His word. <a href="http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Rev&amp;c=22" type="external" /> Because It Produces Good Fruit</p>
<p>The Lord Jesus said that every good tree will bring forth good fruit, and we can know them BY their fruits (Mt. 7:17-20). God had the KJV translated for the purpose of bringing forth fruit, and it has been very obedient to the call. The greatest preachers of the past four centuries have been King James Bible believers. Billy Sunday is said to have led over one million people to Christ, and he was a KJV believer. Spurgeon, Moody, Whitfield, and Wesley were all KJV men, and the list goes on. God has richly blessed the ministries of such men as these because they stayed busy OBEYING His word rather than questioning its authority. The KJV produces good fruit. I was led to Christ with a King James Bible. Nearly every Christian I know was led to Christ with a KJV. Why? Because it produces good fruit. The new translations produce EVIL fruit. The modern perversions of scripture are producing infidels who do not even know what the word of God is, much less where to find it. The new translations produce spiritual babies who are totally incapable of discussing Bible doctrine. The new versions produce NEWER versions, which produce MONEY for the publishers, and I Timothy 6:10 tells us that the love of MONEY is the root of all EVIL. The Holy Spirit doesn't bear witness to the modern translations, but He DOES bear witness to the King James. I've always believed the KJV to be God's word, even before I was saved. No one ever told me to believe this, but the Holy Spirit just bore witness to the King James--not the others. After being saved, I spent several years of my Christian life not being aware of the big debate going on these days between King James Bible believers and New Age Version believers. The whole time I believed only ONE BOOK to be God's word, and even then I was suspicious of the new versions, although no one had told me to be. When I discovered that over eighty percent of the "Christian" schools in our nation do not believe the KJV to be the word of God, I was shocked. How is it that one comes to believe the KJV naturally, but must be EDUCATED OUT of his belief in it? Why is it that King James believers are accused of following men when GOD is the One Who led them to believe it? Why do opponents of the KJV accuse us of following men, when THEY are the ones who allowed MEN to talk them out of believing the KJV? The KJV produces good fruit, because the Holy Spirit bears witness to it like no other book in the world. It's easier to memorize than any new version, and the beautiful old English language gives the reader the impression that he is reading a Book very different and far superior to the rest. It reads different because it IS different, and it IS different because it has a different Author. We shall know them "by their fruit", and I know the King James Bible is the word of God, because it produces GOOD fruit.</p>
<p>Because the King James Translators Believed They Were Handling the Very Words of God</p>
<p>One can see this truth by reading the Prefatory and Dedicatory remarks in the Authorized Version. These men didn't believe they were handling "God's message" or "reliable manuscripts." They believed they were handling the very words of God Himself. As I Thessalonians 2:13 says, they ". . . . received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe." Like the serpent of Genesis 3:1, modern translators approach the scriptures in skepticism, saying, "Yea, hath God said?" This was the first recorded sin in the Bible, and it still runs rapid through the hearts and minds of most scholars and new version promoters. God has always allowed such people to be DECEIVED because of the IDOLS in their hearts (Ezek. 14:1-9; II Thess. 2:10-12; I Kings 22). A man who lacks faith in God's word is in no condition to translate it. This eliminates every revision committee in the past one hundred years, because these committees have consisted mostly of highly educated men who were heady, high-minded, and proud, thinking that their intelligence qualified them to tamper with the pure words of God. The KJV translators were not like this. Their scholarship FAR EXCEEDED that of modern translators, yet they remained humble and allowed God to use them in order to produce an infallible masterpiece. They didn't set out to "judge" and "correct" the word of God. Their purpose was to translate God's word for the English speaking people, as they were told to do by their appointed king. I know the King James Bible is the word of God because the KJV translators believed it themselves. Because the King James Translators Were Honest In Their Work</p>
<p>The critics of the KJV enjoy making a fuss about the words in italics, which were added by the translators, but the argument is entirely unnecessary and unfair. The italic words in the KJV actually PROVE that the translators were honest in their work. When translating from one language to another, the idioms change, thus making it necessary to add certain words to help the reader grasp the full meaning of the text. When the KJV translators added such words they set them in italics so that we'd know these words were added, UNLIKE we find it in so many new versions today, which do NOT use the italics. Besides, no one has ever PROVEN that the italic words are not the words of God, because no one has "the originals" to check them with. In fact, we know for sure that the translators were led by the Holy Spirit to add at least some of the italicized words. One good example of this is found in II Samuel 21:19. When the translators came to this verse in the Hebrew text, they noticed that an exact translation would give Elhanan credit for slaying Goliath, but we know from I Chronicles 20:5 that he actually slew THE BROTHER OF Goliath. So the KJV translators added the words "the brother of" to II Samuel 21:19. If the Lord had not led them to do so, then II Samuel 21:19 would contradict I Chronicles 20:5 (as it DOES in the New World Translation!). Another fine example is I John 2:23. The last half of the verse was missing at the time, but the KJV translators inserted it anyhow (in italics), feeling that it was necessary. This naturally disturbed many people, but since that time new manuscripts have been found which CONTAIN the last half of I John 2:23. The translators were RIGHT in adding the italicized words. One last example of the Holy Spirit's guiding influence on the KJV translators is found in Psalm 16:8, which says, "I have set the LORD always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved." As you can see, the words "he is" are in italics. According to many scholars they should be omitted, but according to the Apostle Peter they should NOT be omitted. Peter quotes Psalm 16:8 in Acts 2:25, and he USES the italicized words! How did the translators know this if the Lord didn't lead them? The italics in the King James Bible are the marks of an HONEST translation, for no one added these words to mislead us, or to change the word of God. They added the words to help us, and they set the words in italics so we'd know they were added. That's honesty. I know the KJV is the word of God, because the translators were more honest in their work than any of the modern Bible translators. Because All New Translations Compare Themselves to the KJV</p>
<p>The new versions do not compare themselves with each other, because they're too busy comparing themselves with one Book--the King James Bible. This fact alone proves that there is something very special and unique about the KJV. Why does everyone line up in opposition AGAINST the King James Bible? Why not attack one another? That's easy: Satan has no desire to divide his own kingdom (Mt. 12:26). His desire is to discredit the word of GOD, not himself; so he attacks only one Book, God's Book, the KJV. Those who oppose the KJV are unsure of themselves, for they have no Final Authority; so they despise those of us who DO have an Authority. They're unstable, insecure, dishonest, and very inconsistent. They're all TERRIFIED of One Book, the KJV, and they'll stop short of nothing in their efforts to rid the Body of Christ of that Book. I know the KJV is the word of God, because it's the standard which all others use for comparison. Because of the Time in History in Which It Was Translated</p>
<p>The King James Bible was not translated during the apostate and lukewarm Laodicean church period, like the new translations. The Laodicean period is the last church period before the Second Coming of Christ. It is the last of the seven church periods in Revelation chapters two and three. One can clearly see that we are living in the Laodicean period today by simply comparing modern churches to the church of Revelation 3:14-22. This lukewarm period began toward the end of the 1800's and will continue until Christ returns. The new versions fit well into the lukewarm churches, because they are lukewarm "bibles." The Authorized Version, however, was translated LONG BEFORE the Laodicean churches appeared. It was translated during the Philadelphia church period, which is the best church period of all. It was this church that the Lord Jesus COMMENDED for KEEPING HIS WORD( Rev. 3:8-10)! In 1611, when the King James Bible was completed, the scourge of lukewarm Laodicea had not yet swept over the world. There was no "scientific" crowd around in 1611 to put pressure on the translators. There was no civil rights movement going on at this time to influence the work of these men. The women were not screaming for "equal rights," and the humanists and socialists had not yet taken control. The massive army of liberal and modernistic preachers had not yet been assembled. The open public denial of God's word and the Deity of Christ was practically unheard of among ministers. It wasn't until the twentieth century that professing Christianity became flooded with lukewarm preachers who would be willing to compromise the word of God for self gain. The greatest missionary work in church history occurred between 1700 and 1900, so it makes perfect sense that God would have a Bible ready for this great work, and He did - the KJV. Unfortunately, the new translations appeared a bit LATE on the scene! Think about that. I know the KJV is the word of God because of the time in history in which it was translated. Because No One Has Ever Proven That the KJV is Not God's Word</p>
<p>Any honest American should know that innocence is supposed to prevail in our land until guilt is proven. The KJV should be presumed innocent until proven guilty. Has anyone proven it guilty? No. Has any scholar actually PROVEN that there are errors in the King James Bible? No. Enemies of the KJV delight in IGNORING the facts about the Authorized Version, while never PROVING anything. All apparent "errors" in the KJV can be explained through prayer and a careful study of the scriptures, but the opponents of the KJV aren't interested in looking for TRUTH; they're interested attacking God's word, while never proving anything. I know the KJV is the word of God, because, over nearly four hundred years, no one has proven otherwise. Because of the Manuscript Evidence</p>
<p>Only a very deceived individual could believe that the new versions are equal to the King James Bible. Ninety-five percent of all evidence SUPPORTS the text of the King James Authorized Version. The new versions are supported by the remaining five percent evidence. The new "bibles" are supported by two very corrupt fourth century manuscripts, known as the "Vaticanus" and the "Siniaticus." These manuscripts are filled with many text alterations to meet the demands of Roman Catholic tradition. They also include the Apocrypha, which the Lord Jesus Christ EXCLUDED from the Old Testament in Luke 24:44. All new versions contain readings from these corrupt manuscripts, and all new versions use their tiny five percent evidence to attack the ninety-five percent majority text of the King James Bible. The Textus Receptus (received text) from which the King James Bible came can be traced clear back to Antioch, Syria, where the disciples were first called Christians and where Paul and Barnabas taught the word of God for a whole year (Acts 11:26). The other "bibles" do not come from Antioch. They come from Alexandria, Egypt, and from Rome. We don't need an Egyptian version, for Egypt is a type of the WORLD in the Bible. God called His people OUT of Egypt (Exod. 3-14), and God called His Son out of Egypt (Hos. 11:1 with Matt. 2:13-15). Why, the Bible says that "every shepherd is an abomination unto the Egyptians" in Gen. 46:34, and the Lord Jesus Christ is called a SHEPHERD in John chapter ten. Alexandria, Egypt, is associated with SUPERSTITION in Acts 28:11, and Aquilla and Pricilla had to set an Egyptian straight on his doctrine in Acts chapter 18. Alexandrians are also found DISPUTING WITH STEPHEN in Acts 6:9. So we don't need a "bible" from Alexandria, Egypt. Then there's the Roman text, also called the "Western Text." We can also do without a Roman "bible", because it was ROMAN soldiers who nailed our Lord to the cross. The harlot of Revelation 17 is a perfect description of the Roman Catholic Church, which has persecuted Christians for thousands of years. Romans persecuted the Christians in Acts18:2, and in 70 A.D. the Romans destroyed Jerusalem. Rome is the "dreadful and terrible" beast of Daniel chapter seven, and Christ will destroy the "Revised Roman Empire" at the Second Coming (Dan. 2; 7; and Rev. 13). It has been estimated that Rome is guilty of the blood of some 200 million people who have rejected her corrupt system. A "bible" from Rome is another thing we can live without. There's only one line of manuscripts that we can trust, and this is the line from Antioch, called the "Syrian" or "Byzantine" type text. The word of God speaks POSITIVELY of Antioch, and NEGATIVELY of Rome and Egypt. We should TAKE THE BEST AND DUMP THE REST! I know the King James Bible is the word of God because of the manuscript evidence. Because It Exalts the Lord Jesus Christ</p>
<p>Jesus said, "Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: And they are they which testify of me." John 5:39. A REAL Bible will testify of the Lord Jesus Christ. The true word of God will always EXALT Jesus Christ, and it will NEVER attack Hid Deity, His Virgin Birth, His Blood Atonement, His Bodily Resurrection, His Glorious Second Coming, or any other doctrines concerning His Person. However, the new versions attack ALL of the fundamental doctrines concerning the Lord Jesus Christ at one time or another. By perverting the many important verses of scripture which deal with the fundamental doctrines of Christ, the new "bibles" have a CONTINUOUS ATTACK launched against our beloved Savior, and this is NOT an overstatement! His Virgin Birth is under attack in Isaiah 7:14, Luke 1:34, and Luke 2:33. His Blood Atonement is under attack in Colossians 1:14, Acts 20:28, Ephesians 1:7, and Revelation 1:5. The Bodily Resurrection is under attack in Acts 1:3, Luke chapter 24, and the last twelve verses of Mark. His Deity is under attack in Acts 10:28, John 9:35, and I Timothy 3:16. The new versions attack the Second Coming in Revelation 11:15, and Titus 2:13, and the list goes on, because the new versions have an extreme bitter HATRED toward the Authorized Version and the way it gives the Lord Jesus Christ the preeminent place. If the reader doubts this, we challenge you to take whatever version you want and compare the above verses in it to the same verses in the King James Bible. If you still doubt it, after checking the verses, then write us and we will send you a great many more references to check. The new "bibles" have a very consistent record of attacking the Lord Jesus Christ; so they cannot possibly be "the scriptures" that He said would testify of Him in John 5:39. They testify AGAINST him. The King James Bible NEVER attacks our Lord. More than any book in the world, the Authorized Version of the Protestant Reformation EXALTS the Lord Jesus Christ. If we had no other reason for receiving the Authorized Version as the word of God, this reason alone should be enough to convince any true believer, for how could we not become suspicious of the new versions for making such changes? I know the King James Bible is the word of God because it always exalts the Lord Jesus Christ. written by <a href="http://www.biblebelievers.com/jmelton/knowkjv.html" type="external">James L Melton</a></p> | true | http://nowtheendbegins.com/pages/KJV/how-i-know-the-kjv-is-the-word-of-god.htm | 0right
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<p>Do You Have The Word Of God?</p>
<p>"The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever. " <a href="http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Psa&amp;c=12&amp;v=1&amp;t=kjv" type="external">Psalm 12:6,7</a></p>
<p>There are many good works that one can read on the authority of the King James Bible, and this particular effort offers nothing really new. However, it does attempt to explain the issue in a simple and brief manner for all to understand. Over the years I have learned a great deal about this issue, and I believe that a truth worth learning is a truth worth telling. Many preachers and teachers across our land talk about "preferring" and "using" the KJV, but I haven't heard them speak much about BELIEVING it. Many prefer it and use it, because that's what their congregations prefer and use, but they do not BELIEVE it to be the infallible words of God. They are taught in college to USE, PREFER, and RECOMMEND the KJV, but they are NOT taught to BELIEVE it. Most "Christian colleges" teach that the King James Bible is only a translation, and that NO translation is infallible. Consequently, the average minister today uses a Book which he doesn't even believe. Now, I thank God that I don't have that problem. I don't have to play make-believe with anyone about the word of God. I believe it. I believe the King James Bible is the preserved and infallible words of God. It doesn't merely "contain" the word of God: it IS the word of God. I'm absolutely sure of it, and I'd like to give a few reasons why. Here are twelve reasons how I know that the KJV is the word of God:</p>
<p>God Promised to Preserve His Words</p>
<p>Psalm 12:6-7 says, "The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever." Then we read in Psalm 100:5 that ". . . . his truth endureth to all generations," and Jesus said in John 17:17 that God's WORD is truth. These words state very clearly that God's preserved word MUST be available to us today, because God PROMISED to preserve it for us. There MUST be an infallible Book somewhere. You say, "But ALL translations are God's word, not just one." That's impossible, because the various translations contain different readings, and God is not the author of confusion (I Cor. 14:33). Besides, if all of the versions are the word of God, then where are the "corrupt" and "perverted" versions that we are warned about in II Corinthians 2:17 and Jeremiah 23:36? If everyone is innocent, then where are those who are said to be GUILTY of subtracting from and adding to the word of God (Rev. 22:18-19)? God wouldn't have warned us about Bible perversion if it wasn't going to be a reality. According to the scriptures, there must be a single Book that is the word of God, and there must be MANY which are involved in CORRUPTING the word of God. Now, if the Authorized Version isn't the infallible word of God, then WHAT IS? There has to be a Book somewhere in "all generations" which is God's word; so what book is it? Those who "use" the new versions believe that these are good and reliable translations, but they do NOT believe these to be INFALLIBLE translations. However, I know MANY people who believe the King James Bible to be an infallible Book. Why? Because they know that the One True God has ONE TRUE BOOK. He promised to preserve His words, and we believe that He has done just that. Jesus said, "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away" (Matthew 24:35). If His words didn't pass away, then where are they? I want to read them. There has to be a perfect volume somewhere. I know the King James Bible is the word of God because God promised to preserve His words.</p>
<p>The Authorized Version Was Translated Under A God-Ordained English King</p>
<p>The main subject of the Bible is the kingdom which God intends to give to His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, Who will be crowned "KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS," according to Revelation 19:16. Ecclesiastes 8:4 says, "Where the word of a king is, there is power: and who may say unto him, What doest thou?" Unlike the modern versions, the KJV was translated under a king. In fact, the king's name was "James," which is the English word for "Jacob," whom God renamed "Israel," because he had power with God and with men (Gen. 32:28). The new versions have been translated in America, which is not a monarchy. God's form of government is a theocratic monarchy, not a democracy. Therefore, it makes perfect sense that His word would be translated for the English speaking people under a monarchy with an English king. I know the King James Bible is the word of God because it was translated under a king.</p>
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<p>Because God Always Translates Perfectly</p>
<p>The words "translate" and "translated" occur three times in the Bible, and GOD is the Translator each time. The scholars insist that the KJV cannot be infallible, because it is "only a translation." Do you suppose that such scholars have checked II Samuel 3:10, Colossians 1:13, and Hebrews 11:5 to see what GOD has to say about translating? In II Samuel 3:10 we are told that it was God Who translated Saul's kingdom to David. We are told in Colossians 1:13 that Christians have been translated into the kingdom of Jesus Christ, and Hebrews 11:5 tells us that God translated Enoch that he should not see death. God was the One doing the translating each time. What's the point? The point is that a translation CAN be perfect, if God is involved in the translating. When the New Testament writers would quote the Old Testament (Mt. 1:23; Mk. 1:2; Lk. 4:4; Jn. 15:25; Acts 1:20; 7:42; I Cor. 2:9; Gal. 3:13, etc.), they had to TRANSLATE from Hebrew to Greek, because the Old Testament was written in Hebrew, but THEY wrote in Greek. So, if a translation cannot be infallible, then EVEN THE NEW TESTAMENT IN THE "ORIGINAL GREEK" ISN'T INFALLIBLE, because it contains translations from the Hebrew text! Obviously God assisted them in their translating by the leadership of the Holy Spirit, and He assisted the King James translators as well. The scholars will never understand this, for most of them have QUENCHED the Holy Spirit in their own lives by looking to higher education for truth, rather than seeking the Lord's leadership (Jn. 16:13). The Holy Spirit Who inspired the word of God through "holy men of God" (II Pet. 1:21) is quite capable of guiding His servants to KEEP the words which Jesus told us to keep (Jn. 14:23). In essence, the KJV translators were merely INSTRUMENTS which God used in translating and preserving His word. In fact, they said this themselves in the Dedicatory to the Authorized Version: ". . . . because we are poor instruments to make God's holy truth to be yet more and more known to the people. . . " I know the King James Bible is the word of God, because God is very capable of using anyone He pleases as His very own instruments of righteousness in order to preserve His word. <a href="http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Rev&amp;c=22" type="external" /> Because It Produces Good Fruit</p>
<p>The Lord Jesus said that every good tree will bring forth good fruit, and we can know them BY their fruits (Mt. 7:17-20). God had the KJV translated for the purpose of bringing forth fruit, and it has been very obedient to the call. The greatest preachers of the past four centuries have been King James Bible believers. Billy Sunday is said to have led over one million people to Christ, and he was a KJV believer. Spurgeon, Moody, Whitfield, and Wesley were all KJV men, and the list goes on. God has richly blessed the ministries of such men as these because they stayed busy OBEYING His word rather than questioning its authority. The KJV produces good fruit. I was led to Christ with a King James Bible. Nearly every Christian I know was led to Christ with a KJV. Why? Because it produces good fruit. The new translations produce EVIL fruit. The modern perversions of scripture are producing infidels who do not even know what the word of God is, much less where to find it. The new translations produce spiritual babies who are totally incapable of discussing Bible doctrine. The new versions produce NEWER versions, which produce MONEY for the publishers, and I Timothy 6:10 tells us that the love of MONEY is the root of all EVIL. The Holy Spirit doesn't bear witness to the modern translations, but He DOES bear witness to the King James. I've always believed the KJV to be God's word, even before I was saved. No one ever told me to believe this, but the Holy Spirit just bore witness to the King James--not the others. After being saved, I spent several years of my Christian life not being aware of the big debate going on these days between King James Bible believers and New Age Version believers. The whole time I believed only ONE BOOK to be God's word, and even then I was suspicious of the new versions, although no one had told me to be. When I discovered that over eighty percent of the "Christian" schools in our nation do not believe the KJV to be the word of God, I was shocked. How is it that one comes to believe the KJV naturally, but must be EDUCATED OUT of his belief in it? Why is it that King James believers are accused of following men when GOD is the One Who led them to believe it? Why do opponents of the KJV accuse us of following men, when THEY are the ones who allowed MEN to talk them out of believing the KJV? The KJV produces good fruit, because the Holy Spirit bears witness to it like no other book in the world. It's easier to memorize than any new version, and the beautiful old English language gives the reader the impression that he is reading a Book very different and far superior to the rest. It reads different because it IS different, and it IS different because it has a different Author. We shall know them "by their fruit", and I know the King James Bible is the word of God, because it produces GOOD fruit.</p>
<p>Because the King James Translators Believed They Were Handling the Very Words of God</p>
<p>One can see this truth by reading the Prefatory and Dedicatory remarks in the Authorized Version. These men didn't believe they were handling "God's message" or "reliable manuscripts." They believed they were handling the very words of God Himself. As I Thessalonians 2:13 says, they ". . . . received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe." Like the serpent of Genesis 3:1, modern translators approach the scriptures in skepticism, saying, "Yea, hath God said?" This was the first recorded sin in the Bible, and it still runs rapid through the hearts and minds of most scholars and new version promoters. God has always allowed such people to be DECEIVED because of the IDOLS in their hearts (Ezek. 14:1-9; II Thess. 2:10-12; I Kings 22). A man who lacks faith in God's word is in no condition to translate it. This eliminates every revision committee in the past one hundred years, because these committees have consisted mostly of highly educated men who were heady, high-minded, and proud, thinking that their intelligence qualified them to tamper with the pure words of God. The KJV translators were not like this. Their scholarship FAR EXCEEDED that of modern translators, yet they remained humble and allowed God to use them in order to produce an infallible masterpiece. They didn't set out to "judge" and "correct" the word of God. Their purpose was to translate God's word for the English speaking people, as they were told to do by their appointed king. I know the King James Bible is the word of God because the KJV translators believed it themselves. Because the King James Translators Were Honest In Their Work</p>
<p>The critics of the KJV enjoy making a fuss about the words in italics, which were added by the translators, but the argument is entirely unnecessary and unfair. The italic words in the KJV actually PROVE that the translators were honest in their work. When translating from one language to another, the idioms change, thus making it necessary to add certain words to help the reader grasp the full meaning of the text. When the KJV translators added such words they set them in italics so that we'd know these words were added, UNLIKE we find it in so many new versions today, which do NOT use the italics. Besides, no one has ever PROVEN that the italic words are not the words of God, because no one has "the originals" to check them with. In fact, we know for sure that the translators were led by the Holy Spirit to add at least some of the italicized words. One good example of this is found in II Samuel 21:19. When the translators came to this verse in the Hebrew text, they noticed that an exact translation would give Elhanan credit for slaying Goliath, but we know from I Chronicles 20:5 that he actually slew THE BROTHER OF Goliath. So the KJV translators added the words "the brother of" to II Samuel 21:19. If the Lord had not led them to do so, then II Samuel 21:19 would contradict I Chronicles 20:5 (as it DOES in the New World Translation!). Another fine example is I John 2:23. The last half of the verse was missing at the time, but the KJV translators inserted it anyhow (in italics), feeling that it was necessary. This naturally disturbed many people, but since that time new manuscripts have been found which CONTAIN the last half of I John 2:23. The translators were RIGHT in adding the italicized words. One last example of the Holy Spirit's guiding influence on the KJV translators is found in Psalm 16:8, which says, "I have set the LORD always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved." As you can see, the words "he is" are in italics. According to many scholars they should be omitted, but according to the Apostle Peter they should NOT be omitted. Peter quotes Psalm 16:8 in Acts 2:25, and he USES the italicized words! How did the translators know this if the Lord didn't lead them? The italics in the King James Bible are the marks of an HONEST translation, for no one added these words to mislead us, or to change the word of God. They added the words to help us, and they set the words in italics so we'd know they were added. That's honesty. I know the KJV is the word of God, because the translators were more honest in their work than any of the modern Bible translators. Because All New Translations Compare Themselves to the KJV</p>
<p>The new versions do not compare themselves with each other, because they're too busy comparing themselves with one Book--the King James Bible. This fact alone proves that there is something very special and unique about the KJV. Why does everyone line up in opposition AGAINST the King James Bible? Why not attack one another? That's easy: Satan has no desire to divide his own kingdom (Mt. 12:26). His desire is to discredit the word of GOD, not himself; so he attacks only one Book, God's Book, the KJV. Those who oppose the KJV are unsure of themselves, for they have no Final Authority; so they despise those of us who DO have an Authority. They're unstable, insecure, dishonest, and very inconsistent. They're all TERRIFIED of One Book, the KJV, and they'll stop short of nothing in their efforts to rid the Body of Christ of that Book. I know the KJV is the word of God, because it's the standard which all others use for comparison. Because of the Time in History in Which It Was Translated</p>
<p>The King James Bible was not translated during the apostate and lukewarm Laodicean church period, like the new translations. The Laodicean period is the last church period before the Second Coming of Christ. It is the last of the seven church periods in Revelation chapters two and three. One can clearly see that we are living in the Laodicean period today by simply comparing modern churches to the church of Revelation 3:14-22. This lukewarm period began toward the end of the 1800's and will continue until Christ returns. The new versions fit well into the lukewarm churches, because they are lukewarm "bibles." The Authorized Version, however, was translated LONG BEFORE the Laodicean churches appeared. It was translated during the Philadelphia church period, which is the best church period of all. It was this church that the Lord Jesus COMMENDED for KEEPING HIS WORD( Rev. 3:8-10)! In 1611, when the King James Bible was completed, the scourge of lukewarm Laodicea had not yet swept over the world. There was no "scientific" crowd around in 1611 to put pressure on the translators. There was no civil rights movement going on at this time to influence the work of these men. The women were not screaming for "equal rights," and the humanists and socialists had not yet taken control. The massive army of liberal and modernistic preachers had not yet been assembled. The open public denial of God's word and the Deity of Christ was practically unheard of among ministers. It wasn't until the twentieth century that professing Christianity became flooded with lukewarm preachers who would be willing to compromise the word of God for self gain. The greatest missionary work in church history occurred between 1700 and 1900, so it makes perfect sense that God would have a Bible ready for this great work, and He did - the KJV. Unfortunately, the new translations appeared a bit LATE on the scene! Think about that. I know the KJV is the word of God because of the time in history in which it was translated. Because No One Has Ever Proven That the KJV is Not God's Word</p>
<p>Any honest American should know that innocence is supposed to prevail in our land until guilt is proven. The KJV should be presumed innocent until proven guilty. Has anyone proven it guilty? No. Has any scholar actually PROVEN that there are errors in the King James Bible? No. Enemies of the KJV delight in IGNORING the facts about the Authorized Version, while never PROVING anything. All apparent "errors" in the KJV can be explained through prayer and a careful study of the scriptures, but the opponents of the KJV aren't interested in looking for TRUTH; they're interested attacking God's word, while never proving anything. I know the KJV is the word of God, because, over nearly four hundred years, no one has proven otherwise. Because of the Manuscript Evidence</p>
<p>Only a very deceived individual could believe that the new versions are equal to the King James Bible. Ninety-five percent of all evidence SUPPORTS the text of the King James Authorized Version. The new versions are supported by the remaining five percent evidence. The new "bibles" are supported by two very corrupt fourth century manuscripts, known as the "Vaticanus" and the "Siniaticus." These manuscripts are filled with many text alterations to meet the demands of Roman Catholic tradition. They also include the Apocrypha, which the Lord Jesus Christ EXCLUDED from the Old Testament in Luke 24:44. All new versions contain readings from these corrupt manuscripts, and all new versions use their tiny five percent evidence to attack the ninety-five percent majority text of the King James Bible. The Textus Receptus (received text) from which the King James Bible came can be traced clear back to Antioch, Syria, where the disciples were first called Christians and where Paul and Barnabas taught the word of God for a whole year (Acts 11:26). The other "bibles" do not come from Antioch. They come from Alexandria, Egypt, and from Rome. We don't need an Egyptian version, for Egypt is a type of the WORLD in the Bible. God called His people OUT of Egypt (Exod. 3-14), and God called His Son out of Egypt (Hos. 11:1 with Matt. 2:13-15). Why, the Bible says that "every shepherd is an abomination unto the Egyptians" in Gen. 46:34, and the Lord Jesus Christ is called a SHEPHERD in John chapter ten. Alexandria, Egypt, is associated with SUPERSTITION in Acts 28:11, and Aquilla and Pricilla had to set an Egyptian straight on his doctrine in Acts chapter 18. Alexandrians are also found DISPUTING WITH STEPHEN in Acts 6:9. So we don't need a "bible" from Alexandria, Egypt. Then there's the Roman text, also called the "Western Text." We can also do without a Roman "bible", because it was ROMAN soldiers who nailed our Lord to the cross. The harlot of Revelation 17 is a perfect description of the Roman Catholic Church, which has persecuted Christians for thousands of years. Romans persecuted the Christians in Acts18:2, and in 70 A.D. the Romans destroyed Jerusalem. Rome is the "dreadful and terrible" beast of Daniel chapter seven, and Christ will destroy the "Revised Roman Empire" at the Second Coming (Dan. 2; 7; and Rev. 13). It has been estimated that Rome is guilty of the blood of some 200 million people who have rejected her corrupt system. A "bible" from Rome is another thing we can live without. There's only one line of manuscripts that we can trust, and this is the line from Antioch, called the "Syrian" or "Byzantine" type text. The word of God speaks POSITIVELY of Antioch, and NEGATIVELY of Rome and Egypt. We should TAKE THE BEST AND DUMP THE REST! I know the King James Bible is the word of God because of the manuscript evidence. Because It Exalts the Lord Jesus Christ</p>
<p>Jesus said, "Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: And they are they which testify of me." John 5:39. A REAL Bible will testify of the Lord Jesus Christ. The true word of God will always EXALT Jesus Christ, and it will NEVER attack Hid Deity, His Virgin Birth, His Blood Atonement, His Bodily Resurrection, His Glorious Second Coming, or any other doctrines concerning His Person. However, the new versions attack ALL of the fundamental doctrines concerning the Lord Jesus Christ at one time or another. By perverting the many important verses of scripture which deal with the fundamental doctrines of Christ, the new "bibles" have a CONTINUOUS ATTACK launched against our beloved Savior, and this is NOT an overstatement! His Virgin Birth is under attack in Isaiah 7:14, Luke 1:34, and Luke 2:33. His Blood Atonement is under attack in Colossians 1:14, Acts 20:28, Ephesians 1:7, and Revelation 1:5. The Bodily Resurrection is under attack in Acts 1:3, Luke chapter 24, and the last twelve verses of Mark. His Deity is under attack in Acts 10:28, John 9:35, and I Timothy 3:16. The new versions attack the Second Coming in Revelation 11:15, and Titus 2:13, and the list goes on, because the new versions have an extreme bitter HATRED toward the Authorized Version and the way it gives the Lord Jesus Christ the preeminent place. If the reader doubts this, we challenge you to take whatever version you want and compare the above verses in it to the same verses in the King James Bible. If you still doubt it, after checking the verses, then write us and we will send you a great many more references to check. The new "bibles" have a very consistent record of attacking the Lord Jesus Christ; so they cannot possibly be "the scriptures" that He said would testify of Him in John 5:39. They testify AGAINST him. The King James Bible NEVER attacks our Lord. More than any book in the world, the Authorized Version of the Protestant Reformation EXALTS the Lord Jesus Christ. If we had no other reason for receiving the Authorized Version as the word of God, this reason alone should be enough to convince any true believer, for how could we not become suspicious of the new versions for making such changes? I know the King James Bible is the word of God because it always exalts the Lord Jesus Christ. written by <a href="http://www.biblebelievers.com/jmelton/knowkjv.html" type="external">James L Melton</a></p> | 705 |
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<p>Are you on Twitter yet?</p>
<p>If not, why not?&#160; We need you.</p>
<p>My post, <a href="" type="internal">Elizabeth Warren loses it, lashes out at “right wing extremist” (me)</a>, is a <a href="" type="internal">Topsy Top 100</a> most tweeted post (a/o 8:30 a.m. today, how high can it go?).</p>
<p>You can retweet any of the tweets below right from the embed:</p>
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<p>Liz Warren’s true &amp; ugly character: Attacking Professor Jacobson at <a href="http://t.co/Clj4ayJo" type="external">bit.ly/NOmT4X</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/search/%2523CheekBones" type="external">#CheekBones</a> Lizzy? YOU CREATED UR PROBLEM. <a href="https://twitter.com/search/%2523masen" type="external">#masen</a></p>
<p>— Voting Female (@VotingFemale) <a href="https://twitter.com/VotingFemale/status/215298050212638720" type="external">June 20, 2012</a></p>
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<p /> | Twitter reacts to Elizabeth Warren’s attack on me | true | http://legalinsurrection.com/2012/06/twitter-reacts-to-elizabeth-warrens-attack-on-me/ | 2012-06-20 | 0right
| Twitter reacts to Elizabeth Warren’s attack on me
<p>Are you on Twitter yet?</p>
<p>If not, why not?&#160; We need you.</p>
<p>My post, <a href="" type="internal">Elizabeth Warren loses it, lashes out at “right wing extremist” (me)</a>, is a <a href="" type="internal">Topsy Top 100</a> most tweeted post (a/o 8:30 a.m. today, how high can it go?).</p>
<p>You can retweet any of the tweets below right from the embed:</p>
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<p>Liz Warren’s true &amp; ugly character: Attacking Professor Jacobson at <a href="http://t.co/Clj4ayJo" type="external">bit.ly/NOmT4X</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/search/%2523CheekBones" type="external">#CheekBones</a> Lizzy? YOU CREATED UR PROBLEM. <a href="https://twitter.com/search/%2523masen" type="external">#masen</a></p>
<p>— Voting Female (@VotingFemale) <a href="https://twitter.com/VotingFemale/status/215298050212638720" type="external">June 20, 2012</a></p>
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<p>AVONDALE, Ariz. - A former Peoria High School teacher accused of filming his sexual assault of two underage students has been sentenced to 20 years in prison.</p>
<p>Maricopa County prosecutors say 37-year-old Werner Alcid Girard also was sentenced Wednesday to lifetime probation as part of his plea agreement.</p>
<p>He pleaded guilty for three counts of sexual assault, one count of attempted sexual assault and one count of sexual exploitation of a minor.</p>
<p>Police say they received a report in May 2014 that Girard had cellphone videos depicting a 15-year-old girl and a 16-year-old girl in various stages of undress.</p>
<p>The victims both were in Girard's drama class.</p>
<p>Girard was accused of sexually assaulted the two girls in a bedroom at his Avondale home.</p>
<p>He resigned at the end of the school year.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | Ex-high school teacher sentenced for sexually assaulting 2 | false | https://abqjournal.com/613099/ex-high-school-teacher-sentenced-for-sexually-assaulting-2.html | 2least
| Ex-high school teacher sentenced for sexually assaulting 2
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p>AVONDALE, Ariz. - A former Peoria High School teacher accused of filming his sexual assault of two underage students has been sentenced to 20 years in prison.</p>
<p>Maricopa County prosecutors say 37-year-old Werner Alcid Girard also was sentenced Wednesday to lifetime probation as part of his plea agreement.</p>
<p>He pleaded guilty for three counts of sexual assault, one count of attempted sexual assault and one count of sexual exploitation of a minor.</p>
<p>Police say they received a report in May 2014 that Girard had cellphone videos depicting a 15-year-old girl and a 16-year-old girl in various stages of undress.</p>
<p>The victims both were in Girard's drama class.</p>
<p>Girard was accused of sexually assaulted the two girls in a bedroom at his Avondale home.</p>
<p>He resigned at the end of the school year.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | 707 |
|
<p />
<p />
<p>One of the elements I’ve sought to analyze here is the convergence of technology and esoterica, which is a connection generally overlooked.</p>
<p>Despite modernity’s religious obsession with technology as the god of its own hands, the mythological nature of&#160;techne&#160;is largely unknown and forgotten. Having reached a point of godlike abilities, the power and exponential growth of technology is both wondrous and ominous.</p>
<p>Disney’s 1982&#160;Tron&#160;is directly relevant to this topic, though it’s often only remembered for its advanced special effects (for the time) and spectacular art direction, while the deeper elements of its story have remained hidden. In this article, I intend to highlight the many revelations&#160;Trongave us about the future, especially in light of the open sourced information we have seen in the last few years revolving around DARPA and the Pentagon’s black projects.</p>
<p>As most of us are now approaching two decades of familiarity with the Internet, it becomes fuzzier and fuzzier trying to recall those bygone days when we needed to find an actual phone line to make a call. It is even more difficult to think of the close of the 70s and the early 80s and what must’ve been in the minds of most viewers in 1982 after seeing&#160;Tron.</p>
<p>As a child of the 80s, I recall seeing it as a young guy, yet nothing stuck with me other than its surreal mix of German Expressionism and Atari-style visuals. Lurking below all of this was actually a highly sagacious form of predictive programming and acclimatization, something now evident upon review. Disney has long been united with the Pentagon and of more recent alliance, the Siemens Corporation, in implementing the latest technological advances for its films and theme parks. I have highlighted this dark alliance here,&#160; <a href="http://jaysanalysis.com/2014/06/27/magickal-kingdom-ultra-escape-from-tomorrow-and-sinister-disney/" type="external">detailing the revelation of its vast psychological warfare prowess</a>.</p>
<p>Since 80s films are some of my most popular articles, upon reviewing&#160;Tron&#160;(after many years), and&#160; <a href="http://jaysanalysis.com/2011/01/09/tron-legacy-esoteric-analysis/" type="external">having analyzed the recent sequel</a>, I was struck by how much more was subtly revealed in the original. Since the film references Artificial Intelligence, the Internet, virtual worlds, game theory and video gaming, the shadow military establishment, and much, much more, we can begin to gain a picture of the reality of the whispered notion that the technological elite truly are 30-40 years ahead of the public. Again, it is crucial to keep in mind as you read and perhaps review the film, you are watching something that was in theaters in 1982! While people were playing Pac-Man and Atari arcade games, the establishment tech elites were integrating the already-existing Internet across the US to form the emerging Skynet tech grid we are in 2014 going under.</p>
<p>Long before&#160;The Matrix, a similar plot had already described the heart of the coming “new world order.”</p>
<p><a href="https://jaysanalysis.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/tron3.png" type="external" /></p>
<p>The apex of the pyramid shines its red Illuminist light.</p>
<p>In fact, it is not well-known that video games themselves arose from&#160; <a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/id/3131181/ns/technology_and_science-science/t/pentagon-cia-enlist-video-games/#.VChK_UpX-uY" type="external">Pentagon military training ideas, combined with high level mathematics and game theory</a>. Thinkers from the Rand Corporation as well as the work of John Nash would come together to produce the foundation for the rise of the virtual and its social engineering application. Also significant was James Bamford’s 1982 book&#160;The Puzzle Palace, which revealed the existence of the NSA&#160;at that time. Meanwhile, the public has only now come to realize there is such an organization, while the media was denying the existence of such an entity into the late 90s!&#160;</p>
<p>Tron&#160;was truly a preparatory acclimatization to the coming aeon like few films were, and it has been largely missed (but not by JaysAnalysis). The movie-going public of 1982 had been awestruck by sci-fi spectacles like&#160;2001: A Space Odyssey&#160;and&#160;Star Wars, both of which are superior films to&#160;Tron, yet neither epic had revealed whatTron&#160;would reveal.</p>
<p>On top of all this,&#160;Tron&#160;is not merely a revelation of secret, advanced technology, but is in fact laced with occult, gnostic and Platonic ideas, which I will now examine…</p>
<p><a href="http://jaysanalysis.com/2014/09/28/tron-1982-the-ultimate-predictive-programming/" type="external">Continue reading this article at Jay’s Analysis</a></p>
<p>READ MORE HOLLYWOOD NEWS AT:&#160; <a href="" type="internal">21st Century Wire Hollywood Files</a></p>
<p>–</p> | TRON (1982) – The Ultimate in Predictive Programming | true | http://21stcenturywire.com/2014/09/29/tron-1982-the-ultimate-predictive-programming/ | 2014-09-29 | 4left
| TRON (1982) – The Ultimate in Predictive Programming
<p />
<p />
<p>One of the elements I’ve sought to analyze here is the convergence of technology and esoterica, which is a connection generally overlooked.</p>
<p>Despite modernity’s religious obsession with technology as the god of its own hands, the mythological nature of&#160;techne&#160;is largely unknown and forgotten. Having reached a point of godlike abilities, the power and exponential growth of technology is both wondrous and ominous.</p>
<p>Disney’s 1982&#160;Tron&#160;is directly relevant to this topic, though it’s often only remembered for its advanced special effects (for the time) and spectacular art direction, while the deeper elements of its story have remained hidden. In this article, I intend to highlight the many revelations&#160;Trongave us about the future, especially in light of the open sourced information we have seen in the last few years revolving around DARPA and the Pentagon’s black projects.</p>
<p>As most of us are now approaching two decades of familiarity with the Internet, it becomes fuzzier and fuzzier trying to recall those bygone days when we needed to find an actual phone line to make a call. It is even more difficult to think of the close of the 70s and the early 80s and what must’ve been in the minds of most viewers in 1982 after seeing&#160;Tron.</p>
<p>As a child of the 80s, I recall seeing it as a young guy, yet nothing stuck with me other than its surreal mix of German Expressionism and Atari-style visuals. Lurking below all of this was actually a highly sagacious form of predictive programming and acclimatization, something now evident upon review. Disney has long been united with the Pentagon and of more recent alliance, the Siemens Corporation, in implementing the latest technological advances for its films and theme parks. I have highlighted this dark alliance here,&#160; <a href="http://jaysanalysis.com/2014/06/27/magickal-kingdom-ultra-escape-from-tomorrow-and-sinister-disney/" type="external">detailing the revelation of its vast psychological warfare prowess</a>.</p>
<p>Since 80s films are some of my most popular articles, upon reviewing&#160;Tron&#160;(after many years), and&#160; <a href="http://jaysanalysis.com/2011/01/09/tron-legacy-esoteric-analysis/" type="external">having analyzed the recent sequel</a>, I was struck by how much more was subtly revealed in the original. Since the film references Artificial Intelligence, the Internet, virtual worlds, game theory and video gaming, the shadow military establishment, and much, much more, we can begin to gain a picture of the reality of the whispered notion that the technological elite truly are 30-40 years ahead of the public. Again, it is crucial to keep in mind as you read and perhaps review the film, you are watching something that was in theaters in 1982! While people were playing Pac-Man and Atari arcade games, the establishment tech elites were integrating the already-existing Internet across the US to form the emerging Skynet tech grid we are in 2014 going under.</p>
<p>Long before&#160;The Matrix, a similar plot had already described the heart of the coming “new world order.”</p>
<p><a href="https://jaysanalysis.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/tron3.png" type="external" /></p>
<p>The apex of the pyramid shines its red Illuminist light.</p>
<p>In fact, it is not well-known that video games themselves arose from&#160; <a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/id/3131181/ns/technology_and_science-science/t/pentagon-cia-enlist-video-games/#.VChK_UpX-uY" type="external">Pentagon military training ideas, combined with high level mathematics and game theory</a>. Thinkers from the Rand Corporation as well as the work of John Nash would come together to produce the foundation for the rise of the virtual and its social engineering application. Also significant was James Bamford’s 1982 book&#160;The Puzzle Palace, which revealed the existence of the NSA&#160;at that time. Meanwhile, the public has only now come to realize there is such an organization, while the media was denying the existence of such an entity into the late 90s!&#160;</p>
<p>Tron&#160;was truly a preparatory acclimatization to the coming aeon like few films were, and it has been largely missed (but not by JaysAnalysis). The movie-going public of 1982 had been awestruck by sci-fi spectacles like&#160;2001: A Space Odyssey&#160;and&#160;Star Wars, both of which are superior films to&#160;Tron, yet neither epic had revealed whatTron&#160;would reveal.</p>
<p>On top of all this,&#160;Tron&#160;is not merely a revelation of secret, advanced technology, but is in fact laced with occult, gnostic and Platonic ideas, which I will now examine…</p>
<p><a href="http://jaysanalysis.com/2014/09/28/tron-1982-the-ultimate-predictive-programming/" type="external">Continue reading this article at Jay’s Analysis</a></p>
<p>READ MORE HOLLYWOOD NEWS AT:&#160; <a href="" type="internal">21st Century Wire Hollywood Files</a></p>
<p>–</p> | 708 |
<p>Dame Judi Dench has had a long, varied, and extremely successful career. The 80-year-old actress has held leading roles in everything from Shakespeare productions to James Bond films, and has won many prestigious acting awards. However, the prolific actress revealed in 2012 that she also suffers from an eye affliction called macular degeneration, which may eventually lead to blindness.</p>
<p>With an inspiring display of positive good humor, Dench revealed some of the ways she copes with her failing vision in the new issue of PEOPLE magazine – including reading scripts with larger type. “So, if six of us were coming in to read a sonnet they’d all have one piece of paper and I’d have two or three,” she said. “They’d think, ‘Why does she have a bigger part?’ when it’s all the same!”</p>
<p>Fortunately, Dench’s friends and loving family are there to help her out when she needs it. “I couldn’t go on the [London] Underground now without somebody because I couldn’t work a machine. I can’t see to do it. But fortunately, I get somebody to come with me,” she explained. “I’m not going to make it something that’s going to stop me.”</p>
<p>Dench is very close with her daughter, Finty, who is also an actress. Surprisingly, the Oscar-winning Dench said she often finds herself “starstruck” on the red carpet. “We’re always ‘oh, look at that!’ ‘over there!’ We don’t behave in grown up ways at all,”&#160;she said of attending awards shows with her daughter.</p>
<p>“Antonio Banderas came up to ask Finty for a light – well, I thought she was going to disappear into the ground! Shaking! Shaking!,” she added.</p>
<p>Although Dench was made a ‘dame’ in 1988 by Queen Elizabeth, she insists that people should not treat her any differently. “You’re exactly the same person and behave the same. No curtseying, no bowing!” she urged.</p>
<p>Dench is currently in The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, also featuring Dame Maggie Smith and Richard Gere leading the all-star cast.</p>
<p /> | Judi Dench opens up about vision loss and red carpet crushes | false | http://natmonitor.com/2015/03/07/judi-dench-opens-up-about-vision-loss-and-red-carpet-crushes/ | 2015-03-07 | 3left-center
| Judi Dench opens up about vision loss and red carpet crushes
<p>Dame Judi Dench has had a long, varied, and extremely successful career. The 80-year-old actress has held leading roles in everything from Shakespeare productions to James Bond films, and has won many prestigious acting awards. However, the prolific actress revealed in 2012 that she also suffers from an eye affliction called macular degeneration, which may eventually lead to blindness.</p>
<p>With an inspiring display of positive good humor, Dench revealed some of the ways she copes with her failing vision in the new issue of PEOPLE magazine – including reading scripts with larger type. “So, if six of us were coming in to read a sonnet they’d all have one piece of paper and I’d have two or three,” she said. “They’d think, ‘Why does she have a bigger part?’ when it’s all the same!”</p>
<p>Fortunately, Dench’s friends and loving family are there to help her out when she needs it. “I couldn’t go on the [London] Underground now without somebody because I couldn’t work a machine. I can’t see to do it. But fortunately, I get somebody to come with me,” she explained. “I’m not going to make it something that’s going to stop me.”</p>
<p>Dench is very close with her daughter, Finty, who is also an actress. Surprisingly, the Oscar-winning Dench said she often finds herself “starstruck” on the red carpet. “We’re always ‘oh, look at that!’ ‘over there!’ We don’t behave in grown up ways at all,”&#160;she said of attending awards shows with her daughter.</p>
<p>“Antonio Banderas came up to ask Finty for a light – well, I thought she was going to disappear into the ground! Shaking! Shaking!,” she added.</p>
<p>Although Dench was made a ‘dame’ in 1988 by Queen Elizabeth, she insists that people should not treat her any differently. “You’re exactly the same person and behave the same. No curtseying, no bowing!” she urged.</p>
<p>Dench is currently in The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, also featuring Dame Maggie Smith and Richard Gere leading the all-star cast.</p>
<p /> | 709 |
<p>PRATT, Kan. (AP) — Authorities say four children ranging in age from 4 years to 4 months have died in a house fire in Pratt, Kansas.</p>
<p>Pratt police Detective Jeff Ward says the fire was Thursday morning.</p>
<p>The Pratt Daily Tribune <a href="http://www.pratttribune.com/news/20180125/children-die-in-pratt-fire" type="external">reports</a> the children were trapped in the basement of the home.</p>
<p>Their mother, who survived, was flown to a Wichita hospital with severe burns.</p>
<p>A state fire marshal's office is on the scene investigating the cause of the fire.</p>
<p>Pratt is about 80 miles (128.74 kilometers) west of Wichita.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Information from: Daily Tribune, Pratt, Kan., <a href="http://www.pratttribune.com/" type="external">http://www.pratttribune.com/</a></p>
<p>PRATT, Kan. (AP) — Authorities say four children ranging in age from 4 years to 4 months have died in a house fire in Pratt, Kansas.</p>
<p>Pratt police Detective Jeff Ward says the fire was Thursday morning.</p>
<p>The Pratt Daily Tribune <a href="http://www.pratttribune.com/news/20180125/children-die-in-pratt-fire" type="external">reports</a> the children were trapped in the basement of the home.</p>
<p>Their mother, who survived, was flown to a Wichita hospital with severe burns.</p>
<p>A state fire marshal's office is on the scene investigating the cause of the fire.</p>
<p>Pratt is about 80 miles (128.74 kilometers) west of Wichita.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Information from: Daily Tribune, Pratt, Kan., <a href="http://www.pratttribune.com/" type="external">http://www.pratttribune.com/</a></p> | Authorities: 4 children die in Kansas house fire | false | https://apnews.com/amp/fcb55f8b67324a7c92c998a11df623e3 | 2018-01-25 | 2least
| Authorities: 4 children die in Kansas house fire
<p>PRATT, Kan. (AP) — Authorities say four children ranging in age from 4 years to 4 months have died in a house fire in Pratt, Kansas.</p>
<p>Pratt police Detective Jeff Ward says the fire was Thursday morning.</p>
<p>The Pratt Daily Tribune <a href="http://www.pratttribune.com/news/20180125/children-die-in-pratt-fire" type="external">reports</a> the children were trapped in the basement of the home.</p>
<p>Their mother, who survived, was flown to a Wichita hospital with severe burns.</p>
<p>A state fire marshal's office is on the scene investigating the cause of the fire.</p>
<p>Pratt is about 80 miles (128.74 kilometers) west of Wichita.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Information from: Daily Tribune, Pratt, Kan., <a href="http://www.pratttribune.com/" type="external">http://www.pratttribune.com/</a></p>
<p>PRATT, Kan. (AP) — Authorities say four children ranging in age from 4 years to 4 months have died in a house fire in Pratt, Kansas.</p>
<p>Pratt police Detective Jeff Ward says the fire was Thursday morning.</p>
<p>The Pratt Daily Tribune <a href="http://www.pratttribune.com/news/20180125/children-die-in-pratt-fire" type="external">reports</a> the children were trapped in the basement of the home.</p>
<p>Their mother, who survived, was flown to a Wichita hospital with severe burns.</p>
<p>A state fire marshal's office is on the scene investigating the cause of the fire.</p>
<p>Pratt is about 80 miles (128.74 kilometers) west of Wichita.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Information from: Daily Tribune, Pratt, Kan., <a href="http://www.pratttribune.com/" type="external">http://www.pratttribune.com/</a></p> | 710 |
<p>Pia Carusone and Rachel Gardner founded Republic Restoratives Distillery in May 2016. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)</p>
<p>Friends from childhood, launching Republic Restoratives Distillery in May 2016 provided lesbian co-founders Pia Carusone and Rachel Gardner the opportunity workaday professionals in D.C. frequently long for but don’t often have the chance to create.</p>
<p>For Carusone, who worked as chief of staff to Congresswoman Gabby Giffords, the assassination attempt on her boss in 2011 proved a moment of reflection for the now entrepreneur. “You can’t help but ask yourself, ‘what has my life amounted to, what would I regret’ following an experience like that,” she explains.</p>
<p>“Rachel and I had been talking about starting a business of some kind,” explains Carusone, noting that the shooting incident prompted Gardner, also a government employee, to ponder similar questions while they continued engagements in civic service or on political issues.</p>
<p>Each married and living with their same-sex spouses in the District, “We wanted to contribute to the city we both love,” emphasizes Carusone. Gardner had previously taken a liquor distillation class, which would serve as catalyst for the duo in discerning a business path and plan.</p>
<p>They discovered that recent reforms to D.C. liquor laws designed to encourage the development of local distilleries, breweries, and wineries were offset by the difficulty assembling private financing or bank loans. As smart and savvy as they are now knowledgeable about the industry and operating a business, Carusone and Gardner instead launched an online appeal for financial support.</p>
<p>The result is the largest crowd-funded craft distillery in the world and first woman-owned in D.C. history.</p>
<p>Having proved their innovative mettle soliciting small investor backing, commercial bank and private investment funding would soon follow.</p>
<p>They joined the growing ranks of local independent alcohol producers in the District, creating and capturing an emerging consumer appreciation for, and attraction to, hometown spirits and community enterprise. “Restaurants and bars had begun connecting patrons to their culinary product by emphasizing locally sourced ingredients,” notes Carusone, “and now you see the same with spirits.”</p>
<p>“If you don’t have local products on your bar, you’re likely not at the top of your game” in the current hospitality scene, Carusone asserts.</p>
<p>Republic Restoratives entered the marketplace with Civic Vodka – a dry, crisp, corn-based ferment with a subtly sweet taste that compares well. Borough Bourbon was next, distilled five years with high wheat content and notably smooth flavor. Rodham Rye whiskey was intended as a celebration of women for launch during the presidential inauguration of namesake Hillary Clinton. As it turned out, the defeated Clinton was later presented with Bottle #1 of the distinctive pour.</p>
<p>A fourth product was introduced this fall – Chapman’s Apple Brandy, commemorating Johnny Appleseed’s surname. Picked and pressed in Adams County, Pennsylvania, by seventh-generation Three Springs Fruit Farm for dual-oak resting and distillation at the D.C. warehouse, this refined concoction blending four unique varietals offers a taste of the harvest.</p>
<p>Republic Restoratives self-distributes to 200 local establishments and its spirits are available at a growing number of retail stores. “Direct distribution allows us to get to know our clients and quickly respond to their needs,” says Carusone, “building a sense of community in the process.”</p>
<p>The most surprising challenge for lesbian entrepreneurs Carusone and Gardner, along with transgender sales director Whit Kathner who rounds out the founding team, is that no LGBT venues, accustomed to marketing-subsidized deep-discounting by corporate brands, are customers.</p>
<p>“Supporting our local community is the single most important thing you can do,” Carusone says. “Try our products, come to visit us at our Tasting Room, and suggest that your favorite bar or restaurant give us a try.”</p>
<p>Republic Restoratives Distillery is located at 1369 New York Ave., N.E., adjacent to the iconic former Hecht Co. building in the Ivy City area. The production facility features a Tasting Room craft cocktail bar open Thursday and Friday 5-11 p.m., Saturday Noon-11 p.m., and Sunday Noon-5 p.m. Private event bookings are accommodated and special food-and-drink paired tastings are offered. More info: <a href="http://RepublicRestoratives.com" type="external">RepublicRestoratives.com</a>.</p>
<p>Republic Restoratives Distillery current products: Rodham Rye, Chapman’s Apple Brandy, Civic Vodka and Borough Bourbon. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>Mark Lee is a long-time entrepreneur and community business advocate. Follow on Twitter: <a href="http://twitter.com/@MarkLeeDC" type="external">@MarkLeeDC</a>. Reach him at <a href="mailto:OurBusinessMatters@gmail.com" type="external">OurBusinessMatters@gmail.com</a>.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">Adams County</a> <a href="" type="internal">Borough Bourbon</a> <a href="" type="internal">Business</a> <a href="" type="internal">Chapman's Apple Brandy</a> <a href="" type="internal">Civic Vodka</a> <a href="" type="internal">crowd-funding</a> <a href="" type="internal">D.C.</a> <a href="" type="internal">D.C. liquor laws</a> <a href="" type="internal">distillery</a> <a href="" type="internal">District of Columbia</a> <a href="" type="internal">Gabby Giffords</a> <a href="" type="internal">Hillary Clinton</a> <a href="" type="internal">Ivy City</a> <a href="" type="internal">Johnny Appleseed</a> <a href="" type="internal">lesbian</a> <a href="" type="internal">liquor</a> <a href="" type="internal">Pennsylvania</a> <a href="" type="internal">Pia Carusone</a> <a href="" type="internal">Rachel Gardner</a> <a href="" type="internal">Republic Restoratives Distillery</a> <a href="" type="internal">Rodham Rye</a> <a href="" type="internal">Three Springs Fruit Farm</a> <a href="" type="internal">Whit Kathner</a> <a href="" type="internal">woman-owned business</a></p> | D.C.’s first woman-owned distillery an entrepreneurial dream come true | false | http://washingtonblade.com/2017/11/15/republic-restoratives-business-profile/ | 3left-center
| D.C.’s first woman-owned distillery an entrepreneurial dream come true
<p>Pia Carusone and Rachel Gardner founded Republic Restoratives Distillery in May 2016. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)</p>
<p>Friends from childhood, launching Republic Restoratives Distillery in May 2016 provided lesbian co-founders Pia Carusone and Rachel Gardner the opportunity workaday professionals in D.C. frequently long for but don’t often have the chance to create.</p>
<p>For Carusone, who worked as chief of staff to Congresswoman Gabby Giffords, the assassination attempt on her boss in 2011 proved a moment of reflection for the now entrepreneur. “You can’t help but ask yourself, ‘what has my life amounted to, what would I regret’ following an experience like that,” she explains.</p>
<p>“Rachel and I had been talking about starting a business of some kind,” explains Carusone, noting that the shooting incident prompted Gardner, also a government employee, to ponder similar questions while they continued engagements in civic service or on political issues.</p>
<p>Each married and living with their same-sex spouses in the District, “We wanted to contribute to the city we both love,” emphasizes Carusone. Gardner had previously taken a liquor distillation class, which would serve as catalyst for the duo in discerning a business path and plan.</p>
<p>They discovered that recent reforms to D.C. liquor laws designed to encourage the development of local distilleries, breweries, and wineries were offset by the difficulty assembling private financing or bank loans. As smart and savvy as they are now knowledgeable about the industry and operating a business, Carusone and Gardner instead launched an online appeal for financial support.</p>
<p>The result is the largest crowd-funded craft distillery in the world and first woman-owned in D.C. history.</p>
<p>Having proved their innovative mettle soliciting small investor backing, commercial bank and private investment funding would soon follow.</p>
<p>They joined the growing ranks of local independent alcohol producers in the District, creating and capturing an emerging consumer appreciation for, and attraction to, hometown spirits and community enterprise. “Restaurants and bars had begun connecting patrons to their culinary product by emphasizing locally sourced ingredients,” notes Carusone, “and now you see the same with spirits.”</p>
<p>“If you don’t have local products on your bar, you’re likely not at the top of your game” in the current hospitality scene, Carusone asserts.</p>
<p>Republic Restoratives entered the marketplace with Civic Vodka – a dry, crisp, corn-based ferment with a subtly sweet taste that compares well. Borough Bourbon was next, distilled five years with high wheat content and notably smooth flavor. Rodham Rye whiskey was intended as a celebration of women for launch during the presidential inauguration of namesake Hillary Clinton. As it turned out, the defeated Clinton was later presented with Bottle #1 of the distinctive pour.</p>
<p>A fourth product was introduced this fall – Chapman’s Apple Brandy, commemorating Johnny Appleseed’s surname. Picked and pressed in Adams County, Pennsylvania, by seventh-generation Three Springs Fruit Farm for dual-oak resting and distillation at the D.C. warehouse, this refined concoction blending four unique varietals offers a taste of the harvest.</p>
<p>Republic Restoratives self-distributes to 200 local establishments and its spirits are available at a growing number of retail stores. “Direct distribution allows us to get to know our clients and quickly respond to their needs,” says Carusone, “building a sense of community in the process.”</p>
<p>The most surprising challenge for lesbian entrepreneurs Carusone and Gardner, along with transgender sales director Whit Kathner who rounds out the founding team, is that no LGBT venues, accustomed to marketing-subsidized deep-discounting by corporate brands, are customers.</p>
<p>“Supporting our local community is the single most important thing you can do,” Carusone says. “Try our products, come to visit us at our Tasting Room, and suggest that your favorite bar or restaurant give us a try.”</p>
<p>Republic Restoratives Distillery is located at 1369 New York Ave., N.E., adjacent to the iconic former Hecht Co. building in the Ivy City area. The production facility features a Tasting Room craft cocktail bar open Thursday and Friday 5-11 p.m., Saturday Noon-11 p.m., and Sunday Noon-5 p.m. Private event bookings are accommodated and special food-and-drink paired tastings are offered. More info: <a href="http://RepublicRestoratives.com" type="external">RepublicRestoratives.com</a>.</p>
<p>Republic Restoratives Distillery current products: Rodham Rye, Chapman’s Apple Brandy, Civic Vodka and Borough Bourbon. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>Mark Lee is a long-time entrepreneur and community business advocate. Follow on Twitter: <a href="http://twitter.com/@MarkLeeDC" type="external">@MarkLeeDC</a>. Reach him at <a href="mailto:OurBusinessMatters@gmail.com" type="external">OurBusinessMatters@gmail.com</a>.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">Adams County</a> <a href="" type="internal">Borough Bourbon</a> <a href="" type="internal">Business</a> <a href="" type="internal">Chapman's Apple Brandy</a> <a href="" type="internal">Civic Vodka</a> <a href="" type="internal">crowd-funding</a> <a href="" type="internal">D.C.</a> <a href="" type="internal">D.C. liquor laws</a> <a href="" type="internal">distillery</a> <a href="" type="internal">District of Columbia</a> <a href="" type="internal">Gabby Giffords</a> <a href="" type="internal">Hillary Clinton</a> <a href="" type="internal">Ivy City</a> <a href="" type="internal">Johnny Appleseed</a> <a href="" type="internal">lesbian</a> <a href="" type="internal">liquor</a> <a href="" type="internal">Pennsylvania</a> <a href="" type="internal">Pia Carusone</a> <a href="" type="internal">Rachel Gardner</a> <a href="" type="internal">Republic Restoratives Distillery</a> <a href="" type="internal">Rodham Rye</a> <a href="" type="internal">Three Springs Fruit Farm</a> <a href="" type="internal">Whit Kathner</a> <a href="" type="internal">woman-owned business</a></p> | 711 |
|
<p>NEW YORK (AP) — Big U.S. banks have been reporting billions of dollars in paper losses this month as they are forced to come into compliance with the new tax law. And while the losses are massive, they were largely expected, and bank executives say the new tax law will be good for banks as well as the economy in the long run.</p>
<p>The biggest loser so far has been Citigroup, which reported Tuesday an $18 billion loss largely due to the tax law. The actual write-downs were even larger than that, more than $22 billion just in the quarter. It was one of the largest quarterly losses in Citi’s history.</p>
<p>The charges that these banks are taking fall into two categories.</p>
<p>The lion’s share is tied to what’s known as deferred tax assets. During the financial crisis nearly a decade ago, banks racked up billions of dollars in losses from soured mortgages and other toxic assets. These losses, under U.S. tax law, can be converted into credits to be used to lower their tax bills in the future.</p>
<p>Citigroup, JPMorgan and other banks had assigned a value to these assets when the top U.S. corporate income tax rate was 35 percent. But the Trump tax law lowered the top rate to 21 percent this year, the value of those deferred tax assets had to be adjusted.</p>
<p>Citi’s exposure to these deferred tax assets is abnormally large — more than $45 billion before Tuesday’s write-down — and is a byproduct of what happened to the bank during the financial crisis. Citi was the nation’s largest bank at the time, holding billions of dollars in mortgages and other complicated assets, and when the financial crisis hit, Citi came dangerously close to failing.</p>
<p>In comparison to Citi, the other bank’s deferred tax assets seem small. JPMorgan Chase reported a $2.4 billion paper loss tied into these assets. Goldman Sachs and Bank of America are also expected to announce single-digit billion dollar losses when they report their results on Wednesday. The smallest of the six major U.S. banks, Morgan Stanley, which reports its results on Thursday, is expected to book a $1.3 billion charge for its deferred tax assets.</p>
<p>The other component of the bank’s write-downs this week is the repatriation of foreign earnings. Just like Apple, which has billions of dollars of its profits sitting in overseas subsidiaries, some of the major Wall Street banks also have foreign subsidiaries where they have been holding profits abroad in hopes of getting a better tax rate on those earnings.</p>
<p>The Trump tax bill provided exactly that. The new law is giving a one-time break to companies with “accumulated foreign profits” by taxing those earnings at just 15.5 percent.</p>
<p>Most major U.S. banks do the vast majority of their business at home and don’t have material amounts of foreign profits that they need to bring back, with the exception of two: Citigroup and Goldman Sachs. Both banks have large international businesses. Citigroup in particular has substantial banking businesses in Latin America and Asia.</p>
<p>When the tax law was enacted, Goldman said they estimated they would have to take a $5 billion charge in the latest quarter, two-thirds of which related to repatriated foreign earnings, the rest to deferred tax assets. Citi said Tuesday that it was booking a $3 billion charge related to its foreign earnings.</p>
<p>Despite the short-term pain, banks expect the tax law to be ultimately good for them. Most U.S. banks had tax rates of around 30 percent, sometimes higher, and now are now expecting effective tax rates of roughly 20 percent.</p>
<p>Most banks are expected to pass at least a portion of their new profits along to shareholders in the form of stock buybacks and higher dividends. It is still early to see how much will go to consumers and businesses, although a few banks have announced wage increases for their lowest paid employees as a result of the tax law.</p>
<p>JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said last week that the new tax law is a “significant positive for the country.”</p>
<p>“U.S. companies will be more competitive globally, which will ultimately benefit all Americans,” Dimon said.</p>
<p>NEW YORK (AP) — Big U.S. banks have been reporting billions of dollars in paper losses this month as they are forced to come into compliance with the new tax law. And while the losses are massive, they were largely expected, and bank executives say the new tax law will be good for banks as well as the economy in the long run.</p>
<p>The biggest loser so far has been Citigroup, which reported Tuesday an $18 billion loss largely due to the tax law. The actual write-downs were even larger than that, more than $22 billion just in the quarter. It was one of the largest quarterly losses in Citi’s history.</p>
<p>The charges that these banks are taking fall into two categories.</p>
<p>The lion’s share is tied to what’s known as deferred tax assets. During the financial crisis nearly a decade ago, banks racked up billions of dollars in losses from soured mortgages and other toxic assets. These losses, under U.S. tax law, can be converted into credits to be used to lower their tax bills in the future.</p>
<p>Citigroup, JPMorgan and other banks had assigned a value to these assets when the top U.S. corporate income tax rate was 35 percent. But the Trump tax law lowered the top rate to 21 percent this year, the value of those deferred tax assets had to be adjusted.</p>
<p>Citi’s exposure to these deferred tax assets is abnormally large — more than $45 billion before Tuesday’s write-down — and is a byproduct of what happened to the bank during the financial crisis. Citi was the nation’s largest bank at the time, holding billions of dollars in mortgages and other complicated assets, and when the financial crisis hit, Citi came dangerously close to failing.</p>
<p>In comparison to Citi, the other bank’s deferred tax assets seem small. JPMorgan Chase reported a $2.4 billion paper loss tied into these assets. Goldman Sachs and Bank of America are also expected to announce single-digit billion dollar losses when they report their results on Wednesday. The smallest of the six major U.S. banks, Morgan Stanley, which reports its results on Thursday, is expected to book a $1.3 billion charge for its deferred tax assets.</p>
<p>The other component of the bank’s write-downs this week is the repatriation of foreign earnings. Just like Apple, which has billions of dollars of its profits sitting in overseas subsidiaries, some of the major Wall Street banks also have foreign subsidiaries where they have been holding profits abroad in hopes of getting a better tax rate on those earnings.</p>
<p>The Trump tax bill provided exactly that. The new law is giving a one-time break to companies with “accumulated foreign profits” by taxing those earnings at just 15.5 percent.</p>
<p>Most major U.S. banks do the vast majority of their business at home and don’t have material amounts of foreign profits that they need to bring back, with the exception of two: Citigroup and Goldman Sachs. Both banks have large international businesses. Citigroup in particular has substantial banking businesses in Latin America and Asia.</p>
<p>When the tax law was enacted, Goldman said they estimated they would have to take a $5 billion charge in the latest quarter, two-thirds of which related to repatriated foreign earnings, the rest to deferred tax assets. Citi said Tuesday that it was booking a $3 billion charge related to its foreign earnings.</p>
<p>Despite the short-term pain, banks expect the tax law to be ultimately good for them. Most U.S. banks had tax rates of around 30 percent, sometimes higher, and now are now expecting effective tax rates of roughly 20 percent.</p>
<p>Most banks are expected to pass at least a portion of their new profits along to shareholders in the form of stock buybacks and higher dividends. It is still early to see how much will go to consumers and businesses, although a few banks have announced wage increases for their lowest paid employees as a result of the tax law.</p>
<p>JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said last week that the new tax law is a “significant positive for the country.”</p>
<p>“U.S. companies will be more competitive globally, which will ultimately benefit all Americans,” Dimon said.</p> | Tax law brings big paper losses, long-term gains to US banks | false | https://apnews.com/e9c6945c3e0b44efbdf78a8edd7398dc | 2018-01-16 | 2least
| Tax law brings big paper losses, long-term gains to US banks
<p>NEW YORK (AP) — Big U.S. banks have been reporting billions of dollars in paper losses this month as they are forced to come into compliance with the new tax law. And while the losses are massive, they were largely expected, and bank executives say the new tax law will be good for banks as well as the economy in the long run.</p>
<p>The biggest loser so far has been Citigroup, which reported Tuesday an $18 billion loss largely due to the tax law. The actual write-downs were even larger than that, more than $22 billion just in the quarter. It was one of the largest quarterly losses in Citi’s history.</p>
<p>The charges that these banks are taking fall into two categories.</p>
<p>The lion’s share is tied to what’s known as deferred tax assets. During the financial crisis nearly a decade ago, banks racked up billions of dollars in losses from soured mortgages and other toxic assets. These losses, under U.S. tax law, can be converted into credits to be used to lower their tax bills in the future.</p>
<p>Citigroup, JPMorgan and other banks had assigned a value to these assets when the top U.S. corporate income tax rate was 35 percent. But the Trump tax law lowered the top rate to 21 percent this year, the value of those deferred tax assets had to be adjusted.</p>
<p>Citi’s exposure to these deferred tax assets is abnormally large — more than $45 billion before Tuesday’s write-down — and is a byproduct of what happened to the bank during the financial crisis. Citi was the nation’s largest bank at the time, holding billions of dollars in mortgages and other complicated assets, and when the financial crisis hit, Citi came dangerously close to failing.</p>
<p>In comparison to Citi, the other bank’s deferred tax assets seem small. JPMorgan Chase reported a $2.4 billion paper loss tied into these assets. Goldman Sachs and Bank of America are also expected to announce single-digit billion dollar losses when they report their results on Wednesday. The smallest of the six major U.S. banks, Morgan Stanley, which reports its results on Thursday, is expected to book a $1.3 billion charge for its deferred tax assets.</p>
<p>The other component of the bank’s write-downs this week is the repatriation of foreign earnings. Just like Apple, which has billions of dollars of its profits sitting in overseas subsidiaries, some of the major Wall Street banks also have foreign subsidiaries where they have been holding profits abroad in hopes of getting a better tax rate on those earnings.</p>
<p>The Trump tax bill provided exactly that. The new law is giving a one-time break to companies with “accumulated foreign profits” by taxing those earnings at just 15.5 percent.</p>
<p>Most major U.S. banks do the vast majority of their business at home and don’t have material amounts of foreign profits that they need to bring back, with the exception of two: Citigroup and Goldman Sachs. Both banks have large international businesses. Citigroup in particular has substantial banking businesses in Latin America and Asia.</p>
<p>When the tax law was enacted, Goldman said they estimated they would have to take a $5 billion charge in the latest quarter, two-thirds of which related to repatriated foreign earnings, the rest to deferred tax assets. Citi said Tuesday that it was booking a $3 billion charge related to its foreign earnings.</p>
<p>Despite the short-term pain, banks expect the tax law to be ultimately good for them. Most U.S. banks had tax rates of around 30 percent, sometimes higher, and now are now expecting effective tax rates of roughly 20 percent.</p>
<p>Most banks are expected to pass at least a portion of their new profits along to shareholders in the form of stock buybacks and higher dividends. It is still early to see how much will go to consumers and businesses, although a few banks have announced wage increases for their lowest paid employees as a result of the tax law.</p>
<p>JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said last week that the new tax law is a “significant positive for the country.”</p>
<p>“U.S. companies will be more competitive globally, which will ultimately benefit all Americans,” Dimon said.</p>
<p>NEW YORK (AP) — Big U.S. banks have been reporting billions of dollars in paper losses this month as they are forced to come into compliance with the new tax law. And while the losses are massive, they were largely expected, and bank executives say the new tax law will be good for banks as well as the economy in the long run.</p>
<p>The biggest loser so far has been Citigroup, which reported Tuesday an $18 billion loss largely due to the tax law. The actual write-downs were even larger than that, more than $22 billion just in the quarter. It was one of the largest quarterly losses in Citi’s history.</p>
<p>The charges that these banks are taking fall into two categories.</p>
<p>The lion’s share is tied to what’s known as deferred tax assets. During the financial crisis nearly a decade ago, banks racked up billions of dollars in losses from soured mortgages and other toxic assets. These losses, under U.S. tax law, can be converted into credits to be used to lower their tax bills in the future.</p>
<p>Citigroup, JPMorgan and other banks had assigned a value to these assets when the top U.S. corporate income tax rate was 35 percent. But the Trump tax law lowered the top rate to 21 percent this year, the value of those deferred tax assets had to be adjusted.</p>
<p>Citi’s exposure to these deferred tax assets is abnormally large — more than $45 billion before Tuesday’s write-down — and is a byproduct of what happened to the bank during the financial crisis. Citi was the nation’s largest bank at the time, holding billions of dollars in mortgages and other complicated assets, and when the financial crisis hit, Citi came dangerously close to failing.</p>
<p>In comparison to Citi, the other bank’s deferred tax assets seem small. JPMorgan Chase reported a $2.4 billion paper loss tied into these assets. Goldman Sachs and Bank of America are also expected to announce single-digit billion dollar losses when they report their results on Wednesday. The smallest of the six major U.S. banks, Morgan Stanley, which reports its results on Thursday, is expected to book a $1.3 billion charge for its deferred tax assets.</p>
<p>The other component of the bank’s write-downs this week is the repatriation of foreign earnings. Just like Apple, which has billions of dollars of its profits sitting in overseas subsidiaries, some of the major Wall Street banks also have foreign subsidiaries where they have been holding profits abroad in hopes of getting a better tax rate on those earnings.</p>
<p>The Trump tax bill provided exactly that. The new law is giving a one-time break to companies with “accumulated foreign profits” by taxing those earnings at just 15.5 percent.</p>
<p>Most major U.S. banks do the vast majority of their business at home and don’t have material amounts of foreign profits that they need to bring back, with the exception of two: Citigroup and Goldman Sachs. Both banks have large international businesses. Citigroup in particular has substantial banking businesses in Latin America and Asia.</p>
<p>When the tax law was enacted, Goldman said they estimated they would have to take a $5 billion charge in the latest quarter, two-thirds of which related to repatriated foreign earnings, the rest to deferred tax assets. Citi said Tuesday that it was booking a $3 billion charge related to its foreign earnings.</p>
<p>Despite the short-term pain, banks expect the tax law to be ultimately good for them. Most U.S. banks had tax rates of around 30 percent, sometimes higher, and now are now expecting effective tax rates of roughly 20 percent.</p>
<p>Most banks are expected to pass at least a portion of their new profits along to shareholders in the form of stock buybacks and higher dividends. It is still early to see how much will go to consumers and businesses, although a few banks have announced wage increases for their lowest paid employees as a result of the tax law.</p>
<p>JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said last week that the new tax law is a “significant positive for the country.”</p>
<p>“U.S. companies will be more competitive globally, which will ultimately benefit all Americans,” Dimon said.</p> | 712 |
<p>Isn’t it an amazing coincidence how rappers all loved Trump, but then he suddenly became a racist when he took on the establishment?</p>
<p>Please share this video! <a href="https://youtu.be/3jFJTZkMc40" type="external">https://youtu.be/3jFJTZkMc40</a></p>
<p>SUBSCRIBE on YouTube:</p>
<p>Follow on Twitter: <a href="https://twitter.com/PrisonPlanet" type="external">Follow @PrisonPlanet</a></p>
<p>Facebook: <a href="https://www.facebook.com/paul.j.watson.71" type="external">https://www.facebook.com/paul.j.watson.71</a></p>
<p>*********************</p>
<p>Paul Joseph Watson is the editor at large of <a href="" type="internal">Infowars.com</a> and <a href="http://prisonplanet.com/" type="external">Prison Planet.com</a>.</p>
<p /> | Eminem is a Complete Idiot | true | https://infowars.com/eminem-is-a-complete-idiot/ | 2017-10-11 | 0right
| Eminem is a Complete Idiot
<p>Isn’t it an amazing coincidence how rappers all loved Trump, but then he suddenly became a racist when he took on the establishment?</p>
<p>Please share this video! <a href="https://youtu.be/3jFJTZkMc40" type="external">https://youtu.be/3jFJTZkMc40</a></p>
<p>SUBSCRIBE on YouTube:</p>
<p>Follow on Twitter: <a href="https://twitter.com/PrisonPlanet" type="external">Follow @PrisonPlanet</a></p>
<p>Facebook: <a href="https://www.facebook.com/paul.j.watson.71" type="external">https://www.facebook.com/paul.j.watson.71</a></p>
<p>*********************</p>
<p>Paul Joseph Watson is the editor at large of <a href="" type="internal">Infowars.com</a> and <a href="http://prisonplanet.com/" type="external">Prison Planet.com</a>.</p>
<p /> | 713 |
<p>Should you need further evidence that Twitter loves to twist political debate into something awkwardly uncomfortable and disconcerting, look no further than <a href="http://cohousedems.com/joe-salazar/" type="external">Rep. Joe Salazar</a>.</p>
<p>The Colorado state senator for the Democrats found himself backpedaling Monday as he argued about a bill that would ban concealed weapons on college campuses.</p>
<p>He suggested women rely on campus security and whistles rather than guns.</p>
<p>“It’s why we have call boxes, it’s why we have safe zones, it’s why we have the whistles. Because you just don’t know who you’re gonna be shooting at,” he said, according to <a href="http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_22617884/lawmaker-issues-apology-over-rape-remark" type="external">the Denver Post</a>.</p>
<p>“And you don’t know if you feel like you’re gonna be raped, or if you feel like someone’s been following you around or if you feel like you’re in trouble when you may actually not be, that you pop out that gun and you pop ... pop a round at somebody.”</p>
<p>The bill, which limits the size of ammunition magazines and institutes background checks, passed.</p>
<p>"Enough is enough. I'm sick and tired of bloodshed," Democratic Rep. Rhonda Fields said, according to <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/18/colorado-house-passes-fou_n_2712921.html?utm_hp_ref=denver" type="external">The Associated Press</a>.</p>
<p>Salazar apologized on Monday, <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/02/19/colorado-lawmaker-issues-apology-rape-comment/" type="external">Fox News said</a>, after getting raked over the coals in the court of public opinion.</p>
<p>He said he didn’t mean to offend anyone and has long championed women’s rights as the father of two girls.</p>
<p>That, somehow, spawned a lecherous Twitter war using the hashtag #liberaltipstoavoidrape, which started trending on the micro-blogging site this week.</p>
<p>Look away if you're squeamish.</p>
<p>[ <a href="//storify.com/dtrif/joe-salazar-rape-comments-inflame-twittersphere" type="external">View the story "Joe Salazar rape comments inflame Twittersphere" on Storify</a>]</p> | Joe Salazar rape comments inflame Twitter, spawn twisted #Liberaltipstoavoidrape | false | https://pri.org/stories/2013-02-19/joe-salazar-rape-comments-inflame-twitter-spawn-twisted-liberaltipstoavoidrape | 2013-02-19 | 3left-center
| Joe Salazar rape comments inflame Twitter, spawn twisted #Liberaltipstoavoidrape
<p>Should you need further evidence that Twitter loves to twist political debate into something awkwardly uncomfortable and disconcerting, look no further than <a href="http://cohousedems.com/joe-salazar/" type="external">Rep. Joe Salazar</a>.</p>
<p>The Colorado state senator for the Democrats found himself backpedaling Monday as he argued about a bill that would ban concealed weapons on college campuses.</p>
<p>He suggested women rely on campus security and whistles rather than guns.</p>
<p>“It’s why we have call boxes, it’s why we have safe zones, it’s why we have the whistles. Because you just don’t know who you’re gonna be shooting at,” he said, according to <a href="http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_22617884/lawmaker-issues-apology-over-rape-remark" type="external">the Denver Post</a>.</p>
<p>“And you don’t know if you feel like you’re gonna be raped, or if you feel like someone’s been following you around or if you feel like you’re in trouble when you may actually not be, that you pop out that gun and you pop ... pop a round at somebody.”</p>
<p>The bill, which limits the size of ammunition magazines and institutes background checks, passed.</p>
<p>"Enough is enough. I'm sick and tired of bloodshed," Democratic Rep. Rhonda Fields said, according to <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/18/colorado-house-passes-fou_n_2712921.html?utm_hp_ref=denver" type="external">The Associated Press</a>.</p>
<p>Salazar apologized on Monday, <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/02/19/colorado-lawmaker-issues-apology-rape-comment/" type="external">Fox News said</a>, after getting raked over the coals in the court of public opinion.</p>
<p>He said he didn’t mean to offend anyone and has long championed women’s rights as the father of two girls.</p>
<p>That, somehow, spawned a lecherous Twitter war using the hashtag #liberaltipstoavoidrape, which started trending on the micro-blogging site this week.</p>
<p>Look away if you're squeamish.</p>
<p>[ <a href="//storify.com/dtrif/joe-salazar-rape-comments-inflame-twittersphere" type="external">View the story "Joe Salazar rape comments inflame Twittersphere" on Storify</a>]</p> | 714 |
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p>Jerome Elycio, 35.</p>
<p>ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - An Albuquerque man was arrested after a family fight over the weekend in which he slammed his girlfriend's head into a wall and she bit off a chunk of his ear, police say.</p>
<p>The girlfriend told police she and Jerome Elycio, 35, started fighting and Elycio slammed her head into a wall and tried to strangle her on Saturday, according to a criminal complaint. She bit off a chunk of his ear during the fight, she said.</p>
<p>When police arrived at the home near Rio Grande and Interstate 40 on Saturday, the girlfriend tried to hand police the ear chunk, according to the complaint.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Police detained her and tried to get Elycio to come out of the house, but he refused, saying he was fine and didn't need help.</p>
<p>The girlfriend told police she had been playing cards with Elycio, Elycio's mother, Elycio's mother's friend and some of Elycio's cousins. The group was drinking alcohol, she said.</p>
<p>The girlfriend said Elycio started acting like a "jerk." He sat on her lap, then slammed her head into a wall, according to the complaint.</p>
<p>She walked toward the front gate, and he followed her, putting her in a chokehold and banging her head on a wall near the gate, she told officers.</p>
<p>The girlfriend grabbed her 1-year-old son and 3-year-old daughter and tried to leave, but Elycio wouldn't let her, she said. Elycio's mother's friend took the 1-year-old so Elycio and the girlfriend could fight, according to the complaint.</p>
<p>She said she hit Elycio and he tried to strangle her. She bit a piece of his ear off, then fled from the house, leaving the children inside, according to the complaint.</p>
<p>Officers made public address announcements to Elycio and eventually went into the house. Elycio already had left, according to the complaint. Police found the children sleeping inside.</p>
<p>The Children, Youth and Families Department was called, and while police were waiting, Elycio walked up to the scene. He was taken to a hospital to get his ear treated, and then arrested and booked into the county jail.</p>
<p>He was charged with aggravated battery on a household member and false imprisonment, and was being held on $20,000 bail, according to jail records.</p>
<p>The girlfriend and Elycio's mother were also booked into jail on unrelated warrants for failure to appear in court.</p>
<p />
<p /> | Woman bites off chunk of man's ear during fight, police say | false | https://abqjournal.com/590241/woman-bites-off-chunk-of-mans-ear-during-fight-police-say.html | 2015-05-26 | 2least
| Woman bites off chunk of man's ear during fight, police say
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p>Jerome Elycio, 35.</p>
<p>ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - An Albuquerque man was arrested after a family fight over the weekend in which he slammed his girlfriend's head into a wall and she bit off a chunk of his ear, police say.</p>
<p>The girlfriend told police she and Jerome Elycio, 35, started fighting and Elycio slammed her head into a wall and tried to strangle her on Saturday, according to a criminal complaint. She bit off a chunk of his ear during the fight, she said.</p>
<p>When police arrived at the home near Rio Grande and Interstate 40 on Saturday, the girlfriend tried to hand police the ear chunk, according to the complaint.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Police detained her and tried to get Elycio to come out of the house, but he refused, saying he was fine and didn't need help.</p>
<p>The girlfriend told police she had been playing cards with Elycio, Elycio's mother, Elycio's mother's friend and some of Elycio's cousins. The group was drinking alcohol, she said.</p>
<p>The girlfriend said Elycio started acting like a "jerk." He sat on her lap, then slammed her head into a wall, according to the complaint.</p>
<p>She walked toward the front gate, and he followed her, putting her in a chokehold and banging her head on a wall near the gate, she told officers.</p>
<p>The girlfriend grabbed her 1-year-old son and 3-year-old daughter and tried to leave, but Elycio wouldn't let her, she said. Elycio's mother's friend took the 1-year-old so Elycio and the girlfriend could fight, according to the complaint.</p>
<p>She said she hit Elycio and he tried to strangle her. She bit a piece of his ear off, then fled from the house, leaving the children inside, according to the complaint.</p>
<p>Officers made public address announcements to Elycio and eventually went into the house. Elycio already had left, according to the complaint. Police found the children sleeping inside.</p>
<p>The Children, Youth and Families Department was called, and while police were waiting, Elycio walked up to the scene. He was taken to a hospital to get his ear treated, and then arrested and booked into the county jail.</p>
<p>He was charged with aggravated battery on a household member and false imprisonment, and was being held on $20,000 bail, according to jail records.</p>
<p>The girlfriend and Elycio's mother were also booked into jail on unrelated warrants for failure to appear in court.</p>
<p />
<p /> | 715 |
<p><a href="" type="internal" />6:39 am, Nov. 7, 2012</p>
<p>By John Seiler</p>
<p>California should change its name to Unionifornia. The public-employee unions won everything yesterday. They beat Proposition 32, which would have curbed their ability to siphon money directly from employees’ paychecks. They won Proposition 30, the $6 billion tax increase pushed by their kept governor, Jerry Brown.</p>
<p>They even defeated Proposition 38, the rival tax-increase initiative by lawyer Molly Munger, which would have plunked the added tax money directly into schools. By contrast, Prop. 30 has no real constraints, so the money can be siphoned off to union pensions.</p>
<p>The unions also re-elected Dianne Feinstein to the U.S. Senate. And their candidate for president, Barack Obama, won not only California, but the national election.</p>
<p>The problem for the ultra-powerful unions now is that the state and national economies are headed for breakdowns. Socialism never has worked.</p>
<p>For California, the millionaires hit with the new tax will start leaving. Brown, in the last days of the campaign, cited a study by two Stanford “poverty” professors (who themselves make huge salaries). We debunked the study <a href="" type="internal">here on CalWatchDog.com</a>. But few California voters read CalWatchDog.com, only the smart ones.</p>
<p>By leaving, millionaires immediately avoid paying the state’s tops-in-the-nation state income tax of 13.3 percent. If they move to Nevada, Texas, Washington or other states with no income tax, they pay no state income tax at all.</p>
<p>But there’s more. Even if the millionaires stay, Prop. 30 grabs another $5 billion from them. That’s money they won’t have to invest in business and jobs creation. So the tax will hit all of us. Maybe a millionaire won’t buy the Rolls Royce he’s been ogling. But that means the minimum-wage mechanic at the Rolls dealership will be laid off and start collecting welfare.</p>
<p>The income tax increase also is retroactive for 2012. That means it will cost millionaires $5 billion now, and $5 billion in 2013. The giant sucking sound you hear is the California economy imploding.</p>
<p>Prop. 30 also increases sales taxes $1 billion. Meaning you and I will pay it. And it will kill more businesses and jobs — $1 billion worth.</p>
<p>And Prop. 30 wasn’t the only tax increase to pass. Proposition 39 also passed, raising taxes $1 billion on out-of-state businesses that had created jobs here, but now might leave. It’s hedge fund manager Thomas Steyer’s initiative to funnel tax money into his favored investments. Expect other rich people to sponsor initiatives in 2014 that will do something similar: grab tax money to pad their own portfolios.</p>
<p>Brown and the unions don’t realize it, but they won’t get the money they want. The state’s anti-business climate is so penalizing, and made so much worse by the passage of Prop. 30 and Prop. 39, that tax revenue will&#160;decline&#160;faster than those initiatives can bring it in.</p>
<p>With Obama’s re-election, the national economy will start nosediving (not that Romney would have done any better). Another $166 billion in tax increases will hit the middle class on Jan. 1 when the payroll tax cut expires. Neither Republicans nor Democrats wants to keep the tax cut. That will hit middle-class American families with $1,000 in higher taxes in 2013.</p>
<p>We’re overdue for a recession anyway. They hit every four to six years. The last one hit in 2007. Add six to that and you get 2013.</p>
<p>The recession will bring more municipal bankruptcies throughout Unionifornia. The pension systems will keep teetering into insolvency. Unemployment will rise, and welfare rolls along with that, increasing the strains on the state budget.</p>
<p>The unions now own Unionifornia. And along with Brown and Obama, they’re going to have to take the blame for the crash.</p>
<p>When the crash happens, the time for reform will have arrived. In 2014, the reform movement should put on the ballot something like <a href="http://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php/California_Proposition_75,_Permission_Required_to_Withhold_Dues_for_Political_Purposes_(2005)" type="external">Proposition 75</a>, the 2005 initiative that simply banned unions from directly extracting dues for politics from members’ paychecks. It got 47 percent of the vote even during the time of the booming economy (due to the phony real-estate boom that soon turned into a bust).</p>
<p>In 2012, Prop. 32 was much more complicated, including corporations in the paycheck protection, and <a href="http://vote.sos.ca.gov/returns/ballot-measures/" type="external">got just 44 percent</a>. Reformers need to make the 2014 decision simple: The ripped-off citizens vs. the ultra-powerful government-worker unions. People love a story about David (us) vs. Goliath (unions).</p>
<p>In two years, Unionifornia’s economy will be faltering badly, and voters will be in the mood for real reform. The time to plan is now.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p> | Unions totally dominate California | false | https://calwatchdog.com/2012/11/07/unions-totally-dominate-california/ | 2018-11-20 | 3left-center
| Unions totally dominate California
<p><a href="" type="internal" />6:39 am, Nov. 7, 2012</p>
<p>By John Seiler</p>
<p>California should change its name to Unionifornia. The public-employee unions won everything yesterday. They beat Proposition 32, which would have curbed their ability to siphon money directly from employees’ paychecks. They won Proposition 30, the $6 billion tax increase pushed by their kept governor, Jerry Brown.</p>
<p>They even defeated Proposition 38, the rival tax-increase initiative by lawyer Molly Munger, which would have plunked the added tax money directly into schools. By contrast, Prop. 30 has no real constraints, so the money can be siphoned off to union pensions.</p>
<p>The unions also re-elected Dianne Feinstein to the U.S. Senate. And their candidate for president, Barack Obama, won not only California, but the national election.</p>
<p>The problem for the ultra-powerful unions now is that the state and national economies are headed for breakdowns. Socialism never has worked.</p>
<p>For California, the millionaires hit with the new tax will start leaving. Brown, in the last days of the campaign, cited a study by two Stanford “poverty” professors (who themselves make huge salaries). We debunked the study <a href="" type="internal">here on CalWatchDog.com</a>. But few California voters read CalWatchDog.com, only the smart ones.</p>
<p>By leaving, millionaires immediately avoid paying the state’s tops-in-the-nation state income tax of 13.3 percent. If they move to Nevada, Texas, Washington or other states with no income tax, they pay no state income tax at all.</p>
<p>But there’s more. Even if the millionaires stay, Prop. 30 grabs another $5 billion from them. That’s money they won’t have to invest in business and jobs creation. So the tax will hit all of us. Maybe a millionaire won’t buy the Rolls Royce he’s been ogling. But that means the minimum-wage mechanic at the Rolls dealership will be laid off and start collecting welfare.</p>
<p>The income tax increase also is retroactive for 2012. That means it will cost millionaires $5 billion now, and $5 billion in 2013. The giant sucking sound you hear is the California economy imploding.</p>
<p>Prop. 30 also increases sales taxes $1 billion. Meaning you and I will pay it. And it will kill more businesses and jobs — $1 billion worth.</p>
<p>And Prop. 30 wasn’t the only tax increase to pass. Proposition 39 also passed, raising taxes $1 billion on out-of-state businesses that had created jobs here, but now might leave. It’s hedge fund manager Thomas Steyer’s initiative to funnel tax money into his favored investments. Expect other rich people to sponsor initiatives in 2014 that will do something similar: grab tax money to pad their own portfolios.</p>
<p>Brown and the unions don’t realize it, but they won’t get the money they want. The state’s anti-business climate is so penalizing, and made so much worse by the passage of Prop. 30 and Prop. 39, that tax revenue will&#160;decline&#160;faster than those initiatives can bring it in.</p>
<p>With Obama’s re-election, the national economy will start nosediving (not that Romney would have done any better). Another $166 billion in tax increases will hit the middle class on Jan. 1 when the payroll tax cut expires. Neither Republicans nor Democrats wants to keep the tax cut. That will hit middle-class American families with $1,000 in higher taxes in 2013.</p>
<p>We’re overdue for a recession anyway. They hit every four to six years. The last one hit in 2007. Add six to that and you get 2013.</p>
<p>The recession will bring more municipal bankruptcies throughout Unionifornia. The pension systems will keep teetering into insolvency. Unemployment will rise, and welfare rolls along with that, increasing the strains on the state budget.</p>
<p>The unions now own Unionifornia. And along with Brown and Obama, they’re going to have to take the blame for the crash.</p>
<p>When the crash happens, the time for reform will have arrived. In 2014, the reform movement should put on the ballot something like <a href="http://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php/California_Proposition_75,_Permission_Required_to_Withhold_Dues_for_Political_Purposes_(2005)" type="external">Proposition 75</a>, the 2005 initiative that simply banned unions from directly extracting dues for politics from members’ paychecks. It got 47 percent of the vote even during the time of the booming economy (due to the phony real-estate boom that soon turned into a bust).</p>
<p>In 2012, Prop. 32 was much more complicated, including corporations in the paycheck protection, and <a href="http://vote.sos.ca.gov/returns/ballot-measures/" type="external">got just 44 percent</a>. Reformers need to make the 2014 decision simple: The ripped-off citizens vs. the ultra-powerful government-worker unions. People love a story about David (us) vs. Goliath (unions).</p>
<p>In two years, Unionifornia’s economy will be faltering badly, and voters will be in the mood for real reform. The time to plan is now.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p> | 716 |
<p>New MSNBC host Ronan Farrow, son of actress Mia Farrow and former Hillary Clinton special advisor on global youth issues, had some interesting words on why the world needed another Clinton administration.</p>
<p>After MSNBC contributor Ari Melber spelled out how honest the Clintons were on gay marriage - "they both changed and most extraordinarily and most rarely, the president came out and said he was wrong essentially to sign DOMA and what do you think that evolution tells us about the ability to move from the&#160;'90s to now" - Farrow concluded, "they're nimble politicians, also, I think they represent a style of honesty that the public craves right now."</p>
<p>President Clinton was impeached in the House for committing perjury, and Hillary Clinton has long been one of the least truthful politicians in America.&#160;</p> | MSNBC's Farrow: Clintons 'Represent a Style of Honesty That The Public Craves Right Now' | true | http://truthrevolt.org/news/msnbcs-farrow-clintons-represent-style-honesty-public-craves-right-now | 2018-10-07 | 0right
| MSNBC's Farrow: Clintons 'Represent a Style of Honesty That The Public Craves Right Now'
<p>New MSNBC host Ronan Farrow, son of actress Mia Farrow and former Hillary Clinton special advisor on global youth issues, had some interesting words on why the world needed another Clinton administration.</p>
<p>After MSNBC contributor Ari Melber spelled out how honest the Clintons were on gay marriage - "they both changed and most extraordinarily and most rarely, the president came out and said he was wrong essentially to sign DOMA and what do you think that evolution tells us about the ability to move from the&#160;'90s to now" - Farrow concluded, "they're nimble politicians, also, I think they represent a style of honesty that the public craves right now."</p>
<p>President Clinton was impeached in the House for committing perjury, and Hillary Clinton has long been one of the least truthful politicians in America.&#160;</p> | 717 |
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<p />
<p>An ad hoc committee is pushing a series of projects aimed at honoring the late George I. Sanchez, a scholar credited with helping bring attention to the plight of poor Mexican-Americans in the 1930s. Those projects include naming a street and building after Sanchez, said Luisa Duran, a retired University of New Mexico bilingual education professor.</p>
<p>For the Sanchez family, it’s a stunning reversal of his legacy in a state where lawmakers once denounced him and forced him to leave because of his then-radical views on desegregation, said granddaughter Cindy Kennedy, 49, a Santa Fe teacher. “I think it’s fantastic,” Kennedy said. “It’s about time he’s being honored here nearly 40 years after his death.”</p>
<p>Duran said the committee is working on more ideas to honor Sanchez, who wrote the 1940 classic book “Forgotten People” about Mexican-Americans in Taos. The group of educators formed the committee after reading a story by The Associated Press last year that Sanchez was relatively unknown in his birth state and in Albuquerque, where he worked as a young school teacher.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>“It’s important that we remember him because he was so important,” said Duran, 71. “He was actually writing about the town where I’m from and was probably talking about my parents.”</p>
<p>A dozen or so schools in Texas and California are named in honor of Sanchez – including the School of Education building at the University of Texas where he taught for many years – but not a single school in New Mexico bears his name.</p>
<p>Few New Mexico educators or activists know much about him, according to historians and educators. No plaque exists to show his birthplace or the school where Sanchez taught.</p>
<p>He is not listed among the state’s notable figures in New Mexico Centennial guidebooks.</p>
<p>A son of an Arizona miner, Albuquerque-born Sanchez worked his way out of poverty as a rural public school teacher in New Mexico to become a pioneer scholar and education activist.</p>
<p>Sanchez developed his theories on school inequalities using New Mexico’s Hispanic and Navajo populations as examples.</p>
<p>He argued that bilingual students were discriminated against by monolingual school systems and testified in landmark court cases about the negative effects of segregation and IQ testing on Hispanic, American Indian and black children.</p>
<p>But Sanchez clashed with the state’s governor for pushing a state equalization funding formula for schools and came under fire from some lawmakers for helping with a University of New Mexico professor’s survey on racial attitudes in schools.</p>
<p>Kennedy said her grandfather never sought much recognition while he was alive.</p>
<p>“But I’m glad New Mexico is finally beginning to honor him,” Kennedy said. “He’s finally coming home.” — This article appeared on page C1 of the Albuquerque Journal</p> | Group to honor N.M.-born scholar | false | https://abqjournal.com/168323/group-to-honor-nmborn-scholar.html | 2013-02-13 | 2least
| Group to honor N.M.-born scholar
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>An ad hoc committee is pushing a series of projects aimed at honoring the late George I. Sanchez, a scholar credited with helping bring attention to the plight of poor Mexican-Americans in the 1930s. Those projects include naming a street and building after Sanchez, said Luisa Duran, a retired University of New Mexico bilingual education professor.</p>
<p>For the Sanchez family, it’s a stunning reversal of his legacy in a state where lawmakers once denounced him and forced him to leave because of his then-radical views on desegregation, said granddaughter Cindy Kennedy, 49, a Santa Fe teacher. “I think it’s fantastic,” Kennedy said. “It’s about time he’s being honored here nearly 40 years after his death.”</p>
<p>Duran said the committee is working on more ideas to honor Sanchez, who wrote the 1940 classic book “Forgotten People” about Mexican-Americans in Taos. The group of educators formed the committee after reading a story by The Associated Press last year that Sanchez was relatively unknown in his birth state and in Albuquerque, where he worked as a young school teacher.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>“It’s important that we remember him because he was so important,” said Duran, 71. “He was actually writing about the town where I’m from and was probably talking about my parents.”</p>
<p>A dozen or so schools in Texas and California are named in honor of Sanchez – including the School of Education building at the University of Texas where he taught for many years – but not a single school in New Mexico bears his name.</p>
<p>Few New Mexico educators or activists know much about him, according to historians and educators. No plaque exists to show his birthplace or the school where Sanchez taught.</p>
<p>He is not listed among the state’s notable figures in New Mexico Centennial guidebooks.</p>
<p>A son of an Arizona miner, Albuquerque-born Sanchez worked his way out of poverty as a rural public school teacher in New Mexico to become a pioneer scholar and education activist.</p>
<p>Sanchez developed his theories on school inequalities using New Mexico’s Hispanic and Navajo populations as examples.</p>
<p>He argued that bilingual students were discriminated against by monolingual school systems and testified in landmark court cases about the negative effects of segregation and IQ testing on Hispanic, American Indian and black children.</p>
<p>But Sanchez clashed with the state’s governor for pushing a state equalization funding formula for schools and came under fire from some lawmakers for helping with a University of New Mexico professor’s survey on racial attitudes in schools.</p>
<p>Kennedy said her grandfather never sought much recognition while he was alive.</p>
<p>“But I’m glad New Mexico is finally beginning to honor him,” Kennedy said. “He’s finally coming home.” — This article appeared on page C1 of the Albuquerque Journal</p> | 718 |
<p>This is a teachable moment for the nation that presents an opportunity to transform policing so it serves the people.</p>
<p>The killing of Michael Brown by a Ferguson, MO police officer, who was identified Friday as Darren Wilson, and the aftermath in which nonviolent protesters and reporters were met with a violent and militarized police force have exposed something that has been building for years. Many have written about the militarization of the police and the disproportionate impact they have on people of color, but now more Americans are seeing this reality and cannot escape it.</p>
<p>Michael Brown is one of four unarmed black men killed in the last month by police. On July 17,&#160; <a href="http://www.popularresistance.org/will-this-homicide-result-in-a-prosecution/" type="external">Eric Garner</a>&#160;was killed by an illegal chokehold in New York. On August 5, John Crawford was shot in a store in Beavercreek, OH. Just after Brown’s death, on August 9&#160; <a href="http://www.popularresistance.org/another-african-american-man-killed-by-police-lapd/" type="external">Ezell Ford</a>, a young man with known mental illness, was shot in Los Angeles. These are four examples of many, <a href="http://www.occupy.com/article/black-man-killed-us-every-28-hours-police" type="external">according to a recent study</a>, a black man is killed every 28 hours by police, security guards or vigilantes. The whole nation is experiencing these tragedies; reality is being forced upon us.</p>
<p>The public reaction to the event has been immense. On Thursday evening&#160; <a href="http://www.popularresistance.org/nmos14-solidarity-from-coast-to-coast/" type="external">protests were held from coast-to-coast</a>&#160;expressing solidarity with the people of Ferguson and grief for the death of Michael Brown and the deaths of others across the nation killed by police. There are now increasing&#160; <a href="http://www.popularresistance.org/in-wake-of-clashes-calls-to-demilitarize-police/" type="external">calls for the demilitarization</a>&#160;of the police by the Attorney General and elected officials. And, the&#160; <a href="http://www.popularresistance.org/justice-dept-to-conduct-broad-review-of-police-tactics/" type="external">DOJ has announced a broad review of police practices</a>&#160;that lead to deadly force. People are taking action pressuring the DOJ to act, see:&#160; <a href="http://www.popularresistance.org/tell-dept-of-justice-end-racist-and-militaristic-policing/" type="external">Tell The Department of Justice to end racist and militaristic policing.</a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.alternet.org/activism/how-we-can-end-militarized-policing?paging=off&amp;current_page=1#bookmark" type="external">Read more</a></p> | How We Can End Militarized Policing | true | http://rinf.com/alt-news/usa-news/can-end-militarized-policing/ | 2014-08-17 | 4left
| How We Can End Militarized Policing
<p>This is a teachable moment for the nation that presents an opportunity to transform policing so it serves the people.</p>
<p>The killing of Michael Brown by a Ferguson, MO police officer, who was identified Friday as Darren Wilson, and the aftermath in which nonviolent protesters and reporters were met with a violent and militarized police force have exposed something that has been building for years. Many have written about the militarization of the police and the disproportionate impact they have on people of color, but now more Americans are seeing this reality and cannot escape it.</p>
<p>Michael Brown is one of four unarmed black men killed in the last month by police. On July 17,&#160; <a href="http://www.popularresistance.org/will-this-homicide-result-in-a-prosecution/" type="external">Eric Garner</a>&#160;was killed by an illegal chokehold in New York. On August 5, John Crawford was shot in a store in Beavercreek, OH. Just after Brown’s death, on August 9&#160; <a href="http://www.popularresistance.org/another-african-american-man-killed-by-police-lapd/" type="external">Ezell Ford</a>, a young man with known mental illness, was shot in Los Angeles. These are four examples of many, <a href="http://www.occupy.com/article/black-man-killed-us-every-28-hours-police" type="external">according to a recent study</a>, a black man is killed every 28 hours by police, security guards or vigilantes. The whole nation is experiencing these tragedies; reality is being forced upon us.</p>
<p>The public reaction to the event has been immense. On Thursday evening&#160; <a href="http://www.popularresistance.org/nmos14-solidarity-from-coast-to-coast/" type="external">protests were held from coast-to-coast</a>&#160;expressing solidarity with the people of Ferguson and grief for the death of Michael Brown and the deaths of others across the nation killed by police. There are now increasing&#160; <a href="http://www.popularresistance.org/in-wake-of-clashes-calls-to-demilitarize-police/" type="external">calls for the demilitarization</a>&#160;of the police by the Attorney General and elected officials. And, the&#160; <a href="http://www.popularresistance.org/justice-dept-to-conduct-broad-review-of-police-tactics/" type="external">DOJ has announced a broad review of police practices</a>&#160;that lead to deadly force. People are taking action pressuring the DOJ to act, see:&#160; <a href="http://www.popularresistance.org/tell-dept-of-justice-end-racist-and-militaristic-policing/" type="external">Tell The Department of Justice to end racist and militaristic policing.</a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.alternet.org/activism/how-we-can-end-militarized-policing?paging=off&amp;current_page=1#bookmark" type="external">Read more</a></p> | 719 |
<p>Former Walmart U.S. CEO Bill Simon on the future of retailers such as Sears, Kmart and JCPenney and the impact online shopping has on brick-and-mortar retailers.</p>
<p>Bruce R. Berkowitz&#160;has resigned from Sears Holdings Corporation’s&#160;(NASDAQ: SHLD)&#160; board of directors, effective Oct. 31, 2017, after holding the post for about 20-months.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Sears is struggling. Last March, in a filing with the Securities Exchange Commission, Sears Holdings issued a going-concern warning letting investors know that the company faces serious financial risks.</p>
<p>Last Thursday, Sears Holdings’ chairman and hedge funder Eddie Lampert loaned the company another $100 million to increase its liquidity ahead of the holiday shopping season.</p>
<p>Sears has closed both nameplate and Kmart stores this year. In August, Sears announced that it would close an additional 28 Kmart stores this year, in addition to the 150 Sears and Kmart stores it had already planned to close by the end of the third quarter.</p> | Sears dealt latest blow as Berkowitz resigns from board | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/10/16/sears-dealt-latest-blow-as-berkowitz-resigns-from-board.html | 2017-10-16 | 0right
| Sears dealt latest blow as Berkowitz resigns from board
<p>Former Walmart U.S. CEO Bill Simon on the future of retailers such as Sears, Kmart and JCPenney and the impact online shopping has on brick-and-mortar retailers.</p>
<p>Bruce R. Berkowitz&#160;has resigned from Sears Holdings Corporation’s&#160;(NASDAQ: SHLD)&#160; board of directors, effective Oct. 31, 2017, after holding the post for about 20-months.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Sears is struggling. Last March, in a filing with the Securities Exchange Commission, Sears Holdings issued a going-concern warning letting investors know that the company faces serious financial risks.</p>
<p>Last Thursday, Sears Holdings’ chairman and hedge funder Eddie Lampert loaned the company another $100 million to increase its liquidity ahead of the holiday shopping season.</p>
<p>Sears has closed both nameplate and Kmart stores this year. In August, Sears announced that it would close an additional 28 Kmart stores this year, in addition to the 150 Sears and Kmart stores it had already planned to close by the end of the third quarter.</p> | 720 |
<p>President Donald Trump stressed to the emir of Qatar the importance of unity in fighting terrorism, the White House said on Friday, a day after the U.S. president offered to mediate the Gulf country’s dispute with its Arab neighbors.</p>
<p>In a telephone call Thursday with the emir, Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, “The President underscored the importance of all countries following through on commitments from the Riyadh Summit to maintain unity while defeating terrorism, cutting off funding for terrorist groups, and combating extremist ideology,” the White House said.</p>
<p>They also discussed the continued threat Iran poses to regional stability, it said.&#160;</p> | WH: Trump Speaks to Qatar Emir on Gulf Unity, Terrorism Fight | false | https://newsline.com/wh-trump-speaks-to-qatar-emir-on-gulf-unity-terrorism-fight/ | 2017-09-08 | 1right-center
| WH: Trump Speaks to Qatar Emir on Gulf Unity, Terrorism Fight
<p>President Donald Trump stressed to the emir of Qatar the importance of unity in fighting terrorism, the White House said on Friday, a day after the U.S. president offered to mediate the Gulf country’s dispute with its Arab neighbors.</p>
<p>In a telephone call Thursday with the emir, Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, “The President underscored the importance of all countries following through on commitments from the Riyadh Summit to maintain unity while defeating terrorism, cutting off funding for terrorist groups, and combating extremist ideology,” the White House said.</p>
<p>They also discussed the continued threat Iran poses to regional stability, it said.&#160;</p> | 721 |
<p>Abu Ammaar&#160;Yasir Qadhi, a Memphil Imam based in Tennessee, preaches openly about what Islam truly is. He makes no bones about thinking that anyone other than a Muslim doesn’t deserve anything and are less than Muslims. In fact, part of Yasir Qadhi’s preaching includes rhetoric that says non-Muslims lives are forfeit and their property is legal for Muslims to take in jihad, (and this would include women as sex slaves)&#160; Recently Yasir Qadhi said that “Jews and Christians filthy, their lives and property can be taken in jihad by the Muslims.”</p>
<p>Yasir Qadhi is not only a Memphil Imam, but is is also the Dean of Academic Affairs at the Al-Maghrib Institute. He is a hafiz (has memorized the Qur’an) and he has an M.A. in the Islamic Creed and a B.A. in Islamic Sciences from Islamic University of Medina, as well as a master’s and a doctorate in Islamic Studies from Yale.</p>
<p><a href="https://i0.wp.com/cdn.freedomoutpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/yasir-qadhi.jpg" type="external" />During a lecture on Shirk, or polytheism, Yasir Qadhi said that Jews and Christians are mushrikoon, or polytheists, because they have made partners with Allah. From Yasir Qadhi’s perspective, only Muslims are monotheists.</p>
<p>He also claims that it is the responsibility of every single human being to bear witness that there is no deity worthy of worship except Allah, and him alone.</p>
<p>Now pay attention here. Yasir Qadhi now will tell you what the result and command that stems from this twisted principle.</p>
<p>“And it is because of this same principle of monotheism that the prophet has been commanded to do jihad.”</p>
<p>OK, now we’re getting somewhere. Did all of you alleged “moderate” Muslims out there get that? Of course, you did. You know this. You know jihad is not just some internal struggle. It isn’t about losing weight or getting in shape or some personal goal to be obtained. It is a holy war to advance the caliphate, the Islamic State.</p>
<p>While jihad is not the goal, Qadhi says, it is the means. “It is a means to establish monotheism on the land,” Qadhi says.</p>
<p>Let me translate that for any who are still skeptical and buying into the lie that Islam is peaceful. Jihad is a means, a violent means, to an end, or goal, where Islam dominates the United States. In fact, Islam believes it will dominate the world, and I emphasize the word dominate.</p>
<p>Qadhi claims that he “has been commanded to fight the people until they testify.”</p>
<p>“The whole reason why Allah has created us and sent the prophet and revealed the books, and differentiated us based upon this principle and allowed for jihad, is the basis and is the principle of monotheism,” he continues. “The life and property of a “Mushrik” (someone who does not worship Allah) holds no value in the state of jihad.”</p>
<p>As if that wasn’t outlandish enough, Yasir Qadhi continues by attempting to differentiate that life is valuable at times, just not when jihad is going on. Well, who knows when that is going on?</p>
<p>Qadhi said, “The life and property of a mushrik [one who worships others besides Allah] holds no value in the state of jihad….which means if they don’t sayla illaha illa Allah, their lives and property are halal” — that is, permitted to be taken by the Muslims. “The prophet, and I quoted the hadith before, ‘I have been commanded to fight the people until” they profess that there is no god but Allah, and once they convert to Islam, “their life and property become protected from them.”</p>
<p>What does all of that mean? I’m glad you asked and so is Yasir Qadhi. This “means if they don’t” convert to Islam, “their life and property are halal (or in this case, free for the taking legally) for the muslims.”</p>
<p>He then goes on to say that Christians commit “shirk,” they are unbelievers, and they are polytheists.</p>
<p>Then he gets into ad hominem attacks on Christians. “They are filthy, a spiritual filthiness which can only be purified by the purity of tawheed (monotheism).” He then adds that Allah believes anyone who is not a Muslim is a “nudge.” In other words, a nudge, in Arabic is “najasa,” and it means that you are “feces, urine, filthy, or contaminated.”</p>
<p>Well, I have news for Yasir Qadhi and all Muslims. The God of the Bible says you are filthy and you distort his teachings and he will come one day to judge you, but should you fail to repent and believe the gospel of Jesus Christ and seek to pursue a jihad on American soil, we will see your jihad and raise you another crusade if you seek to push this filthy, backwards, disgusting and immoral ideology of Islam on us.</p>
<p>What are your thoughts?</p>
<p>Tim Brown is the Editor of <a href="http://freedomoutpost.com/2013/10/tennessee-imam-abu-ammaar-yasir-qadhi-jews-christians-filthy-lives-property-can-taken-jihad-muslims/" type="external">Freedom Outpost</a>.</p>
<p />
<p /> | Tennessee Imam Abu Ammaar Yasir Qadhi: “Jews and Christians are Filthy, Their Lives and Property can be Taken in Jihad by the Muslims” | true | http://dcclothesline.com/2013/10/30/tennessee-imam-abu-ammaar-yasir-qadhi-jews-christians-filthy-lives-property-can-taken-jihad-muslims/ | 2013-10-30 | 0right
| Tennessee Imam Abu Ammaar Yasir Qadhi: “Jews and Christians are Filthy, Their Lives and Property can be Taken in Jihad by the Muslims”
<p>Abu Ammaar&#160;Yasir Qadhi, a Memphil Imam based in Tennessee, preaches openly about what Islam truly is. He makes no bones about thinking that anyone other than a Muslim doesn’t deserve anything and are less than Muslims. In fact, part of Yasir Qadhi’s preaching includes rhetoric that says non-Muslims lives are forfeit and their property is legal for Muslims to take in jihad, (and this would include women as sex slaves)&#160; Recently Yasir Qadhi said that “Jews and Christians filthy, their lives and property can be taken in jihad by the Muslims.”</p>
<p>Yasir Qadhi is not only a Memphil Imam, but is is also the Dean of Academic Affairs at the Al-Maghrib Institute. He is a hafiz (has memorized the Qur’an) and he has an M.A. in the Islamic Creed and a B.A. in Islamic Sciences from Islamic University of Medina, as well as a master’s and a doctorate in Islamic Studies from Yale.</p>
<p><a href="https://i0.wp.com/cdn.freedomoutpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/yasir-qadhi.jpg" type="external" />During a lecture on Shirk, or polytheism, Yasir Qadhi said that Jews and Christians are mushrikoon, or polytheists, because they have made partners with Allah. From Yasir Qadhi’s perspective, only Muslims are monotheists.</p>
<p>He also claims that it is the responsibility of every single human being to bear witness that there is no deity worthy of worship except Allah, and him alone.</p>
<p>Now pay attention here. Yasir Qadhi now will tell you what the result and command that stems from this twisted principle.</p>
<p>“And it is because of this same principle of monotheism that the prophet has been commanded to do jihad.”</p>
<p>OK, now we’re getting somewhere. Did all of you alleged “moderate” Muslims out there get that? Of course, you did. You know this. You know jihad is not just some internal struggle. It isn’t about losing weight or getting in shape or some personal goal to be obtained. It is a holy war to advance the caliphate, the Islamic State.</p>
<p>While jihad is not the goal, Qadhi says, it is the means. “It is a means to establish monotheism on the land,” Qadhi says.</p>
<p>Let me translate that for any who are still skeptical and buying into the lie that Islam is peaceful. Jihad is a means, a violent means, to an end, or goal, where Islam dominates the United States. In fact, Islam believes it will dominate the world, and I emphasize the word dominate.</p>
<p>Qadhi claims that he “has been commanded to fight the people until they testify.”</p>
<p>“The whole reason why Allah has created us and sent the prophet and revealed the books, and differentiated us based upon this principle and allowed for jihad, is the basis and is the principle of monotheism,” he continues. “The life and property of a “Mushrik” (someone who does not worship Allah) holds no value in the state of jihad.”</p>
<p>As if that wasn’t outlandish enough, Yasir Qadhi continues by attempting to differentiate that life is valuable at times, just not when jihad is going on. Well, who knows when that is going on?</p>
<p>Qadhi said, “The life and property of a mushrik [one who worships others besides Allah] holds no value in the state of jihad….which means if they don’t sayla illaha illa Allah, their lives and property are halal” — that is, permitted to be taken by the Muslims. “The prophet, and I quoted the hadith before, ‘I have been commanded to fight the people until” they profess that there is no god but Allah, and once they convert to Islam, “their life and property become protected from them.”</p>
<p>What does all of that mean? I’m glad you asked and so is Yasir Qadhi. This “means if they don’t” convert to Islam, “their life and property are halal (or in this case, free for the taking legally) for the muslims.”</p>
<p>He then goes on to say that Christians commit “shirk,” they are unbelievers, and they are polytheists.</p>
<p>Then he gets into ad hominem attacks on Christians. “They are filthy, a spiritual filthiness which can only be purified by the purity of tawheed (monotheism).” He then adds that Allah believes anyone who is not a Muslim is a “nudge.” In other words, a nudge, in Arabic is “najasa,” and it means that you are “feces, urine, filthy, or contaminated.”</p>
<p>Well, I have news for Yasir Qadhi and all Muslims. The God of the Bible says you are filthy and you distort his teachings and he will come one day to judge you, but should you fail to repent and believe the gospel of Jesus Christ and seek to pursue a jihad on American soil, we will see your jihad and raise you another crusade if you seek to push this filthy, backwards, disgusting and immoral ideology of Islam on us.</p>
<p>What are your thoughts?</p>
<p>Tim Brown is the Editor of <a href="http://freedomoutpost.com/2013/10/tennessee-imam-abu-ammaar-yasir-qadhi-jews-christians-filthy-lives-property-can-taken-jihad-muslims/" type="external">Freedom Outpost</a>.</p>
<p />
<p /> | 722 |
<p><a href="" type="internal">LinkedIn</a> Corp will seek out opportunities in <a href="" type="internal">China</a> to capitalize on its massive user base even though it sees the market as complicated, a company executive said on Thursday.</p>
<p>LinkedIn, a professional social-networking-site, has a small presence in the country and is one of the few foreign social-networking-sites to still have access to Chinese Internet users. <a href="" type="internal">Twitter</a> and <a href="" type="internal">Facebook</a> are blocked in China.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>"It (China) is a very competitive market," Arvind Rajan, Vice President of Asia Pacific and Japan at Linkedin told reporters on the sidelines of a conference.</p>
<p>"There are political challenges, technical challenges. There are a whole lot of things for us to go through. We are far away from making any decision. At this point, we are just here to explore the market, to talk to people.."</p>
<p>LinkedIn was also briefly blocked by China in February this year.</p>
<p>Similar to Facebook, LinkedIn allows users to create profile pages with a photo and details about themselves. But it is largely used for professional rather than social personas, and is basically an online database of electronic resumes.</p>
<p>LinkedIn shares more than doubled in their public trading debut last Thursday, evoking memories of the investor love affair with Internet stocks during the dot-com boom of the late 1990s.</p> | LinkedIn Eyes Business Opportunities in China | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2011/05/26/linkedin-eyes-business-opportunities-china.html | 2016-03-04 | 0right
| LinkedIn Eyes Business Opportunities in China
<p><a href="" type="internal">LinkedIn</a> Corp will seek out opportunities in <a href="" type="internal">China</a> to capitalize on its massive user base even though it sees the market as complicated, a company executive said on Thursday.</p>
<p>LinkedIn, a professional social-networking-site, has a small presence in the country and is one of the few foreign social-networking-sites to still have access to Chinese Internet users. <a href="" type="internal">Twitter</a> and <a href="" type="internal">Facebook</a> are blocked in China.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>"It (China) is a very competitive market," Arvind Rajan, Vice President of Asia Pacific and Japan at Linkedin told reporters on the sidelines of a conference.</p>
<p>"There are political challenges, technical challenges. There are a whole lot of things for us to go through. We are far away from making any decision. At this point, we are just here to explore the market, to talk to people.."</p>
<p>LinkedIn was also briefly blocked by China in February this year.</p>
<p>Similar to Facebook, LinkedIn allows users to create profile pages with a photo and details about themselves. But it is largely used for professional rather than social personas, and is basically an online database of electronic resumes.</p>
<p>LinkedIn shares more than doubled in their public trading debut last Thursday, evoking memories of the investor love affair with Internet stocks during the dot-com boom of the late 1990s.</p> | 723 |
<p><a href="/r2/?url=http://www.google.com/url?sa=i&amp;rct=j&amp;q=&amp;esrc=s&amp;frm=1&amp;source=images&amp;cd=&amp;cad=rja&amp;docid=as0A78oVc1vSbM&amp;tbnid=N5J83SiQWjU46M:&amp;ved=0CAUQjRw&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Ffreespeechamerica.org%2Findex.php%3Flimitstart%3D51&amp;ei=NGtbUZT2D8PD4AO04IGgCA&amp;bvm=bv.44697112,d.dmg&amp;psig=AFQjCNGHfN3An_MRdDijpmgyoAHAJkhhTA&amp;ust=1365032055652828" type="external" /></p>
<p>CNSNEWS</p>
<p>By <a href="/r2/?url=http://cnsnews.com/source/gregory-gwyn-williams-jr" type="external">Gregory Gwyn-Williams, Jr.</a></p>
<p>The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has responded to a letter dated November 13, 2012 from Senator Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) regarding the agency’s ammunition purchases.</p>
<p>Sen. Coburn <a href="/r2/?url=http://www.hsgac.senate.gov/media/minority-media/dr-coburn-releases-correspondence-with-dhs-regarding-ammunition-purchases" type="external">published</a> the response on the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs website yesterday, April 1, 2013.</p>
<p>The response, dated February 4, 2013, says that DHS buys ammunition in bulk to “significantly lower costs.”</p>
<p>The letter <a href="/r2/?url=http://www.coburn.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?a=Files.Serve&amp;File_id=ce355026-b2cc-48b7-bed2-b965bd69fecb" type="external">states</a>:</p>
<p>“DHS routinely establishes strategic sourcing contracts that combine the requirements of all its Components for commonly purchased goods and services such as ammunition, computer equipment and information technology services. These strategic sourcing contracts help leverage the purchasing power of DHS to efficiently procure equipment and supplies at significantly lower costs.”</p>
<p>While it has been previously <a href="/r2/?url=http://www.forbes.com/sites/ralphbenko/2013/03/11/1-6-billion-rounds-of-ammo-for-homeland-security-its-time-for-a-national-conversation/" type="external">reported</a> that DHS has solicited the purchase of 1.6 billion rounds of ammunition over the next four to five years, the government agency shows only 263,733,362 rounds in its current inventory.</p>
<p><a href="/r2/?url=http://cnsnews.com/blog/gregory-gwyn-williams-jr/dhs-explains-plans-buy-16b-rounds-ammo-were-buying-bulk-significantly" type="external">Read More Here</a></p>
<p>Open letter to all Federal Firearms Licensees</p>
<p>Responses to Senator Coburn’s November 13, 2012 Letter&#160;&#160; &#160;&#160; 1.&#160;&#160; How many rounds of ammunition has the Department purchased during each of the past three fiscal years?&#160; How much did these acquisitions cost? &#160; CBP = U.S. Customs and Border Protection FLETC = Federal Law Enforcement Training Center NPPD/FPS = National Protection and Programs Directorate/Federal Protective Service ICE = U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement TSA = Transportation Security Administration USCG = U.S. Coast Guard USSS = U.S. Secret Service &#160; FY 2010&#160;&#160; FY 2011&#160;&#160; FY 2012 DHS&#160;&#160; Rounds&#160;&#160; Rounds&#160;&#160; Rounds Component&#160;&#160; purchased&#160;&#160; Cost&#160;&#160; purchased&#160;&#160; Cost&#160;&#160; purchased&#160;&#160; Cost CBP&#160;&#160; 66,248,000&#160;&#160; $17,376,248&#160;&#160; 48,461,000&#160;&#160; $13,895,900&#160;&#160; 36,475,000&#160; $12,255,040 FLETC&#160;&#160; 17,056,000&#160;&#160; $5,507,057&#160;&#160; 22,735,654&#160;&#160; $7,062,254&#160;&#160; 7,678,946&#160;&#160; $2,485,045 NPPD/FPS&#160;&#160; 2,946,000&#160;&#160; $976,621&#160;&#160; 1,498,000&#160;&#160; $517,412&#160;&#160; 2,804,000&#160;&#160; $928,345 ICE&#160;&#160;&#160; 25,212,000&#160;&#160; $7,703,308&#160;&#160; 13,221,000&#160;&#160; $4,505,731&#160;&#160; 28,061,000&#160;&#160; $6,633,460 TSA&#160;&#160; 15,383,000&#160;&#160; $2,818,760&#160;&#160; 7,124,000&#160;&#160; $2,010,642&#160;&#160; 14,864,000&#160;&#160; $4,484,581 USCG&#160;&#160; 17,472,325&#160;&#160; $11,465,150&#160;&#160; 6,782,540&#160;&#160; $8,442,495&#160;&#160; 9,791,274&#160;&#160; $8,309,944 USSS&#160;&#160; 3,997,500&#160;&#160; $2,097,971&#160;&#160; 8,841,860&#160;&#160; $1,802,871&#160;&#160; 3,503,980&#160;&#160; $1,439,495 Total DHS&#160;&#160; 148,314,825&#160;&#160; $47,945,115&#160; 108,664,054&#160;&#160; $38,237,305&#160; 103,178,200&#160; $36,535,910 &#160; 2.&#160;&#160; Does DHS plan to purchase more ammunition in the current fiscal year?&#160;&#160; How much is budgeted for ammunitions acquisitions? &#160; FY 2013 Estimates for DHS Components&#160;&#160; Ammunition Acquisitions CBP&#160;&#160; $12,528,146 FLETC&#160;&#160; $5,900,000 NPPD/FPS&#160;&#160;&#160; $470,000 ICE&#160;&#160;&#160; $5,200,000 TSA&#160;&#160; $4,515,552 USCG&#160;&#160; $7,400,000 USSS&#160;&#160; $1,250,000 Total DHS&#160;&#160; $37,263,698 &#160; January 2013&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160; 1&#160; &#160;= Page 1 = Open letter to all Federal Firearms Licensees 3.&#160;&#160; How many rounds of ammunition does the Department currently have in its inventory? How are these rounds allocated to each of its agencies? &#160; Component Inventory&#160; DHS Components&#160;&#160; as of November 20, 2012 CBP&#160;&#160; 94,404,329 FLETC&#160;&#160; 18,797,942 NPPD/FPS&#160;&#160;&#160; 2,500,000 ICE&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160; 42,300,000 TSA&#160;&#160; 29,909,514 USCG&#160;&#160; 70,258,197 USSS&#160;&#160; 5,563,380 Total DHS&#160;&#160; 263,733,362 &#160; 4.&#160; Please describe how DHS (and its component agencies) plan to use this ammunition.&#160; How many rounds are allocated for training?&#160; How many are allocated for operational use?&#160; How many rounds are allocated for other purposes? &#160; CBP:&#160; Approximately 70 percent of CBP ammunition is used for quarterly qualifications, mandated firearms training, advanced firearms training, as well as testing and evaluation.&#160; Twenty percent of CBP ammunition is allocated to maintaining CBP’s operational posture.&#160; This includes rounds for duty use, as well as for maintaining CBP’s special response teams.&#160; The remaining 10 percent is dedicated to maintaining ammunition reserves at both the national and local levels&#160; .&#160;&#160; &#160; FLETC:&#160; All FLETC ammunition is purchased, distributed, and used for law enforcement training.&#160; No ammunition is allocated for operational or other use. &#160; NPPD/FPS:&#160; FPS allocates 1,000 rounds of ammunition per firearm per year for quarterly qualifications and training, to include advanced firearms training exercises, as well as ammunition to support law enforcement operations.&#160;&#160; &#160; ICE:&#160; ICE allocates 1,000 rounds of ammunition per firearm per year for quarterly qualifications and training, to include advanced firearms training exercises, special response team training, and ammunition to support law enforcement operations.&#160;&#160; &#160; TSA:&#160; Approximately 21 million rounds of TSA’s current inventory are reduced-hazard,&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160; lead-free frangible training ammunition, which is used exclusively for training.&#160; The remaining rounds are duty ammunition, which are used for both training and operational purposes.&#160; Overall, approximately 35 percent of TSA ammunition is allocated for operational use (qualifications and duty carry).&#160; Fewer than 100,000 rounds are used for other purposes annually, including firearms testing and evaluation. &#160; USCG:&#160; USCG allocates its ammunition inventory for Non-Combat Expenditure Allowance (NCEA) and ship-fill purposes.&#160; The NCEA, available to both shore units and cutters, is used for training and for non-defense operations including maritime law enforcement operations.&#160; USCG ship-fill allowances are specific to cutters and are designed for use on defense operations.&#160;&#160; January 2013&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160; 2 &#160;= Page 2 = Open letter to all Federal Firearms Licensees &#160; USSS:&#160; USSS plans to use the above mentioned ammunition for training, research, and operational use as needed to maintain professional firearms proficiency.&#160; Based on a review of recent historical data, USSS plans to allocate approximately 60 percent of the ammunition for training, 38 percent for operational use, and 2 percent for quality control testing of all ammunition and function firing of all new and repaired weapons.&#160;&#160; &#160; 5.&#160; Please detail approximately how many rounds DHS and its component agencies have used for training and operational purposes during the past three fiscal years. &#160; FY 2010&#160;&#160; FY 2011&#160;&#160; FY 2012 DHS&#160;&#160; Training&#160;&#160; Operationa&#160; Training&#160;&#160; Operational&#160;&#160; Training&#160;&#160; Operational Component&#160;&#160; purpose&#160;&#160; l purposes&#160;&#160; purpose&#160;&#160; purposes&#160;&#160; purpose&#160;&#160; purposes CBP&#160;&#160; 42,616,129&#160;&#160; 13,888,595&#160;&#160; 33,380,176&#160;&#160; 13,830,548&#160; 23,358,285&#160;&#160; 14,550,803 FLETC&#160;&#160; 23,391,012&#160;&#160; 0&#160;&#160; 20,800,782&#160;&#160; 0&#160; 16,939,215&#160;&#160; 0 FPS/NPPD&#160;&#160;&#160; 2,356,800&#160;&#160; 589,200&#160;&#160; 1,198,400&#160;&#160; 299,600&#160;&#160; 5,798,400&#160;&#160; 1,449,600 ICE&#160;&#160;&#160; 20,169,600&#160;&#160; 5,042,400&#160;&#160; 10,576,800&#160;&#160; 2,644,200&#160; 22,448,800&#160;&#160; 5,612,200 TSA&#160;&#160; 8,200,000&#160;&#160; 4,400,000&#160;&#160; 8,200,000&#160;&#160; 4,400,000&#160;&#160; 8,200,000&#160;&#160; 4,400,000 USCG&#160;&#160; 9,406,788&#160;&#160; 2,384&#160;&#160; 9,969,412&#160;&#160; 3,989&#160;&#160; 9,461,664&#160;&#160; 9,004 USSS&#160;&#160; 3,298,910&#160;&#160; 1,230,800&#160;&#160; 3,086,200&#160;&#160; 2,340,740&#160;&#160; 2,133,570&#160;&#160; 1,866,240 Total DHS&#160;&#160; 109,439,239&#160;&#160; 25,153,379&#160;&#160; 87,211,770&#160;&#160; 23,519,077&#160; 88,339,934&#160;&#160; 27,887,847 &#160; January 2013&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160; 3 &#160;= Page 3 = &#160;</p>
<p><a href="/" type="external">We encourage you to Share our Reports, Analyses, Breaking News and Videos. Simply Click your Favorite Social Media Button and Share.</a></p> | DHS Explains Plans To Buy 1.6B Rounds Of Ammo: We’re Buying in Bulk to ‘Significantly Lower Costs’ | true | http://beforeitsnews.com/alternative/2013/04/dhs-explains-plans-to-buy-1-6b-rounds-of-ammo-were-buying-in-bulk-to-significantly-lower-costs-2610642.html | 2013-04-02 | 0right
| DHS Explains Plans To Buy 1.6B Rounds Of Ammo: We’re Buying in Bulk to ‘Significantly Lower Costs’
<p><a href="/r2/?url=http://www.google.com/url?sa=i&amp;rct=j&amp;q=&amp;esrc=s&amp;frm=1&amp;source=images&amp;cd=&amp;cad=rja&amp;docid=as0A78oVc1vSbM&amp;tbnid=N5J83SiQWjU46M:&amp;ved=0CAUQjRw&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Ffreespeechamerica.org%2Findex.php%3Flimitstart%3D51&amp;ei=NGtbUZT2D8PD4AO04IGgCA&amp;bvm=bv.44697112,d.dmg&amp;psig=AFQjCNGHfN3An_MRdDijpmgyoAHAJkhhTA&amp;ust=1365032055652828" type="external" /></p>
<p>CNSNEWS</p>
<p>By <a href="/r2/?url=http://cnsnews.com/source/gregory-gwyn-williams-jr" type="external">Gregory Gwyn-Williams, Jr.</a></p>
<p>The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has responded to a letter dated November 13, 2012 from Senator Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) regarding the agency’s ammunition purchases.</p>
<p>Sen. Coburn <a href="/r2/?url=http://www.hsgac.senate.gov/media/minority-media/dr-coburn-releases-correspondence-with-dhs-regarding-ammunition-purchases" type="external">published</a> the response on the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs website yesterday, April 1, 2013.</p>
<p>The response, dated February 4, 2013, says that DHS buys ammunition in bulk to “significantly lower costs.”</p>
<p>The letter <a href="/r2/?url=http://www.coburn.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?a=Files.Serve&amp;File_id=ce355026-b2cc-48b7-bed2-b965bd69fecb" type="external">states</a>:</p>
<p>“DHS routinely establishes strategic sourcing contracts that combine the requirements of all its Components for commonly purchased goods and services such as ammunition, computer equipment and information technology services. These strategic sourcing contracts help leverage the purchasing power of DHS to efficiently procure equipment and supplies at significantly lower costs.”</p>
<p>While it has been previously <a href="/r2/?url=http://www.forbes.com/sites/ralphbenko/2013/03/11/1-6-billion-rounds-of-ammo-for-homeland-security-its-time-for-a-national-conversation/" type="external">reported</a> that DHS has solicited the purchase of 1.6 billion rounds of ammunition over the next four to five years, the government agency shows only 263,733,362 rounds in its current inventory.</p>
<p><a href="/r2/?url=http://cnsnews.com/blog/gregory-gwyn-williams-jr/dhs-explains-plans-buy-16b-rounds-ammo-were-buying-bulk-significantly" type="external">Read More Here</a></p>
<p>Open letter to all Federal Firearms Licensees</p>
<p>Responses to Senator Coburn’s November 13, 2012 Letter&#160;&#160; &#160;&#160; 1.&#160;&#160; How many rounds of ammunition has the Department purchased during each of the past three fiscal years?&#160; How much did these acquisitions cost? &#160; CBP = U.S. Customs and Border Protection FLETC = Federal Law Enforcement Training Center NPPD/FPS = National Protection and Programs Directorate/Federal Protective Service ICE = U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement TSA = Transportation Security Administration USCG = U.S. Coast Guard USSS = U.S. Secret Service &#160; FY 2010&#160;&#160; FY 2011&#160;&#160; FY 2012 DHS&#160;&#160; Rounds&#160;&#160; Rounds&#160;&#160; Rounds Component&#160;&#160; purchased&#160;&#160; Cost&#160;&#160; purchased&#160;&#160; Cost&#160;&#160; purchased&#160;&#160; Cost CBP&#160;&#160; 66,248,000&#160;&#160; $17,376,248&#160;&#160; 48,461,000&#160;&#160; $13,895,900&#160;&#160; 36,475,000&#160; $12,255,040 FLETC&#160;&#160; 17,056,000&#160;&#160; $5,507,057&#160;&#160; 22,735,654&#160;&#160; $7,062,254&#160;&#160; 7,678,946&#160;&#160; $2,485,045 NPPD/FPS&#160;&#160; 2,946,000&#160;&#160; $976,621&#160;&#160; 1,498,000&#160;&#160; $517,412&#160;&#160; 2,804,000&#160;&#160; $928,345 ICE&#160;&#160;&#160; 25,212,000&#160;&#160; $7,703,308&#160;&#160; 13,221,000&#160;&#160; $4,505,731&#160;&#160; 28,061,000&#160;&#160; $6,633,460 TSA&#160;&#160; 15,383,000&#160;&#160; $2,818,760&#160;&#160; 7,124,000&#160;&#160; $2,010,642&#160;&#160; 14,864,000&#160;&#160; $4,484,581 USCG&#160;&#160; 17,472,325&#160;&#160; $11,465,150&#160;&#160; 6,782,540&#160;&#160; $8,442,495&#160;&#160; 9,791,274&#160;&#160; $8,309,944 USSS&#160;&#160; 3,997,500&#160;&#160; $2,097,971&#160;&#160; 8,841,860&#160;&#160; $1,802,871&#160;&#160; 3,503,980&#160;&#160; $1,439,495 Total DHS&#160;&#160; 148,314,825&#160;&#160; $47,945,115&#160; 108,664,054&#160;&#160; $38,237,305&#160; 103,178,200&#160; $36,535,910 &#160; 2.&#160;&#160; Does DHS plan to purchase more ammunition in the current fiscal year?&#160;&#160; How much is budgeted for ammunitions acquisitions? &#160; FY 2013 Estimates for DHS Components&#160;&#160; Ammunition Acquisitions CBP&#160;&#160; $12,528,146 FLETC&#160;&#160; $5,900,000 NPPD/FPS&#160;&#160;&#160; $470,000 ICE&#160;&#160;&#160; $5,200,000 TSA&#160;&#160; $4,515,552 USCG&#160;&#160; $7,400,000 USSS&#160;&#160; $1,250,000 Total DHS&#160;&#160; $37,263,698 &#160; January 2013&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160; 1&#160; &#160;= Page 1 = Open letter to all Federal Firearms Licensees 3.&#160;&#160; How many rounds of ammunition does the Department currently have in its inventory? How are these rounds allocated to each of its agencies? &#160; Component Inventory&#160; DHS Components&#160;&#160; as of November 20, 2012 CBP&#160;&#160; 94,404,329 FLETC&#160;&#160; 18,797,942 NPPD/FPS&#160;&#160;&#160; 2,500,000 ICE&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160; 42,300,000 TSA&#160;&#160; 29,909,514 USCG&#160;&#160; 70,258,197 USSS&#160;&#160; 5,563,380 Total DHS&#160;&#160; 263,733,362 &#160; 4.&#160; Please describe how DHS (and its component agencies) plan to use this ammunition.&#160; How many rounds are allocated for training?&#160; How many are allocated for operational use?&#160; How many rounds are allocated for other purposes? &#160; CBP:&#160; Approximately 70 percent of CBP ammunition is used for quarterly qualifications, mandated firearms training, advanced firearms training, as well as testing and evaluation.&#160; Twenty percent of CBP ammunition is allocated to maintaining CBP’s operational posture.&#160; This includes rounds for duty use, as well as for maintaining CBP’s special response teams.&#160; The remaining 10 percent is dedicated to maintaining ammunition reserves at both the national and local levels&#160; .&#160;&#160; &#160; FLETC:&#160; All FLETC ammunition is purchased, distributed, and used for law enforcement training.&#160; No ammunition is allocated for operational or other use. &#160; NPPD/FPS:&#160; FPS allocates 1,000 rounds of ammunition per firearm per year for quarterly qualifications and training, to include advanced firearms training exercises, as well as ammunition to support law enforcement operations.&#160;&#160; &#160; ICE:&#160; ICE allocates 1,000 rounds of ammunition per firearm per year for quarterly qualifications and training, to include advanced firearms training exercises, special response team training, and ammunition to support law enforcement operations.&#160;&#160; &#160; TSA:&#160; Approximately 21 million rounds of TSA’s current inventory are reduced-hazard,&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160; lead-free frangible training ammunition, which is used exclusively for training.&#160; The remaining rounds are duty ammunition, which are used for both training and operational purposes.&#160; Overall, approximately 35 percent of TSA ammunition is allocated for operational use (qualifications and duty carry).&#160; Fewer than 100,000 rounds are used for other purposes annually, including firearms testing and evaluation. &#160; USCG:&#160; USCG allocates its ammunition inventory for Non-Combat Expenditure Allowance (NCEA) and ship-fill purposes.&#160; The NCEA, available to both shore units and cutters, is used for training and for non-defense operations including maritime law enforcement operations.&#160; USCG ship-fill allowances are specific to cutters and are designed for use on defense operations.&#160;&#160; January 2013&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160; 2 &#160;= Page 2 = Open letter to all Federal Firearms Licensees &#160; USSS:&#160; USSS plans to use the above mentioned ammunition for training, research, and operational use as needed to maintain professional firearms proficiency.&#160; Based on a review of recent historical data, USSS plans to allocate approximately 60 percent of the ammunition for training, 38 percent for operational use, and 2 percent for quality control testing of all ammunition and function firing of all new and repaired weapons.&#160;&#160; &#160; 5.&#160; Please detail approximately how many rounds DHS and its component agencies have used for training and operational purposes during the past three fiscal years. &#160; FY 2010&#160;&#160; FY 2011&#160;&#160; FY 2012 DHS&#160;&#160; Training&#160;&#160; Operationa&#160; Training&#160;&#160; Operational&#160;&#160; Training&#160;&#160; Operational Component&#160;&#160; purpose&#160;&#160; l purposes&#160;&#160; purpose&#160;&#160; purposes&#160;&#160; purpose&#160;&#160; purposes CBP&#160;&#160; 42,616,129&#160;&#160; 13,888,595&#160;&#160; 33,380,176&#160;&#160; 13,830,548&#160; 23,358,285&#160;&#160; 14,550,803 FLETC&#160;&#160; 23,391,012&#160;&#160; 0&#160;&#160; 20,800,782&#160;&#160; 0&#160; 16,939,215&#160;&#160; 0 FPS/NPPD&#160;&#160;&#160; 2,356,800&#160;&#160; 589,200&#160;&#160; 1,198,400&#160;&#160; 299,600&#160;&#160; 5,798,400&#160;&#160; 1,449,600 ICE&#160;&#160;&#160; 20,169,600&#160;&#160; 5,042,400&#160;&#160; 10,576,800&#160;&#160; 2,644,200&#160; 22,448,800&#160;&#160; 5,612,200 TSA&#160;&#160; 8,200,000&#160;&#160; 4,400,000&#160;&#160; 8,200,000&#160;&#160; 4,400,000&#160;&#160; 8,200,000&#160;&#160; 4,400,000 USCG&#160;&#160; 9,406,788&#160;&#160; 2,384&#160;&#160; 9,969,412&#160;&#160; 3,989&#160;&#160; 9,461,664&#160;&#160; 9,004 USSS&#160;&#160; 3,298,910&#160;&#160; 1,230,800&#160;&#160; 3,086,200&#160;&#160; 2,340,740&#160;&#160; 2,133,570&#160;&#160; 1,866,240 Total DHS&#160;&#160; 109,439,239&#160;&#160; 25,153,379&#160;&#160; 87,211,770&#160;&#160; 23,519,077&#160; 88,339,934&#160;&#160; 27,887,847 &#160; January 2013&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160; 3 &#160;= Page 3 = &#160;</p>
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<p>The university said Leach died Friday following a lengthy illness.</p>
<p>Leach was 67, according to university spokesman Wendel Sloan.</p>
<p>Leach was appointed to the regents in February 2011. His term was to run through 2016. He served as the board’s president in 2013.</p>
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<p>A Portales native, Leach earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from ENMU in 1969 and a master’s degree two years later.</p>
<p>Leach worked in law enforcement education before entering the financial sector. He had been a financial consultant for Southwest Securities Inc., in Roswell.</p>
<p>The university said survivors include his wife, Andi.</p> | Brett Leach, Eastern New Mexico Univ. regent, dies at 67 | false | https://abqjournal.com/565450/brett-leach-eastern-new-mexico-univ-regent-dies-at-67.html | 2least
| Brett Leach, Eastern New Mexico Univ. regent, dies at 67
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<p>The university said Leach died Friday following a lengthy illness.</p>
<p>Leach was 67, according to university spokesman Wendel Sloan.</p>
<p>Leach was appointed to the regents in February 2011. His term was to run through 2016. He served as the board’s president in 2013.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>A Portales native, Leach earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from ENMU in 1969 and a master’s degree two years later.</p>
<p>Leach worked in law enforcement education before entering the financial sector. He had been a financial consultant for Southwest Securities Inc., in Roswell.</p>
<p>The university said survivors include his wife, Andi.</p> | 725 |
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<p>A new poll released by <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2017/10/11/gun-control-vegas-polls-243647" type="external">Politico</a> Wednesday morning shows an increase in support for tougher gun control laws, though it is not clear what those laws might entail other than a ban on "bump stocks."</p>
<p>The report comes on the 16th anniversary of the slaying of Seattle gun control advocate <a href="https://www.seattlemet.com/articles/2014/10/1/who-killed-tom-wales-october-2014" type="external">Thomas Wales</a>, a federal prosecutor who was murdered Oct. 11, 2001 in the basement of his home in Seattle's Queen Anne neighborhood by a killer who has yet to be apprehended.</p>
<p>Wales was fatally shot by someone using a 9mm Makarov pistol that had been fitted with a replacement barrel, and was apparently loaded with the wrong ammunition. That fact was first reported by Gun Week in 2003, the tabloid newspaper that has since evolved into <a href="http://www.thegunmag.com" type="external">TheGunMag.com</a>, a monthly print and digital magazine published by the Second Amendment Foundation.</p>
<p>Gun Week uncovered an intense nationwide search for the gun by federal agents who had been contacting owners of Makarov pistols with replacement barrels. When the Seattle Times picked up the story, Gun Week's role was relegated to the 30th paragraph.</p>
<p>According to Politico, 79 percent of voters support a ban on bump stocks, which are after-market products that replace the stock and pistol grip on a semi-auto rifle and allow it to be fired at a fast rate using the gun's recoil to enable shooters to press the trigger faster. According to published reports, investigators found a dozen guns in the Mandalay Bay hotel room occupied by killer Stephen Paddock that had been fitted with the devices.</p>
<p>Politico also reported that 64 percent of voters support stricter gun laws, while only 29 percent oppose tougher laws. That's a slight change from this past June, when 61 percent supported stronger laws and 33 percent opposed the notion.</p>
<p>The poll also revealed that 49 percent of Republican voters want stricter gun laws, and 45 percent oppose them. Among Democrats, 83 percent want tougher gun laws, while only 12 percent of Democrats oppose stricter laws. Fifty-eight percent of independents support stricter laws, Politico reported.</p>
<p><a href="http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/354856-majority-backs-stricter-gun-control-after-las-vegas-shooting" type="external">The Hill</a> noted that the Las Vegas attack "has reignited the debate over gun control policies on Capitol Hill." There is also a piece on guns in <a href="http://crosscut.com/2017/10/democrats-republicans-agree-gun-control-reform-las-vegas-mass-shooting/" type="external">Crosscut</a>, a Northwest publication, authored by longtime conservative Seattle talk host John Carlson.</p>
<p>Authorities still have not been able to determine a motive for the attack, which claimed 58 lives and left hundreds injured. Paddock was hardly a blip on anyone's radar prior to the attack. He had no criminal record, so he was able to pass multiple background checks while acquiring firearms over a period stretching back months, if not years.</p>
<p>Polling results such as these tend to have one consistent result. They spur gun sales. Talk of banning bump stocks ignited something of a fire sale, and now it is nearly impossible to find the devices , which most of America hadn't heard of prior to the Oct. 1 Las Vegas mayhem.</p>
<p />
<p>(Source: FBI National Instant Check System)</p>
<p>A check on raw data from the FBI on National Instant Checks for the month of September shows checks were down from September 2016, but not that far. Last year, there were 1,992,219 NICS checks for September, and last month there were 1,967,104 NICS checks.</p>
<p>According to the National Shooting Sports Foundation's adjusted figures, there were 1,019,037 checks, constituting an 11.9 percent decrease.</p>
<p>However, the attack occurred Oct. 1, so it remains to be seen whether all of the subsequent talk about gun control will spike gun sales this month.</p>
<p>&#160;</p> | Poll: Support up for stricter gun laws following Las Vegas | true | http://conservativefiringline.com/poll-support-stricter-gun-laws-following-las-vegas/ | 2017-10-11 | 0right
| Poll: Support up for stricter gun laws following Las Vegas
<p />
<p>A new poll released by <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2017/10/11/gun-control-vegas-polls-243647" type="external">Politico</a> Wednesday morning shows an increase in support for tougher gun control laws, though it is not clear what those laws might entail other than a ban on "bump stocks."</p>
<p>The report comes on the 16th anniversary of the slaying of Seattle gun control advocate <a href="https://www.seattlemet.com/articles/2014/10/1/who-killed-tom-wales-october-2014" type="external">Thomas Wales</a>, a federal prosecutor who was murdered Oct. 11, 2001 in the basement of his home in Seattle's Queen Anne neighborhood by a killer who has yet to be apprehended.</p>
<p>Wales was fatally shot by someone using a 9mm Makarov pistol that had been fitted with a replacement barrel, and was apparently loaded with the wrong ammunition. That fact was first reported by Gun Week in 2003, the tabloid newspaper that has since evolved into <a href="http://www.thegunmag.com" type="external">TheGunMag.com</a>, a monthly print and digital magazine published by the Second Amendment Foundation.</p>
<p>Gun Week uncovered an intense nationwide search for the gun by federal agents who had been contacting owners of Makarov pistols with replacement barrels. When the Seattle Times picked up the story, Gun Week's role was relegated to the 30th paragraph.</p>
<p>According to Politico, 79 percent of voters support a ban on bump stocks, which are after-market products that replace the stock and pistol grip on a semi-auto rifle and allow it to be fired at a fast rate using the gun's recoil to enable shooters to press the trigger faster. According to published reports, investigators found a dozen guns in the Mandalay Bay hotel room occupied by killer Stephen Paddock that had been fitted with the devices.</p>
<p>Politico also reported that 64 percent of voters support stricter gun laws, while only 29 percent oppose tougher laws. That's a slight change from this past June, when 61 percent supported stronger laws and 33 percent opposed the notion.</p>
<p>The poll also revealed that 49 percent of Republican voters want stricter gun laws, and 45 percent oppose them. Among Democrats, 83 percent want tougher gun laws, while only 12 percent of Democrats oppose stricter laws. Fifty-eight percent of independents support stricter laws, Politico reported.</p>
<p><a href="http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/354856-majority-backs-stricter-gun-control-after-las-vegas-shooting" type="external">The Hill</a> noted that the Las Vegas attack "has reignited the debate over gun control policies on Capitol Hill." There is also a piece on guns in <a href="http://crosscut.com/2017/10/democrats-republicans-agree-gun-control-reform-las-vegas-mass-shooting/" type="external">Crosscut</a>, a Northwest publication, authored by longtime conservative Seattle talk host John Carlson.</p>
<p>Authorities still have not been able to determine a motive for the attack, which claimed 58 lives and left hundreds injured. Paddock was hardly a blip on anyone's radar prior to the attack. He had no criminal record, so he was able to pass multiple background checks while acquiring firearms over a period stretching back months, if not years.</p>
<p>Polling results such as these tend to have one consistent result. They spur gun sales. Talk of banning bump stocks ignited something of a fire sale, and now it is nearly impossible to find the devices , which most of America hadn't heard of prior to the Oct. 1 Las Vegas mayhem.</p>
<p />
<p>(Source: FBI National Instant Check System)</p>
<p>A check on raw data from the FBI on National Instant Checks for the month of September shows checks were down from September 2016, but not that far. Last year, there were 1,992,219 NICS checks for September, and last month there were 1,967,104 NICS checks.</p>
<p>According to the National Shooting Sports Foundation's adjusted figures, there were 1,019,037 checks, constituting an 11.9 percent decrease.</p>
<p>However, the attack occurred Oct. 1, so it remains to be seen whether all of the subsequent talk about gun control will spike gun sales this month.</p>
<p>&#160;</p> | 726 |
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<p>The screen said: "The reels have rolled your way! Bonus Award - $41,797,550.16."</p>
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<p>Pauline McKee and her daughter excitedly summoned casino employees to collect what they thought was a $41.8 million jackpot.</p>
<p>But state officials later concluded the award was a computer glitch and that the Isle Hotel Casino in Waterloo didn't have to pay.</p>
<p>And the Iowa Supreme Court ruled Friday that McKee didn't hit any jackpot - no matter what the screen told her.</p>
<p>Her good fortune was actually worth only $1.85 based on how the symbols aligned on the Miss Kitty game, the court said.</p>
<p>Game rules said the maximum award was $10,000 and allowed for no bonus awards, Justice Edward Mansfield wrote for the unanimous seven-member court.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>The rules and pay table, which were available on a touch screen, amount to a contract between the casino and the player and it doesn't matter that McKee didn't read them, he added.</p>
<p>"Any message appearing on the screen indicating the patron would receive a $41 million bonus was a gratuitous promise and the casino's failure to pay it could not be challenged as a breach of contract," Mansfield wrote in a ruling that dismissed a lawsuit filed by McKee.</p>
<p>The casino could have been forced into bankruptcy if the decision had gone the other way, said one of its attorneys, Stacey Cormican. A $41 million payout would amount to about half of the gross revenue the casino generated last year.</p>
<p>Cormican said the ruling will ensure fairness in Iowa's large gambling industry.</p>
<p>"Casinos are required to post rules and follow those rules. If either the patrons or casinos could change the rules in the middle of the game, it would be absolutely chaos," she said.</p>
<p>She said such computer glitches are rare.</p>
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<p /> | $41.7 million jackpot really wasn't | false | https://abqjournal.com/575014/417-million-jackpot-really-wasnt.html | 2least
| $41.7 million jackpot really wasn't
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<p>The screen said: "The reels have rolled your way! Bonus Award - $41,797,550.16."</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Pauline McKee and her daughter excitedly summoned casino employees to collect what they thought was a $41.8 million jackpot.</p>
<p>But state officials later concluded the award was a computer glitch and that the Isle Hotel Casino in Waterloo didn't have to pay.</p>
<p>And the Iowa Supreme Court ruled Friday that McKee didn't hit any jackpot - no matter what the screen told her.</p>
<p>Her good fortune was actually worth only $1.85 based on how the symbols aligned on the Miss Kitty game, the court said.</p>
<p>Game rules said the maximum award was $10,000 and allowed for no bonus awards, Justice Edward Mansfield wrote for the unanimous seven-member court.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>The rules and pay table, which were available on a touch screen, amount to a contract between the casino and the player and it doesn't matter that McKee didn't read them, he added.</p>
<p>"Any message appearing on the screen indicating the patron would receive a $41 million bonus was a gratuitous promise and the casino's failure to pay it could not be challenged as a breach of contract," Mansfield wrote in a ruling that dismissed a lawsuit filed by McKee.</p>
<p>The casino could have been forced into bankruptcy if the decision had gone the other way, said one of its attorneys, Stacey Cormican. A $41 million payout would amount to about half of the gross revenue the casino generated last year.</p>
<p>Cormican said the ruling will ensure fairness in Iowa's large gambling industry.</p>
<p>"Casinos are required to post rules and follow those rules. If either the patrons or casinos could change the rules in the middle of the game, it would be absolutely chaos," she said.</p>
<p>She said such computer glitches are rare.</p>
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<p>Shares of Coeur Mining (NYSE: CDE), a gold and silver mining company with properties located in North and South America, as well as Australia, surged 28% during January according to data from <a href="http://marketintelligence.spglobal.com/" type="external">S&amp;P Global Market Intelligence Opens a New Window.</a>. The impetus for that strong surge can be traced to three primary catalysts.</p>
<p>Arguably, the biggest catalyst came early in January, when Coeur Mining announced its 2016 production figures and provided its 2017 production forecast, both of which were met with thunderous applause from Wall Street.</p>
<p>Image source: Getty Images.</p>
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<p>For the fourth quarter, Coeur wound up producing 3.9 million ounces of silver and 102,500 ounces of gold, which works out to 10 million total silver equivalent ounces (SEO). For the full year, production totaled 14.8 million ounces of silver and 358,170 ounces of gold. The company's own guidance had called for 14.4 million to 15.7 million ounces of silver (so it was right in line), but just 333,000 to 355,000 ounces of gold, meaning it beat its guidance. Much of the credit for that goes to the company's Wharf mine in South Dakota, which produced 110,927 gold equivalent ounces (GEO) in 2016, up from 79,061 GEO in 2015.</p>
<p>Looking ahead, Coeur Mining anticipates production of 16.4 million to 18 million ounces of silver and 362,000 to 387,000 ounces of gold in 2017. Figured in SEO, this represents a 9% increase at the midpoint from its 2016 production levels.</p>
<p>Secondly, Coeur Mining announced on Jan. 17 that it would be selling its Joaquin Project, located inArgentina's southern Santa Cruz province, to Pan American Silver (NASDAQ: PAAS). The deal nets Coeur $15 million in upfront cash and $10 million in Pan American Silver stock, as well as a 2% net smelter returns royalty. The deal will allow Coeur to focus on more immediate projects, while giving Pan American Silver another asset in close proximity to its Manantial Espejo operation.</p>
<p>Finally, silver prices rebounded nicely as the U.S. dollar got off to its worst start in 30 years. Higher silver prices should translate into juicier margins for mining companies.</p>
<p>Image source: Getty Images.</p>
<p>Coeur Mining has really been firing on all cylinders as of late, even if its all-in sustaining costs (AISC) are higher than those of most of its peers. What investors should understand about Coeur is that it's right in the middle of a major transition. It's moving from being both an open-pit and an underground mining company to a wholly underground-mining operation. It's definitely costly to make that transition, but the long-term benefit is that ore grades underground are much higher, and capital expenditures should also decline once the transition is complete.</p>
<p>More importantly, Coeur has some major projects set to begin commercial production in 2018 and 2019. The C1 Santa Luz and Cerro Moro projects are slated to start commercial production next year, with Santa Luz expected to be capable of producing 130,000 ounces of gold in its first year. The Suruca development in the Chapada mine is also expected to kick in 45,000 ounces to 60,000 ounces annually between 2019 and 2023. Not to mention, Coeur also acquired the Riacho dos Macahados mine last year from Carpathian Gold, and it's production between 2016 and 2018 could wind up nearly doubling to 100,000 ounces of gold.</p>
<p>Despite its huge run-up in 2016, Coeur Mining's stock could still have legs.</p>
<p>10 stocks we like better than Coeur MiningWhen 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=4bdd9bb5-86b1-4241-897d-578e2eacf49d&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">10 best stocks Opens a New Window.</a> for investors to buy right now... and Coeur Mining 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=4bdd9bb5-86b1-4241-897d-578e2eacf49d&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 February 6, 2017</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFUltraLong/info.aspx" type="external">Sean Williams 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> | These Are the 3 Primary Catalysts That Sent Coeur Mining, Inc. Shares Up 28% in January | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/02/08/these-are-3-primary-catalysts-that-sent-coeur-mining-inc-shares-up-28-in.html | 2017-02-08 | 0right
| These Are the 3 Primary Catalysts That Sent Coeur Mining, Inc. Shares Up 28% in January
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<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Shares of Coeur Mining (NYSE: CDE), a gold and silver mining company with properties located in North and South America, as well as Australia, surged 28% during January according to data from <a href="http://marketintelligence.spglobal.com/" type="external">S&amp;P Global Market Intelligence Opens a New Window.</a>. The impetus for that strong surge can be traced to three primary catalysts.</p>
<p>Arguably, the biggest catalyst came early in January, when Coeur Mining announced its 2016 production figures and provided its 2017 production forecast, both of which were met with thunderous applause from Wall Street.</p>
<p>Image source: Getty Images.</p>
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<p>For the fourth quarter, Coeur wound up producing 3.9 million ounces of silver and 102,500 ounces of gold, which works out to 10 million total silver equivalent ounces (SEO). For the full year, production totaled 14.8 million ounces of silver and 358,170 ounces of gold. The company's own guidance had called for 14.4 million to 15.7 million ounces of silver (so it was right in line), but just 333,000 to 355,000 ounces of gold, meaning it beat its guidance. Much of the credit for that goes to the company's Wharf mine in South Dakota, which produced 110,927 gold equivalent ounces (GEO) in 2016, up from 79,061 GEO in 2015.</p>
<p>Looking ahead, Coeur Mining anticipates production of 16.4 million to 18 million ounces of silver and 362,000 to 387,000 ounces of gold in 2017. Figured in SEO, this represents a 9% increase at the midpoint from its 2016 production levels.</p>
<p>Secondly, Coeur Mining announced on Jan. 17 that it would be selling its Joaquin Project, located inArgentina's southern Santa Cruz province, to Pan American Silver (NASDAQ: PAAS). The deal nets Coeur $15 million in upfront cash and $10 million in Pan American Silver stock, as well as a 2% net smelter returns royalty. The deal will allow Coeur to focus on more immediate projects, while giving Pan American Silver another asset in close proximity to its Manantial Espejo operation.</p>
<p>Finally, silver prices rebounded nicely as the U.S. dollar got off to its worst start in 30 years. Higher silver prices should translate into juicier margins for mining companies.</p>
<p>Image source: Getty Images.</p>
<p>Coeur Mining has really been firing on all cylinders as of late, even if its all-in sustaining costs (AISC) are higher than those of most of its peers. What investors should understand about Coeur is that it's right in the middle of a major transition. It's moving from being both an open-pit and an underground mining company to a wholly underground-mining operation. It's definitely costly to make that transition, but the long-term benefit is that ore grades underground are much higher, and capital expenditures should also decline once the transition is complete.</p>
<p>More importantly, Coeur has some major projects set to begin commercial production in 2018 and 2019. The C1 Santa Luz and Cerro Moro projects are slated to start commercial production next year, with Santa Luz expected to be capable of producing 130,000 ounces of gold in its first year. The Suruca development in the Chapada mine is also expected to kick in 45,000 ounces to 60,000 ounces annually between 2019 and 2023. Not to mention, Coeur also acquired the Riacho dos Macahados mine last year from Carpathian Gold, and it's production between 2016 and 2018 could wind up nearly doubling to 100,000 ounces of gold.</p>
<p>Despite its huge run-up in 2016, Coeur Mining's stock could still have legs.</p>
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<p>*Stock Advisor returns as of February 6, 2017</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFUltraLong/info.aspx" type="external">Sean Williams 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> | 728 |
<p>Steven Greenhut: Attorney General Jerry Brown, despite his history of taking anti-establishment political positions, has been strangely silent on issues of police abuse, especially in his home city of Oakland. He was mostly mum during the case of Johannes Mehserle, the BART cop who shot to death Oscar Grant in a BART station. Grant appeared to be submissive and face down and Mehserle shot him to death — and later claimed during his trial that he thought he was using a Taser. That always struck me as a concocted story, but it was good enough for the jury. Imagine what would have happened had this not been videotaped, which no doubt explains why police are now arresting people who videotape them.</p>
<p><a href="http://and2.2766.asklots.com/jump1/?affiliate=and2&amp;subid=2766&amp;terms=mehrserle&amp;sid=Z171043987x8lM5ADNzUzX0gzNfJjMfVjMx8FN3UDM0cDN4ITM&amp;a=naq6&amp;mr=1&amp;rc=0" type="external">Mehserle was convicted of involuntary manslaughter and is awaiting sentencing, which is basically a slap on the wrist</a> for someone who pointlessly killed a young man. This was really a horrific case and yet it showed the mentality of those police unions and police defenders who defend even the worst among them. Even when a member of the public is face down and is shot to death by a police officer, this crowd backs the cop. Go figure.</p>
<p>Well, I heard a radio ad today from Ron Cottingham of the Peace Officers Research Association of California (PORAC), a police union organization, advocating Brown as the law enforcement choice for governor. PORAC, a Democratic-oriented union, paid the legal defense for Grant’s killer.</p>
<p>Given that Brown’s pension reform ideas are arguably more serious than Meg Whitman’s (provided one believes either of them), one could almost make the case that he might be a better choice than Whitman. One pension reformer I know believes Brown will at least be able to stand up to the unions whereas Whitman — who emphasized this week that she will not touch the bulk of the pension problem because she will not reform police or fire pensions — will be able to accomplish nothing on this issue. Frankly, I don’t think either of them will do anything. But just when I thought Brown might not be that much worse than a principle-lacking big-government Republican, along comes this ad to remind us that Brown is soft on police abuse — or at least some friends of abusive cops are soft on him.</p>
<p>It also reminds us that ultimately Brown is a big phony — he likes to take interesting positions that sometimes defy conventional wisdom and lead people to believe that he’s a principled “progressive,” but at his heart he is just another power-craving politician who will say and do anything to get elected and ally himself with any special interest groups that might help him.</p> | Killer Cop's Patron Backs Brown | false | https://calwatchdog.com/2010/09/17/killer-cops-patron-backs-brown/ | 2018-09-20 | 3left-center
| Killer Cop's Patron Backs Brown
<p>Steven Greenhut: Attorney General Jerry Brown, despite his history of taking anti-establishment political positions, has been strangely silent on issues of police abuse, especially in his home city of Oakland. He was mostly mum during the case of Johannes Mehserle, the BART cop who shot to death Oscar Grant in a BART station. Grant appeared to be submissive and face down and Mehserle shot him to death — and later claimed during his trial that he thought he was using a Taser. That always struck me as a concocted story, but it was good enough for the jury. Imagine what would have happened had this not been videotaped, which no doubt explains why police are now arresting people who videotape them.</p>
<p><a href="http://and2.2766.asklots.com/jump1/?affiliate=and2&amp;subid=2766&amp;terms=mehrserle&amp;sid=Z171043987x8lM5ADNzUzX0gzNfJjMfVjMx8FN3UDM0cDN4ITM&amp;a=naq6&amp;mr=1&amp;rc=0" type="external">Mehserle was convicted of involuntary manslaughter and is awaiting sentencing, which is basically a slap on the wrist</a> for someone who pointlessly killed a young man. This was really a horrific case and yet it showed the mentality of those police unions and police defenders who defend even the worst among them. Even when a member of the public is face down and is shot to death by a police officer, this crowd backs the cop. Go figure.</p>
<p>Well, I heard a radio ad today from Ron Cottingham of the Peace Officers Research Association of California (PORAC), a police union organization, advocating Brown as the law enforcement choice for governor. PORAC, a Democratic-oriented union, paid the legal defense for Grant’s killer.</p>
<p>Given that Brown’s pension reform ideas are arguably more serious than Meg Whitman’s (provided one believes either of them), one could almost make the case that he might be a better choice than Whitman. One pension reformer I know believes Brown will at least be able to stand up to the unions whereas Whitman — who emphasized this week that she will not touch the bulk of the pension problem because she will not reform police or fire pensions — will be able to accomplish nothing on this issue. Frankly, I don’t think either of them will do anything. But just when I thought Brown might not be that much worse than a principle-lacking big-government Republican, along comes this ad to remind us that Brown is soft on police abuse — or at least some friends of abusive cops are soft on him.</p>
<p>It also reminds us that ultimately Brown is a big phony — he likes to take interesting positions that sometimes defy conventional wisdom and lead people to believe that he’s a principled “progressive,” but at his heart he is just another power-craving politician who will say and do anything to get elected and ally himself with any special interest groups that might help him.</p> | 729 |
<p>“Was I sleeping, while the others suffered? Am I sleeping now? Tomorrow, when I wake, or think I do, what shall I say of today?”</p>
<p>–Samuel Beckett’s Vladimir</p>
<p>“For many, the theatre is the abode where dreams are created. You, players, sellers of drugs, in your darkened houses people are changed into kings and perform heroic deeds of safety. In rapture over themselves, or seized with pity they sit in happy distraction, forgetting the toils of daily life. Runaways….”</p>
<p>–Bertolt Brecht</p>
<p>In his epic theater, Bertolt Brecht sought to illuminate the historically specific features of an environment in order to show how that environment influenced, shaped, and often battered and destroyed the characters. Unlike dramatists who focused on the universal elements of the human condition and fate, Brecht was interested in the attitudes and behavior people adopted toward each other in specific historical situations.</p>
<p>In Mahagonny and The Threepenny Opera Brecht demonstrated how people relate to each other in capitalist societies. In Mother Courage, he showed how tradespeople related to soldiers and civilians during war in an emerging market society. In The Measures Taken, Brecht depicted revolutionary relationships in the struggle in China. He believed that with this “historicization” one would have the best possible chance to adopt a critical attitude toward one’s society. Brecht wanted audiences to view present social arrangements and institutions as historical, transitory, and subject to change. Epic theater was intended to show emotions, ideas, and behavior as products of, or responses to, specific social situations and not as the unfolding of the human essence.</p>
<p>When you see Brad Pitt or Jennifer Aniston in the movies or on televison, their vehicle –the particular dramatization– is not intended to “estrange” or “distance” the spectator, preventing empathy or identification with situations and characters; a critical attitude toward the actions of a given plot is not encouraged. They are not paid to detour empathetic illusion or a mimesis of reality. On the contrary, their bosses do not want them to expose the workings of societal processes and human behavior, showing how and why people behave a certain way in this society of ours. And they are paid handsomely for their work. I don’t know how much Brad or Jennifer get per picture, but I know that Mr. Pitt –if you average out his annual income– pulls in over a million dollars a day; Jennifer’s take is very thick gravy on their Thanksgiving Turkey.</p>
<p>And speaking of “takes,” I could take or leave Jennifer, but Brad has won me over in a big way a number of times. That said, a million dollars a day is something we have to address, regardless. Not because it says anything about the Pitts being greedy. Rather, it’s something essential to confront because their collective take is peanuts in our present predicament, small fried potatoes in The American Feast. All the fuss about Oprah’s bucks and Martha’s millions notwithstanding, when it comes to the disparity in this land…which is growing each day, exacerbated worldwide…the whole lot of entertainers put together (including Michael Jordan, Madonna. Rosie et. al.) don’t amount to much when stacked up against some of NPR’s sponsors, those Corporate Behemoths.</p>
<p>The greed in Mahagonny and The Threepenny Opera, Mother Courage’s sufferings, and persecution in Galileo, were all to be understood as historically specific constituents of a social environment, and dramatic presentations were intended to induce spectators to reflect on “why” these events happened, thus providing the audience with better historical understanding and knowledge.</p>
<p>The intention was to produce a kind of “shock and awe,” if you will, posing questions such as: “Is that the way things are?”, “What produced this?” It’s terrible! How can we change things?” His montage of images and other techniques were designed to provoke the desire to implement radical social change. A very far cry from what the Pitts are engaged in, of course.</p>
<p>Brecht’s epic theater broke with the “culinary theater” that provided each spectator with a pleasant experience or moral for easy digestion. He rejected theater that tried to produce an illusion of reality.</p>
<p>Samuel Beckett hated both to talk about his work and his war time activities. He had been a courier for the French resistance, nearly caught on several occasions by the Gestapo, and later in the war he would go out with the Marquis, sabotaging German soldiers in the Vaucluse mountains. He was personally decorated by Charles de Gaulle, but would never mention it. When Jerome Lindon, a early SB publisher, was put on trial for revealing the use of torture by the French military in 50s Algeria, Beckett came to his rescue risking much personally to do the right thing. (1) From San Quentin (where he made a major contribution on behalf of the prisoners) to Saint Lo in France (where he threw caution to the wind assisting the Irish Red Cross), Beckett devoted himself to selfless acts of kindness and compassion. As a rule, his work did not address politics directly, but one could not find a greater humanitarian. Consequently, in a deeply hidden way (often), a sense of history is crucial to understanding much of Beckett. We are uprooted people, we Americans, and in Waiting for Godot Beckett underscores the amnesia that afflicts us all:</p>
<p>Vladimir: At the very beginning.</p>
<p>Estragon: The very beginning of WHAT?</p>
<p>Vladimir: This evening…I was saying…I was saying…</p>
<p>Estragon: I’m not a historian. (2)</p>
<p>We are forgetful and intolerant of true inquiry:</p>
<p>Estragon: ….Yes, now I remember, yesterday evening we spent blathering about nothing in particular. That’s been going on for half a century.</p>
<p>Vladimir: You don’t remember any fact, any circumstance?</p>
<p>Estragon: Don’t torment me, Didi. (3)</p>
<p>Today, we not only have historical amnesia and are forgetful, we have select concerns about what we’re willing to talk about, even within the realm of progressive issues; that goes for very involved activists/leftists too. On top of all, we have no time, and time is moving at a breakneck speed. We are all virtually, to a one, sucked dry by the syndrome Leilla Matsui and Seth Sandronsky touch upon in “ <a href="" type="internal">The Passion of the Donald Getting in Touch With Your Inner Psychopath</a>“:</p>
<p>“Reality TV (and “The Apprentice” is no exception) reinforces the notion that “success” hinges upon one’s ability to tap into his/her inner psychopath to reap the benefits that come with a jobless recovery. On planet Reality, life imitates what kindergarten would be like if John Waters and the cast of “Pink Flamingos” were running the show. On planet earth, the Bush team has taken the farce even further with their tax cuts for the rich.”</p>
<p>Whether or not we actually watch the nonsense, we’ve already bought into notions like pushing for “war money” to be allocated to the public school system. That’s the educational industry that brings you children volunteering to serve in the military, and parents serving as their willing cheerleaders. We push for that for the same reason, I suspect, that we push for Condoleeza Rice to testify. There’s a common denominator between the Trump fans and the traditionally trumped. There are a handful of exceptions, but, for the most part, the American public –voting and non-voting, activist and full-of-ennui others– are crippled by the notion that (on some level) they can be Brad Pitt or Jennifer Aniston, that it’s the Bush administration that’s brought about all the disparity and death, and that tuning into PBS, CNN, CBS, BBC, NPR or whatever is going to provide more than entertainment protecting the status quo. Hardly anyone is acknowledging that a complete overhaul of the system is requisite to creating the communal concerns necessary for personal prosperity, planetary survival. The 9/11 talk has descended to the level of Spectacle. What wasn’t known already? Why are people surprised? How come the partisan political aspects aren’t paramount in people’s minds? What is anyone prepared to do about all that’s on the stage that would have them behaving differently than they did during the S&amp;L crisis, the Irangate scandal or the Baneful Theft of 2000?</p>
<p>Entertainment, with the Greek root meaning “to hold” (attention) being primary, is what the Pitts and their colleagues and supporters are all about, whether or not some of them take an occasional foray into enlightening the public periodically. History has its place, a hit here, a huge hiatus there. Bush wants the general populace to be distracted by the likes of the Pitts, the Winfreys, the Texas Rangers and all the so-called reality shows that seem to rule the entertainment roost these days. He doesn’t begrudge them their income because they’re helping him to stay in the loop of much larger stakes. At our expense. Bush pushes the “culinary theater” that Brecht so detested, “entertainment that provides the spectator with a pleasant experience or moral for easy digestion.” His abominations in the real world are presented merely as Spectacle, and Entertainment Tonight –all of its varieties– makes sure that we don’t delve into things like the fact that on July 26, 2001, John Ashcroft had stopped flying on commercial airlines. The Attorney General, just like Janet R. before him, used to fly commercially all the time. So why, two months before Sept. 11, did he start taking chartered government planes which cost $1,600-plus per hour? Why would he choose to go G-3 Gulfstream when he could have flown the way he’d always flown for a fraction of the cost? And, perhaps most importantly, when the FBI advised Ashcroft to stay off commercial aircraft, why did the rest of us just have to take our chances? We will not go there, down that baleful burrow. We are too comfortable. We are too uncaring. We are too ignorant, stupid about our own history.</p>
<p>The irreparable devestation, the sheer suffering call out for something other than mere academic debate, waiting for the Electoral Godot, our grande passion. But why not when we’ve got the Pitts with which to wile away the time? Besides we can point to Paul Newman, eyeglasses akimbo, peering out of a Nation ad advising us to bone up, Tim Robbins pontificating on the pluses of invading Afghanistan on a Donahue show, Garafalo going garrulous over grievances at gargantuan Media Reform Tour fare, and Moore/Franken selling tons of (dead tree) books. It all means about as much positive as the two cents that Ed Asner keeps kicking in whilst applauding the troops. We can still talk tears over Speilberg’s Holocaust, but we won’t allow ourselves a shred of decency respecting 9/11. All of the Show begs the question of How Who would Hold Up at the next House Un-American Committee session following a 9/11 #2, if things got bad enough. Hardly a Brecht in the bunch I’ll bet. (4) In the Irish Times of ’46, Beckett touched upon the River Vire which ran through Saint Lo, highlighting the difference between the mechanical, obligatory building of civilizations and the effect on the human mind of their destruction:</p>
<p>“Vire will wind in other shadows unborn through the bright ways tremble and the old mind ghost-forsaken sink into its havoc.”</p>
<p>Three hundred years from now –should we survive so long– Beckett will be remembered more for his poetry and prose than for his plays. A vision, a conception of humanity in ruins, an inkling of a different way to think about our condition once again is all available to the careful reader. And even though SB would have been horrified if Brecht had gone through with his plans to do a Marxist version of Godot, I’m sure he felt much common ground with the communist. But we can’t say the same about Ground Zero groupies and grief-stricken victims of the world’s so-called terrorists. Let me suggest what we all are likely to be remembered for, Churchill’s “little Eichmanns” and the rest of us. Recently, the new Hamas leader, Abdel-Aziz al-Rantissi asserted that “God declared war” against the United States and Israel – but stopped short of saying the group would strike U.S. targets. The Hamas chief, Abdel Aziz Rantisi, renewed threats to attack Israel in retaliation for the assassination of the group’s founder, Sheik Ahmed Yassin. Stopped short of saying that they’d strike at American targets? How can that be believed? Who can believe that? Only by people who don’t want to tear themselves away from their habitual forms of entertainment. Only by people who refuse to acknowledge what’s motivating 9/11-type terror around the globe. Only by people who have Brad as their Baedeker. I’m starting to hear strains of that old melodic Platters song, “Only You.”</p>
<p>I looked up “Brad” in my Celebrity Thesaurus, and I came way with “charismatic,” “talented,” “virile” and “wealthy.” The telling trouble is that many in America would make the same associations with Bush. With all that’s come down to date, at least half of those polled, about 50% of those about to vote most likely. But in looking for “the enemy” one should not dwell on Hussein, Osama or GWB. It’s the American public, not Bush nor bin Laden, my foolish fellow citizens. Beckett, Brad, Bertolt Brecht and Bush, baleful, baneful and burrow. Alliteration. It’s all so entertaining, isn’t it?</p>
<p>To what end?</p>
<p>(1) Proceedings were instituted against Lindon for “incitement to military disobedience.” In the U.S. we have laws on the books which would make comparable actions by citizens vis-a-vis Guantanamo, Afghanistan, Iraq or elsewhere equally dangerous…for similar reasons.</p>
<p>(2) and (3): Rather than cite the exact locations of the passages above, the writer urges all readers to read or re-read Waiting for Godot, a play which has been described as the only dramatic work in theatre history in which nothing happens…twice. Notices of good productions, rare these days, are welcome.</p>
<p>(4) Brecht’s testimony in front of HUAC has been compared to a zoologist’s being cross-examined by apes.</p>
<p>RICHARD OXMAN is a former professor of Cinema History, Comparative Literature and Dramatic Art at various institutions of so-called higher education. He can be reached at <a href="mailto:mail@onedancesummit.org" type="external">mail@onedancesummit.org</a>, but, out of respect, not on April 13 or May 13, one of which is certainly the birthday of Samuel Beckett.</p>
<p>&#160;</p> | A 9/11 Burrow of the American Family | true | https://counterpunch.org/2004/03/29/a-9-11-burrow-of-the-american-family/ | 2004-03-29 | 4left
| A 9/11 Burrow of the American Family
<p>“Was I sleeping, while the others suffered? Am I sleeping now? Tomorrow, when I wake, or think I do, what shall I say of today?”</p>
<p>–Samuel Beckett’s Vladimir</p>
<p>“For many, the theatre is the abode where dreams are created. You, players, sellers of drugs, in your darkened houses people are changed into kings and perform heroic deeds of safety. In rapture over themselves, or seized with pity they sit in happy distraction, forgetting the toils of daily life. Runaways….”</p>
<p>–Bertolt Brecht</p>
<p>In his epic theater, Bertolt Brecht sought to illuminate the historically specific features of an environment in order to show how that environment influenced, shaped, and often battered and destroyed the characters. Unlike dramatists who focused on the universal elements of the human condition and fate, Brecht was interested in the attitudes and behavior people adopted toward each other in specific historical situations.</p>
<p>In Mahagonny and The Threepenny Opera Brecht demonstrated how people relate to each other in capitalist societies. In Mother Courage, he showed how tradespeople related to soldiers and civilians during war in an emerging market society. In The Measures Taken, Brecht depicted revolutionary relationships in the struggle in China. He believed that with this “historicization” one would have the best possible chance to adopt a critical attitude toward one’s society. Brecht wanted audiences to view present social arrangements and institutions as historical, transitory, and subject to change. Epic theater was intended to show emotions, ideas, and behavior as products of, or responses to, specific social situations and not as the unfolding of the human essence.</p>
<p>When you see Brad Pitt or Jennifer Aniston in the movies or on televison, their vehicle –the particular dramatization– is not intended to “estrange” or “distance” the spectator, preventing empathy or identification with situations and characters; a critical attitude toward the actions of a given plot is not encouraged. They are not paid to detour empathetic illusion or a mimesis of reality. On the contrary, their bosses do not want them to expose the workings of societal processes and human behavior, showing how and why people behave a certain way in this society of ours. And they are paid handsomely for their work. I don’t know how much Brad or Jennifer get per picture, but I know that Mr. Pitt –if you average out his annual income– pulls in over a million dollars a day; Jennifer’s take is very thick gravy on their Thanksgiving Turkey.</p>
<p>And speaking of “takes,” I could take or leave Jennifer, but Brad has won me over in a big way a number of times. That said, a million dollars a day is something we have to address, regardless. Not because it says anything about the Pitts being greedy. Rather, it’s something essential to confront because their collective take is peanuts in our present predicament, small fried potatoes in The American Feast. All the fuss about Oprah’s bucks and Martha’s millions notwithstanding, when it comes to the disparity in this land…which is growing each day, exacerbated worldwide…the whole lot of entertainers put together (including Michael Jordan, Madonna. Rosie et. al.) don’t amount to much when stacked up against some of NPR’s sponsors, those Corporate Behemoths.</p>
<p>The greed in Mahagonny and The Threepenny Opera, Mother Courage’s sufferings, and persecution in Galileo, were all to be understood as historically specific constituents of a social environment, and dramatic presentations were intended to induce spectators to reflect on “why” these events happened, thus providing the audience with better historical understanding and knowledge.</p>
<p>The intention was to produce a kind of “shock and awe,” if you will, posing questions such as: “Is that the way things are?”, “What produced this?” It’s terrible! How can we change things?” His montage of images and other techniques were designed to provoke the desire to implement radical social change. A very far cry from what the Pitts are engaged in, of course.</p>
<p>Brecht’s epic theater broke with the “culinary theater” that provided each spectator with a pleasant experience or moral for easy digestion. He rejected theater that tried to produce an illusion of reality.</p>
<p>Samuel Beckett hated both to talk about his work and his war time activities. He had been a courier for the French resistance, nearly caught on several occasions by the Gestapo, and later in the war he would go out with the Marquis, sabotaging German soldiers in the Vaucluse mountains. He was personally decorated by Charles de Gaulle, but would never mention it. When Jerome Lindon, a early SB publisher, was put on trial for revealing the use of torture by the French military in 50s Algeria, Beckett came to his rescue risking much personally to do the right thing. (1) From San Quentin (where he made a major contribution on behalf of the prisoners) to Saint Lo in France (where he threw caution to the wind assisting the Irish Red Cross), Beckett devoted himself to selfless acts of kindness and compassion. As a rule, his work did not address politics directly, but one could not find a greater humanitarian. Consequently, in a deeply hidden way (often), a sense of history is crucial to understanding much of Beckett. We are uprooted people, we Americans, and in Waiting for Godot Beckett underscores the amnesia that afflicts us all:</p>
<p>Vladimir: At the very beginning.</p>
<p>Estragon: The very beginning of WHAT?</p>
<p>Vladimir: This evening…I was saying…I was saying…</p>
<p>Estragon: I’m not a historian. (2)</p>
<p>We are forgetful and intolerant of true inquiry:</p>
<p>Estragon: ….Yes, now I remember, yesterday evening we spent blathering about nothing in particular. That’s been going on for half a century.</p>
<p>Vladimir: You don’t remember any fact, any circumstance?</p>
<p>Estragon: Don’t torment me, Didi. (3)</p>
<p>Today, we not only have historical amnesia and are forgetful, we have select concerns about what we’re willing to talk about, even within the realm of progressive issues; that goes for very involved activists/leftists too. On top of all, we have no time, and time is moving at a breakneck speed. We are all virtually, to a one, sucked dry by the syndrome Leilla Matsui and Seth Sandronsky touch upon in “ <a href="" type="internal">The Passion of the Donald Getting in Touch With Your Inner Psychopath</a>“:</p>
<p>“Reality TV (and “The Apprentice” is no exception) reinforces the notion that “success” hinges upon one’s ability to tap into his/her inner psychopath to reap the benefits that come with a jobless recovery. On planet Reality, life imitates what kindergarten would be like if John Waters and the cast of “Pink Flamingos” were running the show. On planet earth, the Bush team has taken the farce even further with their tax cuts for the rich.”</p>
<p>Whether or not we actually watch the nonsense, we’ve already bought into notions like pushing for “war money” to be allocated to the public school system. That’s the educational industry that brings you children volunteering to serve in the military, and parents serving as their willing cheerleaders. We push for that for the same reason, I suspect, that we push for Condoleeza Rice to testify. There’s a common denominator between the Trump fans and the traditionally trumped. There are a handful of exceptions, but, for the most part, the American public –voting and non-voting, activist and full-of-ennui others– are crippled by the notion that (on some level) they can be Brad Pitt or Jennifer Aniston, that it’s the Bush administration that’s brought about all the disparity and death, and that tuning into PBS, CNN, CBS, BBC, NPR or whatever is going to provide more than entertainment protecting the status quo. Hardly anyone is acknowledging that a complete overhaul of the system is requisite to creating the communal concerns necessary for personal prosperity, planetary survival. The 9/11 talk has descended to the level of Spectacle. What wasn’t known already? Why are people surprised? How come the partisan political aspects aren’t paramount in people’s minds? What is anyone prepared to do about all that’s on the stage that would have them behaving differently than they did during the S&amp;L crisis, the Irangate scandal or the Baneful Theft of 2000?</p>
<p>Entertainment, with the Greek root meaning “to hold” (attention) being primary, is what the Pitts and their colleagues and supporters are all about, whether or not some of them take an occasional foray into enlightening the public periodically. History has its place, a hit here, a huge hiatus there. Bush wants the general populace to be distracted by the likes of the Pitts, the Winfreys, the Texas Rangers and all the so-called reality shows that seem to rule the entertainment roost these days. He doesn’t begrudge them their income because they’re helping him to stay in the loop of much larger stakes. At our expense. Bush pushes the “culinary theater” that Brecht so detested, “entertainment that provides the spectator with a pleasant experience or moral for easy digestion.” His abominations in the real world are presented merely as Spectacle, and Entertainment Tonight –all of its varieties– makes sure that we don’t delve into things like the fact that on July 26, 2001, John Ashcroft had stopped flying on commercial airlines. The Attorney General, just like Janet R. before him, used to fly commercially all the time. So why, two months before Sept. 11, did he start taking chartered government planes which cost $1,600-plus per hour? Why would he choose to go G-3 Gulfstream when he could have flown the way he’d always flown for a fraction of the cost? And, perhaps most importantly, when the FBI advised Ashcroft to stay off commercial aircraft, why did the rest of us just have to take our chances? We will not go there, down that baleful burrow. We are too comfortable. We are too uncaring. We are too ignorant, stupid about our own history.</p>
<p>The irreparable devestation, the sheer suffering call out for something other than mere academic debate, waiting for the Electoral Godot, our grande passion. But why not when we’ve got the Pitts with which to wile away the time? Besides we can point to Paul Newman, eyeglasses akimbo, peering out of a Nation ad advising us to bone up, Tim Robbins pontificating on the pluses of invading Afghanistan on a Donahue show, Garafalo going garrulous over grievances at gargantuan Media Reform Tour fare, and Moore/Franken selling tons of (dead tree) books. It all means about as much positive as the two cents that Ed Asner keeps kicking in whilst applauding the troops. We can still talk tears over Speilberg’s Holocaust, but we won’t allow ourselves a shred of decency respecting 9/11. All of the Show begs the question of How Who would Hold Up at the next House Un-American Committee session following a 9/11 #2, if things got bad enough. Hardly a Brecht in the bunch I’ll bet. (4) In the Irish Times of ’46, Beckett touched upon the River Vire which ran through Saint Lo, highlighting the difference between the mechanical, obligatory building of civilizations and the effect on the human mind of their destruction:</p>
<p>“Vire will wind in other shadows unborn through the bright ways tremble and the old mind ghost-forsaken sink into its havoc.”</p>
<p>Three hundred years from now –should we survive so long– Beckett will be remembered more for his poetry and prose than for his plays. A vision, a conception of humanity in ruins, an inkling of a different way to think about our condition once again is all available to the careful reader. And even though SB would have been horrified if Brecht had gone through with his plans to do a Marxist version of Godot, I’m sure he felt much common ground with the communist. But we can’t say the same about Ground Zero groupies and grief-stricken victims of the world’s so-called terrorists. Let me suggest what we all are likely to be remembered for, Churchill’s “little Eichmanns” and the rest of us. Recently, the new Hamas leader, Abdel-Aziz al-Rantissi asserted that “God declared war” against the United States and Israel – but stopped short of saying the group would strike U.S. targets. The Hamas chief, Abdel Aziz Rantisi, renewed threats to attack Israel in retaliation for the assassination of the group’s founder, Sheik Ahmed Yassin. Stopped short of saying that they’d strike at American targets? How can that be believed? Who can believe that? Only by people who don’t want to tear themselves away from their habitual forms of entertainment. Only by people who refuse to acknowledge what’s motivating 9/11-type terror around the globe. Only by people who have Brad as their Baedeker. I’m starting to hear strains of that old melodic Platters song, “Only You.”</p>
<p>I looked up “Brad” in my Celebrity Thesaurus, and I came way with “charismatic,” “talented,” “virile” and “wealthy.” The telling trouble is that many in America would make the same associations with Bush. With all that’s come down to date, at least half of those polled, about 50% of those about to vote most likely. But in looking for “the enemy” one should not dwell on Hussein, Osama or GWB. It’s the American public, not Bush nor bin Laden, my foolish fellow citizens. Beckett, Brad, Bertolt Brecht and Bush, baleful, baneful and burrow. Alliteration. It’s all so entertaining, isn’t it?</p>
<p>To what end?</p>
<p>(1) Proceedings were instituted against Lindon for “incitement to military disobedience.” In the U.S. we have laws on the books which would make comparable actions by citizens vis-a-vis Guantanamo, Afghanistan, Iraq or elsewhere equally dangerous…for similar reasons.</p>
<p>(2) and (3): Rather than cite the exact locations of the passages above, the writer urges all readers to read or re-read Waiting for Godot, a play which has been described as the only dramatic work in theatre history in which nothing happens…twice. Notices of good productions, rare these days, are welcome.</p>
<p>(4) Brecht’s testimony in front of HUAC has been compared to a zoologist’s being cross-examined by apes.</p>
<p>RICHARD OXMAN is a former professor of Cinema History, Comparative Literature and Dramatic Art at various institutions of so-called higher education. He can be reached at <a href="mailto:mail@onedancesummit.org" type="external">mail@onedancesummit.org</a>, but, out of respect, not on April 13 or May 13, one of which is certainly the birthday of Samuel Beckett.</p>
<p>&#160;</p> | 730 |
<p>IBD: Bush tax cuts "were responsible for the economy's recovery from the triple whammy of the 1999-2000 stock market meltdown, the Y2K debacle and the 2001 recession." In an August 6 <a href="http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article/543025/201008061900/The-Propaganda-Of-Incompetents.aspx" type="external">editorial</a> titled "The Propaganda of Incompetents," Investor's Business Daily claimed that the Bush tax cuts "were responsible for the economy's recovery from the triple whammy of the 1999-2000 stock market meltdown, the Y2K debacle and the 2001 recession." From the editorial:</p>
<p>Instead of slashing spending, as common sense and economic reality would dictate, some want to let Bush's 2001 and 2003 tax cuts expire. Those cuts were responsible for the economy's recovery from the triple whammy of the 1999-2000 stock market meltdown, the Y2K debacle and the 2001 recession.</p>
<p>Erickson: Bush tax cuts "helped the economy both recovery from the 2000-2001 recession and spur some of the greatest economic activity the nation has ever seen." In a July 27 RedState <a href="http://www.redstate.com/erick/2010/07/27/the-facts-about-the-bush-tax-cuts/" type="external">post</a>, Erick Erickson claimed that "after the 2001 initial tax cuts, the annual growth rate went from 0.3% in 2001 to 2.5% in 2002. By 2004, GDP growth was the highest in 20 years." Erickson further claimed that "after the 2003 tax cuts, the unemployment rate fell to the lowest level since World War II. Let me repeat that: the Bush economic program created the lowest unemployment level ever." He concluded: "The Bush tax cuts, objectively, helped the economy both recovery [sic] from the 2000-2001 recession and spur some of the greatest economic activity the nation has ever seen."</p>
<p><a type="external" href="" />Nobel laureate Krugman: "But the real source of the expansion was the housing boom, which had very little to do with the tax cut." In a January 14, 2008, blog <a href="http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/01/14/bush-tax-cut-mythology/" type="external">post</a>, economist and Nobel Prize winner Paul Krugman wrote that "the real source of the expansion" after the 2001 recession "was the housing boom, which had very little to do with the tax cut":</p>
<p>There were two main Bush tax cuts -- EGTRRA, enacted in mid-2001, and JGTRRA, enacted in 2003.</p>
<p>[...]</p>
<p>EGTRRA arrived in the middle of a recession, but that was an accident. It was devised in 1999, when the economy was booming, to defend Bush's right flank against Steve Forbes. During the 2000 campaign, Bush sold it as a way of returning budget surpluses to the people, with not a hint that it had something to do with fighting recession. The recession story was an after-the-fact reinvention.</p>
<p>And EGTRRA didn't seem to help all that much. Formally, the recession ended in late 2001, but most labor-market indicators continued to worsen into mid-2003.</p>
<p>JGTRRA, which mainly cut tax rates on capital gains and dividends, was followed by a real recovery. And the Bushies naturally claimed the credit. But the real source of the expansion was the housing boom, which had very little to do with the tax cut.</p>
<p>Krugman: "But even now real G.D.P. is considerably lower than most people thought it would be back when President Bush was selling his tax cuts." Krugman <a href="http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2005/10/18/the-bush-tax-cuts-and-the-deficit/" type="external">wrote</a> on October 18, 2005, that "[w]e had a recession followed by slow growth in the early Bush years, then faster growth after that as the economy recovered. But even now real G.D.P. is considerably lower than most people thought it would be back when President Bush was selling his tax cuts." He added: "At the end of the 1990's, people thought that the economy would grow at rates similar to those of the previous few years -- probably at more than 3 percent a year. In fact, economic growth since 2000 has averaged only about 2.5 percent, which is below expectations."</p>
<p>CAP paper finds that "supply-side policies failed to deliver what supply-side theory predicted" regarding wage growth. As Center for American Progress' (CAP) Matthew Yglesias <a href="http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/2010/07/bush-tax-cuts-where-was-the-growth/" type="external">has noted</a> in response to Erickson, in a September 2008 CAP <a href="http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2008/09/supply_side.html" type="external">paper</a> analyzing the impact of supply-side policy, Michael Ettlinger, Vice President for Economic Policy at American Progress, and Economic Policy Institute's John Irons wrote:</p>
<p>Even during the period of expansion wages were often in decline in the first supply-side period. In the second period, wages were also in decline for portions of the period, and never strong. In the post-1993 period, wages were in decline at the start but wage growth grew substantially over the period. With such dismal wage growth during supply-side periods, supply-side policies failed to deliver what supply-side theory predicted.</p>
<p>CAP's report also included the following graphs based on Bureau of Labor Statistics data comparing earnings growth during the Bush, Clinton, and Reagan eras:</p>
<p />
<p>U.C. Berkeley's Delong: There was "not a damned thing [Bush] did to help" increase median household income. In an August 26, 2008, blog <a href="http://delong.typepad.com/sdj/2008/08/income-and-pove.html" type="external">post</a>, University of California-Berkeley professor Bradford DeLong wrote:</p>
<p>2000-2007: the first business cycle during which median household income in America falls from peak to peak:</p>
<p />
<p><a href="http://www.census.gov/prod/2008pubs/p60-235.pdf" type="external">http://www.census.gov/prod/2008pubs/p60-235.pdf</a></p>
<p>It's not all George W. Bush's fault, but I can think of a number of things he did to hurt and not a damned thing he did to help.</p>
<p>Krugman: "In 2007, at the height of the 'Bush boom,' such as it was, median household income, adjusted for inflation, was still lower than it had been in 2000." In a July 22, 2010, New York Times <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/23/opinion/23krugman.html" type="external">column</a>, Krugman wrote that the "[t]ax cuts never yielded the promised prosperity, but along with other policies ... they converted a budget surplus into a persistent deficit." Krugman later wrote: "In 2007, at the height of the 'Bush boom,' such as it was, median household income, adjusted for inflation, was still lower than it had been in 2000."</p>
<p>CAP: "Average annual real median household income growth was greatest after the 1993 tax increases," but was much lower after 2001. The 2008 CAP <a href="http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2008/09/supply_side.html" type="external">paper</a> by Ettlinger and Irons found that the "Average annual real median household income growth was greatest after the 1993 tax increases, at 2.0 percent annually compared to 1.4 percent after 1981 and 0.3 percent after 2001," when supply-side theory tax cuts were enacted. The paper further stated:</p>
<p>In the parallel periods of economic expansion (four years starting in the 10th quarter of expansion for 1981 and 1993; three years in the case of 2001 because of data limitations), average median income growth was 2.3 percent in the post-1993 era, 1.2 percent in the expansion after the 1981 supply-side tax cuts, and 1.1 percent in the supply-side era that began in 2001.</p>
<p>CAP also includes a graph based on Census Bureau data to show that "income may have trickled down during the supply-side eras but it flowed at a much more robust rate during the non-supply-side period."</p>
<p /> | Conservative media advance dubious claim that Bush tax cuts drove economic recovery | true | http://mediamatters.org/research/201008090039 | 2010-08-09 | 4left
| Conservative media advance dubious claim that Bush tax cuts drove economic recovery
<p>IBD: Bush tax cuts "were responsible for the economy's recovery from the triple whammy of the 1999-2000 stock market meltdown, the Y2K debacle and the 2001 recession." In an August 6 <a href="http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article/543025/201008061900/The-Propaganda-Of-Incompetents.aspx" type="external">editorial</a> titled "The Propaganda of Incompetents," Investor's Business Daily claimed that the Bush tax cuts "were responsible for the economy's recovery from the triple whammy of the 1999-2000 stock market meltdown, the Y2K debacle and the 2001 recession." From the editorial:</p>
<p>Instead of slashing spending, as common sense and economic reality would dictate, some want to let Bush's 2001 and 2003 tax cuts expire. Those cuts were responsible for the economy's recovery from the triple whammy of the 1999-2000 stock market meltdown, the Y2K debacle and the 2001 recession.</p>
<p>Erickson: Bush tax cuts "helped the economy both recovery from the 2000-2001 recession and spur some of the greatest economic activity the nation has ever seen." In a July 27 RedState <a href="http://www.redstate.com/erick/2010/07/27/the-facts-about-the-bush-tax-cuts/" type="external">post</a>, Erick Erickson claimed that "after the 2001 initial tax cuts, the annual growth rate went from 0.3% in 2001 to 2.5% in 2002. By 2004, GDP growth was the highest in 20 years." Erickson further claimed that "after the 2003 tax cuts, the unemployment rate fell to the lowest level since World War II. Let me repeat that: the Bush economic program created the lowest unemployment level ever." He concluded: "The Bush tax cuts, objectively, helped the economy both recovery [sic] from the 2000-2001 recession and spur some of the greatest economic activity the nation has ever seen."</p>
<p><a type="external" href="" />Nobel laureate Krugman: "But the real source of the expansion was the housing boom, which had very little to do with the tax cut." In a January 14, 2008, blog <a href="http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/01/14/bush-tax-cut-mythology/" type="external">post</a>, economist and Nobel Prize winner Paul Krugman wrote that "the real source of the expansion" after the 2001 recession "was the housing boom, which had very little to do with the tax cut":</p>
<p>There were two main Bush tax cuts -- EGTRRA, enacted in mid-2001, and JGTRRA, enacted in 2003.</p>
<p>[...]</p>
<p>EGTRRA arrived in the middle of a recession, but that was an accident. It was devised in 1999, when the economy was booming, to defend Bush's right flank against Steve Forbes. During the 2000 campaign, Bush sold it as a way of returning budget surpluses to the people, with not a hint that it had something to do with fighting recession. The recession story was an after-the-fact reinvention.</p>
<p>And EGTRRA didn't seem to help all that much. Formally, the recession ended in late 2001, but most labor-market indicators continued to worsen into mid-2003.</p>
<p>JGTRRA, which mainly cut tax rates on capital gains and dividends, was followed by a real recovery. And the Bushies naturally claimed the credit. But the real source of the expansion was the housing boom, which had very little to do with the tax cut.</p>
<p>Krugman: "But even now real G.D.P. is considerably lower than most people thought it would be back when President Bush was selling his tax cuts." Krugman <a href="http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2005/10/18/the-bush-tax-cuts-and-the-deficit/" type="external">wrote</a> on October 18, 2005, that "[w]e had a recession followed by slow growth in the early Bush years, then faster growth after that as the economy recovered. But even now real G.D.P. is considerably lower than most people thought it would be back when President Bush was selling his tax cuts." He added: "At the end of the 1990's, people thought that the economy would grow at rates similar to those of the previous few years -- probably at more than 3 percent a year. In fact, economic growth since 2000 has averaged only about 2.5 percent, which is below expectations."</p>
<p>CAP paper finds that "supply-side policies failed to deliver what supply-side theory predicted" regarding wage growth. As Center for American Progress' (CAP) Matthew Yglesias <a href="http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/2010/07/bush-tax-cuts-where-was-the-growth/" type="external">has noted</a> in response to Erickson, in a September 2008 CAP <a href="http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2008/09/supply_side.html" type="external">paper</a> analyzing the impact of supply-side policy, Michael Ettlinger, Vice President for Economic Policy at American Progress, and Economic Policy Institute's John Irons wrote:</p>
<p>Even during the period of expansion wages were often in decline in the first supply-side period. In the second period, wages were also in decline for portions of the period, and never strong. In the post-1993 period, wages were in decline at the start but wage growth grew substantially over the period. With such dismal wage growth during supply-side periods, supply-side policies failed to deliver what supply-side theory predicted.</p>
<p>CAP's report also included the following graphs based on Bureau of Labor Statistics data comparing earnings growth during the Bush, Clinton, and Reagan eras:</p>
<p />
<p>U.C. Berkeley's Delong: There was "not a damned thing [Bush] did to help" increase median household income. In an August 26, 2008, blog <a href="http://delong.typepad.com/sdj/2008/08/income-and-pove.html" type="external">post</a>, University of California-Berkeley professor Bradford DeLong wrote:</p>
<p>2000-2007: the first business cycle during which median household income in America falls from peak to peak:</p>
<p />
<p><a href="http://www.census.gov/prod/2008pubs/p60-235.pdf" type="external">http://www.census.gov/prod/2008pubs/p60-235.pdf</a></p>
<p>It's not all George W. Bush's fault, but I can think of a number of things he did to hurt and not a damned thing he did to help.</p>
<p>Krugman: "In 2007, at the height of the 'Bush boom,' such as it was, median household income, adjusted for inflation, was still lower than it had been in 2000." In a July 22, 2010, New York Times <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/23/opinion/23krugman.html" type="external">column</a>, Krugman wrote that the "[t]ax cuts never yielded the promised prosperity, but along with other policies ... they converted a budget surplus into a persistent deficit." Krugman later wrote: "In 2007, at the height of the 'Bush boom,' such as it was, median household income, adjusted for inflation, was still lower than it had been in 2000."</p>
<p>CAP: "Average annual real median household income growth was greatest after the 1993 tax increases," but was much lower after 2001. The 2008 CAP <a href="http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2008/09/supply_side.html" type="external">paper</a> by Ettlinger and Irons found that the "Average annual real median household income growth was greatest after the 1993 tax increases, at 2.0 percent annually compared to 1.4 percent after 1981 and 0.3 percent after 2001," when supply-side theory tax cuts were enacted. The paper further stated:</p>
<p>In the parallel periods of economic expansion (four years starting in the 10th quarter of expansion for 1981 and 1993; three years in the case of 2001 because of data limitations), average median income growth was 2.3 percent in the post-1993 era, 1.2 percent in the expansion after the 1981 supply-side tax cuts, and 1.1 percent in the supply-side era that began in 2001.</p>
<p>CAP also includes a graph based on Census Bureau data to show that "income may have trickled down during the supply-side eras but it flowed at a much more robust rate during the non-supply-side period."</p>
<p /> | 731 |
<p />
<p>Back in the fall of 2002, long before president Bush had told the public of his plans, the man who would become the John McCain campaign’s top foreign policy advisor was <a href="/washington_dispatch/2008/10/scheunemann.html" type="external">tasked</a> with a sensitive mission that had come from the White House: to set up a group to lobby for war with Iraq. The group that Randy Scheunemann subsequently set up and became president of, the Committee for the Liberation of Iraq, argued, as did Iraqi exile politician Ahmad Chalabi, that the problem with Saddam Hussein was not just his (alleged) weapons, but the nature of the regime: “We believe it is time to confront the clear and present danger posed by Saddam Hussein’s regime by liberating the Iraqi people,” Scheunemann said in a press release announcing the creation of the Committee on the Liberation of Iraq, which was celebrated by a party at Chalabi’s Georgetown home, <a href="/washington_dispatch/2008/10/scheunemann.html" type="external">according</a> to Chalabi’s biographer Aram Roston.</p>
<p>So how close really were Scheunemann and Ahmad Chalabi? In <a href="/washington_dispatch/2008/10/scheunemann.html" type="external">this piece</a>, I asked long-time Chalabi advisor Francis Brooke, among others:</p>
<p>Brooke says he met Scheunemann in 1996 when he and Chalabi were hitting Capitol Hill to try to drum up increased US government support for the Iraqi opposition. Brooke’s pitch then was that putting pressure on Saddam Hussein was not just the right policy; it was also a vehicle for attacking Bill Clinton, then running for reelection. “I thought it was a good time to educate the Republican Congress…and give them the ammunition they needed to beat the president up.” In Scheunemann and other hardliners on the Hill, Brooke says he found kindred spirits—a clique of Republicans deeply disillusioned with how George H.W. Bush had let both the Cold War and the first Iraq War end without meting out sufficient punishment to America’s adversaries. “These people had a great sense of psychic loss that we had not finished the first Iraq War in the most comprehensive way. They hated George Bush the first.”</p>
<p>Still, Scheunemann, who then worked for Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, was initially skeptical. After he and Chalabi made their pitch, Brooke said, “Randy said, ‘This is all fine but on the other hand, the CIA and other parts of the US government tell me that the Iraqi opposition is a feckless bunch of people, that can’t do anything, have no support inside the country, and have probably been up to no good all over the place.'” Brooke says he encouraged Scheunemann to do his own research, and eventually convinced him.</p>
<p>Go read the <a href="/washington_dispatch/2008/10/scheunemann.html" type="external">whole piece</a>.</p>
<p /> | McCain’s Foreign Policy Advisor and Ahmad Chalabi: How Close? | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2008/10/mccains-foreign-policy-advisor-and-ahmad-chalabi-how-close/ | 2008-10-10 | 4left
| McCain’s Foreign Policy Advisor and Ahmad Chalabi: How Close?
<p />
<p>Back in the fall of 2002, long before president Bush had told the public of his plans, the man who would become the John McCain campaign’s top foreign policy advisor was <a href="/washington_dispatch/2008/10/scheunemann.html" type="external">tasked</a> with a sensitive mission that had come from the White House: to set up a group to lobby for war with Iraq. The group that Randy Scheunemann subsequently set up and became president of, the Committee for the Liberation of Iraq, argued, as did Iraqi exile politician Ahmad Chalabi, that the problem with Saddam Hussein was not just his (alleged) weapons, but the nature of the regime: “We believe it is time to confront the clear and present danger posed by Saddam Hussein’s regime by liberating the Iraqi people,” Scheunemann said in a press release announcing the creation of the Committee on the Liberation of Iraq, which was celebrated by a party at Chalabi’s Georgetown home, <a href="/washington_dispatch/2008/10/scheunemann.html" type="external">according</a> to Chalabi’s biographer Aram Roston.</p>
<p>So how close really were Scheunemann and Ahmad Chalabi? In <a href="/washington_dispatch/2008/10/scheunemann.html" type="external">this piece</a>, I asked long-time Chalabi advisor Francis Brooke, among others:</p>
<p>Brooke says he met Scheunemann in 1996 when he and Chalabi were hitting Capitol Hill to try to drum up increased US government support for the Iraqi opposition. Brooke’s pitch then was that putting pressure on Saddam Hussein was not just the right policy; it was also a vehicle for attacking Bill Clinton, then running for reelection. “I thought it was a good time to educate the Republican Congress…and give them the ammunition they needed to beat the president up.” In Scheunemann and other hardliners on the Hill, Brooke says he found kindred spirits—a clique of Republicans deeply disillusioned with how George H.W. Bush had let both the Cold War and the first Iraq War end without meting out sufficient punishment to America’s adversaries. “These people had a great sense of psychic loss that we had not finished the first Iraq War in the most comprehensive way. They hated George Bush the first.”</p>
<p>Still, Scheunemann, who then worked for Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, was initially skeptical. After he and Chalabi made their pitch, Brooke said, “Randy said, ‘This is all fine but on the other hand, the CIA and other parts of the US government tell me that the Iraqi opposition is a feckless bunch of people, that can’t do anything, have no support inside the country, and have probably been up to no good all over the place.'” Brooke says he encouraged Scheunemann to do his own research, and eventually convinced him.</p>
<p>Go read the <a href="/washington_dispatch/2008/10/scheunemann.html" type="external">whole piece</a>.</p>
<p /> | 732 |
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<p />
<p>The Lobos blocked a 28-yard field goal attempt, thanks in part to a bad snap, to start the fourth quarter to keep Oregon’s lead at 65-0.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>Moral victory, part deux.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>After another UNM turnover — a Holbrook interception — the Ducks drove inside the Lobo 10 before settling for Eric Solis’ 25-yard field gao and a 65-0 lead with 5:30 left in the third quarter.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>A victory! Moral victory, that is.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>The Lobos actually held Oregon to another field goal with 8:51 left, after the Ducks had reached the UNM 3.</p>
<p>Oregon’s lead is now 62-0.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>In my best impersonation of Talia Shire’s voice as “Adrian” from the movie, “Rocky” (or was it Rocky II or III?): “Stop the fight!</p>
<p>Not much of a fight really. Cliff Harris’ 61-yard punt return with 6:51 left in the half gave Oregon a 49-0 lead over New Mexico.</p>
<p>Backup Ducks QB Nate Costa entered the game on the next series and moved his team 52 yards before the drive actually stalled. Oregon had to settle for a 24-yard Eric Solis field goal for a 52-0 led with 1:55 left in the half.</p>
<p>Harris struck again with 15 seconds left, returning a punt 64 yards for another score and a 59-0 lead, seven short of the number of points the 1991 UNM team gave up in the first half of an eventual 94-17 loss at Fresno State.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>Getting worse by the minute. Literally.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>Darron Thomas threw a screen pass to RB Kenjon Barner, who then went 60 yards with 8:51 left in the half to makke the score 42-0.</p>
<p>Amazingly, the score could be worse if Thomas could throw a deep ball. So far he’s been high on most of his attempts downfield.</p>
<p>Not that it seems to matter at this point.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>Talk is cheap.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>The Lobos fumbled on a fourth-and-1 at the Oregon 44. The visitors recovered but lost yardage, resulting in the ball turning over on downs. Three plays later, Oregon RB Kenjon Barner scored on a 41-yard run to make the score 35-0 with 10:49 left in the first half.</p>
<p>UNM coach Mike Locksley talked about three keys for his team this season: turnover margin, running the ball and stopping the run. The Lobos have two turnovers, have minus yards rushing and are 0-of-3 on third down through 20 minutes.</p>
<p>The Ducks have more than 300 total yards, 150 yards rushing and have converted 6-of-7 on third down.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>Uh oh. When does basketball season start?</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>The Ducks’ Casey Matthews intercepted UNM quarterback B.R. Holbrook at the UNM 43, and Oregon running back Kenjon Barner scored from 25 yards out two plays later to give the home team a 21-0 with 1:55 left in the first quarter.</p>
<p>Twenty seconds later, a Lobo screen pass that fell to the ground was ruled a fumble, and Matthews recovered at the UNM 49. Three plays later, Barner scored from 10 yards out for a 28-0 Oregon lead, still with 1:04 left in the first quarter.</p>
<p>Mercifully, the first quarter ended with no further damage.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>Ducks strike again.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>Darron Thomas found tight end David Paulson wide open behind the Lobo defense and he scored on a 30-yard pass for a 14-0 lead with 3:09 left in the first quarter.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>UNM middle linebacker Carmen Messina hurt his left knee with 4:38 left on in the first quarter.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>He pulled down the Oregon receiver as UNM stopped Oregon on third down for the first time in six tries. Messina had to be helped off the field.</p>
<p>Oregon went for and made it on fourth-and-four from its 41.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>The mistake-fest has begun, and Oregon has scored.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>Kenjon Barner’s 1-yard run with 8:22 left in the first quarter gives Oregon a 7-0 lead.</p>
<p>New Mexico linebacker Joe Stoner intecepted Ducks QB Darron Thomas at the UNM 13 on the opening possession of the game and returned it to the Lobo 41.</p>
<p>Oregon held, and a poor snap from Evan Jacobsen forced new punter Ben Skaer to fall on the ball at the UNM 20. The Ducks scored in five plays.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>Lobos captains Josh Fussell (fullback), Byron Bell (left tackle), Peter Gardner (defensive tackle) and Terel Anyaibe (linebacker) win the coin toss, and UNN defers to the second half.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>Oregon will receive the ball to begin the game.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>What are ya, yella?</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>The yellow-clad Oregon Duck football faithful are surround Auzten Stadium. Seventy minutes before game time, the University of New Mexico kickers came out for their pregame warmups to boos. Ten minutes later, the rest of the Lobos came out for a more smattering of boos.</p>
<p>We’re going to try blogging throughout the game, but apparently this city has the slowest internet on the planet. It was slow at the team hotel Friday and isn’t any better at the stadium.</p>
<p>Isn’t Microsoft supposed to be around here some place?</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>By the way, Oregon has come out with black jerseys with grey pants. How do the Ducks’ uniforms end up looking so hideous year after year?</p> | Lobo Football: Live From Autzen Stadium | false | https://abqjournal.com/232610/lobo-football-live-from-autzen-stadium.html | 2least
| Lobo Football: Live From Autzen Stadium
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<p>The Lobos blocked a 28-yard field goal attempt, thanks in part to a bad snap, to start the fourth quarter to keep Oregon’s lead at 65-0.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>Moral victory, part deux.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>After another UNM turnover — a Holbrook interception — the Ducks drove inside the Lobo 10 before settling for Eric Solis’ 25-yard field gao and a 65-0 lead with 5:30 left in the third quarter.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>A victory! Moral victory, that is.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>The Lobos actually held Oregon to another field goal with 8:51 left, after the Ducks had reached the UNM 3.</p>
<p>Oregon’s lead is now 62-0.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>In my best impersonation of Talia Shire’s voice as “Adrian” from the movie, “Rocky” (or was it Rocky II or III?): “Stop the fight!</p>
<p>Not much of a fight really. Cliff Harris’ 61-yard punt return with 6:51 left in the half gave Oregon a 49-0 lead over New Mexico.</p>
<p>Backup Ducks QB Nate Costa entered the game on the next series and moved his team 52 yards before the drive actually stalled. Oregon had to settle for a 24-yard Eric Solis field goal for a 52-0 led with 1:55 left in the half.</p>
<p>Harris struck again with 15 seconds left, returning a punt 64 yards for another score and a 59-0 lead, seven short of the number of points the 1991 UNM team gave up in the first half of an eventual 94-17 loss at Fresno State.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>Getting worse by the minute. Literally.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>Darron Thomas threw a screen pass to RB Kenjon Barner, who then went 60 yards with 8:51 left in the half to makke the score 42-0.</p>
<p>Amazingly, the score could be worse if Thomas could throw a deep ball. So far he’s been high on most of his attempts downfield.</p>
<p>Not that it seems to matter at this point.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>Talk is cheap.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>The Lobos fumbled on a fourth-and-1 at the Oregon 44. The visitors recovered but lost yardage, resulting in the ball turning over on downs. Three plays later, Oregon RB Kenjon Barner scored on a 41-yard run to make the score 35-0 with 10:49 left in the first half.</p>
<p>UNM coach Mike Locksley talked about three keys for his team this season: turnover margin, running the ball and stopping the run. The Lobos have two turnovers, have minus yards rushing and are 0-of-3 on third down through 20 minutes.</p>
<p>The Ducks have more than 300 total yards, 150 yards rushing and have converted 6-of-7 on third down.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>Uh oh. When does basketball season start?</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>The Ducks’ Casey Matthews intercepted UNM quarterback B.R. Holbrook at the UNM 43, and Oregon running back Kenjon Barner scored from 25 yards out two plays later to give the home team a 21-0 with 1:55 left in the first quarter.</p>
<p>Twenty seconds later, a Lobo screen pass that fell to the ground was ruled a fumble, and Matthews recovered at the UNM 49. Three plays later, Barner scored from 10 yards out for a 28-0 Oregon lead, still with 1:04 left in the first quarter.</p>
<p>Mercifully, the first quarter ended with no further damage.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>Ducks strike again.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>Darron Thomas found tight end David Paulson wide open behind the Lobo defense and he scored on a 30-yard pass for a 14-0 lead with 3:09 left in the first quarter.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>UNM middle linebacker Carmen Messina hurt his left knee with 4:38 left on in the first quarter.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>He pulled down the Oregon receiver as UNM stopped Oregon on third down for the first time in six tries. Messina had to be helped off the field.</p>
<p>Oregon went for and made it on fourth-and-four from its 41.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>The mistake-fest has begun, and Oregon has scored.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>Kenjon Barner’s 1-yard run with 8:22 left in the first quarter gives Oregon a 7-0 lead.</p>
<p>New Mexico linebacker Joe Stoner intecepted Ducks QB Darron Thomas at the UNM 13 on the opening possession of the game and returned it to the Lobo 41.</p>
<p>Oregon held, and a poor snap from Evan Jacobsen forced new punter Ben Skaer to fall on the ball at the UNM 20. The Ducks scored in five plays.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>Lobos captains Josh Fussell (fullback), Byron Bell (left tackle), Peter Gardner (defensive tackle) and Terel Anyaibe (linebacker) win the coin toss, and UNN defers to the second half.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>Oregon will receive the ball to begin the game.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>What are ya, yella?</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>The yellow-clad Oregon Duck football faithful are surround Auzten Stadium. Seventy minutes before game time, the University of New Mexico kickers came out for their pregame warmups to boos. Ten minutes later, the rest of the Lobos came out for a more smattering of boos.</p>
<p>We’re going to try blogging throughout the game, but apparently this city has the slowest internet on the planet. It was slow at the team hotel Friday and isn’t any better at the stadium.</p>
<p>Isn’t Microsoft supposed to be around here some place?</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>By the way, Oregon has come out with black jerseys with grey pants. How do the Ducks’ uniforms end up looking so hideous year after year?</p> | 733 |
|
<p>Indexes in Hong Kong, Australia both hit 10-year highs</p>
<p>Asian stocks turned broadly higher by late morning Thursday, with some of October's optimism returning to markets as investors continued to buy equities.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Japanese stocks opened strong and held on to gains. The Nikkei Stock Average was up 1.8% in early afternoon trading, topping 23,000 for the first time since January 1992.</p>
<p>The rally spread across the region, with Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index recently up 1% and Australia's S&amp;P/ASX 200 climbing 0.5%, both hitting fresh 10-year highs.</p>
<p>Higher-than-expected October inflation data out of China helped sentiment.</p>
<p>"Rising inflation points to a strong and firmer pickup in global demand," said Prakash Sakpal, an economist for Asia at ING.</p>
<p>Producer prices in China are watched closely by investors and economists, as higher prices in the world's factory indicate rising demand with inflation trickling to Europe and Asia, as well as the U.S.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>But stock moves in China remained muted Thursday morning, as indexes there continued recent cautious trading. In Hong Kong, an index tracking Chinese firms listed there climbed 1.1%.</p>
<p>Australian stocks, already rebounding ahead of the inflation data, hit session highs afterward. China is the country's biggest export market, and shares of mining companies BHP Billiton (BHP.AU) and Rio Tinto (RIO) each rose nearly 1% to hit fresh multiyear highs as iron-ore futures gained some 2% in China.</p>
<p>Benchmark indexes elsewhere in Asia logged modest gains Thursday, after similar action across the region Wednesday and overnight on Wall Street.</p>
<p>New Zealand stocks continued to lag behind, with the NZX 50 falling 0.3% after the index notched 17 record closing highs in October.</p>
<p>Software firm Xero (XRO.NZ) said it would delist from the Wellington market and consolidate activity in Australia, sending its New Zealand-listed stock down as much as 6.4%. Milk producer Synlait (SML.NZ) fell 2%, putting the week's plunge at 14%.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, strong corporate results propelled stocks in Japan higher. Robust earnings helped bearing marker MinebeaMitsumi (6479.TO) jump 12%, topping 2015's record high. Chocolate maker Meiji (2269.TO) climbed 5.7% to a one-year peak.</p>
<p>Traders there looked past a government report that core machinery orders, seen as a proxy for corporate capital spending, tumbled 8.1% in September from August, four times the drop economists had expected.</p>
<p>However, capital spending was still solidly higher for the third quarter, said Marcel Thieliant at Capital Economics. While noting the data captured some 20% of capital investments made by Japanese firms, he added, "Investments as a percentage of GDP still point to a recovery."</p>
<p>(END) Dow Jones Newswires</p>
<p>November 08, 2017 23:30 ET (04:30 GMT)</p> | ASIA MARKETS: Nikkei Tops 23,000 For First Time Since 1992 As Asian Market Rally Continues | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2017/11/08/asia-markets-nikkei-tops-23000-for-first-time-since-1992-as-asian-market-rally-continues.html | 2017-11-08 | 0right
| ASIA MARKETS: Nikkei Tops 23,000 For First Time Since 1992 As Asian Market Rally Continues
<p>Indexes in Hong Kong, Australia both hit 10-year highs</p>
<p>Asian stocks turned broadly higher by late morning Thursday, with some of October's optimism returning to markets as investors continued to buy equities.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Japanese stocks opened strong and held on to gains. The Nikkei Stock Average was up 1.8% in early afternoon trading, topping 23,000 for the first time since January 1992.</p>
<p>The rally spread across the region, with Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index recently up 1% and Australia's S&amp;P/ASX 200 climbing 0.5%, both hitting fresh 10-year highs.</p>
<p>Higher-than-expected October inflation data out of China helped sentiment.</p>
<p>"Rising inflation points to a strong and firmer pickup in global demand," said Prakash Sakpal, an economist for Asia at ING.</p>
<p>Producer prices in China are watched closely by investors and economists, as higher prices in the world's factory indicate rising demand with inflation trickling to Europe and Asia, as well as the U.S.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>But stock moves in China remained muted Thursday morning, as indexes there continued recent cautious trading. In Hong Kong, an index tracking Chinese firms listed there climbed 1.1%.</p>
<p>Australian stocks, already rebounding ahead of the inflation data, hit session highs afterward. China is the country's biggest export market, and shares of mining companies BHP Billiton (BHP.AU) and Rio Tinto (RIO) each rose nearly 1% to hit fresh multiyear highs as iron-ore futures gained some 2% in China.</p>
<p>Benchmark indexes elsewhere in Asia logged modest gains Thursday, after similar action across the region Wednesday and overnight on Wall Street.</p>
<p>New Zealand stocks continued to lag behind, with the NZX 50 falling 0.3% after the index notched 17 record closing highs in October.</p>
<p>Software firm Xero (XRO.NZ) said it would delist from the Wellington market and consolidate activity in Australia, sending its New Zealand-listed stock down as much as 6.4%. Milk producer Synlait (SML.NZ) fell 2%, putting the week's plunge at 14%.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, strong corporate results propelled stocks in Japan higher. Robust earnings helped bearing marker MinebeaMitsumi (6479.TO) jump 12%, topping 2015's record high. Chocolate maker Meiji (2269.TO) climbed 5.7% to a one-year peak.</p>
<p>Traders there looked past a government report that core machinery orders, seen as a proxy for corporate capital spending, tumbled 8.1% in September from August, four times the drop economists had expected.</p>
<p>However, capital spending was still solidly higher for the third quarter, said Marcel Thieliant at Capital Economics. While noting the data captured some 20% of capital investments made by Japanese firms, he added, "Investments as a percentage of GDP still point to a recovery."</p>
<p>(END) Dow Jones Newswires</p>
<p>November 08, 2017 23:30 ET (04:30 GMT)</p> | 734 |
<p>On July 2, 2008 at a campaign stop, Obama made the following unscripted statement: "We cannot continue to rely on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives we've set. We've got to have a civilian national security force that's just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded."</p>
<p>Obama has created law enforcement branches in more than 70 federal government agencies, which means there are more than 120,000 law enforcement agents in the federal government for him to utilize. Plus, departments you wouldn't expect, such as the Social Security Administration (SSA) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have purchased hundreds of thousands of hollow point bullets.</p>
<p>Just what are they preparing for?</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p />
<p>0 comments</p> | POLL: Will Obama Move To Delay The Presidential Election? | true | http://freedomsfinalstand.com/poll-will-obama-move-to-delay-the-presidential-election/ | 0right
| POLL: Will Obama Move To Delay The Presidential Election?
<p>On July 2, 2008 at a campaign stop, Obama made the following unscripted statement: "We cannot continue to rely on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives we've set. We've got to have a civilian national security force that's just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded."</p>
<p>Obama has created law enforcement branches in more than 70 federal government agencies, which means there are more than 120,000 law enforcement agents in the federal government for him to utilize. Plus, departments you wouldn't expect, such as the Social Security Administration (SSA) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have purchased hundreds of thousands of hollow point bullets.</p>
<p>Just what are they preparing for?</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p />
<p>0 comments</p> | 735 |
|
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p>In late February, when Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni signed the nation’s harsh new anti-gay bill into law, <a href="http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/Museveni-s-Anti-Homosexuality-speech/-/688334/2219956/-/vinrt7/-/index.html" type="external">he claimed</a> the measure had been “provoked by arrogant and careless western groups that are fond of coming into our schools and recruiting young children into homosexuality.” What he failed to mention is that&#160;the legislation—which makes homosexuality a crime punishable by life in prison in some cases—was itself largely due to Western interlopers, chief among them a radical American pastor named Scott Lively.</p>
<p>Lively, a 56-year-old Massachusetts native, specializes in&#160;stirring up anti-gay feeling around the globe. In Uganda, which he first visited in&#160;2002, he has cultivated&#160;ties to influential politicians and religious leaders at the forefront of the nation’s anti-gay crusade. Just before the first draft of Uganda’s anti-gay bill began circulating in April 2009, Lively traveled to Kampala and gave&#160;lengthy presentations to members of Uganda’s parliament and cabinet, which&#160;laid out the argument that the nation’s president and lawmakers&#160;would later use to justify Uganda’s&#160;draconian anti-gay crackdown—namely that Western agitators were trying to unravel Uganda’s social fabric by spreading “the disease” of homosexuality to children. “They’re looking for other people to be able to prey upon,” Lively said, according to video footage. “When they see a child that’s from a broken home it’s like they have a flashing neon sign over their head.”</p>
<p>Lively is not the only US evangelical who has fanned the flames of anti-gay sentiment in Uganda. As they lose ground at home, where public opinion and law are rapidly shifting in favor of gay equality, religious conservatives have increasingly turned their attention to Africa. And Uganda, with its large Christian population, has been particularly fertile ground for their crusade. Journalist&#160;(and past&#160;Mother Jones&#160;contributor)&#160;Jeff&#160;Sharlet&#160; <a href="http://jeffsharlet.com/content/about-the-family/" type="external">has reported at length on the Family</a>, a politically connected US-based ministry, which promotes hard-line social policies in the East African nation.</p>
<p>But, according to Ugandan gay rights activists, Lively has played an unparalleled&#160;role in fostering the climate of hate that gave rise to Uganda’s anti-gay law. “The bill is essentially his creation,” says Frank&#160;Mugisha, director of Sexual Minorities Uganda, a coalition of gay rights organizations.&#160;Mugisha’s&#160;group&#160;has filed a first-of-its-kind&#160; <a href="http://ccrjustice.org/ourcases/current-cases/sexual-minorities-uganda-v.-lively" type="external">lawsuit</a>&#160;in US federal court, accusing Lively of international crimes against humanity on the grounds that he and his Ugandan allies allegedly conspired to deprive gay Ugandans of basic human rights.</p>
<p>Lively, who is currently running for&#160; <a href="http://www.livelyforgovernor.com/" type="external">governor of Massachusetts</a>&#160;as an independent, calls the allegations “ridiculous.” “Basically, a Marxist law firm in New York City is trying to shut me up because I speak very articulately about the pro-family issues,” he says. But video obtained by&#160;Mother Jones—including footage of Lively’s 2009 presentation and a little-known follow-up meeting where influential Ugandans resolved to petition parliament for a harsh new law against homosexuality—lends credence to the allegations that Lively’s fierce message paved the way for the nation’s anti-gay crackdown.</p>
<p>Lively has an unusual history for a family-values crusader. A former alcoholic, he spent his late teens and&#160;20s&#160;drifting around the country, occasionally sleeping under bridges and begging for spare change. After finding&#160;God in a Portland, Oregon, treatment center in the&#160;mid-1980s, he joined a conservative evangelical church and took a job as&#160;communications director for&#160;the Oregon Citizens Alliance, which was loosely affiliated with the then powerful Christian Coalition and was deploying radical tactics to fight abortion and the gay rights movement. In 1992,&#160;OCA&#160;introduced a ballot initiative with the first faint outlines of the legislative strategy Lively would later deploy abroad. Measure 9, as it was known, barred the state government from offering any “special rights” to gays or “promoting” homosexuality. It also required public schools to treat “homosexuality, pedophilia, sadism” as&#160;“abnormal, wrong, unnatural, and perverse.” &#160;</p>
<p>The backlash was fierce. Opponents likened Lively and his colleagues to Nazis and lobbed bricks wrapped in swastika flags through the windows of businesses supporting the measure.&#160;OCA’s&#160;aggressive campaign, likening gays to pedophiles, was also blamed for a steep uptick in gay hate crimes. In the end, Measure 9 was defeated by a 13-point margin. Undeterred,&#160;OCA&#160;began promoting measures barring special protections for homosexuals on the city and county levels. Lively, who bristled at the Nazi comparisons, also threw himself into studying the Third Reich and eventually grew convinced that gay men—some of whom occupied senior posts in the Nazi regime—were the driving force behind the Holocaust. “Everything that we think about when we think about Nazis actually comes from the minds and perverted ideas of homosexuals,” he told an Oregon public access television station in 1994.&#160;OCA&#160;also began deploying messages reminiscent of Nazi propaganda. One&#160;OCA-published&#160;cartoon resembled the infamous Nazi caricature showing a Jew manipulating the strings of government and economy. As Deborah&#160;Geis&#160;and&#160;‎Steven&#160;Kruger observed in their 1997 book&#160;Approaching the Millennium,&#160;the group&#160;had merely replaced “the stooped, hooked-nose puppeteer with a fresh-faced gym boy.”</p>
<p>These tactics paid off:&#160;OCA&#160;managed to push through more than two dozen county and municipal ordinances. While the Oregon Legislature later rendered them unenforceable,&#160;OCA’s&#160;efforts kept the issue on the conservative agenda and showed the grassroots appeal of the group’s message. In 1994, the organization sponsored another statewide ballot initiative similar to Measure 9. It was defeated, too, but only by a 3-point margin.</p>
<p>After his bare-knuckled legislative battles in Oregon, Lively retreated to California, where he earned a law degree and a Ph.D. in theology. He also became a prolific author. In 1995, he&#160;coauthored&#160;what would become his signature book,&#160; <a href="http://www.defendthefamily.com/pfrc/books/pinkswastika/" type="external">The Pink Swastika: Homosexuality in the Nazi Party</a>. It argued that gay elements in the Nazi regime tried to wipe out the Jews because their religion condemned homosexuality. And it claimed that gays intentionally spread immorality and corruption so others were “less likely to oppose homosexuality on moral grounds.” Pornography, according to this theory, is a “tool of ‘gay’ social engineering.” The rising rates of divorce, substance abuse, disease, and violent crime, are all a “direct consequence of embracing the ‘gay’ ethic.” In subsequent books, Lively&#160;laid out detailed tactics for battling this menace—including stressing the supposed danger homosexuality poses to young people. “Public sympathy for ‘gays’ as victims is not grounded in logic, but in emotion,” he wrote. “An effective strategy is to emphasize the issue of homosexual recruitment of children…”</p>
<p>Lively’s ideas have proven too radical for the mainstream family values movement, but they’ve gotten some traction on the far right. Bryan Fischer, director of issues analysis for the influential American Family Association, regularly parrots his arguments linking gays to Nazis. (“Homosexuality gave us Adolph Hitler,” he opined&#160; <a href="http://www.afa.net/blogs/blogpost.aspx?id=2147494882" type="external">in a 2010 post</a>&#160;on the organization’s website, “and homosexuals in the military gave us the Brown Shirts, the Nazi war machine and six million dead Jews.”) Lively’s&#160;theories have also&#160;gained&#160;currency in foreign countries, including former Soviet republics, where he has helped&#160;advance anti-gay legislation. But nowhere has his influence been more keenly felt than in Uganda. During his first visit there in 2002, he spoke at an anti-pornography conference and warned participants that Western cultural Marxists, backed by liberals (such as George Soros), were trying to erode Uganda’s independence by attacking family values—a message that played on lingering colonial-era resentments. One of their core tactics, Lively argued, was deploying homosexuals to infiltrate Ugandan society. “The cultural Marxists go into these countries, they buy media and they set up these street activist organizations to recruit,” Lively tells me. “I said, ‘Okay, this is what’s going on here. The way to respond to that is to focus on affirming family values—and discouraging the alternatives.'” Lively, who was used to being heckled, was stunned by the positive reception he received at the gathering.&#160;</p>
<p>Later the same year, an influential Ugandan Assemblies of God pastor named Stephen&#160;Langa&#160;invited Lively and his wife, Anne, back to Kampala for a barnstorming tour. Lively met with lawmakers, lectured at universities, and gave a number of media interviews. He and&#160;Langa&#160;also hosted an all-day conference with local pastors. The event was closed to the media and the public, but Lively later recalled that the pastors who attended were “very grateful” for his insights “about the way in which America was brought low by homosexual activism.”</p>
<p>Following the trip, Lively kept in contact with&#160;Langa, whom he calls his “ministry partner,” and another influential&#160;Ugandan pastor named Martin&#160;Ssempa. Both men would ultimately be at the vanguard of Uganda’s anti-gay crackdown.</p>
<p>In early&#160;March 2009, Lively returned to Uganda at&#160;Langa’s&#160;invitation. Uganda’s High Court had recently found that the government overstepped its authority by detaining&#160;two gay activists simply because they were gay. In response, a&#160;Langa-run&#160;group called the Family Life Network planned a three-day conference to expose what he called the “hidden and dark” gay agenda. On the last day, Lively gave a marathon five-hour presentation, which was broadcast on Ugandan television. He claimed that homosexuals were aggressively recruiting Uganda’s children and argued that human rights protections shouldn’t be extended to these “predatory” figures.</p>
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<p>Lively also told attendees—among them Ugandan cabinet members—that the gay movement was an “evil institution” that sought to “defeat the marriage-based society” and crush anyone who stood up to its nefarious agenda. At one point, he scrawled “Causes and Types of Homosexual Dysfunction” across the top of a white board and, beneath this, drew a continuum with what he claimed were the various types of gay men. On one extreme sat the transsexuals and transvestites; on the other were what Lively called the “super machos” and “monsters.” “The Nazis were super machos,” he said. “You also see them in prisons…brutish, brutish, animalistic, men that want to hurt other people…men having sex with boys and other men, usually in some sort of aggressive way.” &#160;</p>
<p>Moving on to “the monsters,” Lively continued, “They are so far from normalcy that they’re killers. They’re serial killers, mass murderers. They’re sociopaths. There’s no mercy at all, there’s no nurturing, no caring about anybody else…This is the kind of person it takes to run a gas chamber. ” He added that the genocide in neighboring Rwanda “probably involved these guys.” &#160;</p>
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<p>Lively also likened homosexuality to a disease, and suggested that if Uganda didn’t “actively discourage” same-sex relations, the nation’s children might soon be throwing orgies and performing oral sex on school buses. “That’s what happens when the immune system becomes overwhelmed. The body begins to suffer, disintegrate,” he said. “We need public policy that discourages homosexuality.”</p>
<p>According to&#160;Kapya&#160;Kaoma, an Anglican priest from Zambia who attended the conference as part of an investigation for the liberal think tank Political Research Associates, Lively’s remarks landed like a bombshell. “These people had never heard of anything called the gay agenda,” he recalls. “But Lively told them that these predators were coming for their children. As Africans hearing it for the first time, they believed it was true—and they were burning with rage.”</p>
<p>During his Ugandan trip, Lively also addressed more than 50 members of parliament. The following week, Langa’s Family Life Network convened a follow-up seminar. As attendees filtered into the meeting room, they passed a table stacked with Lively’s writings and&#160;DVDs of his conference speech. The purpose of the gathering, the moderator explained, was to review the lessons from the&#160;conference and “come up with a way forward.” He asked attendees to share their recollections from the previous week’s event. A stocky young man in a purple Oxford stood up. “The man of God told us about the origin of all this,” he recalled, according to video footage&#160;provided by Political Research Associates. “He said there is a movement that is behind the promotion of homosexuality,&#160;and it’s called ‘gay movement.’ He told us it is more serious than we&#160;have ever thought. For me, I have never heard of that. But then I got to know that there is a force behind homosexuality that we need to attack also with force.” This was followed by a flurry of incendiary claims, many of them inspired by Lively’s speech.</p>
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<p>By the time Langa took the stage, about an hour into the proceedings, the crowd was in a frenzy. The Ugandan pastor held up a copy of The Pink Swastika, and rehashed Lively’s inflammatory theories. In a crude variation on Lively’s take on the history of the gay movement, he claimed the first gay-rights organization in the United States was founded by&#160;German-American soldier&#160;named Henry Gerber, who had been stationed in pre-Nazi Germany and later became a child molester. (In reality, there is no evidence that Gerber had inappropriate relations with children).</p>
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<p>Langa’s speech only fed the public’s rage, and audience members rose to their feet to demand government action. Eventually, the director of research for Uganda’s parliament, Charles Tuhaise, took the floor. He argued that the problem was the nation’s&#160;colonial-era anti-homosexuality laws, which made it difficult to punish gay activists. “It does not define its terms. It is totally vague and ineffective,” he explained. Tuhaise opined that parliament needed to “draft a new law that comprehensively deals with this issue—the gay agenda as we have seen it.”</p>
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<p>Shortly after the meeting, attendees marched down to parliament and petitioned lawmakers to stiffen punishment for homosexuality. By late April 2009, the first d <a href="http://www.boxturtlebulletin.com/2009/09/15/14708" type="external">raft</a> of Uganda’s anti-gay bill, authored partly by longtime Lively associate Martin Ssempa, was circulating. Its preamble echoed Lively’s arguments about the threats gays supposedly pose to society. (“Research indicates that homosexuality has a variety of negative consequences including higher incidences of violence, sexually transmitted diseases, and use of drugs…”) The bill made homosexuality punishable by life in prison, and it created a new category of offense, “aggravated homosexuality,” for repeat offenses or cases when one partner is underage or HIV positive. This was punishable by death.</p>
<p>Lively claims that he never called for such harsh punishments. When Ssempa consulted him on an early draft of the legislation, he says he suggested softening the penalties and adding a provision to encourage “rehabilitation.” But by this time, the animosity he helped plant had apparently taken on a life of its own. According to correspondence that Lively reprinted&#160;on his website, the Ugandan parliament rebuffed his suggestions, based largely on his own arguments about the dangers of homosexuality. “I admire the courage of my friend Dr. Lively, because he has stood up to homosexual intimidation for so long as a lone voice,” Tuhaise, the Ugandan parliament’s research director, wrote in a letter to Ssempa. But, he argued, Uganda needed the harshest possible deterrents to prevent Western gay activists from indoctrinating children and dominating the “whole culture.”</p>
<p>While Uganda’s parliament ultimately stripped out the death penalty, it also added harsh new provisions. Under the version of the bill that would eventually be signed into law, even touching someone of the same sex with romantic intent was a crime punishable by life in prison in certain cases. Renting a room to a homosexual or “aiding and abetting” him in any form could land a person in prison for seven years. Some US religious conservatives, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/03/world/africa/03uganda.html?_r=0" type="external">including Lou Engle of The Call</a>, initially appeared to laud the legislation. But most reversed course and came out against it after the deafening international outcry. Lively continued to voice tepid support. When asked by a reporter in 2010 if he would support the bill minus the&#160;death penalty, he replied: “I would not have written the bill this way. But what it comes down to is a question of lesser of two evils…I think the lesser of two evils is for the bill to go through.”</p>
<p>As the bill inched toward passage, the situation for gay Ugandans deteriorated. Newspapers printed the names, addresses, and photos of suspected homosexuals, triggering a wave of vigilante violence. In January 2011, Sexual Minorities Uganda’s founder David Kato was <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/28/world/africa/28uganda.html?_r=0" type="external">beaten to death with a hammer</a>, after his picture was splashed across the front of a Kampala tabloid, under the headline “Hang Them.” The group issued a statement blaming the murder on “hatred planted in Uganda by U.S. evangelicals in 2009.” Lively has dismissed these allegations and offered his own theory about the motive behind the murder, namely that Kato “was killed by a ‘gay’ lover, as was the case with another homosexual activist…Carlos Castro was castrated with a corkscrew by his boyfriend and bled to death in his hotel room.”</p>
<p>A similar pattern has played out in other countries where Lively has promoted anti-gay legislation. In 2006, he teamed up with a politically connected Latvian pastor,&#160;Alexey&#160;Ledyaev, to form an international anti-gay organization called Watchmen on the Walls, which the Southern Poverty Law Center has dubbed a hate group.&#160;(For more on Watchmen, see&#160; <a href="http://www.boxturtlebulletin.com/" type="external">Box Turtle Bulletin</a>).&#160;That summer, Lively traveled to Latvia, where he lectured at universities, met with lawmakers, and preached at&#160;Ledyaev’s&#160;New Generation church. As in Uganda, Lively claimed that Western activists—in this case backed by the European Union—were trying to infiltrate Latvian society and spread homosexuality, especially to children. In one case, he went as far as claiming&#160;that the gay rights movement was actually seeking the right “for adult men to have sex with boys.”</p>
<p>During his visit, Latvia’s First Party, which has deep ties to&#160;Ladyaev’s&#160;church, introduced legislation barring “homosexual propaganda.” (The bill initially failed, but it was recently reintroduced). That same summer, Latvia’s lone gay rights group,&#160;Mozaika, held the nation’s second gay-pride gathering. Hundreds of protestors—many of them wearing&#160; <a href="http://hetnorm.files.wordpress.com/2008/11/riga01.jpg" type="external">T-shirts from a New Generation spin-off called “No Pride”</a>—turned out to heckle them and pelt them with eggs and feces.</p>
<p>After Latvia, Lively embarked on a 50-city tour of Russia and former Soviet republics, sponsored by Ledyaev’s church, which had roughly 200 congregations and a regional TV channel. As Lively wound his way from the Baltics to Siberia, he pressed officials to outlaw the “ <a href="http://www.defendthefamily.com/pfrc/newsarchives.php?id=2225500" type="external">public advocacy of homosexuality</a>” and agitated against anti-discrimination laws.</p>
<p>Eight of the nine countries he visited eventually weighed nationwide bans on “homosexual propaganda,”&#160;and five—including Russia—either have bills pending or have passed them into law. Lively takes partial credit for this development&#160;and calls Russia’s controversial gay propaganda ban his “proudest accomplishment.” Some mainstream family values organizations active in the region accuse Lively of exaggerating his clout. “The influence of Scott Lively in the Russian debate is a creation of his own imagination,” Allan Carlson, president of the World Congress of Families,&#160;barked&#160;when an activist asked him about Lively during a Capitol Hill press conference last fall. (For more on the World Congress of Families, see “ <a href="" type="internal">How US Evangelicals Helped Create Russia’s Anti-Gay Movement</a>.”)</p>
<p>But activists in several Eastern European countries that Lively visited say his influence has been considerable. “To this day, Latvian politicians are using his arguments about the secret gay agenda to homosexualize society and steal the children,” says Mozaika’s executive director, Kaspars Zalitis. “Most Latvians condemn homosexuality. We believe Lively and Ledyaev are one of the main reasons for this. Every gay person in the country knows Ledyaev’s rhetoric, which he borrowed from his American friend.”</p>
<p>As his inflammatory ideas bear fruit abroad, Lively has renewed his attention to the home front, where he’s campaigning for&#160; <a href="http://www.livelyforgovernor.com/" type="external">governor of Massachusetts</a>. He admits that it would “take a miracle from God” to land him in the governor’s mansion. “My purpose really is just to have a platform to articulate my views so people can hear them,” he explains. Lively has also partnered with another radical anti-gay crusader, Peter LaBarbera of Americans for Truth About Homosexuality, to create a new group called the Coalition for Family Values, which will work with organizations around the globe to push a hard-line anti-gay agenda. So far, Lively says, more than 75 organizations have signed on, including a few US heavyweights, such as the American Family Association.</p>
<p>At a press conference announcing the group’s formation late last month, Lively praised Russia for “providing much-needed leadership in restoring family values.” When a young gay Russian man, who wore as “Lively is Deadly” button, stood up to protest, Lively drowned him out. “Every time the pro-family people come forward to speak the truth from our perspective, we are interrupted by homo fascists,” he seethed, before summoning security to drag the protestor away.</p>
<p>The following week, Uganda’s president signed the nation’s draconian anti-gay bill into law, and the popular Ugandan tabloid&#160;Red Pepper&#160; <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-26338941" type="external">printed</a>&#160;names, photographs, and home addresses of 200 alleged homosexuals, touching off a new wave of anti-gay vigilantism. Ugandan gay activists say&#160;attacks and&#160;harassment?&#160;are becoming commonplace, with religious leaders in the Kampala suburbs calling for gays to be burned and beaten&#160;over public address systems. But Lively remains unrepentant. “The gay movement has really brought this on themselves,” he&#160; <a href="http://www.npr.org/2014/02/27/283456094/uganda-punishing-gays-sodomy-is-not-a-human-right-says-evangelical-leader" type="external">told NPR</a>&#160;during a recent interview.&#160;“You know, white male homosexuals from the United States and Europe going into these African countries because the age of consent laws are low and able to take these, you know, young, teenage boys and turn them into rent boys for the price of a bicycle…When you’re taking these boys and messing with them in a culture like Uganda…they’re just asking for trouble.”</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">Click here to read Scott Lively’s response.</a></p>
<p /> | Meet the American Pastor Behind Uganda’s Anti-Gay Crackdown | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2014/03/scott-lively-anti-gay-law-uganda/ | 2014-03-10 | 4left
| Meet the American Pastor Behind Uganda’s Anti-Gay Crackdown
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<p>In late February, when Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni signed the nation’s harsh new anti-gay bill into law, <a href="http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/Museveni-s-Anti-Homosexuality-speech/-/688334/2219956/-/vinrt7/-/index.html" type="external">he claimed</a> the measure had been “provoked by arrogant and careless western groups that are fond of coming into our schools and recruiting young children into homosexuality.” What he failed to mention is that&#160;the legislation—which makes homosexuality a crime punishable by life in prison in some cases—was itself largely due to Western interlopers, chief among them a radical American pastor named Scott Lively.</p>
<p>Lively, a 56-year-old Massachusetts native, specializes in&#160;stirring up anti-gay feeling around the globe. In Uganda, which he first visited in&#160;2002, he has cultivated&#160;ties to influential politicians and religious leaders at the forefront of the nation’s anti-gay crusade. Just before the first draft of Uganda’s anti-gay bill began circulating in April 2009, Lively traveled to Kampala and gave&#160;lengthy presentations to members of Uganda’s parliament and cabinet, which&#160;laid out the argument that the nation’s president and lawmakers&#160;would later use to justify Uganda’s&#160;draconian anti-gay crackdown—namely that Western agitators were trying to unravel Uganda’s social fabric by spreading “the disease” of homosexuality to children. “They’re looking for other people to be able to prey upon,” Lively said, according to video footage. “When they see a child that’s from a broken home it’s like they have a flashing neon sign over their head.”</p>
<p>Lively is not the only US evangelical who has fanned the flames of anti-gay sentiment in Uganda. As they lose ground at home, where public opinion and law are rapidly shifting in favor of gay equality, religious conservatives have increasingly turned their attention to Africa. And Uganda, with its large Christian population, has been particularly fertile ground for their crusade. Journalist&#160;(and past&#160;Mother Jones&#160;contributor)&#160;Jeff&#160;Sharlet&#160; <a href="http://jeffsharlet.com/content/about-the-family/" type="external">has reported at length on the Family</a>, a politically connected US-based ministry, which promotes hard-line social policies in the East African nation.</p>
<p>But, according to Ugandan gay rights activists, Lively has played an unparalleled&#160;role in fostering the climate of hate that gave rise to Uganda’s anti-gay law. “The bill is essentially his creation,” says Frank&#160;Mugisha, director of Sexual Minorities Uganda, a coalition of gay rights organizations.&#160;Mugisha’s&#160;group&#160;has filed a first-of-its-kind&#160; <a href="http://ccrjustice.org/ourcases/current-cases/sexual-minorities-uganda-v.-lively" type="external">lawsuit</a>&#160;in US federal court, accusing Lively of international crimes against humanity on the grounds that he and his Ugandan allies allegedly conspired to deprive gay Ugandans of basic human rights.</p>
<p>Lively, who is currently running for&#160; <a href="http://www.livelyforgovernor.com/" type="external">governor of Massachusetts</a>&#160;as an independent, calls the allegations “ridiculous.” “Basically, a Marxist law firm in New York City is trying to shut me up because I speak very articulately about the pro-family issues,” he says. But video obtained by&#160;Mother Jones—including footage of Lively’s 2009 presentation and a little-known follow-up meeting where influential Ugandans resolved to petition parliament for a harsh new law against homosexuality—lends credence to the allegations that Lively’s fierce message paved the way for the nation’s anti-gay crackdown.</p>
<p>Lively has an unusual history for a family-values crusader. A former alcoholic, he spent his late teens and&#160;20s&#160;drifting around the country, occasionally sleeping under bridges and begging for spare change. After finding&#160;God in a Portland, Oregon, treatment center in the&#160;mid-1980s, he joined a conservative evangelical church and took a job as&#160;communications director for&#160;the Oregon Citizens Alliance, which was loosely affiliated with the then powerful Christian Coalition and was deploying radical tactics to fight abortion and the gay rights movement. In 1992,&#160;OCA&#160;introduced a ballot initiative with the first faint outlines of the legislative strategy Lively would later deploy abroad. Measure 9, as it was known, barred the state government from offering any “special rights” to gays or “promoting” homosexuality. It also required public schools to treat “homosexuality, pedophilia, sadism” as&#160;“abnormal, wrong, unnatural, and perverse.” &#160;</p>
<p>The backlash was fierce. Opponents likened Lively and his colleagues to Nazis and lobbed bricks wrapped in swastika flags through the windows of businesses supporting the measure.&#160;OCA’s&#160;aggressive campaign, likening gays to pedophiles, was also blamed for a steep uptick in gay hate crimes. In the end, Measure 9 was defeated by a 13-point margin. Undeterred,&#160;OCA&#160;began promoting measures barring special protections for homosexuals on the city and county levels. Lively, who bristled at the Nazi comparisons, also threw himself into studying the Third Reich and eventually grew convinced that gay men—some of whom occupied senior posts in the Nazi regime—were the driving force behind the Holocaust. “Everything that we think about when we think about Nazis actually comes from the minds and perverted ideas of homosexuals,” he told an Oregon public access television station in 1994.&#160;OCA&#160;also began deploying messages reminiscent of Nazi propaganda. One&#160;OCA-published&#160;cartoon resembled the infamous Nazi caricature showing a Jew manipulating the strings of government and economy. As Deborah&#160;Geis&#160;and&#160;‎Steven&#160;Kruger observed in their 1997 book&#160;Approaching the Millennium,&#160;the group&#160;had merely replaced “the stooped, hooked-nose puppeteer with a fresh-faced gym boy.”</p>
<p>These tactics paid off:&#160;OCA&#160;managed to push through more than two dozen county and municipal ordinances. While the Oregon Legislature later rendered them unenforceable,&#160;OCA’s&#160;efforts kept the issue on the conservative agenda and showed the grassroots appeal of the group’s message. In 1994, the organization sponsored another statewide ballot initiative similar to Measure 9. It was defeated, too, but only by a 3-point margin.</p>
<p>After his bare-knuckled legislative battles in Oregon, Lively retreated to California, where he earned a law degree and a Ph.D. in theology. He also became a prolific author. In 1995, he&#160;coauthored&#160;what would become his signature book,&#160; <a href="http://www.defendthefamily.com/pfrc/books/pinkswastika/" type="external">The Pink Swastika: Homosexuality in the Nazi Party</a>. It argued that gay elements in the Nazi regime tried to wipe out the Jews because their religion condemned homosexuality. And it claimed that gays intentionally spread immorality and corruption so others were “less likely to oppose homosexuality on moral grounds.” Pornography, according to this theory, is a “tool of ‘gay’ social engineering.” The rising rates of divorce, substance abuse, disease, and violent crime, are all a “direct consequence of embracing the ‘gay’ ethic.” In subsequent books, Lively&#160;laid out detailed tactics for battling this menace—including stressing the supposed danger homosexuality poses to young people. “Public sympathy for ‘gays’ as victims is not grounded in logic, but in emotion,” he wrote. “An effective strategy is to emphasize the issue of homosexual recruitment of children…”</p>
<p>Lively’s ideas have proven too radical for the mainstream family values movement, but they’ve gotten some traction on the far right. Bryan Fischer, director of issues analysis for the influential American Family Association, regularly parrots his arguments linking gays to Nazis. (“Homosexuality gave us Adolph Hitler,” he opined&#160; <a href="http://www.afa.net/blogs/blogpost.aspx?id=2147494882" type="external">in a 2010 post</a>&#160;on the organization’s website, “and homosexuals in the military gave us the Brown Shirts, the Nazi war machine and six million dead Jews.”) Lively’s&#160;theories have also&#160;gained&#160;currency in foreign countries, including former Soviet republics, where he has helped&#160;advance anti-gay legislation. But nowhere has his influence been more keenly felt than in Uganda. During his first visit there in 2002, he spoke at an anti-pornography conference and warned participants that Western cultural Marxists, backed by liberals (such as George Soros), were trying to erode Uganda’s independence by attacking family values—a message that played on lingering colonial-era resentments. One of their core tactics, Lively argued, was deploying homosexuals to infiltrate Ugandan society. “The cultural Marxists go into these countries, they buy media and they set up these street activist organizations to recruit,” Lively tells me. “I said, ‘Okay, this is what’s going on here. The way to respond to that is to focus on affirming family values—and discouraging the alternatives.'” Lively, who was used to being heckled, was stunned by the positive reception he received at the gathering.&#160;</p>
<p>Later the same year, an influential Ugandan Assemblies of God pastor named Stephen&#160;Langa&#160;invited Lively and his wife, Anne, back to Kampala for a barnstorming tour. Lively met with lawmakers, lectured at universities, and gave a number of media interviews. He and&#160;Langa&#160;also hosted an all-day conference with local pastors. The event was closed to the media and the public, but Lively later recalled that the pastors who attended were “very grateful” for his insights “about the way in which America was brought low by homosexual activism.”</p>
<p>Following the trip, Lively kept in contact with&#160;Langa, whom he calls his “ministry partner,” and another influential&#160;Ugandan pastor named Martin&#160;Ssempa. Both men would ultimately be at the vanguard of Uganda’s anti-gay crackdown.</p>
<p>In early&#160;March 2009, Lively returned to Uganda at&#160;Langa’s&#160;invitation. Uganda’s High Court had recently found that the government overstepped its authority by detaining&#160;two gay activists simply because they were gay. In response, a&#160;Langa-run&#160;group called the Family Life Network planned a three-day conference to expose what he called the “hidden and dark” gay agenda. On the last day, Lively gave a marathon five-hour presentation, which was broadcast on Ugandan television. He claimed that homosexuals were aggressively recruiting Uganda’s children and argued that human rights protections shouldn’t be extended to these “predatory” figures.</p>
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<p>Lively also told attendees—among them Ugandan cabinet members—that the gay movement was an “evil institution” that sought to “defeat the marriage-based society” and crush anyone who stood up to its nefarious agenda. At one point, he scrawled “Causes and Types of Homosexual Dysfunction” across the top of a white board and, beneath this, drew a continuum with what he claimed were the various types of gay men. On one extreme sat the transsexuals and transvestites; on the other were what Lively called the “super machos” and “monsters.” “The Nazis were super machos,” he said. “You also see them in prisons…brutish, brutish, animalistic, men that want to hurt other people…men having sex with boys and other men, usually in some sort of aggressive way.” &#160;</p>
<p>Moving on to “the monsters,” Lively continued, “They are so far from normalcy that they’re killers. They’re serial killers, mass murderers. They’re sociopaths. There’s no mercy at all, there’s no nurturing, no caring about anybody else…This is the kind of person it takes to run a gas chamber. ” He added that the genocide in neighboring Rwanda “probably involved these guys.” &#160;</p>
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<p>Lively also likened homosexuality to a disease, and suggested that if Uganda didn’t “actively discourage” same-sex relations, the nation’s children might soon be throwing orgies and performing oral sex on school buses. “That’s what happens when the immune system becomes overwhelmed. The body begins to suffer, disintegrate,” he said. “We need public policy that discourages homosexuality.”</p>
<p>According to&#160;Kapya&#160;Kaoma, an Anglican priest from Zambia who attended the conference as part of an investigation for the liberal think tank Political Research Associates, Lively’s remarks landed like a bombshell. “These people had never heard of anything called the gay agenda,” he recalls. “But Lively told them that these predators were coming for their children. As Africans hearing it for the first time, they believed it was true—and they were burning with rage.”</p>
<p>During his Ugandan trip, Lively also addressed more than 50 members of parliament. The following week, Langa’s Family Life Network convened a follow-up seminar. As attendees filtered into the meeting room, they passed a table stacked with Lively’s writings and&#160;DVDs of his conference speech. The purpose of the gathering, the moderator explained, was to review the lessons from the&#160;conference and “come up with a way forward.” He asked attendees to share their recollections from the previous week’s event. A stocky young man in a purple Oxford stood up. “The man of God told us about the origin of all this,” he recalled, according to video footage&#160;provided by Political Research Associates. “He said there is a movement that is behind the promotion of homosexuality,&#160;and it’s called ‘gay movement.’ He told us it is more serious than we&#160;have ever thought. For me, I have never heard of that. But then I got to know that there is a force behind homosexuality that we need to attack also with force.” This was followed by a flurry of incendiary claims, many of them inspired by Lively’s speech.</p>
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<p>By the time Langa took the stage, about an hour into the proceedings, the crowd was in a frenzy. The Ugandan pastor held up a copy of The Pink Swastika, and rehashed Lively’s inflammatory theories. In a crude variation on Lively’s take on the history of the gay movement, he claimed the first gay-rights organization in the United States was founded by&#160;German-American soldier&#160;named Henry Gerber, who had been stationed in pre-Nazi Germany and later became a child molester. (In reality, there is no evidence that Gerber had inappropriate relations with children).</p>
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<p>Langa’s speech only fed the public’s rage, and audience members rose to their feet to demand government action. Eventually, the director of research for Uganda’s parliament, Charles Tuhaise, took the floor. He argued that the problem was the nation’s&#160;colonial-era anti-homosexuality laws, which made it difficult to punish gay activists. “It does not define its terms. It is totally vague and ineffective,” he explained. Tuhaise opined that parliament needed to “draft a new law that comprehensively deals with this issue—the gay agenda as we have seen it.”</p>
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<p>Shortly after the meeting, attendees marched down to parliament and petitioned lawmakers to stiffen punishment for homosexuality. By late April 2009, the first d <a href="http://www.boxturtlebulletin.com/2009/09/15/14708" type="external">raft</a> of Uganda’s anti-gay bill, authored partly by longtime Lively associate Martin Ssempa, was circulating. Its preamble echoed Lively’s arguments about the threats gays supposedly pose to society. (“Research indicates that homosexuality has a variety of negative consequences including higher incidences of violence, sexually transmitted diseases, and use of drugs…”) The bill made homosexuality punishable by life in prison, and it created a new category of offense, “aggravated homosexuality,” for repeat offenses or cases when one partner is underage or HIV positive. This was punishable by death.</p>
<p>Lively claims that he never called for such harsh punishments. When Ssempa consulted him on an early draft of the legislation, he says he suggested softening the penalties and adding a provision to encourage “rehabilitation.” But by this time, the animosity he helped plant had apparently taken on a life of its own. According to correspondence that Lively reprinted&#160;on his website, the Ugandan parliament rebuffed his suggestions, based largely on his own arguments about the dangers of homosexuality. “I admire the courage of my friend Dr. Lively, because he has stood up to homosexual intimidation for so long as a lone voice,” Tuhaise, the Ugandan parliament’s research director, wrote in a letter to Ssempa. But, he argued, Uganda needed the harshest possible deterrents to prevent Western gay activists from indoctrinating children and dominating the “whole culture.”</p>
<p>While Uganda’s parliament ultimately stripped out the death penalty, it also added harsh new provisions. Under the version of the bill that would eventually be signed into law, even touching someone of the same sex with romantic intent was a crime punishable by life in prison in certain cases. Renting a room to a homosexual or “aiding and abetting” him in any form could land a person in prison for seven years. Some US religious conservatives, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/03/world/africa/03uganda.html?_r=0" type="external">including Lou Engle of The Call</a>, initially appeared to laud the legislation. But most reversed course and came out against it after the deafening international outcry. Lively continued to voice tepid support. When asked by a reporter in 2010 if he would support the bill minus the&#160;death penalty, he replied: “I would not have written the bill this way. But what it comes down to is a question of lesser of two evils…I think the lesser of two evils is for the bill to go through.”</p>
<p>As the bill inched toward passage, the situation for gay Ugandans deteriorated. Newspapers printed the names, addresses, and photos of suspected homosexuals, triggering a wave of vigilante violence. In January 2011, Sexual Minorities Uganda’s founder David Kato was <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/28/world/africa/28uganda.html?_r=0" type="external">beaten to death with a hammer</a>, after his picture was splashed across the front of a Kampala tabloid, under the headline “Hang Them.” The group issued a statement blaming the murder on “hatred planted in Uganda by U.S. evangelicals in 2009.” Lively has dismissed these allegations and offered his own theory about the motive behind the murder, namely that Kato “was killed by a ‘gay’ lover, as was the case with another homosexual activist…Carlos Castro was castrated with a corkscrew by his boyfriend and bled to death in his hotel room.”</p>
<p>A similar pattern has played out in other countries where Lively has promoted anti-gay legislation. In 2006, he teamed up with a politically connected Latvian pastor,&#160;Alexey&#160;Ledyaev, to form an international anti-gay organization called Watchmen on the Walls, which the Southern Poverty Law Center has dubbed a hate group.&#160;(For more on Watchmen, see&#160; <a href="http://www.boxturtlebulletin.com/" type="external">Box Turtle Bulletin</a>).&#160;That summer, Lively traveled to Latvia, where he lectured at universities, met with lawmakers, and preached at&#160;Ledyaev’s&#160;New Generation church. As in Uganda, Lively claimed that Western activists—in this case backed by the European Union—were trying to infiltrate Latvian society and spread homosexuality, especially to children. In one case, he went as far as claiming&#160;that the gay rights movement was actually seeking the right “for adult men to have sex with boys.”</p>
<p>During his visit, Latvia’s First Party, which has deep ties to&#160;Ladyaev’s&#160;church, introduced legislation barring “homosexual propaganda.” (The bill initially failed, but it was recently reintroduced). That same summer, Latvia’s lone gay rights group,&#160;Mozaika, held the nation’s second gay-pride gathering. Hundreds of protestors—many of them wearing&#160; <a href="http://hetnorm.files.wordpress.com/2008/11/riga01.jpg" type="external">T-shirts from a New Generation spin-off called “No Pride”</a>—turned out to heckle them and pelt them with eggs and feces.</p>
<p>After Latvia, Lively embarked on a 50-city tour of Russia and former Soviet republics, sponsored by Ledyaev’s church, which had roughly 200 congregations and a regional TV channel. As Lively wound his way from the Baltics to Siberia, he pressed officials to outlaw the “ <a href="http://www.defendthefamily.com/pfrc/newsarchives.php?id=2225500" type="external">public advocacy of homosexuality</a>” and agitated against anti-discrimination laws.</p>
<p>Eight of the nine countries he visited eventually weighed nationwide bans on “homosexual propaganda,”&#160;and five—including Russia—either have bills pending or have passed them into law. Lively takes partial credit for this development&#160;and calls Russia’s controversial gay propaganda ban his “proudest accomplishment.” Some mainstream family values organizations active in the region accuse Lively of exaggerating his clout. “The influence of Scott Lively in the Russian debate is a creation of his own imagination,” Allan Carlson, president of the World Congress of Families,&#160;barked&#160;when an activist asked him about Lively during a Capitol Hill press conference last fall. (For more on the World Congress of Families, see “ <a href="" type="internal">How US Evangelicals Helped Create Russia’s Anti-Gay Movement</a>.”)</p>
<p>But activists in several Eastern European countries that Lively visited say his influence has been considerable. “To this day, Latvian politicians are using his arguments about the secret gay agenda to homosexualize society and steal the children,” says Mozaika’s executive director, Kaspars Zalitis. “Most Latvians condemn homosexuality. We believe Lively and Ledyaev are one of the main reasons for this. Every gay person in the country knows Ledyaev’s rhetoric, which he borrowed from his American friend.”</p>
<p>As his inflammatory ideas bear fruit abroad, Lively has renewed his attention to the home front, where he’s campaigning for&#160; <a href="http://www.livelyforgovernor.com/" type="external">governor of Massachusetts</a>. He admits that it would “take a miracle from God” to land him in the governor’s mansion. “My purpose really is just to have a platform to articulate my views so people can hear them,” he explains. Lively has also partnered with another radical anti-gay crusader, Peter LaBarbera of Americans for Truth About Homosexuality, to create a new group called the Coalition for Family Values, which will work with organizations around the globe to push a hard-line anti-gay agenda. So far, Lively says, more than 75 organizations have signed on, including a few US heavyweights, such as the American Family Association.</p>
<p>At a press conference announcing the group’s formation late last month, Lively praised Russia for “providing much-needed leadership in restoring family values.” When a young gay Russian man, who wore as “Lively is Deadly” button, stood up to protest, Lively drowned him out. “Every time the pro-family people come forward to speak the truth from our perspective, we are interrupted by homo fascists,” he seethed, before summoning security to drag the protestor away.</p>
<p>The following week, Uganda’s president signed the nation’s draconian anti-gay bill into law, and the popular Ugandan tabloid&#160;Red Pepper&#160; <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-26338941" type="external">printed</a>&#160;names, photographs, and home addresses of 200 alleged homosexuals, touching off a new wave of anti-gay vigilantism. Ugandan gay activists say&#160;attacks and&#160;harassment?&#160;are becoming commonplace, with religious leaders in the Kampala suburbs calling for gays to be burned and beaten&#160;over public address systems. But Lively remains unrepentant. “The gay movement has really brought this on themselves,” he&#160; <a href="http://www.npr.org/2014/02/27/283456094/uganda-punishing-gays-sodomy-is-not-a-human-right-says-evangelical-leader" type="external">told NPR</a>&#160;during a recent interview.&#160;“You know, white male homosexuals from the United States and Europe going into these African countries because the age of consent laws are low and able to take these, you know, young, teenage boys and turn them into rent boys for the price of a bicycle…When you’re taking these boys and messing with them in a culture like Uganda…they’re just asking for trouble.”</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">Click here to read Scott Lively’s response.</a></p>
<p /> | 736 |
<p />
<p />
<p>A woman who spent six weeks in a coma is finally awake and speaking about her experience. Michelle Holguin, 53, was the victim of a hit and run by an oblivious driver in Deerfield Beach, Florida. Holguin was riding her bike home from work on July 15th when she was struck and dragged by a car for 100 feet. The driver escaped and images from the hospital just days after showed major injuries, bruises and tubes coming from her nose and mouth. Now, she is finally speaking out about her ordeal.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>Credit: 7News</p>
<p />
<p>Holguin describes the pain she feels after waking up six weeks later and points at her shoulder saying, "I have back pains. This is broken. There's something out here that's out of place." She says she doesn't remember anything after the moment she was hit, only that she had just woken up and been told what happened. Holguin held back tears as she describes the accident, "He was Facebooking or something, he was on his phone. He wasn't looking. He didn't even see himself hit me. And he just left me there to die - took off. So a lady found me - a nurse, and she knew me. They thought I was a tree or something in the street because he left me in the street, and a lot of stuff was broken. He really - he messed me up big time."</p>
<p />
<p>Police found surveillance footage showing the vehicle that struck her pulling into a gas station. The driver gets out to inspect the damage to his vehicle. Police tracked him down and 21-year-old Adrian Perez has charged with failure to remain at the scene of the accident involving serious injury. Holguin's attorney said that she has hundreds of thousands in medical expenses and she may not be able to work again.</p>
<p />
<p>Source: <a href="http://wsvn.com/news/local/sunrise-hit-and-run-victim-speaks-out-after-awaking-from-coma/" type="external">wsvn.com/news/local/sunrise-hit-and-run-victim-speaks-out-after-awaking-from-coma</a></p>
<p />
<p>On Twitter:</p>
<p><a href="https://twitter.com/ErvinProduction" type="external">@ErvinProduction</a></p>
<p>Tips? Info? Send me a message!</p> | Victim Of Hit-And-Run Wakes Up From 6-Week Coma To Tell Her Story | true | http://thegoldwater.com/news/7108-Victim-Of-Hit-And-Run-Wakes-Up-From-6-Week-Coma-To-Tell-Her-Story | 2017-08-25 | 0right
| Victim Of Hit-And-Run Wakes Up From 6-Week Coma To Tell Her Story
<p />
<p />
<p>A woman who spent six weeks in a coma is finally awake and speaking about her experience. Michelle Holguin, 53, was the victim of a hit and run by an oblivious driver in Deerfield Beach, Florida. Holguin was riding her bike home from work on July 15th when she was struck and dragged by a car for 100 feet. The driver escaped and images from the hospital just days after showed major injuries, bruises and tubes coming from her nose and mouth. Now, she is finally speaking out about her ordeal.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>Credit: 7News</p>
<p />
<p>Holguin describes the pain she feels after waking up six weeks later and points at her shoulder saying, "I have back pains. This is broken. There's something out here that's out of place." She says she doesn't remember anything after the moment she was hit, only that she had just woken up and been told what happened. Holguin held back tears as she describes the accident, "He was Facebooking or something, he was on his phone. He wasn't looking. He didn't even see himself hit me. And he just left me there to die - took off. So a lady found me - a nurse, and she knew me. They thought I was a tree or something in the street because he left me in the street, and a lot of stuff was broken. He really - he messed me up big time."</p>
<p />
<p>Police found surveillance footage showing the vehicle that struck her pulling into a gas station. The driver gets out to inspect the damage to his vehicle. Police tracked him down and 21-year-old Adrian Perez has charged with failure to remain at the scene of the accident involving serious injury. Holguin's attorney said that she has hundreds of thousands in medical expenses and she may not be able to work again.</p>
<p />
<p>Source: <a href="http://wsvn.com/news/local/sunrise-hit-and-run-victim-speaks-out-after-awaking-from-coma/" type="external">wsvn.com/news/local/sunrise-hit-and-run-victim-speaks-out-after-awaking-from-coma</a></p>
<p />
<p>On Twitter:</p>
<p><a href="https://twitter.com/ErvinProduction" type="external">@ErvinProduction</a></p>
<p>Tips? Info? Send me a message!</p> | 737 |
<p>It seems fairly obvious that Aleppo, one of Syria's largest cities where rebels, regime forces and recently, a Kurdish militia group ( <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/middle-east/syria/130426/syria-rebels-fsa-kurds-aleppo" type="external">as GlobalPost reported</a>) have clashed with each other, is not a stable or safe place to run a business.&#160;</p>
<p>And in fact, most factories in the once-business-friendly Aleppo have shut down operations. But through the destruction, death and economic turmoil, <a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-East/2013/0522/Iraq-s-demand-for-Hello-Kitty-keeps-one-Aleppo-factory-open-as-others-close-doors" type="external">The Christian Science Monitor has found</a> one factory whose owners decided to say: an embroidery factory that produces images of Hello Kitty and Mickey Mouse.&#160;</p>
<p>On the lower level of a multi-story building, young men and children have been working to embroider baby blankets featuring the two characters. &#160;</p>
<p>More from GlobalPost:&#160; <a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&amp;rct=j&amp;q=&amp;esrc=s&amp;source=web&amp;cd=3&amp;ved=0CE4QFjAC&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.globalpost.com%2Fphoto-galleries%2F5719710%2Finside-syria-airstrikes-terrorize-civilians-syria&amp;ei=uGSeUaeCFOWSiAL_oICIDQ&amp;usg=AFQjCNEc_kig7yr3Z6WlY4n-roTphJ9OQg&amp;sig2=slLsUHRYA46whBRtmDXbPw&amp;bvm=bv.47008514,d.cGE" type="external">Inside Syria: Airstrikes terrorize civilians in Syria</a></p>
<p>The owner of the embroidery factory lives in an area still under government control, so his former senior foreman now comes to opposition-controlled Aleppo to run the place. “This building has been hit with two mortar rounds, but they didn’t damage the factory,” he told The Monitor. “The lights went out and our machines stopped, but that was it.” Now, he says, they rely on a power generator.</p>
<p>The decision to keep the factory open stems from, what else, consumer demand. Despite the Japanese origins of the character, it' s a hit in the Middle East, and the majority of clients of this particular factory are Iraqi. &#160;"Hello Kitty is one of the most unique and interesting characters ever created," <a href="http://www.albawaba.com/news/sanrio-celebrates-35th-anniversary-hello-kitty" type="external">wrote Al Bawaba</a>, an online news site serving the Middle East and North Africa.&#160;</p>
<p>In addition to Japanese cartoons, Western cartoon characters have also long been known to be a hit overseas — even among people who aren't fans of Western culture. Hamas TV has regularly <a href="http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/the-islamist-mouseketeers-hamas-mickey-mouse-teaches-jihad-a-481940.html" type="external">come under fire</a>for using a Mickey Mouse-like character to attempt to teach children about subjects such as jihad.</p> | Hello Kitty factory remains open in Aleppo | false | https://pri.org/stories/2013-05-23/hello-kitty-factory-remains-open-aleppo | 2013-05-23 | 3left-center
| Hello Kitty factory remains open in Aleppo
<p>It seems fairly obvious that Aleppo, one of Syria's largest cities where rebels, regime forces and recently, a Kurdish militia group ( <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/middle-east/syria/130426/syria-rebels-fsa-kurds-aleppo" type="external">as GlobalPost reported</a>) have clashed with each other, is not a stable or safe place to run a business.&#160;</p>
<p>And in fact, most factories in the once-business-friendly Aleppo have shut down operations. But through the destruction, death and economic turmoil, <a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-East/2013/0522/Iraq-s-demand-for-Hello-Kitty-keeps-one-Aleppo-factory-open-as-others-close-doors" type="external">The Christian Science Monitor has found</a> one factory whose owners decided to say: an embroidery factory that produces images of Hello Kitty and Mickey Mouse.&#160;</p>
<p>On the lower level of a multi-story building, young men and children have been working to embroider baby blankets featuring the two characters. &#160;</p>
<p>More from GlobalPost:&#160; <a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&amp;rct=j&amp;q=&amp;esrc=s&amp;source=web&amp;cd=3&amp;ved=0CE4QFjAC&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.globalpost.com%2Fphoto-galleries%2F5719710%2Finside-syria-airstrikes-terrorize-civilians-syria&amp;ei=uGSeUaeCFOWSiAL_oICIDQ&amp;usg=AFQjCNEc_kig7yr3Z6WlY4n-roTphJ9OQg&amp;sig2=slLsUHRYA46whBRtmDXbPw&amp;bvm=bv.47008514,d.cGE" type="external">Inside Syria: Airstrikes terrorize civilians in Syria</a></p>
<p>The owner of the embroidery factory lives in an area still under government control, so his former senior foreman now comes to opposition-controlled Aleppo to run the place. “This building has been hit with two mortar rounds, but they didn’t damage the factory,” he told The Monitor. “The lights went out and our machines stopped, but that was it.” Now, he says, they rely on a power generator.</p>
<p>The decision to keep the factory open stems from, what else, consumer demand. Despite the Japanese origins of the character, it' s a hit in the Middle East, and the majority of clients of this particular factory are Iraqi. &#160;"Hello Kitty is one of the most unique and interesting characters ever created," <a href="http://www.albawaba.com/news/sanrio-celebrates-35th-anniversary-hello-kitty" type="external">wrote Al Bawaba</a>, an online news site serving the Middle East and North Africa.&#160;</p>
<p>In addition to Japanese cartoons, Western cartoon characters have also long been known to be a hit overseas — even among people who aren't fans of Western culture. Hamas TV has regularly <a href="http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/the-islamist-mouseketeers-hamas-mickey-mouse-teaches-jihad-a-481940.html" type="external">come under fire</a>for using a Mickey Mouse-like character to attempt to teach children about subjects such as jihad.</p> | 738 |
<p>Following the executive-level meeting held in New York on Tuesday, Rupert Murdoch’s media heavyweight News Corporation announced today it will split in two.</p>
<p>The new companies will house News Corp’s publishing business, with over 170 print newspapers, separate from entertainment media-focused holdings, which include broadcast and cable networks.</p>
<p>In a statement to employees today, Murdoch wrote:</p>
<p>I am extremely excited by this big change. It is a testimony to our entrepreneurial spirit and determination to educate, inspire and entertain millions of families across the globe.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/06/28/news-corporations-big-move-murdoch-informs-the-staff/?smid=tw-mediadecodernyt&amp;seid=auto" type="external">New York Times</a> has Murdoch’s full statement to employees and he is scheduled to appear on Fox Business News today at 10am EST.</p> | News Corp Confirms Split | false | https://ivn.us/2012/06/28/news-corp-confirms-split/ | 2012-06-28 | 2least
| News Corp Confirms Split
<p>Following the executive-level meeting held in New York on Tuesday, Rupert Murdoch’s media heavyweight News Corporation announced today it will split in two.</p>
<p>The new companies will house News Corp’s publishing business, with over 170 print newspapers, separate from entertainment media-focused holdings, which include broadcast and cable networks.</p>
<p>In a statement to employees today, Murdoch wrote:</p>
<p>I am extremely excited by this big change. It is a testimony to our entrepreneurial spirit and determination to educate, inspire and entertain millions of families across the globe.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/06/28/news-corporations-big-move-murdoch-informs-the-staff/?smid=tw-mediadecodernyt&amp;seid=auto" type="external">New York Times</a> has Murdoch’s full statement to employees and he is scheduled to appear on Fox Business News today at 10am EST.</p> | 739 |
<p>CONCORD, N.H. (AP) _ These Vermont lotteries were drawn Friday:</p>
<p>Gimme 5</p>
<p>21-22-24-28-37</p>
<p>(twenty-one, twenty-two, twenty-four, twenty-eight, thirty-seven)</p>
<p>Mega Millions</p>
<p>17-18-33-46-60, Mega Ball: 24, Megaplier: 4</p>
<p>(seventeen, eighteen, thirty-three, forty-six, sixty; Mega Ball: twenty-four; Megaplier: four)</p>
<p>Estimated jackpot: $45 million</p>
<p>Pick 3 Day</p>
<p>0-3-1</p>
<p>(zero, three, one)</p>
<p>Pick 3 Evening</p>
<p>7-7-6</p>
<p>(seven, seven, six)</p>
<p>Pick 4 Day</p>
<p>6-5-7-7</p>
<p>(six, five, seven, seven)</p>
<p>Pick 4 Evening</p>
<p>9-1-0-2</p>
<p>(nine, one, zero, two)</p>
<p>Powerball</p>
<p>Estimated jackpot: $50 million</p>
<p>CONCORD, N.H. (AP) _ These Vermont lotteries were drawn Friday:</p>
<p>Gimme 5</p>
<p>21-22-24-28-37</p>
<p>(twenty-one, twenty-two, twenty-four, twenty-eight, thirty-seven)</p>
<p>Mega Millions</p>
<p>17-18-33-46-60, Mega Ball: 24, Megaplier: 4</p>
<p>(seventeen, eighteen, thirty-three, forty-six, sixty; Mega Ball: twenty-four; Megaplier: four)</p>
<p>Estimated jackpot: $45 million</p>
<p>Pick 3 Day</p>
<p>0-3-1</p>
<p>(zero, three, one)</p>
<p>Pick 3 Evening</p>
<p>7-7-6</p>
<p>(seven, seven, six)</p>
<p>Pick 4 Day</p>
<p>6-5-7-7</p>
<p>(six, five, seven, seven)</p>
<p>Pick 4 Evening</p>
<p>9-1-0-2</p>
<p>(nine, one, zero, two)</p>
<p>Powerball</p>
<p>Estimated jackpot: $50 million</p> | VT Lottery | false | https://apnews.com/amp/e8c45e65fbf9475cad5f78564978f077 | 2018-01-13 | 2least
| VT Lottery
<p>CONCORD, N.H. (AP) _ These Vermont lotteries were drawn Friday:</p>
<p>Gimme 5</p>
<p>21-22-24-28-37</p>
<p>(twenty-one, twenty-two, twenty-four, twenty-eight, thirty-seven)</p>
<p>Mega Millions</p>
<p>17-18-33-46-60, Mega Ball: 24, Megaplier: 4</p>
<p>(seventeen, eighteen, thirty-three, forty-six, sixty; Mega Ball: twenty-four; Megaplier: four)</p>
<p>Estimated jackpot: $45 million</p>
<p>Pick 3 Day</p>
<p>0-3-1</p>
<p>(zero, three, one)</p>
<p>Pick 3 Evening</p>
<p>7-7-6</p>
<p>(seven, seven, six)</p>
<p>Pick 4 Day</p>
<p>6-5-7-7</p>
<p>(six, five, seven, seven)</p>
<p>Pick 4 Evening</p>
<p>9-1-0-2</p>
<p>(nine, one, zero, two)</p>
<p>Powerball</p>
<p>Estimated jackpot: $50 million</p>
<p>CONCORD, N.H. (AP) _ These Vermont lotteries were drawn Friday:</p>
<p>Gimme 5</p>
<p>21-22-24-28-37</p>
<p>(twenty-one, twenty-two, twenty-four, twenty-eight, thirty-seven)</p>
<p>Mega Millions</p>
<p>17-18-33-46-60, Mega Ball: 24, Megaplier: 4</p>
<p>(seventeen, eighteen, thirty-three, forty-six, sixty; Mega Ball: twenty-four; Megaplier: four)</p>
<p>Estimated jackpot: $45 million</p>
<p>Pick 3 Day</p>
<p>0-3-1</p>
<p>(zero, three, one)</p>
<p>Pick 3 Evening</p>
<p>7-7-6</p>
<p>(seven, seven, six)</p>
<p>Pick 4 Day</p>
<p>6-5-7-7</p>
<p>(six, five, seven, seven)</p>
<p>Pick 4 Evening</p>
<p>9-1-0-2</p>
<p>(nine, one, zero, two)</p>
<p>Powerball</p>
<p>Estimated jackpot: $50 million</p> | 740 |
<p>We've seen it in <a href="" type="internal">Canada</a>, and now its dripping into the United States.</p>
<p>Soon, in the liberal Mecca California, jail time will be on the table for those who do not fully capitulate to the Left's extreme gender ideology. In a proposed bill, it would become illegal to use the "wrong" gender pronouns of transgender senior citizens in long-term care facilities. Additionally, the proposal mandates such facilities to designate their bathrooms and showers by "gender identity," as opposed to biological sex.</p>
<p>There are no exceptions for religious care facilities.</p>
<p>"It shall be unlawful for a long-term care facility or facility staff to ... willfully and repeatedly fail to use a resident's preferred name or pronouns after being clearly informed of the preferred name or pronouns," reads SB 219, called "Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Long-Term Care Facility Resident's Bill of Rights."</p>
<p>"It imposes fines and jail time on any long-term care employee who refuses to use transgender pronouns. Fines for repeat offenders could be as high as $1,000 and a jail term of up to a year," <a href="http://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/us/2017/july/california-proposes-jail-time-for-using-the-wrong-pronoun-for-senior-transgenders" type="external">reports</a> CBN News.</p>
<p>The bill is sponsored by Equality California and penned by Senator Scott Wiener of San Francisco, notes CBN.</p>
<p>Opponents of the bill (or, people who've read the Constitution) are arguing that the compelled speech is an infringement on the First Amendment.</p>
<p>"How can you believe in free speech, but think the government can compel people to use certain pronouns when talking to others?" asks Greg Burt of California Family Council. "Compelled speech is not free speech. Can the government compel a newspaper to use certain pronouns that aren't even in the dictionary? Of course not, or is that coming next?"</p>
<p>"Those proposing this bill are saying, 'If you disagree with me about my view of gender, you are discriminating against me,'" he continued. "This is not tolerance. This is not love. This is not mutual respect. True tolerance tolerates people with different views. We need to treat each other with respect, but respect is a two-way street. It is not respectful to threaten people with punishment for having sincerely held beliefs that differ from your own."</p>
<p>In Canada, such Orwellian measures are already in place. If you refuse to use the pronouns which match a person's "gender identity," you could be found guilty of a "hate crime" and face massive fines and possible jail time.</p>
<p>Bill C-16 enshrines "gender expression" and "gender identity" into Canada's Human Rights Code and Criminal Code.</p>
<p>In New York City, thanks to Comrade de Blasio, citizens are opened up to <a href="" type="internal">massive fines</a> if they do not use an individual's pronouns of choice.</p>
<p>You will be made to care.</p> | California Proposes JAIL TIME For Using Wrong Gender Pronoun For Senior Citizens | true | https://dailywire.com/news/19899/california-proposes-jail-time-using-wrong-gender-amanda-prestigiacomo | 2017-08-18 | 0right
| California Proposes JAIL TIME For Using Wrong Gender Pronoun For Senior Citizens
<p>We've seen it in <a href="" type="internal">Canada</a>, and now its dripping into the United States.</p>
<p>Soon, in the liberal Mecca California, jail time will be on the table for those who do not fully capitulate to the Left's extreme gender ideology. In a proposed bill, it would become illegal to use the "wrong" gender pronouns of transgender senior citizens in long-term care facilities. Additionally, the proposal mandates such facilities to designate their bathrooms and showers by "gender identity," as opposed to biological sex.</p>
<p>There are no exceptions for religious care facilities.</p>
<p>"It shall be unlawful for a long-term care facility or facility staff to ... willfully and repeatedly fail to use a resident's preferred name or pronouns after being clearly informed of the preferred name or pronouns," reads SB 219, called "Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Long-Term Care Facility Resident's Bill of Rights."</p>
<p>"It imposes fines and jail time on any long-term care employee who refuses to use transgender pronouns. Fines for repeat offenders could be as high as $1,000 and a jail term of up to a year," <a href="http://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/us/2017/july/california-proposes-jail-time-for-using-the-wrong-pronoun-for-senior-transgenders" type="external">reports</a> CBN News.</p>
<p>The bill is sponsored by Equality California and penned by Senator Scott Wiener of San Francisco, notes CBN.</p>
<p>Opponents of the bill (or, people who've read the Constitution) are arguing that the compelled speech is an infringement on the First Amendment.</p>
<p>"How can you believe in free speech, but think the government can compel people to use certain pronouns when talking to others?" asks Greg Burt of California Family Council. "Compelled speech is not free speech. Can the government compel a newspaper to use certain pronouns that aren't even in the dictionary? Of course not, or is that coming next?"</p>
<p>"Those proposing this bill are saying, 'If you disagree with me about my view of gender, you are discriminating against me,'" he continued. "This is not tolerance. This is not love. This is not mutual respect. True tolerance tolerates people with different views. We need to treat each other with respect, but respect is a two-way street. It is not respectful to threaten people with punishment for having sincerely held beliefs that differ from your own."</p>
<p>In Canada, such Orwellian measures are already in place. If you refuse to use the pronouns which match a person's "gender identity," you could be found guilty of a "hate crime" and face massive fines and possible jail time.</p>
<p>Bill C-16 enshrines "gender expression" and "gender identity" into Canada's Human Rights Code and Criminal Code.</p>
<p>In New York City, thanks to Comrade de Blasio, citizens are opened up to <a href="" type="internal">massive fines</a> if they do not use an individual's pronouns of choice.</p>
<p>You will be made to care.</p> | 741 |
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>The Commerce Department said Wednesday that wholesale stockpiles rose just 0.1 percent in July from June. That followed a 0.3 percent decline in June.</p>
<p>Sales rose just 0.1 percent in July, the smallest gain since December. Still, that’s the fourth straight month that sales have risen.</p>
<p>Some economists had thought that wholesalers might ramp up their stockpiles in July after cutting them from April through July. The tiny increase could add to worries that the current July-September quarter is off to a weak start.</p>
<p>More restocking boosts factory production, driving overall economic growth.</p>
<p>The economy grew at a 2.5 percent annual rate in the April-June quarter. Restocking by all businesses added 0.6 percentage points to growth in the second quarter, although the gain was driven by retailers, manufacturers and farmers.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Many economists believe growth is slowing in the July-September quarter to an annual rate of 2.3 percent, although a handful of July data suggest the figure could be weaker. In addition to the sluggish restocking, businesses cut spending on long-lasting manufactured goods and new-home sales plunged.</p>
<p>Wholesale inventories are up 29.4 percent from the low point reached in September 2009, a period when businesses had been trimming stockpiles in the face of falling demand during the Great Recession.</p>
<p>For July, auto stockpiles rose 0.4 percent, furniture inventories increased 1 percent and machinery stockpiles rose 1.9 percent.</p>
<p>The July increase left stockpiles at $500 billion, or 2.2 percent higher from a year ago.</p> | US wholesale stockpiles rise 0.1 percent in July | false | https://abqjournal.com/261077/us-wholesale-stockpiles-rise-01-percent-in-july.html | 2013-09-11 | 2least
| US wholesale stockpiles rise 0.1 percent in July
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>The Commerce Department said Wednesday that wholesale stockpiles rose just 0.1 percent in July from June. That followed a 0.3 percent decline in June.</p>
<p>Sales rose just 0.1 percent in July, the smallest gain since December. Still, that’s the fourth straight month that sales have risen.</p>
<p>Some economists had thought that wholesalers might ramp up their stockpiles in July after cutting them from April through July. The tiny increase could add to worries that the current July-September quarter is off to a weak start.</p>
<p>More restocking boosts factory production, driving overall economic growth.</p>
<p>The economy grew at a 2.5 percent annual rate in the April-June quarter. Restocking by all businesses added 0.6 percentage points to growth in the second quarter, although the gain was driven by retailers, manufacturers and farmers.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Many economists believe growth is slowing in the July-September quarter to an annual rate of 2.3 percent, although a handful of July data suggest the figure could be weaker. In addition to the sluggish restocking, businesses cut spending on long-lasting manufactured goods and new-home sales plunged.</p>
<p>Wholesale inventories are up 29.4 percent from the low point reached in September 2009, a period when businesses had been trimming stockpiles in the face of falling demand during the Great Recession.</p>
<p>For July, auto stockpiles rose 0.4 percent, furniture inventories increased 1 percent and machinery stockpiles rose 1.9 percent.</p>
<p>The July increase left stockpiles at $500 billion, or 2.2 percent higher from a year ago.</p> | 742 |
<p>A Tennessee man and his family used much of the $187 million it collected for cancer patients to buy themselves cars, gym memberships and take luxury cruise vacations, pay for college tuition and employ family members with six-figure salaries, federal officials alleged Tuesday in one of the largest charity fraud cases ever, involving all 50 states.</p>
<p>The joint action by the Federal Trade Commission and the states says James T. Reynolds Sr., his ex-wife and son raised the money through their various charities: The Cancer Fund of America in Knoxville, Tennessee, and its affiliated Cancer Support Services; The Breast Cancer Society in Mesa, Arizona; and the Children's Cancer Fund of America in Powell, Tennessee.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>The charities hired telemarketers to collect $20 donations from people across the country, telling consumers that they provided financial aid and other support to cancer patients, including pain medication, transportation to chemotherapy visits and hospice care.</p>
<p>But little money made it to cancer patients, as the groups "operated as personal fiefdoms characterized by rampant nepotism, flagrant conflicts of interest, and excessive insider compensation" with none of the controls used by bona fide charities, the FTC said Tuesday.</p>
<p>Anyone who donated money to these groups shouldn't expect a refund anytime soon. While litigation against Reynolds Sr. and the Cancer Fund of America is ongoing, the settlement agreements with Reynolds' son, ex-wife and a long-time associate of the family - Kyle Effler - notes that much of the money has already been spent. The agreement bans the three from fundraising and shuttered their organizations.</p>
<p>"The money is mostly gone," said Jessica Rich, director of the FTC Bureau of Consumer Protection. Rich declined to say whether a separate criminal investigation might be underway, noting only that the regulatory agency doesn't have that authority.</p>
<p>None of the groups returned phone calls and emails asking for comment. Attempts to reach family members at home by telephone were unsuccessful.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>The Breast Cancer Society, which agreed to cease operations as part of the settlement agreement, posted a lengthy statement online Tuesday attributed to its executive director - Reynolds' son, James T. Reynolds II - that blamed increased government scrutiny for the charity's downfall.</p>
<p>"While the organization, its officers and directors have not been found guilty of any allegations of wrongdoing, and the government has not proven otherwise, our board of directors has decided that it does not help those who we seek to serve, and those who remain in need, for us to engage in a highly publicized, expensive, and distracting legal battle around our fundraising practices," according to the statement.</p>
<p>The Cancer Fund of America website previously identified Reynolds Sr. as its president and said he served in the U.S. Army Medical Corps for 12 years and attended Brigham Young University. The website went down Tuesday ahead of the FTC announcement.</p>
<p>Reynolds' ex-wife, Rose Perkins, ran the Children's Cancer Fund of America. That group's website also was taken down.</p>
<p>According to the complaint, the organizations hid their high administration costs from donors and regulators. The groups filed public financial documents saying they had taken in more than $223 million "gifts in kind," which would be distributed to international recipients. Investigators say that number was inflated and helped to create the illusion that the groups were being more efficient with donated money than they actually were. According to the FTC, 36 states alleged that the defendants filed "false and misleading" financial statements with state charities.</p>
<p>The settlement agreement imposed hefty judgments based on the amount of money donated to the charities between 2008 and 2012. But because of Perkins' "inability to pay," her $30 million judgment would be suspended entirely. The $65.5 million judgment against Reynolds II would be suspended after he pays $75,000.</p>
<p>Effler, former president of Cancer Support Services, faced a $41 million judgment that would be forgiven after paying $60,000.</p>
<p>Officials on Tuesday said that any money recouped under the settlements would go to state authorities, which will have the ability to distribute the money to legitimate charities. Officials cited complexities of the case to explain why the charities were allowed to continue operating even after media outlets flagged them as potentially fraudulent.</p>
<p>"I hope it serves as a strong warning for anyone trying to exploit the kindness and generosity of others," Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring said of the investigation.</p>
<p>The FTC recommends that when considering a donation, look for a long-standing charity with a good reputation and avoid any group that uses high-pressure tactics or is reluctant to provide detailed documentation on how the money is spent.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Follow Anne Flaherty on Twitter at https://twitter.com/annekflaherty</p> | Tennessee man, family raised $187M for cancer, then spent it on themselves | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2015/05/19/tennessee-man-family-raised-187m-for-cancer-then-spent-it-on-themselves.html | 2016-03-09 | 0right
| Tennessee man, family raised $187M for cancer, then spent it on themselves
<p>A Tennessee man and his family used much of the $187 million it collected for cancer patients to buy themselves cars, gym memberships and take luxury cruise vacations, pay for college tuition and employ family members with six-figure salaries, federal officials alleged Tuesday in one of the largest charity fraud cases ever, involving all 50 states.</p>
<p>The joint action by the Federal Trade Commission and the states says James T. Reynolds Sr., his ex-wife and son raised the money through their various charities: The Cancer Fund of America in Knoxville, Tennessee, and its affiliated Cancer Support Services; The Breast Cancer Society in Mesa, Arizona; and the Children's Cancer Fund of America in Powell, Tennessee.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>The charities hired telemarketers to collect $20 donations from people across the country, telling consumers that they provided financial aid and other support to cancer patients, including pain medication, transportation to chemotherapy visits and hospice care.</p>
<p>But little money made it to cancer patients, as the groups "operated as personal fiefdoms characterized by rampant nepotism, flagrant conflicts of interest, and excessive insider compensation" with none of the controls used by bona fide charities, the FTC said Tuesday.</p>
<p>Anyone who donated money to these groups shouldn't expect a refund anytime soon. While litigation against Reynolds Sr. and the Cancer Fund of America is ongoing, the settlement agreements with Reynolds' son, ex-wife and a long-time associate of the family - Kyle Effler - notes that much of the money has already been spent. The agreement bans the three from fundraising and shuttered their organizations.</p>
<p>"The money is mostly gone," said Jessica Rich, director of the FTC Bureau of Consumer Protection. Rich declined to say whether a separate criminal investigation might be underway, noting only that the regulatory agency doesn't have that authority.</p>
<p>None of the groups returned phone calls and emails asking for comment. Attempts to reach family members at home by telephone were unsuccessful.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>The Breast Cancer Society, which agreed to cease operations as part of the settlement agreement, posted a lengthy statement online Tuesday attributed to its executive director - Reynolds' son, James T. Reynolds II - that blamed increased government scrutiny for the charity's downfall.</p>
<p>"While the organization, its officers and directors have not been found guilty of any allegations of wrongdoing, and the government has not proven otherwise, our board of directors has decided that it does not help those who we seek to serve, and those who remain in need, for us to engage in a highly publicized, expensive, and distracting legal battle around our fundraising practices," according to the statement.</p>
<p>The Cancer Fund of America website previously identified Reynolds Sr. as its president and said he served in the U.S. Army Medical Corps for 12 years and attended Brigham Young University. The website went down Tuesday ahead of the FTC announcement.</p>
<p>Reynolds' ex-wife, Rose Perkins, ran the Children's Cancer Fund of America. That group's website also was taken down.</p>
<p>According to the complaint, the organizations hid their high administration costs from donors and regulators. The groups filed public financial documents saying they had taken in more than $223 million "gifts in kind," which would be distributed to international recipients. Investigators say that number was inflated and helped to create the illusion that the groups were being more efficient with donated money than they actually were. According to the FTC, 36 states alleged that the defendants filed "false and misleading" financial statements with state charities.</p>
<p>The settlement agreement imposed hefty judgments based on the amount of money donated to the charities between 2008 and 2012. But because of Perkins' "inability to pay," her $30 million judgment would be suspended entirely. The $65.5 million judgment against Reynolds II would be suspended after he pays $75,000.</p>
<p>Effler, former president of Cancer Support Services, faced a $41 million judgment that would be forgiven after paying $60,000.</p>
<p>Officials on Tuesday said that any money recouped under the settlements would go to state authorities, which will have the ability to distribute the money to legitimate charities. Officials cited complexities of the case to explain why the charities were allowed to continue operating even after media outlets flagged them as potentially fraudulent.</p>
<p>"I hope it serves as a strong warning for anyone trying to exploit the kindness and generosity of others," Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring said of the investigation.</p>
<p>The FTC recommends that when considering a donation, look for a long-standing charity with a good reputation and avoid any group that uses high-pressure tactics or is reluctant to provide detailed documentation on how the money is spent.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Follow Anne Flaherty on Twitter at https://twitter.com/annekflaherty</p> | 743 |
<p>When this writer was 3 years old, the Empire of Japan devastated Battleship Row of the U.S. Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor.</p>
<p>Before I was 7, Gen. MacArthur was in an office in Tokyo overlooking the Imperial Palace, dictating to a shattered Japan.</p>
<p>In 1956, President Eisenhower, impressed by the autobahn he had seen in Hitler’s Reich, ordered a U.S. Interstate Highway System constructed, tying America together, one of the great public works projects in all history.</p>
<p />
<p>Within a decade, the system was on its way to completion.</p>
<p>In 1961, John F. Kennedy said the United States, beaten into space by Nikita Khrushchev’s Soviet Union, would put a man on the moon and return him to earth within the decade.</p>
<p>In July 1969, President Nixon, on the deck of the carrier Hornet, welcomed home Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins of Apollo 11.</p>
<p>What ever became of that America? What ever became of that can-do nation? What has happened to us?</p>
<p>This October saw the vaunted Center for Disease Control and Prevention fumbling over basic questions on how to protect Americans from an Ebola epidemic in three small countries of West Africa.</p>
<p>In September, an intruder with a knife climbed the White House fence, trotted across the North lawn, walked through the unlocked front door of the president’s house, barreled over a female officer, and ran around the East Room before being tackled by a Secret Service agent going off duty. The president had just departed.</p>
<p>Days earlier, an armed security guard in Atlanta with a violent criminal past was allowed by Secret Service to ride an elevator with Barack Obama.</p>
<p>Last summer came reports that 60,000 children and young people from Central America had walked across the border into the United States, overwhelming our Border Patrol.</p>
<p>Last spring, we learned that sick and suffering vets were deliberately made to wait months for appointments to see VA doctors, and dozens may have died during the wait.</p>
<p>Earlier, the rollout of Obamacare, years in preparation, became a national joke and a metaphor for government incompetence.</p>
<p>Under President Bush came Katrina, where 30,000 residents of New Orleans were stranded for days behind a pool of stagnant water after a hurricane. The city and state couldn’t handle it.</p>
<p>Yet, during five days in 1940, 350,000 British troops, besieged at Dunkirk, were rescued from across the Channel by their countrymen in boats and yachts under the guns of the Wehrmacht and Luftwaffe.</p>
<p>Such events have contributed to a collapse of confidence among Americans in the competency of their leaders and their government.</p>
<p>Large majorities now believe America is heading downhill, that the future will not be as good as the past, that we are going in the wrong direction. Malaise pervades the republic.</p>
<p>And there are larger reasons for these sentiments.</p>
<p>Our recent wars, in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya, all seem to have left them and us worse off. In fighting our new war in Iraq and Syria we have neither a credible strategy nor sufficient troops to prevail against the Islamic State.</p>
<p>Already, Americans are asking: Why is this our war?</p>
<p>Since the mid-1970s, the real wages of working Americans have stagnated as we have run uninterrupted trade deficits totaling more than $10 trillion. Under Obama the national debt has surpassed the Gross Domestic Product.</p>
<p>Our manufacturing base has been hollowed out with Detroit as Exhibit A. We outsource our future by borrowing from China to buy from China.</p>
<p>We borrow from Japan and Europe to defend Japan and Europe, though World War II has been over for 70 years.</p>
<p>FedEx tracks with precision millions of packages a day. But the U.S. government cannot locate and send back 12 million illegal aliens.</p>
<p>Thirty years after a Reagan amnesty that carried a commitment to secure our borders, Obama is preparing an executive amnesty for untold millions of illegals, as soon as the election is over. And still the borders are not secure.</p>
<p>If government is conceded a role in anything, it is in building roads, bridges, highways and airports, and in running public schools.</p>
<p>Yet our infrastructure is crumbling, U.S. children fall lower and lower in international competition, and the racial divide in academic performances has never closed, despite an investment of trillions in education over half a century. Even Joe Biden calls LaGuardia a “Third World” airport.</p>
<p>Many private institutions are succeeding splendidly. But our public institutions, save the military, seem to be broadly failing.</p>
<p>Congress is gridlocked. The president is seen as a dithering incompetent. The Supreme Court is polarized irreparably.</p>
<p>Our political, racial and cultural clashes, traceable to conflicts created by the revolutions of the 1960s, are daily magnified and exacerbated by cable TV, the Internet and social media.</p>
<p>“Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,” wrote the poet Yeats.</p>
<p>Clare Luce put is another way. In this world, she said, there are two kinds of people — optimists and pessimists. “The pessimists are better informed.”</p>
<p>Patrick J. Buchanan is the author of the new book “The Greatest Comeback: How Richard Nixon Rose From Defeat to Create the New Majority.”</p>
<p /> | Things fall apart | true | http://humanevents.com/2014/10/24/things-fall-apart/?utm_source%3Dhefbp%26utm_medium%3Dfbpage%26utm_campaign%3Dheupdate | 2014-10-24 | 0right
| Things fall apart
<p>When this writer was 3 years old, the Empire of Japan devastated Battleship Row of the U.S. Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor.</p>
<p>Before I was 7, Gen. MacArthur was in an office in Tokyo overlooking the Imperial Palace, dictating to a shattered Japan.</p>
<p>In 1956, President Eisenhower, impressed by the autobahn he had seen in Hitler’s Reich, ordered a U.S. Interstate Highway System constructed, tying America together, one of the great public works projects in all history.</p>
<p />
<p>Within a decade, the system was on its way to completion.</p>
<p>In 1961, John F. Kennedy said the United States, beaten into space by Nikita Khrushchev’s Soviet Union, would put a man on the moon and return him to earth within the decade.</p>
<p>In July 1969, President Nixon, on the deck of the carrier Hornet, welcomed home Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins of Apollo 11.</p>
<p>What ever became of that America? What ever became of that can-do nation? What has happened to us?</p>
<p>This October saw the vaunted Center for Disease Control and Prevention fumbling over basic questions on how to protect Americans from an Ebola epidemic in three small countries of West Africa.</p>
<p>In September, an intruder with a knife climbed the White House fence, trotted across the North lawn, walked through the unlocked front door of the president’s house, barreled over a female officer, and ran around the East Room before being tackled by a Secret Service agent going off duty. The president had just departed.</p>
<p>Days earlier, an armed security guard in Atlanta with a violent criminal past was allowed by Secret Service to ride an elevator with Barack Obama.</p>
<p>Last summer came reports that 60,000 children and young people from Central America had walked across the border into the United States, overwhelming our Border Patrol.</p>
<p>Last spring, we learned that sick and suffering vets were deliberately made to wait months for appointments to see VA doctors, and dozens may have died during the wait.</p>
<p>Earlier, the rollout of Obamacare, years in preparation, became a national joke and a metaphor for government incompetence.</p>
<p>Under President Bush came Katrina, where 30,000 residents of New Orleans were stranded for days behind a pool of stagnant water after a hurricane. The city and state couldn’t handle it.</p>
<p>Yet, during five days in 1940, 350,000 British troops, besieged at Dunkirk, were rescued from across the Channel by their countrymen in boats and yachts under the guns of the Wehrmacht and Luftwaffe.</p>
<p>Such events have contributed to a collapse of confidence among Americans in the competency of their leaders and their government.</p>
<p>Large majorities now believe America is heading downhill, that the future will not be as good as the past, that we are going in the wrong direction. Malaise pervades the republic.</p>
<p>And there are larger reasons for these sentiments.</p>
<p>Our recent wars, in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya, all seem to have left them and us worse off. In fighting our new war in Iraq and Syria we have neither a credible strategy nor sufficient troops to prevail against the Islamic State.</p>
<p>Already, Americans are asking: Why is this our war?</p>
<p>Since the mid-1970s, the real wages of working Americans have stagnated as we have run uninterrupted trade deficits totaling more than $10 trillion. Under Obama the national debt has surpassed the Gross Domestic Product.</p>
<p>Our manufacturing base has been hollowed out with Detroit as Exhibit A. We outsource our future by borrowing from China to buy from China.</p>
<p>We borrow from Japan and Europe to defend Japan and Europe, though World War II has been over for 70 years.</p>
<p>FedEx tracks with precision millions of packages a day. But the U.S. government cannot locate and send back 12 million illegal aliens.</p>
<p>Thirty years after a Reagan amnesty that carried a commitment to secure our borders, Obama is preparing an executive amnesty for untold millions of illegals, as soon as the election is over. And still the borders are not secure.</p>
<p>If government is conceded a role in anything, it is in building roads, bridges, highways and airports, and in running public schools.</p>
<p>Yet our infrastructure is crumbling, U.S. children fall lower and lower in international competition, and the racial divide in academic performances has never closed, despite an investment of trillions in education over half a century. Even Joe Biden calls LaGuardia a “Third World” airport.</p>
<p>Many private institutions are succeeding splendidly. But our public institutions, save the military, seem to be broadly failing.</p>
<p>Congress is gridlocked. The president is seen as a dithering incompetent. The Supreme Court is polarized irreparably.</p>
<p>Our political, racial and cultural clashes, traceable to conflicts created by the revolutions of the 1960s, are daily magnified and exacerbated by cable TV, the Internet and social media.</p>
<p>“Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,” wrote the poet Yeats.</p>
<p>Clare Luce put is another way. In this world, she said, there are two kinds of people — optimists and pessimists. “The pessimists are better informed.”</p>
<p>Patrick J. Buchanan is the author of the new book “The Greatest Comeback: How Richard Nixon Rose From Defeat to Create the New Majority.”</p>
<p /> | 744 |
<p>A homecoming queen on her way home from from her prom was killed by floodwaters in Devine, Texas, about 35 miles southwest of San Antonio.</p>
<p>Alyssa Ramirez, who was also a cheerleader who played tennis and volleyball, spent Saturday night at her prom and was driving home Sunday when floodwaters swept her car off the road, according to NBC affiliate WOAI and a funeral home.</p>
<p>There were no barricades on the road and Ramirez's car stalled out in the high water a few miles from her home, Roberta Ramirez, Alyssa's aunt, told the station.</p>
<p>"She did the right things," Roberta Ramirez said. "She called 911. She called her father, but it was just too much and too quick."</p>
<p>Alyssa Ramirez's parents went to search for her but to no avail, Roberta Ramirez said.</p>
<p>"They weren't able to find her until this morning," Roberta Ramirez told WOAI. "They [her parents] rest assured that she was a very strong believer and she has her place in Heaven and they'll meet her again soon."</p>
<p>An obituary provided by Hurley Funeral Home in Devine, Texas, read in part:</p>
<p>"Alyssa was the homecoming queen of Devine High School, as well as a star athlete in tennis and volleyball. She was student council President, cheerleader and co-editor of the high school yearbook. She was very friendly to all who crossed her path, loved her family, her friends and the town of Devine. She had aspirations of being an Optometrist. She will be sorely missed by all. The following excerpt is what she posted 9 days before she died:</p>
<p>'Faith grows through hardship. Faith does not grow in a garden of property, but in a desert of tribulation. Even though it is never pleasant to experience hardship, it teaches us to persevere and to cling to God. He will never desert us.'"</p> | Homecoming Queen Dies in Texas Floods On Way Home From Prom | false | http://nbcnews.com/news/us-news/homecoming-queen-dies-texas-floods-way-home-prom-n364341 | 2015-05-26 | 3left-center
| Homecoming Queen Dies in Texas Floods On Way Home From Prom
<p>A homecoming queen on her way home from from her prom was killed by floodwaters in Devine, Texas, about 35 miles southwest of San Antonio.</p>
<p>Alyssa Ramirez, who was also a cheerleader who played tennis and volleyball, spent Saturday night at her prom and was driving home Sunday when floodwaters swept her car off the road, according to NBC affiliate WOAI and a funeral home.</p>
<p>There were no barricades on the road and Ramirez's car stalled out in the high water a few miles from her home, Roberta Ramirez, Alyssa's aunt, told the station.</p>
<p>"She did the right things," Roberta Ramirez said. "She called 911. She called her father, but it was just too much and too quick."</p>
<p>Alyssa Ramirez's parents went to search for her but to no avail, Roberta Ramirez said.</p>
<p>"They weren't able to find her until this morning," Roberta Ramirez told WOAI. "They [her parents] rest assured that she was a very strong believer and she has her place in Heaven and they'll meet her again soon."</p>
<p>An obituary provided by Hurley Funeral Home in Devine, Texas, read in part:</p>
<p>"Alyssa was the homecoming queen of Devine High School, as well as a star athlete in tennis and volleyball. She was student council President, cheerleader and co-editor of the high school yearbook. She was very friendly to all who crossed her path, loved her family, her friends and the town of Devine. She had aspirations of being an Optometrist. She will be sorely missed by all. The following excerpt is what she posted 9 days before she died:</p>
<p>'Faith grows through hardship. Faith does not grow in a garden of property, but in a desert of tribulation. Even though it is never pleasant to experience hardship, it teaches us to persevere and to cling to God. He will never desert us.'"</p> | 745 |
<p>Nov. 16 (UPI) — A Washington state man who discovered a deer with its leg stuck in a chain-link fence came to the buck’s rescue and captured the event on video.</p>
<p>Daniel Leifer of Spokane posted a video <a href="https://www.facebook.com/daniel.leifer.94/videos/888879061282198/" type="external">to Facebook</a> showing the deer he discovered Wednesday morning with its rear leg stuck at the top of the metal fence.</p>
<p>The video shows Leifer speaking softly to the deer to keep it calm while he worked to free its leg.</p>
<p>“Helped a deer out this morning,” Leifer wrote.</p> | Man frees deer from chain-link fence predicament in Washington state | false | https://newsline.com/man-frees-deer-from-chain-link-fence-predicament-in-washington-state/ | 2017-11-16 | 1right-center
| Man frees deer from chain-link fence predicament in Washington state
<p>Nov. 16 (UPI) — A Washington state man who discovered a deer with its leg stuck in a chain-link fence came to the buck’s rescue and captured the event on video.</p>
<p>Daniel Leifer of Spokane posted a video <a href="https://www.facebook.com/daniel.leifer.94/videos/888879061282198/" type="external">to Facebook</a> showing the deer he discovered Wednesday morning with its rear leg stuck at the top of the metal fence.</p>
<p>The video shows Leifer speaking softly to the deer to keep it calm while he worked to free its leg.</p>
<p>“Helped a deer out this morning,” Leifer wrote.</p> | 746 |
<p />
<p>SMITHFIELD, Va. — Smithfield Baptist Church in Smithfield, Va., hosted a Stop Hunger Now event March 12-14 in conjunction with a youth missions emphasis, Youth Missions Coming Alive.</p>
<p>Students and adults from churches in the Blackwater Baptist Association and other churches participated. 30,000 meals were packaged to be shipped by Stop Hunger Now to the earthquake victims in Haiti. Speaker for the weekend was singer and songwriter Cindy Johnson from Winston-Salem, N.C. Worship was led by the Smithfield Baptist praise band.</p> | Youth at Smithfield church package 30,000 meals for Haitian relief | false | https://baptistnews.com/article/youthatsmithfieldchurchpackage30000mealsforhaitianrelief/ | 3left-center
| Youth at Smithfield church package 30,000 meals for Haitian relief
<p />
<p>SMITHFIELD, Va. — Smithfield Baptist Church in Smithfield, Va., hosted a Stop Hunger Now event March 12-14 in conjunction with a youth missions emphasis, Youth Missions Coming Alive.</p>
<p>Students and adults from churches in the Blackwater Baptist Association and other churches participated. 30,000 meals were packaged to be shipped by Stop Hunger Now to the earthquake victims in Haiti. Speaker for the weekend was singer and songwriter Cindy Johnson from Winston-Salem, N.C. Worship was led by the Smithfield Baptist praise band.</p> | 747 |
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<p>At one time I had them named but now have lost track. They live in an enclosed yard. I have found a couple of them with a white spot on their shell. I no longer have a large pond for them to swim in, but I do have a couple of submerged bowls with water.</p>
<p>Dr. Nichol: Finding babies really shouldn’t be surprising; your turtles are breeding like, well, like rabbits.</p>
<p>Don’t feel bad that you’ve lost track. They don’t remember your name either.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Those shell spots could be significant. If they’re hard and flake off with your fingernail they may be scars from fights. Soft white spots suggest bacterial or fungal infections that can result from malnutrition or poor environmental hygiene. A veterinarian can evaluate a sample microscopically and do a gram stain to select the right antibiotic. If treated early most shell disorders resolve.</p>
<p>Dr. Shirley Russman of the VCA Veterinary Care Animal Hospital is trained and experienced in reptile medicine.</p>
<p>She explained that “box turtles are omnivores, meaning that they eat 50 percent protein and 50 percent vegetables. They require 12 to 14 hours of UVB rays, whether from an artificial bulb or from the sun. They do best at 75-80 degrees with daily opportunities to bask at 85-90 degrees. Room temperature is fine at night. They like to have places to hide such as logs outside or boxes inside.”</p>
<p>I’m that way. With all the recent political mudslinging I’ve been hiding from my TV. Now we can bask in relative peace.</p>
<p>Good management is essential. Indoor bedding like bark must be kept clean and dry to prevent mold from urine and fecal contamination. Turtles do better outside. Divide your yard into thirds and rotate the locations so sunshine and rain can reduce the accumulation of unhealthy organisms. And be sure your turtles are protected from predators like raccoons and dogs.</p>
<p>Just like the rest of us, routine exams help turtles live longer, healthier lives. Have them checked twice yearly – before and after hibernation. Excellent information on husbandry can be found on <a href="http://www.chelonia.org" type="external">chelonia.org</a>.</p>
<p>Dr. Jeff Nichol treats behavior disorders at the Veterinary Specialty Centers in Albuquerque and Santa Fe (505-792-5131). He cares for pets at the Petroglyph Animal Hospital in Albuquerque (898-8874). Question? Post it on <a href="http://facebook.com/drjeffnichol" type="external">facebook.com/drjeffnichol</a> or by mail to 4000 Montgomery NE, Albuquerque, NM 87109. Unpublished questions may not be answered individually.</p>
<p />
<p /> | A few tips on taking care of box turtles | false | https://abqjournal.com/492629/a-few-tips-on-taking-care-of-box-turtles.html | 2least
| A few tips on taking care of box turtles
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<p />
<p>At one time I had them named but now have lost track. They live in an enclosed yard. I have found a couple of them with a white spot on their shell. I no longer have a large pond for them to swim in, but I do have a couple of submerged bowls with water.</p>
<p>Dr. Nichol: Finding babies really shouldn’t be surprising; your turtles are breeding like, well, like rabbits.</p>
<p>Don’t feel bad that you’ve lost track. They don’t remember your name either.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Those shell spots could be significant. If they’re hard and flake off with your fingernail they may be scars from fights. Soft white spots suggest bacterial or fungal infections that can result from malnutrition or poor environmental hygiene. A veterinarian can evaluate a sample microscopically and do a gram stain to select the right antibiotic. If treated early most shell disorders resolve.</p>
<p>Dr. Shirley Russman of the VCA Veterinary Care Animal Hospital is trained and experienced in reptile medicine.</p>
<p>She explained that “box turtles are omnivores, meaning that they eat 50 percent protein and 50 percent vegetables. They require 12 to 14 hours of UVB rays, whether from an artificial bulb or from the sun. They do best at 75-80 degrees with daily opportunities to bask at 85-90 degrees. Room temperature is fine at night. They like to have places to hide such as logs outside or boxes inside.”</p>
<p>I’m that way. With all the recent political mudslinging I’ve been hiding from my TV. Now we can bask in relative peace.</p>
<p>Good management is essential. Indoor bedding like bark must be kept clean and dry to prevent mold from urine and fecal contamination. Turtles do better outside. Divide your yard into thirds and rotate the locations so sunshine and rain can reduce the accumulation of unhealthy organisms. And be sure your turtles are protected from predators like raccoons and dogs.</p>
<p>Just like the rest of us, routine exams help turtles live longer, healthier lives. Have them checked twice yearly – before and after hibernation. Excellent information on husbandry can be found on <a href="http://www.chelonia.org" type="external">chelonia.org</a>.</p>
<p>Dr. Jeff Nichol treats behavior disorders at the Veterinary Specialty Centers in Albuquerque and Santa Fe (505-792-5131). He cares for pets at the Petroglyph Animal Hospital in Albuquerque (898-8874). Question? Post it on <a href="http://facebook.com/drjeffnichol" type="external">facebook.com/drjeffnichol</a> or by mail to 4000 Montgomery NE, Albuquerque, NM 87109. Unpublished questions may not be answered individually.</p>
<p />
<p /> | 748 |
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<p>A new email released by WikiLeaks shows DNC Chair, Donna Brazile, allegedly colluding with Clinton staffers.</p>
<p>The email, titled " <a href="https://wikileaks.org/podesta-emails/emailid/38478" type="external">One of the questions directed to HRC tomorrow is from a woman with a rash</a>," was sent March 5, 2016, and reads:</p>
<p>"Her family has lead poison and she will ask what, if anything, will Hillary do as president to help the ppl of Flint. Folks, I did a service project today. It's so tragic. And what's worse, some homes have not been tested and it's important to encourage seniors to also get tested."</p>
<p />
<p>The next day, during the Michigan primary debate between Hillary Clinton and Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), a woman who said her family was " <a href="https://youtu.be/XKNKjSCxebY" type="external">poisoned by lead</a>" asked the candidates about the Flint water crisis.</p>
<p>This isn't the first time Brazile has been caught cheating. WikiLeaks <a href="" type="internal">previously released</a> a hacked email, titled "From time to time I get the questions in advance," in which Brazile allegedly sent Clinton staffers a question identical to the one Roland Martin, a primary debate co-moderator, sent to CNN the very next day.</p>
<p>When <a href="" type="internal">confronted about the email</a> by Fox News' Megyn Kelly, Brazile repeatedly dodged, finally landing on a proper excuse, claiming that the emails from WikiLeaks were "doctored." Unfortunately for Brazile, a tech blogger seemingly <a href="" type="internal">proved the authenticity</a> of the email using a DKIM verification program.</p>
<p>In light of the deluge of bad press, CNN spokesperson, Lauren Pratapas, <a href="http://www.politico.com/blogs/on-media/2016/10/cnn-severs-ties-with-donna-brazile-230534" type="external">announced</a> that the network has parted ways with Brazile:</p>
<p>"On October 14th, CNN accepted Donna Brazile’s resignation as a CNN contributor. [Her deal had previously been suspended in July when she became the interim head of the DNC.] CNN never gave Brazile access to any questions, prep material, attendee list, background information or meetings in advance of a town hall or debate. We are completely uncomfortable with what we have learned about her interactions with the Clinton campaign while she was a CNN contributor."</p>
<p>Following her resignation, Brazile tweeted a farewell to CNN in which she failed to acknowledge the reason she was let go:</p>
<p>Thank you <a href="https://twitter.com/CNN" type="external">@CNN</a>. Honored to be a Democratic Strategist and commentator on the network. Godspeed to all my former colleagues.</p>
<p>So long, Donna. Like you did when Debbie Wasserman Schultz resigned from the DNC, another T-800 will take your place on CNN as if you never existed.</p> | Donna Brazile Resigns from CNN After Another WikiLeak Shows Her Allegedly Colluding with Team Hillary | true | https://dailywire.com/news/10377/donna-brazile-resigns-cnn-after-another-wikileak-frank-camp | 2016-10-31 | 0right
| Donna Brazile Resigns from CNN After Another WikiLeak Shows Her Allegedly Colluding with Team Hillary
<p>A new email released by WikiLeaks shows DNC Chair, Donna Brazile, allegedly colluding with Clinton staffers.</p>
<p>The email, titled " <a href="https://wikileaks.org/podesta-emails/emailid/38478" type="external">One of the questions directed to HRC tomorrow is from a woman with a rash</a>," was sent March 5, 2016, and reads:</p>
<p>"Her family has lead poison and she will ask what, if anything, will Hillary do as president to help the ppl of Flint. Folks, I did a service project today. It's so tragic. And what's worse, some homes have not been tested and it's important to encourage seniors to also get tested."</p>
<p />
<p>The next day, during the Michigan primary debate between Hillary Clinton and Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), a woman who said her family was " <a href="https://youtu.be/XKNKjSCxebY" type="external">poisoned by lead</a>" asked the candidates about the Flint water crisis.</p>
<p>This isn't the first time Brazile has been caught cheating. WikiLeaks <a href="" type="internal">previously released</a> a hacked email, titled "From time to time I get the questions in advance," in which Brazile allegedly sent Clinton staffers a question identical to the one Roland Martin, a primary debate co-moderator, sent to CNN the very next day.</p>
<p>When <a href="" type="internal">confronted about the email</a> by Fox News' Megyn Kelly, Brazile repeatedly dodged, finally landing on a proper excuse, claiming that the emails from WikiLeaks were "doctored." Unfortunately for Brazile, a tech blogger seemingly <a href="" type="internal">proved the authenticity</a> of the email using a DKIM verification program.</p>
<p>In light of the deluge of bad press, CNN spokesperson, Lauren Pratapas, <a href="http://www.politico.com/blogs/on-media/2016/10/cnn-severs-ties-with-donna-brazile-230534" type="external">announced</a> that the network has parted ways with Brazile:</p>
<p>"On October 14th, CNN accepted Donna Brazile’s resignation as a CNN contributor. [Her deal had previously been suspended in July when she became the interim head of the DNC.] CNN never gave Brazile access to any questions, prep material, attendee list, background information or meetings in advance of a town hall or debate. We are completely uncomfortable with what we have learned about her interactions with the Clinton campaign while she was a CNN contributor."</p>
<p>Following her resignation, Brazile tweeted a farewell to CNN in which she failed to acknowledge the reason she was let go:</p>
<p>Thank you <a href="https://twitter.com/CNN" type="external">@CNN</a>. Honored to be a Democratic Strategist and commentator on the network. Godspeed to all my former colleagues.</p>
<p>So long, Donna. Like you did when Debbie Wasserman Schultz resigned from the DNC, another T-800 will take your place on CNN as if you never existed.</p> | 749 |
<p />
<p />
<p>The US government has released new images from the 9/11 terror attacks that show details of the crash site never before seen by the public.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>Credit: FBI</p>
<p />
<p>While there are many conspiracy theories surrounding the 9/11 attacks it seems some undeniable photographic evidence suggests that a plane really did cause the damage done to the pentagon that day. The photos come on the 16th anniversary of the September 11th terror attacks in 2001.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>Credit: FBI</p>
<p />
<p>There is even an image with a broken clock that froze the moment the plane struck in time.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>Credit: FBI</p>
<p />
<p>Other images show bits of wreckage that show the flight number of the aircraft. The plane that struck the pentagon was one of four that were hijacked that day. Two were flown into the world trade centers and another crashed into a field in Pennsylvania when heroic Americans fought to take the plane back from the hijackers.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>Credit: FBI</p>
<p />
<p>The plane that crashed into the Pentagon was part of an attack that changed American history prompting much tighter security protocols around commercial flights and eventually leading to a reduction in privacy as the government ramped up programs to monitor digital communications.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>Credit: FBI</p>
<p />
<p>President Donald Trump is expected to observe a moment of silence on Monday in memory of the tragic events.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>Credit: Local 10 News</p>
<p />
<p>On Twitter:</p>
<p><a href="https://twitter.com/ErvinProduction" type="external">@ErvinProduction</a></p>
<p>Tips? Info? Send me a message!</p>
<p />
<p>Source: <a href="https://uk.news.yahoo.com/us-government-releases-pictures-showing-slideshow-wp-091613779/photo-p-attack-pentagon-claimed-lives-photo-091613698.html" type="external">uk.news.yahoo.com/us-government-releases-pictures-showing-slideshow-wp-091613779/photo-p-attack-pentagon-claimed-lives-photo-091613698.html</a></p> | US Government Releases Never Before Seen Images Of 9/11 Attack On Pentagon | true | http://thegoldwater.com/news/7922-US-Government-Releases-Never-Before-Seen-Images-Of-9-11-Attack-On-Pentagon | 2017-09-11 | 0right
| US Government Releases Never Before Seen Images Of 9/11 Attack On Pentagon
<p />
<p />
<p>The US government has released new images from the 9/11 terror attacks that show details of the crash site never before seen by the public.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>Credit: FBI</p>
<p />
<p>While there are many conspiracy theories surrounding the 9/11 attacks it seems some undeniable photographic evidence suggests that a plane really did cause the damage done to the pentagon that day. The photos come on the 16th anniversary of the September 11th terror attacks in 2001.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>Credit: FBI</p>
<p />
<p>There is even an image with a broken clock that froze the moment the plane struck in time.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>Credit: FBI</p>
<p />
<p>Other images show bits of wreckage that show the flight number of the aircraft. The plane that struck the pentagon was one of four that were hijacked that day. Two were flown into the world trade centers and another crashed into a field in Pennsylvania when heroic Americans fought to take the plane back from the hijackers.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>Credit: FBI</p>
<p />
<p>The plane that crashed into the Pentagon was part of an attack that changed American history prompting much tighter security protocols around commercial flights and eventually leading to a reduction in privacy as the government ramped up programs to monitor digital communications.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>Credit: FBI</p>
<p />
<p>President Donald Trump is expected to observe a moment of silence on Monday in memory of the tragic events.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>Credit: Local 10 News</p>
<p />
<p>On Twitter:</p>
<p><a href="https://twitter.com/ErvinProduction" type="external">@ErvinProduction</a></p>
<p>Tips? Info? Send me a message!</p>
<p />
<p>Source: <a href="https://uk.news.yahoo.com/us-government-releases-pictures-showing-slideshow-wp-091613779/photo-p-attack-pentagon-claimed-lives-photo-091613698.html" type="external">uk.news.yahoo.com/us-government-releases-pictures-showing-slideshow-wp-091613779/photo-p-attack-pentagon-claimed-lives-photo-091613698.html</a></p> | 750 |
<p>On Tuesday, a Louisiana police chief <a href="http://www.natchezdemocrat.com/2016/07/20/jonesville-police-chief-asked-to-resign-after-online-remarks/" type="external">lost his job</a> after posting a message on his personal Facebook page, calling for President Obama to fight back against the radical Black Lives Matter movement, which often <a href="" type="internal">advocates for the murder of innocent police officers</a>.</p>
<p>In reaction to the recent onslaught of violence—often fatal—taken against American officers, Jonesville Chief of Police Skylar Dore voiced his frustrations, particularly with the Obama Administration, through the following post:</p>
<p>“Hey Mr. [explicit] president when are you going to grow a [explicit] pair. And tell it like it is. These are terrorists. They have declared war on my brother. (White police officers) enough is enough. How many police officers have to die trying to protect the citizens of this country. Any other president would have declared full on war on this group. Since when in our [explicit] history do we stand idle to the ambush murders of law enforcement. It has to STOP NOW,” wrote Dore.</p>
<p>Dore apologized for his comments, explaining that they came out of a place of frustration following the <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/us/2016/07/18/3-law-enforcement-officers-killed-3-others-injured-in-baton-rouge-shooting.html" type="external">targeting and murder</a> of three officers in Baton Rouge--one of whom was a black man--at the hands of a black nationalist.</p>
<p>Yes, his remarks were fiery, and laced with profanity, but they were also somehow construed as “racist” by members of the Jonesville community.</p>
<p>After the backlash against the chief, the Jonesville Town Council asked Dore to resign. "I think at this time Chief Dore, we will now ask you for you resign from your duties,” said Jonesville Mayor Hiram Evans, on Tuesday. “That's what I'm recommending to the board.”</p>
<p>“I'm sorry, but you should have thought about it before you even hit those keys," said Jonesville resident Sharon Stevenson in response to the post.</p>
<p>"It hurt. I'm going to be honest. That brought tears to me because then I saw some of the racial comments coming up," she added.</p>
<p>The town doesn't "need to hear [comments] like that. I can hear things and let them roll of my back, but the younger [residents], they might not be able to, and me, I don't feel safe with [Dore] being chief and making those kinds of remarks," she continued.</p>
<p>Jonesville Councilwoman Laurie Hollins apparently "forgives" Dore...for voicing his opinion. She voted to oust the police chief, too.</p>
<p>But some residents came to Dore’s defense: "He's a damn good cop," said Bill Bullock, a man who personally knows Dore. "He's exceptionally proficient and has good credentials."</p>
<p>The town of Jonesville apparently takes heated opinions seriously.</p>
<p>I wonder if those who hold government positions who espouse <a href="" type="internal">hateful Black Lives Matter messaging</a> will be booted from their positions, too? Probably not.</p>
<p>In the past two weeks alone, at least eight officers have been murdered at the hands of racist, cop-hating Black Lives Matter sympathizers—five in <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/07/15/the-killing-of-five-cops-in-dallas-fit-a-disturbing-pattern/" type="external">Dallas</a>and three in Baton Rouge.</p> | Louisiana Police Chief Fired After Posting That Obama Should Be Fighting Black Lives Matter | true | https://dailywire.com/news/7643/louisiana-police-chief-fired-after-posting-obama-amanda-prestigiacomo | 2016-07-20 | 0right
| Louisiana Police Chief Fired After Posting That Obama Should Be Fighting Black Lives Matter
<p>On Tuesday, a Louisiana police chief <a href="http://www.natchezdemocrat.com/2016/07/20/jonesville-police-chief-asked-to-resign-after-online-remarks/" type="external">lost his job</a> after posting a message on his personal Facebook page, calling for President Obama to fight back against the radical Black Lives Matter movement, which often <a href="" type="internal">advocates for the murder of innocent police officers</a>.</p>
<p>In reaction to the recent onslaught of violence—often fatal—taken against American officers, Jonesville Chief of Police Skylar Dore voiced his frustrations, particularly with the Obama Administration, through the following post:</p>
<p>“Hey Mr. [explicit] president when are you going to grow a [explicit] pair. And tell it like it is. These are terrorists. They have declared war on my brother. (White police officers) enough is enough. How many police officers have to die trying to protect the citizens of this country. Any other president would have declared full on war on this group. Since when in our [explicit] history do we stand idle to the ambush murders of law enforcement. It has to STOP NOW,” wrote Dore.</p>
<p>Dore apologized for his comments, explaining that they came out of a place of frustration following the <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/us/2016/07/18/3-law-enforcement-officers-killed-3-others-injured-in-baton-rouge-shooting.html" type="external">targeting and murder</a> of three officers in Baton Rouge--one of whom was a black man--at the hands of a black nationalist.</p>
<p>Yes, his remarks were fiery, and laced with profanity, but they were also somehow construed as “racist” by members of the Jonesville community.</p>
<p>After the backlash against the chief, the Jonesville Town Council asked Dore to resign. "I think at this time Chief Dore, we will now ask you for you resign from your duties,” said Jonesville Mayor Hiram Evans, on Tuesday. “That's what I'm recommending to the board.”</p>
<p>“I'm sorry, but you should have thought about it before you even hit those keys," said Jonesville resident Sharon Stevenson in response to the post.</p>
<p>"It hurt. I'm going to be honest. That brought tears to me because then I saw some of the racial comments coming up," she added.</p>
<p>The town doesn't "need to hear [comments] like that. I can hear things and let them roll of my back, but the younger [residents], they might not be able to, and me, I don't feel safe with [Dore] being chief and making those kinds of remarks," she continued.</p>
<p>Jonesville Councilwoman Laurie Hollins apparently "forgives" Dore...for voicing his opinion. She voted to oust the police chief, too.</p>
<p>But some residents came to Dore’s defense: "He's a damn good cop," said Bill Bullock, a man who personally knows Dore. "He's exceptionally proficient and has good credentials."</p>
<p>The town of Jonesville apparently takes heated opinions seriously.</p>
<p>I wonder if those who hold government positions who espouse <a href="" type="internal">hateful Black Lives Matter messaging</a> will be booted from their positions, too? Probably not.</p>
<p>In the past two weeks alone, at least eight officers have been murdered at the hands of racist, cop-hating Black Lives Matter sympathizers—five in <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/07/15/the-killing-of-five-cops-in-dallas-fit-a-disturbing-pattern/" type="external">Dallas</a>and three in Baton Rouge.</p> | 751 |
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<p>WINTER PARK, Colo. — A 17-year-old girl died after hitting a tree on an intermediate run at Winter Park Resort.</p>
<p>Resort officials say the girl, whose name and hometown have not been released, crashed on a run called Forget-Me-Not in the Parsenn Bowl on Wednesday afternoon. Ski patrollers took her to an emergency room at the base of the resort but were unable to revive her.</p>
<p>The crash marks the second death involving a skier in Colorado in less than a week.</p>
<p>A 26-year-old skier died after falling on an expert run at Breckenridge Ski Resort on Friday. The Summit County coroner’s office says the skier, Ricardo Cohen of Mexico City, suffered severe head trauma even though he was wearing a helmet.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | 17-year-old skier dies after hitting tree at Winter Park | false | https://abqjournal.com/950778/17-year-old-skier-dies-after-hitting-tree-at-winter-park.html | 2least
| 17-year-old skier dies after hitting tree at Winter Park
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<p>WINTER PARK, Colo. — A 17-year-old girl died after hitting a tree on an intermediate run at Winter Park Resort.</p>
<p>Resort officials say the girl, whose name and hometown have not been released, crashed on a run called Forget-Me-Not in the Parsenn Bowl on Wednesday afternoon. Ski patrollers took her to an emergency room at the base of the resort but were unable to revive her.</p>
<p>The crash marks the second death involving a skier in Colorado in less than a week.</p>
<p>A 26-year-old skier died after falling on an expert run at Breckenridge Ski Resort on Friday. The Summit County coroner’s office says the skier, Ricardo Cohen of Mexico City, suffered severe head trauma even though he was wearing a helmet.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | 752 |
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<p>OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — The San Francisco Bay Area’s main commuter rail line is up and running after a potential transit strike was averted for the third straight day.</p>
<p>Federal mediator George Cohen said Tuesday night that the Bay Area Rapid Transit agency and its unions have made some progress in the intense negotiations to avoid a second strike in more than three months.</p>
<p>KGO-TV reports that negotiations are expected to resume at 10 a.m. today.</p>
<p>The threat of a BART strike has been looming over commuters every weekday since last Thursday.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, workers at the Alameda-Contra Costa Transit District, a major regional bus line, have also threatened to strike this week if their conditions for a new contract aren’t met. AC Transit has asked the governor to intervene to prevent a potential strike.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | Bay Area trains run as BART strike is averted again | false | https://abqjournal.com/282690/bay-area-trains-run-as-bart-strike-is-averted-again.html | 2013-10-16 | 2least
| Bay Area trains run as BART strike is averted again
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p>OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — The San Francisco Bay Area’s main commuter rail line is up and running after a potential transit strike was averted for the third straight day.</p>
<p>Federal mediator George Cohen said Tuesday night that the Bay Area Rapid Transit agency and its unions have made some progress in the intense negotiations to avoid a second strike in more than three months.</p>
<p>KGO-TV reports that negotiations are expected to resume at 10 a.m. today.</p>
<p>The threat of a BART strike has been looming over commuters every weekday since last Thursday.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, workers at the Alameda-Contra Costa Transit District, a major regional bus line, have also threatened to strike this week if their conditions for a new contract aren’t met. AC Transit has asked the governor to intervene to prevent a potential strike.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | 753 |
<p>By Sruthi Shankar</p>
<p>(Reuters) – U.S. stocks were higher in early afternoon trading on Tuesday, with the S&amp;P 500 hitting a record intraday high led by gains in financial stocks, and investors focused on an Apple event where the company is set to launch its new iPhone.</p>
<p>Concerns around the severity of Hurricane Irma’s financial impact receded as it weakened to a tropical depression, while investors shrugged off fresh developments related to North Korea.</p>
<p>“There’s a relief factor, at least for the moment, that the North Korea situation has gone a little bit quiet, and the fact that the hurricane over the weekend was not as bad as expected,” said Dave Donabedian, chief investment officer of CIBC Atlantic Trust Private Wealth Management.</p>
<p>Apple’s shares (O:) inched 0.3 percent higher as the event to launch the 10th anniversary edition of the iPhone kicked off.</p>
<p>At 12:35 p.m. ET (1635 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average () was up 65.95 points, or 0.3 percent, at 22,123.32 and the S&amp;P 500 () was up 6.58 points, or 0.26 percent, at 2,494.69.</p>
<p>The Nasdaq Composite () was up 13.24 points, or 0.21 percent, at 6,445.50.</p>
<p>Eight of the 11 major S&amp;P sectors were higher, led by a 1.4 percent rise in telecom services index ().</p>
<p>Financials () rose more than 1 percent, with the six major banks up between 1.5 percent and 2.6 percent, after Goldman Sachs (N:) unveiled a growth plan that could add as much as $5 billion in revenue annually.</p>
<p>McDonald’s (N:) shares fell more than 3 percent on a report that a research firm had raised concerns about the restaurant chain’s third-quarter sales.</p>
<p>DowDuPont (N:) rose 1.77 percent after the company said it was making changes to a plan of splitting itself into three.</p>
<p>Advancing issues outnumbered decliners on the NYSE by 1,829 to 948. On the Nasdaq, 1,775 issues rose and 1,026 fell.</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> | Wall St. higher as financials gain; Apple event starts | false | https://newsline.com/wall-st-higher-as-financials-gain-apple-event-starts/ | 2017-09-12 | 1right-center
| Wall St. higher as financials gain; Apple event starts
<p>By Sruthi Shankar</p>
<p>(Reuters) – U.S. stocks were higher in early afternoon trading on Tuesday, with the S&amp;P 500 hitting a record intraday high led by gains in financial stocks, and investors focused on an Apple event where the company is set to launch its new iPhone.</p>
<p>Concerns around the severity of Hurricane Irma’s financial impact receded as it weakened to a tropical depression, while investors shrugged off fresh developments related to North Korea.</p>
<p>“There’s a relief factor, at least for the moment, that the North Korea situation has gone a little bit quiet, and the fact that the hurricane over the weekend was not as bad as expected,” said Dave Donabedian, chief investment officer of CIBC Atlantic Trust Private Wealth Management.</p>
<p>Apple’s shares (O:) inched 0.3 percent higher as the event to launch the 10th anniversary edition of the iPhone kicked off.</p>
<p>At 12:35 p.m. ET (1635 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average () was up 65.95 points, or 0.3 percent, at 22,123.32 and the S&amp;P 500 () was up 6.58 points, or 0.26 percent, at 2,494.69.</p>
<p>The Nasdaq Composite () was up 13.24 points, or 0.21 percent, at 6,445.50.</p>
<p>Eight of the 11 major S&amp;P sectors were higher, led by a 1.4 percent rise in telecom services index ().</p>
<p>Financials () rose more than 1 percent, with the six major banks up between 1.5 percent and 2.6 percent, after Goldman Sachs (N:) unveiled a growth plan that could add as much as $5 billion in revenue annually.</p>
<p>McDonald’s (N:) shares fell more than 3 percent on a report that a research firm had raised concerns about the restaurant chain’s third-quarter sales.</p>
<p>DowDuPont (N:) rose 1.77 percent after the company said it was making changes to a plan of splitting itself into three.</p>
<p>Advancing issues outnumbered decliners on the NYSE by 1,829 to 948. On the Nasdaq, 1,775 issues rose and 1,026 fell.</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> | 754 |
<a href="" type="internal">Jill Stein raised $5 million to fund recount efforts in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania–where Trump won by a cumulative 100,000 votes.&#160;</a> Trump criticized Stein for attempting&#160;the recounts. In response to Democratic challenger Hillary Clinton supporting Stein’s
<a href="" type="internal">recount effort in Wisconsin,</a>Trump said, “Nothing will change.” In 2012, Trump criticized the Electoral College following Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney’s loss to President Barack Obama, calling it “a disaster… and disgusting injustice!” A week after defeating Clinton, Trump expressed support for the Electoral College, calling it “genius.” Share on
<a href="" type="internal">Facebook</a>
<a href="" type="internal">Twitter</a>
<a href="" type="internal">Email</a> | Trump Says Millions of People Voted Illegally | false | http://thewhim.com/trump-says-millions-people-voted-illegally/ | 2016-11-28 | 2least
| Trump Says Millions of People Voted Illegally
<a href="" type="internal">Jill Stein raised $5 million to fund recount efforts in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania–where Trump won by a cumulative 100,000 votes.&#160;</a> Trump criticized Stein for attempting&#160;the recounts. In response to Democratic challenger Hillary Clinton supporting Stein’s
<a href="" type="internal">recount effort in Wisconsin,</a>Trump said, “Nothing will change.” In 2012, Trump criticized the Electoral College following Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney’s loss to President Barack Obama, calling it “a disaster… and disgusting injustice!” A week after defeating Clinton, Trump expressed support for the Electoral College, calling it “genius.” Share on
<a href="" type="internal">Facebook</a>
<a href="" type="internal">Twitter</a>
<a href="" type="internal">Email</a> | 755 |
<p>Adopt the character of the twisting octopus, which takes on the appearance of the nearby rock. Now follow in this direction, now turn a different hue.</p>
<p>— Therognis, Elegies</p>
<p>Here’s the score: DJT 1, Rex Tillerson 0.&#160; It would, of course, have been consistent with the calibre of other DJT appointees to have the flawed Elliott Abrams back in government. He would have fit in beautifully.&#160; But for those who hoped for at least a few people of moral character to be appointed to the DJT administration, it was, at first blush, reassuring that in the DJT-Tillerson contest, DJT won.&#160; It seemed that at long last (insofar as 4 weeks can be considered “long”) the integrity of a candidate that was selected to join the DJT administration mattered.&#160; And the rejection of a candidate like Elliott who, the casual observer might rightfully have thought, was rejected because of his flawed character, would have been welcome news coming just as Mike Flynn, another man of deeply flawed character, was being expelled.&#160; And Mike was an example of a REALLY bad appointment.</p>
<p>According to <a href="" type="internal">Politico</a>, in the three months preceding the election, &#160;Mike had forwarded Twitter posts that, among other things, accused Hillary Clinton of being involved in money laundering, sex crimes involving children, and of having “secretly waged war on the Catholic Church.”&#160; Mike’s use of the internet to propagate lies about DJT’s opponent was, so far as DJT was concerned, no reason to not appoint him National Security Advisor.&#160; It never occurred to DJT that someone he appointed of such infirm moral character might, Judas-like, turn on the very man who appointed him within a matter of days after being appointed.&#160; That, of course, is exactly what Mike did when he caused the vice president of the United States to lie to the American people because Mike had lied to the vice president. &#160;As a result, when the lies became public knowledge, which was several days after DJT had learned of them, DJT got rid of Mike. Those who wondered why a chronic liar had been appointed in the first place, thought that that experience might have been a wake up moment for DJT, and that he would try, in the future, to avoid appointing those with known character flaws to high positions in his muddled administration. Enter Rex Tillerson and Elliott Abrams.</p>
<p>Rex Tillerson is the Secretary of State and a man uniquely unqualified to serve in that position because of his lack of experience.&#160; Recognizing his own limitations, he recommended to DJT that Elliott Abrams, a man with considerable state department experience, be made his Deputy Secretary of State. Mr. Tillerson believed that having a seasoned foreign policy professional beside him, even one lacking in moral character, would serve him in good stead. &#160;And Elliott had plenty in his background to demonstrate a lack of moral fiber.</p>
<p>In 1991 Elliott entered a plea of guilty to two criminal charges in connection with the criminal enterprise known as the &#160;Iran-Contra affair that took place under the Reagan administration.&#160; He pled guilty to the charge of withholding evidence from Congress and was sentenced to probation for two years and ordered to perform 100 hours of community service.&#160; In 1997, Elliott was publicly <a href="http://www.dcbar.org/discipline/court_action/91bg1518.PDF" type="external">censured</a> by the District of Columbia Court of Appeals for having given false testimony before congressional committees on three different occasions relating to his activities in connection with the Iran Contra affair.</p>
<p>One might have thought that in considering Mr. Tillerson’s request that Elliott be appointed, DJT would have concluded that with those kinds of blemishes, DJT did not need to add to the stable of incompetents and moral cripples that he had already appointed to high positions in his administration, by selecting a flawed Elliott Abrams to be Deputy Secretary of State.&#160; Had he refused to appoint him and cited those reasons in support of his decision, the people would have understood and applauded him for at long last applying strict moral standards in determining whether a proposed appointee had the qualification one might hope for in an appointee to a high governmental post.&#160; It was an exciting prospect.</p>
<p>The interviews with Tillerson, DJT, and Abrams, <a href="" type="internal">&#160;&#160;reportedly</a> went smoothly.&#160; Then a funny thing happened, and Elliott was not appointed.&#160; The failure to appoint him had nothing to do with Elliott’s ethical infirmities as one might have hoped. It happened because it was brought to DJT’s attention that Elliott had written unfavorably about DJT prior to the election. In one piece he wrote: “Do not allow the Republican convention to be a coronation wherein Trump and Trumpisms are unchallenged. The party needs to be reminded that there are deep divisions, and Trump needs to be reminded of how many in the party oppose and even fear his nomination.”&#160; In a column for the Weekly Standard” Elliott described DJT as “someone who cannot win and should not be president of the United States.”&#160; &#160;When DJT was informed of Elliott’s published comments, those comments reportedly caused DJT to <a href="http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/318943-trump-rejected-abrams-as-deputy-secretary-of-state-after-he-learned" type="external">reject</a> &#160;Mr. Tillerson’s request that Elliott be named the Deputy Secretary of State. The rejection had nothing to do with Abrams’ character.&#160; It was all about DJT’s ego.&#160; A good result for the wrong reason.&#160; Sort of &#160;sad.</p> | Trump 1, Tillerson 0 | true | https://counterpunch.org/2017/02/17/trump-1-tillerson-0/ | 2017-02-17 | 4left
| Trump 1, Tillerson 0
<p>Adopt the character of the twisting octopus, which takes on the appearance of the nearby rock. Now follow in this direction, now turn a different hue.</p>
<p>— Therognis, Elegies</p>
<p>Here’s the score: DJT 1, Rex Tillerson 0.&#160; It would, of course, have been consistent with the calibre of other DJT appointees to have the flawed Elliott Abrams back in government. He would have fit in beautifully.&#160; But for those who hoped for at least a few people of moral character to be appointed to the DJT administration, it was, at first blush, reassuring that in the DJT-Tillerson contest, DJT won.&#160; It seemed that at long last (insofar as 4 weeks can be considered “long”) the integrity of a candidate that was selected to join the DJT administration mattered.&#160; And the rejection of a candidate like Elliott who, the casual observer might rightfully have thought, was rejected because of his flawed character, would have been welcome news coming just as Mike Flynn, another man of deeply flawed character, was being expelled.&#160; And Mike was an example of a REALLY bad appointment.</p>
<p>According to <a href="" type="internal">Politico</a>, in the three months preceding the election, &#160;Mike had forwarded Twitter posts that, among other things, accused Hillary Clinton of being involved in money laundering, sex crimes involving children, and of having “secretly waged war on the Catholic Church.”&#160; Mike’s use of the internet to propagate lies about DJT’s opponent was, so far as DJT was concerned, no reason to not appoint him National Security Advisor.&#160; It never occurred to DJT that someone he appointed of such infirm moral character might, Judas-like, turn on the very man who appointed him within a matter of days after being appointed.&#160; That, of course, is exactly what Mike did when he caused the vice president of the United States to lie to the American people because Mike had lied to the vice president. &#160;As a result, when the lies became public knowledge, which was several days after DJT had learned of them, DJT got rid of Mike. Those who wondered why a chronic liar had been appointed in the first place, thought that that experience might have been a wake up moment for DJT, and that he would try, in the future, to avoid appointing those with known character flaws to high positions in his muddled administration. Enter Rex Tillerson and Elliott Abrams.</p>
<p>Rex Tillerson is the Secretary of State and a man uniquely unqualified to serve in that position because of his lack of experience.&#160; Recognizing his own limitations, he recommended to DJT that Elliott Abrams, a man with considerable state department experience, be made his Deputy Secretary of State. Mr. Tillerson believed that having a seasoned foreign policy professional beside him, even one lacking in moral character, would serve him in good stead. &#160;And Elliott had plenty in his background to demonstrate a lack of moral fiber.</p>
<p>In 1991 Elliott entered a plea of guilty to two criminal charges in connection with the criminal enterprise known as the &#160;Iran-Contra affair that took place under the Reagan administration.&#160; He pled guilty to the charge of withholding evidence from Congress and was sentenced to probation for two years and ordered to perform 100 hours of community service.&#160; In 1997, Elliott was publicly <a href="http://www.dcbar.org/discipline/court_action/91bg1518.PDF" type="external">censured</a> by the District of Columbia Court of Appeals for having given false testimony before congressional committees on three different occasions relating to his activities in connection with the Iran Contra affair.</p>
<p>One might have thought that in considering Mr. Tillerson’s request that Elliott be appointed, DJT would have concluded that with those kinds of blemishes, DJT did not need to add to the stable of incompetents and moral cripples that he had already appointed to high positions in his administration, by selecting a flawed Elliott Abrams to be Deputy Secretary of State.&#160; Had he refused to appoint him and cited those reasons in support of his decision, the people would have understood and applauded him for at long last applying strict moral standards in determining whether a proposed appointee had the qualification one might hope for in an appointee to a high governmental post.&#160; It was an exciting prospect.</p>
<p>The interviews with Tillerson, DJT, and Abrams, <a href="" type="internal">&#160;&#160;reportedly</a> went smoothly.&#160; Then a funny thing happened, and Elliott was not appointed.&#160; The failure to appoint him had nothing to do with Elliott’s ethical infirmities as one might have hoped. It happened because it was brought to DJT’s attention that Elliott had written unfavorably about DJT prior to the election. In one piece he wrote: “Do not allow the Republican convention to be a coronation wherein Trump and Trumpisms are unchallenged. The party needs to be reminded that there are deep divisions, and Trump needs to be reminded of how many in the party oppose and even fear his nomination.”&#160; In a column for the Weekly Standard” Elliott described DJT as “someone who cannot win and should not be president of the United States.”&#160; &#160;When DJT was informed of Elliott’s published comments, those comments reportedly caused DJT to <a href="http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/318943-trump-rejected-abrams-as-deputy-secretary-of-state-after-he-learned" type="external">reject</a> &#160;Mr. Tillerson’s request that Elliott be named the Deputy Secretary of State. The rejection had nothing to do with Abrams’ character.&#160; It was all about DJT’s ego.&#160; A good result for the wrong reason.&#160; Sort of &#160;sad.</p> | 756 |
<p>First Read is a morning briefing from Meet the Press and the NBC Political Unit on the day's most important political stories and why they matter.</p>
<p>NBC’s final battleground map: Clinton 274, Trump 170</p>
<p>In our final battleground map of the 2016 presidential race, Hillary Clinton holds a substantial lead over Donald Trump with one day before Election Day. Clinton has 274 electoral votes in her column -- which is unchanged from last week, and which also is more than the 270 needed to win the presidency. Trump, meanwhile, is at 170 electoral votes, down from 180 last week. And we have 94 electoral votes in the Tossup column.</p>
<p>We made only two changes to the map: We moved Utah from Tossup to Lean GOP, and we moved Georgia from Lean GOP to Tossup. That’s it.</p>
<p>The more things change, the more they stay the same</p>
<p>The <a href="" type="internal">final national NBC/WSJ poll</a> we released yesterday morning told two stories. The first: It showed a tighter horserace. Clinton’s lead over Trump is four points in the two-way contest, 44%-40%, and five points in the head-to-head matchup, 48%-43% -- which is down from 11 points and 10 points, respectively, in last month’s NBC/WSJ poll released after the “Access Hollywood” video. But here’s the second story: The numbers inside the poll are incredibly stable and consistent with what we’ve seen all year:</p>
<p>The two demographics to watch tomorrow night: Latinos and college-educated whites. And if you want to see even more stability, here are the final numbers from our weekly online <a href="" type="internal">NBC|SurveyMonkey tracking poll</a>: Clinton 47%, Trump 41%, Johnson 6%, Stein 3% -- which is unchanged from last week.</p>
<p>Another Comey bombshell: FBI clears Clinton</p>
<p>But while the race -- structurally -- has been incredibly stable, the storylines have been anything but. And yesterday we received yet another bombshell from FBI Director James Comey. <a href="" type="internal">NBC News</a>: “FBI Director James Comey said Sunday that the bureau won't change the conclusion it made in July after it examined newly revealed emails related to the Hillary Clinton probe. ‘Based on our review, we have not changed our conclusions that we expressed in July with respect to Secretary Clinton,’ Comey wrote in a letter to 16 members of Congress.” More: “A senior law enforcement official confirmed to NBC News that nearly all of the thousands of newly examined emails on [Anthony] Weiner's laptop were duplicates of emails already seen by the team investigating Clinton's server. Although some emails did forward documents previously identified as containing classified information, the review didn't change the total number of classified documents investigators found on the server.”</p>
<p>Trump on FBI outcome: “It’s a totally rigged system”</p>
<p>It’s difficult to quantify the impact that Comey’s initial letter, on Oct. 28, had on the Clinton-vs-Trump race, but it 1) certainly dominated the news environment for close to a week, 2) allowed Trump and Republicans to go on offense, and 3) forced Clinton and Democrats to play defense. But now Trump is saying that the FBI’s determination was part of a “rigged” result. “Right now, [Clinton] is being protected by a rigged system. It's a totally rigged system,” Trump said on the campaign trail yesterday. “I've been saying it for a long time. You can't review 650,000 new emails in eight days, you can’t do it, folks.” Two quick points here: One, there weren’t 650,000 Clinton-related emails; that was the number of total Weiner/Abedin emails on the computer. Two, computers certainly help to sort/verify information very quickly.</p>
<p>Clinton to release new two-minute TV ad speaking to camera</p>
<p>NBC’s Andrea Mitchell report that the Clinton campaign will release a two-minute TV ad of Clinton speaking to the camera, per a campaign official. The theme will be bringing the country together and reaching out to all voters including Trump supporters.</p>
<p>NBC/WSJ poll on the downballot situation</p>
<p>Dems hold a three-point lead on the congressional generic ballot: Yesterday’s national NBC/WSJ poll also found that Democrats were holding a three-point lead on which party likely voters preferred to Congress, 47%-44%, which is unchanged from mid-October. The poll also showed that voters, by a 51%-40%, prefer a Republican candidate who would serve to check and balance a President Clinton instead of a Democratic candidate to support her agenda.</p>
<p>First Read’s downballot race of the day: FL-7</p>
<p>Republican John Mica has been in Congress for 24 years, but recent redistricting is putting his long-held Orlando-area seat in peril. Stephanie Murphy, Vietnamese-American 38-year-old suburban mom and former Defense Department analyst, decided late in the cycle to challenge Mica after the Pulse nightclub shooting.</p>
<p>On the trail</p>
<p>Hillary Clinton campaigns in Pittsburgh, PA at noon ET, Allendale, MI at 4:00 pm ET, Philadelphia PA (with the president and first lady) at 7:30 pm ET, and finally Raleigh, NC at 11:45 pm ET… Donald Trump hits Sarasota, FL at 11:00 am ET, Raleigh at 3:00 pm ET, Scranton, PA at 5:30 pm ET, Manchester, NH at 8:00 pm ET, and Grand Rapids, MI at 11:00 pm ET… Mike Pence stumps in Minnesota, Michigan, and Pennsylvania… Tim Kaine is in North Carolina and Virginia… President Obama campaigns in Ann Arbor, MI at 11:00 am ET and in Durham, NH at 3:00 pm ET… And Vice President Joe Biden is in Florida.</p>
<p>Countdown to Election Day: 1 day</p> | NBC’s Final Battleground Map Shows Clinton With a Significant Lead | false | http://nbcnews.com/storyline/2016-election-day/nbc-s-final-battleground-map-shows-clinton-edge-n678926 | 2016-11-07 | 3left-center
| NBC’s Final Battleground Map Shows Clinton With a Significant Lead
<p>First Read is a morning briefing from Meet the Press and the NBC Political Unit on the day's most important political stories and why they matter.</p>
<p>NBC’s final battleground map: Clinton 274, Trump 170</p>
<p>In our final battleground map of the 2016 presidential race, Hillary Clinton holds a substantial lead over Donald Trump with one day before Election Day. Clinton has 274 electoral votes in her column -- which is unchanged from last week, and which also is more than the 270 needed to win the presidency. Trump, meanwhile, is at 170 electoral votes, down from 180 last week. And we have 94 electoral votes in the Tossup column.</p>
<p>We made only two changes to the map: We moved Utah from Tossup to Lean GOP, and we moved Georgia from Lean GOP to Tossup. That’s it.</p>
<p>The more things change, the more they stay the same</p>
<p>The <a href="" type="internal">final national NBC/WSJ poll</a> we released yesterday morning told two stories. The first: It showed a tighter horserace. Clinton’s lead over Trump is four points in the two-way contest, 44%-40%, and five points in the head-to-head matchup, 48%-43% -- which is down from 11 points and 10 points, respectively, in last month’s NBC/WSJ poll released after the “Access Hollywood” video. But here’s the second story: The numbers inside the poll are incredibly stable and consistent with what we’ve seen all year:</p>
<p>The two demographics to watch tomorrow night: Latinos and college-educated whites. And if you want to see even more stability, here are the final numbers from our weekly online <a href="" type="internal">NBC|SurveyMonkey tracking poll</a>: Clinton 47%, Trump 41%, Johnson 6%, Stein 3% -- which is unchanged from last week.</p>
<p>Another Comey bombshell: FBI clears Clinton</p>
<p>But while the race -- structurally -- has been incredibly stable, the storylines have been anything but. And yesterday we received yet another bombshell from FBI Director James Comey. <a href="" type="internal">NBC News</a>: “FBI Director James Comey said Sunday that the bureau won't change the conclusion it made in July after it examined newly revealed emails related to the Hillary Clinton probe. ‘Based on our review, we have not changed our conclusions that we expressed in July with respect to Secretary Clinton,’ Comey wrote in a letter to 16 members of Congress.” More: “A senior law enforcement official confirmed to NBC News that nearly all of the thousands of newly examined emails on [Anthony] Weiner's laptop were duplicates of emails already seen by the team investigating Clinton's server. Although some emails did forward documents previously identified as containing classified information, the review didn't change the total number of classified documents investigators found on the server.”</p>
<p>Trump on FBI outcome: “It’s a totally rigged system”</p>
<p>It’s difficult to quantify the impact that Comey’s initial letter, on Oct. 28, had on the Clinton-vs-Trump race, but it 1) certainly dominated the news environment for close to a week, 2) allowed Trump and Republicans to go on offense, and 3) forced Clinton and Democrats to play defense. But now Trump is saying that the FBI’s determination was part of a “rigged” result. “Right now, [Clinton] is being protected by a rigged system. It's a totally rigged system,” Trump said on the campaign trail yesterday. “I've been saying it for a long time. You can't review 650,000 new emails in eight days, you can’t do it, folks.” Two quick points here: One, there weren’t 650,000 Clinton-related emails; that was the number of total Weiner/Abedin emails on the computer. Two, computers certainly help to sort/verify information very quickly.</p>
<p>Clinton to release new two-minute TV ad speaking to camera</p>
<p>NBC’s Andrea Mitchell report that the Clinton campaign will release a two-minute TV ad of Clinton speaking to the camera, per a campaign official. The theme will be bringing the country together and reaching out to all voters including Trump supporters.</p>
<p>NBC/WSJ poll on the downballot situation</p>
<p>Dems hold a three-point lead on the congressional generic ballot: Yesterday’s national NBC/WSJ poll also found that Democrats were holding a three-point lead on which party likely voters preferred to Congress, 47%-44%, which is unchanged from mid-October. The poll also showed that voters, by a 51%-40%, prefer a Republican candidate who would serve to check and balance a President Clinton instead of a Democratic candidate to support her agenda.</p>
<p>First Read’s downballot race of the day: FL-7</p>
<p>Republican John Mica has been in Congress for 24 years, but recent redistricting is putting his long-held Orlando-area seat in peril. Stephanie Murphy, Vietnamese-American 38-year-old suburban mom and former Defense Department analyst, decided late in the cycle to challenge Mica after the Pulse nightclub shooting.</p>
<p>On the trail</p>
<p>Hillary Clinton campaigns in Pittsburgh, PA at noon ET, Allendale, MI at 4:00 pm ET, Philadelphia PA (with the president and first lady) at 7:30 pm ET, and finally Raleigh, NC at 11:45 pm ET… Donald Trump hits Sarasota, FL at 11:00 am ET, Raleigh at 3:00 pm ET, Scranton, PA at 5:30 pm ET, Manchester, NH at 8:00 pm ET, and Grand Rapids, MI at 11:00 pm ET… Mike Pence stumps in Minnesota, Michigan, and Pennsylvania… Tim Kaine is in North Carolina and Virginia… President Obama campaigns in Ann Arbor, MI at 11:00 am ET and in Durham, NH at 3:00 pm ET… And Vice President Joe Biden is in Florida.</p>
<p>Countdown to Election Day: 1 day</p> | 757 |
<p>Hardly a week goes by in Hollywood without some high-profile discussion about racial diversity, gender equality, and inclusion. The recent surprise announcement that 75-year-old white male cinematographer John Bailey was elected as the president of the Motion Picture Academy once again jump-started this ongoing conversation.</p>
<p>No sector of entertainment — from the membership of the Academy, to ranks of studio and network executives, to actors in films and TV shows — is immune from the debate. When it comes to the actors, while stories in the news media and social-media conversations tend to focus on lead players, the vast preponderance of faces seen in movies and television are those of background players and extras — the unidentified thesps seen in workplaces, stores and crowd scenes.</p>
<p>Enter the casting director who has the power to shape the way society is represented in films and TV shows.</p>
<p>Since casting directors deal with actors, their job is sometimes construed to be above the line. But the reality is that background players are part and parcel of the film set or location. They need to be organized within the environment of production design, dressed by costume designers, and managed by ADs and UPMs — all of which makes them an element of the below-the-line nitty gritty world of physical production.</p>
<p>But do all those background players reflect the composition of American society?</p>
<p>According to the <a href="http://variety.com/t/geena-davis-institute/" type="external">Geena Davis Institute</a> on Gender in Media, which focuses on the representation of women, “female characters are vastly underrepresented in film, and this has not changed much in the last half a century.”</p>
<p>And a recent USC Annenberg report, which discussed representation of race and ethnicity, gender, disability status, and LGBT individuals across more than 900 feature films from 2007 to 2016, concluded that “white, straight, able-bodied men remain the norm on screen in film.”</p>
<p>The board of the Casting Society of America, to which many casting directors belong, is on board with the push toward diversity. The organization considers it “vitally important that consideration is taken to make sure that the world you’re populating not only reflects the writer’s vision, but also reflects the realities of the world we live in.”</p>
<p>To achieve this goal, filmmakers may need to change some of their practices. The society notes that it is “creating a certified training program that will allow for other voices in casting rooms,” and that it is “pitching the program to studios and networks in the hopes of seeing forward-moving change in this area over the next few years.”</p>
<p>Jennifer Bender, exec VP of Central Casting of New York, understands the need for change and for equal and fair representation. “What has changed in recent years is a demand for authenticity,” she says. “Productions don’t want background talent to portray a specific role. They prefer to have real heart surgeons play heart surgeons, real gang members play gang members. We’ve been asked to find actual chemotherapy patients to work background. … We’ll go to great lengths to find the right look and feel for background talent.”</p>
<p>Vanessa Portillo, who heads up Santa Monica-based Creative Extras Casting, also speaks of the inherent need for diversity within her field. “As a woman with a multicultural background, I’ve always felt the responsibility to ensure that the projects we cast feel real,” she says.</p>
<p>As writers and directors look to connect their material to the world around them, Portillo is ready for any request. “It’s more recent that productions are becoming aware that the audience wants to resonate with the stories they are watching and see a part of themselves in these characters,” she says. “Diversity is authenticity. Keeping it real and including everyone is the best way to ensure that the audience doesn’t feel tricked or manipulated. We make every effort to bring to life the world around us.”</p>
<p>Veteran casting director Marci Liroff concurs. “Having grown up in Los Angeles, which is a melting pot of diversity, I try to cast each role in a way that resembles the world around me,” she says.</p>
<p>That kind of proactive approach can make all the difference if an audience is to make the connection between what they’re seeing on the streets and what they see on the big or small screen.</p>
<p>Casting directors Sharon Bialy and Sherry Thomas, who have worked on “Better Call Saul” and “The Walking Dead,” say: “You tell where casting directors are making the effort. For ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ we updated the world to reflect our modern reality. … Broadway’s ‘Hamilton’ has a lot to teach Hollywood about an audience’s reaction to diverse actors.”</p>
<p>Storytellers, after all, are teachers as well as entertainers.</p> | Casting Background Players and Extras Is Also Part of the Diversity Discussion | false | https://newsline.com/casting-background-players-and-extras-is-also-part-of-the-diversity-discussion/ | 2017-09-01 | 1right-center
| Casting Background Players and Extras Is Also Part of the Diversity Discussion
<p>Hardly a week goes by in Hollywood without some high-profile discussion about racial diversity, gender equality, and inclusion. The recent surprise announcement that 75-year-old white male cinematographer John Bailey was elected as the president of the Motion Picture Academy once again jump-started this ongoing conversation.</p>
<p>No sector of entertainment — from the membership of the Academy, to ranks of studio and network executives, to actors in films and TV shows — is immune from the debate. When it comes to the actors, while stories in the news media and social-media conversations tend to focus on lead players, the vast preponderance of faces seen in movies and television are those of background players and extras — the unidentified thesps seen in workplaces, stores and crowd scenes.</p>
<p>Enter the casting director who has the power to shape the way society is represented in films and TV shows.</p>
<p>Since casting directors deal with actors, their job is sometimes construed to be above the line. But the reality is that background players are part and parcel of the film set or location. They need to be organized within the environment of production design, dressed by costume designers, and managed by ADs and UPMs — all of which makes them an element of the below-the-line nitty gritty world of physical production.</p>
<p>But do all those background players reflect the composition of American society?</p>
<p>According to the <a href="http://variety.com/t/geena-davis-institute/" type="external">Geena Davis Institute</a> on Gender in Media, which focuses on the representation of women, “female characters are vastly underrepresented in film, and this has not changed much in the last half a century.”</p>
<p>And a recent USC Annenberg report, which discussed representation of race and ethnicity, gender, disability status, and LGBT individuals across more than 900 feature films from 2007 to 2016, concluded that “white, straight, able-bodied men remain the norm on screen in film.”</p>
<p>The board of the Casting Society of America, to which many casting directors belong, is on board with the push toward diversity. The organization considers it “vitally important that consideration is taken to make sure that the world you’re populating not only reflects the writer’s vision, but also reflects the realities of the world we live in.”</p>
<p>To achieve this goal, filmmakers may need to change some of their practices. The society notes that it is “creating a certified training program that will allow for other voices in casting rooms,” and that it is “pitching the program to studios and networks in the hopes of seeing forward-moving change in this area over the next few years.”</p>
<p>Jennifer Bender, exec VP of Central Casting of New York, understands the need for change and for equal and fair representation. “What has changed in recent years is a demand for authenticity,” she says. “Productions don’t want background talent to portray a specific role. They prefer to have real heart surgeons play heart surgeons, real gang members play gang members. We’ve been asked to find actual chemotherapy patients to work background. … We’ll go to great lengths to find the right look and feel for background talent.”</p>
<p>Vanessa Portillo, who heads up Santa Monica-based Creative Extras Casting, also speaks of the inherent need for diversity within her field. “As a woman with a multicultural background, I’ve always felt the responsibility to ensure that the projects we cast feel real,” she says.</p>
<p>As writers and directors look to connect their material to the world around them, Portillo is ready for any request. “It’s more recent that productions are becoming aware that the audience wants to resonate with the stories they are watching and see a part of themselves in these characters,” she says. “Diversity is authenticity. Keeping it real and including everyone is the best way to ensure that the audience doesn’t feel tricked or manipulated. We make every effort to bring to life the world around us.”</p>
<p>Veteran casting director Marci Liroff concurs. “Having grown up in Los Angeles, which is a melting pot of diversity, I try to cast each role in a way that resembles the world around me,” she says.</p>
<p>That kind of proactive approach can make all the difference if an audience is to make the connection between what they’re seeing on the streets and what they see on the big or small screen.</p>
<p>Casting directors Sharon Bialy and Sherry Thomas, who have worked on “Better Call Saul” and “The Walking Dead,” say: “You tell where casting directors are making the effort. For ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ we updated the world to reflect our modern reality. … Broadway’s ‘Hamilton’ has a lot to teach Hollywood about an audience’s reaction to diverse actors.”</p>
<p>Storytellers, after all, are teachers as well as entertainers.</p> | 758 |
<p>The FBI has revealed that it has found some 30 pages of documentation concerning the Clinton-Lynch tarmac meeting.</p>
<p>Last year,&#160;the Bureau insisted when questioned by the watchdog group Judicial Watch that it had no records relating to the June 2016 Phoenix airport meeting between former President Bill Clinton and former Attorney General Loretta Lynch.</p>
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<p>The meeting occurred at a time when the Justice Department was investigating Hillary Clinton’s misuse of a personal server for handling classified emails.</p>
<p>In August of this year, the American Center for Law and Justice, headed by attorney Jay Sekulow,&#160;released emails they obtained that had been exchanged between the FBI and the Department of Justice containing information about the tarmac meeting.</p>
<p>Breaking news updates and daily headlines from a news source you can trust.</p>
<p>After those emails were released, the FBI acknowledged that it did in fact retain documentation concerning the controversial meeting.</p>
<p>Judicial Watch, employing the Freedom of Information Act, is giving the FBI until the end of November to release the documents.</p>
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<p><a href="http://dailycaller.com/2017/10/13/fbi-finds-new-documents-about-clinton-lynch-tarmac-meeting/" type="external">The Daily Caller</a> reports:</p>
<p>After the release of those documents, the FBI acknowledged that it had possession of some records related to the meeting. The bureau’s attorneys informed Judicial Watch that, “Upon further review, we subsequently determined potentially responsive documents may exist.”</p>
<p>It is unclear what documents about the tarmac meeting the FBI has in its possession, but Judicial Watch president Tom Fitton calls the FBI’s new disclosure “stunning.”</p>
<p>“The FBI is out of control,”&#160; <a href="https://www.judicialwatch.org/press-room/press-releases/fbi-finds-30-pages-clinton-lynch-tarmac-meeting-documents-wants-six-weeks-turn-docs/" type="external">Fitton said in a statement</a>.</p>
<p>“It is stunning that the FBI ‘found’ these Clinton-Lynch tarmac records only after we caught the agency hiding them in another lawsuit.”</p>
<p>“Judicial Watch will continue to press for answers about the FBI’s document games in court. In the meantime, the FBI should stop the stonewall and release these new records immediately,” he added.</p>
<p>The FBI has until Nov. 30 to hand the newly discovered documents over to Judicial Watch.</p>
<p>The FBI’s document disclosure comes at an inconvenient time for Loretta Lynch. She’ll be interviewed by Congressional committee members next week. Now that the FBI will soon be handing over documents, she’ll need to keep that in mind if she’s questioned about the tarmac meeting.</p>
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<p>As the committee investigates potential Russian involvement in the US presidential campaigns and the firing of ex-FBI Director James Comey, Lynch will need to be careful about what she tells the committee, considering the upcoming document release.</p>
<p>Lynch encouraged Comey to call the FBI’s probe on the Clinton email controversy a “matter” instead of a criminal investigation.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4975706/Loretta-Lynch-questioned-tarmac-meeting.html" type="external">Daily Mail</a> reports:</p>
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<p>President&#160;Obama’s Attorney General Loretta Lynch will meet with members of the Congressional committees probing Russian interference next week,&#160; <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2017/10/12/politics/loretta-lynch-committee-meetings/" type="external">CNN has learned</a>.</p>
<p>Lynch will sit down with lawmakers from the House and Senate Intelligence Committee and may meet with members of the Senate Judiciary Committee as well.</p>
<p>The ex-attorney general will likely be queried about her infamous tarmac meeting with former President Bill Clinton, a gathering that cast a cloud over the executive branch’s investigation into&#160; <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/hillary_clinton/index.html" type="external">Hillary Clinton</a>‘s emails and compelled FBI Director James Comey to hold an unprecedented presser, to say the former secretary of state wouldn’t be fired.</p>
<p>In June, when Comey publicly sat before the Senate Intelligence Committee, to testify about his firing by President Trump, which he said was because of the FBI’s Russia probe, the ex-FBI leader also explained how Lynch’s behavior compelled him to make certain decisions in the handling of the Clinton probe.</p>
<p>The tarmac meeting was the final straw.</p>
<p>Comey said he decided he needed to hold a press conference and announce that the FBI would recommend to the Justice Department that no charges be filed to ‘protect the credibility of the investigation.’</p>
<p>Prior to that, he was bothered when Lynch told him to call the Clinton investigation a ‘matter’ instead of an actual criminal probe, which it was.</p>
<p>‘At one point, the attorney general had directed me not to call it an investigation but instead to call it a matter, which confused me and concerned me,’ Comey testified. ‘That was one of the bricks in the load that led me to conclude I have to step away from the department if we’re to close this case credibly.’</p>
<p>If Lynch is questioned on the tarmac meeting, she’ll have to remember that soon-to-be released documents could contradict her answers if she tries to cover anything up.</p>
<p>Americans wait for what should prove to be an interesting dialogue at Lynch’s upcoming meeting with the Congressional committee.</p>
<p>What do you think? Scroll down to comment below.</p> | FBI Acknowledges Existence of Documents Concerning Clinton-Lynch Tarmac Meeting | true | http://thefederalistpapers.org/us/fbi-acknowledges-existence-documents-concerning-clinton-lynch-tarmac-meeting | 0right
| FBI Acknowledges Existence of Documents Concerning Clinton-Lynch Tarmac Meeting
<p>The FBI has revealed that it has found some 30 pages of documentation concerning the Clinton-Lynch tarmac meeting.</p>
<p>Last year,&#160;the Bureau insisted when questioned by the watchdog group Judicial Watch that it had no records relating to the June 2016 Phoenix airport meeting between former President Bill Clinton and former Attorney General Loretta Lynch.</p>
<p>Advertisement - story continues below</p>
<p>The meeting occurred at a time when the Justice Department was investigating Hillary Clinton’s misuse of a personal server for handling classified emails.</p>
<p>In August of this year, the American Center for Law and Justice, headed by attorney Jay Sekulow,&#160;released emails they obtained that had been exchanged between the FBI and the Department of Justice containing information about the tarmac meeting.</p>
<p>Breaking news updates and daily headlines from a news source you can trust.</p>
<p>After those emails were released, the FBI acknowledged that it did in fact retain documentation concerning the controversial meeting.</p>
<p>Judicial Watch, employing the Freedom of Information Act, is giving the FBI until the end of November to release the documents.</p>
<p>Advertisement - story continues below</p>
<p><a href="http://dailycaller.com/2017/10/13/fbi-finds-new-documents-about-clinton-lynch-tarmac-meeting/" type="external">The Daily Caller</a> reports:</p>
<p>After the release of those documents, the FBI acknowledged that it had possession of some records related to the meeting. The bureau’s attorneys informed Judicial Watch that, “Upon further review, we subsequently determined potentially responsive documents may exist.”</p>
<p>It is unclear what documents about the tarmac meeting the FBI has in its possession, but Judicial Watch president Tom Fitton calls the FBI’s new disclosure “stunning.”</p>
<p>“The FBI is out of control,”&#160; <a href="https://www.judicialwatch.org/press-room/press-releases/fbi-finds-30-pages-clinton-lynch-tarmac-meeting-documents-wants-six-weeks-turn-docs/" type="external">Fitton said in a statement</a>.</p>
<p>“It is stunning that the FBI ‘found’ these Clinton-Lynch tarmac records only after we caught the agency hiding them in another lawsuit.”</p>
<p>“Judicial Watch will continue to press for answers about the FBI’s document games in court. In the meantime, the FBI should stop the stonewall and release these new records immediately,” he added.</p>
<p>The FBI has until Nov. 30 to hand the newly discovered documents over to Judicial Watch.</p>
<p>The FBI’s document disclosure comes at an inconvenient time for Loretta Lynch. She’ll be interviewed by Congressional committee members next week. Now that the FBI will soon be handing over documents, she’ll need to keep that in mind if she’s questioned about the tarmac meeting.</p>
<p>Advertisement - story continues below</p>
<p>As the committee investigates potential Russian involvement in the US presidential campaigns and the firing of ex-FBI Director James Comey, Lynch will need to be careful about what she tells the committee, considering the upcoming document release.</p>
<p>Lynch encouraged Comey to call the FBI’s probe on the Clinton email controversy a “matter” instead of a criminal investigation.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4975706/Loretta-Lynch-questioned-tarmac-meeting.html" type="external">Daily Mail</a> reports:</p>
<p>Advertisement - story continues below</p>
<p>President&#160;Obama’s Attorney General Loretta Lynch will meet with members of the Congressional committees probing Russian interference next week,&#160; <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2017/10/12/politics/loretta-lynch-committee-meetings/" type="external">CNN has learned</a>.</p>
<p>Lynch will sit down with lawmakers from the House and Senate Intelligence Committee and may meet with members of the Senate Judiciary Committee as well.</p>
<p>The ex-attorney general will likely be queried about her infamous tarmac meeting with former President Bill Clinton, a gathering that cast a cloud over the executive branch’s investigation into&#160; <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/hillary_clinton/index.html" type="external">Hillary Clinton</a>‘s emails and compelled FBI Director James Comey to hold an unprecedented presser, to say the former secretary of state wouldn’t be fired.</p>
<p>In June, when Comey publicly sat before the Senate Intelligence Committee, to testify about his firing by President Trump, which he said was because of the FBI’s Russia probe, the ex-FBI leader also explained how Lynch’s behavior compelled him to make certain decisions in the handling of the Clinton probe.</p>
<p>The tarmac meeting was the final straw.</p>
<p>Comey said he decided he needed to hold a press conference and announce that the FBI would recommend to the Justice Department that no charges be filed to ‘protect the credibility of the investigation.’</p>
<p>Prior to that, he was bothered when Lynch told him to call the Clinton investigation a ‘matter’ instead of an actual criminal probe, which it was.</p>
<p>‘At one point, the attorney general had directed me not to call it an investigation but instead to call it a matter, which confused me and concerned me,’ Comey testified. ‘That was one of the bricks in the load that led me to conclude I have to step away from the department if we’re to close this case credibly.’</p>
<p>If Lynch is questioned on the tarmac meeting, she’ll have to remember that soon-to-be released documents could contradict her answers if she tries to cover anything up.</p>
<p>Americans wait for what should prove to be an interesting dialogue at Lynch’s upcoming meeting with the Congressional committee.</p>
<p>What do you think? Scroll down to comment below.</p> | 759 |
|
<p>Zimbabwe would seem an unlikely stage for stand-up comedy.&#160;Its economy has pretty much collapsed and&#160;poverty and unemployment are endemic. More to the point, there's <a href="http://www.news24.com/Africa/Zimbabwe/Law-protecting-Mugabe-from-insults-must-stay-Zim-vice-president-20150416" type="external">&#160;a law that makes it a crime to insult the president</a>, 91-year-old Robert Mugabe, the only leader Zimbabwe has had since it became independent in 1980.</p>
<p>But Zimbabwean stand-up comic Doc Vikela says that's exactly what makes his country fertile ground for comedy. &#160;</p>
<p>"I think every society has got the urge to laugh at themselves by pointing out the absurd things they think are normal." But it's more than that. Doc Vikela says comedy is providing an outlet for Zimbabweans' tired of their country's woes. "What's happening is that it's a new kind of thing that people are beginning to enjoy, because it talks about things that they want to talk about but they can't."</p>
<p>But what about that law that bans presidential insults? Though challenged in court, it was passed in 1987 and has been used over the years to silence Mugabe's critics.&#160;In 2013, just before presidential elections, an opposition figure was jailed after calling President Mugabe a "tired donkey".</p>
<p>Doc Vikela is not deterred.&#160;"When we make jokes about politics, we are not insulting politics, we are not invoking politics, we are not taking sides. We are saying, have you thought about it this way?" Take this Doc Vikela&#160;joke, an indirect jab at Mugabe for his excessively long presidential tenure.&#160;"Zimbabweans, for all our achievements in literacy — we have a 99.9995 percent literacy rate — we are the only country that will fail to answer a simple question: Who is your former president?"&#160;</p>
<p>Doc Vikela isn't exactly sure why he gets away with it.&#160;"I think that question is answering itself because I'm alive. I don't know. I can't even explain it to myself. I'm telling you, we as comedians are imitating [Mugabe] every day, his voice even, at events where there are government people. And they laugh. So at the end of the day, we are saying, maybe we are now using comedy as a tool to unite people in Zimbabwe, a tool to soften people's minds and hearts."</p>
<p>Before he turned to stand-up,&#160;Doc Vikela worked in sales and taught school, while dabbling in comedy&#160;on the side. Five years ago, he decided to quit his day job and do stand-up full time. He was inspired by the huge growth in comedy worldwide, especially in South Africa and the United States.&#160;"I said to myself, I need to do comedy more because if it's thriving out there, we can push it to become a thriving market in Zimbabwe."&#160;</p>
<p>Stand-up is new in Zimbabwe, so Doc Vikela and fellow comedian <a href="https://www.newsday.co.zw/2015/05/30/moments-of-laughter-at-alliance-francaise/" type="external">Simba the Comic King</a>&#160;developed a comedy brand&#160;called&#160; <a href="http://www.sundaymail.co.zw/?p=20683" type="external">Simuka Comedy</a>.&#160;Doc Vikela uses it to&#160;nurture&#160;new talent and wants to&#160;eventually export&#160;Zimbabwean comedy.&#160;"It's just a matter of time before the Doc Vikela phenomenom takes Zimbabwean comedy to the world. That's what we always aim for, that our comedy teaches the world about Zimbabwe." Simuka Comedy now puts on four comedy shows&#160;a month in the capital Harare and has 10 comedians working full time&#160;in stand-up. To date,&#160;they've not been harassed by the government officials.&#160;"They actually call us for events because they realize we are part of Zimbabwe and if we don't joke about this, who will? "</p>
<p />
<p>The doctor is in! Zimbabwean comedian Doc Vikela performing in his white coat with stethoscope.&#160;</p>
<p>Courtesy Doc Vikela</p>
<p>Doc Vikela says his career is growing strong.&#160;He's already performed in South Africa and other foreign markets (though he won't yet say which) are showing interest.&#160;"I think I'm one of those young Zimbabweans who have taught themselves to dream. You know the cheapest thing in life is dreaming."</p> | So, there's this stand-up comedian in Zimbabwe. Really — this is no joke | false | https://pri.org/stories/2015-06-08/so-theres-stand-comedian-zimbabwe-really-no-joke | 2015-06-08 | 3left-center
| So, there's this stand-up comedian in Zimbabwe. Really — this is no joke
<p>Zimbabwe would seem an unlikely stage for stand-up comedy.&#160;Its economy has pretty much collapsed and&#160;poverty and unemployment are endemic. More to the point, there's <a href="http://www.news24.com/Africa/Zimbabwe/Law-protecting-Mugabe-from-insults-must-stay-Zim-vice-president-20150416" type="external">&#160;a law that makes it a crime to insult the president</a>, 91-year-old Robert Mugabe, the only leader Zimbabwe has had since it became independent in 1980.</p>
<p>But Zimbabwean stand-up comic Doc Vikela says that's exactly what makes his country fertile ground for comedy. &#160;</p>
<p>"I think every society has got the urge to laugh at themselves by pointing out the absurd things they think are normal." But it's more than that. Doc Vikela says comedy is providing an outlet for Zimbabweans' tired of their country's woes. "What's happening is that it's a new kind of thing that people are beginning to enjoy, because it talks about things that they want to talk about but they can't."</p>
<p>But what about that law that bans presidential insults? Though challenged in court, it was passed in 1987 and has been used over the years to silence Mugabe's critics.&#160;In 2013, just before presidential elections, an opposition figure was jailed after calling President Mugabe a "tired donkey".</p>
<p>Doc Vikela is not deterred.&#160;"When we make jokes about politics, we are not insulting politics, we are not invoking politics, we are not taking sides. We are saying, have you thought about it this way?" Take this Doc Vikela&#160;joke, an indirect jab at Mugabe for his excessively long presidential tenure.&#160;"Zimbabweans, for all our achievements in literacy — we have a 99.9995 percent literacy rate — we are the only country that will fail to answer a simple question: Who is your former president?"&#160;</p>
<p>Doc Vikela isn't exactly sure why he gets away with it.&#160;"I think that question is answering itself because I'm alive. I don't know. I can't even explain it to myself. I'm telling you, we as comedians are imitating [Mugabe] every day, his voice even, at events where there are government people. And they laugh. So at the end of the day, we are saying, maybe we are now using comedy as a tool to unite people in Zimbabwe, a tool to soften people's minds and hearts."</p>
<p>Before he turned to stand-up,&#160;Doc Vikela worked in sales and taught school, while dabbling in comedy&#160;on the side. Five years ago, he decided to quit his day job and do stand-up full time. He was inspired by the huge growth in comedy worldwide, especially in South Africa and the United States.&#160;"I said to myself, I need to do comedy more because if it's thriving out there, we can push it to become a thriving market in Zimbabwe."&#160;</p>
<p>Stand-up is new in Zimbabwe, so Doc Vikela and fellow comedian <a href="https://www.newsday.co.zw/2015/05/30/moments-of-laughter-at-alliance-francaise/" type="external">Simba the Comic King</a>&#160;developed a comedy brand&#160;called&#160; <a href="http://www.sundaymail.co.zw/?p=20683" type="external">Simuka Comedy</a>.&#160;Doc Vikela uses it to&#160;nurture&#160;new talent and wants to&#160;eventually export&#160;Zimbabwean comedy.&#160;"It's just a matter of time before the Doc Vikela phenomenom takes Zimbabwean comedy to the world. That's what we always aim for, that our comedy teaches the world about Zimbabwe." Simuka Comedy now puts on four comedy shows&#160;a month in the capital Harare and has 10 comedians working full time&#160;in stand-up. To date,&#160;they've not been harassed by the government officials.&#160;"They actually call us for events because they realize we are part of Zimbabwe and if we don't joke about this, who will? "</p>
<p />
<p>The doctor is in! Zimbabwean comedian Doc Vikela performing in his white coat with stethoscope.&#160;</p>
<p>Courtesy Doc Vikela</p>
<p>Doc Vikela says his career is growing strong.&#160;He's already performed in South Africa and other foreign markets (though he won't yet say which) are showing interest.&#160;"I think I'm one of those young Zimbabweans who have taught themselves to dream. You know the cheapest thing in life is dreaming."</p> | 760 |
<p>Intense regulatory scrutiny is expected for the United Tech and Rockwell tie-up</p>
<p>This article is being republished as part of our daily reproduction of WSJ.com articles that also appeared in the U.S. print edition of The Wall Street Journal (September 15, 2017).</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Questions are surfacing over how antitrust authorities will treat the tie-up between United Technologies Corp. and Rockwell Collins Inc. amid a broader debate over whether the combination will drive up costs in the aerospace industry.</p>
<p>Regulators, especially in Europe, are likely to be sensitive to the repercussions from the proposed takeover, announced last week, because it represents a culmination of years of smaller-scale consolidation. United Technologies agreed to purchase Rockwell Collins for $23 billion in the biggest all-aerospace deal in history, creating a powerhouse making everything from cockpit electronics to landing gear and engines.</p>
<p>Share-price moves since the deal's announcement indicate investors are putting a 70% probability on the transaction closing as planned by the third quarter of 2018. Rockwell Collins' stock on Wednesday traded around $131, below United Technologies' offer price of $140 a share in both cash and stock.</p>
<p>Industry experts say Europe's antitrust watchdog represents the biggest potential obstacle to the deal. There is relatively little overlap between the two companies -- which would have combined annual aerospace revenues of $40 billion a year -- in terms of products manufactured, a primary focus of regulators in the U.S. Other countries take nontangible considerations, such as the extent of a company's dominance in a sector or segment of a supply chain, into account.</p>
<p>"If there is an issue, we expect it would be in Europe and/or China, because scope, rather than just scale, matters," said Sanford C. Bernstein &amp; Co. analyst Doug Harned.</p>
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<p>Experts are drawing parallels between the United Technologies-Rockwell Collins deal and the planned combination of Honeywell International Inc. and General Electric Co., which the European Commission blocked in 2001. The commission's rationale was that the deal would stifle competition.</p>
<p>United Technologies Chief Executive Greg Hayes said last week that the companies don't expect antitrust problems given that there are only a "few hundred million dollars" in product overlap. This includes cabin interior and lighting products.</p>
<p>United Technologies and Rockwell Collins may make few of the same parts, but could leverage their combined buying power to squeeze their own suppliers and demand higher prices from Airbus SE and Boeing Co., as well as airlines. Mr. Harned said this could attract the European regulator's attention.</p>
<p>The deal requires approval from 17 regulators, reflecting the global nature of the aerospace industry. Each regulator has its own set of priorities.</p>
<p>Attention is also on China, whose regulators are becoming a more important factor in aerospace deals. The country accounts for around 20% of Boeing and Airbus orders, and is also developing its own commercial airliners.</p>
<p>Last year, Honeywell's high-profile bid for United Technologies didn't move forward, in part because United Technologies executives didn't think a deal would pass antitrust muster.</p>
<p>Plane makers, concerned about the clout of a super-supplier, objected to that potential combination and already have voiced opposition to the latest one.</p>
<p>Boeing quickly came out against United Technologies' proposed takeover of Rockwell Collins. "We remain skeptical whether that's going to add value for us," Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg said at an investor conference on Wednesday.</p>
<p>The world's biggest plane maker has questioned whether the deal would benefit customers and threatened to explore regulatory options and review existing contracts with the two companies. Boeing plans to examine whether the deal is inconsistent with "the long-term health and competitiveness of the aerospace industry supply chain."</p>
<p>Airbus and Boeing are pressuring suppliers to cut costs, manufacturing more parts in house and chasing the lucrative repair business. That is encouraging deal making among smaller firms.</p>
<p>Industry experts said the purchase of Rockwell Collins -- if approved by antitrust officials -- could trigger a round of deals among larger companies that could help spur the creation of a counterweight to Airbus and Boeing.</p>
<p>"I think this will be the start of more consolidation," said David Gale, head of North American industrial mergers and acquisitions at Ernst &amp; Young LLP. "It's going to force others to broaden their products and services."</p>
<p>The number of transactions in the sector has already climbed over the past two years. More than 100 aerospace and defense deals were tracked in three of the past four quarters, according to Janes Capital Partners LLP. Deals numbered around 70 a quarter over the prior two years.</p>
<p>"The two groups forming in front of us are [United Technologies] and Honeywell," said Lou Peluso, a consultant at AlixPartners LLP. "They're going to start sucking up stuff. It's a bit of a land grab."</p>
<p>Corrections &amp; Amplifications A previous caption for a photo with this article mislabeled the Boeing 747-8 freighter airplane as a 787-8. (Sept. 14)</p>
<p>Write to Doug Cameron at doug.cameron@wsj.com</p>
<p>(END) Dow Jones Newswires</p>
<p>September 15, 2017 02:47 ET (06:47 GMT)</p> | Deal Poses Antitrust Issues -- WSJ | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2017/09/15/deal-poses-antitrust-issues-wsj.html | 2017-09-15 | 0right
| Deal Poses Antitrust Issues -- WSJ
<p>Intense regulatory scrutiny is expected for the United Tech and Rockwell tie-up</p>
<p>This article is being republished as part of our daily reproduction of WSJ.com articles that also appeared in the U.S. print edition of The Wall Street Journal (September 15, 2017).</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Questions are surfacing over how antitrust authorities will treat the tie-up between United Technologies Corp. and Rockwell Collins Inc. amid a broader debate over whether the combination will drive up costs in the aerospace industry.</p>
<p>Regulators, especially in Europe, are likely to be sensitive to the repercussions from the proposed takeover, announced last week, because it represents a culmination of years of smaller-scale consolidation. United Technologies agreed to purchase Rockwell Collins for $23 billion in the biggest all-aerospace deal in history, creating a powerhouse making everything from cockpit electronics to landing gear and engines.</p>
<p>Share-price moves since the deal's announcement indicate investors are putting a 70% probability on the transaction closing as planned by the third quarter of 2018. Rockwell Collins' stock on Wednesday traded around $131, below United Technologies' offer price of $140 a share in both cash and stock.</p>
<p>Industry experts say Europe's antitrust watchdog represents the biggest potential obstacle to the deal. There is relatively little overlap between the two companies -- which would have combined annual aerospace revenues of $40 billion a year -- in terms of products manufactured, a primary focus of regulators in the U.S. Other countries take nontangible considerations, such as the extent of a company's dominance in a sector or segment of a supply chain, into account.</p>
<p>"If there is an issue, we expect it would be in Europe and/or China, because scope, rather than just scale, matters," said Sanford C. Bernstein &amp; Co. analyst Doug Harned.</p>
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<p>Experts are drawing parallels between the United Technologies-Rockwell Collins deal and the planned combination of Honeywell International Inc. and General Electric Co., which the European Commission blocked in 2001. The commission's rationale was that the deal would stifle competition.</p>
<p>United Technologies Chief Executive Greg Hayes said last week that the companies don't expect antitrust problems given that there are only a "few hundred million dollars" in product overlap. This includes cabin interior and lighting products.</p>
<p>United Technologies and Rockwell Collins may make few of the same parts, but could leverage their combined buying power to squeeze their own suppliers and demand higher prices from Airbus SE and Boeing Co., as well as airlines. Mr. Harned said this could attract the European regulator's attention.</p>
<p>The deal requires approval from 17 regulators, reflecting the global nature of the aerospace industry. Each regulator has its own set of priorities.</p>
<p>Attention is also on China, whose regulators are becoming a more important factor in aerospace deals. The country accounts for around 20% of Boeing and Airbus orders, and is also developing its own commercial airliners.</p>
<p>Last year, Honeywell's high-profile bid for United Technologies didn't move forward, in part because United Technologies executives didn't think a deal would pass antitrust muster.</p>
<p>Plane makers, concerned about the clout of a super-supplier, objected to that potential combination and already have voiced opposition to the latest one.</p>
<p>Boeing quickly came out against United Technologies' proposed takeover of Rockwell Collins. "We remain skeptical whether that's going to add value for us," Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg said at an investor conference on Wednesday.</p>
<p>The world's biggest plane maker has questioned whether the deal would benefit customers and threatened to explore regulatory options and review existing contracts with the two companies. Boeing plans to examine whether the deal is inconsistent with "the long-term health and competitiveness of the aerospace industry supply chain."</p>
<p>Airbus and Boeing are pressuring suppliers to cut costs, manufacturing more parts in house and chasing the lucrative repair business. That is encouraging deal making among smaller firms.</p>
<p>Industry experts said the purchase of Rockwell Collins -- if approved by antitrust officials -- could trigger a round of deals among larger companies that could help spur the creation of a counterweight to Airbus and Boeing.</p>
<p>"I think this will be the start of more consolidation," said David Gale, head of North American industrial mergers and acquisitions at Ernst &amp; Young LLP. "It's going to force others to broaden their products and services."</p>
<p>The number of transactions in the sector has already climbed over the past two years. More than 100 aerospace and defense deals were tracked in three of the past four quarters, according to Janes Capital Partners LLP. Deals numbered around 70 a quarter over the prior two years.</p>
<p>"The two groups forming in front of us are [United Technologies] and Honeywell," said Lou Peluso, a consultant at AlixPartners LLP. "They're going to start sucking up stuff. It's a bit of a land grab."</p>
<p>Corrections &amp; Amplifications A previous caption for a photo with this article mislabeled the Boeing 747-8 freighter airplane as a 787-8. (Sept. 14)</p>
<p>Write to Doug Cameron at doug.cameron@wsj.com</p>
<p>(END) Dow Jones Newswires</p>
<p>September 15, 2017 02:47 ET (06:47 GMT)</p> | 761 |
<p>Gen. John Abizaid, head of U.S. Central Command and the military chief of the Iraq fiasco, will retire in March. Though officials say Abizaid tendered his retirement before Rumsfeld was pushed out, <a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/la-na-generals20dec20,0,6641252.story" type="external">his departure</a> will allow Defense Secretary Robert Gates and President Bush more flexibility in their Iraq makeover, as Abizaid has been a dogged opponent of increasing troop levels.</p>
<p>Los Angeles Times:</p>
<p>Abizaid has been the primary architect of U.S. military strategy in Iraq and Afghanistan since becoming head of the U.S. Central Command more than three years ago. He has strenuously resisted calls to increase troop levels to quell rising violence in Baghdad, arguing it would increase Iraqi dependence on Americans.</p>
<p>But a growing number of current and former officers have embraced the idea, some of whom have briefed President Bush as part of his monthlong review of Iraq policy, and the White House is believed to be considering the move.</p>
<p />
<p>“If you’re going to change the strategy, in fairness to [Abizaid], let him go,” said a former senior Pentagon official who has worked closely with the general. “He’s given it all he’s got, in terms of personal sacrifice.”</p>
<p>Abizaid’s planned departure clears the way for new Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates to recommend his own commander, a decision current and former Defense officials say is nearly as important as the new administration strategy expected to be unveiled by Bush in January.</p>
<p>These officials said Gates faces a clear choice between generals who have agreed with Abizaid’s push to quickly hand over security responsibilities to Iraqi forces and a small but increasingly influential coterie of officers backing a more aggressive U.S.-led counterinsurgency campaign.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/la-na-generals20dec20,0,6641252.story" type="external">Read more</a></p> | Top U.S. General Will Step Down | true | https://truthdig.com/articles/top-u-s-general-will-step-down/ | 2006-12-21 | 4left
| Top U.S. General Will Step Down
<p>Gen. John Abizaid, head of U.S. Central Command and the military chief of the Iraq fiasco, will retire in March. Though officials say Abizaid tendered his retirement before Rumsfeld was pushed out, <a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/la-na-generals20dec20,0,6641252.story" type="external">his departure</a> will allow Defense Secretary Robert Gates and President Bush more flexibility in their Iraq makeover, as Abizaid has been a dogged opponent of increasing troop levels.</p>
<p>Los Angeles Times:</p>
<p>Abizaid has been the primary architect of U.S. military strategy in Iraq and Afghanistan since becoming head of the U.S. Central Command more than three years ago. He has strenuously resisted calls to increase troop levels to quell rising violence in Baghdad, arguing it would increase Iraqi dependence on Americans.</p>
<p>But a growing number of current and former officers have embraced the idea, some of whom have briefed President Bush as part of his monthlong review of Iraq policy, and the White House is believed to be considering the move.</p>
<p />
<p>“If you’re going to change the strategy, in fairness to [Abizaid], let him go,” said a former senior Pentagon official who has worked closely with the general. “He’s given it all he’s got, in terms of personal sacrifice.”</p>
<p>Abizaid’s planned departure clears the way for new Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates to recommend his own commander, a decision current and former Defense officials say is nearly as important as the new administration strategy expected to be unveiled by Bush in January.</p>
<p>These officials said Gates faces a clear choice between generals who have agreed with Abizaid’s push to quickly hand over security responsibilities to Iraqi forces and a small but increasingly influential coterie of officers backing a more aggressive U.S.-led counterinsurgency campaign.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/la-na-generals20dec20,0,6641252.story" type="external">Read more</a></p> | 762 |
<p>Best Buy's fiscal second-quarter results handily beat analysts' estimates as shoppers picked up major appliances, large screen televisions and mobile phones.</p>
<p>The stock surged more than 11 percent in premarket trading Tuesday.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>For the three months ended Aug. 1, Best Buy Co. earned $164 million, or 46 cents per share. A year earlier the Richfield, Minnesota-based company earned $146 million, or 42 cents per share.</p>
<p>Removing certain items, earnings were 49 cents per share.</p>
<p>The results easily topped Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of 14 analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 34 cents per share.</p>
<p>The consumer electronics retailer's revenue climbed to $8.53 billion from $8.46 billion, also surpassing Wall Street forecasts. Ten analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $8.3 billion.</p>
<p>Strength in the domestic segment helped to offset weakness in the international unit, which was hampered by store closures in Canada, ongoing softness in the Canadian consumer electronics industry and a stronger dollar.</p>
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<p>Online sales rose 17 percent.</p>
<p>Shares of Best Buy gained $3.43, or 11.7 percent, to $32.70 before the market open.</p>
<p>_____</p>
<p>Elements of this story were generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on BBY at http://www.zacks.com/ap/BBY</p>
<p>_____</p>
<p>Keywords: Best Buy, Earnings Report</p> | Best Buy 2Q results top Street as consumers purchase major appliances, mobile phones | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2015/08/25/best-buy-2q-results-top-street-as-consumers-purchase-major-appliances-mobile.html | 2016-03-05 | 0right
| Best Buy 2Q results top Street as consumers purchase major appliances, mobile phones
<p>Best Buy's fiscal second-quarter results handily beat analysts' estimates as shoppers picked up major appliances, large screen televisions and mobile phones.</p>
<p>The stock surged more than 11 percent in premarket trading Tuesday.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>For the three months ended Aug. 1, Best Buy Co. earned $164 million, or 46 cents per share. A year earlier the Richfield, Minnesota-based company earned $146 million, or 42 cents per share.</p>
<p>Removing certain items, earnings were 49 cents per share.</p>
<p>The results easily topped Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of 14 analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 34 cents per share.</p>
<p>The consumer electronics retailer's revenue climbed to $8.53 billion from $8.46 billion, also surpassing Wall Street forecasts. Ten analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $8.3 billion.</p>
<p>Strength in the domestic segment helped to offset weakness in the international unit, which was hampered by store closures in Canada, ongoing softness in the Canadian consumer electronics industry and a stronger dollar.</p>
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<p>Online sales rose 17 percent.</p>
<p>Shares of Best Buy gained $3.43, or 11.7 percent, to $32.70 before the market open.</p>
<p>_____</p>
<p>Elements of this story were generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on BBY at http://www.zacks.com/ap/BBY</p>
<p>_____</p>
<p>Keywords: Best Buy, Earnings Report</p> | 763 |
<p />
<p>Like many veterans, Carlos Aguirre says he struggled to adjust to civilian life after serving in the U.S. Marine Corps for six years.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Aguirre, who received a Purple Heart after getting struck by an enemy sniper while serving in Iraq, says an interest in dog training – sparked by his platoon’s affiliation with a K9 unit – helped him get through a tough time after separating from the Marines.</p>
<p>“Dog training got me out of that rut of not wanting to do anything, and trying to stay away from people. Dog training definitely saved my life,” says Aguirre, who says many veterans think of themselves as invincible.</p>
<p>“As much as we cover ourselves up, we’re hurting inside. &#160;It’s important to be able to accept the things that happened and not let them hinder you,” says Aguirre.</p>
<p>Today, Aguirre has turned his love of dogs into a growing business: Wolf’s Lair K9, a dog training company based in Northbrook, Illinois specializing in retraining aggressive dogs.</p>
<p>“We’re well known for ‘last chance dogs’ – dogs that are too aggressive or nobody else is going to take in. We’ve rehabbed and changed around a lot of dogs,” says Aguirre. The company also does normal obedience training for puppies, working closely one-on-one with owners to produce well-trained companions.</p>
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<p>While the company is only one year old, Aguirre says he’s already planning to expand and add full-time employees. Over the course of a week, Wolf’s Lair K9 works with anywhere from 25 to 50 dogs.</p>
<p>“The really cool thing about dog training is it’s not just a product – we get to know our clients and how they think,” says Aguirre.</p>
<p>Now that Aguirre’s survived the first year of business ownership, he has some crucial pieces of advice for entrepreneurs looking to grow their businesses.</p>
<p>“As soon as somebody sends you an email, contact them right away – even if it’s late at night,” says Aguirre. And even though Aguirre says he works seven days a week, he says balance is key.</p>
<p>“Find time for yourself, so you don’t burn out,” he says.</p> | Purple Heart Recipient Finds New Calling Training Dogs | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2013/11/11/purple-heart-recipient-finds-new-calling-training-dogs.html | 2016-03-04 | 0right
| Purple Heart Recipient Finds New Calling Training Dogs
<p />
<p>Like many veterans, Carlos Aguirre says he struggled to adjust to civilian life after serving in the U.S. Marine Corps for six years.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Aguirre, who received a Purple Heart after getting struck by an enemy sniper while serving in Iraq, says an interest in dog training – sparked by his platoon’s affiliation with a K9 unit – helped him get through a tough time after separating from the Marines.</p>
<p>“Dog training got me out of that rut of not wanting to do anything, and trying to stay away from people. Dog training definitely saved my life,” says Aguirre, who says many veterans think of themselves as invincible.</p>
<p>“As much as we cover ourselves up, we’re hurting inside. &#160;It’s important to be able to accept the things that happened and not let them hinder you,” says Aguirre.</p>
<p>Today, Aguirre has turned his love of dogs into a growing business: Wolf’s Lair K9, a dog training company based in Northbrook, Illinois specializing in retraining aggressive dogs.</p>
<p>“We’re well known for ‘last chance dogs’ – dogs that are too aggressive or nobody else is going to take in. We’ve rehabbed and changed around a lot of dogs,” says Aguirre. The company also does normal obedience training for puppies, working closely one-on-one with owners to produce well-trained companions.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>While the company is only one year old, Aguirre says he’s already planning to expand and add full-time employees. Over the course of a week, Wolf’s Lair K9 works with anywhere from 25 to 50 dogs.</p>
<p>“The really cool thing about dog training is it’s not just a product – we get to know our clients and how they think,” says Aguirre.</p>
<p>Now that Aguirre’s survived the first year of business ownership, he has some crucial pieces of advice for entrepreneurs looking to grow their businesses.</p>
<p>“As soon as somebody sends you an email, contact them right away – even if it’s late at night,” says Aguirre. And even though Aguirre says he works seven days a week, he says balance is key.</p>
<p>“Find time for yourself, so you don’t burn out,” he says.</p> | 764 |
<p>&lt;img class="alignright wp-image-288372" src="http://www.bizpacreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/DC-NEWS-300X71.jpg" alt="DC-NEWS 300X71" width="245" height="58" /&gt; By Casey Harper</p>
<p>Donald Trump has taken heavy fire for saying the judge presiding over his Trump University lawsuit is biased because of his Mexican heritage, but Democrats have a long history of invoking race on judicial issues.</p>
<p>Trump said U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel had&#160;“an absolute conflict” in the case because of his Mexican heritage, calling him “a hater of Donald Trump.” In the case, former students of Trump University are suing Trump alleging the school, which was supposed to teach real estate, was a ripoff. Trump has firmly denied their allegations.</p>
<p>In an interview, <a href="http://cnnpressroom.blogs.cnn.com/2016/06/03/tapper-to-trump-is-that-not-the-definition-of-racism/" type="external">CNN’s Jake Tapper</a> repeatedly questioned Trump about invoking the judge’s race saying&#160;“is that not the definition of racism?”</p>
<p>“But I don’t care if you criticize him,” Tapper told Trump in the interview. “That’s fine.&#160; You can criticize every decision.&#160; What I’m saying is if you invoke his race as a reason why he can’t do his job …”&#160;The problem is, a judge’s race is often a major factor and is acknowledged as such by the media, especially in Supreme Court appointments.</p>
<p>The Daily Caller News Foundation has compiled a list of seven&#160;times liberals invoked a judge’s race.</p>
<p>Follow Casey on <a href="https://twitter.com/CaseyHarper33" type="external">Twitter</a> and like him on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/Casey-Harper-787250418036012/" type="external">Facebook</a>.</p>
<p>Content created by <a href="http://dailycaller.com/2016/06/06/seven-times-democrats-were-overtly-racist-on-judges-before-trump/" type="external">The Daily Caller News Foundation</a> is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact <a href="mailto:licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org" type="external">licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org</a>.</p> | Seven times Democrats were overtly racist on judges before Donald Trump | true | http://bizpacreview.com/2016/06/07/seven-times-democrats-were-overtly-racist-on-judges-before-donald-trump-349340 | 2016-06-07 | 0right
| Seven times Democrats were overtly racist on judges before Donald Trump
<p>&lt;img class="alignright wp-image-288372" src="http://www.bizpacreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/DC-NEWS-300X71.jpg" alt="DC-NEWS 300X71" width="245" height="58" /&gt; By Casey Harper</p>
<p>Donald Trump has taken heavy fire for saying the judge presiding over his Trump University lawsuit is biased because of his Mexican heritage, but Democrats have a long history of invoking race on judicial issues.</p>
<p>Trump said U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel had&#160;“an absolute conflict” in the case because of his Mexican heritage, calling him “a hater of Donald Trump.” In the case, former students of Trump University are suing Trump alleging the school, which was supposed to teach real estate, was a ripoff. Trump has firmly denied their allegations.</p>
<p>In an interview, <a href="http://cnnpressroom.blogs.cnn.com/2016/06/03/tapper-to-trump-is-that-not-the-definition-of-racism/" type="external">CNN’s Jake Tapper</a> repeatedly questioned Trump about invoking the judge’s race saying&#160;“is that not the definition of racism?”</p>
<p>“But I don’t care if you criticize him,” Tapper told Trump in the interview. “That’s fine.&#160; You can criticize every decision.&#160; What I’m saying is if you invoke his race as a reason why he can’t do his job …”&#160;The problem is, a judge’s race is often a major factor and is acknowledged as such by the media, especially in Supreme Court appointments.</p>
<p>The Daily Caller News Foundation has compiled a list of seven&#160;times liberals invoked a judge’s race.</p>
<p>Follow Casey on <a href="https://twitter.com/CaseyHarper33" type="external">Twitter</a> and like him on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/Casey-Harper-787250418036012/" type="external">Facebook</a>.</p>
<p>Content created by <a href="http://dailycaller.com/2016/06/06/seven-times-democrats-were-overtly-racist-on-judges-before-trump/" type="external">The Daily Caller News Foundation</a> is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact <a href="mailto:licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org" type="external">licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org</a>.</p> | 765 |
<p />
<p>Retirement planning is all about saving money today with the expectation that whatever you sock away will be worth more when you need it to cover your costs during retirement. While there are no guarantees in the market, as long as the rules of the game remain fairly consistent, you'll have a strong framework to follow to help you accomplish your goals.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Every once in a while, though, either milestones get passed, long-term trends reach tipping points, or the rules of the game change. 2017 is no different on that front, which means that both opportunities and risks are facing you as you plan your retirement this year. Read on for three bold predictions of things to come throughout the rest of the year.</p>
<p>Image source: Getty Images.</p>
<p>Thanks to inflation adjustments over time, the amount you can contribute to your retirement plans has increased. In 2017, if you're under age 50, you can contribute up to $5,500 to an IRA and $18,000 to an employer-sponsored plan like a 401(k). That's $23,500 that can be socked away in tax-advantaged plan. If that money compounds at 9% annually -- about in line with the stock market's historical long run returns-- it will become $1.04 million in 44 years.</p>
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<p>This means that, if you're fresh out of college and able to come up with that kind of money, you can potentially become a millionaire by retirement from that one year's contribution. It's a challenge for anyone to come up with that kind of cash, and it's particularly tough for a new hire just starting out in life. Consider it a bold challenge for seniors getting ready to graduate -- and an opportunity to jump-start your financial life.</p>
<p>President Trump campaigned on preserving Social Security through economic growth rather than via direct spending, or tax changes affecting the program. Whether or not that will remain his plan in the future, the reality is that the various bills currently being tossed around Congress currently have very little chance of becoming law this year.</p>
<p>History -- <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2015/11/07/the-2016-social-security-crisis-was-temporarily-av.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">even as recently as late 2015 Opens a New Window.</a>, when the most recent patch made it through the system -- suggests that Social Security's standing as the "Third Rail" of American politics remains intact. Proposed changes that either cut or reduce the rate of growth of the program are frequently greeted with charges of "throwing granny off the cliff." Changes that increase taxes are decried as economically destructive.</p>
<p>The net result is that any reform ideas -- even good ones -- typically can't get traction until the only alternative is the massive benefit cuts that come from the trust funds emptying. Then, and only then, will lawmakers be likely to find both the courage and willingness to compromise to patch it again.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, this means that Social Security's trust funds will remain on track to run out of money around 2034, slashing benefits for all recipients by more than 20%. As a result, as you plan for retirement, you should consider the risks of either that kind of reduction in Social Security, or the potential of an equivalent tax hike to cover its costs. Invest accordingly, and you should still have enough time to make up for the implications of that coming shortfall -- or the patches to try to hold it together.</p>
<p>Much digital ink has been spilled about how baby boomers are now reaching retirement age at the rate of around 10,000 per day. But just because they may be retirement eligible doesn't mean they're retirement ready. Indeed, a 2016 survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers indicated that 43% of boomers would be not be able to meet their basic expenses if they were unemployed for an extended period of time.</p>
<p>And what is retirement, other than an extended period of unemployment? Granted, it's one with potential benefits from Social Security, Medicare, and perhaps from a benevolent former employer, but those only go so far. If nearly half of boomers -- those nearing or perhaps even past a traditional retirement age -- can't make basic ends meet without a job, they'll likely either want to hold on to the ones they have, or pick up some type of paycheck in retirement.</p>
<p>The good news is that, with many of those aging boomers continuing to work, the economy will benefit from their wages. The not-so-good news is that the Generation X'ers who come behind them may have to wait a bit longer for the leadership spots they hope to step into as those boomers eventually retire.</p>
<p>While these predictions may very well come to pass, you should still have the opportunity to continue following your retirement savings plan. None of these reasons look likely to restrict your ability to fund your accounts. They may give you reasons to consider making small adjustments, but that's all part of the long-term process of successfully getting you to, and through, your retirement.</p>
<p>The $15,834 Social Security bonus most retirees completely overlook If you're like most Americans, you're a few years (or more) behind on your retirement savings. But a handful of little-known "Social Security secrets" could help ensure a boost in your retirement income. For example: one easy trick could pay you as much as $15,834 more... each year! Once you learn how to maximize your Social Security benefits, we think you could retire confidently with the peace of mind we're all after. <a href="http://www.fool.com/mms/mark/ecap-foolcom-social-security?aid=8727&amp;source=irreditxt0000002&amp;ftm_cam=ryr-ss-intro-report&amp;ftm_pit=3186&amp;ftm_veh=article_pitch&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Simply click here to discover how to learn more about these strategies Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFBigFrog/info.aspx" type="external">Chuck Saletta 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> | Retirement Planning: 3 Bold Predictions for 2017 | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/02/13/retirement-planning-3-bold-predictions-for-2017.html | 2017-02-13 | 0right
| Retirement Planning: 3 Bold Predictions for 2017
<p />
<p>Retirement planning is all about saving money today with the expectation that whatever you sock away will be worth more when you need it to cover your costs during retirement. While there are no guarantees in the market, as long as the rules of the game remain fairly consistent, you'll have a strong framework to follow to help you accomplish your goals.</p>
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<p>Every once in a while, though, either milestones get passed, long-term trends reach tipping points, or the rules of the game change. 2017 is no different on that front, which means that both opportunities and risks are facing you as you plan your retirement this year. Read on for three bold predictions of things to come throughout the rest of the year.</p>
<p>Image source: Getty Images.</p>
<p>Thanks to inflation adjustments over time, the amount you can contribute to your retirement plans has increased. In 2017, if you're under age 50, you can contribute up to $5,500 to an IRA and $18,000 to an employer-sponsored plan like a 401(k). That's $23,500 that can be socked away in tax-advantaged plan. If that money compounds at 9% annually -- about in line with the stock market's historical long run returns-- it will become $1.04 million in 44 years.</p>
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<p>This means that, if you're fresh out of college and able to come up with that kind of money, you can potentially become a millionaire by retirement from that one year's contribution. It's a challenge for anyone to come up with that kind of cash, and it's particularly tough for a new hire just starting out in life. Consider it a bold challenge for seniors getting ready to graduate -- and an opportunity to jump-start your financial life.</p>
<p>President Trump campaigned on preserving Social Security through economic growth rather than via direct spending, or tax changes affecting the program. Whether or not that will remain his plan in the future, the reality is that the various bills currently being tossed around Congress currently have very little chance of becoming law this year.</p>
<p>History -- <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2015/11/07/the-2016-social-security-crisis-was-temporarily-av.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">even as recently as late 2015 Opens a New Window.</a>, when the most recent patch made it through the system -- suggests that Social Security's standing as the "Third Rail" of American politics remains intact. Proposed changes that either cut or reduce the rate of growth of the program are frequently greeted with charges of "throwing granny off the cliff." Changes that increase taxes are decried as economically destructive.</p>
<p>The net result is that any reform ideas -- even good ones -- typically can't get traction until the only alternative is the massive benefit cuts that come from the trust funds emptying. Then, and only then, will lawmakers be likely to find both the courage and willingness to compromise to patch it again.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, this means that Social Security's trust funds will remain on track to run out of money around 2034, slashing benefits for all recipients by more than 20%. As a result, as you plan for retirement, you should consider the risks of either that kind of reduction in Social Security, or the potential of an equivalent tax hike to cover its costs. Invest accordingly, and you should still have enough time to make up for the implications of that coming shortfall -- or the patches to try to hold it together.</p>
<p>Much digital ink has been spilled about how baby boomers are now reaching retirement age at the rate of around 10,000 per day. But just because they may be retirement eligible doesn't mean they're retirement ready. Indeed, a 2016 survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers indicated that 43% of boomers would be not be able to meet their basic expenses if they were unemployed for an extended period of time.</p>
<p>And what is retirement, other than an extended period of unemployment? Granted, it's one with potential benefits from Social Security, Medicare, and perhaps from a benevolent former employer, but those only go so far. If nearly half of boomers -- those nearing or perhaps even past a traditional retirement age -- can't make basic ends meet without a job, they'll likely either want to hold on to the ones they have, or pick up some type of paycheck in retirement.</p>
<p>The good news is that, with many of those aging boomers continuing to work, the economy will benefit from their wages. The not-so-good news is that the Generation X'ers who come behind them may have to wait a bit longer for the leadership spots they hope to step into as those boomers eventually retire.</p>
<p>While these predictions may very well come to pass, you should still have the opportunity to continue following your retirement savings plan. None of these reasons look likely to restrict your ability to fund your accounts. They may give you reasons to consider making small adjustments, but that's all part of the long-term process of successfully getting you to, and through, your retirement.</p>
<p>The $15,834 Social Security bonus most retirees completely overlook If you're like most Americans, you're a few years (or more) behind on your retirement savings. But a handful of little-known "Social Security secrets" could help ensure a boost in your retirement income. For example: one easy trick could pay you as much as $15,834 more... each year! Once you learn how to maximize your Social Security benefits, we think you could retire confidently with the peace of mind we're all after. <a href="http://www.fool.com/mms/mark/ecap-foolcom-social-security?aid=8727&amp;source=irreditxt0000002&amp;ftm_cam=ryr-ss-intro-report&amp;ftm_pit=3186&amp;ftm_veh=article_pitch&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Simply click here to discover how to learn more about these strategies Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFBigFrog/info.aspx" type="external">Chuck Saletta 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> | 766 |
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<p>On Saturday afternoon, with No. 2-ranked Eldorado visiting, Sandia controlled the opening tip, and then proceeded to hold the ball for two minutes.</p>
<p>“That was the strategy,” Eagles coach Roy Sanchez said. “Kind of a boring game, honestly.”</p>
<p>Sandia did control pace and keep Eldorado’s high-octane offense in check during this District 2-6A matchup. But the end result for the Eagles (13-2, 2-0 in 2-6A) was the same as it’s been for most of the last month, as Eldorado beat the Matadors 45-39 and extended its winning streak to eight games.</p>
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<p>“Teams are gonna try different things against us, and we have to be mentally ready,” said Sanchez. “People will use different strategies.”</p>
<p>And it proved useful in the sense that the Matadors (7-9, 0-2) were in this game most of the way, the pace affording themselves a chance to win.</p>
<p>Mike Mounho led Eldorado with 16 points, which included four 3-pointers. Kameron Valencia added 14 for the Eagles.</p>
<p>LA CUEVA 75, SANTA FE 60: At La Cueva, Lawrence Calais and the Aeilts brothers, Tyler and Derek, combined for 59 points as the Bears got coach Frank Castillo his 699th career victory in a District 2-6A matchup.</p>
<p>Castillo will go for his 700th on Tuesday when the Bears (11-5, 2-0) visit Sandia.</p>
<p>MANZANO 55, CLOVIS 52: At Manzano, the Monarchs (9-7, 1-1 in 2-6A) edged the Wildcats (9-9, 0-2) behind 20 points from Eric Sonnenberg.</p>
<p>LOS LUNAS 60, BELEN 42: At Los Lunas, the Tigers (16-3, 1-0) had a big first half en route to a convincing District 5-5A win over the Eagles.</p>
<p>HOPE CHRISTIAN 57, N.M. MILITARY INSTITUTE 25: In Roswell, junior guard Johnny Nitafan had a team-best 16 points, and the Huskies (12-7, 2-0 in 4-4A) routed the Colts (2-10, 0-2). Hope has won five consecutive games.</p>
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<p>Girls</p>
<p>LA CUEVA 72, SANTA FE 39: In Santa Fe, sophomore guard Kaya Ingram had a team-best 27 points, including five 3s, for the Bears (9-7, 2-0 in 2-6A).</p>
<p>ELDORADO 68, SANDIA 42: At Eldorado, three Eagles (13-2, 2-0 in 2-6A) were in double figures, led by Laney Lucero’s 13 points.</p>
<p>HIGHLAND 58, VOLCANO VISTA 50: At Highland, freshman point guard Cailee Crawford had a team-best 26 points for the Hornets (12-4) in a non-district win over the Hawks (8-8).</p>
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<p /> | Eldorado unfazed by Sandia’s slowdown try | false | https://abqjournal.com/1122272/eldorado-unfazed-by-sandias-slowdown-try.html | 2least
| Eldorado unfazed by Sandia’s slowdown try
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<p>On Saturday afternoon, with No. 2-ranked Eldorado visiting, Sandia controlled the opening tip, and then proceeded to hold the ball for two minutes.</p>
<p>“That was the strategy,” Eagles coach Roy Sanchez said. “Kind of a boring game, honestly.”</p>
<p>Sandia did control pace and keep Eldorado’s high-octane offense in check during this District 2-6A matchup. But the end result for the Eagles (13-2, 2-0 in 2-6A) was the same as it’s been for most of the last month, as Eldorado beat the Matadors 45-39 and extended its winning streak to eight games.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>“Teams are gonna try different things against us, and we have to be mentally ready,” said Sanchez. “People will use different strategies.”</p>
<p>And it proved useful in the sense that the Matadors (7-9, 0-2) were in this game most of the way, the pace affording themselves a chance to win.</p>
<p>Mike Mounho led Eldorado with 16 points, which included four 3-pointers. Kameron Valencia added 14 for the Eagles.</p>
<p>LA CUEVA 75, SANTA FE 60: At La Cueva, Lawrence Calais and the Aeilts brothers, Tyler and Derek, combined for 59 points as the Bears got coach Frank Castillo his 699th career victory in a District 2-6A matchup.</p>
<p>Castillo will go for his 700th on Tuesday when the Bears (11-5, 2-0) visit Sandia.</p>
<p>MANZANO 55, CLOVIS 52: At Manzano, the Monarchs (9-7, 1-1 in 2-6A) edged the Wildcats (9-9, 0-2) behind 20 points from Eric Sonnenberg.</p>
<p>LOS LUNAS 60, BELEN 42: At Los Lunas, the Tigers (16-3, 1-0) had a big first half en route to a convincing District 5-5A win over the Eagles.</p>
<p>HOPE CHRISTIAN 57, N.M. MILITARY INSTITUTE 25: In Roswell, junior guard Johnny Nitafan had a team-best 16 points, and the Huskies (12-7, 2-0 in 4-4A) routed the Colts (2-10, 0-2). Hope has won five consecutive games.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Girls</p>
<p>LA CUEVA 72, SANTA FE 39: In Santa Fe, sophomore guard Kaya Ingram had a team-best 27 points, including five 3s, for the Bears (9-7, 2-0 in 2-6A).</p>
<p>ELDORADO 68, SANDIA 42: At Eldorado, three Eagles (13-2, 2-0 in 2-6A) were in double figures, led by Laney Lucero’s 13 points.</p>
<p>HIGHLAND 58, VOLCANO VISTA 50: At Highland, freshman point guard Cailee Crawford had a team-best 26 points for the Hornets (12-4) in a non-district win over the Hawks (8-8).</p>
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<p>At an elementary school in North Carolina, a five-year-old girl was <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2017/03/29/stick-gun-gets-5-year-old-suspended-from-north-carolina-school.html" type="external">suspended for a day</a> after playing a game in which she protected two other little girls by pretending a stick she carried was a gun.</p>
<p>Caitlin Miller and her classmates were playing "King and Queen" when Caitlin pretended to ward off intruders by brandishing a stick resembling a gun.</p>
<p>That did it; a teacher sent her to the principal’s office, where she was suspended for a day for “turning a stick into a gun and threatening to shoot and kill other students.”</p>
<p>Brandy Miller, Caitlin’s mother, told Todd Starnes of Fox News: “The assistant principal told me Caitlin had a stick and she was using it to shoot and kill other students… The school was really bothered because Caitlin was not worried about what she did… We are a military family. My husband is an infantryman. My daughter understands the importance of gun safety. She understands the stick is not a real weapon.”</p>
<p>Brandy Miller later had to explain to her daughter why she was suspended. She said, “It was gut-wrenching for me. She’s innocent. She’s young. She should be five and have fun.”</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the school district <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/US/girl-suspended-playing-stick-gun-playground-game/story?id=46437469" type="external">told television station WTVD</a> it would "not tolerate assaults, threats or harassment from any student… Any student engaging in such behavior will be removed from the classroom or school environment for as long as is necessary to provide a safe and orderly environment for learning.”</p>
<p>Brandy Miller told WTVD, "We know why it's bad. We watch the news, but then I have to tell my kid, 'you're not allowed to play like that in school because people do bad things to kids your age.'"</p>
<p>Caitlin went back to school after her suspension; she was welcomed home with a hug:</p>
<p>One Twitter user pointed out that what Caitlin did was a trifle less threatening than other children’s actions:</p> | Five-Year-Old Girl Suspended For Pretending Stick Was A Gun | true | https://dailywire.com/news/14927/five-year-old-girl-suspended-pretending-stick-was-hank-berrien | 2017-03-29 | 0right
| Five-Year-Old Girl Suspended For Pretending Stick Was A Gun
<p>At an elementary school in North Carolina, a five-year-old girl was <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2017/03/29/stick-gun-gets-5-year-old-suspended-from-north-carolina-school.html" type="external">suspended for a day</a> after playing a game in which she protected two other little girls by pretending a stick she carried was a gun.</p>
<p>Caitlin Miller and her classmates were playing "King and Queen" when Caitlin pretended to ward off intruders by brandishing a stick resembling a gun.</p>
<p>That did it; a teacher sent her to the principal’s office, where she was suspended for a day for “turning a stick into a gun and threatening to shoot and kill other students.”</p>
<p>Brandy Miller, Caitlin’s mother, told Todd Starnes of Fox News: “The assistant principal told me Caitlin had a stick and she was using it to shoot and kill other students… The school was really bothered because Caitlin was not worried about what she did… We are a military family. My husband is an infantryman. My daughter understands the importance of gun safety. She understands the stick is not a real weapon.”</p>
<p>Brandy Miller later had to explain to her daughter why she was suspended. She said, “It was gut-wrenching for me. She’s innocent. She’s young. She should be five and have fun.”</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the school district <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/US/girl-suspended-playing-stick-gun-playground-game/story?id=46437469" type="external">told television station WTVD</a> it would "not tolerate assaults, threats or harassment from any student… Any student engaging in such behavior will be removed from the classroom or school environment for as long as is necessary to provide a safe and orderly environment for learning.”</p>
<p>Brandy Miller told WTVD, "We know why it's bad. We watch the news, but then I have to tell my kid, 'you're not allowed to play like that in school because people do bad things to kids your age.'"</p>
<p>Caitlin went back to school after her suspension; she was welcomed home with a hug:</p>
<p>One Twitter user pointed out that what Caitlin did was a trifle less threatening than other children’s actions:</p> | 768 |
<p>Typhoon Utor touched down in Hong Kong on Wednesday and is heading for China, <a href="http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/usatoday/article/2651355" type="external">according to the Associated Press</a>.&#160;</p>
<p>With tens of thousands evacuated, Hong Kong's stock market was completely shut down in advance of the storm, which also managed to sink a cargo ship as it arrived, <a href="http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/usatoday/article/2651355" type="external">said the AP</a>.&#160;</p>
<p>Utar is expected to be the strongest typhoon to hit China this year, <a href="http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/china/2013-08/14/c_132630618.htm" type="external">according to China's state-run Xinhua</a>&#160;news agency.&#160;</p>
<p>Over 158,000 people in China's southern provinces have fled in anticipation of the storm, <a href="http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/china/2013-08/14/c_132630618.htm" type="external">Xinhua</a>&#160;said.</p>
<p>Storms get very serious in the Pacific this time of year, <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/thomson-reuters/130813/typhoon-utor-approaches-hong-kong-and-south-china" type="external">Reuters reported</a>, with cyclones common in the South China Sea as they pick up strength from warm waters and then dissipate over land.</p>
<p>At least one person in Hong Kong has been reported hurt in storm-related incidents. Utor left at least seven dead and several missing when it ravaged the Philippines earlier this week, <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/afp/130813/philippine-rescuers-race-help-typhoon-hit-towns-1" type="external">Agence France-Presse</a> said.&#160;</p>
<p>The government said four people had been confirmed killed, and 11 were missing after Utor, the strongest storm this year, swept across the north of the country on Monday.</p>
<p>"Trees have fallen down, roofs have been torn off houses, electric poles and electric towers have collapsed," civil defence office spokesman Reynaldo Balido said, describing chaos from coastal towns to mountain villages hundreds of kilometres apart.</p>
<p>According to Philippines' <a href="http://manilastandardtoday.com/2013/08/15/utor-damage-up-to-p816m/" type="external">Manila Standard</a>, officials estimate storm damage will cost more than 816.5 million pesos (over $18 million).&#160;</p>
<p><a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/afp/130813/philippine-rescuers-race-help-typhoon-hit-towns-1" type="external">Agence France-Presse contributed to this report</a>.</p> | Typhoon Utor hits Hong Kong en route to China | false | https://pri.org/stories/2013-08-14/typhoon-utor-hits-hong-kong-en-route-china | 2013-08-14 | 3left-center
| Typhoon Utor hits Hong Kong en route to China
<p>Typhoon Utor touched down in Hong Kong on Wednesday and is heading for China, <a href="http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/usatoday/article/2651355" type="external">according to the Associated Press</a>.&#160;</p>
<p>With tens of thousands evacuated, Hong Kong's stock market was completely shut down in advance of the storm, which also managed to sink a cargo ship as it arrived, <a href="http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/usatoday/article/2651355" type="external">said the AP</a>.&#160;</p>
<p>Utar is expected to be the strongest typhoon to hit China this year, <a href="http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/china/2013-08/14/c_132630618.htm" type="external">according to China's state-run Xinhua</a>&#160;news agency.&#160;</p>
<p>Over 158,000 people in China's southern provinces have fled in anticipation of the storm, <a href="http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/china/2013-08/14/c_132630618.htm" type="external">Xinhua</a>&#160;said.</p>
<p>Storms get very serious in the Pacific this time of year, <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/thomson-reuters/130813/typhoon-utor-approaches-hong-kong-and-south-china" type="external">Reuters reported</a>, with cyclones common in the South China Sea as they pick up strength from warm waters and then dissipate over land.</p>
<p>At least one person in Hong Kong has been reported hurt in storm-related incidents. Utor left at least seven dead and several missing when it ravaged the Philippines earlier this week, <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/afp/130813/philippine-rescuers-race-help-typhoon-hit-towns-1" type="external">Agence France-Presse</a> said.&#160;</p>
<p>The government said four people had been confirmed killed, and 11 were missing after Utor, the strongest storm this year, swept across the north of the country on Monday.</p>
<p>"Trees have fallen down, roofs have been torn off houses, electric poles and electric towers have collapsed," civil defence office spokesman Reynaldo Balido said, describing chaos from coastal towns to mountain villages hundreds of kilometres apart.</p>
<p>According to Philippines' <a href="http://manilastandardtoday.com/2013/08/15/utor-damage-up-to-p816m/" type="external">Manila Standard</a>, officials estimate storm damage will cost more than 816.5 million pesos (over $18 million).&#160;</p>
<p><a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/afp/130813/philippine-rescuers-race-help-typhoon-hit-towns-1" type="external">Agence France-Presse contributed to this report</a>.</p> | 769 |
<p>Inside a small and somewhat shabby little office building in a rundown part of San Salvador, a group of activists is beginning a political experiment that may shape the course of events in Central America for years to come. The group is called the Democratic Convergence, and its most active and articulate leader, Ruben Zamora, is a democratic socialist who fled El Salvador after a rightist death squad brutally murdered his brother Mario in 1980. Having returned along with other leftist democrats in November 1987, Zamora is now embarked on the risky and complicated task of organizing a popular, democratic, civil movement. It is an effort whose next step will be participation in El Salvador's presidential elections next March. Right now, the Convergence's headquarters is a political beehive, with phones ringing, carpenters hammering, and rank-and-file workers jostling for position with foreign reporters eager to take a look at what's going on. Mindful of the risks of what he is attempting, Zamora never goes anywhere alone, and wears a bullet-proof vest wherever he goes. But he is obviously enjoying the challenge, too. "I feel like a reborn politician," he says. "After seven years of doing international work I have gone back to my basic vocation."</p>
<p /> | Letter from El Salvador | true | https://dissentmagazine.org/article/letter-from-el-salvador | 2018-10-07 | 4left
| Letter from El Salvador
<p>Inside a small and somewhat shabby little office building in a rundown part of San Salvador, a group of activists is beginning a political experiment that may shape the course of events in Central America for years to come. The group is called the Democratic Convergence, and its most active and articulate leader, Ruben Zamora, is a democratic socialist who fled El Salvador after a rightist death squad brutally murdered his brother Mario in 1980. Having returned along with other leftist democrats in November 1987, Zamora is now embarked on the risky and complicated task of organizing a popular, democratic, civil movement. It is an effort whose next step will be participation in El Salvador's presidential elections next March. Right now, the Convergence's headquarters is a political beehive, with phones ringing, carpenters hammering, and rank-and-file workers jostling for position with foreign reporters eager to take a look at what's going on. Mindful of the risks of what he is attempting, Zamora never goes anywhere alone, and wears a bullet-proof vest wherever he goes. But he is obviously enjoying the challenge, too. "I feel like a reborn politician," he says. "After seven years of doing international work I have gone back to my basic vocation."</p>
<p /> | 770 |
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<p>Ohio’s constitutional amendment banning gay marriage is two sentences long:</p>
<p />
<p>Only a union between one man and one woman may be a marriage valid in or recognized by this state and its political subdivisions. This state and its political subdivisions shall not create or recognize a legal status for relationships of unmarried individuals that intends to approximate the design, qualities, significance or effect of marriage.</p>
<p>The first sentence strips same sex couples of the right to marry, the second has caused residual damage to all unmarried couples, threatening the rights to safety of single Ohioans. That the state does not “recognize a legal status for relationships of unmarried individuals” has managed to weaken the state’s domestic violence statute to the point where unmarried accused batterers have, in at least a dozen cases, formally challenged domestic abuse convictions that had been brought down before the amendment.</p>
<p>This loophole has already resulted in the dismissal of charges in two cases where offenses that were once classified as felonies became misdemeanors in light of the amendment, which invalidates the domestic violence statute recognized for married couples. Both of those cases are on appeal and in April, Ohio Representative William J. Healy (D) introduced a bill that would clarify the amendment, allowing protections for cohabitating unmarried couples. The bill makes no mention of extending rights to same sex couples, “married” or otherwise.</p>
<p /> | Unintended Consequences | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2005/07/unintended-consequences/ | 2005-07-01 | 4left
| Unintended Consequences
<p />
<p>Ohio’s constitutional amendment banning gay marriage is two sentences long:</p>
<p />
<p>Only a union between one man and one woman may be a marriage valid in or recognized by this state and its political subdivisions. This state and its political subdivisions shall not create or recognize a legal status for relationships of unmarried individuals that intends to approximate the design, qualities, significance or effect of marriage.</p>
<p>The first sentence strips same sex couples of the right to marry, the second has caused residual damage to all unmarried couples, threatening the rights to safety of single Ohioans. That the state does not “recognize a legal status for relationships of unmarried individuals” has managed to weaken the state’s domestic violence statute to the point where unmarried accused batterers have, in at least a dozen cases, formally challenged domestic abuse convictions that had been brought down before the amendment.</p>
<p>This loophole has already resulted in the dismissal of charges in two cases where offenses that were once classified as felonies became misdemeanors in light of the amendment, which invalidates the domestic violence statute recognized for married couples. Both of those cases are on appeal and in April, Ohio Representative William J. Healy (D) introduced a bill that would clarify the amendment, allowing protections for cohabitating unmarried couples. The bill makes no mention of extending rights to same sex couples, “married” or otherwise.</p>
<p /> | 771 |
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<p>Image source: Caesars.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>The stock market continued its up-and-down path on Wednesday, bouncing back from losses on Tuesday with minor gains of 0.1% to 0.2% for major market benchmarks. Most of the gains came following the release of the Federal Reserve's latest minutes from its June Open Market Committee meeting, at which officials discussed the possibility of implement interest rate increases more quickly than many had expected. Yet after some initial shock at the idea of a more hawkish rate policy, investors seemed to decide that the Fed likely would choose not to be as aggressive as the minutes suggested, and stocks erased early losses as a result. Some individual stocks posted even stronger gains, and Caesars Entertainment (NASDAQ: CZR), Och-Ziff Capital Management (NYSE: OZM), and Valeant Pharmaceuticals (NYSE: VRX) all enjoyed substantial increases for the day.</p>
<p>Caesars Entertainment rose 6% after the casino company announced that it and its subsidiaries had entered into a settlement and forbearance agreement with one of its bondholders. The deal with investor Frederick Barton Danner, who has a position in senior notes issued by Caesars' operating company subsidiary that are due this year, includes several provisions that are favorable to Caesars. They include support for the restructuring of debt under the bankruptcy reorganization plan, support for motions to protect Caesars Entertainment from liability, and forbearance from pursuing any default rights against the companies. Caesars has offered incentives to bondholders to accept the deal, and the settlement with one of the lead plaintiffs against it should carry some weight in resolving the broader issue going forward.</p>
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<p>Och-Ziff Capital Management climbed 6% in the wake of charges against a man from the African nation of Gabon alleging that he participated in a scheme to bribe government officials in exchange for rights to mining claims. The man worked for a business entity linked to Och-Ziff, which has already engaged in discussions with U.S. officials regarding any potential liability under the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Investors became more comfortable throughout the day that Och-Ziff might avoid any further culpability linked to the charges, and that helped send the stock higher. The hedge fund manager will likely still have to work with Justice Department officials in order to resolve the matter, but anything that avoids criminal charges against Och-Ziff would be a clear positive.</p>
<p>Finally, Valeant Pharmaceuticals picked up 13%. The beleaguered drugmaker got an upgrade from analysts at Morgan Stanley, who argued that most of the concerns against Valeant are already accounted for in its low share price. In particular, the analysts went through issues like earnings declines, violations of debt covenants, changes in drug-pricing practices, and the possibility of investigations and financial restatements. Yet even though the chances of adverse outcomes are greater than zero, Morgan Stanley still thinks that the stock deserves an overweight rating based on valuation. A lot depends on how Valeant fares in the court of public opinion, but the stock's huge hit certain discounts at least some bad news.</p>
<p>A secret billion-dollar stock opportunity The world's biggest tech company forgot to show you something, but a few Wall Street analysts and the Fool didn't miss a beat: There's a small company that's powering their brand-new gadgets and the coming revolution in technology. And we think its stock price has nearly unlimited room to run for early in-the-know investors! To be one of them, <a href="http://www.fool.com/mms/mark/ecap-foolcom-apple-wearable?aid=6965&amp;source=irbeditxt0000017&amp;ftm_cam=rb-wearable-d&amp;ftm_pit=2759&amp;ftm_veh=article_pitch&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">just click here Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFGalagan/info.aspx" type="external">Dan Caplinger Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Valeant Pharmaceuticals. The Motley Fool is short Caesars Entertainment. 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://wiki.fool.com/Motley" 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 Caesars Entertainment, Och-Ziff Capital Management, and Valeant Pharmaceuticals Jumped Today | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/08/17/why-caesars-entertainment-och-ziff-capital-management-and-valeant.html | 2016-08-17 | 0right
| Why Caesars Entertainment, Och-Ziff Capital Management, and Valeant Pharmaceuticals Jumped Today
<p />
<p>Image source: Caesars.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>The stock market continued its up-and-down path on Wednesday, bouncing back from losses on Tuesday with minor gains of 0.1% to 0.2% for major market benchmarks. Most of the gains came following the release of the Federal Reserve's latest minutes from its June Open Market Committee meeting, at which officials discussed the possibility of implement interest rate increases more quickly than many had expected. Yet after some initial shock at the idea of a more hawkish rate policy, investors seemed to decide that the Fed likely would choose not to be as aggressive as the minutes suggested, and stocks erased early losses as a result. Some individual stocks posted even stronger gains, and Caesars Entertainment (NASDAQ: CZR), Och-Ziff Capital Management (NYSE: OZM), and Valeant Pharmaceuticals (NYSE: VRX) all enjoyed substantial increases for the day.</p>
<p>Caesars Entertainment rose 6% after the casino company announced that it and its subsidiaries had entered into a settlement and forbearance agreement with one of its bondholders. The deal with investor Frederick Barton Danner, who has a position in senior notes issued by Caesars' operating company subsidiary that are due this year, includes several provisions that are favorable to Caesars. They include support for the restructuring of debt under the bankruptcy reorganization plan, support for motions to protect Caesars Entertainment from liability, and forbearance from pursuing any default rights against the companies. Caesars has offered incentives to bondholders to accept the deal, and the settlement with one of the lead plaintiffs against it should carry some weight in resolving the broader issue going forward.</p>
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<p>Och-Ziff Capital Management climbed 6% in the wake of charges against a man from the African nation of Gabon alleging that he participated in a scheme to bribe government officials in exchange for rights to mining claims. The man worked for a business entity linked to Och-Ziff, which has already engaged in discussions with U.S. officials regarding any potential liability under the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Investors became more comfortable throughout the day that Och-Ziff might avoid any further culpability linked to the charges, and that helped send the stock higher. The hedge fund manager will likely still have to work with Justice Department officials in order to resolve the matter, but anything that avoids criminal charges against Och-Ziff would be a clear positive.</p>
<p>Finally, Valeant Pharmaceuticals picked up 13%. The beleaguered drugmaker got an upgrade from analysts at Morgan Stanley, who argued that most of the concerns against Valeant are already accounted for in its low share price. In particular, the analysts went through issues like earnings declines, violations of debt covenants, changes in drug-pricing practices, and the possibility of investigations and financial restatements. Yet even though the chances of adverse outcomes are greater than zero, Morgan Stanley still thinks that the stock deserves an overweight rating based on valuation. A lot depends on how Valeant fares in the court of public opinion, but the stock's huge hit certain discounts at least some bad news.</p>
<p>A secret billion-dollar stock opportunity The world's biggest tech company forgot to show you something, but a few Wall Street analysts and the Fool didn't miss a beat: There's a small company that's powering their brand-new gadgets and the coming revolution in technology. And we think its stock price has nearly unlimited room to run for early in-the-know investors! To be one of them, <a href="http://www.fool.com/mms/mark/ecap-foolcom-apple-wearable?aid=6965&amp;source=irbeditxt0000017&amp;ftm_cam=rb-wearable-d&amp;ftm_pit=2759&amp;ftm_veh=article_pitch&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">just click here Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFGalagan/info.aspx" type="external">Dan Caplinger Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Valeant Pharmaceuticals. The Motley Fool is short Caesars Entertainment. 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://wiki.fool.com/Motley" 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> | 772 |
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<p>DENVER — Prosecutors have charged a 16-year-old girl with first-degree murder for allegedly suffocating her newborn baby with a rock.</p>
<p>KUSA-TV reports the girl was arrested in September, two days after her daughter died at a hospital. The TV station reports the teen is being charged as an adult.</p>
<p>The baby was just a few hours old when she died. According to court documents, the teen’s mother called 911 and said her daughter had just delivered a baby and that the child was on the ground in the home’s backyard and looked dead.</p>
<p>Doctors at the hospital found a rock lodged in the baby’s throat.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Information from: KUSA-TV, <a href="http://www.9news.com" type="external">http://www.9news.com</a></p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | Colorado teen accused of suffocating her newborn daughter | false | https://abqjournal.com/1090297/colorado-teen-accused-of-suffocating-her-newborn-daughter.html | 2least
| Colorado teen accused of suffocating her newborn daughter
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p>DENVER — Prosecutors have charged a 16-year-old girl with first-degree murder for allegedly suffocating her newborn baby with a rock.</p>
<p>KUSA-TV reports the girl was arrested in September, two days after her daughter died at a hospital. The TV station reports the teen is being charged as an adult.</p>
<p>The baby was just a few hours old when she died. According to court documents, the teen’s mother called 911 and said her daughter had just delivered a baby and that the child was on the ground in the home’s backyard and looked dead.</p>
<p>Doctors at the hospital found a rock lodged in the baby’s throat.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Information from: KUSA-TV, <a href="http://www.9news.com" type="external">http://www.9news.com</a></p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | 773 |
|
<p>NEW YORK (AP) — Los Angeles Kings forward Dustin Brown has been fined $10,000 for cross-checking Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Justin Schultz.</p>
<p>The incident occurred at 6:36 of the third period of the Penguins’ 3-1 win on Thursday night. Brown was assessed a major penalty and game misconduct for boarding.</p>
<p>Pittsburgh’s Evgeni Malkin was fined $5,000 for spearing Brown at 6:57 of the first period.</p>
<p>NEW YORK (AP) — Los Angeles Kings forward Dustin Brown has been fined $10,000 for cross-checking Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Justin Schultz.</p>
<p>The incident occurred at 6:36 of the third period of the Penguins’ 3-1 win on Thursday night. Brown was assessed a major penalty and game misconduct for boarding.</p>
<p>Pittsburgh’s Evgeni Malkin was fined $5,000 for spearing Brown at 6:57 of the first period.</p> | Kings’ Brown fined $10,000, Penguins’ docked Malkin $5,000 | false | https://apnews.com/5022365155444289afa3eac56de3ee67 | 2018-01-20 | 2least
| Kings’ Brown fined $10,000, Penguins’ docked Malkin $5,000
<p>NEW YORK (AP) — Los Angeles Kings forward Dustin Brown has been fined $10,000 for cross-checking Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Justin Schultz.</p>
<p>The incident occurred at 6:36 of the third period of the Penguins’ 3-1 win on Thursday night. Brown was assessed a major penalty and game misconduct for boarding.</p>
<p>Pittsburgh’s Evgeni Malkin was fined $5,000 for spearing Brown at 6:57 of the first period.</p>
<p>NEW YORK (AP) — Los Angeles Kings forward Dustin Brown has been fined $10,000 for cross-checking Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Justin Schultz.</p>
<p>The incident occurred at 6:36 of the third period of the Penguins’ 3-1 win on Thursday night. Brown was assessed a major penalty and game misconduct for boarding.</p>
<p>Pittsburgh’s Evgeni Malkin was fined $5,000 for spearing Brown at 6:57 of the first period.</p> | 774 |
<p />
<p><a href="http://freedomoutpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/BUNDY-REF-dhs-domestic-violent-extremists-pose-increased.pdf" type="external">Homeland Security documents</a>, which have been marked as “Unclassified/Law Enforcement Sensitive,” appear to demonstrate just how local law enforcement is being propagandized <a href="" type="internal">against Patriots</a> in the united States by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) under Barack Hussein Obama Soetoro Sobarkah. And who did the document target? The Constitutional militia, specifically those who engaged the Department of Interior’s <a href="" type="internal">Bureau of Land Management</a> (BLM) in Nevada of April last year at the <a href="http://freedomoutpost.com/?s=bundy+ranch+seige" type="external">Bundy Ranch siege</a>.</p>
<p>First and foremost understand that the “intelligence assessment,” dated July 2014, claims that DHS has “seen a spike within the past year in violence committed by militia extremists and lone offenders who hold violent anti-government beliefs.”</p>
<p>Where are the reports on this massive “spike” that DHS is referencing? I haven’t seen those stories, but I have seen those by Islamic jihadists such as San Bernardino, <a href="" type="internal">Oklahoma</a>, <a href="" type="internal">Garland</a>, and others.</p>
<p>“These groups and individuals recognize government authority, but facilitate or engage in acts of violence due to their perception that the United States Government is tyrannical and oppressive, coupled to their belief that the government needs to be violently resisted or overthrown,” the document adds.</p>
<p>Apparently, those in our government today do not remember or choose to ignore that they are engaging in the many of the same activities that led our forefathers to write the <a href="http://thewashingtonstandard.com/declaration-of-independence-do-our-rights-come-from-god-the-constitution-the-supreme-court-or-congress/" type="external">Declaration of Independence</a>:</p>
<p>We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.</p>
<p>Furthermore, the document goes on to directly focus on those who stood with the Bundy’s during the siege, particularly members of the citizens <a href="" type="internal">militia</a>.</p>
<p>“I&amp;A assesses that the perceived victory by militia extremists in a show of force against the Department of Interior’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM” in Nevada in April will likely inspire additional anti-government violence over the next year,” the document continues. The document also alleges that the deaths of two <a href="" type="internal">Las Vegas police officers</a> at the hands of <a href="http://freedomoutpost.com/2014/06/jerad-miller-sent-home-bundy-ranch-truth-media-isnt-telling/" type="external">people who were ostracized at Bundy Ranch</a> and <a href="http://freedomoutpost.com/2014/06/vegas-shooters-jerad-amanda-miller-were-vegas-police-informants/" type="external">were actually Vegas Police informants</a>, but were tied to the Bundy’s and the militia in <a href="http://freedomoutpost.com/2014/06/critical-government-pro-liberty-pro-gun-get-ready-lumped-vegas-shooters/" type="external">news reports</a> and the <a href="http://freedomoutpost.com/2014/06/constitutional-sheriff-richard-mack-smeared-by-splc-connected-to-las-vegas-shooters/" type="external">anti-American organization known as the Southern Poverty Law Center</a>, is indication of “the latest and most severe incident in a growing trend of anti-government violence.”</p>
<p>The DHS document even had the audacity to state, “Historically, spikes in violence have followed high-profile confrontations involving the United States Government, such as <a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=as_li_ss_tl?_encoding=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;field-keywords=ruby%20ridge&amp;linkCode=ur2&amp;tag=freedomoutpos-20&amp;url=search-alias%3Daps&amp;linkId=HVYDAVA4L2PQFNU6" type="external">Ruby Ridge</a> and <a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=as_li_ss_tl?_encoding=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;field-keywords=waco&amp;linkCode=ur2&amp;rh=n%3A283155%2Ck%3Awaco&amp;tag=freedomoutpos-20&amp;url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&amp;linkId=2MLAFSX2S2KZUNO2" type="external">Waco</a>. The April 2014 Bunkerville, Nevada standoff likely represents a similar event that could inspire further violence.”</p>
<p>Now, let’s ask one simple question here, shall we? Who were those engaging in force at Ruby Ridge, Waco and the Bundy Ranch? It was not the militia. It was the US government, via the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) and the <a href="http://freedomoutpost.com/2014/04/ron-paul-warned-armed-blm-1997/" type="external">BLM</a>, <a href="http://gunsinthenews.com/atf-no-constitutional-authority-ban-ammunition/" type="external">both of which are unconstitutional</a>. In the case of the <a href="http://freedomoutpost.com/?s=bundy+ranch" type="external">Bundy Ranch</a>, the <a href="http://freedomoutpost.com/2014/04/militias-route-bunkerville-nv-will-start-2nd-american-revolution/" type="external">militia responded</a> to the <a href="http://freedomoutpost.com/2014/04/u-s-govt-vs-cattle-rancher-cliven-bundy-wake-america-taking-everything-away-us/" type="external">force and violence exhibited by the BLM</a>, not the other way around. It was not the militia that <a href="http://freedomoutpost.com/2014/04/faa-establishes-fly-zone-cliven-bundy-ranch/" type="external">instituted a no-fly zone over the ranch</a>. It was not the militia that preemptively positioned an <a href="http://freedomoutpost.com/2014/04/obama-admin-sends-hundreds-armed-feds-harass-cliven-bundy-wouldnt-send-1-soldier-defend-benghazi/" type="external">army of federal agents</a> around the Bundys, <a href="http://freedomoutpost.com/2014/04/concerned-citizen-moapa-valley-town-board-meeting-bundy-ranch-seige-blm-will-fire-next-shot-heard-around-world-will-fire-rest/" type="external">including snipers</a>.</p>
<p>The same is true regarding what is <a href="http://thewashingtonstandard.com/bigger-than-bundy-ranch-militia-put-on-level-2-alert-to-defend-oregon-ranchers-against-tyrannical-feds-who-label-them-terrorists/" type="external">taking place currently in Oregon with the Hammond family</a>. Members of their family are basically enduring Double Jeopardy, something that is not supposed to be happening under the protections of the Fifth Amendment, which states in part, “Nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb . . . .” <a href="http://thewashingtonstandard.com/oregon-rancher-fears-for-his-life-after-feds-threaten-him-through-his-attorney/" type="external">They have been threatened by the federal government</a> for speaking out to Ammon Bundy, <a href="http://thewashingtonstandard.com/ammon-bundy-issues-resolution-to-local-officials-regarding-oregon-ranchers-we-dont-have-to-remind-you-of-your-duty-to-act-nor-consequences-of-negligence/" type="external">who has been airing what is taking place and the injustices surrounding the issue</a>. In fact, the <a href="http://thewashingtonstandard.com/blm-burns-ranches-and-destroy-cattle-but-ranchers-get-charged-with-terrorism/" type="external">BLM has engaged in worse activity than the men of the Hammond family engaged in and yet, even with video evidence</a>, they are not held accountable in a similar manner to <a href="" type="internal">the Hammonds</a>. They weren’t even arrested, but it was all for an <a href="http://freedomoutpost.com/2014/04/agenda-21-blm-land-grabbing-endgame/" type="external">Agenda 21 land grab</a>!</p>
<p>This also has led to several people who stood up in <a href="" type="internal">Bunkerville</a>, Nevada last year to be targeted. Among them are former Marines Schuyler Barbeau and <a href="" type="internal">Pete Santilli</a>. Barbeau has been in jail and under investigation for suspected firearms violations (something that is repugnant to the Second Amendment of the Constitution and, therefore, null and void (Marbury vs.Madison, 1803.)) as well as other claims by the FBI. Santilli was recently <a href="http://thewashingtonstandard.com/exclusive-former-us-marine-put-on-terror-watch-list-held-at-gunpoint-was-it-because-he-is-helping-the-oregon-ranchers/" type="external">targeted in Ohio and was said to be on the Terror Watchlist</a> just days before he was to head out West to aid both Barbeau and the Hammond family. Currently, he too is facing an alleged gun violation that is in violation of the Second Amendment.</p>
<p>There is no doubt in my mind that Barbeau was targeted for his involvement with the Bundy Ranch and that Santilli was targeted for his ties to Barbeau, but neither have actually committed a crime or engaged in terrorism. The charges are made against both men through pretended legislation that undermines the clear statements of the rights of both men.</p>
<p>We know this administration has taken steps to <a href="http://freedomoutpost.com/2013/09/official-government-documents-label-72-types-americans-potential-terrorists/" type="external">label 72 types of loyal, patriots and law-abiding citizens as potential terrorists</a>. Now, they are actually going further and arresting and imprisoning them, along with targeting their lives and land.</p>
<p>Let me be clear, none of these men, nor I nor any legitimate militia member is “ <a href="" type="internal">anti-government</a>.” We just believe government’s boundaries (Romans 13:1-5) have been established and they have stepped way over those bounds and instead of reining in their tyranny, they have expanded it, leaving the citizens to defend themselves and each other. Then, instead of actually acknowledging their violations of the law, the government is now <a href="http://freedomoutpost.com/2013/10/u-s-military-taught-treat-christians-as-extremists-potential-terrorists/" type="external">propagandizing both the military</a> and law enforcement against Patriots for the very “force” and “violence” that they are themselves engaging in.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the administration continues forward in <a href="http://thewashingtonstandard.com/heres-the-list-of-cities-obama-will-dump-invading-muslim-refugees/" type="external">bringing in America’s enemies through a Muslim invasion</a>, or which we are completely clear that they pose not only a <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1596981040/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=1596981040&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=freedomoutpos-20&amp;linkId=GKB5KVI7RS2KRX3H" type="external">jihad threat through violence</a>, <a href="http://sonsoflibertymedia.com/2015/12/need-keep-peaceful-muslims-islamic-threat-overdue-popular-funeral-western-liberalism/" type="external">but also in the political process</a>. Yet, this is part of the judgment of God upon a disobedient people (Deut. 28; Lev. 26).</p>
<p>Now, the administration is <a href="http://api.viglink.com/api/click?format=go&amp;jsonp=vglnk_144381748107213&amp;key=9b4efad421c8b103b2c94b796db973b0&amp;libId=ifa3mjio0100xuy3000DAnm1phvaq&amp;subId=7f90c5288da58ebee9ff7b68759366c3&amp;loc=http%3A%2F%2Ffreedomoutpost.com%2F2013%2F09%2Fofficial-government-documents-label-72-types-americans-potential-terrorists%2F&amp;v=1&amp;ref=http%3A%2F%2Ffreedomoutpost.com%2F%3Fs%3Dscrub%2Breferences%2Bislam&amp;title=Obama%20Admin%20%26%20UN%20Announce%20Global%20Police%20Force%20to%20Fight%20%E2%80%9CExtremism%E2%80%9D%20in%20US%20Cities%20-%20Freedom%20Outpost&amp;txt=scrubbed%20references%20to%20Islamic%20jihad%20from%20terror%20training%20materials&amp;out=http%3A%2F%2Fdailycaller.com%2F2011%2F10%2F21%2Fobama-administration-pulls-references-to-islam-from-terror-training-materials-official-says%2F" type="external">scrubbing references to Islam and jihad from its counter-terrorism manuals</a> at the <a href="http://freedomoutpost.com/2014/08/islamic-leaders-demand-retraining-law-enforcement-exposed-jihad-doctrine-disciplinary-action-producers-counter-jihad-materials/" type="external">request of Islamic supremacists</a> while imposing the ridiculous notion that the constitutional militia is the real threat. The <a href="http://freedomoutpost.com/2014/02/constitutionally-defined-troops-support/" type="external">constitutional militia is only a threat to invaders, insurrectionists and tyrants</a>.</p>
<p>For a complete analysis of the document in question, Freedom Outpost contributor <a href="http://freedomoutpost.com/author/lorrianderson/" type="external">Lorri Anderson</a> breaks it down in <a href="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ozbVeTTfld0" type="external">this video</a>. You can also <a href="http://freedomoutpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/BUNDY-REF-dhs-domestic-violent-extremists-pose-increased.pdf" type="external">download the document by clicking here</a> to read through it as she expounds upon what is in it.</p>
<p />
<p>Additional information can be found in the following videos and articles:</p>
<p>Courtesy of <a href="http://freedomoutpost.com/2015/12/bombshell-unclassified-dhs-documents-prove-local-law-enforcement-is-being-propagandized-against-innocent-american-patriots/" type="external">Freedom Outpost</a>.</p>
<p />
<p /> | Bombshell: Unclassified DHS Documents Prove Local Law Enforcement is Being Propagandized against Innocent American Patriots | true | http://dcclothesline.com/2015/12/27/bombshell-unclassified-dhs-documents-prove-local-law-enforcement-is-being-propagandized-against-innocent-american-patriots/ | 2015-12-27 | 0right
| Bombshell: Unclassified DHS Documents Prove Local Law Enforcement is Being Propagandized against Innocent American Patriots
<p />
<p><a href="http://freedomoutpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/BUNDY-REF-dhs-domestic-violent-extremists-pose-increased.pdf" type="external">Homeland Security documents</a>, which have been marked as “Unclassified/Law Enforcement Sensitive,” appear to demonstrate just how local law enforcement is being propagandized <a href="" type="internal">against Patriots</a> in the united States by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) under Barack Hussein Obama Soetoro Sobarkah. And who did the document target? The Constitutional militia, specifically those who engaged the Department of Interior’s <a href="" type="internal">Bureau of Land Management</a> (BLM) in Nevada of April last year at the <a href="http://freedomoutpost.com/?s=bundy+ranch+seige" type="external">Bundy Ranch siege</a>.</p>
<p>First and foremost understand that the “intelligence assessment,” dated July 2014, claims that DHS has “seen a spike within the past year in violence committed by militia extremists and lone offenders who hold violent anti-government beliefs.”</p>
<p>Where are the reports on this massive “spike” that DHS is referencing? I haven’t seen those stories, but I have seen those by Islamic jihadists such as San Bernardino, <a href="" type="internal">Oklahoma</a>, <a href="" type="internal">Garland</a>, and others.</p>
<p>“These groups and individuals recognize government authority, but facilitate or engage in acts of violence due to their perception that the United States Government is tyrannical and oppressive, coupled to their belief that the government needs to be violently resisted or overthrown,” the document adds.</p>
<p>Apparently, those in our government today do not remember or choose to ignore that they are engaging in the many of the same activities that led our forefathers to write the <a href="http://thewashingtonstandard.com/declaration-of-independence-do-our-rights-come-from-god-the-constitution-the-supreme-court-or-congress/" type="external">Declaration of Independence</a>:</p>
<p>We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.</p>
<p>Furthermore, the document goes on to directly focus on those who stood with the Bundy’s during the siege, particularly members of the citizens <a href="" type="internal">militia</a>.</p>
<p>“I&amp;A assesses that the perceived victory by militia extremists in a show of force against the Department of Interior’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM” in Nevada in April will likely inspire additional anti-government violence over the next year,” the document continues. The document also alleges that the deaths of two <a href="" type="internal">Las Vegas police officers</a> at the hands of <a href="http://freedomoutpost.com/2014/06/jerad-miller-sent-home-bundy-ranch-truth-media-isnt-telling/" type="external">people who were ostracized at Bundy Ranch</a> and <a href="http://freedomoutpost.com/2014/06/vegas-shooters-jerad-amanda-miller-were-vegas-police-informants/" type="external">were actually Vegas Police informants</a>, but were tied to the Bundy’s and the militia in <a href="http://freedomoutpost.com/2014/06/critical-government-pro-liberty-pro-gun-get-ready-lumped-vegas-shooters/" type="external">news reports</a> and the <a href="http://freedomoutpost.com/2014/06/constitutional-sheriff-richard-mack-smeared-by-splc-connected-to-las-vegas-shooters/" type="external">anti-American organization known as the Southern Poverty Law Center</a>, is indication of “the latest and most severe incident in a growing trend of anti-government violence.”</p>
<p>The DHS document even had the audacity to state, “Historically, spikes in violence have followed high-profile confrontations involving the United States Government, such as <a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=as_li_ss_tl?_encoding=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;field-keywords=ruby%20ridge&amp;linkCode=ur2&amp;tag=freedomoutpos-20&amp;url=search-alias%3Daps&amp;linkId=HVYDAVA4L2PQFNU6" type="external">Ruby Ridge</a> and <a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=as_li_ss_tl?_encoding=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;field-keywords=waco&amp;linkCode=ur2&amp;rh=n%3A283155%2Ck%3Awaco&amp;tag=freedomoutpos-20&amp;url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&amp;linkId=2MLAFSX2S2KZUNO2" type="external">Waco</a>. The April 2014 Bunkerville, Nevada standoff likely represents a similar event that could inspire further violence.”</p>
<p>Now, let’s ask one simple question here, shall we? Who were those engaging in force at Ruby Ridge, Waco and the Bundy Ranch? It was not the militia. It was the US government, via the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) and the <a href="http://freedomoutpost.com/2014/04/ron-paul-warned-armed-blm-1997/" type="external">BLM</a>, <a href="http://gunsinthenews.com/atf-no-constitutional-authority-ban-ammunition/" type="external">both of which are unconstitutional</a>. In the case of the <a href="http://freedomoutpost.com/?s=bundy+ranch" type="external">Bundy Ranch</a>, the <a href="http://freedomoutpost.com/2014/04/militias-route-bunkerville-nv-will-start-2nd-american-revolution/" type="external">militia responded</a> to the <a href="http://freedomoutpost.com/2014/04/u-s-govt-vs-cattle-rancher-cliven-bundy-wake-america-taking-everything-away-us/" type="external">force and violence exhibited by the BLM</a>, not the other way around. It was not the militia that <a href="http://freedomoutpost.com/2014/04/faa-establishes-fly-zone-cliven-bundy-ranch/" type="external">instituted a no-fly zone over the ranch</a>. It was not the militia that preemptively positioned an <a href="http://freedomoutpost.com/2014/04/obama-admin-sends-hundreds-armed-feds-harass-cliven-bundy-wouldnt-send-1-soldier-defend-benghazi/" type="external">army of federal agents</a> around the Bundys, <a href="http://freedomoutpost.com/2014/04/concerned-citizen-moapa-valley-town-board-meeting-bundy-ranch-seige-blm-will-fire-next-shot-heard-around-world-will-fire-rest/" type="external">including snipers</a>.</p>
<p>The same is true regarding what is <a href="http://thewashingtonstandard.com/bigger-than-bundy-ranch-militia-put-on-level-2-alert-to-defend-oregon-ranchers-against-tyrannical-feds-who-label-them-terrorists/" type="external">taking place currently in Oregon with the Hammond family</a>. Members of their family are basically enduring Double Jeopardy, something that is not supposed to be happening under the protections of the Fifth Amendment, which states in part, “Nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb . . . .” <a href="http://thewashingtonstandard.com/oregon-rancher-fears-for-his-life-after-feds-threaten-him-through-his-attorney/" type="external">They have been threatened by the federal government</a> for speaking out to Ammon Bundy, <a href="http://thewashingtonstandard.com/ammon-bundy-issues-resolution-to-local-officials-regarding-oregon-ranchers-we-dont-have-to-remind-you-of-your-duty-to-act-nor-consequences-of-negligence/" type="external">who has been airing what is taking place and the injustices surrounding the issue</a>. In fact, the <a href="http://thewashingtonstandard.com/blm-burns-ranches-and-destroy-cattle-but-ranchers-get-charged-with-terrorism/" type="external">BLM has engaged in worse activity than the men of the Hammond family engaged in and yet, even with video evidence</a>, they are not held accountable in a similar manner to <a href="" type="internal">the Hammonds</a>. They weren’t even arrested, but it was all for an <a href="http://freedomoutpost.com/2014/04/agenda-21-blm-land-grabbing-endgame/" type="external">Agenda 21 land grab</a>!</p>
<p>This also has led to several people who stood up in <a href="" type="internal">Bunkerville</a>, Nevada last year to be targeted. Among them are former Marines Schuyler Barbeau and <a href="" type="internal">Pete Santilli</a>. Barbeau has been in jail and under investigation for suspected firearms violations (something that is repugnant to the Second Amendment of the Constitution and, therefore, null and void (Marbury vs.Madison, 1803.)) as well as other claims by the FBI. Santilli was recently <a href="http://thewashingtonstandard.com/exclusive-former-us-marine-put-on-terror-watch-list-held-at-gunpoint-was-it-because-he-is-helping-the-oregon-ranchers/" type="external">targeted in Ohio and was said to be on the Terror Watchlist</a> just days before he was to head out West to aid both Barbeau and the Hammond family. Currently, he too is facing an alleged gun violation that is in violation of the Second Amendment.</p>
<p>There is no doubt in my mind that Barbeau was targeted for his involvement with the Bundy Ranch and that Santilli was targeted for his ties to Barbeau, but neither have actually committed a crime or engaged in terrorism. The charges are made against both men through pretended legislation that undermines the clear statements of the rights of both men.</p>
<p>We know this administration has taken steps to <a href="http://freedomoutpost.com/2013/09/official-government-documents-label-72-types-americans-potential-terrorists/" type="external">label 72 types of loyal, patriots and law-abiding citizens as potential terrorists</a>. Now, they are actually going further and arresting and imprisoning them, along with targeting their lives and land.</p>
<p>Let me be clear, none of these men, nor I nor any legitimate militia member is “ <a href="" type="internal">anti-government</a>.” We just believe government’s boundaries (Romans 13:1-5) have been established and they have stepped way over those bounds and instead of reining in their tyranny, they have expanded it, leaving the citizens to defend themselves and each other. Then, instead of actually acknowledging their violations of the law, the government is now <a href="http://freedomoutpost.com/2013/10/u-s-military-taught-treat-christians-as-extremists-potential-terrorists/" type="external">propagandizing both the military</a> and law enforcement against Patriots for the very “force” and “violence” that they are themselves engaging in.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the administration continues forward in <a href="http://thewashingtonstandard.com/heres-the-list-of-cities-obama-will-dump-invading-muslim-refugees/" type="external">bringing in America’s enemies through a Muslim invasion</a>, or which we are completely clear that they pose not only a <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1596981040/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=1596981040&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=freedomoutpos-20&amp;linkId=GKB5KVI7RS2KRX3H" type="external">jihad threat through violence</a>, <a href="http://sonsoflibertymedia.com/2015/12/need-keep-peaceful-muslims-islamic-threat-overdue-popular-funeral-western-liberalism/" type="external">but also in the political process</a>. Yet, this is part of the judgment of God upon a disobedient people (Deut. 28; Lev. 26).</p>
<p>Now, the administration is <a href="http://api.viglink.com/api/click?format=go&amp;jsonp=vglnk_144381748107213&amp;key=9b4efad421c8b103b2c94b796db973b0&amp;libId=ifa3mjio0100xuy3000DAnm1phvaq&amp;subId=7f90c5288da58ebee9ff7b68759366c3&amp;loc=http%3A%2F%2Ffreedomoutpost.com%2F2013%2F09%2Fofficial-government-documents-label-72-types-americans-potential-terrorists%2F&amp;v=1&amp;ref=http%3A%2F%2Ffreedomoutpost.com%2F%3Fs%3Dscrub%2Breferences%2Bislam&amp;title=Obama%20Admin%20%26%20UN%20Announce%20Global%20Police%20Force%20to%20Fight%20%E2%80%9CExtremism%E2%80%9D%20in%20US%20Cities%20-%20Freedom%20Outpost&amp;txt=scrubbed%20references%20to%20Islamic%20jihad%20from%20terror%20training%20materials&amp;out=http%3A%2F%2Fdailycaller.com%2F2011%2F10%2F21%2Fobama-administration-pulls-references-to-islam-from-terror-training-materials-official-says%2F" type="external">scrubbing references to Islam and jihad from its counter-terrorism manuals</a> at the <a href="http://freedomoutpost.com/2014/08/islamic-leaders-demand-retraining-law-enforcement-exposed-jihad-doctrine-disciplinary-action-producers-counter-jihad-materials/" type="external">request of Islamic supremacists</a> while imposing the ridiculous notion that the constitutional militia is the real threat. The <a href="http://freedomoutpost.com/2014/02/constitutionally-defined-troops-support/" type="external">constitutional militia is only a threat to invaders, insurrectionists and tyrants</a>.</p>
<p>For a complete analysis of the document in question, Freedom Outpost contributor <a href="http://freedomoutpost.com/author/lorrianderson/" type="external">Lorri Anderson</a> breaks it down in <a href="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ozbVeTTfld0" type="external">this video</a>. You can also <a href="http://freedomoutpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/BUNDY-REF-dhs-domestic-violent-extremists-pose-increased.pdf" type="external">download the document by clicking here</a> to read through it as she expounds upon what is in it.</p>
<p />
<p>Additional information can be found in the following videos and articles:</p>
<p>Courtesy of <a href="http://freedomoutpost.com/2015/12/bombshell-unclassified-dhs-documents-prove-local-law-enforcement-is-being-propagandized-against-innocent-american-patriots/" type="external">Freedom Outpost</a>.</p>
<p />
<p /> | 775 |
<p>A critical debate is underway to determine whether or not the US will send up to forty thousand more troops to Afghanistan. The debate is said to include a wide-range of opinion, but even at the top political and military levels, there isn’t profound understanding of insurgencies in general or the particular dynamics of the Afghan one.</p>
<p>The Afghan insurgency, we are repeatedly told, is based on intimidation and violence. This is true in parts of the country, but dubious in others. Indeed, seeing any insurgency as resting mainly on force is wrong and it will lead to wrong responses. Insurgencies develop when a non-government group builds rapport with at least parts of the populace. This was the case in Malaya, the Philippines, Algeria, and South Vietnam. And it is the case in Afghanistan.</p>
<p>Consider a few patterns:</p>
<p>Pashtun elders meet with western officers and accept development programs, yet too often they make only desultory efforts to fight insurgents. This is clear from numerous small engagements and glaringly so from attacks conducted by sizable insurgent forces such as those who assaulted US positions in Nuristan recently and in Kunar last year. Tribes are, among other things, intelligence networks, keeping watch and ward over their lands for trespassers, bandits, and enemies. The coalescence and deployment of large insurgent forces could not have gone undetected by herdsmen, traders, or hunters who traverse the district and report to elders. Something is amiss here.</p>
<p>The Pashtun tribes are vaunted warriors who repelled the Russians, British, Persians, and numerous lesser-known powers unwise enough to venture into their lands. Yet these same tribesmen are said to bow before a band of lightly-armed guerrillas. Elders have the authority, weapons, fighters, and local knowledge to mount formidable resistance, but they elect not to. Why is this?</p>
<p>The spread of the insurgency in recent years, according to many observers with local knowledge, is often based more on negotiation than on force. Insurgents cannot match the resources of western powers, but they are able to win local support in other ways. Taliban figures settle disputes in accordance with Islamic law, stand as opponents of northern/Tajik dominance, offer the prospect of fairer government, listen to local needs without the western assumption of superior knowledge, fight without the use of massive firepower, and represent the promise of restored Pashtun greatness. Most critically, they present themselves as an enduring, indigenous power adamantly opposed to the presence of transient, foreign ones.</p>
<p>The insurgents are more adept at negotiations and assurances than are the Kabul government or the western powers. Kabul’s preference for aggrandizement and the US’s ignorance of counterinsurgency have allowed the insurgents to win over large numbers of Pashtun people in the South and East. They have even been able to gain support from a few non-Pashtun groups in the North and West, in part by presenting them as an alternative to the foreigners who have overstayed whatever welcome they once had. An insurgency is in ways a debate, and thus far the insurgents’ arguments are more convincing. Pashtun elders vote with their sons by attaching local men to serve in the insurgent bands, which has helped the Taliban triple in size over the last two years.</p>
<p>What then of the troop surge in a country with an insurgency more entrenched than thought? More western troops in contested regions will almost certainly strengthen local beliefs and insurgent claims that US and NATO forces are another occupying force – a belief paradoxically supported by western assurances that they will stay on until the insurgents are defeated. More troops will step up the fighting, which will further alienate the support of locals who see westerners, not insurgents, as the cause of widespread destruction.</p>
<p>Several other questions must be central to the debate in Washington. Will the insurgents’ numbers and experience require far more western forces? Have the insurgents already consolidated in large parts of the country such that counterinsurgency is not feasible or will take a decade or more to work? Is the US public likely to support the war for another decade? What of European publics? Perhaps most importantly, can more US troops make up for the ineptitude and corruption of the Afghan army and state without becoming an occupying power?</p>
<p>BRIAN M. DOWNING is the author of several works of political and military history, including <a href="" type="internal">The Military Revolution and Political Change</a> and <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1877275581/counterpunchmaga" type="external">The Paths of Glory: War and Social Change in America from the Great War to Vietnam</a>. He can be reached at: <a href="mailto:brianmdowning@gmail.com" type="external">brianmdowning@gmail.com</a></p> | Rethinking the Afghan Insurgency | true | https://counterpunch.org/2009/10/15/rethinking-the-afghan-insurgency/ | 2009-10-15 | 4left
| Rethinking the Afghan Insurgency
<p>A critical debate is underway to determine whether or not the US will send up to forty thousand more troops to Afghanistan. The debate is said to include a wide-range of opinion, but even at the top political and military levels, there isn’t profound understanding of insurgencies in general or the particular dynamics of the Afghan one.</p>
<p>The Afghan insurgency, we are repeatedly told, is based on intimidation and violence. This is true in parts of the country, but dubious in others. Indeed, seeing any insurgency as resting mainly on force is wrong and it will lead to wrong responses. Insurgencies develop when a non-government group builds rapport with at least parts of the populace. This was the case in Malaya, the Philippines, Algeria, and South Vietnam. And it is the case in Afghanistan.</p>
<p>Consider a few patterns:</p>
<p>Pashtun elders meet with western officers and accept development programs, yet too often they make only desultory efforts to fight insurgents. This is clear from numerous small engagements and glaringly so from attacks conducted by sizable insurgent forces such as those who assaulted US positions in Nuristan recently and in Kunar last year. Tribes are, among other things, intelligence networks, keeping watch and ward over their lands for trespassers, bandits, and enemies. The coalescence and deployment of large insurgent forces could not have gone undetected by herdsmen, traders, or hunters who traverse the district and report to elders. Something is amiss here.</p>
<p>The Pashtun tribes are vaunted warriors who repelled the Russians, British, Persians, and numerous lesser-known powers unwise enough to venture into their lands. Yet these same tribesmen are said to bow before a band of lightly-armed guerrillas. Elders have the authority, weapons, fighters, and local knowledge to mount formidable resistance, but they elect not to. Why is this?</p>
<p>The spread of the insurgency in recent years, according to many observers with local knowledge, is often based more on negotiation than on force. Insurgents cannot match the resources of western powers, but they are able to win local support in other ways. Taliban figures settle disputes in accordance with Islamic law, stand as opponents of northern/Tajik dominance, offer the prospect of fairer government, listen to local needs without the western assumption of superior knowledge, fight without the use of massive firepower, and represent the promise of restored Pashtun greatness. Most critically, they present themselves as an enduring, indigenous power adamantly opposed to the presence of transient, foreign ones.</p>
<p>The insurgents are more adept at negotiations and assurances than are the Kabul government or the western powers. Kabul’s preference for aggrandizement and the US’s ignorance of counterinsurgency have allowed the insurgents to win over large numbers of Pashtun people in the South and East. They have even been able to gain support from a few non-Pashtun groups in the North and West, in part by presenting them as an alternative to the foreigners who have overstayed whatever welcome they once had. An insurgency is in ways a debate, and thus far the insurgents’ arguments are more convincing. Pashtun elders vote with their sons by attaching local men to serve in the insurgent bands, which has helped the Taliban triple in size over the last two years.</p>
<p>What then of the troop surge in a country with an insurgency more entrenched than thought? More western troops in contested regions will almost certainly strengthen local beliefs and insurgent claims that US and NATO forces are another occupying force – a belief paradoxically supported by western assurances that they will stay on until the insurgents are defeated. More troops will step up the fighting, which will further alienate the support of locals who see westerners, not insurgents, as the cause of widespread destruction.</p>
<p>Several other questions must be central to the debate in Washington. Will the insurgents’ numbers and experience require far more western forces? Have the insurgents already consolidated in large parts of the country such that counterinsurgency is not feasible or will take a decade or more to work? Is the US public likely to support the war for another decade? What of European publics? Perhaps most importantly, can more US troops make up for the ineptitude and corruption of the Afghan army and state without becoming an occupying power?</p>
<p>BRIAN M. DOWNING is the author of several works of political and military history, including <a href="" type="internal">The Military Revolution and Political Change</a> and <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1877275581/counterpunchmaga" type="external">The Paths of Glory: War and Social Change in America from the Great War to Vietnam</a>. He can be reached at: <a href="mailto:brianmdowning@gmail.com" type="external">brianmdowning@gmail.com</a></p> | 776 |
<p>There seemed to have been two elections in Palestine on Sunday: the one conducted in the West Bank and Gaza, and the one in Jerusalem.</p>
<p>Voting day in the West Bank and Gaza was marked in many places by a mood of ebullience and celebration. There was singing, dancing, the firing of guns into the air, families strolling together to the polling stations. Palestinian women’s organizations had spent weeks encouraging women to vote, and many women did show up for their first election, especially in urban centers. While not all checkpoints were eased and not all Palestinians wanted to vote under an occupation regime, the overall climate was one of hope and a new beginning.</p>
<p>Voting day in Jerusalem, on the other hand, was marked by a flawed process. The Israeli government could not prevent Jerusalem’s Palestinian residents from participating in the elections, but it wanted to avoid the appearance of Jerusalem being part of the Palestinian Authority. Therefore, the authorities designed a voting system that was a pearl of Talmudical caginess, allowing for the vote, but giving it the appearance of an absentee ballot being cast in Jerusalem for sending to a Palestinian state that was “somewhere else”. Therefore, voting was carried out only in post offices, where marked ballots were handed to postal clerks who inserted them into special mailboxes, presumably to be “mailed” to Palestine. Special attention was given to the location of the slot. The Israeli authorities felt strongly that a slot on the top of the box would give the appearance of a real ballot box. Therefore, these mailboxes had slots on the side. Here’s a photo (left) I took of a man at one of these red mail-ballot-boxes, behind a glass pane and inaccessible to the voter. Note also the lack of privacy, with the clerk looking on as he leans on the counter marking his ballot, and the next voter edging closer. Worst of all, only 6,000 Jerusalemites out of 125,000 were allowed to vote in town, with the rest dispatched to voting stations out of town, to which access through checkpoints was eased, but still not easy.</p>
<p>Under these conditions, many Palestinians in Jerusalem refused to vote. And many were afraid to vote, in fear that Israel would regard that as grounds for canceling their Jerusalem residency rights. It’s no wonder that a Palestinian woman carrying a bunch of bananas stood outside the main post office on the Palestinian side of Jerusalem, handing out flyers that called Israel a “banana republic democracy”.</p>
<p>I too wanted to see the excitement on the other side of town, so I answered the call of Bat Shalom, a women’s peace organization, to help keep the extremist Israeli right from carrying out their threat to disrupt the proceedings. As six of us walked together toward the Palestinian side of Jerusalem, an Israeli police officer stopped us, said he knew of our plan, and that our presence would “provoke counter-demonstrations”. We argued for a while, and then he announced we were under arrest, to prevent us from ‘disturbing the peace’. We were shocked, but a moment later he was distracted by a phone call, so we simply slipped away and melted into the side streets, splitting up so we would be less obvious if he sent a posse. One would think the police had better villains to worry about.</p>
<p>Despite the many difficulties and Israel’s grudging cooperation, the vote did take place, leaving many Palestinians and even Israelis with a sense of elation. A real election was held ­ with real competition and no mud slinging ­ and the candidate who consistently called for an end to the violence and negotiation of a real peace was swept into power with 62% of the vote. Now the proverbial ball is in Israel’s court, and the excuse for not negotiating is long dead and buried.</p>
<p>Other good news</p>
<p>24 hours later and on the Jewish side of town, the new Israeli government ­ comprising Likud, Labor, and United Torah Judaism, an ultra-Orthodox party ­ was sworn in, thanks to Sharon’s wily brinkmanship with the extremists from his own party who oppose the disengagement from Gaza. The government will now have the parliamentary strength it needs to get out of Gaza, and Shimon Peres is back in power, defying age, wisdom, and public incredulity.</p>
<p>And the anti-evacuation settlers are digging their own graves. Once considered the last of the idealists, support for the settler movement has plummeted among Israelis in the wake of recurring violent clashes with Israeli soldiers evacuating settler outposts. Today, the settlers are regarded as the anti-democratic, lunatic fringe. In truth, the vast majority of settlers are far more moderate, and would leave the territories in a heartbeat for the price of their property, but the fanatics are now setting the tone and image.</p>
<p>By the way, in a small meeting this evening where former US President Jimmy Carter, chief election observer in the Middle East, spoke to the participants of the Ecumenical Accompaniment Program (which I was lucky to have attended), this honorable man berated people for using the term “fence”. Said Jimmy, “Israel has successfully convinced the United States that this is an innocuous fence, as if it were a fence around a cow pasture, but this is really a dividing wall and we should refer to it as suchThis wall is one of the most vivid vulnerabilities of Prime Minister Sharon’s policies.” Bravo, Mr. Carter, for more plain talk.</p>
<p>Monday was also a red letter day for supporters of human rights, as Israel’s High Court ruled that lesbian couples may now officially adopt each other’s children. We are all grateful to Tal and Avital Yaros-Hakak, who sacrificed their privacy to establish this important precedent.</p>
<p>Finally, the tragedy in the Indian Ocean, and it takes a religious extremist to have figured it out: A Muslim cleric announced that the Zionists caused the Tsunami. This was practically confirmed by a rabbi in Israel, who announced that God doesn’t like non-Jews, and that’s why he dropped all this water on them. Jewish-Muslim consensus, at last, helping us understand the mystery of God’s ways.</p>
<p>GILA SVIRSKY is a peace and human rights activist in Jerusalem. She can be reached at <a href="mailto:gsvirsky@netvision.net.il" type="external">gsvirsky@netvision.net.il</a></p>
<p>&#160;</p> | A Tale of Two Elections | true | https://counterpunch.org/2005/01/11/a-tale-of-two-elections/ | 2005-01-11 | 4left
| A Tale of Two Elections
<p>There seemed to have been two elections in Palestine on Sunday: the one conducted in the West Bank and Gaza, and the one in Jerusalem.</p>
<p>Voting day in the West Bank and Gaza was marked in many places by a mood of ebullience and celebration. There was singing, dancing, the firing of guns into the air, families strolling together to the polling stations. Palestinian women’s organizations had spent weeks encouraging women to vote, and many women did show up for their first election, especially in urban centers. While not all checkpoints were eased and not all Palestinians wanted to vote under an occupation regime, the overall climate was one of hope and a new beginning.</p>
<p>Voting day in Jerusalem, on the other hand, was marked by a flawed process. The Israeli government could not prevent Jerusalem’s Palestinian residents from participating in the elections, but it wanted to avoid the appearance of Jerusalem being part of the Palestinian Authority. Therefore, the authorities designed a voting system that was a pearl of Talmudical caginess, allowing for the vote, but giving it the appearance of an absentee ballot being cast in Jerusalem for sending to a Palestinian state that was “somewhere else”. Therefore, voting was carried out only in post offices, where marked ballots were handed to postal clerks who inserted them into special mailboxes, presumably to be “mailed” to Palestine. Special attention was given to the location of the slot. The Israeli authorities felt strongly that a slot on the top of the box would give the appearance of a real ballot box. Therefore, these mailboxes had slots on the side. Here’s a photo (left) I took of a man at one of these red mail-ballot-boxes, behind a glass pane and inaccessible to the voter. Note also the lack of privacy, with the clerk looking on as he leans on the counter marking his ballot, and the next voter edging closer. Worst of all, only 6,000 Jerusalemites out of 125,000 were allowed to vote in town, with the rest dispatched to voting stations out of town, to which access through checkpoints was eased, but still not easy.</p>
<p>Under these conditions, many Palestinians in Jerusalem refused to vote. And many were afraid to vote, in fear that Israel would regard that as grounds for canceling their Jerusalem residency rights. It’s no wonder that a Palestinian woman carrying a bunch of bananas stood outside the main post office on the Palestinian side of Jerusalem, handing out flyers that called Israel a “banana republic democracy”.</p>
<p>I too wanted to see the excitement on the other side of town, so I answered the call of Bat Shalom, a women’s peace organization, to help keep the extremist Israeli right from carrying out their threat to disrupt the proceedings. As six of us walked together toward the Palestinian side of Jerusalem, an Israeli police officer stopped us, said he knew of our plan, and that our presence would “provoke counter-demonstrations”. We argued for a while, and then he announced we were under arrest, to prevent us from ‘disturbing the peace’. We were shocked, but a moment later he was distracted by a phone call, so we simply slipped away and melted into the side streets, splitting up so we would be less obvious if he sent a posse. One would think the police had better villains to worry about.</p>
<p>Despite the many difficulties and Israel’s grudging cooperation, the vote did take place, leaving many Palestinians and even Israelis with a sense of elation. A real election was held ­ with real competition and no mud slinging ­ and the candidate who consistently called for an end to the violence and negotiation of a real peace was swept into power with 62% of the vote. Now the proverbial ball is in Israel’s court, and the excuse for not negotiating is long dead and buried.</p>
<p>Other good news</p>
<p>24 hours later and on the Jewish side of town, the new Israeli government ­ comprising Likud, Labor, and United Torah Judaism, an ultra-Orthodox party ­ was sworn in, thanks to Sharon’s wily brinkmanship with the extremists from his own party who oppose the disengagement from Gaza. The government will now have the parliamentary strength it needs to get out of Gaza, and Shimon Peres is back in power, defying age, wisdom, and public incredulity.</p>
<p>And the anti-evacuation settlers are digging their own graves. Once considered the last of the idealists, support for the settler movement has plummeted among Israelis in the wake of recurring violent clashes with Israeli soldiers evacuating settler outposts. Today, the settlers are regarded as the anti-democratic, lunatic fringe. In truth, the vast majority of settlers are far more moderate, and would leave the territories in a heartbeat for the price of their property, but the fanatics are now setting the tone and image.</p>
<p>By the way, in a small meeting this evening where former US President Jimmy Carter, chief election observer in the Middle East, spoke to the participants of the Ecumenical Accompaniment Program (which I was lucky to have attended), this honorable man berated people for using the term “fence”. Said Jimmy, “Israel has successfully convinced the United States that this is an innocuous fence, as if it were a fence around a cow pasture, but this is really a dividing wall and we should refer to it as suchThis wall is one of the most vivid vulnerabilities of Prime Minister Sharon’s policies.” Bravo, Mr. Carter, for more plain talk.</p>
<p>Monday was also a red letter day for supporters of human rights, as Israel’s High Court ruled that lesbian couples may now officially adopt each other’s children. We are all grateful to Tal and Avital Yaros-Hakak, who sacrificed their privacy to establish this important precedent.</p>
<p>Finally, the tragedy in the Indian Ocean, and it takes a religious extremist to have figured it out: A Muslim cleric announced that the Zionists caused the Tsunami. This was practically confirmed by a rabbi in Israel, who announced that God doesn’t like non-Jews, and that’s why he dropped all this water on them. Jewish-Muslim consensus, at last, helping us understand the mystery of God’s ways.</p>
<p>GILA SVIRSKY is a peace and human rights activist in Jerusalem. She can be reached at <a href="mailto:gsvirsky@netvision.net.il" type="external">gsvirsky@netvision.net.il</a></p>
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<p>Real hunters, I contend, show reverence for the animals that they kill, and honor their prey in various ways. They obey state laws, care for the meat, enhance habitats and maybe even say a prayer over what they’ve destroyed. Shooters, on the other hand, seem to care more about their own firepower.</p>
<p>The conservationist Aldo Leopold characterized the shooter’s impulse as “trigger itch,” a simple craving to blast away. Leopold regretted his own trigger itch after he shot a wolf with pups and saw the “fierce green fire” die in her eyes. His honesty has endeared him to millions of readers since his Sand County Almanac came out in 1949.</p>
<p>In the interest of full disclosure, I am a born-again non-hunter. I swung guns and drew a lethal bead for 30 years. I was really good at hunting. Finally, though, my heart began to brim over with empathy for the dead. But that wasn’t all.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>I saw game habitats in Washington shrivel under the pressure of human population growth. I feared that my pastime only increased the damage done to sensitive and dwindling species. But the greatest buzzkill came from having to interact with run-amok shooters.</p>
<p>When such shooters come on the scene, their expensive technology immediately changes the stakes. Gun manufacturers have vastly increased the chances that shooters will score in the great outdoors, no matter how unfairly.</p>
<p>Shooters are also apt to fire illegally from roads. Pickup trucks creeping along rural routes are a dead giveaway, as is spotlight-sweeping a field after dark. Public lands, private lands, highways, gravel roads, pastures and even yards are prowling grounds for shooters too slothful to walk. When all-terrain vehicles are involved, it’s even worse. Whether firing from a road or throttling down on a herd to get a shot, the internal combustion machine’s pilot has taken technological advantage to an unfair extreme.</p>
<p>There are other subspecies of reckless shooters out there. One kind attacks road signs: Notice the bullet holes in state and county highway signs. Another chases its prey out of state, kills more than the law allows, kills protected species or exploits military hardware to make the odds even more lopsided.</p>
<p>Some shooters cross the line into poaching by firing a few minutes outside legal hours at dawn or dusk. If they see no punishment because of underfunded agents and understaffed agencies, they sometimes slide a slippery slope and become cheats, poachers and slobs. Those who turn to jacklighting might bolt on spotlights that sport tens of thousands of candlepower to penetrate the night.</p>
<p>The upward trajectory of illicit shooters echoes the downward trajectory of legal hunting. Licensed hunters are becoming fewer all the time, a source of anxiety to those who endorse and enforce the sport. Some 13.7 million people bought hunting licenses in 2011, a drop of 400,000 from 20 years earlier when the nation had 60 million fewer people.</p>
<p>Of course, not all gunners wallow in the gadgetry that gives bad shooters their edge. My best friend, Darryl, hunts from a tree stand with a black-powder rifle. He sips coffee, cradles his blunderbuss and waits for the game to approach close enough to make his one shot count. He is a throwback to a simpler life and time, and there are others like him, among them archers who need to be close to their prey.</p>
<p>My oldest son has recently shown an interest in hunting. Sixteen years old, he enrolled on his own and passed a firearm safety class online. I agreed to take him out and show him the ropes. I’ve told him, though, that my hunting days are gone for good.</p>
<p>Paul Lindholdt contributes to Writers on the Range, a column service of High Country News <a href="http://(hcn.org" type="external">(hcn.org</a>). He is a professor of English at Eastern Washington University in Cheney, Washington.</p>
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<p /> | As ‘shooters’ abound, hunters disappear | false | https://abqjournal.com/464719/as-shooters-abound-hunters-disappear.html | 2least
| As ‘shooters’ abound, hunters disappear
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<p />
<p>Real hunters, I contend, show reverence for the animals that they kill, and honor their prey in various ways. They obey state laws, care for the meat, enhance habitats and maybe even say a prayer over what they’ve destroyed. Shooters, on the other hand, seem to care more about their own firepower.</p>
<p>The conservationist Aldo Leopold characterized the shooter’s impulse as “trigger itch,” a simple craving to blast away. Leopold regretted his own trigger itch after he shot a wolf with pups and saw the “fierce green fire” die in her eyes. His honesty has endeared him to millions of readers since his Sand County Almanac came out in 1949.</p>
<p>In the interest of full disclosure, I am a born-again non-hunter. I swung guns and drew a lethal bead for 30 years. I was really good at hunting. Finally, though, my heart began to brim over with empathy for the dead. But that wasn’t all.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>I saw game habitats in Washington shrivel under the pressure of human population growth. I feared that my pastime only increased the damage done to sensitive and dwindling species. But the greatest buzzkill came from having to interact with run-amok shooters.</p>
<p>When such shooters come on the scene, their expensive technology immediately changes the stakes. Gun manufacturers have vastly increased the chances that shooters will score in the great outdoors, no matter how unfairly.</p>
<p>Shooters are also apt to fire illegally from roads. Pickup trucks creeping along rural routes are a dead giveaway, as is spotlight-sweeping a field after dark. Public lands, private lands, highways, gravel roads, pastures and even yards are prowling grounds for shooters too slothful to walk. When all-terrain vehicles are involved, it’s even worse. Whether firing from a road or throttling down on a herd to get a shot, the internal combustion machine’s pilot has taken technological advantage to an unfair extreme.</p>
<p>There are other subspecies of reckless shooters out there. One kind attacks road signs: Notice the bullet holes in state and county highway signs. Another chases its prey out of state, kills more than the law allows, kills protected species or exploits military hardware to make the odds even more lopsided.</p>
<p>Some shooters cross the line into poaching by firing a few minutes outside legal hours at dawn or dusk. If they see no punishment because of underfunded agents and understaffed agencies, they sometimes slide a slippery slope and become cheats, poachers and slobs. Those who turn to jacklighting might bolt on spotlights that sport tens of thousands of candlepower to penetrate the night.</p>
<p>The upward trajectory of illicit shooters echoes the downward trajectory of legal hunting. Licensed hunters are becoming fewer all the time, a source of anxiety to those who endorse and enforce the sport. Some 13.7 million people bought hunting licenses in 2011, a drop of 400,000 from 20 years earlier when the nation had 60 million fewer people.</p>
<p>Of course, not all gunners wallow in the gadgetry that gives bad shooters their edge. My best friend, Darryl, hunts from a tree stand with a black-powder rifle. He sips coffee, cradles his blunderbuss and waits for the game to approach close enough to make his one shot count. He is a throwback to a simpler life and time, and there are others like him, among them archers who need to be close to their prey.</p>
<p>My oldest son has recently shown an interest in hunting. Sixteen years old, he enrolled on his own and passed a firearm safety class online. I agreed to take him out and show him the ropes. I’ve told him, though, that my hunting days are gone for good.</p>
<p>Paul Lindholdt contributes to Writers on the Range, a column service of High Country News <a href="http://(hcn.org" type="external">(hcn.org</a>). He is a professor of English at Eastern Washington University in Cheney, Washington.</p>
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<p>Former Philadelphia Federal Reserve President Charles Plosser on the economy and confirmation hearing for Fed Chair nominee Jerome Powell.</p>
<p>President Trump’s nominee to replace Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen, Jerome Powell, will face the Senate Banking Committee during his confirmation hearing on Tuesday. Ahead of that, former Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia President Charles Plosser told FOX Business that the Fed needs to be more transparent with their plans to unwind their $4.5 trillion balance sheet.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Plosser, who served as a member of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) during the Great Recession said one of the challenges the Fed will face is how much excess reserve they plan to keep on the balance sheet.</p>
<p>“It is a big deal and it’s very risky from my point of view,” Plosser told Maria Bartiromo on "Mornings with Maria." “They puzzle about inflation but they refuse to look at quantities and deal with the fact that the balance sheet poses huge risks for inflation. Can they really be confident that all that excess reserves in the banking system turns into money and starts creating inflation? How confident are they that they can actually reign it in through their current balance sheet activities and through interest on reserves? I think there are a lot of questions looming out there.”</p>
<p>Even so, Plosser is more concerned about the Fed’s ability to respond to risks created by carrying a very large balance sheet, rather than <a href="" type="internal">inflation Opens a New Window.</a> in the near term.</p>
<p>“I think there are a lot of questions about inflation that we don’t fully understand and so I think they have to be very careful. The Fed talks about risks but they rarely talk about the risks that they’ve created with their balance sheet and with their actions,” he said.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Janet Yellen is set to testify before the congressional Joint Economic Committee on the state economy on Wednesday. Meanwhile, economists from Goldman Sachs and Barclays expect 4% global growth next year -- the strongest since 2011—because of synchronized growth around the world. While Plosser was also bullish, in his opinion, “the fretting over low inflation is overdone.”</p>
<p>“It’s pretty hard to argue, certainly in the United States, about whether or not the Fed has implicitly achieved or we’re near whatever goals we might have. Inflation is low, there’s nothing really wrong with that, and unemployment rates are relatively low and most people say we are near full employment,” he said.</p>
<p>Plosser added that the Trump Administration’s plan to cut tax rates to 20% will move the needle on economic growth in the U.S.</p> | Fed balance sheet poses ‘huge risks’ for inflation: Charles Plosser | true | http://foxbusiness.com/politics/2017/11/28/future-fed-fmr-feds-charles-plosser-on-jerome-powells-confirmation-hearings.html | 2017-11-28 | 0right
| Fed balance sheet poses ‘huge risks’ for inflation: Charles Plosser
<p>Former Philadelphia Federal Reserve President Charles Plosser on the economy and confirmation hearing for Fed Chair nominee Jerome Powell.</p>
<p>President Trump’s nominee to replace Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen, Jerome Powell, will face the Senate Banking Committee during his confirmation hearing on Tuesday. Ahead of that, former Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia President Charles Plosser told FOX Business that the Fed needs to be more transparent with their plans to unwind their $4.5 trillion balance sheet.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Plosser, who served as a member of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) during the Great Recession said one of the challenges the Fed will face is how much excess reserve they plan to keep on the balance sheet.</p>
<p>“It is a big deal and it’s very risky from my point of view,” Plosser told Maria Bartiromo on "Mornings with Maria." “They puzzle about inflation but they refuse to look at quantities and deal with the fact that the balance sheet poses huge risks for inflation. Can they really be confident that all that excess reserves in the banking system turns into money and starts creating inflation? How confident are they that they can actually reign it in through their current balance sheet activities and through interest on reserves? I think there are a lot of questions looming out there.”</p>
<p>Even so, Plosser is more concerned about the Fed’s ability to respond to risks created by carrying a very large balance sheet, rather than <a href="" type="internal">inflation Opens a New Window.</a> in the near term.</p>
<p>“I think there are a lot of questions about inflation that we don’t fully understand and so I think they have to be very careful. The Fed talks about risks but they rarely talk about the risks that they’ve created with their balance sheet and with their actions,” he said.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Janet Yellen is set to testify before the congressional Joint Economic Committee on the state economy on Wednesday. Meanwhile, economists from Goldman Sachs and Barclays expect 4% global growth next year -- the strongest since 2011—because of synchronized growth around the world. While Plosser was also bullish, in his opinion, “the fretting over low inflation is overdone.”</p>
<p>“It’s pretty hard to argue, certainly in the United States, about whether or not the Fed has implicitly achieved or we’re near whatever goals we might have. Inflation is low, there’s nothing really wrong with that, and unemployment rates are relatively low and most people say we are near full employment,” he said.</p>
<p>Plosser added that the Trump Administration’s plan to cut tax rates to 20% will move the needle on economic growth in the U.S.</p> | 779 |
<p>At least two people are dead and 16 homes destroyed by a fast-moving wildfire that on Tuesday forced the evacuation of 900 people southwest of Denver.</p>
<p>A third person was missing from the same area where the man and woman were found, according to the <a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gjctvH1W-40HVf1L7rVd_bpqH1vQ?docId=46440a16609e48d892f43412f6ced117" type="external">Associated Press</a>. Residents of another 6,500 houses are being told to be ready to evacuate on Tuesday.</p>
<p>The blaze spread to nearly 5 square miles within a matter of hours, spurred by high wind gusts that prevented air crews from helping firefighters on Monday. Forecasters said gusts were expected to be lighter on Tuesday, though a period of stronger winds was expected in the afternoon, <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/03/26/homes-destroyed-in-fast-growing-colorado-wildfire/" type="external">The Associated Press reported</a>.</p>
<p>One person was found dead in the fire zone Monday. Their name was not released, and officials were awaiting an autopsy to give an official cause of death, <a href="http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_20264330/colorado-wildfire-no-containment-lower-north-fork-fire" type="external">the Denver Posted reported</a>.</p>
<p>A second fire victim was discovered Tuesday nearby, the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2012/03/27/us/colorado-wildfire/index.html?iref=allsearch" type="external">told CNN</a>.</p>
<p>The fire has destroyed 15 to 25 structures in Jefferson County, at least five of which were homes, authorities told the AP.</p>
<p>Authorities ordered 450 firefighters to the scene Tuesday. They have also asked for air support, but that hangs in the balance as winds are expected to gust at 30 to 40 mph in the afternoon, CNN reported.</p>
<p>Some evacuees spent Monday night at a shelter set up at Conifer High School, while others chose to sleep in their vehicles in the school's parking lot to be with their pets, the Denver Post reported.</p>
<p>"We're waking up to the fact that we might lose our house," Tim White told the newspaper Tuesday morning. "We're not really sure what to expect."</p>
<p>The fire was sparked by a controlled burn conducted by state forest officialslast week to reduce fire danger, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/27/colorado-wildfire-1-perso_n_1381984.html" type="external">the AP reported.</a></p> | Colorado wildfire: 2 dead, 900 evacuated in Jefferson County blaze (VIDEO) | false | https://pri.org/stories/2012-03-27/colorado-wildfire-2-dead-900-evacuated-jefferson-county-blaze-video | 2012-03-27 | 3left-center
| Colorado wildfire: 2 dead, 900 evacuated in Jefferson County blaze (VIDEO)
<p>At least two people are dead and 16 homes destroyed by a fast-moving wildfire that on Tuesday forced the evacuation of 900 people southwest of Denver.</p>
<p>A third person was missing from the same area where the man and woman were found, according to the <a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gjctvH1W-40HVf1L7rVd_bpqH1vQ?docId=46440a16609e48d892f43412f6ced117" type="external">Associated Press</a>. Residents of another 6,500 houses are being told to be ready to evacuate on Tuesday.</p>
<p>The blaze spread to nearly 5 square miles within a matter of hours, spurred by high wind gusts that prevented air crews from helping firefighters on Monday. Forecasters said gusts were expected to be lighter on Tuesday, though a period of stronger winds was expected in the afternoon, <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/03/26/homes-destroyed-in-fast-growing-colorado-wildfire/" type="external">The Associated Press reported</a>.</p>
<p>One person was found dead in the fire zone Monday. Their name was not released, and officials were awaiting an autopsy to give an official cause of death, <a href="http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_20264330/colorado-wildfire-no-containment-lower-north-fork-fire" type="external">the Denver Posted reported</a>.</p>
<p>A second fire victim was discovered Tuesday nearby, the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2012/03/27/us/colorado-wildfire/index.html?iref=allsearch" type="external">told CNN</a>.</p>
<p>The fire has destroyed 15 to 25 structures in Jefferson County, at least five of which were homes, authorities told the AP.</p>
<p>Authorities ordered 450 firefighters to the scene Tuesday. They have also asked for air support, but that hangs in the balance as winds are expected to gust at 30 to 40 mph in the afternoon, CNN reported.</p>
<p>Some evacuees spent Monday night at a shelter set up at Conifer High School, while others chose to sleep in their vehicles in the school's parking lot to be with their pets, the Denver Post reported.</p>
<p>"We're waking up to the fact that we might lose our house," Tim White told the newspaper Tuesday morning. "We're not really sure what to expect."</p>
<p>The fire was sparked by a controlled burn conducted by state forest officialslast week to reduce fire danger, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/27/colorado-wildfire-1-perso_n_1381984.html" type="external">the AP reported.</a></p> | 780 |
<p>By Greg Warner</p>
<p>Baptist leaders in Europe predict the Southern Baptist Convention will have a hard time drawing Baptists from the continent into a new international network that, some say, will compete with the Baptist World Alliance.</p>
<p />
<p>When the SBC withdrew from the BWA in June, charging the group with a “liberal drift,” convention leaders announced plans to start and fund a new international “fellowship” of like-minded conservatives.</p>
<p>In early July, nine Southern Baptists leaders met with 12 European Baptists in Warsaw, Poland, for what SBC executive Morris Chapman predicted “may prove in time to have been the inaugural meeting of a network that shall extend to every corner of the earth, creating a close fellowship among like-minded conservative Christians.”</p>
<p>The 12 Europeans, who were not named in an SBC news release, came from six countries, most in eastern Europe and among the most conservative in the region-Bulgaria, Germany, Hungary, Moldovia, Poland and Romania.</p>
<p>But while many European Baptists are as conservative-or more so-than Southern Baptists, they are “very unlikely” to join the SBC's new network, said Bulgarian pastor Theo Angelov, outgoing general secretary of the European Baptist Federation.</p>
<p>“There are many conservative Baptist leaders in East Europe, and I am happy that none of them were there,” Angelov said of the July 1-2 meeting-held less than a month before 13,000 Baptists from 100-plus countries met in England to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Baptist World Alliance.</p>
<p>Angelov said only two of the Europeans who participated in the July 1-2 meeting are official representatives of Baptist unions-Paul Negrut, president of the Baptist Union of R.S. Romania, and Vasil Vangelov, president of the Baptist Union of Bulgaria.</p>
<p>Negrut, president of a Romanian seminary in Oradea that receives funding from conservative Southern Baptists, was the only European union president to support the SBC's withdrawal from BWA. He also was responsible for enlisting Europeans to participate in the Poland meeting.</p>
<p>Vangelov, the Bulgarian president, “does not speak English and he did not realize what the meeting would be about,” Angelov, Vangelov's predecessor, told Associated Baptist Press in an email interview. “He was very naïve and thought that there would be discussions about the strategy of [the SBC International Mission Board]. And he wanted to know more about it, because there are IMB missionaries in Bulgaria. I talked to him after he has returned, and nobody from Bulgaria is supportive of the policy of [the] SBC.”</p>
<p>Angelov predicted the SBC's efforts likely won't cause a split in the Baptist World Alliance, but it will sow division within world Baptist ranks, he said. “I am only afraid that if the SBC leaders decide to use money that American churches are giving for mission work as a tool in this battle, then some Baptist unions will be tempted to cooperate. This behavior is not a Baptist approach. It is simply an ideology.”</p>
<p>Tony Peck, Angelov's successor as general secretary of the European Baptist Federation, which encompasses 51 unions including Romania, also said the SBC-backed network could prove divisive.</p>
<p>“… [W]e would see any attempt to divide the Baptist witness in Europe and the Middle East as undermining missionary effectiveness at a time when we need to unite our Baptist efforts to bear witness to the gospel on our continent,” Peck said.</p>
<p>“I received some assurances from the SBC that this meeting was not intended to start an alternative network to the BWA,” Peck continued, “and therefore I was surprised to read the reported comments of Morris Chapman that ‘the possibility of building a fellowship network of conservative Baptists around the world created a genuine and heartfelt excitement.' ”</p>
<p>Chapman, president of the SBC Executive Committee, said the proposed conservative network poses no threat to BWA.</p>
<p>“Southern Baptist leaders do not envision a formal organization with a constitution and bylaws,” he told Associated Baptist Press by email. “We hope to build a network or fellowship with conservative Baptists wherever they exist in the world and strengthen our communication with them.”</p>
<p>Chapman declined to identify the participants in the Poland meeting.</p>
<p>“We felt each representative should have the choice to release his own news article, having the choice of whether to include or exclude their names,” he explained. “Since this was an exploratory meeting, our announcing names really served no purpose unless we deliberately wished to create tensions between them and BWA, which was and is not our objective.</p>
<p>“Once we have had opportunity to explore the possibilities with conservative Baptist leaders on other continents, deliberate decisions obviously will have to be made by the leaders from other countries about identifying with the network. Then, in my opinion, is the time to announce the names of organizations and leaders who have determined to participate in the fellowship.”</p>
<p>Negrut, who has cultivated personal and financial ties with conservative Southern Baptists for more than a decade, did not respond to several requests to discuss the Poland meeting.</p>
<p>Southern Baptist representatives at the meeting were Chapman; O.S. Hawkins, president of Guidestone Financial Resources, the SBC's retirement and benefits agency; retired Houston judge Paul Pressler; Jerry Rankin, president of the International Mission Board; and five SBC seminary leaders-Chuck Kelley, president of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary; Paige Patterson, president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary; Philip Roberts, president of Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary; Craig Blaising, provost of Southwestern; and Bill Wagner, professor at Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary.</p>
<p>The EBF's Peck said the Europeans at the meeting represent “a few conservative seminaries which are not part of the EBF Consortium of European Baptist Theological Schools.”</p>
<p>While he downplayed the significance of the Poland meeting, Peck said the European Baptist Federation “welcomes all genuine partnerships” that produce more effective ministry in Europe.</p>
<p>Several Baptist leaders in Europe agreed the SBC won't find many unions that will embrace the conservative agenda, since most unions-including the more conservative ones in the east-have long accepted theological diversity on the continent.</p>
<p>But one Baptist leader from eastern Europe said the imbalance in the Poland meeting-with top SBC leaders paired with ad hoc conservatives-”speaks loudly of whose interests the meeting serves and what are the desired outcomes of it.”</p>
<p>Angelov, the outgoing EBF general secretary, said he and two BWA officials-general secretary Denton Lotz and then-president Billy Kim of South Korea-met in May 2004 with Negrut to discuss his problems with the BWA. “Our meeting did not bring any positive results, and we understood that he will go this way,” Angelov said of Negrut's support of the SBC. “We know that not all Baptist leaders in Romania are sharing his opinion.”</p>
<p>Added Peck: “As EBF general secretary, I have made repeated offers to meet with him and his [union's] executive to discuss these concerns and am still prepared to do so. But so far these offers have not been taken up.”</p>
<p>Last year, Negrut said the SBC split from the BWA caused “sadness in my heart.” He said he had been monitoring “liberalism” in the Baptist World Alliance for more than a decade, and he faulted the BWA for not clearly defining its own theological views. “They would want us to accept everything-do not have an identity, do not have principles or moral standards, just embrace everything. Then why do we need Christianity?” Last month, the BWA's General Council adopted a new “identity statement” that embraced orthodox Christian doctrines.</p>
<p>Associated Baptist Press</p>
<p>Greg Warner is executive editor of ABP.</p> | Leaders predict SBC-backed network won’t find acceptance in Europe | false | https://baptistnews.com/article/leaderspredictsbc-backednetworkwontfindacceptanceineurope/ | 3left-center
| Leaders predict SBC-backed network won’t find acceptance in Europe
<p>By Greg Warner</p>
<p>Baptist leaders in Europe predict the Southern Baptist Convention will have a hard time drawing Baptists from the continent into a new international network that, some say, will compete with the Baptist World Alliance.</p>
<p />
<p>When the SBC withdrew from the BWA in June, charging the group with a “liberal drift,” convention leaders announced plans to start and fund a new international “fellowship” of like-minded conservatives.</p>
<p>In early July, nine Southern Baptists leaders met with 12 European Baptists in Warsaw, Poland, for what SBC executive Morris Chapman predicted “may prove in time to have been the inaugural meeting of a network that shall extend to every corner of the earth, creating a close fellowship among like-minded conservative Christians.”</p>
<p>The 12 Europeans, who were not named in an SBC news release, came from six countries, most in eastern Europe and among the most conservative in the region-Bulgaria, Germany, Hungary, Moldovia, Poland and Romania.</p>
<p>But while many European Baptists are as conservative-or more so-than Southern Baptists, they are “very unlikely” to join the SBC's new network, said Bulgarian pastor Theo Angelov, outgoing general secretary of the European Baptist Federation.</p>
<p>“There are many conservative Baptist leaders in East Europe, and I am happy that none of them were there,” Angelov said of the July 1-2 meeting-held less than a month before 13,000 Baptists from 100-plus countries met in England to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Baptist World Alliance.</p>
<p>Angelov said only two of the Europeans who participated in the July 1-2 meeting are official representatives of Baptist unions-Paul Negrut, president of the Baptist Union of R.S. Romania, and Vasil Vangelov, president of the Baptist Union of Bulgaria.</p>
<p>Negrut, president of a Romanian seminary in Oradea that receives funding from conservative Southern Baptists, was the only European union president to support the SBC's withdrawal from BWA. He also was responsible for enlisting Europeans to participate in the Poland meeting.</p>
<p>Vangelov, the Bulgarian president, “does not speak English and he did not realize what the meeting would be about,” Angelov, Vangelov's predecessor, told Associated Baptist Press in an email interview. “He was very naïve and thought that there would be discussions about the strategy of [the SBC International Mission Board]. And he wanted to know more about it, because there are IMB missionaries in Bulgaria. I talked to him after he has returned, and nobody from Bulgaria is supportive of the policy of [the] SBC.”</p>
<p>Angelov predicted the SBC's efforts likely won't cause a split in the Baptist World Alliance, but it will sow division within world Baptist ranks, he said. “I am only afraid that if the SBC leaders decide to use money that American churches are giving for mission work as a tool in this battle, then some Baptist unions will be tempted to cooperate. This behavior is not a Baptist approach. It is simply an ideology.”</p>
<p>Tony Peck, Angelov's successor as general secretary of the European Baptist Federation, which encompasses 51 unions including Romania, also said the SBC-backed network could prove divisive.</p>
<p>“… [W]e would see any attempt to divide the Baptist witness in Europe and the Middle East as undermining missionary effectiveness at a time when we need to unite our Baptist efforts to bear witness to the gospel on our continent,” Peck said.</p>
<p>“I received some assurances from the SBC that this meeting was not intended to start an alternative network to the BWA,” Peck continued, “and therefore I was surprised to read the reported comments of Morris Chapman that ‘the possibility of building a fellowship network of conservative Baptists around the world created a genuine and heartfelt excitement.' ”</p>
<p>Chapman, president of the SBC Executive Committee, said the proposed conservative network poses no threat to BWA.</p>
<p>“Southern Baptist leaders do not envision a formal organization with a constitution and bylaws,” he told Associated Baptist Press by email. “We hope to build a network or fellowship with conservative Baptists wherever they exist in the world and strengthen our communication with them.”</p>
<p>Chapman declined to identify the participants in the Poland meeting.</p>
<p>“We felt each representative should have the choice to release his own news article, having the choice of whether to include or exclude their names,” he explained. “Since this was an exploratory meeting, our announcing names really served no purpose unless we deliberately wished to create tensions between them and BWA, which was and is not our objective.</p>
<p>“Once we have had opportunity to explore the possibilities with conservative Baptist leaders on other continents, deliberate decisions obviously will have to be made by the leaders from other countries about identifying with the network. Then, in my opinion, is the time to announce the names of organizations and leaders who have determined to participate in the fellowship.”</p>
<p>Negrut, who has cultivated personal and financial ties with conservative Southern Baptists for more than a decade, did not respond to several requests to discuss the Poland meeting.</p>
<p>Southern Baptist representatives at the meeting were Chapman; O.S. Hawkins, president of Guidestone Financial Resources, the SBC's retirement and benefits agency; retired Houston judge Paul Pressler; Jerry Rankin, president of the International Mission Board; and five SBC seminary leaders-Chuck Kelley, president of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary; Paige Patterson, president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary; Philip Roberts, president of Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary; Craig Blaising, provost of Southwestern; and Bill Wagner, professor at Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary.</p>
<p>The EBF's Peck said the Europeans at the meeting represent “a few conservative seminaries which are not part of the EBF Consortium of European Baptist Theological Schools.”</p>
<p>While he downplayed the significance of the Poland meeting, Peck said the European Baptist Federation “welcomes all genuine partnerships” that produce more effective ministry in Europe.</p>
<p>Several Baptist leaders in Europe agreed the SBC won't find many unions that will embrace the conservative agenda, since most unions-including the more conservative ones in the east-have long accepted theological diversity on the continent.</p>
<p>But one Baptist leader from eastern Europe said the imbalance in the Poland meeting-with top SBC leaders paired with ad hoc conservatives-”speaks loudly of whose interests the meeting serves and what are the desired outcomes of it.”</p>
<p>Angelov, the outgoing EBF general secretary, said he and two BWA officials-general secretary Denton Lotz and then-president Billy Kim of South Korea-met in May 2004 with Negrut to discuss his problems with the BWA. “Our meeting did not bring any positive results, and we understood that he will go this way,” Angelov said of Negrut's support of the SBC. “We know that not all Baptist leaders in Romania are sharing his opinion.”</p>
<p>Added Peck: “As EBF general secretary, I have made repeated offers to meet with him and his [union's] executive to discuss these concerns and am still prepared to do so. But so far these offers have not been taken up.”</p>
<p>Last year, Negrut said the SBC split from the BWA caused “sadness in my heart.” He said he had been monitoring “liberalism” in the Baptist World Alliance for more than a decade, and he faulted the BWA for not clearly defining its own theological views. “They would want us to accept everything-do not have an identity, do not have principles or moral standards, just embrace everything. Then why do we need Christianity?” Last month, the BWA's General Council adopted a new “identity statement” that embraced orthodox Christian doctrines.</p>
<p>Associated Baptist Press</p>
<p>Greg Warner is executive editor of ABP.</p> | 781 |
|
<p>Jake Tapper in unembedded mode. (Screen shot by <a href="http://noarmycanstopanidea.com/" type="external">http://noarmycanstopanidea.com/</a> )</p>
<p>Watching coverage of the unrest in Ferguson on CNN last night ( <a href="http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/us/2014/08/19/orig-ferguson-tick-tock.cnn.html" type="external">8/18/14</a>), I was struck at the actual journalism I was treated to by CNN‘s Jake Tapper.</p>
<p>It’s not every day corporate media is awestruck by the heavy-handedness of a militarized attack on civilians on US soil. But such was the case for Tapper, who was nearly hit by a tear gas canister fired by police.</p>
<p>Things escalated to the point where Tapper began to legitimately question the police’s actions. His <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=th-D-yPm0VM" type="external">assertion</a> that the over-the-top show of force by Ferguson police ” doesn’t make any sense” was a reasonable assessment&#160; for anyone watching the live coverage.</p>
<p>It didn’t last long.</p>
<p>CNN, whose headquarters in Atlanta were the site of <a href="http://twitchy.com/2014/08/18/what-are-they-protesting-large-crowd-rallies-outside-cnn-headquarters/" type="external">protests</a> related to the police killing of Michael Brown and the images the network uses of black victims, was ushered from the streets by police as they moved in on the remaining protesters later on through the night. Tapper, now joined by Don “Pull Your Pants Up” Lemon, did manage to speak to Captain Ron Johnson of the Missouri Highway Patrol after an awkward on-air phone conversation, where they asked him to meet him “next to the tank.”</p>
<p>Lemon, one of media’s most vocal proponents of “responsibility politics” (Extra!, <a href="" type="internal">11/13</a>), asked Johnson what was “bothering” him–as the conversation moved from one of journalists questioning officials, to one with a markedly more personal and empathetic tone. Johnson proceeded to give the predictable police side of the story that is par for the course with protest coverage. He also admonished Tapper and Lemon for their…well, journalism. Johnson didn’t think Ferguson police were getting positive enough coverage, so he asked Tapper and Lemon to join him the next day and report alongside him.</p>
<p>They eagerly agreed.</p>
<p>In a matter of minutes, members of the media, who had been objectively and effectively reporting on a protest greeted with a&#160; militarized crackdown worthy of a war-torn country, suddenly agreed to become embedded journalists–just like in a war-torn country. Embedded journalism, as FAIR has often written (e.g, Extra!, <a href="" type="internal">9/03</a>), is one of the worst practices of media if you want independent and accurate reporting.</p>
<p>The next day, in a much less tense environment, Johnson continued to make his case as he spoke with Lemon (CNN, 8/19/14) that police were “getting a bad rap” by the media.</p>
<p>I guess no one should be that surprised. These moments of actual journalism where the plight of communities of color is taken into account are the exception and not the rule with corporate media.</p> | CNN Attempts Actual Journalism–But Reverts to Embedded Reporting | true | http://fair.org/blog/2014/08/19/cnn-attempts-actual-journalism-but-reverts-to-embedded-reporting/ | 2014-08-19 | 4left
| CNN Attempts Actual Journalism–But Reverts to Embedded Reporting
<p>Jake Tapper in unembedded mode. (Screen shot by <a href="http://noarmycanstopanidea.com/" type="external">http://noarmycanstopanidea.com/</a> )</p>
<p>Watching coverage of the unrest in Ferguson on CNN last night ( <a href="http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/us/2014/08/19/orig-ferguson-tick-tock.cnn.html" type="external">8/18/14</a>), I was struck at the actual journalism I was treated to by CNN‘s Jake Tapper.</p>
<p>It’s not every day corporate media is awestruck by the heavy-handedness of a militarized attack on civilians on US soil. But such was the case for Tapper, who was nearly hit by a tear gas canister fired by police.</p>
<p>Things escalated to the point where Tapper began to legitimately question the police’s actions. His <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=th-D-yPm0VM" type="external">assertion</a> that the over-the-top show of force by Ferguson police ” doesn’t make any sense” was a reasonable assessment&#160; for anyone watching the live coverage.</p>
<p>It didn’t last long.</p>
<p>CNN, whose headquarters in Atlanta were the site of <a href="http://twitchy.com/2014/08/18/what-are-they-protesting-large-crowd-rallies-outside-cnn-headquarters/" type="external">protests</a> related to the police killing of Michael Brown and the images the network uses of black victims, was ushered from the streets by police as they moved in on the remaining protesters later on through the night. Tapper, now joined by Don “Pull Your Pants Up” Lemon, did manage to speak to Captain Ron Johnson of the Missouri Highway Patrol after an awkward on-air phone conversation, where they asked him to meet him “next to the tank.”</p>
<p>Lemon, one of media’s most vocal proponents of “responsibility politics” (Extra!, <a href="" type="internal">11/13</a>), asked Johnson what was “bothering” him–as the conversation moved from one of journalists questioning officials, to one with a markedly more personal and empathetic tone. Johnson proceeded to give the predictable police side of the story that is par for the course with protest coverage. He also admonished Tapper and Lemon for their…well, journalism. Johnson didn’t think Ferguson police were getting positive enough coverage, so he asked Tapper and Lemon to join him the next day and report alongside him.</p>
<p>They eagerly agreed.</p>
<p>In a matter of minutes, members of the media, who had been objectively and effectively reporting on a protest greeted with a&#160; militarized crackdown worthy of a war-torn country, suddenly agreed to become embedded journalists–just like in a war-torn country. Embedded journalism, as FAIR has often written (e.g, Extra!, <a href="" type="internal">9/03</a>), is one of the worst practices of media if you want independent and accurate reporting.</p>
<p>The next day, in a much less tense environment, Johnson continued to make his case as he spoke with Lemon (CNN, 8/19/14) that police were “getting a bad rap” by the media.</p>
<p>I guess no one should be that surprised. These moments of actual journalism where the plight of communities of color is taken into account are the exception and not the rule with corporate media.</p> | 782 |
<p>Stocks ticked higher last week as first-quarter earnings season began. Both the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJINDICES: ^DJI) and the S&amp;P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC) gained less than 2%, which put the indexes just slightly lower so far in 2018.</p>
<p>Earnings season kicks into high gear over the next few trading days, with highly anticipated reports on tap from Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX), Johnson &amp; Johnson (NYSE: JNJ), and Procter &amp; Gamble (NYSE: PG). Here are a few trends for investors to watch in these announcements.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>It's the market's single biggest winner over the past decade, which means streaming video giant Netflix has a lot to prove when it posts earnings results on Monday. The last quarterly outing gave investors <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2018/01/25/netflixs-awesome-2017-in-5-charts.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;referring_guid=30af9ee5-66e0-4862-bf05-799d8e2d40c9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">plenty to celebrate Opens a New Window.</a>, as subscriber growth sped up to 24 million in fiscal 2017 from 19 million in the prior year. Netflix's profit margin nearly doubled, just as management predicted, as an improving content slate allowed the company to raise prices without sacrificing user gains.</p>
<p>CEO Reed Hastings and his team have predicted that this positive momentum will continue into 2018, with subscriber growth forecast to accelerate to about 6.35 million this quarter from 4.95 million in the year-ago period. New content releases and growth in international markets will be the main drivers behind those gains. And if streamers continue to binge these original series, then investors can expect Netflix to keep spending heavily to keep that pipeline of new content as full as possible.</p>
<p>Healthcare titan Johnson &amp; Johnson will announce its results before the market opens on Tuesday. Investors are optimistic that both sales and profits will increase at a robust pace this quarter. After all, the blue chip was able to overcome falling sales of its core Remicade drug last year to post a 6% increase in organic revenue. Each of its three massive business lines -- consumer products, pharmaceuticals, and medical devices -- expanded in 2017.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Johnson &amp; Johnson has <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2018/03/14/forget-remicade-heres-how-johnson-johnson-plans-to.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;referring_guid=30af9ee5-66e0-4862-bf05-799d8e2d40c9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">many more drugs in development Opens a New Window.</a> that will help pick up the slack in its Remicade declines this year. Investors should look for CEO Alex Gorsky and his team to discuss that pipeline on Tuesday while also highlighting the company's stellar cash flow.</p>
<p>As for its latest operating forecast, the outlook calls for a growth slowdown in 2018 to between 3.5% and 4.5%. But management might tweak that prediction on Tuesday. Earnings, on the other hand, are expected to rise by as much as 9.6% for the full year to $8.20 per share.</p>
<p>Procter &amp; Gamble's stock has had an unusually weak run over the past five years, underperforming the market by nearly 50 percentage points. That's because while sales growth has accelerated in each of the last two fiscal years and profitability is reaching new highs, the consumer products giant has lost market share across key franchises like Gillette.</p>
<p>Investors voiced their displeasure about these trends by voting to elect activist shareholder Nelson Peltz to the board of directors. This Friday's earnings report will be the first one since the new board was seated, and so it might include the articulation of a strategic shift.</p>
<p>But the pressure to make aggressive changes will be greater if sales growth disappoints. Back in January, P&amp;G said that organic gains would come in at the low end of their guidance of 2% to 3%, which would translate into essentially no improvement over the prior year's <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2018/01/15/heres-where-things-went-wrong-for-procter-gamble-i.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;referring_guid=30af9ee5-66e0-4862-bf05-799d8e2d40c9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disappointing pace Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
<p>Find out why Netflix is one of the 10 best stocks to buy now</p>
<p>Motley Fool co-founders Tom and David Gardner have spent more than a decade beating the market. (In fact, the newsletter they run, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market!*)</p>
<p>Tom and David just revealed their ten top stock picks for investors to buy right now. Netflix <a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-sa-bbn-eg%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0000450%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6313%26ftm_veh%3Darticle_pitch&amp;impression=4dc6a689-8386-4ce6-a5fe-8dc191ac919f&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;referring_guid=30af9ee5-66e0-4862-bf05-799d8e2d40c9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">is on the list Opens a New Window.</a> -- but there are nine others you may be overlooking.</p>
<p><a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-sa-bbn-eg%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0000450%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6313%26ftm_veh%3Darticle_pitch&amp;impression=4dc6a689-8386-4ce6-a5fe-8dc191ac919f&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;referring_guid=30af9ee5-66e0-4862-bf05-799d8e2d40c9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Click here to get access to the full list! Opens a New Window.</a></p>
<p>*Stock Advisor returns as of April 2, 2018</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFSigma/info.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;referring_guid=30af9ee5-66e0-4862-bf05-799d8e2d40c9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Demitrios Kalogeropoulos Opens a New Window.</a> owns shares of Netflix. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Johnson &amp; Johnson and Netflix. The Motley Fool has the following options: short May 2018 $140 calls on Johnson &amp; Johnson. 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;referring_guid=30af9ee5-66e0-4862-bf05-799d8e2d40c9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> | 3 Things to Watch in the Stock Market This Week | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/08/27/3-things-to-watch-in-stock-market-this-week.html | 2018-04-15 | 0right
| 3 Things to Watch in the Stock Market This Week
<p>Stocks ticked higher last week as first-quarter earnings season began. Both the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJINDICES: ^DJI) and the S&amp;P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC) gained less than 2%, which put the indexes just slightly lower so far in 2018.</p>
<p>Earnings season kicks into high gear over the next few trading days, with highly anticipated reports on tap from Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX), Johnson &amp; Johnson (NYSE: JNJ), and Procter &amp; Gamble (NYSE: PG). Here are a few trends for investors to watch in these announcements.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>It's the market's single biggest winner over the past decade, which means streaming video giant Netflix has a lot to prove when it posts earnings results on Monday. The last quarterly outing gave investors <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2018/01/25/netflixs-awesome-2017-in-5-charts.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;referring_guid=30af9ee5-66e0-4862-bf05-799d8e2d40c9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">plenty to celebrate Opens a New Window.</a>, as subscriber growth sped up to 24 million in fiscal 2017 from 19 million in the prior year. Netflix's profit margin nearly doubled, just as management predicted, as an improving content slate allowed the company to raise prices without sacrificing user gains.</p>
<p>CEO Reed Hastings and his team have predicted that this positive momentum will continue into 2018, with subscriber growth forecast to accelerate to about 6.35 million this quarter from 4.95 million in the year-ago period. New content releases and growth in international markets will be the main drivers behind those gains. And if streamers continue to binge these original series, then investors can expect Netflix to keep spending heavily to keep that pipeline of new content as full as possible.</p>
<p>Healthcare titan Johnson &amp; Johnson will announce its results before the market opens on Tuesday. Investors are optimistic that both sales and profits will increase at a robust pace this quarter. After all, the blue chip was able to overcome falling sales of its core Remicade drug last year to post a 6% increase in organic revenue. Each of its three massive business lines -- consumer products, pharmaceuticals, and medical devices -- expanded in 2017.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Johnson &amp; Johnson has <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2018/03/14/forget-remicade-heres-how-johnson-johnson-plans-to.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;referring_guid=30af9ee5-66e0-4862-bf05-799d8e2d40c9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">many more drugs in development Opens a New Window.</a> that will help pick up the slack in its Remicade declines this year. Investors should look for CEO Alex Gorsky and his team to discuss that pipeline on Tuesday while also highlighting the company's stellar cash flow.</p>
<p>As for its latest operating forecast, the outlook calls for a growth slowdown in 2018 to between 3.5% and 4.5%. But management might tweak that prediction on Tuesday. Earnings, on the other hand, are expected to rise by as much as 9.6% for the full year to $8.20 per share.</p>
<p>Procter &amp; Gamble's stock has had an unusually weak run over the past five years, underperforming the market by nearly 50 percentage points. That's because while sales growth has accelerated in each of the last two fiscal years and profitability is reaching new highs, the consumer products giant has lost market share across key franchises like Gillette.</p>
<p>Investors voiced their displeasure about these trends by voting to elect activist shareholder Nelson Peltz to the board of directors. This Friday's earnings report will be the first one since the new board was seated, and so it might include the articulation of a strategic shift.</p>
<p>But the pressure to make aggressive changes will be greater if sales growth disappoints. Back in January, P&amp;G said that organic gains would come in at the low end of their guidance of 2% to 3%, which would translate into essentially no improvement over the prior year's <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2018/01/15/heres-where-things-went-wrong-for-procter-gamble-i.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;referring_guid=30af9ee5-66e0-4862-bf05-799d8e2d40c9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disappointing pace Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
<p>Find out why Netflix is one of the 10 best stocks to buy now</p>
<p>Motley Fool co-founders Tom and David Gardner have spent more than a decade beating the market. (In fact, the newsletter they run, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market!*)</p>
<p>Tom and David just revealed their ten top stock picks for investors to buy right now. Netflix <a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-sa-bbn-eg%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0000450%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6313%26ftm_veh%3Darticle_pitch&amp;impression=4dc6a689-8386-4ce6-a5fe-8dc191ac919f&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;referring_guid=30af9ee5-66e0-4862-bf05-799d8e2d40c9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">is on the list Opens a New Window.</a> -- but there are nine others you may be overlooking.</p>
<p><a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-sa-bbn-eg%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0000450%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6313%26ftm_veh%3Darticle_pitch&amp;impression=4dc6a689-8386-4ce6-a5fe-8dc191ac919f&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;referring_guid=30af9ee5-66e0-4862-bf05-799d8e2d40c9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Click here to get access to the full list! Opens a New Window.</a></p>
<p>*Stock Advisor returns as of April 2, 2018</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFSigma/info.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;referring_guid=30af9ee5-66e0-4862-bf05-799d8e2d40c9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Demitrios Kalogeropoulos Opens a New Window.</a> owns shares of Netflix. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Johnson &amp; Johnson and Netflix. The Motley Fool has the following options: short May 2018 $140 calls on Johnson &amp; Johnson. 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;referring_guid=30af9ee5-66e0-4862-bf05-799d8e2d40c9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> | 783 |
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<p>West Virginia’s indigent burial program, which budgets about $2 million a year for funeral financial assistance, had already been under pressure from the aging of the baby-boom generation. The program offers an average of $1,250 to help cover funeral expenses for families who can’t otherwise afford them.</p>
<p>In the current fiscal year ending June 30, “1,508 burials have been submitted for payment through the Indigent Burial Program,” according to Allison Adler, a spokesman for state DHHR Secretary Bill Crouch. “There are funds remaining for 63 additional burials.”</p>
<p>The program has been around for decades, according to Adler, but only began running out of funds starting in 2013. In 2014, the program ran out of money in June. By 2015, the program’s budget was depleted by March, similar to where it stands this year.</p>
<p>Adler didn’t respond to a question on the role drug overdoses have played in the program running out of money. But funeral directors such as Robert C. Kimes of the West Virginia Funeral Directors Association blame skyrocketing overdose deaths for the current troubles. In 2015, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, West Virginia’s drug overdose death rate stood at 41.5 cases per 100,000 residents, the highest rate in the country and nearly three times the national average. In 1999, the state’s overdose fatality rate was below average.</p>
<p>Nationally, drug overdose deaths accounted for fewer than two out of every 100 fatalities in 2015. But in West Virginia, overdoses claim more than three out of every 100 fatalities. And among certain demographic groups, the likelihood of overdose is much higher: roughly 8 percent of all fatalities among white men age 35 to 64, for instance, and over 28 percent of deaths among white males age 15 to 34.</p>
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<p>The state’s funeral directors are on the front lines of this trend. “When you get an overdose, typically it’s going to be a younger individual who’s not financially in a great position,” Kimes said. “I’ve heard from several funeral directors that the majority of [overdose deaths they deal with] are addressed via the indigent burial program.”</p>
<p>West Virginia is somewhat unique in providing a state-level program for indigent burials, Kimes said. The majority of states don’t provide such services at the state level, and most of the ones that do limit them to recipients of Medicaid, SNAP or other social programs for the poor. In many states, funeral assistance is left to the discretion of individual counties or cities.</p>
<p>West Virginia expects a half-billion-dollar budget shortfall in the next fiscal year, making relief from the state unlikely. Social service agencies report being overwhelmed by the number of overdose and addiction cases. In the city of Huntington (population 49,000), for instance, authorities responded to 26 heroin overdose cases in one four-hour span last year.</p>
<p>A Charleston Gazette-Mail investigation last year found that between 2007 and 2012, as the state’s drug overdose epidemic skyrocketed, drug wholesalers shipped over 780 million doses of opiate painkillers hydrocodone and oxycodone to the state, or roughly “433 pain pills for every man, woman and child in West Virginia.” Those two drugs killed more than 1,700 West Virginians during that time period, the investigation found.</p>
<p>“That’s not the kind of business you want” as a funeral director, Kimes said. “You hate to see a young person’s life thrown away.”</p> | Drugs are killing so many people in West Virginia that the state can’t keep up with the funerals | false | https://abqjournal.com/963511/drugs-are-killing-so-many-people-in-west-virginia-that-the-state-cant-keep-up-with-the-funerals.html | 2least
| Drugs are killing so many people in West Virginia that the state can’t keep up with the funerals
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<p />
<p>West Virginia’s indigent burial program, which budgets about $2 million a year for funeral financial assistance, had already been under pressure from the aging of the baby-boom generation. The program offers an average of $1,250 to help cover funeral expenses for families who can’t otherwise afford them.</p>
<p>In the current fiscal year ending June 30, “1,508 burials have been submitted for payment through the Indigent Burial Program,” according to Allison Adler, a spokesman for state DHHR Secretary Bill Crouch. “There are funds remaining for 63 additional burials.”</p>
<p>The program has been around for decades, according to Adler, but only began running out of funds starting in 2013. In 2014, the program ran out of money in June. By 2015, the program’s budget was depleted by March, similar to where it stands this year.</p>
<p>Adler didn’t respond to a question on the role drug overdoses have played in the program running out of money. But funeral directors such as Robert C. Kimes of the West Virginia Funeral Directors Association blame skyrocketing overdose deaths for the current troubles. In 2015, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, West Virginia’s drug overdose death rate stood at 41.5 cases per 100,000 residents, the highest rate in the country and nearly three times the national average. In 1999, the state’s overdose fatality rate was below average.</p>
<p>Nationally, drug overdose deaths accounted for fewer than two out of every 100 fatalities in 2015. But in West Virginia, overdoses claim more than three out of every 100 fatalities. And among certain demographic groups, the likelihood of overdose is much higher: roughly 8 percent of all fatalities among white men age 35 to 64, for instance, and over 28 percent of deaths among white males age 15 to 34.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>The state’s funeral directors are on the front lines of this trend. “When you get an overdose, typically it’s going to be a younger individual who’s not financially in a great position,” Kimes said. “I’ve heard from several funeral directors that the majority of [overdose deaths they deal with] are addressed via the indigent burial program.”</p>
<p>West Virginia is somewhat unique in providing a state-level program for indigent burials, Kimes said. The majority of states don’t provide such services at the state level, and most of the ones that do limit them to recipients of Medicaid, SNAP or other social programs for the poor. In many states, funeral assistance is left to the discretion of individual counties or cities.</p>
<p>West Virginia expects a half-billion-dollar budget shortfall in the next fiscal year, making relief from the state unlikely. Social service agencies report being overwhelmed by the number of overdose and addiction cases. In the city of Huntington (population 49,000), for instance, authorities responded to 26 heroin overdose cases in one four-hour span last year.</p>
<p>A Charleston Gazette-Mail investigation last year found that between 2007 and 2012, as the state’s drug overdose epidemic skyrocketed, drug wholesalers shipped over 780 million doses of opiate painkillers hydrocodone and oxycodone to the state, or roughly “433 pain pills for every man, woman and child in West Virginia.” Those two drugs killed more than 1,700 West Virginians during that time period, the investigation found.</p>
<p>“That’s not the kind of business you want” as a funeral director, Kimes said. “You hate to see a young person’s life thrown away.”</p> | 784 |
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<p />
<p>Image Source: Motley Fool.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>More than any other retailer,Costco Wholesale(NASDAQ: COST) has come to define the membership model. Its giant warehouses are only open to members who pay $55 a year for the privilege of shopping at its bargain-priced, bare-bones depots.</p>
<p>Thanks to its membership model, Costco has become the #2 retailer in the country, with 2015 revenue of $113.6 billion. Membership fees contributed $2.53 billion in its most recent fiscal year, or just 2.2% of its total revenue; however, the power of its membership model goes well beyond the top-line fees it generates.</p>
<p>Costco has one of the most dependable customer bases in retail. Its membership renewal rate was 91% in the U.S. and Canada last year and 88% globally. Those members spend about $2,500 on average.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Costco offers individual and business memberships for $55, and executive memberships, which come with additional benefits such as 2% cash back, for $110. It closed last year with 34 million individual members and 10.6 million business members. 39% of cardholders are executive members, up from 38% the year before, and executive members spend more than regular members, making up two thirds of sales, a trend that should help profitability in the future.</p>
<p>The most important factor about membership fees is that they go straight to the company's bottom lines. Costco operates its warehouses on essentially a breakeven basis, making its profits on memberships instead of merchandise. Last year, for example, net income was $2.38 billion, just shy of the $2.53 billion it brought in in membership fees.</p>
<p>Costco's bargain-basement prices are also visible in other parts of its financial reports. The company's gross margin, or the percentage of its sales it keeps after accounting for direct costs like the cost of products, labor, and occupancy, was just 11.1%. By comparison, low-priced rivals likeAmazon.comandWal-Marthave much largers gross margins than Costco. Amazon's is 34.4% and Wal-Mart's is 25.3%, illustrating the uniqueness of Costco's model.</p>
<p>The membership fee also incentivizes Costco customers to spend more at its stores and increase the frequency of their visits to take advantage of their memberships. Amazon has found similar success with Prime, its own membership program.</p>
<p>Unlike Amazon, however, Costco's entire business model is built on memberships. Costco considers membership loyalty and growth to be "essential to our business model."</p>
<p>The company's best strategy for driving profits higher may be to sell more executive memberships. At $110 a pop, those memberships bring in twice the revenue of standard Gold Star memberships, and encourage customers to spend more.</p>
<p>One additional benefit of the membership model may be that the attractiveness of Costco's low prices means it doesn't need the same store footprint as Wal-Mart, which has blanketed the country with Supercenters. Costco's advantage can be seen in the fact that its stores generate double the sales per square foot that Wal-Mart's do.</p>
<p>For now, Costco's membership model seems solid, with a North American renewal rate of 91%, but the rise of e-commerce could present a threat. The company has resisted basic features like in-store pick-up, as management wants to drive traffic through the store rather than encourage a trip to a single counter -- but as Amazon Prime continues to gain in popularity, it could present a threat to Costco.</p>
<p>Going forward, membership renewal rates and fee growth will continue to offer a window into the company's future. If renewal rates begin to slide, Costco may have to rethink its value proposition.</p>
<p>A secret billion-dollar stock opportunity The world's biggest tech company forgot to show you something, but a few Wall Street analysts and the Fool didn't miss a beat: There's a small company that's powering their brand-new gadgets and the coming revolution in technology. And we think its stock price has nearly unlimited room to run for early in-the-know investors! To be one of them, <a href="http://www.fool.com/mms/mark/ecap-foolcom-apple-wearable?aid=6965&amp;source=irbeditxt0000017&amp;ftm_cam=rb-wearable-d&amp;ftm_pit=2667&amp;ftm_veh=article_pitch&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">just click here Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFHobo/info.aspx" type="external">Jeremy Bowman Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Amazon.com and Costco Wholesale. 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://wiki.fool.com/Motley" 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> | What Do Membership Fees Mean To Costco? | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/08/18/what-do-membership-fees-mean-to-costco.html | 2016-08-18 | 0right
| What Do Membership Fees Mean To Costco?
<p />
<p>Image Source: Motley Fool.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>More than any other retailer,Costco Wholesale(NASDAQ: COST) has come to define the membership model. Its giant warehouses are only open to members who pay $55 a year for the privilege of shopping at its bargain-priced, bare-bones depots.</p>
<p>Thanks to its membership model, Costco has become the #2 retailer in the country, with 2015 revenue of $113.6 billion. Membership fees contributed $2.53 billion in its most recent fiscal year, or just 2.2% of its total revenue; however, the power of its membership model goes well beyond the top-line fees it generates.</p>
<p>Costco has one of the most dependable customer bases in retail. Its membership renewal rate was 91% in the U.S. and Canada last year and 88% globally. Those members spend about $2,500 on average.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Costco offers individual and business memberships for $55, and executive memberships, which come with additional benefits such as 2% cash back, for $110. It closed last year with 34 million individual members and 10.6 million business members. 39% of cardholders are executive members, up from 38% the year before, and executive members spend more than regular members, making up two thirds of sales, a trend that should help profitability in the future.</p>
<p>The most important factor about membership fees is that they go straight to the company's bottom lines. Costco operates its warehouses on essentially a breakeven basis, making its profits on memberships instead of merchandise. Last year, for example, net income was $2.38 billion, just shy of the $2.53 billion it brought in in membership fees.</p>
<p>Costco's bargain-basement prices are also visible in other parts of its financial reports. The company's gross margin, or the percentage of its sales it keeps after accounting for direct costs like the cost of products, labor, and occupancy, was just 11.1%. By comparison, low-priced rivals likeAmazon.comandWal-Marthave much largers gross margins than Costco. Amazon's is 34.4% and Wal-Mart's is 25.3%, illustrating the uniqueness of Costco's model.</p>
<p>The membership fee also incentivizes Costco customers to spend more at its stores and increase the frequency of their visits to take advantage of their memberships. Amazon has found similar success with Prime, its own membership program.</p>
<p>Unlike Amazon, however, Costco's entire business model is built on memberships. Costco considers membership loyalty and growth to be "essential to our business model."</p>
<p>The company's best strategy for driving profits higher may be to sell more executive memberships. At $110 a pop, those memberships bring in twice the revenue of standard Gold Star memberships, and encourage customers to spend more.</p>
<p>One additional benefit of the membership model may be that the attractiveness of Costco's low prices means it doesn't need the same store footprint as Wal-Mart, which has blanketed the country with Supercenters. Costco's advantage can be seen in the fact that its stores generate double the sales per square foot that Wal-Mart's do.</p>
<p>For now, Costco's membership model seems solid, with a North American renewal rate of 91%, but the rise of e-commerce could present a threat. The company has resisted basic features like in-store pick-up, as management wants to drive traffic through the store rather than encourage a trip to a single counter -- but as Amazon Prime continues to gain in popularity, it could present a threat to Costco.</p>
<p>Going forward, membership renewal rates and fee growth will continue to offer a window into the company's future. If renewal rates begin to slide, Costco may have to rethink its value proposition.</p>
<p>A secret billion-dollar stock opportunity The world's biggest tech company forgot to show you something, but a few Wall Street analysts and the Fool didn't miss a beat: There's a small company that's powering their brand-new gadgets and the coming revolution in technology. And we think its stock price has nearly unlimited room to run for early in-the-know investors! To be one of them, <a href="http://www.fool.com/mms/mark/ecap-foolcom-apple-wearable?aid=6965&amp;source=irbeditxt0000017&amp;ftm_cam=rb-wearable-d&amp;ftm_pit=2667&amp;ftm_veh=article_pitch&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">just click here Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFHobo/info.aspx" type="external">Jeremy Bowman Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Amazon.com and Costco Wholesale. 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://wiki.fool.com/Motley" 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> | 785 |
<p>Talk about bad manners — MSNBC had just broken the mold of recent Democratic debates by inviting Rep. Dennis Kucinich to Tuesday’s debate in Las Vegas when, less than 48 hours later, network brass decided to change their qualification criteria and informed Kucinich he wasn’t welcome after all.</p>
<p>Update: A Nevada judge has ruled that Kucinich should be able to participate in the debate, according to this New York Times <a href="http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/01/14/kucinich-should-be-allowed-to-debate-judge-rules/" type="external">report</a>.</p>
<p />
<p>In the press release, the Kucinich campaign took a shot at the media as a whole: “When ‘big media’ exert their unbridled control over what Americans can see, hear, and read, then the Constitutional power and right of the citizens to vote is being vetoed by multi-billion corporations that want the votes to go their way.”</p>
<p />
<p><a href="http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/politics/kucinich_invited_then_uninvited_to_msnbc_debate_74863.asp?c=rss" type="external">Read more</a></p> | Kucinich Uninvited to MSNBC Debate | true | https://truthdig.com/articles/kucinich-uninvited-to-msnbc-debate/ | 2008-01-15 | 4left
| Kucinich Uninvited to MSNBC Debate
<p>Talk about bad manners — MSNBC had just broken the mold of recent Democratic debates by inviting Rep. Dennis Kucinich to Tuesday’s debate in Las Vegas when, less than 48 hours later, network brass decided to change their qualification criteria and informed Kucinich he wasn’t welcome after all.</p>
<p>Update: A Nevada judge has ruled that Kucinich should be able to participate in the debate, according to this New York Times <a href="http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/01/14/kucinich-should-be-allowed-to-debate-judge-rules/" type="external">report</a>.</p>
<p />
<p>In the press release, the Kucinich campaign took a shot at the media as a whole: “When ‘big media’ exert their unbridled control over what Americans can see, hear, and read, then the Constitutional power and right of the citizens to vote is being vetoed by multi-billion corporations that want the votes to go their way.”</p>
<p />
<p><a href="http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/politics/kucinich_invited_then_uninvited_to_msnbc_debate_74863.asp?c=rss" type="external">Read more</a></p> | 786 |
<p>PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — A Rhode Island man has been charged with spending years cyberstalking his ex-girlfriend, her parents and three prosecutors in Texas.</p>
<p>Howard S. Bishop, of North Smithfield, is charged with threatening and harassing the woman, as well as the prosecutors in Travis County.</p>
<p>The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Providence on Thursday said it was so bad that before Bishop was arrested, the ex-girlfriend was in hiding with the help of the FBI. They say her family had to hire armed security guards and the prosecutors feared for their lives.</p>
<p>Bishop’s lawyer did not immediately return messages seeking comment.</p>
<p>Bishop was found guilty of violating a 2011 restraining order in 2012.</p>
<p>Federal authorities say that since November 2016 alone, Bishop sent hundreds of harassing and threatening messages.</p>
<p>PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — A Rhode Island man has been charged with spending years cyberstalking his ex-girlfriend, her parents and three prosecutors in Texas.</p>
<p>Howard S. Bishop, of North Smithfield, is charged with threatening and harassing the woman, as well as the prosecutors in Travis County.</p>
<p>The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Providence on Thursday said it was so bad that before Bishop was arrested, the ex-girlfriend was in hiding with the help of the FBI. They say her family had to hire armed security guards and the prosecutors feared for their lives.</p>
<p>Bishop’s lawyer did not immediately return messages seeking comment.</p>
<p>Bishop was found guilty of violating a 2011 restraining order in 2012.</p>
<p>Federal authorities say that since November 2016 alone, Bishop sent hundreds of harassing and threatening messages.</p> | Man charged with cyberstalking ex, 3 prosecutors for years | false | https://apnews.com/8c178345740644708a811d712922f004 | 2018-01-25 | 2least
| Man charged with cyberstalking ex, 3 prosecutors for years
<p>PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — A Rhode Island man has been charged with spending years cyberstalking his ex-girlfriend, her parents and three prosecutors in Texas.</p>
<p>Howard S. Bishop, of North Smithfield, is charged with threatening and harassing the woman, as well as the prosecutors in Travis County.</p>
<p>The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Providence on Thursday said it was so bad that before Bishop was arrested, the ex-girlfriend was in hiding with the help of the FBI. They say her family had to hire armed security guards and the prosecutors feared for their lives.</p>
<p>Bishop’s lawyer did not immediately return messages seeking comment.</p>
<p>Bishop was found guilty of violating a 2011 restraining order in 2012.</p>
<p>Federal authorities say that since November 2016 alone, Bishop sent hundreds of harassing and threatening messages.</p>
<p>PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — A Rhode Island man has been charged with spending years cyberstalking his ex-girlfriend, her parents and three prosecutors in Texas.</p>
<p>Howard S. Bishop, of North Smithfield, is charged with threatening and harassing the woman, as well as the prosecutors in Travis County.</p>
<p>The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Providence on Thursday said it was so bad that before Bishop was arrested, the ex-girlfriend was in hiding with the help of the FBI. They say her family had to hire armed security guards and the prosecutors feared for their lives.</p>
<p>Bishop’s lawyer did not immediately return messages seeking comment.</p>
<p>Bishop was found guilty of violating a 2011 restraining order in 2012.</p>
<p>Federal authorities say that since November 2016 alone, Bishop sent hundreds of harassing and threatening messages.</p> | 787 |
<p>WASHINGTON — Donald Trump on Monday criticized Lockheed Martin’s F-35 fighter jet program as too expensive, the latest attack by the U.S. President-elect on large defense contractors.</p>
<p>Lockheed shares dropped 5.1 percent and shares of several other defense contractors also tumbled.</p>
<p>“The F-35 program and cost is out of control,” Trump said on Twitter, echoing campaign promises to cut waste in federal spending. “Billions of dollars can and will be saved on military (and other) purchases after January 20th.”</p>
<p>Last week, he also used Twitter to target <a href="" type="internal">Boeing Co. for its “out of control” costs</a> on a new fleet of Air Force One planes, urging the federal government to “Cancel order!”</p>
<p>Lockheed Martin’s F-35 program leader, Jeff Babione, responded by saying the company understands concerns about affordability and has invested millions of dollars to reduce the jet’s price.</p>
<p>Babione said Lockheed’s goal was to reduce the price of the F-35 by 70 percent from its original estimates.</p>
<p>“We project it to be about 85 million dollars in the 2019 or 2020 time frame,” he told reporters in Israel.</p>
<p>A week before Trump won the Nov. 8 presidential election, the U.S. Defense Department and Lockheed Martin concluded negotiations on their ninth contract for 90 F-35 fighter jets, the Pentagon said. Lockheed won the contract, valued at up to $7.18 billion, in late November and has received an interim payment.</p>
<p>The Pentagon is paying about $102 million for each of the conventional takeoff A-model jets being built for the U.S. Air Force, Israel and many other countries, according to sources familiar with the program. That marks savings of over 50 percent from the initial jets ordered, reflecting larger quantities and the fact that many technical issues have been ironed out.</p>
<p>The F-35 program has been dogged by problems since its inception, with the Pentagon’s chief arms buyer once describing as “acquisition malpractice” the decision of previous officials to start producing the jets before their development had been completed. That decision led to a series of costly retrofits on early production jets.</p>
<p>The Pentagon’s chief weapons tester has continued to criticize the program, but the jets are now in operational use by the U.S. Marine Corps and Air Force, and the jets are being flown by six countries: Australia, Britain, Norway, Italy, the Netherlands and Israel. Japan took delivery of its first jet last week, according to a spokesman for the program.</p>
<p>Still, cost overruns have made the F-35 a target for criticism. With an estimated price tag of $400 billion, the F-35 program has been described as the most expensive weapon system in history.</p>
<p>Lockheed and its key partners, Northrop Grumman Corp , United Technologies Corp. unit Pratt &amp; Whitney and BAE Systems, are developing and building three variants of the F-35s for the U.S. military and 10 allies including Britain, Australia, Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, Italy, Turkey, Israel, Japan and South Korea.</p>
<p>After Trump’s tweet, shares of Lockheed Martin were down 5.1 percent. Shares of General Dynamics, Northrop Grumman Boeing, BAE and Raytheon were lower, while United Technologies shares were flat.</p>
<p>United Technologies recently came under fire from the President-elect over a plan to ship <a href="" type="internal">2,100 Carrier air conditioning jobs to Mexico from</a> <a href="" type="internal">Indiana</a>. The company agreed to keep about 800 of the manufacturing jobs in Indiana and retain another 300 headquarters jobs, in return for state tax incentives.</p>
<p>The attacks on Boeing and Lockheed Martin raise concerns that the incoming Trump administration will threaten defense contractors’ profit margins.</p>
<p>“His emerging habit of using Twitter as a bully pulpit could become a threat to controversial high-profile programs,” Cowen analysts wrote last week after Trump criticized the cost of Boeing’s Air Force One replacement program. “Even if Trump only launches a bombastic Twitter shout-out, this more aggressive approach to contractor relations could impact the stocks.”</p>
<p>Earlier this month, the Pentagon’s chief arms buyer said he was hopeful that Lockheed F-35 block buy will proceed.</p> | Trump criticizes costs of F-35 fighter jets program | false | https://reviewjournal.com/news/politics-and-government/trump-criticizes-costs-of-f-35-fighter-jets-program/ | 2016-12-12 | 1right-center
| Trump criticizes costs of F-35 fighter jets program
<p>WASHINGTON — Donald Trump on Monday criticized Lockheed Martin’s F-35 fighter jet program as too expensive, the latest attack by the U.S. President-elect on large defense contractors.</p>
<p>Lockheed shares dropped 5.1 percent and shares of several other defense contractors also tumbled.</p>
<p>“The F-35 program and cost is out of control,” Trump said on Twitter, echoing campaign promises to cut waste in federal spending. “Billions of dollars can and will be saved on military (and other) purchases after January 20th.”</p>
<p>Last week, he also used Twitter to target <a href="" type="internal">Boeing Co. for its “out of control” costs</a> on a new fleet of Air Force One planes, urging the federal government to “Cancel order!”</p>
<p>Lockheed Martin’s F-35 program leader, Jeff Babione, responded by saying the company understands concerns about affordability and has invested millions of dollars to reduce the jet’s price.</p>
<p>Babione said Lockheed’s goal was to reduce the price of the F-35 by 70 percent from its original estimates.</p>
<p>“We project it to be about 85 million dollars in the 2019 or 2020 time frame,” he told reporters in Israel.</p>
<p>A week before Trump won the Nov. 8 presidential election, the U.S. Defense Department and Lockheed Martin concluded negotiations on their ninth contract for 90 F-35 fighter jets, the Pentagon said. Lockheed won the contract, valued at up to $7.18 billion, in late November and has received an interim payment.</p>
<p>The Pentagon is paying about $102 million for each of the conventional takeoff A-model jets being built for the U.S. Air Force, Israel and many other countries, according to sources familiar with the program. That marks savings of over 50 percent from the initial jets ordered, reflecting larger quantities and the fact that many technical issues have been ironed out.</p>
<p>The F-35 program has been dogged by problems since its inception, with the Pentagon’s chief arms buyer once describing as “acquisition malpractice” the decision of previous officials to start producing the jets before their development had been completed. That decision led to a series of costly retrofits on early production jets.</p>
<p>The Pentagon’s chief weapons tester has continued to criticize the program, but the jets are now in operational use by the U.S. Marine Corps and Air Force, and the jets are being flown by six countries: Australia, Britain, Norway, Italy, the Netherlands and Israel. Japan took delivery of its first jet last week, according to a spokesman for the program.</p>
<p>Still, cost overruns have made the F-35 a target for criticism. With an estimated price tag of $400 billion, the F-35 program has been described as the most expensive weapon system in history.</p>
<p>Lockheed and its key partners, Northrop Grumman Corp , United Technologies Corp. unit Pratt &amp; Whitney and BAE Systems, are developing and building three variants of the F-35s for the U.S. military and 10 allies including Britain, Australia, Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, Italy, Turkey, Israel, Japan and South Korea.</p>
<p>After Trump’s tweet, shares of Lockheed Martin were down 5.1 percent. Shares of General Dynamics, Northrop Grumman Boeing, BAE and Raytheon were lower, while United Technologies shares were flat.</p>
<p>United Technologies recently came under fire from the President-elect over a plan to ship <a href="" type="internal">2,100 Carrier air conditioning jobs to Mexico from</a> <a href="" type="internal">Indiana</a>. The company agreed to keep about 800 of the manufacturing jobs in Indiana and retain another 300 headquarters jobs, in return for state tax incentives.</p>
<p>The attacks on Boeing and Lockheed Martin raise concerns that the incoming Trump administration will threaten defense contractors’ profit margins.</p>
<p>“His emerging habit of using Twitter as a bully pulpit could become a threat to controversial high-profile programs,” Cowen analysts wrote last week after Trump criticized the cost of Boeing’s Air Force One replacement program. “Even if Trump only launches a bombastic Twitter shout-out, this more aggressive approach to contractor relations could impact the stocks.”</p>
<p>Earlier this month, the Pentagon’s chief arms buyer said he was hopeful that Lockheed F-35 block buy will proceed.</p> | 788 |
<p>In Myanmar, it’s illegal for men to have sex with other men.</p>
<p>There are no gay bars or openly gay celebrities. But for one week each year, in a small village called Taung Byone, thousands of gay and transgender people congregate and celebrate freely.</p>
<p>It happens at one of Myanmar’s largest spirit or “nat” festivals.</p>
<p>Walking across the sun-warmed stone of the main shrine in Taung Byone, the air is thick with the scent of flowers, offerings to the two spirits, or nats, at the heart of the festivities.</p>
<p>Most people here believe that if they pay enough respect and money to the spirits, they can make contact with them. But they have to go through a spirit medium, or a nat-sayer. A nat-sayer with tapered red nails and flowers in his long hair is wearing a dress.</p>
<p>He throws shells onto a pile of bank notes and tells an older man his fortune.</p>
<p>Suddenly there’s a commotion. A woman moans and screams, seemingly possessed. Another woman who is guarding the shrine rushes over to calm her down. Later the shrine guard says this was not an “official” spirit possession.</p>
<p>With thousands of spirit mediums in town, there’s a bit of a monopoly on who can get possessed here. Only recognized natkadaws, “the wives of the spirits,” can have a “real” possession.</p>
<p>“If you are being possessed by a female nat, you dress like a female. If you are being a male nat, you dress like a male. You can change instantly,” according to Zaw Myo Naung, one of the official nat mediums.</p>
<p>He says gay men like him tend to be better at connecting with the spirits, because they have both a male and a female side.</p>
<p>This traditional belief helps makes Taung Byone a special place for Myanmar’s closeted gay community.</p>
<p>“Their freedom and happiness is here,” he said, “and that’s why it is a place for gay people.”</p>
<p>Naung’s uncle was upset when his nephew became a spirit channeler, because he says they’d never had a gay member of the family before. Later they accepted him, though.</p>
<p>It helped that Naung’s connection to the spirits bought the family a house and a car.</p>
<p>Transgender people find acceptance here too. Tha Ma Shein Linn says she loved Taung Byone right from the start because although she has a man’s body, she can dress as a woman here. Taung Byone was the first place she’d seen so many other transgender people — many working as natkadaws.</p>
<p>It’s one of the few jobs transgender people can get, according to Nay Oo Lwin of Population Services International, an NGO that works with Myanmar’s gay community.</p>
<p>“They only have three choices to earn a living: to become a natkadaw, a beautician or a sex worker," Lwin explained.</p>
<p>Nay Oo Lwin says the festival in Taung Byone doesn’t just draw spirit worshipers. It’s also a meeting place for gay Burmese.</p>
<p>“There is a saying — if you are a gay man in Burma, you must (come) to Taung Byone,” Lwin said.</p>
<p>At the main shrine, live music blasts out. People of all ages are leaping, pushing and clawing to give money to the natkadaws who dance in the center, decked out in fake eyelashes, sparkling dresses and big hair.</p>
<p>For one week, they are the most revered people in the country — connecting the spirit world with humans. And for the gay community of Myanmar, for that one week, there is no judgement.</p> | Myanmar's Taung Byone festival brings some acceptance for LGBT community | false | https://pri.org/stories/2012-09-19/myanmars-taung-byone-festival-brings-some-acceptance-lgbt-community | 2012-09-19 | 3left-center
| Myanmar's Taung Byone festival brings some acceptance for LGBT community
<p>In Myanmar, it’s illegal for men to have sex with other men.</p>
<p>There are no gay bars or openly gay celebrities. But for one week each year, in a small village called Taung Byone, thousands of gay and transgender people congregate and celebrate freely.</p>
<p>It happens at one of Myanmar’s largest spirit or “nat” festivals.</p>
<p>Walking across the sun-warmed stone of the main shrine in Taung Byone, the air is thick with the scent of flowers, offerings to the two spirits, or nats, at the heart of the festivities.</p>
<p>Most people here believe that if they pay enough respect and money to the spirits, they can make contact with them. But they have to go through a spirit medium, or a nat-sayer. A nat-sayer with tapered red nails and flowers in his long hair is wearing a dress.</p>
<p>He throws shells onto a pile of bank notes and tells an older man his fortune.</p>
<p>Suddenly there’s a commotion. A woman moans and screams, seemingly possessed. Another woman who is guarding the shrine rushes over to calm her down. Later the shrine guard says this was not an “official” spirit possession.</p>
<p>With thousands of spirit mediums in town, there’s a bit of a monopoly on who can get possessed here. Only recognized natkadaws, “the wives of the spirits,” can have a “real” possession.</p>
<p>“If you are being possessed by a female nat, you dress like a female. If you are being a male nat, you dress like a male. You can change instantly,” according to Zaw Myo Naung, one of the official nat mediums.</p>
<p>He says gay men like him tend to be better at connecting with the spirits, because they have both a male and a female side.</p>
<p>This traditional belief helps makes Taung Byone a special place for Myanmar’s closeted gay community.</p>
<p>“Their freedom and happiness is here,” he said, “and that’s why it is a place for gay people.”</p>
<p>Naung’s uncle was upset when his nephew became a spirit channeler, because he says they’d never had a gay member of the family before. Later they accepted him, though.</p>
<p>It helped that Naung’s connection to the spirits bought the family a house and a car.</p>
<p>Transgender people find acceptance here too. Tha Ma Shein Linn says she loved Taung Byone right from the start because although she has a man’s body, she can dress as a woman here. Taung Byone was the first place she’d seen so many other transgender people — many working as natkadaws.</p>
<p>It’s one of the few jobs transgender people can get, according to Nay Oo Lwin of Population Services International, an NGO that works with Myanmar’s gay community.</p>
<p>“They only have three choices to earn a living: to become a natkadaw, a beautician or a sex worker," Lwin explained.</p>
<p>Nay Oo Lwin says the festival in Taung Byone doesn’t just draw spirit worshipers. It’s also a meeting place for gay Burmese.</p>
<p>“There is a saying — if you are a gay man in Burma, you must (come) to Taung Byone,” Lwin said.</p>
<p>At the main shrine, live music blasts out. People of all ages are leaping, pushing and clawing to give money to the natkadaws who dance in the center, decked out in fake eyelashes, sparkling dresses and big hair.</p>
<p>For one week, they are the most revered people in the country — connecting the spirit world with humans. And for the gay community of Myanmar, for that one week, there is no judgement.</p> | 789 |
<p>A 27-second video, taken by bystander, shows an angry, racist woman going off on two workers behind the counter of a kabob shop.</p>
<p>The woman’s racist tirade was provoked by the addition of green peppers to her order, instead of the red peppers she wanted. God knows that mistakes like that never happen in America. After all this is the country that spawned dining establishments like McDonald’s, Burger King, and Hot and Now. Nothing ever goes wrong here.</p>
<p>The woman, who has been dubbed “angry kabob girl” by the internet, seems to think that “getting it right the first time” is a common thing in America.</p>
<p>“You get it right the first time! Customer is always right! That’s how it works here!&#160;This is America, and you get it right the first time!”</p>
<p>She’s further offended by the fact that the two employees speak to one another in a language other than English.</p>
<p>“You know what, like, I’m really glad you two can talk to each other in whatever language it is that you’re speaking, but it’s really rude.”</p>
<p>She goes on, slamming her take out container onto the counter:</p>
<p>“Hey! If you want to be polite to the customer, then you speak English to the customer in America.”</p>
<p>To their credit, the employees manage to keep their cool throughout her tirade. One of the two women behind the counter asks her to calm down, to which she spits back&#160;“You calm down!”</p>
<p>After asking how long it will take to fix her order, she screams “I don’t have 15 minutes!”</p>
<p>But the universal law of Karma is about strike. As she storms out in a rage of fury, looking over her shoulder while still yelling at the employees to “Get it right the first time OK?” she smacks right into the door she was intending to stomp out of.</p>
<p>The identity of “angry kabob girl,” and the location of her meltdown have yet to be revealed. The video was first uploaded to youtube by <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgg3Fl6fqJI" type="external">Curious World TV</a>&#160;on September 5. Since then it has gotten nearly 2 million views.</p>
<p>The woman in the video symbolizes everything that’s wrong in the United States. While she calls the two employees “rude” for speaking their native language, it would be harder to find another human being who is ruder or more obnoxious than herself.</p>
<p>*Featured image credit: video screen capture, via <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgg3Fl6fqJI" type="external">Curious World TV</a> on youtube</p> | Racist B*tch Goes Ballistic Over Green Peppers, Gets A Dose Of Instant Karma (VIDEO) | true | http://addictinginfo.org/2015/09/05/racist-btch-goes-ballistic-over-green-peppers-gets-a-dose-of-instant-karma-video/ | 2015-09-05 | 4left
| Racist B*tch Goes Ballistic Over Green Peppers, Gets A Dose Of Instant Karma (VIDEO)
<p>A 27-second video, taken by bystander, shows an angry, racist woman going off on two workers behind the counter of a kabob shop.</p>
<p>The woman’s racist tirade was provoked by the addition of green peppers to her order, instead of the red peppers she wanted. God knows that mistakes like that never happen in America. After all this is the country that spawned dining establishments like McDonald’s, Burger King, and Hot and Now. Nothing ever goes wrong here.</p>
<p>The woman, who has been dubbed “angry kabob girl” by the internet, seems to think that “getting it right the first time” is a common thing in America.</p>
<p>“You get it right the first time! Customer is always right! That’s how it works here!&#160;This is America, and you get it right the first time!”</p>
<p>She’s further offended by the fact that the two employees speak to one another in a language other than English.</p>
<p>“You know what, like, I’m really glad you two can talk to each other in whatever language it is that you’re speaking, but it’s really rude.”</p>
<p>She goes on, slamming her take out container onto the counter:</p>
<p>“Hey! If you want to be polite to the customer, then you speak English to the customer in America.”</p>
<p>To their credit, the employees manage to keep their cool throughout her tirade. One of the two women behind the counter asks her to calm down, to which she spits back&#160;“You calm down!”</p>
<p>After asking how long it will take to fix her order, she screams “I don’t have 15 minutes!”</p>
<p>But the universal law of Karma is about strike. As she storms out in a rage of fury, looking over her shoulder while still yelling at the employees to “Get it right the first time OK?” she smacks right into the door she was intending to stomp out of.</p>
<p>The identity of “angry kabob girl,” and the location of her meltdown have yet to be revealed. The video was first uploaded to youtube by <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgg3Fl6fqJI" type="external">Curious World TV</a>&#160;on September 5. Since then it has gotten nearly 2 million views.</p>
<p>The woman in the video symbolizes everything that’s wrong in the United States. While she calls the two employees “rude” for speaking their native language, it would be harder to find another human being who is ruder or more obnoxious than herself.</p>
<p>*Featured image credit: video screen capture, via <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgg3Fl6fqJI" type="external">Curious World TV</a> on youtube</p> | 790 |
<p>Ivylise Simones</p>
<p />
<p>Until the election, we’re bringing you “The Trump Files,” a daily dose of telling episodes, strange-but-true stories, or curious scenes from the life of GOP nominee Donald Trump.</p>
<p>“It’s a much more sophisticated game than Monopoly,” Donald Trump said when his new board game, “Trump: The Game,” debuted in 1989. ( <a href="" type="internal">Note: It’s not</a>.) So sophisticated, in fact, that Trump admitted that even he sometimes lost. “I’ve done very well at the game…but on occasion, I got clipped,” he said at the game’s announcement in February.</p>
<p>Bob Stupak, a Las Vegas casino owner, was apparently listening. A month later, he <a href="http://articles.latimes.com/1989-03-07/business/fi-348_1_donald-trump" type="external">challenged Trump</a> to a head-to-head “Trump: The Game” battle for a $1 million prize, announcing it via a full-page ad he ran in the New York Post and the Press of Atlantic City.</p>
<p>Stupak told his local NBC station, KSNV, that he was generously <a href="http://news3lv.com/features/video-vault/video-vault-bob-stupak-tries-to-beat-trump-at-trump-the-game-with-1-million-bet" type="external">giving Trump a chance</a> to profit off the Stupak name. Stupak had recently earned fame for <a href="http://sportsday.dallasnews.com/other-sports/superbowlscene/2011/02/01/bet-you-don_t-know-these-gambling-facts-about-the-super-bowl" type="external">winning a $1 million bet</a> on that year’s Super Bowl. “I’m not looking to ride on Donald Trump,” he said. “I’m giving him an opportunity to ride on my reputation. I’m the one who makes the large wagers, or has a history of doing it. And also to give him an opportunity to try to promote his new game.”</p>
<p>Trump, sadly, said no. “It’s always possible to lose, even for someone who’s used to winning,” he <a href="http://articles.latimes.com/1989-03-07/business/fi-348_1_donald-trump" type="external">told the</a> <a href="http://articles.latimes.com/1989-03-07/business/fi-348_1_donald-trump" type="external">New York Post</a>.</p>
<p>Read the rest of “The Trump Files”:</p>
<p /> | The Trump Files: Donald Once Turned Down a Million-Dollar Bet on “Trump: The Game” | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2016/08/trump-files-donald-once-turned-down-million-dollar-bet-trump-game/ | 2016-08-15 | 4left
| The Trump Files: Donald Once Turned Down a Million-Dollar Bet on “Trump: The Game”
<p>Ivylise Simones</p>
<p />
<p>Until the election, we’re bringing you “The Trump Files,” a daily dose of telling episodes, strange-but-true stories, or curious scenes from the life of GOP nominee Donald Trump.</p>
<p>“It’s a much more sophisticated game than Monopoly,” Donald Trump said when his new board game, “Trump: The Game,” debuted in 1989. ( <a href="" type="internal">Note: It’s not</a>.) So sophisticated, in fact, that Trump admitted that even he sometimes lost. “I’ve done very well at the game…but on occasion, I got clipped,” he said at the game’s announcement in February.</p>
<p>Bob Stupak, a Las Vegas casino owner, was apparently listening. A month later, he <a href="http://articles.latimes.com/1989-03-07/business/fi-348_1_donald-trump" type="external">challenged Trump</a> to a head-to-head “Trump: The Game” battle for a $1 million prize, announcing it via a full-page ad he ran in the New York Post and the Press of Atlantic City.</p>
<p>Stupak told his local NBC station, KSNV, that he was generously <a href="http://news3lv.com/features/video-vault/video-vault-bob-stupak-tries-to-beat-trump-at-trump-the-game-with-1-million-bet" type="external">giving Trump a chance</a> to profit off the Stupak name. Stupak had recently earned fame for <a href="http://sportsday.dallasnews.com/other-sports/superbowlscene/2011/02/01/bet-you-don_t-know-these-gambling-facts-about-the-super-bowl" type="external">winning a $1 million bet</a> on that year’s Super Bowl. “I’m not looking to ride on Donald Trump,” he said. “I’m giving him an opportunity to ride on my reputation. I’m the one who makes the large wagers, or has a history of doing it. And also to give him an opportunity to try to promote his new game.”</p>
<p>Trump, sadly, said no. “It’s always possible to lose, even for someone who’s used to winning,” he <a href="http://articles.latimes.com/1989-03-07/business/fi-348_1_donald-trump" type="external">told the</a> <a href="http://articles.latimes.com/1989-03-07/business/fi-348_1_donald-trump" type="external">New York Post</a>.</p>
<p>Read the rest of “The Trump Files”:</p>
<p /> | 791 |
<p />
<p>When it comes to drug lords, there's no matching Pablo Escobar. More than two decades after he was gunned down, his vast wealth, megalomania and ruthless violence still mesmerize, as evidenced by the attention surrounding Netflix's upcoming series "Narcos" about the cartel boss.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>The biopic promises to be an authentic portrayal of Escobar, so it's only natural that Brazilian director and executive producer Jose Padilha chose to film the 10-episode series in Medellin, the murder capital of the world during the drug kingpin's heyday in the 1980s.</p>
<p>Filming the series here would have been unthinkable a few years ago, with Colombians still blaming Escobar for their country's hard-to-shake association with drug trafficking. But as memories of Escobar's terror campaign fade, and with the homicide rate at a decade low, Colombians are starting to view their violent past more dispassionately. So much so that cinema-loving President Juan Manuel Santos agreed to pick up $2 million in production costs so Netflix could film in the country.</p>
<p>The series, which debuts Aug. 28, is based on the account of Steve Murphy and Javier Pena, now retired Drug Enforcement Administration agents who were assigned to bring the drug lord down. It's one of several projects reviving interest in the man known as the "King of Cocaine," including last year's film "Escobar: Paradise Lost," starring Benicio del Toro. At least two more movies about Escobar are in development.</p>
<p>Because of the lingering sensitivities about the bad reputation Escobar gave Colombia, Netflix executives and Padilha flew to Bogota last year to meet with Santos before filming.</p>
<p>The president, whose family brought the Cinemark movie chain to Colombia, immediately embraced the project, said Claudia Triana, head of the state-funded Proimagenes film promotion agency. But Santos urged Padilha not to romanticize a criminal who promoted himself as a Colombian Robin Hood despite ordering thousands of people killed, from presidential candidates to passengers on a commercial jetliner he had blown up.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Triana said that no matter where the series was made it would have presented the same image of Colombia, so it was preferable to have it filmed here to make foreign members of the cast and crew more sensitive to the toll Escobar's bloodbath had on society.</p>
<p>Netflix, with local production partner Dynamo, got the big subsidy to film under an initiative Santos' government launched in 2013 to market Colombia as South America's premier shooting location. The administration pays for up to 40 percent of filming costs to foreign producers who hire local crews and spend at least $600,000 in the country.</p>
<p>While some officials feared the series would portray the country negatively, Triana said resistance to filmed depictions of Colombia's violent history has eased in part because of wildly popular soap operas known as "narconovelas" that present an unvarnished view of the drug wars.</p>
<p>Still, Congressman Rodrigo Lara said he's skeptical that Colombia's complex history can be accurately rendered in a series whose trailer teases audiences in English: "There's No Business Like Blow Business," using a slang word for cocaine.</p>
<p>"When you take real events and convert them into several episodes for a TV series, the need to entertain and keep the audience hooked is always going to predominate," said Lara, whose father, a justice minister, was slain by Escobar's hit men in 1984.</p>
<p>Escobar's son, who changed his name to Sebastian Marroquin and moved to Argentina after his father's death, also questions how accurate the Netflix depiction will be.</p>
<p>"I'm not very convinced by stories sold as truthful that use my father's name without authorization and purposefully ignore the main keepers of his memories: his family," Marroquin told The Associated Press in an email. He is the author of a book and documentary about his relationship with his father.</p>
<p>Pena and Murphy, who were technical consultants for the series, said Padilha and the actors worked hard to provide an accurate look at what was then the world's largest manhunt. Brazilian actor Wagner Moura, who stars as Escobar, studied Spanish in Medellin to approach the capo's thick regional accent. Pedro Pascal and Boyd Holbrook, who play Pena and Murphy, embedded with real-life anti-narcotics agents at the DEA's academy in Quantico, Virginia.</p>
<p>Murphy said they also wanted to make sure the countless heroes among Colombia's police got "credit for the work they did and the risks they took." He proudly visited the set in Bogota with his wife and the two Colombian-born daughters they adopted when they lived here.</p>
<p>Huge quantities of cocaine still flow out of Colombia and violence continues at chronically high levels. Last year's homicide rate, while the lowest in a decade, was still almost six times that of the U.S.</p>
<p>But the possibility of Colombia becoming a narco state, a real threat during Escobar's time, has lifted, said Medellin writer Hector Abad Faciolince, allowing Colombians to view the drug trade more objectively.</p>
<p>"A few years ago we Colombians were overzealous when it came to displaying our sores, our vices and our wounds," said Faciolince, whose father, a human rights activist, was killed by right-wing paramilitaries during an especially violent period that coincided with Escobar's reign. "Now we handle it better because it seems that the worst is behind us."</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Joshua Goodman on Twitter: https://twitter.com/apjoshgoodman</p> | As memories of Pablo Escobar's terror fade, Colombians embrace Netflix biopic 'Narcos' | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2015/08/19/as-memories-pablo-escobar-terror-fade-colombians-embrace-netflix-biopic-narcos.html | 2017-01-02 | 0right
| As memories of Pablo Escobar's terror fade, Colombians embrace Netflix biopic 'Narcos'
<p />
<p>When it comes to drug lords, there's no matching Pablo Escobar. More than two decades after he was gunned down, his vast wealth, megalomania and ruthless violence still mesmerize, as evidenced by the attention surrounding Netflix's upcoming series "Narcos" about the cartel boss.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>The biopic promises to be an authentic portrayal of Escobar, so it's only natural that Brazilian director and executive producer Jose Padilha chose to film the 10-episode series in Medellin, the murder capital of the world during the drug kingpin's heyday in the 1980s.</p>
<p>Filming the series here would have been unthinkable a few years ago, with Colombians still blaming Escobar for their country's hard-to-shake association with drug trafficking. But as memories of Escobar's terror campaign fade, and with the homicide rate at a decade low, Colombians are starting to view their violent past more dispassionately. So much so that cinema-loving President Juan Manuel Santos agreed to pick up $2 million in production costs so Netflix could film in the country.</p>
<p>The series, which debuts Aug. 28, is based on the account of Steve Murphy and Javier Pena, now retired Drug Enforcement Administration agents who were assigned to bring the drug lord down. It's one of several projects reviving interest in the man known as the "King of Cocaine," including last year's film "Escobar: Paradise Lost," starring Benicio del Toro. At least two more movies about Escobar are in development.</p>
<p>Because of the lingering sensitivities about the bad reputation Escobar gave Colombia, Netflix executives and Padilha flew to Bogota last year to meet with Santos before filming.</p>
<p>The president, whose family brought the Cinemark movie chain to Colombia, immediately embraced the project, said Claudia Triana, head of the state-funded Proimagenes film promotion agency. But Santos urged Padilha not to romanticize a criminal who promoted himself as a Colombian Robin Hood despite ordering thousands of people killed, from presidential candidates to passengers on a commercial jetliner he had blown up.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Triana said that no matter where the series was made it would have presented the same image of Colombia, so it was preferable to have it filmed here to make foreign members of the cast and crew more sensitive to the toll Escobar's bloodbath had on society.</p>
<p>Netflix, with local production partner Dynamo, got the big subsidy to film under an initiative Santos' government launched in 2013 to market Colombia as South America's premier shooting location. The administration pays for up to 40 percent of filming costs to foreign producers who hire local crews and spend at least $600,000 in the country.</p>
<p>While some officials feared the series would portray the country negatively, Triana said resistance to filmed depictions of Colombia's violent history has eased in part because of wildly popular soap operas known as "narconovelas" that present an unvarnished view of the drug wars.</p>
<p>Still, Congressman Rodrigo Lara said he's skeptical that Colombia's complex history can be accurately rendered in a series whose trailer teases audiences in English: "There's No Business Like Blow Business," using a slang word for cocaine.</p>
<p>"When you take real events and convert them into several episodes for a TV series, the need to entertain and keep the audience hooked is always going to predominate," said Lara, whose father, a justice minister, was slain by Escobar's hit men in 1984.</p>
<p>Escobar's son, who changed his name to Sebastian Marroquin and moved to Argentina after his father's death, also questions how accurate the Netflix depiction will be.</p>
<p>"I'm not very convinced by stories sold as truthful that use my father's name without authorization and purposefully ignore the main keepers of his memories: his family," Marroquin told The Associated Press in an email. He is the author of a book and documentary about his relationship with his father.</p>
<p>Pena and Murphy, who were technical consultants for the series, said Padilha and the actors worked hard to provide an accurate look at what was then the world's largest manhunt. Brazilian actor Wagner Moura, who stars as Escobar, studied Spanish in Medellin to approach the capo's thick regional accent. Pedro Pascal and Boyd Holbrook, who play Pena and Murphy, embedded with real-life anti-narcotics agents at the DEA's academy in Quantico, Virginia.</p>
<p>Murphy said they also wanted to make sure the countless heroes among Colombia's police got "credit for the work they did and the risks they took." He proudly visited the set in Bogota with his wife and the two Colombian-born daughters they adopted when they lived here.</p>
<p>Huge quantities of cocaine still flow out of Colombia and violence continues at chronically high levels. Last year's homicide rate, while the lowest in a decade, was still almost six times that of the U.S.</p>
<p>But the possibility of Colombia becoming a narco state, a real threat during Escobar's time, has lifted, said Medellin writer Hector Abad Faciolince, allowing Colombians to view the drug trade more objectively.</p>
<p>"A few years ago we Colombians were overzealous when it came to displaying our sores, our vices and our wounds," said Faciolince, whose father, a human rights activist, was killed by right-wing paramilitaries during an especially violent period that coincided with Escobar's reign. "Now we handle it better because it seems that the worst is behind us."</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Joshua Goodman on Twitter: https://twitter.com/apjoshgoodman</p> | 792 |
<p />
<p>Former-“Anonymous”-hactivist-turned-FBI-informant Hector Xavier Monsegur, aka “Sabu,” has turned to the news media to defend himself against accusations of “snitching” on his colleagues.</p>
<p>In a revealing interview that aired Tuesday with Charlie Rose on “CBS This Morning,” Monsegur denied directly giving up other hackers’ identities but admitted that his undercover work with the agency after his arrest in 2011 was completely monitored and led to multiple arrests. <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2014/dec/09/hacker-sabu-defends-informing-anonymous-fbi-interview" type="external">The Guardian</a> reported details on the Charlie Rose interview with Monsegur that day:</p>
<p>“It wasn’t a situation where I identified anybody. I didn’t point my fingers at anybody. My cooperation entailed logging and providing intelligence. It didn’t mean ‘Can you please tell me the identity of all your mates,’” he said.</p>
<p />
<p>Monsegur was sentenced in May to time served – equivalent to seven months – despite the fact that federal prosecutors estimated he had notched up more than $50m in damages in his Anonymous hacks. The judge thanked him for his “extraordinary cooperation”.</p>
<p>That cooperation involved helping the FBI nail eight prominent Anonymous and LulzSec hackers including Jeremy Hammond, the then No 1 most-wanted cybercriminal in the world on the FBI’s wish list, who is now serving a 10-year sentence for his role in breaching the private intelligence firm Stratfor.</p>
<p>Sealed court documents obtained by Motherboard have revealed that Monsegur was directing Hammond and other hackers to attack Brazilian government and corporate websites at a time when he was secretly working for the FBI, raising questions about the extent of his activities globally on behalf of the bureau.</p>
<p>In Monsegur’s talk with Charlie Rose (posted below) he described growing up in the projects, his involvement in particular cyberattacks carried out with Anonymous and how he cooperated with the FBI, which, according to the agency, prevented 300 hacking attempts.</p>
<p>— Posted by <a href="" type="internal">Donald Kaufman.</a></p> | ‘Sabu’ Tells Charlie Rose How He Went From Anonymous Hactivist to FBI Informant | true | https://truthdig.com/articles/sabu-tells-charlie-rose-how-he-went-from-anonymous-hactivist-to-fbi-informant/ | 2014-12-11 | 4left
| ‘Sabu’ Tells Charlie Rose How He Went From Anonymous Hactivist to FBI Informant
<p />
<p>Former-“Anonymous”-hactivist-turned-FBI-informant Hector Xavier Monsegur, aka “Sabu,” has turned to the news media to defend himself against accusations of “snitching” on his colleagues.</p>
<p>In a revealing interview that aired Tuesday with Charlie Rose on “CBS This Morning,” Monsegur denied directly giving up other hackers’ identities but admitted that his undercover work with the agency after his arrest in 2011 was completely monitored and led to multiple arrests. <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2014/dec/09/hacker-sabu-defends-informing-anonymous-fbi-interview" type="external">The Guardian</a> reported details on the Charlie Rose interview with Monsegur that day:</p>
<p>“It wasn’t a situation where I identified anybody. I didn’t point my fingers at anybody. My cooperation entailed logging and providing intelligence. It didn’t mean ‘Can you please tell me the identity of all your mates,’” he said.</p>
<p />
<p>Monsegur was sentenced in May to time served – equivalent to seven months – despite the fact that federal prosecutors estimated he had notched up more than $50m in damages in his Anonymous hacks. The judge thanked him for his “extraordinary cooperation”.</p>
<p>That cooperation involved helping the FBI nail eight prominent Anonymous and LulzSec hackers including Jeremy Hammond, the then No 1 most-wanted cybercriminal in the world on the FBI’s wish list, who is now serving a 10-year sentence for his role in breaching the private intelligence firm Stratfor.</p>
<p>Sealed court documents obtained by Motherboard have revealed that Monsegur was directing Hammond and other hackers to attack Brazilian government and corporate websites at a time when he was secretly working for the FBI, raising questions about the extent of his activities globally on behalf of the bureau.</p>
<p>In Monsegur’s talk with Charlie Rose (posted below) he described growing up in the projects, his involvement in particular cyberattacks carried out with Anonymous and how he cooperated with the FBI, which, according to the agency, prevented 300 hacking attempts.</p>
<p>— Posted by <a href="" type="internal">Donald Kaufman.</a></p> | 793 |
<p />
<p>Sales are plunging for once high-flying products. Revenue and earnings are falling. Its stock price has slumped. Several of its most promising pipeline prospects are still years away from commercialization.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>All of these statements are true for Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ: GILD). But is the big biotech destined for perpetual malaise? Not hardly. Here's why the best is yet to come for Gilead.</p>
<p>Image source: Getty Images.</p>
<p>The chart below tells an interesting story. Gilead Sciences' trailing-12-month revenue and stock price took off from 2013 through 2015, driven primarily by the prospects and ultimate success for the company's hepatitis C franchise.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p><a href="http://ycharts.com/companies/GILD" type="external">GILD</a> data by <a href="http://ycharts.com" type="external">YCharts Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
<p>Note, though, what has happened more recently. Gilead's stock price is back to where it was in late 2013. The biotech's trailing-12-month revenue, although falling, is still much higher than previous years. That's because change in the stock price is leading change in revenue, which makes sense with investors focusing more on the future than the past.</p>
<p>Gilead Sciences forecasts 2017 revenue between $22.5 billion and $24.5 billion. If you believe that the biotech can't boost its annual revenue to over $33 billion or more, Gilead's best days are behind it. I don't think that's a good bet, though.</p>
<p>I have no doubts that Gilead can beat the revenue highs from past years. To do so should be as easy as A-B-C.</p>
<p>"A" stands for acquisitions. Gilead's management team has stated that its top priority isto "focus on growth for the top line." That means acquisitions should be on the way.</p>
<p>Can Gilead really make acquisitions that could generate annual revenue of more than $10 billion or so to get back to its previous revenue levels? Yes, but it would probably take multiple deals.</p>
<p>However, I suspect that's just what Gilead has in mind. CEO John Milligan recently said that he'd like to expand the company's pipeline in three areas:oncology, inflammation, and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). His statements imply multiple acquisitions could be on the way.</p>
<p>"B" stands for build the pipeline through partnerships. This is an area where Gilead could learn from another big biotech, Celgene (NASDAQ: CELG). If you look at Celgene's pipeline, you'll find several candidates where the company has partnered with another organization. Some are small biotechs, but others are large pharmaceuticdal companies.</p>
<p>Partnerships can be a smart way to secure pipeline assets without shelling out a huge amount of money up front. Celgene, for example, picked up its license for luspatercept through a deal with Acceleron (NASDAQ: XLRN) in 2011 that cost only $25 million up front. As a result, Celgene now is on track to have a product that could generate peak annual sales topping $2 billion.</p>
<p>"C" stands for continue what Gilead is already doing. The biotech has several great new products, especially HIV drug Genvoya and hepatitis C virus (HCV) drug Epclusa. Gilead's pipeline includes strong candidates including experimental NASH drug GS-4997 and autoimmune disease drug filgotinib.</p>
<p>Gilead also has a solid cash flow that should keep on flowing. Even though declining sales for HCV drugs Harvoni and Sovaldi will reduce cash flow somewhat, Gilead should still continue to enjoy an enviable cash position that allows the company to fund acquisitions and partnerships.</p>
<p>I think there is a light at the end of the tunnel for Gilead Sciences. The current situation with falling revenue, earnings, and share prices won't go on indefinitely.</p>
<p>How quickly will that light arrive? I expect Gilead to make at least one significant acquisition this year, because executives have said that's what they'd like to do -- and investors clearly want them to do so as well. However, it's possible (perhaps even likely) that the first acquisition announcement won't be big enough to fully offset Gilead's HCV headwinds.</p>
<p>The turnaround will probably take longer than just one year and one acquisition. That's OK, though. It took Gilead Sciences several years to hit its peak. Taking a few years to surpass prior levels isn't unreasonable.</p>
<p>10 stocks we like better than Gilead SciencesWhen 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=60aabecd-f6ee-4c64-b80d-0d8689109cc9&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">10 best stocks Opens a New Window.</a> for investors to buy right now... and Gilead Sciences 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=60aabecd-f6ee-4c64-b80d-0d8689109cc9&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 February 6, 2017</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFFishBiz/info.aspx" type="external">Keith Speights Opens a New Window.</a> owns shares of Celgene and Gilead Sciences. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Celgene and Gilead Sciences. 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> | Here's Why the Best Is Yet to Come for Gilead Sciences, Inc. | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/03/07/here-why-best-is-yet-to-come-for-gilead-sciences-inc.html | 2017-03-17 | 0right
| Here's Why the Best Is Yet to Come for Gilead Sciences, Inc.
<p />
<p>Sales are plunging for once high-flying products. Revenue and earnings are falling. Its stock price has slumped. Several of its most promising pipeline prospects are still years away from commercialization.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>All of these statements are true for Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ: GILD). But is the big biotech destined for perpetual malaise? Not hardly. Here's why the best is yet to come for Gilead.</p>
<p>Image source: Getty Images.</p>
<p>The chart below tells an interesting story. Gilead Sciences' trailing-12-month revenue and stock price took off from 2013 through 2015, driven primarily by the prospects and ultimate success for the company's hepatitis C franchise.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p><a href="http://ycharts.com/companies/GILD" type="external">GILD</a> data by <a href="http://ycharts.com" type="external">YCharts Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
<p>Note, though, what has happened more recently. Gilead's stock price is back to where it was in late 2013. The biotech's trailing-12-month revenue, although falling, is still much higher than previous years. That's because change in the stock price is leading change in revenue, which makes sense with investors focusing more on the future than the past.</p>
<p>Gilead Sciences forecasts 2017 revenue between $22.5 billion and $24.5 billion. If you believe that the biotech can't boost its annual revenue to over $33 billion or more, Gilead's best days are behind it. I don't think that's a good bet, though.</p>
<p>I have no doubts that Gilead can beat the revenue highs from past years. To do so should be as easy as A-B-C.</p>
<p>"A" stands for acquisitions. Gilead's management team has stated that its top priority isto "focus on growth for the top line." That means acquisitions should be on the way.</p>
<p>Can Gilead really make acquisitions that could generate annual revenue of more than $10 billion or so to get back to its previous revenue levels? Yes, but it would probably take multiple deals.</p>
<p>However, I suspect that's just what Gilead has in mind. CEO John Milligan recently said that he'd like to expand the company's pipeline in three areas:oncology, inflammation, and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). His statements imply multiple acquisitions could be on the way.</p>
<p>"B" stands for build the pipeline through partnerships. This is an area where Gilead could learn from another big biotech, Celgene (NASDAQ: CELG). If you look at Celgene's pipeline, you'll find several candidates where the company has partnered with another organization. Some are small biotechs, but others are large pharmaceuticdal companies.</p>
<p>Partnerships can be a smart way to secure pipeline assets without shelling out a huge amount of money up front. Celgene, for example, picked up its license for luspatercept through a deal with Acceleron (NASDAQ: XLRN) in 2011 that cost only $25 million up front. As a result, Celgene now is on track to have a product that could generate peak annual sales topping $2 billion.</p>
<p>"C" stands for continue what Gilead is already doing. The biotech has several great new products, especially HIV drug Genvoya and hepatitis C virus (HCV) drug Epclusa. Gilead's pipeline includes strong candidates including experimental NASH drug GS-4997 and autoimmune disease drug filgotinib.</p>
<p>Gilead also has a solid cash flow that should keep on flowing. Even though declining sales for HCV drugs Harvoni and Sovaldi will reduce cash flow somewhat, Gilead should still continue to enjoy an enviable cash position that allows the company to fund acquisitions and partnerships.</p>
<p>I think there is a light at the end of the tunnel for Gilead Sciences. The current situation with falling revenue, earnings, and share prices won't go on indefinitely.</p>
<p>How quickly will that light arrive? I expect Gilead to make at least one significant acquisition this year, because executives have said that's what they'd like to do -- and investors clearly want them to do so as well. However, it's possible (perhaps even likely) that the first acquisition announcement won't be big enough to fully offset Gilead's HCV headwinds.</p>
<p>The turnaround will probably take longer than just one year and one acquisition. That's OK, though. It took Gilead Sciences several years to hit its peak. Taking a few years to surpass prior levels isn't unreasonable.</p>
<p>10 stocks we like better than Gilead SciencesWhen 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=60aabecd-f6ee-4c64-b80d-0d8689109cc9&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">10 best stocks Opens a New Window.</a> for investors to buy right now... and Gilead Sciences 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=60aabecd-f6ee-4c64-b80d-0d8689109cc9&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 February 6, 2017</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFFishBiz/info.aspx" type="external">Keith Speights Opens a New Window.</a> owns shares of Celgene and Gilead Sciences. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Celgene and Gilead Sciences. 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> | 794 |
<p>Shares of telecommunications companies declined amid doubts about the outlook for deal making. After rising sharply in the wake of the latest reports that the two were near a deal earlier this week, shares of Sprint and T-Mobile US have given back much of those gains. Telefonica is facing higher risks than any of its competitors in Spain as its broadband business comes under attack from Orange, Vodafone and new entrant MasMovil, according to analysts at brokerage RBC.</p>
<p>-Rob Curran, rob.curran@dowjones.com</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>(END) Dow Jones Newswires</p>
<p>September 21, 2017 16:57 ET (20:57 GMT)</p> | Telecoms Stocks Down On Deal Doubts - Telecoms Roundup | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2017/09/21/telecoms-stocks-down-on-deal-doubts-telecoms-roundup.html | 2017-09-21 | 0right
| Telecoms Stocks Down On Deal Doubts - Telecoms Roundup
<p>Shares of telecommunications companies declined amid doubts about the outlook for deal making. After rising sharply in the wake of the latest reports that the two were near a deal earlier this week, shares of Sprint and T-Mobile US have given back much of those gains. Telefonica is facing higher risks than any of its competitors in Spain as its broadband business comes under attack from Orange, Vodafone and new entrant MasMovil, according to analysts at brokerage RBC.</p>
<p>-Rob Curran, rob.curran@dowjones.com</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>(END) Dow Jones Newswires</p>
<p>September 21, 2017 16:57 ET (20:57 GMT)</p> | 795 |
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>If the New Mexico Legislature again refuses to grant a limited liability exemption to Spaceport America suppliers and Sir Richard Branson really picks up his spacecraft and takes off for clearer skies, New Mexico taxpayers still have options for their $209 million investment in the desert:</p>
<p>♦ They could partner with a tribe or scare up a track license and open up a “spacino.”</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>♦ They could join forces with the lone new business in the Upham area — a Holiday Inn Express — and offer the most expensive continental breakfast in the solar system.</p>
<p>♦ They could bank on Medicaid expansion under Obamacare becoming a leading economic driver and use the hangar as an intergalactic claims-processing station.</p>
<p>♦ They could take a headache away from local and state corrections officials and convert the elegant and futuristic facility into a new-age methadone clinic — accessible to junkies via an expanded Rail Runner commuter train, of course.</p>
<p>All proposals are as ridiculous as allowing this public-private venture to fail because the trial lawyer lobby is more concerned about the suing rights of wealthy space tourists (who have been thoroughly briefed and signed waivers) than the economic needs of New Mexico, the hefty investment of state taxpayers and the promise of an emerging industry.</p>
<p>But hey, who needs jobs when maybe we can salvage some additional federal benefits from the wreckage at the bottom of the fiscal cliff?</p>
<p>Unbelievably, Virgin Galactic can walk away virtually clawback-free seven years into this venture. Thank the lack of foresight of then-Gov. Bill Richardson and Co. for that 2005 loophole.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>And the company just might exercise that option — 18 spaceports are proposed across the country, and Texas, Florida, Colorado and Virginia now extend the lawsuit protection New Mexico has already granted to spacecraft operator Virgin to ancillary companies like manufacturers as well.</p>
<p>Virgin Galactic says that expanded protection is key to a successful operation with many suppliers and space-businessess.</p>
<p>Legislators who have rejected the waivers twice before should remember that extending these protections to suppliers costs the public absolutely nothing.</p>
<p>The waivers mimic those that exempt ski areas from lawsuits by folks who voluntarily slide down mountains at high speeds on skinny waxed boards; they apply only to passengers like Ashton Kutcher and Victoria Principal who have paid six figures to be strapped inside a tube powered by rocket fuel for a ride into suborbital space. If there is gross negligence, all waivers are off. And if you get hit by a piece of falling debris, you can still sue. This doesn’t apply to people on the ground.</p>
<p>It may be tempting to turn the Spaceport into a partisan blame game, but that kind of debate solves nothing and wastes time. The provision in the development agreement that bars Virgin from operating its aircraft at competing spaceports without permission expires at the end of December. Meanwhile, the company has cut a deal with a Middle East investment group to develop another spaceport in the emirate of Abu Dhabi.</p>
<p>So will New Mexico give Sir Richard every reason to fly away and further justify its place at the top of Forbes list of “Death Spiral States?”</p>
<p>Or will it cement itself as a leading partner in what could be an emerging private-sector industry?</p>
<p>The Legislature re-convenes Jan. 15. Lawmakers should finally take this last step and help taxpayers’ Spaceport investment take off.</p>
<p>This editorial first appeared in the Albuquerque Journal. It was written by members of the editorial board and is unsigned as it represents the opinion of the newspaper rather than the writers.</p> | Editorial: N.M. Doesn’t Need A $209 Million ‘Spacino’ | false | https://abqjournal.com/153414/nm-doesnt-need-a-209-million-spacino.html | 2012-12-15 | 2least
| Editorial: N.M. Doesn’t Need A $209 Million ‘Spacino’
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>If the New Mexico Legislature again refuses to grant a limited liability exemption to Spaceport America suppliers and Sir Richard Branson really picks up his spacecraft and takes off for clearer skies, New Mexico taxpayers still have options for their $209 million investment in the desert:</p>
<p>♦ They could partner with a tribe or scare up a track license and open up a “spacino.”</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>♦ They could join forces with the lone new business in the Upham area — a Holiday Inn Express — and offer the most expensive continental breakfast in the solar system.</p>
<p>♦ They could bank on Medicaid expansion under Obamacare becoming a leading economic driver and use the hangar as an intergalactic claims-processing station.</p>
<p>♦ They could take a headache away from local and state corrections officials and convert the elegant and futuristic facility into a new-age methadone clinic — accessible to junkies via an expanded Rail Runner commuter train, of course.</p>
<p>All proposals are as ridiculous as allowing this public-private venture to fail because the trial lawyer lobby is more concerned about the suing rights of wealthy space tourists (who have been thoroughly briefed and signed waivers) than the economic needs of New Mexico, the hefty investment of state taxpayers and the promise of an emerging industry.</p>
<p>But hey, who needs jobs when maybe we can salvage some additional federal benefits from the wreckage at the bottom of the fiscal cliff?</p>
<p>Unbelievably, Virgin Galactic can walk away virtually clawback-free seven years into this venture. Thank the lack of foresight of then-Gov. Bill Richardson and Co. for that 2005 loophole.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>And the company just might exercise that option — 18 spaceports are proposed across the country, and Texas, Florida, Colorado and Virginia now extend the lawsuit protection New Mexico has already granted to spacecraft operator Virgin to ancillary companies like manufacturers as well.</p>
<p>Virgin Galactic says that expanded protection is key to a successful operation with many suppliers and space-businessess.</p>
<p>Legislators who have rejected the waivers twice before should remember that extending these protections to suppliers costs the public absolutely nothing.</p>
<p>The waivers mimic those that exempt ski areas from lawsuits by folks who voluntarily slide down mountains at high speeds on skinny waxed boards; they apply only to passengers like Ashton Kutcher and Victoria Principal who have paid six figures to be strapped inside a tube powered by rocket fuel for a ride into suborbital space. If there is gross negligence, all waivers are off. And if you get hit by a piece of falling debris, you can still sue. This doesn’t apply to people on the ground.</p>
<p>It may be tempting to turn the Spaceport into a partisan blame game, but that kind of debate solves nothing and wastes time. The provision in the development agreement that bars Virgin from operating its aircraft at competing spaceports without permission expires at the end of December. Meanwhile, the company has cut a deal with a Middle East investment group to develop another spaceport in the emirate of Abu Dhabi.</p>
<p>So will New Mexico give Sir Richard every reason to fly away and further justify its place at the top of Forbes list of “Death Spiral States?”</p>
<p>Or will it cement itself as a leading partner in what could be an emerging private-sector industry?</p>
<p>The Legislature re-convenes Jan. 15. Lawmakers should finally take this last step and help taxpayers’ Spaceport investment take off.</p>
<p>This editorial first appeared in the Albuquerque Journal. It was written by members of the editorial board and is unsigned as it represents the opinion of the newspaper rather than the writers.</p> | 796 |
<p />
<p>The Trump administration’s proposed border wall, ever the source of controversy on Capitol Hill, could force a government shutdown Friday if Republicans and Democrats cannot agree on whether to include funding for it in their spending bill.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>The deadline for Congress to pass a bill to keep the government financed is Friday, and while Trump’s proposed wall along the southern border has been unpopular among Democrats and even some Republicans, the president and his cabinet doubled down Monday on the push for its inclusion in the upcoming funding bill.</p>
<p>The Wall is a very important tool in stopping drugs from pouring into our country and poisoning our youth (and many others)! If</p>
<p>On Monday during a conference call among congressional Democrats, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) claimed both parties were working together on a bill until the Trump administration began pushing funding for the border wall.</p>
<p>“Our appropriators were well on a path to resolving their differences until the White House intervened [with the] immoral, unwise and ineffective proposal for a wall,” Pelosi said.</p>
<p>Throughout this week there will likely be some negotiating within Congress to reach an agreement, and if Democrats stand strong in their opposition to financing the border wall, it could be eliminated from this spending measure entirely, Doug Holtz-Eakin, former director of the Congressional Budget Office, told FOX Business.</p>
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<p>“The only public point of contention is inclusion of border wall funding. My expectation is that this will drop out, and that they bill will be signed by the president. The worst-case scenario is that they require a one-week extension while they come to this conclusion,” he said.</p>
<p>Regardless of Democratic opposition, former Republican presidential candidate and Tea Party activist Herman Cain told FOX Business the Trump administration should “absolutely” keep funding for the wall in the spending bill and it is up to Republicans in Congress to stick together to get the measure passed.</p>
<p>“You’ve got some Republicans who have come out against it. And that’s why Pelosi and [Senate Minority Leader Chuck] Schumer feel empowered …They know Republicans can get squishy,” he said.</p>
<p>However, if no agreement is reached in time and the government does shut down, Democrats will be the ones taking the blame if history is any indication, Dr. Art Laffer, former economic advisor for President Ronald Reagan, told FOX Business.</p>
<p>“If [the Democrats] all vote unanimously for a shut down and a couple of Republicans go with them, I don’t see how it won’t hurt the Democrats,” he said.</p>
<p>When the government shut down under President Obama in 2013, it was Republicans who received the ill will of the public, Laffer noted.</p>
<p>While President Trump could become the first commander-in-chief to have funds run out during his first 100 days, Cain said that would be less of a reflection on him and more of a make or break moment “for Congress.”</p>
<p>U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions seemed to second that notion, saying on Monday that the border wall is an important way to reduce both crime and the flow of drugs throughout the country. He called out Democrats for their refusal to support the administration’s effort to bolster national security.</p>
<p>“It will be the Democrats who shut this government down to block the funding of the wall. That’s what the question is. Are they going to shut the government down?” he asked during an interview with Fox &amp; Friends.</p>
<p>While it is unlikely a Republican-controlled government will let funding run out, if it does the American public might not even notice, Dr. Laffer said.</p>
<p>“The administration has the ability to selectively shut down different things. What Obama did is shut off all of the funds to the most popular programs imaginable—the Lincoln Memorial, Washington Monument-- they did that deliberately … I would expect the exact reverse to occur with this administration,” he said.</p> | How Trump's Border Wall Could Shut Down the Government | true | http://foxbusiness.com/politics/2017/04/24/how-trumps-border-wall-could-shut-down-government.html | 2017-09-18 | 0right
| How Trump's Border Wall Could Shut Down the Government
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<p>The Trump administration’s proposed border wall, ever the source of controversy on Capitol Hill, could force a government shutdown Friday if Republicans and Democrats cannot agree on whether to include funding for it in their spending bill.</p>
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<p>The deadline for Congress to pass a bill to keep the government financed is Friday, and while Trump’s proposed wall along the southern border has been unpopular among Democrats and even some Republicans, the president and his cabinet doubled down Monday on the push for its inclusion in the upcoming funding bill.</p>
<p>The Wall is a very important tool in stopping drugs from pouring into our country and poisoning our youth (and many others)! If</p>
<p>On Monday during a conference call among congressional Democrats, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) claimed both parties were working together on a bill until the Trump administration began pushing funding for the border wall.</p>
<p>“Our appropriators were well on a path to resolving their differences until the White House intervened [with the] immoral, unwise and ineffective proposal for a wall,” Pelosi said.</p>
<p>Throughout this week there will likely be some negotiating within Congress to reach an agreement, and if Democrats stand strong in their opposition to financing the border wall, it could be eliminated from this spending measure entirely, Doug Holtz-Eakin, former director of the Congressional Budget Office, told FOX Business.</p>
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<p>“The only public point of contention is inclusion of border wall funding. My expectation is that this will drop out, and that they bill will be signed by the president. The worst-case scenario is that they require a one-week extension while they come to this conclusion,” he said.</p>
<p>Regardless of Democratic opposition, former Republican presidential candidate and Tea Party activist Herman Cain told FOX Business the Trump administration should “absolutely” keep funding for the wall in the spending bill and it is up to Republicans in Congress to stick together to get the measure passed.</p>
<p>“You’ve got some Republicans who have come out against it. And that’s why Pelosi and [Senate Minority Leader Chuck] Schumer feel empowered …They know Republicans can get squishy,” he said.</p>
<p>However, if no agreement is reached in time and the government does shut down, Democrats will be the ones taking the blame if history is any indication, Dr. Art Laffer, former economic advisor for President Ronald Reagan, told FOX Business.</p>
<p>“If [the Democrats] all vote unanimously for a shut down and a couple of Republicans go with them, I don’t see how it won’t hurt the Democrats,” he said.</p>
<p>When the government shut down under President Obama in 2013, it was Republicans who received the ill will of the public, Laffer noted.</p>
<p>While President Trump could become the first commander-in-chief to have funds run out during his first 100 days, Cain said that would be less of a reflection on him and more of a make or break moment “for Congress.”</p>
<p>U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions seemed to second that notion, saying on Monday that the border wall is an important way to reduce both crime and the flow of drugs throughout the country. He called out Democrats for their refusal to support the administration’s effort to bolster national security.</p>
<p>“It will be the Democrats who shut this government down to block the funding of the wall. That’s what the question is. Are they going to shut the government down?” he asked during an interview with Fox &amp; Friends.</p>
<p>While it is unlikely a Republican-controlled government will let funding run out, if it does the American public might not even notice, Dr. Laffer said.</p>
<p>“The administration has the ability to selectively shut down different things. What Obama did is shut off all of the funds to the most popular programs imaginable—the Lincoln Memorial, Washington Monument-- they did that deliberately … I would expect the exact reverse to occur with this administration,” he said.</p> | 797 |
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<p>A Las Cruces city attorney who faced heavy criticism for his comments on civil asset forfeiture – which were published in The New York Times – has been replaced but will remain with the city in a lesser capacity.</p>
<p>City Manager Robert Garza on Tuesday said Deputy City Attorney William “Rusty” Babington will take over as city attorney on Monday. Harry “Pete” Connelly, who currently serves as city attorney, will become deputy city attorney.</p>
<p>Garza said in a statement that the change was part of a succession plan established when he became city manager five years ago.</p>
<p>“When I hired Mr. Babington as deputy city attorney in May 2011, it was with the clear understanding that he would eventually become city attorney,” Garza said in a statement. “I feel the timing is right for that transition to take place.”</p>
<p>Connelly came under fire last month after The New York Times published comments captured on video in which he referred to property seized by police as “little goodies.” In civil asset forfeiture, law enforcement may seize personal property including money, vehicles or other assets of anyone suspected of a crime.</p>
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<p>Connelly was reported to be on leave four days after the story ran Nov. 9. He remained on leave for three weeks, according to Garza.</p>
<p>“I can’t say it has nothing to do with it,” Garza said. “These recent events contributed to my making this decision sooner than it would have occurred otherwise.”</p>
<p>Reached by phone Tuesday, Connelly declined to comment.</p>
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<p /> | Las Cruces City Attorney to serve in lesser capacity | false | https://abqjournal.com/507924/las-cruces-city-attorney-to-serve-in-lesser-capacity.html | 2014-12-09 | 2least
| Las Cruces City Attorney to serve in lesser capacity
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<p />
<p>A Las Cruces city attorney who faced heavy criticism for his comments on civil asset forfeiture – which were published in The New York Times – has been replaced but will remain with the city in a lesser capacity.</p>
<p>City Manager Robert Garza on Tuesday said Deputy City Attorney William “Rusty” Babington will take over as city attorney on Monday. Harry “Pete” Connelly, who currently serves as city attorney, will become deputy city attorney.</p>
<p>Garza said in a statement that the change was part of a succession plan established when he became city manager five years ago.</p>
<p>“When I hired Mr. Babington as deputy city attorney in May 2011, it was with the clear understanding that he would eventually become city attorney,” Garza said in a statement. “I feel the timing is right for that transition to take place.”</p>
<p>Connelly came under fire last month after The New York Times published comments captured on video in which he referred to property seized by police as “little goodies.” In civil asset forfeiture, law enforcement may seize personal property including money, vehicles or other assets of anyone suspected of a crime.</p>
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<p>Connelly was reported to be on leave four days after the story ran Nov. 9. He remained on leave for three weeks, according to Garza.</p>
<p>“I can’t say it has nothing to do with it,” Garza said. “These recent events contributed to my making this decision sooner than it would have occurred otherwise.”</p>
<p>Reached by phone Tuesday, Connelly declined to comment.</p>
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<p>The right-hander joins the American League West leaders and a rotation that is led by Dallas Keuchel and Lance McCullers.</p>
<p>“He adds a boost to our rotation,” Astros owner Jim Crane said. “He’s been pitching well. We think he’ll give us some leadership. He’s been in the playoffs before and adds a dimension we didn’t have.”</p>
<p>The six-time All Star is a playoff veteran having appeared in the postseason five times. He is 7-5 with a 3.39 ERA and 112 strikeouts in 16 career starts in the playoffs.</p>
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<p>The 34-year-old Verlander is 10-8 with a 3.82 ERA in 28 starts this season. The Tigers will receiver minor league prospects outfielder Daz Cameron, right-hander Franklin Perez and catcher Jake Rogers as well as a player to be named later or cash considerations in the deal.</p>
<p>It was the second trade of the day for the Tigers who sent outfielder Justin Upton to the Los Angeles Angels for pitching prospect Grayson Long and cash or a player to be named.</p>
<p>Crane is optimistic that Verlander is the piece that can help the Astros make a deep run in the postseason.</p>
<p>“We hope it positions us to get into the playoffs, get by the first round, get into the second round and get to the world series and win it. That’s what we’ve been working at and that’s what we’ll continue to work at and we want to win.”</p>
<p>The Astros spent the week playing their home series against the Texas Rangers at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida because of catastrophic flooding in the area in the wake of Hurricane Harvey. They returned to Houston on Thursday night and will begin a series at Minute Maid Park with the New York Mets with a doubleheader on Saturday.</p>
<p>“We think it will be great for the town,” Crane said. “We need a little boost right now. So all the stars may be aligned here. We’re hoping that it works out good for us.”</p>
<p>Verlander has compiled a 183-114 record with a 3.49 ERA and 2,373 strikeouts in his 13-year career with the Tigers.</p>
<p>After trading both Verlander and Upton the Tigers are now clearly moving forward with a rebuild. Detroit is 58-74 and on track to miss the postseason for a third straight year.</p>
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<p>The Tigers drafted Verlander in 2004 with the No. 2 overall pick. He won Rookie of the Year honors in 2006, when Detroit came out of nowhere to win the American League pennant. He led the AL with 19 wins in 2009, but his finest season came in 2011, when he went 24-5 with a 2.40 ERA and won the AL Cy Young Award and MVP. He also threw his second career no-hitter that season and led the Tigers to their first of four consecutive AL Central titles.</p>
<p>Now Detroit is shedding payroll, although the Tigers still have Miguel Cabrera’s huge contract. Verlander did not have a great start this season, but he went 4-1 with a 2.36 ERA in August. If he can perform like that down the stretch, he’ll certainly give the Astros a much stronger rotation entering the postseason.</p>
<p>The Tigers were happy to get a trio of prospects they believe will help them down the road, and conveyed their thanks to Verlander for his years of work with the team.</p>
<p>“We sincerely thank Justin Verlander for his remarkable 13 seasons of dedication to the organization,” Tigers general manager Al Avila said. “Justin has been the face of consistency over the course of his career, and a pillar for baseball in the city of Detroit. He is someone who I believe to be a first-ballot Hall of Famer. We wish Justin all the best as he starts a new chapter in his illustrious career.”</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>AP Sports Writer Noah Trister contributed to this report.</p> | Astros boost rotation with trade for Verlander | false | https://abqjournal.com/1057006/astros-boost-rotation-with-trade-for-verlander.html | 2017-09-01 | 2least
| Astros boost rotation with trade for Verlander
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<p />
<p>The right-hander joins the American League West leaders and a rotation that is led by Dallas Keuchel and Lance McCullers.</p>
<p>“He adds a boost to our rotation,” Astros owner Jim Crane said. “He’s been pitching well. We think he’ll give us some leadership. He’s been in the playoffs before and adds a dimension we didn’t have.”</p>
<p>The six-time All Star is a playoff veteran having appeared in the postseason five times. He is 7-5 with a 3.39 ERA and 112 strikeouts in 16 career starts in the playoffs.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>The 34-year-old Verlander is 10-8 with a 3.82 ERA in 28 starts this season. The Tigers will receiver minor league prospects outfielder Daz Cameron, right-hander Franklin Perez and catcher Jake Rogers as well as a player to be named later or cash considerations in the deal.</p>
<p>It was the second trade of the day for the Tigers who sent outfielder Justin Upton to the Los Angeles Angels for pitching prospect Grayson Long and cash or a player to be named.</p>
<p>Crane is optimistic that Verlander is the piece that can help the Astros make a deep run in the postseason.</p>
<p>“We hope it positions us to get into the playoffs, get by the first round, get into the second round and get to the world series and win it. That’s what we’ve been working at and that’s what we’ll continue to work at and we want to win.”</p>
<p>The Astros spent the week playing their home series against the Texas Rangers at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida because of catastrophic flooding in the area in the wake of Hurricane Harvey. They returned to Houston on Thursday night and will begin a series at Minute Maid Park with the New York Mets with a doubleheader on Saturday.</p>
<p>“We think it will be great for the town,” Crane said. “We need a little boost right now. So all the stars may be aligned here. We’re hoping that it works out good for us.”</p>
<p>Verlander has compiled a 183-114 record with a 3.49 ERA and 2,373 strikeouts in his 13-year career with the Tigers.</p>
<p>After trading both Verlander and Upton the Tigers are now clearly moving forward with a rebuild. Detroit is 58-74 and on track to miss the postseason for a third straight year.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>The Tigers drafted Verlander in 2004 with the No. 2 overall pick. He won Rookie of the Year honors in 2006, when Detroit came out of nowhere to win the American League pennant. He led the AL with 19 wins in 2009, but his finest season came in 2011, when he went 24-5 with a 2.40 ERA and won the AL Cy Young Award and MVP. He also threw his second career no-hitter that season and led the Tigers to their first of four consecutive AL Central titles.</p>
<p>Now Detroit is shedding payroll, although the Tigers still have Miguel Cabrera’s huge contract. Verlander did not have a great start this season, but he went 4-1 with a 2.36 ERA in August. If he can perform like that down the stretch, he’ll certainly give the Astros a much stronger rotation entering the postseason.</p>
<p>The Tigers were happy to get a trio of prospects they believe will help them down the road, and conveyed their thanks to Verlander for his years of work with the team.</p>
<p>“We sincerely thank Justin Verlander for his remarkable 13 seasons of dedication to the organization,” Tigers general manager Al Avila said. “Justin has been the face of consistency over the course of his career, and a pillar for baseball in the city of Detroit. He is someone who I believe to be a first-ballot Hall of Famer. We wish Justin all the best as he starts a new chapter in his illustrious career.”</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>AP Sports Writer Noah Trister contributed to this report.</p> | 799 |
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