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How Risky Is General Electric Company Stock?

General Electric Company (NYSE: GE) is an American icon that has fallen on hard times. Although the industrial giant faces significant difficulties today, it's likely to survive this storm -- and assuming it does, there will be material recovery potential in an investment here. Here are some issues you'll want to consider before you buy. Man with head on desk in front of stock chart going down More Image Source: Getty Images Decades in the making The current problems GE faces didn't crop up overnight, but built up over a long period of time before coming crashing down. The aftermath has lingered for more than a decade. The genesis of today's issues dates back to GE's former chairman and CEO Jack Welch. It was under Welch's watch that the finance division was allowed to grow and expand beyond its intended role (supporting sales of GE industrial products) into unrelated businesses (such as mortgage lending). These problematic seeds were sown by Welch before his successor Jeff Immelt took over in 2001. During the 2007 to 2009 recession, GE's finance arm caused the company severe financial strains, major asset sales, write offs, a dividend cut, and an embarrassing government bailout. Immelt took action to turn things around, including paring back the finance division. But he made some bold bets on struggling industries that didn't pan out, or at least not quickly enough. Expanding into the energy industry left GE with a debt-laden balance sheet and struggling operations. The board of directors brought in a new CEO in 2017, industry veteran John Flannery, who quickly announced restructuring plans, including asset sales, write offs, and a dividend cut. After roughly a year, however, the board wasn't pleased with the progress, and brought in outsider Lawrence Culp. Culp announced a new set of restructuring plans and asset sales, and brought the dividend down to a token $0.01 per share per quarter. Today, Culp has only been at the helm for a few months. There's a good chance 2018 will be a kitchen sink year, with Culp trying to push any big charge he can into the year to start 2019 with a relatively clean slate. In other words, there could be more painful news ahead when General Electric announces fourth quarter earnings. That's not a bad thing, per se, as it sets up a brighter future and this could end up being a turnaround investment story. But all of the charges being taken have dramatically changed the company's leverage profile.

https://news.yahoo.com/risky-general-electric-company-stock-182117528.html

What's Behind the Rise in Soybean ETF?

Soybeans prices jumped double digits on Jan 17 after the production outlook for Brazil was tapered. Celeres, a Brazilian consultancy, lowered its soybean output forecast amid inclement weather conditions to 117.2 million metric tons. The USDA also pegged output for the country at 122 million tons last month. A Commodity Weather Group report shows that temperatures that have been hovering in the low- to mid-90s range in central and northeastern Brazil might worsen through Friday, making things worse for the crop. If that was not enough, cues of settlement of the U.S.-China trade dispute should support soybean prices. Agricultural products like yellow and black soybean faced a 25% retaliatory tariff from China. Notably, China purchases about half of the U.S. soybean and is the second-largest buyer of American cotton (read: US Farm Belt at Risk on China Tariffs: ETFs in Focus). Per the Wall Street Journal, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has been mulling over a proposal to lift some or all U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods in order to push trade talks between the United States and China a step ahead. Though the more hawkish members of President Donald Trump's trade team, including U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, the lead negotiator with Beijing, is not supportive of such a move, President himself is reportedly asking for a benign approach to U.S.-Sino trade relations at the current level. Weak import data from the key consumer China is a threat to the price rally.Soybean shipments offloaded in China this year fell about 37% from the first two weeks of 2018, according to tanker-tracking firm ClipperData. China has reportedly turned to Brazil and other exporters for its supplies due to trade tensions with United States. The trade fear has weighed on prices, with soybean shedding more than a quarter of its value between the 2017 high in March and the low in September. While prices recovered a bit from easing trade tensions, any false alarms would correct the price. Against this backdrop, investors may be interested in keeping a close tab on the pure-play soybean ETF Teucrium Soybean ETF SOYB. Below we highlight the fund in detail. SOYB in Focus The underlying index looks to reflect the daily changes of a weighted average of the closing prices for three futures contracts for soybeans that are traded on the CBOT. The three contracts will be: (1) 2nd-to-expire contract, weighted 35%, (2) the 3rd-to-expire contract, weighted 30%, and (3) the contract expiring in the November following the expiration month of the 3rd-to-expire contract, weighted 35%. SOYB was designed to reduce the effects of rolling contracts (and contango and backwardation) by not investing in front-month (spot) futures contracts and thus limiting the number of contracts rolls each year. The expense ratio is 1.74%. The fund was up about 1.5% on Jan 17 and has gained about 1.9% in the year-to-date frame (as of Jan 17, 2019). Zacks free Fund Newsletter will brief you on top news and analysis, as well as top-performing ETFs, each week. Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report

https://news.yahoo.com/whats-behind-rise-soybean-etf-180006695.html

Does the Texas anti-Israel boycott law pass constitutional muster?

Seeking to preserve a politically-charged state law that bars governmental entities from doing business with contractors who support a boycott of Israel, Texas officials are mobilizing this month at the courthouse and the Capitol. In legal filings and legislative proposals, they argue that the law should be applied to companies and not individuals. But some legal experts say the strategy may run afoul of recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings that expand certain corporate speech rights, raising questions about whether shutting out companies that support the Israel boycott is constitutionally kosher. Supporters of the law, however, say it's in keeping with a tradition of political leaders deciding whether to do business with companies whose activity might conflict with public policy. The latest efforts to preserve the law, which state officials say protects the economy of Texas' No. 4 trading partner, come after government contractors alleged in a pair of lawsuits that language in their contracts violates their free speech rights. Elementary school speech pathologist Bahia Amawi sued Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and the Pflugerville school district in federal court in December after the school district refused to renew her annual contract. She had declined to sign an oath saying she does not boycott Israel and will not boycott the nation during the term of the contract. The Pflugerville district included the oath in her contract following passage of the 2017 law that prohibits governmental entities from contracting with and investing in companies that boycott Israel. The law is a response to the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement that seeks to change Israeli policy toward Palestinians. Texas ban on contracting with any boycotter of Israel constitutes viewpoint discrimination that chills constitutionally-protected political advocacy in support of Palestine, Amawi, who is Palestinian-American, said in her suit. Subsequently, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a similar lawsuit on behalf of four people against Paxton, two universities and two school districts. Among the four is Zachary Abdelhadi, a Palestinian-American student at Texas State University, who, according to the suit, has had to forgo opportunities to judge high school debate tournaments as well as potential income that he would have used to pay for college because he boycotts Israel. The plaintiffs seek to block the state from enforcing the law. In a brief filed this week in the Amawi case, Paxton argued that Texas law applies to companies, not individuals. These individuals personal economic decisions to avoid products made in or affiliated with Israel, or their right to express views on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, do not constitute company action under the Texas government code, Paxton argued suggesting the law wasn't meant to be applied to Amawi. The argument echoes a bill filed by state Rep. Phil King, R-Weatherford, this month. That legislation proposes amending the original law that King authored to require the anti-Israel-boycott oath only in government contracts worth at least $100,000 with companies of at least 10 employees. In response to the Pflugerville case, King said, it is not unusual for there to be a misapplication of a new statute. The new bill is meant to alleviate any confusion to Texas anti-BDS law, King said, adding that the bill is meant to address companies involved in discriminatory commercial activity. But changing the target from a person to a company may not survive a legal challenge, according to Larry Sager, former dean of the University of Texas law school. The Supreme Court has made it clear that First Amendment speech and First Amendment religion rights do apply to at least closely-held corporations, companies whose stock is held by a small number of people, not publicly traded Sager said. In the 2010 Citizens United case, which applies to campaign contributions made by corporations, the Supreme Court treated corporations and individuals similarly under the First Amendment. And in the 2014 Hobby Lobby case, the court maintained that closely-held, for-profit corporations can be exempt from a regulation to which its owners religiously object in this case, the right to opt out of the contraceptive insurance mandate, again broadening the First Amendment rights of companies. People living, doing their business through a corporate structure theyre still people, and they still have rights, Sager said. Whether a speech pathologist is "simply a contract employee on her own, or doing business as an LLC," said Sager, "clearly shouldn't matter." Nor should it matter if the company is comprised of more than 10 people: "The partners who own and manage the group are constitutionally entitled to boycott Israel, and the partnership or limited corporation inherits their rights," he continued. "The instinct behind Hobby Lobby and Citizens United is not some fanciful vision of the abstract corporate entity having rights, but rather of flesh and blood members of the political community who carry their rights into mutual endeavors, some of which are commercial and some of which are undertaken in corporate legal structures." But Eugene Kontorovich, law professor at George Mason University who served as an advisor on the drafting of the Texas state law as well as similar ones in other states, said the oath is about conduct, not speech. And he suggested the boycott of Israeli products produced in the occupied West Bank amounted to discrimination against a group of people. Amawi, he told the American-Statesman, would be 100 percent eligible for the contract if she hung a sign on her office saying death to Israel, so long as her company did not engage in conduct that discriminates against Israelis. Businesses have speech rights, but not everything businesses do is speech, he continued. The fundamental bottom line is refusing to do business with people because they are members of some group one does not like Israelis, for example is not speech. It is commercial conduct and can be regulated. Furthermore, Kontorovich said the state can decide that a company that boycotts Israel puts politics ahead of business considerations in a way that "may not provide the best services" to the government. Bipartisan support The Israeli-Palestinian conflict dates to before the creation of Israel in 1948 and centers on disputed land and holy sites in the Middle East. Despite stated goals on both sides to create two states an independent Palestine alongside Israel, as envisioned in a series of accords Palestinian territory remains under Israeli control, leading to claims of rights violations. The Palestinian BDS National Committee calls for a boycott of all Israeli products, though its major campaigns are against Israeli companies that operate in the West Bank, land seized by Israel in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war and home to 2.8 million Palestinians. Organizers say they were inspired by the South African anti-apartheid movement to call for boycotts as a form of nonviolent pressure on Israel. In 2017, Texas lawmakers, as part of a national wave of legislation to undercut Israel boycotts, took up Kings anti-boycott measure. At a hearing that spring before the House State Affairs Committee, Sandra Hagee Parker of the Christians United for Israel Action Fund, said the BDS movement amounted to "economic anti-Semitism" and is a "manifesto devoid of any ideology other than hatred." The state Senate approved the bill 26-5, and no House member voted against the bill. Abbott signed the bill into law at the Jewish Community Center in Northwest Austin. "As Israel's No. 1 trading partner in the United States, Texas is proud to reaffirm its support for the people of Israel and we will continue to build on our historic partnership," Abbott said at the time. "Anti-Israel policies are anti-Texas policies, and we will not tolerate such actions against an important ally." List of companies As part of the law, the Legislature instructed the Texas comptrollers office to keep a running list of companies that advocate for the boycott of Israel. There are three companies on the Texas list: Co-Operative Group Limited, a British supermarket chain; KLP, a Norwegian insurance company; and DNB ASA, a Norwegian financial services company. The companies did not return requests for comment. The Statesman has filed an open records request for the states contracts with the two companies, MSCI ESG and ISS, that maintain the list. The Texas comptrollers office has said it would not release the information because the contracts were marked confidential by vendors. The matter is under review by state Attorney General Ken Paxton. Neither MSCI ESG nor ISS returned requests for comment about how they determine whether companies sponsor the Israel boycott. The companies also provide similar services for other states with similar anti-boycott laws. Comptroller spokesman Chris Bryan said the contracts total less than $50,000 but he would not specify how much they cost. Boycotting boycotters Announcing his filing this week, Paxton said that Texas law simply provides that if you choose to engage in nationality-based discrimination, then you may be choosing to forgo the privilege of receiving taxpayer money. The state of Texas has the right to boycott boycotters in this instance. Doing so does not suppress protected speech or expression. The law supports a long-established principle of non-discrimination. That argument has not fared well with other federal judges who have ruled on similar state laws. In February 2018, for example, Paxton signed onto a friend-of-the-court brief in U.S. District Court in Arizona as the state faced a challenge to its version of the Texas law. The judge blocked the Arizona law. Paxtons argument that you have a right to free speech but not a right to be paid by the government is precisely what the public employee-public contractor cases reject, Sager said. And his argument that public entities have their own right to speak doesnt give on to the view that they may speak by silencing their employees or contractors. Pflugerville district spokeswoman Tamra Spence told the Statesman in December that the school district is committed to educating all students to be productive members of a diverse community, but like all governmental entities, is bound by state law to include the contract language. Unfortunately, Pflugerville ISD and all Texas school districts are at the mercy of the state and the regulations printed into law, she said. In situations such as this, we are forced to spend time on state political issues and not on our core mission, which is educating students. Although Pflugerville ISD is the focus of the lawsuit, this is a state issue that affects all Texas public school districts and should be addressed at the state level. John Pluecker, one of the plaintiffs in the ACLU case he refused to accede to an anti-BDS clause in a University of Houston contract to translate an essay for the university's art museum, thus missing out on $1,500, and had to forego a $250 honorarium to speak at a university event told the Statesman that since the lawsuit he has heard from many people who faced the same dilemma he had. "Many of these people have either lost work, because they refused to sign, or signed reluctantly because they could not afford to lose the work," he said. "All were very supportive and appreciative of the lawsuits recently filed in Texas to try to change this unjust law that restricts our First Amendment rights." Still, at the Capitol the anti-boycott laws have proven popular. After Amawi filed her suit, Gov. Greg Abbott tweeted: Texas stands with Israel. Period.

https://www.statesman.com/news/20190118/does-texas-anti-israel-boycott-law-pass-constitutional-muster

Can Costco Tap A Streaming-Video Niche That Netflix, Amazon Have Ignored?

Costco, the membership warehouse retailer, is considering launching a streaming service for "average Americans," an audience Costco's leadership believes is underserved despite the billions of dollars of content served up annually by Netflix and Amazon, according to a report by CNBC. The news comes in a week when several other streaming services were announced or launched, including Comcast's NBCUniversal venture (coming in 2020), Sinclair's STIRR and Amazon's IMDb Freedive. And we're still awaiting the arrival of announced services from WarnerMedia and Disney, plus whatever Apple is planning for its $1 billion or so in new shows. Costco is talking with Mark Greenberg, the same entertainment executive who had been in discussions last year with one of Costco's biggest rivals, Walmart, about creating a new streaming service there. Talks between Walmart and Greenberg have ended, with the retailing giant now focused on beefing up its existing Vudu transactional and ad-supported on-demand service. But it suggests that Greenberg is shopping for a deep-pocketed partner with strong ties in Flyover Land, where sensibilities may not match well with spiky shows such as Amazon's Homecoming or the burgeoning array of foreign fare on Netflix. Indeed, Netflix released its latest quarterly earnings Thursday after trading hours, numbers that suggest some possible domestic vulnerability. The streaming giant substantially surpassed its own guidance on subscriber growth, with nearly 9 million new accounts (it's now at 139 million, after a change in its counting that no longer includes those on trial memberships). But all but about 1 million of those new subs came from 191 countries other than the United States, suggesting that Netflix may be nearing maximum penetration in the country of its birth. Currently, the company has around 59 million U.S. subscribers, slightly more than half of all U.S. households. Even given the many accounts shared across generations or friends, the relatively slow growth in Netflix's biggest market suggests that most people who want to pay for a Netflix subscription may already be doing so. Add in a just-announced price hike of up to 18 percent on all Netflix plans, and it may be indeed creating an opportunity for a lower-priced, differently focused service, as suggested by a new study from The Diffusion Group that linked an 8 percent drop in subscriptions to every $1 hike in monthly fees (the Standard plan is rising $2 per month). Amazon doesn't generally release subscriber numbers for either its Prime subscription service or for the subset who use Prime Video. But Amazon continues to experiment with different video business models, as suggested not just by last week's launch of Freedive but also by the arrival of non-gamer content on the live-streaming Twitch and the lucrative subscription add-ons through Channels. Amazon Studios under new chief Jennifer Salke is also making a big pivot in its programming. Founding studio head Roy Price had concentrated on awards-driven fare (i.e., likely to appeal to audiences on the urban coasts) such as Mozart in the Jungle, Man in the High Castle and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. As Price was departing, Jeff Bezos famously marched into the Studios' offices and declared he wanted his own Game of Thrones, a wide-ranging hit that can draw in millions of viewers. The result was a reported $500 million to buy rights and make a new series based on Lord of the Rings. All of which suggests that, once again, Costco, Walmart and Amazon may be locked in battle. It's just that this battle, over which streaming-video business model and programming style will appeal for their respective millions of customers, is a long way from what we think of in retailing or even e-commerce. When you get big enough, everything is a possible market.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/dbloom/2019/01/18/costco-video-streaming-service-mark-greenberg-netflix-amazon-walmart/

How Darren Lee Fits In The Jets' New Defense, Plus Which Free Agents Should They Keep?

Two plays in the second half of the Jets loss to Tennessee last month summed up Darron Lees career with the Jets thus far. First, the good Darron Lee: On a first-and-goal from the Jets 5-yard-line, Titans quarterback Marcus Mariota decided to run. Lee pursued him across the field and tackled him near the left sideline for a 1-yard loss. And now, the bad: Earlier in the half, on first-and-goal from the 1, Titans tight end Jonnu Smith engaged Lee and completely walled him off from running back Derrick Henry, pushing him far enough out of the play so that Henry could avoid traffic, cut back and score the touchdown. The 6-1, 232-pound Lee can run from sideline to sideline, but was particularly exposed last year as a weak link in the Jets 3-4, not stout enough to fend off single blockers on rushing plays. Opposing teams, much like on the Henry TD, were able to run right at Lees area of the defense for touchdowns and big plays. And Lees season went from bad to worse when he missed the final four games of 2018 while serving an NFL-imposed suspension for violating the leagues substance-abuse policy. But the hiring of Adam Gase as head coach and of Gregg Williams this week as defensive coordinator could be a major turning point for Lee. Its a game of inches and dollars. Get the latest sports news and analysis of valuations, signings and hirings, once a week in your inbox, from the Forbes SportsMoney Playbook newsletter. Sign up here. Williams defensive philosophy includes running a base 4-3 defense, something the Jets havent done since Herm Edwards was the head coach from 2001-05, and his preferred defense was the so-called Tampa 2, a 4-3. Succeeding Jets head coaches Eric Mangini, Rex Ryan and Todd Bowles all used variations of the 3-4. Williams scheme is more of an attacking 4-3 than the more conservative Tampa 2, which seeks to prevent big gains and force teams to string together short and steady gains in order to score. Lee played inside in Bowles base defense of four linebackers, but most likely will move outside in Williams scheme, with fellow inside linebacker Avery Williamson remaining as the lone middle linebacker. In the 4-3, an outside linebacker must be able to pursue and make tackles in the open field. He is less likely to be encumbered by blockers as would a 3-4 inside backer. He still needs to up his game, but Williams' arrival should help him. Williamson sometimes struggled in pass coverage last season, something he also had trouble with when he was with the Tennessee Titans. But as the lone inside linebacker in the new scheme, his duties likely would include less pass coverage and more run support, something he is better at. Outside linebacker Jordan Jenkins, a third-round pick in 2016, had a career-high seven sacks last season. He said in an interview this week that he played in a 4-3 in high school and part of the time at Georgia. He has the speed and quickness to make the transition to the 4-3. As for Leonard Williams, an end in the 3-4, he likely would move inside, where his speed and strength will be more of an advantage. The 6-5, 291-pound Williams hasnt posted the gaudy numbers the Jets had been hoping for when they selected him with the third overall pick in 2015. He has 17 sacks, including five last season. But keep in mind that 3-4 end isnt always a sack-heavy position in that defense, and there were many times last season in which the 6-5, 291-pound Williams disrupted the timing of a running play or pushed the passing pocket, enabling someone else to get a tackle or sack. There has been rampant speculation about the Jets perhaps trading Williams, but they first should see how he fits in the other Williams defense before exploring such possibilities. Here are the defensive unrestricted free agents for the Jets, and a recommendation on whether or not to re-sign each one. DE Henry Anderson: The 6-6, 300-pound end was a revelation with a career-high seven sacks after being acquired from Indianapolis for a seventh-round draft pick. But he was jettisoned by the Colts precisely because he wasnt a fit in their 4-3 scheme, which, like Williams base defense, is predicated on slightly smaller and quicker ends. Anderson showed a non-stop motor with the Jets and perhaps could be useful in a reserve role, but probably will have more value to teams that play 3-4. After his breakout season, he likely will get better offers from 3-4 teams. CB Morris Claiborne: He became a liability in coverage in terms of the penalties he incurred, and he and expensive Rams import Trumaine Johnson were not a good cornerback tandem. Johnson, who signed a five-year deal with $34 million guaranteed as a free agent last off-season, had his problems in coverage in his first season with New York. He also missed the finale because he was benched by Bowles for missing a practice earlier in the week because he overslept. But Johnson had career-highs in interceptions (seven) and passes defensed (17) in 2015 with the Rams when Gregg Williams was the defensive coordinator. If Williams defense can put more consistent pressure on opposing quarterbacks, that should help Johnson, who has good technique but lacks closing speed. The Jets are kind of stuck with Johnson for now, unless they can swing a trade, but they should move on from Claiborne. Brandon Copeland: The outside linebacker had a career year in 2018 with five sacks in the 3-4. The 4-3 might not be as good a fit, but he did play in one with Detroit in 2016 before missing the 2017 campaign because of injury. Copeland, who played the 2018 season on a one-year, $1 million prove-it deal, certainly proved he can play. He wants to come back and its up to the Jets to decide if he fits. It wouldnt be a reach to bring him back in a reserve role. Neville Hewitt: Hewitt got more playing time at inside linebacker after Lee was suspended, and showed promise. He probably should have had more of a role even while Lee was available. Hewitt, signed by the Jets as a free agent last March, might be worth bringing back at the right price. Buster Skrine: The Jets should have moved on from this underachieving slot cornerback a while ago. For some reason, the laissez-faire Bowles never benched Skrine despite him continuously blowing coverages and getting called for penalties. The Jets drafted Parry Nickerson of Tulane in the sixth round last year, and although he was inconsistent in limited playing time, they should not re-sign Skrine and instead give Nickerson a chance as the slot corner. Steve McLendon: The veteran nose tackles play slipped somewhat in 2018, perhaps from the years of wear-and-tear and constant pounding any interior defensive tackle suffers. McLendon, who turned 33 earlier this month, was a 3-4 nose tackle for several seasons with the Steelers too and fits better in that scheme. The Jets should move on without him. Rontez Miles: Miles was pressed into starting duty because of injuries at safety with mixed results, but he is a hard-hitting, high-motor player who is very good on special teams. The Jets should re-sign him if the price is right. Josh Martin: The outside linebacker missed all but one game in 2018 because he suffered two concussions in just over a five-week span, including one in a loss to Jacksonville. He was re-activated off injured reserve late in the season but didnt appear in any games after being reinstated. It probably would be best for the Jets to move on and perhaps for Martin himself to evaluate whether he wants to continue playing given his concussion hitory. Jeremiah Attaochu: Attaochu, also an outside linebacker, missed the final three games of the season because of a concussion suffered at Buffalo on Dec. 9. He recorded two sacks in 11 games. Attaochu has played most of his five-year NFL career in 3-4 schemes, so he might not be a good fit in Williams defense.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jppelzman/2019/01/18/how-darren-lee-fits-in-the-jets-new-defense-plus-which-free-agents-should-they-keep/

Who gets to decide when a 14-year-old wants to change gender? The child, the hospital, the battling parents?

In many ways, Max is a typical 14-year-old. He eschews soft music in favour of rock and heavy metal, likes to wear hoodies, giggles when hes nervous and has a flair for drawing animals. He can be opinionated and sarcastic one moment, shy and withdrawn the next. His insecurities, however, run deeper than run-of-the-mill teenaged angst. I have a male brain that doesnt match up with the body Im in, says the Grade 9, Surrey, B.C., student, who was the female gender at birth. Its like being trapped in a cage. Max is now at the centre of a complicated legal fight over who gets to decide the course of treatment for his gender dysphoria. Max and his mom, Sarah, with the support of the gender clinic at B.C. Childrens Hospital, want to proceed with a treatment plan that would involve injecting Max with testosterone a key step, they say, in Maxs desire to transition from a female to a male body. But Maxs father, Clark, who is separated from Sarah and shares joint custody of Max, believes things are moving too fast and worries about the treatments risks. The case raises difficult questions about parental rights, about child autonomy, about how young is too young to make serious medical decisions. The result is a messy ethical and legal tangle, where a number of deeply interested parties all with competing points of view on this issue, and all with the childs best interest in mind are at odds over how to proceed. I have a male brain that doesnt match up with the body Im in The hospital maintains the decision about treatment is ultimately Maxs to make and Maxs alone. That was a staggering notion for the father, which led him to file an application in B.C. provincial court to block the treatment. On Monday a family law judge agreed to adjourn the case for two weeks to allow Sarah time to hire a lawyer; for the time being the hospital cannot carry out any treatments. None of the family members real names are being used in this story. The Provincial Court Act in B.C. prohibits the identification of any child or party to a family or childrens matter before the court. Sarah and Max had wanted to be identified using their real names. If Im not named, itd be like Im hiding, Max says. While such legal disputes are rare, experts say family conflicts over proposed treatments and parental consent are likely to increase as more young people are referred to gender clinics across the country. Clark insists he is not anti-transgender; he bought Max a transgender pride flag last Christmas. He just worries Max is being steered down a path without considering all the options. I just want to do whats best for Max. And sometimes thats tough love. Clark added later: I have no animosity towards Sarah on this issue. I think we both believe we are doing the right thing. And I believe we both have Maxs best interest in mind. *** For as long as he can remember, Max has always preferred hanging around boys. He never played with female gender-stereotypical toys, such as dolls. His family chalked it up to him being a tomboy. Maxs coming out moment came in Grade 7 when he stumbled across a video on YouTube. Titled Boy, the Danish short film documents the struggles between Emilie, a transgender boy, and his mother. The film opens in a clothing store. The mom picks out a dress for Emilie, but Emilie prefers military-style clothes. It just kind of clicked right away, Max says. After watching the film, Max stood in front of the mirror just as Emilie does in the film and cut his hair, which at the time stretched to the middle of his back. By the time he started Grade 8, Max had undergone a complete overhaul of his identity, Sarah says. School staff were notified that he preferred to be known by his chosen name, not by the female name he was given at birth. Max had also started binding his chest. While these changes helped, Max says the transformation still felt incomplete. Even if Im open with who I am, Im still insecure. There are times, he says, when hell go silent because his voice comes out sounding too effeminate. He often gets distracted by how girlie his hands look. I didnt quite understand transgenderism, didnt know if I fully believed in it Sarah says the dysphoria has led Max to try to take his own life and engage in self-harm. I didnt quite understand transgenderism myself, didnt know if I fully believed in it. But having gone through the experience Ive gone through with my son I fully believe that, yes, it is very possible that transgenderism does exist and there are people wandering around feeling excruciatingly uncomfortable in their own skin. A clinical psychologist assessed Max about a half-dozen times over a period of several months, beginning in Grade 8. By the end of those sessions, Sarah says the psychologist deemed Max to be a good candidate for testosterone therapy. According to B.C. health guidelines, Max needed to have demonstrated to the psychologist a long-lasting and intense pattern of gender non-conformity or gender dysphoria, among other things. The only other thing Max needed was a referral from a family doctor, which his father agreed to obtain. In August, Sarah and Max attended the B.C. Childrens Hospitals gender clinic, one of the busiest in North America. There they met with a team of people, including a paediatric endocrinologist, a social worker and a nurse, who laid out in plain language what the treatment would entail and all the pros and cons. A three-page informed consent form spelled out the risks of testosterone therapy, including that the treatment in young adolescents is a newer development, and the long-term effects are not fully known. The form indicated that testosterone use would likely lead to permanent changes such as a lower-pitched voice, facial hair and thicker hair on the arms, legs and torso even if the treatment stopped. Taking testosterone could also lead to elevated risk of heart disease, stroke and diabetes. It is not known, the form says, what the effects of testosterone are on fertility. You may or may not be able to get pregnant in the future. Despite the risks, Sarah and Max signed the form that day and agreed to proceed with the treatment. After three years, Sarah says she had come to a clear conclusion: Max wasnt going through some phase. If this is what alleviates my child experiencing this dysphoria, Id rather move forward. If it happens to have side effects down the road, were OK to handle that at least our child would still be alive. *** Hospital staff were ready to begin injections that same day, Sarah says but she felt it would only be fair to let Clark, who did not attend the meeting, weigh in on the decision. Clark, whose legal challenge was first reported in the alternative news website The Post Millennial, told the National Post he didnt want to miss work that day and thought the visit to the gender clinic was exploratory. He says he was shocked to hear how quickly things were moving. I thought it was a long process and nothing drastic was going to really happen, at least without consent, he says. Clark did not sign the form. He felt the potential medical ramifications were too serious for someone Maxs age to take on. You dont just jump them into things they cant change back, he says. When shes 18 and she does it, Ill support her 100 per cent. (During his conversations with the Post, Clark referred to Max as his daughter and used female pronouns.) Clark says a hospital social worker tried to persuade him to come in to talk but he declined; all the information he needed was on that form. He also sent hospital staff a copy of his separation agreement, which includes a stipulation that he and Sarah get to jointly exercise all parental responsibilities including giving, refusing or withdrawing consent to medical, dental and other health-related treatments for the child. Last month, however, Clark received a letter from the hospital. It stated that under the B.C. Infants Act, as long as a health care provider is satisfied a child understands the nature, consequences, benefits and risks of the proposed treatment and concludes that the treatment is in the childs best interests, the right to consent belongs to the child alone. Maxs healthcare team has concluded that he possesses sufficient maturity and intelligence to be capable of consenting to his own medical care, notwithstanding the fact that he is only 14 years old. Furthermore, the team agrees that the proposed course of treatment is in his best interests. We've got to make sure Max makes the right decision The letter goes on to state that while staff always strive to get parents onboard with a proposed course of treatment, under these circumstances we are of the view that it is ultimately up to Max to give or withhold consent to his own medical care; neither you nor his mother can make this decision for him. At Mondays court hearing, Herb Dunton, the lawyer representing Clark, said they take the position Max cannot be rushed into treatment and no injections should happen until both parents consent, Max turns 18 or the court orders treatment. Weve got to make sure Max makes the right decision now, Dunton told the court. If they start the treatment the damage is done. Dunton said the credentials of the professionals recommending hormone treatment need to be evaluated and the recommendations peer-reviewed. In adjourning the case for two weeks, the judge acknowledged he hadnt encountered a case like this before and did not immediately know whether the provincial law that recognizes Maxs rights to give informed consent trumps family law and the parents joint responsibilities for caring for Max, per their separation agreement. One legal scholar suggested Clark may face an uphill battle. The (Supreme Court of Canada) has clearly articulated the law on minors capacity to consent, said Karen Busby, a law professor at the University of Manitoba. Busby was referring to a 2009 decision, AC v Manitoba, that basically said if minors can demonstrate mature and independent judgment and have shown they understand the potential consequences of their decision their views about medical treatments ought to be respected. The top court, however, did allow for some wriggle room, saying, the more serious the nature of the decision and the more severe its potential impact on life or health, the greater the degree of scrutiny required. *** The number of referrals to the gender clinic at the B.C. Childrens Hospital rose from seven in 2007 to 80 in 2017. The transgender youth clinic at Torontos Hospital for Sick Children now sees over 200 referrals each year, while the Childrens Hospital of Eastern Ontario saw 180 in the last year. With an increasing number of referrals to gender clinics, one would expect and we are seeing a proportionate number of families and youth who may have discordant views on their care, says Dr. Joey Bonifacio, an adolescent medicine specialist at St. Michaels Hospital in Toronto. It is not uncommon for parents to have different views on how to care for their child with gender dysphoria, between them and their child. It is also not uncommon to see disagreement between parents. B.C. Childrens Hospital said it couldnt comment on the ongoing legal challenge. But it and other clinics in Canada say before any treatment is administered, mental health practitioners will have done an exhaustive screening of the patient. This includes extensively exploring issues around coexistent autism, family issues, eating disorders and suicidality, B.C. Childrens Hospital said. The adolescent also has to demonstrate a long-lasting and intense pattern of gender nonconformity or gender dysphoria. Once assessed, some choose to start treatment immediately while others discuss other options. Not all clinics, however, will start right away with hormone therapy. At the Childrens Hospital of Eastern Ontario, Dr. Margaret Lawson says its been her practice to recommend hormone suppression medication sometimes referred to as puberty blockers for six months in youth under 16 and one year for those under 15, before starting them on hormones. Because the effects of puberty blockers are reversible, this is a more gradual way to transition and helps the patient and parents to be sure of what the youth wants and the parents to be comfortable supporting the start of hormones for their child, Lawson said. Dr. Brenden Hursh of B.C. Childrens Hospital confirmed in an email there is some variation in practice in this regard at different centres. We do not require (puberty blockers) in all children below a set age cut-off, but we would certainly use it if we felt there was benefit to the youth, he wrote. Torontos Hospital for Sick Children and the Alberta Childrens Hospital in Calgary say hormone suppression is optional at their clinics, as well. According to updated guidelines published in 2017 by the international medical organization The Endocrine Society, when it comes to sex hormone treatment, the society recommends adolescents should initially undergo treatment to suppress pubertal development. Hormone treatment shouldnt begin until the adolescent has sufficient mental capacity to give informed consent, which most adolescents have by age 16 years. That said, we recognize that there may be compelling reasons to initiate sex hormone treatment prior to the age of 16 years. Clinics told the Post they strive to obtain consensus among all family members prior to treatment. When conflicts arise, staff do all they can to work with family members to reach an agreement. Certainly, in some cases, parents and other family members are at different stages of acceptance and support at different times, but these differences usually resolve over time with repeat visits and discussions in clinic, said Dr. Mark Palmert of Torontos Hospital for Sick Children. When serious conflicts persist, the Canadian Paediatric Society recommends, if circumstances permit, the proposed intervention should be delayed while an attempt at a resolution is made. This could involve referrals for a second medical opinion, consultations with social workers, a bioethicist or bioethics committee. At the Alberta Childrens Hospital, Dr. Jonathan Darwant says if one parent is adamantly opposed to treatment, they would likely arrange a second assessment by a mental health expert. If that second expert agrees the teenager would benefit from treatment, the next step would be to convene a hospital ethics team to weigh all the points of view. Delays, however, cant go on forever and Lawson acknowledged there may be times when she starts treatment without the full consensus of family because its in the childs best interests. A lot of parents are afraid about what this means and the child will have regrets or blame them, Lawson said. But in the long-term, having done this for 14 years, its amazing to see how kids blossom and become comfortable in their own skin. In time, parents come to accept their childs gender identity and realize that their child is the same person they have always loved. A lot of parents are afraid While adolescents dont necessarily have carte blanche decision-making power, it is a time when they begin to make autonomous decisions, Bonifacio said. If the medical team deems the youth capable to make that particular decision then that decision is respected. Elizabeth Saewyc, a professor at the UBC school of nursing and principal investigator of the first nationwide trans youth survey, said putting off treatment can create long-term distress on the adolescent. I have seen in some circumstances where young people have had health care delayed and denied because everybody wasnt on board. One parent is supportive, and one is not, and nothing happens. That can be a problem, she says. If the clinicians, the psychologists, the endocrinologists, the family doctor, if all of them have done the assessment and have determined that this is medically necessary, then its important to actually pay attention to the expertise. Saewycs survey found more than one-third of respondents had attempted suicide in the past year and nearly two-thirds reported self-harm. Experts acknowledge there is a dearth of rigorous, long-range studies of children and adolescents who have undergone hormone therapy. However, an analysis by Cornell University of 56 peer-reviewed articles from 1991 to 2017 of gender transition in the general population found a robust international consensus that gender transition, including medical treatments such as hormone therapy and surgeries, improves the overall well-being of transgender individuals. The literature also indicates that greater availability of medical and social support for gender transition contributes to better quality of life for those who identify as transgender. Maxs father, Clark, says he cant get over the question: What if? A different question nags at Sarah: I dont want it on my conscience knowing that if this is all it took to alleviate that dysphoria from my child then why didnt we follow through with it? For Max, the biggest challenge facing him now: Waiting. Email: dquan@postmedia.com | Twitter: dougquan

https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/who-gets-to-decide-when-a-14-year-old-wants-to-change-gender

Why did women turn up to the tennis in wedding dresses?

TV footage of two women in wedding dresses sitting side by side in Margaret Court Arena has caused quite an episode at the Australian Open. Many viewers on Friday night took to social media to applaud the display, interpreting their presence as a cunning takedown of Aussie tennis legend Court, who famously campaigned against the same-sex marriage postal vote and eventual marriage equality legislation change. However, it emerged soon after during Nine's coverage of Alex de Minaur's clash with Rafael Nadal that the two women were planted in the crowd in their wedding dresses as part of a Channel 9 promotion for upcoming series 'Married At First Sight'. A Channel 9 spokesman has since released a statement to confirm the entire episode of having two brides sit side by side inside Court's stadium was all a misunderstanding and that the promotion did not seek to make any form of political statement. Advertisement The two brides were spotted throughout various Melbourne Park venues during the Friday night session at the Australian Open including Margaret Court Arena. Tennis fans on social media earlier in the night quickly spread the Channel 9 footage of the two women, applauding them as social activists throwing shade at the Aussie tennis icon. Channel 9 has since shut that theory down. "To promote the upcoming series of Married at First Sight we had two promotional models dressed as brides at tonight's Australian Open, who were moved to various parts of the Melbourne Park precinct," a Channel 9 spokesman said in a statement. "Their seating at Margaret Court Arena was in no way meant to be interpreted as a political statement." Speculation surrounding the identities and the motives of the two young women sporting the pearly white threads in the stands briefly threatened to overshadow the action on court on Friday night. However, many were left deflated by the realisation that the whole scene was simply a misfiring TV promotion. Two women in wedding dresses sitting together in Margaret Court Arena, which bears the name of one of the loudest and most vitriolic voices on the losing side of Australia's gay marriage debate. #AusOpen pic.twitter.com/i7oPQy9MAe Ben Rothenberg (@BenRothenberg) January 18, 2019 This is iconic! Margaret Court has been vocally homophobic and anti gay marriage. Two women in wedding dresses in this stadium is such a clapback ! #AusOpen https://t.co/QUOUwcer53 Asmita (@asmitaghosh18) January 18, 2019 Court's outspoken views on marriage equality continue to be one of the most prickly issues at the Open following calls from legends, including Martina Navratilova, for the iconic Melbourne Park stadium to be re-named. Court has for the second year stayed away from the Open, but said in an interview last week that she hopes the Australian public accepts the arena being named in her honour and continue to remember her legendary achievements on the court, including 24 grand slams. The honour awarded to Court remains an issue in the spotlight, especially while Aussie star Ash Barty remains so impacted by the discussion. Barty is good friends with Aussie great Casey Dellacqua, who revealed she was deeply hurt by Court's outspoken views towards marriage equality and gay players on the WTA Tour. Dellacqua - who has two children in an openly gay relationship, has previously rejected suggestions for players to boycott the No. 2 Australian Open venue to protest Court's views. While Dellacqua has been reticent to criticise the Aussie legend, Navratilova has been open with her criticism recently. In a letter, published by Fairfax Media, tennis royalty Martina Navratilova said while Court was entitled to free speech that didn't mean her words were free of consequence. She also said Court's views on linking the LGBTI community to Nazism were "sick and dangerous." "It is now clear exactly who Court is: an amazing tennis player, and a racist and a homophobe. Her vitriol is not just an opinion. She is actively trying to keep LGBT people from getting equal rights (note to Court: we are human beings, too). She is demonising trans kids and trans adults everywhere," Navratilova wrote.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=12192917

Could Marie Kondo Slow Down Fast-Fashion?

Netflix sparked joyas well as social media buzz, memes, and possibly sales trends with its recent debut of Tidying Up With Marie Kondo. Inspired by Kondos KonMari method for decluttering and organizing living spaces with an emphasis on sentimental value, the feel-good show is striking a connection with viewers, not only inspiring them to purge their closets, but perhaps rethink their spending habits beyond just New Years resolutions. The Kondo Effect is bringing minimalism to the forefront of consumerism from clothing and home dcor to books and nutrition. Searches related to Kondo, KonMari, and even folding shirts hit breakout levels in conjunction with the Netflix release, based on Google Trends data. Assuming the shows continued popularity (and Netflixs fondness for renewing many of its programs for subsequent seasons), theres a real possibility that Kondos influence could push consumers toward fewer, higher-quality investment pieces. While this might spark mental and financial relief for consumers, its not joyful for retailersespecially those in fast fashion, such as H&M, Zara, and Forever 21. Were now in a time of transformation, and we see the trend towards slow fashion away from fast fashion as much more powerful than a fad, says Jen Redding, a senior equity research analyst at Wedbush Securities. A still from the Netflix series "Tidying Up with Marie Kondo" Denise CrewNetflix Kondo, of course, isnt the only change agent here. Fast fashion looks to have lost its luster, Redding says. Its being displaced as Millennials place growing value on experiences, environmental, and human rights issues than in recent generations before it. Fast fashion wreaked havoc in retail over the last decade, Redding explains, and consumers are now less interested in cheap, disposable clothing. Thats not to say all mid-market fashion retailers can expect declines in 2019. Redding cited direct-to-consumer wunderkind Everlane as one example of newer retailers promising better-made apparel fit for any season. And for all the purported benefits of downsizing, not everyone sees the Kondo effect as havinga sufficiently broad enough impact on the U.S. consumer base to materially affect retail sales over the long term. In the recent past, a cultural shift of this magnitude was usually the result of an extreme external event, such as global war, says Cullen Finnegan, an associate at Transwestern, a national commercial and retail real estate firm. And while Kondo, herself, might suggest rounding up old books for resale or donation, her first title, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, is experiencing a resurgence on the sales charts, returning to the New York Times bestseller list after being published five years ago. It has since sold over seven million copies in more than 40 languages. A version of this article appears in the February 2019 issue of Fortune with the headline The KonMari Economy.

http://fortune.com/2019/01/18/marie-kondo-konmari-retail/

Can the Rams' Andrew Whitworth win a 5th championship inside the Superdome?

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. There might not be a football player with more championships won inside the Superdome than Andrew Whitworth. The product of West Monroe High School played in four Louisiana state championship games there and won three. While in college at LSU, the offensive lineman helped the Tigers win a BCS championship game against Oklahoma. Now deep into his 13th NFL season, the second-round selected Whitworth finally knows what it feels like to win a playoff game the Rams' win Saturday against the Cowboys was his first in eight postseason visits as he seeks a conference championship in the Dome against the New Orleans Saints. The Superdome is probably, to me, the place that Ill always have the best emotional ties just because of my athletic career there, he said. So, Im excited for this opportunity because its going to be a challenge. But man, thats why you play the game. The 37-year-old with specks of grey in his beard played his first 11 seasons with the Cincinnati Bengals and reached the playoffs six times without experiencing a victory. Three losses came at home. Then, following another home playoff loss while with the Rams last season, the 6-foot-7 left tackle finally experienced the joy of advancing in the postseason. Whitworth briefly celebrated on the field with his wife and four children letting each of them run into his arms as he crouched on the sideline at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum before retreating to the team locker room to remind his team after that 30-22 victory they still had another two games to win. What a moment @awhitworth77 celebrates his first playoff win in eight trips. #FootballisFamily pic.twitter.com/j5xuNIDaCc Los Angeles Rams (@RamsNFL) January 13, 2019 Whitworth has experienced more postseason disappointment than he would care to recollect. The focus here is on the future, toward what could come Sunday for the Rams if he and the rest of the offensive line continue with what they did last week against the Cowboys. In that game, the Rams became the first team with two 100-yard rushers in a single postseason game since 1997, and they did that with Whitworth at his best. He looked fresh, McVay said. He looked healthy. He was explosive, finishing blocks in the run game. He was patient and used his hands in protection. Its really incredible. If you look at the numbers ... theres only a few guys that have ever done it in the history of this league. For one, no active offensive lineman has more career starts than Whitworths 195. His next regular season game will be the 200th of his career. Another season of 16 starts would tie him with Pro Football Hall of Famer Jackie Slater for the 12th most among any lineman since the 1970 NFL-AFL merger. Whitworth has been recognized as one of the best in the game over the last four seasons, reaching the Pro Bowl in three consecutive seasons before this one. He twice has earned first-team All-Pro recognition during that span, first in 2015 while still with the Bengals and then in 2017 with the Rams. The Rams signed him to a three-year deal worth a reported $33.75 million before the 2017 season. For as much as his skill level is appreciated hes played more than 12,000 career snaps, he says so is his expertise. I didnt play offensive line," said McVay, who at 32 is the youngest coach in the league. But some of the things tips, tells or just based on his overall vantage point and experience that hes able to give you that you dont have unless youre a player, make you more in-tune with some things as a coach. Rams defensive line coach Bill Johnson, a Monroe native like Whitworth, remembered Whitworth as a high school player because of how highly regarded he was as a college prospect. After winning those state titles with West Monroe in 1997, 1998 and 2000, Whitworth went to LSU and played on the 2003 team that won the national championship. He finished at LSU with a school-record 52 starts, missing only one practice in all that time so he could attend his graduation ceremony. All these years later, he shows no signs of slowing. Hes got the energy of a 25-year-old, Johnson said. The only player on the field Sunday with more playing experience is the 40-year-old Drew Brees. Whitworth is four years older than his next-oldest teammate, 33-year-old center John Sullivan. Rams starting center is the same one Vikings had for 2009 NFC title game vs. Saints More than most players, Whitworth can appreciate some of what has kept Brees at the top of his game for as long as he has. For Whitworth, continuing to play has meant staying active during the offseason, when hes not playing. Working out, walking, hiking, he said. Im finding every way possible to keep my body active, just finding different ways to keep yourself at a high level, in shape year-round instead of just in football season. He keeps an offseason home in Colorado with his family, he said, where he also does altitude training to enhance his conditioning. Quick enough? Whitworth said. Just being active. For this week, being active has meant continuing to play football. Should the Rams win Sunday, hell have another championship earned inside the Dome. Soon after that, his message will be the same as it was last week. Only that time, there will be only one game to win.

https://www.nola.com/saints/2019/01/can-the-rams-andrew-whitworth-win-a-5th-championship-inside-the-superdome.html

Can Oregon Ducks complete weekend sweep at Arizona State?

TEMPE, Ariz. Oregon will try to continue its incredible week by capping it off with weekend sweep at Arizona State. The Ducks (11-6, 2-2 Pac-12) were able to steer out of what could have been a debilitating loss to UCLA and rebound with a dominant showing over USC on Sunday and then opened their weekend trip with a gritty, grinding 59-54 win at Arizona on Thursday. We took that (UCLA) loss out of our head; we took what we learned form it and we moved on from it, said Paul White, who is leading Oregon in scoring (15.8 points) over the last five games. To me, we were coming off a high going into (the Arizona) game and its really not going to be anything different. We understand we have to be a lot more focused going into Tempe, make sure we take care of the ball and that we stay together as a team, staying true to our principles. Always a strong defensive team under Dana Altman, Oregon has amplified its prowess on that end while also lengthening its offensive possession in order to maximize offensive efficiency and stay competitive despite being shorthanded. With Kenny Wooten back in the lineup the Ducks got a boost on the defensive end and add to their inside presence for offensive rebounds. Offense is where Altman was focused on improving after Oregon shot just 38.6 percent from the field, including 37.5 percent from 2-point range, against Arizona. You go on the road, you win guarding and rebounding, he said. If you hit a few more shots offensively we were not very smooth. We missed some good looks. We missed some looks right around the basket that I thought we would hit. Payton (Pritchard) got to the hole a couple of times, (Victor Bailey Jr.), we just didnt get them down. "It wasnt like offensively we were really sharp and we missed some key free throws. We made just enough plays and Payton hit those four free throws late which really sealed it for us. White has raised his level of play on offense while also taking five charges over the last three games on defense. Louis King has also become the major contributor he was expected to be and leading the Ducks in scoring in conference play. He had 10 points and nine rebounds against the Wildcats. Were living by our motto: Sometimes you, sometimes me, always us, White said. Lou has been huge in these last couple of games and even in (Thursday) nights game ... those rebounds that he had throughout the game was tremendous. It was huge for us. Arizona State (12-5, 3-2 Pac-12) will look to push the pace against Oregon tonight at Wells Fargo Arena (6:30 p.m., Pac-12 Network). The Sun Devils are coming off a 70-67 win over Oregon State and play at third-fastest tempo in the Pac-12, according to KenPom. We got to keep at it (with) the same energy, even more energy going into Arizona State, Bailey Jr. said. Their crowd is always a big factor too, so we got to keep our foot on the gas pedal.

https://www.oregonlive.com/ducks/2019/01/can-oregon-ducks-complete-weekend-sweep-at-arizona-state.html

Who are the best NFL broadcasting teams of all time?

Tony Romo and Jim Nantz (AP Photo/Morry Gash) And you thought the political divide was nasty. If you really want to start a fight, check politics at the proverbial door, turn on the TV and watch an NFL game and listen to the broadcast teams. On Sunday, Jan. 20, the Fox team of Joe Buck and Troy Aikman will call the NFC Championship; on CBS, Jim Nantz and Tony Romo will call the AFC Championship. Everyone loves them. Except for all the people who hate them. Joe Buck and Troy Aikman. (Photo: (Photo: Paul Hawthorne, Getty Images)) (As an aside, evidently being a quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys is a good way to secure a spot in an NFL broadcast booth.) Thats how it goes with broadcast teams. Ask someone how they feel about Cris Collinsworth. The usual caveats apply. This is my list. Yours can, and should, differ substantially. Ill give brief explanations for each choice, but what I liked about, say, Hank Stram, you might despise. This is the nature of any list. The argument is part of the fun. Contemporary broadcasters are not well-represented here, because well, this is an all-time list. Staying power has a little to do with it. To each their own. But these are my favorites. 10. Curt Gowdy and Al DeRogatis Lets take a trip in the way-back machine. Gowdy was the voice of sports for a time in the 1960s matter-of-fact, play it as it lays. DeRogatis knew his stuff. But they have historical import: They not only called the infamous Heidi game, but Super Bowl III, in which Joe Namaths New York Jets defeated the mighty Baltimore Colts and basically established the AFL as a going concern. 9. Kevin Harlan and Sam Wyche Harlan is one of my favorite play-by-play announcers you can still hear him on radio. Wyche was the coach of the Cincinnati Bengals and led them to a Super Bowl appearance. He ticked off Cleveland fans (look it up). Which matters because, as an announcer, he was basically a crank. He wont be the last one on this list. I kind of loved to hear him complain about officiating, play calls, a quarterbacks decision, etc. And Harlan was a strong-enough lead to keep him in line. 8. Dick Enberg and Merlin Olsen Oh, my! Lets get Enbergs signature call out of the way out front. He was one of those broadcasters who, truly, could call almost anything and did. But there was a comfort to hearing his football calls. As for Olsen, hes got to be one of the most-underrated color commentators, ever. He was a great football player, a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. And yes, he was an actor, appearing in Little House on the Prairie. But he was also a former player who really knew his stuff, bringing an analytical approach to his work. A smooth voice didnt hurt. 7. Jack Buck and Hank Stram Jack Buck giving his famous speech at Busch Stadium after Major League Baseball resumed play after the 9/11 terror attacks. (Photo: Flickr user majorvols) Buck is better known, of course, as a baseball announcer (I dont believe what I just saw!), and as Joe Buck's dad, but he was a terrific football play-by-play man. As for Stram, well, he was a Hall of Fame, Super Bowl-winning coach who made Wyche sound like Mr. Rogers. Cranky, you might say, with a nasal delivery that accentuated that aspect of his personality. (Personal aside: I called him at home once to get a quote, and while he was clearly not happy to be bothered during dinner, he gave me the information I needed. Points for that, in my book.) 6. Bob Costas and Bob Trumpy Costas has his detractors, but I think hes an all-time great. His exit from NBC has made some news this week; thats NBCs loss. He is whip-smart and clever, perhaps too much by half. He should probably be the commissioner of major-league baseball, but he was a sneaky-good football play-by-play announcer. Trumpy always sounded annoyed to be there, and mad at everyone on the field and, sometimes, Costas. Theres a kind of sick beauty to that. But its admittedly an acquired taste. 5. Al Michaels and Cris Collinsworth Cris Collinsworth, left, with his broadcast partner Al Michaels. (Photo: NBC Photo: Justin Lubin) Michaels is probably the best play-by-play man, ever. And he knows it. Collinsworth is also confident in his abilities, you might say. Plus, since taking over the NBC Sunday night game, almost always the best game on the schedule for the week, hes become a lot more self-serious. There was a time when he was fun, and not afraid to rip players and coaches. That time has passed. But dang, are they professional. 4. Marv Albert and Paul Maguire Now this was fun booth. Albert is just great. Hes the best NBA play-by-play announcer, ever. But hes hugely underrated a football broadcaster. And that voice YESSS! Silk. A lot of people dont like Maguire, but I think he blended the bitterness of Wyche and Stram with a self-aware cynicism he knew he sounded cranky sometimes, and he laughed about it. Maybe the best thing you could say about this bunch is that if you were having a party, these two definitely would be on the guest list. Television personality Marv Albert looks on during a Premier Boxing Champions bout in the MGM Grand Garden Arena on March 7, 2015 in Las Vegas. (Photo: Harry How, Getty Images) 3. Pat Summerall and Tom Brookshier A big part of me wanted to make this the No. 1 pairing. Summerall was great, of course (at calling tennis, too) the rare former player who transitioned to play-by-play instead of color commentary. Smooth, a pros pro he said what he had to say and got out of the way. Brookshier also was a former player, and he sounded more like one. He brought a gruff realism to the equation. (He also had a quirk of, at least once a broadcast, referring to a player only by his jersey number, not by name, as if the player were a NASCAR car or something. No. 23 makes the kind of play wed expect.) These were the voices of football when football started to become an obsession, and theyre somewhat underrated because of the next pairing. 2. Pat Summerall and John Madden This Jan. 20, 2002, file photo shows Pat Summerall, left, and John Madden, right, in the FOX broadcast booth before the NFC divisional playoff in St. Louis. (Photo: The Associated Press) Weve talked about Summerall. Madden, in case you did not know, is not just someone for whom a video game is named. He was a brilliant coach and, yes, a terrific color commentator. His BAM! exclamations belied an unmatched knowledge of the game. Hes also more of a renaissance man than you might think. Hes a big fan of all sports, a big Springsteen fan. And theres almost no way to calculate the impact of Madden Football. They took opposite approaches, but blended perfectly. This is the best duo for NFL games, ever. 1. Frank Gifford, Don Meredith and Howard Cosell The ABC Monday Night Football commentators, from left, Don Meredith, Howard Cosell and Frank Gifford. (Photo: STEVE FENN, AP) This isnt the original Monday Night Football crew they came together the second year. But they made it iconic. In a world in which you can watch some kind of sport every night, its simply impossible to appreciate the impact this broadcast and this crew had not just on sports, but on culture. They extended the weekend a day. They hosted John Lennon. Cosell told the world of Lennons death. It was the perfect mix in the booth. Gifford was a straightforward play-by-play man. Meredith was the sneaky savvy comic relief. (Both were terrific players.) Cosell was the love-him-or-hate-him lightning rod. They were the rare broadcast team that was bigger than the game. In a lot of ways, they made the game. This kind of crew, with this kind of impact, will never be repeated. Reach Goodykoontz at bill.goodykoontz@arizonarepublic.com. Facebook: facebook.com/GoodyOnFilm. Twitter: @goodyk. MORE FROM GOODYKOONTZ: WATCH: GOODYKOONTZ'S MEDIA WISHLIST FOR 2019 CLOSE azcentral film critic Bill Goodykoontz gives his top three wishes for the media in 2019. Brian Snyder, Arizona Republic Read or Share this story: https://www.azcentral.com/story/entertainment/media/2019/01/18/best-nfl-broadcast-teams-all-time/2601082002/

https://www.azcentral.com/story/entertainment/media/2019/01/18/best-nfl-broadcast-teams-all-time/2601082002/

Isn't it time to stop talking about Kyrsten Sinema's inauguration dress?

Opinion: We're still talking about her inauguration dress weeks later, and that sends an annoying message about what we value most. Every inch of fabric has been dissected repeatedly, on both sides of the aisle, as if it were an extension of the woman. Some said it was inappropriate sleeveless! With fur! And all that pink! while others said it was a fierce statement of independence, a welcome middle finger to the D.C. establishment. Good grief, people. It was just a dress. Look, I know people are going to react (often negatively) to what women wear. Its human nature to judge a book by its cover, and no matter how evolved we think we are, we still tend to do this a lot more with women than men. I have been duly schooled about my frumpy blue sweaters). But it annoys me that we cant seem to let it go. When both sides assign this much value to a dress, were saying that what a woman wears matters as much as what she says or does. If only we were nearly as passionate about what Sinema thinks would end the shutdown as we were about the message she intended to send with that giant flower on her skirt. Reach Allhands at joanna.allhands@arizonarepublic.com. READ MORE: Read or Share this story: https://www.azcentral.com/story/opinion/op-ed/joannaallhands/2019/01/18/kyrsten-sinema-dress-does-not-deserve-much-debate/2617831002/

https://www.azcentral.com/story/opinion/op-ed/joannaallhands/2019/01/18/kyrsten-sinema-dress-does-not-deserve-much-debate/2617831002/

Did Trump order Michael Cohen to lie to Congress? Will it matter if he did?

Opinion: There is a good chance it won't bother his supporters or his enablers in the Senate. Michael Cohen and Donald Trump (Photo: TIMOTHY A. CLARY, AFP/Getty Images) A report in BuzzFeed says that President Donald Trump directed his then-attorney Michael Cohen to lie to Congress. The article reads in part: The special counsels office learned about Trumps directive for Cohen to lie to Congress through interviews with multiple witnesses from the Trump Organization and internal company emails, text messages, and a cache of other documents. Cohen then acknowledged those instructions during his interviews with that office. This revelation is not the first evidence to suggest the president may have attempted to obstruct the FBI and special counsel investigations into Russias interference in the 2016 election. But Cohen's testimony marks a significant new frontier: It is the first known example of Trump explicitly telling a subordinate to lie directly about his own dealings with Russia. It calls for up to five years in prison CLOSE The report by BuzzFeed, citing two unnamed law enforcement officials, says that Trump directed Cohen to lie to Congress and that Cohen regularly briefed Trump on the Moscow project. The Associated Press has not independently confirmed the report. (Jan. 18) AP Thats the heart of it, and the part that must have proof. If there is documentation, if there are multiple witnesses two VERY big ifs then Trump is in real trouble. With the law, anyway. According to federal law: "Whoever procures another to commit any perjury is guilty of subornation of perjury, and shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both." With Trump, impeachment would be the more likely course. But thats not the ultimate question. I dont think so. No. Trump is responding by smearing Cohen, of course, tweeting: Kevin Corke, @FoxNews Dont forget, Michael Cohen has already been convicted of perjury and fraud, and as recently as this week, the Wall Street Journal has suggested that he may have stolen tens of thousands of dollars.... Lying to reduce his jail time! Watch father-in-law! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 18, 2019 Its true that Cohen has admitted his crimes. But speak to prosecutors about most of their cases. They will tell you that individuals testifying against criminal defendants are not often the nicest people themselves. Just the opposite. Getting one participant in a criminal enterprise to turn on another participant is common practice. Sadly, not unprecedented It's how many criminals are brought to justice. Youd like to think, for our sake, for the sake of our children, that such things wouldnt happen among people at the White House. Then again, it has happened before so ... Reach Montini at ed.montini@arizonarepublic.com. MORE BY MONTINI: Read or Share this story: https://www.azcentral.com/story/opinion/op-ed/ej-montini/2019/01/18/donald-trump-michael-cohen-impeachment-buzzfeed/2617610002/

https://www.azcentral.com/story/opinion/op-ed/ej-montini/2019/01/18/donald-trump-michael-cohen-impeachment-buzzfeed/2617610002/

How will future historians regard Donald Trump?

Open this photo in gallery Photo illustration by The Globe and Mail David Shribman, the former executive editor of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, won a Pulitzer Prize for coverage of U.S. politics. Donald J. Trump has been a feast for cable-television commentators, investigative reporters and federal prosecutors. Just look at what has occurred during the first two years of his administration: He has overhauled years of U.S. trade policy, including NAFTA; challenged the primacy of Americas security relationships, including NATO; recast regulatory policy, including measures intended to battle climate change; changed the tone and timbre of presidential conversation; and pushed the ultimate arbiter of American economic and social life, the Supreme Court, to the right. And hes not finished yet. And so, years from now, after he leaves the White House, Mr. Trump will be a gift to biographers and historians who almost certainly will look with wonder on this period in U.S. history and this unusual President. Story continues below advertisement Indeed, just as the passage of decades has clarified our views on Thomas Jefferson (no longer simply the innocent lyricist of American freedom) and John A. Macdonald (no longer simply the heroic principal figure of Canadian Confederation), the ticks of the historical clock will clarify the role and impact of the 45th President. And it may help us understand the present if, at the mathematical halfway point of his term, we examine his presidency from some imaginary future, where the following questions may have some decisive answers. Open this photo in gallery Jan. 20, 2017: Donald Trump arrives for his inauguration at the U.S. Capitol. With instant access to the public through his manic tweets, with a disregard for presidential precedent and with contempt for the customary rituals of the presidency, Mr. Trump has defied all the historical folkways of his office. The American president as crime boss, is the way essayist Lance Morrow has put it. The question is whether Mr. Trumps defiance of presidential tradition has destroyed, or merely recast, public expectations. Mr. Trump does not do the rituals well, sometimes not at all aspects of the presidency that relatively recent chief executives such as Ronald Reagan (following the 1986 Space Shuttle Challenger disaster), George W. Bush (after the 2001 terrorist attacks) and Barack Obama (at the 2015 funeral of slain South Carolina minister Clementa Pinckney) mastered. In fact, Mr. Trump has spurned some of the ritualistic aspects of the office, with the threat of protests keeping him from the Kennedy Center Honors or greeting some champion athletes at the White House. That added awkwardness to his appearance last fall at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, where 11 worshippers were slain in a shooting spree immediately characterized as a hate crime the most vicious act of anti-Semitism in U.S. history. While Rabbi Jeffrey Myers welcomed the President into the synagogue, which had been rendered a crime scene, hundreds of protesters on the streets of the Squirrel Hill neighbourhood held placards and chanted that Mr. Trumps rhetoric contributed to the coarsening of American life and empowered white supremacists and anti-Semites. Open this photo in gallery Oct. 30, 2018: U.S. President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump place stones and flowers at a memorial at Pittsburgh's Tree of Life synagogue after a deadly mass shooting there. AFP Contributor#AFP/AFP/Getty Images Moreover, just as Franklin Delano Roosevelt redefined the presidency with the radio (especially with his fireside chats, which calmed a stricken Depression-era country) and John F. Kennedy did so again with television (especially his set-piece news conferences, which put his intellect and sense of humour on display), Mr. Trump may have redefined the presidency with the late-night and early-morning tweet. (Some of his most acidic have been aimed at Canada and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.) Story continues below advertisement Story continues below advertisement This question about the Trump presidential style has a foreign-policy and trade component that Canadians have watched with bewilderment, even horror. Past presidents have embraced the notion of cross-border amity, while Mr. Trump has sowed cross-border enmity. And past presidents have approached traditional allies in Europe with care, making efforts to cultivate relationships that had their roots in the Cold War, the Second World War, even the First World War and earlier. Mr. Trump has disrupted many of those relationships, and as a result multilateral leadership summits have often been preceded by private conversations among Western leaders about how to handle, contain or oppose Mr. Trump and how to react to his outbursts. The mystery is whether Mr. Trumps successor will follow his lead or seek to restore the relationships that have given shape to the U.S. presidency for decades. That wont be known for many years. On the surface, and especially to his rivals in the Democratic Party and the newly resurgent left, Mr. Trump acted through his first two years as President as a government of one, having co-opted the legislative branch, transforming the Republican-controlled Congress into an extension of his own power and prerogatives. But after 40 seats in the House of Representatives were turned over to the Democrats in a midterm rout, restoring the partys control of the chamber, the calculus has changed but not necessarily improved. Open this photo in gallery Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer, Democratic leaders in the House and Senate, respectively, speak after a Jan. 9 meeting with Mr. Trump about the government shutdown. SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images It certainly is true that the President has almost silenced dissent in the Republican Party, an institution against which he prosecuted a hostile takeover in 2016. That made his relationship with the GOP leaders in the Senate and the House far more difficult than even the grudging rapport between Barack Obama and the Democrats he faced on Capitol Hill. Because Mr. Trump was not a long-term member of the GOP, and because the Republican establishment, offended by his behaviour and horrified by his departures from party orthodoxy on trade and national security, fought mightily to deny its presidential nomination to such an apostate, there were initial tensions between the two branches of government. And yet on most matters the Presidents unsuccessful drive to repeal the Obamacare health plan is the principal exception the legislative branch his party controlled in 2017 and 2018 bowed to his wishes and was not a forceful balance to the activist executive branch. Story continues below advertisement Future students of the separation of powers may not be astonished at these developments, as we are, and in fact may not regard the first two years of the Trump presidency with the same perspective we have today. There have been many times the New Deal era of FDR, for example, or the Great Society domestic initiatives of the Lyndon Johnson era, or even the tax and spending cuts of the Reagan years when a Congress dominated by the presidents party did not act as a brake on the White House. Now the separation-of-powers question has a new dimension, for the new power lineup on Capitol Hill almost certainly will scramble the political calculus in Washington. The answer to this also will not be known for years, perhaps decades. Only then will we know whether the GOP will return to its free-trade past, its interventionist impulse, its fiscal conservatism or its profile of quiet restraint, established values and respect for the past and its hoary customs. But there can be no doubt that there is a feud in the Republican Party. It exploded into view this month as a result of a quarrel in one of the signature families of the party, the Romneys, who account for three presidential campaigns, one Republican presidential nomination, 10 years in gubernatorial chairs in two states (Michigan and Massachusetts), four years in a GOP cabinet (during the Nixon presidency) and, now, tenure as chair of the Republican Party and the beginning of a Senate career (from Utah). First Mitt Romney, the last GOP presidential nominee before Mr. Trump, blasted the President in an op-ed in The Washington Post, questioning his character (the president has not risen to the mantle of the office) and arguing that Mr. Trump lacks the essential qualities of honesty and integrity, and [the inclination to] elevate the national discourse with comity and mutual respect. Then his niece, Ronna Romney McDaniel, who has been encouraged to drop her maiden name while serving as chair of the Republican National Committee during the Trump ascendancy, fired back, referring to her uncle merely as an incoming Republican freshman senator and arguing that Mr. Romney fed into what the Democrats and media want and is disappointing and unproductive. Story continues below advertisement In truth, family feuds especially in families as mild-tempered as the Romneys seldom define the fissures in national political parties, but American parties are constantly changing, shifting their centres of gravity, adjusting their outlooks and viewpoints. Republicans once were champions of free trade, Democrats celebrants of high tariffs. Republicans once were the party of big government and centralized power, both required when the young party fought a civil war (1861-65) and needed to mobilize the arms of government to fight the Confederacy, which was freighted with former Democrats who were skeptical of centralized power, especially when it contemplated restricting slavery. Open this photo in gallery A statue of former president Abraham Lincoln stands inside the U.S. Capitol Rotunda. Pool/Getty Images Since the middle of the 19th century, the Republican Party has been shaped by Abraham Lincoln (making it a party of rights for former slaves), then reshaped by William McKinley (making it a party congenial to business interests), and reshaped again by Mr. Reagan (who brought an end to the big-government notion of Washington that had its roots in the Lincoln years). Although a former Democrat, Mr. Trump had transformation on his mind when, six months before he was elected, he told Bloomberg News he envisioned a GOP that was a workers party, one that was a party of people that havent had a real wage increase in 18 years, that are angry. That kind of idiom once, within living memory, belonged to the Democrats, whose allegiance with blue-collar workers was forged in the 1930s and was not even questioned for the next half-century, when it began to erode under the appeal of Mr. Reagan. Similarly, the Democratic Party of segregation in the 19th century became the Democratic Party of civil rights in the mid-20th century so much so that a party that fought giving blacks the vote 120 years ago last fall ran African-American candidates for governor in two states of the Old Confederacy, Georgia and Florida. (Both ran spirited campaigns, but both fell short of victory.) Right now we dont know whether the Republican Party once shut out of the South because of its embrace of civil rights but now claiming the South as its political base will in the future again resemble the mannered, conformist GOP of George H.W. Bush or the manic, insurgent party of Mr. Trump. But we do know that the answer to that question will give shape to U.S. politics and we know that the vast majority of Republicans whom Mr. Trump endorsed in GOP primaries last year won. This question, a hardy perennial of the Trump years, came into sharp relief last year with the death of Mr. McCain, one of Mr. Trumps predecessors as a Republican presidential nominee. The two men may have shared an instinct for combativeness, but in his later years, Mr. McCain was a symbol of reconciliation rather than confrontation. In his farewell to the American people, released after his death, Mr. McCain left an eloquent plea for a more conciliatory style of politics: We weaken our greatness when we confuse our patriotism with tribal rivalries that have sown resentment and hatred and violence in all the corners of the globe, he wrote in a subtle but inescapable swipe at the Trump style and the Trump ethos. We weaken it when we hide behind walls, rather than tear them down, when we doubt the power of our ideals, rather than trust them to be the great force for change they have always been. Open this photo in gallery Aug. 31, 2018: A demonstrator stands outside the U.S. Capitol to honour John McCain during the public viewing of the late senator's casket. MARY F. CALVERT/Reuters And yet the American temperament isnt defined only by compromise and teamwork. In his 1972 interview with Oriana Fallaci, Henry Kissinger, like Mr. Trump a product of the urban East, nonetheless mused that Americans like the cowboy who rides all alone into the town, the village, with his horse and nothing else, adding, This amazing, romantic character suits me precisely because to be alone has always been part of my style or, if you like, my technique. Mr. Trump, a virtual pariah at multinational summit meetings, has been doing a lot of riding alone in recent months. One moment in the Presidents first two years was particularly telling. He sat in the usual presidential seat aisle seat, front row, left centre at the funeral of one of his predecessors, George H.W. Bush, whose presidency he reviled and whose sons he taunted. But he was visibly uncomfortable as speaker after speaker, including former prime minister Brian Mulroney, cited the 41st presidents character his gentleness, his impulse to conciliation and compromise. It was evident to everyone in Washingtons National Cathedral that the Bush funeral was in part a statement about Mr. Trump, a hushed rebuke to the incumbent President and an unmistakable celebration of the personal characteristics of Mr. Bush that Mr. Trump clearly lacks and for which he has unbridled contempt. Years from now history may portray Mr. Trumps physical swagger and his uncompromising rhetorical style the antidote to a flaccid style of Republican, or even of American, leadership. Or it may portray the Trump style as an extension of the mythology of the old American West. Or it may portray the President as the 21st-century incarnation of the Ugly American. His critics argue the former. Mr. Trump argues the latter. It is incontrovertible that Mr. Trump heard, or intuited, the despair of many Americans in rural areas and in manufacturing regions where jobs have fled overseas. That is why, for example, many union members whose factory-worker parents were beneficiaries of the New Deal and loyal to its Democratic Party progenitors supported Mr. Trump two years ago. But it is also true that Mr. Trump has attacked the media and trampled on the truth. It is, of course, possible to endanger democratic institutions in the service of the voiceless, just as it was possible in the 1920s, the 1980s and the 1990s, the early years of the 21st century, particularly after the economic crisis of 2008 for democratic institutions to survive while Washington ignored the needs of large swaths of the American population. The key challenge for the historians of the future is to uncouple these two elements preserving democratic institutions and heeding or voicing the publics despair and desires from the facile formulations of CNN (generally opposing Mr. Trump) and Fox News (ardently supporting him). It is rather for these future historians to examine whether the rule of law, freedom of expression, the balance of powers and the protections of the Bill of Rights are as robust at the end of the Trump years as they were at the beginning. Making that judgment is the work of scholars. But preserving those democratic values in real time is the responsibility of all Americans, including Mr. Trump.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-how-will-future-historians-regard-donald-trump/

Where are the toxic women in that Gillette ad about masculinity?

So, Gillette, the razor and shaving conglomerate, has released a commercial that is either Oscar-worthy or the devil's own butthole, depending on your view of masculinity. This happened while I was home sick and by the time I dragged myself to a screen and actually watched the thing, it didn't seem as revolutionary or inspirational as it had been described, The Washington Post reports. Mostly, it felt ad-spirational - that weird sweet spot where a company wants to convince you that you can Mach-3 your way to gender equality. But still, Gillette was trying. "It's time we acknowledge that brands, like ours, play a role in influencing culture," the company posted on its website, vowing to "challenge gender expectations." Sure. Praise be. Advertisement If you haven't seen the commercial, here's a recap. In a series of vignettes, men harass women, and boys bully each other until a voice-over intones, "We believe in the best in men." Then, suddenly, the vignettes have heroes: A man tells his friend that harassing is "not cool," a father instructs two fighting boys, "that's not how we treat each other." The heroes of the commercial are men, the villains are also men, and women are present mostly as set pieces. I appreciate why: the overarching message is that men can and should mentor other men. It's not a woman's responsibility to avoid harassment; it's the responsibility of men to not harass her. Women shouldn't have to educate men; men are capable of educating themselves. A few days before the Gillette ad came out, I'd written a column about some new guidelines released by the American Psychological Association, which said that an overreliance on traditionally masculine traits, like stoicism and dominance, could be harmful to men. Shortly after the column published, reader emails started pouring in. "Boy will be boys." Photo / Gillette One wrote that it wasn't his father who told him that boys don't cry. It was his mother. A full childhood, the reader said, of being told to suck it up and brush it off, to take it all in but never let any of it out. Another man wrote about his wife. How he loved her. How she often cried in front of him. How the one time he'd cried in front of her, she'd uneasily left the room. How he'd made sure to never cry again. How he didn't know if his tear ducts even worked anymore. "How about your write a column with complete 'frankness' on how women influence the men in their lives?" a third man chided me. "This is the ultimate 'I dare you.' " I don't know why he thought he had to dare me. I don't know why he thought I wouldn't agree with him. Of course I agree with him. Of course I don't believe most men, individually, are bad. I believe the system is bad, and the system includes a history of patriarchy, and its adherents have included both men and women. Some of us created the poison, but damned if there aren't plenty of others who've volunteered to dole it out by the spoonful. One of the great things about the popularity of "The Handmaid's Tale" last year was the arrival of a useful shorthand term: "Aunt Lydias" are women who willingly, harmfully participate in a terrible misogynistic society. Aunt Lydias are real. Aunt Lydias are why toxic masculinity is a societal problem, not just an XY chromosome problem. And I wonder if one or two of them should have been in the commercial. There could have been a woman chanting, "Boys will be boys," right alongside the men. "Boys will be boys" is something some mothers say, too, when their sons attack other boys or lift up girls' skirts. There could have been a woman intoning, "He's just pulling your hair because he likes you!" because that's something female grade-school teachers have been repeating for years, and it harms girls by making them think unwanted attention is their fault, and it harms boys by making them think that harassment and affection are the same thing. You know what, I normally don't really retweet ads like this - but the way this one reframes Gillette's "the best a man can get" slogan is genuinely very clever. https://t.co/2qYv5YYFM8 Rami Ismail (@tha_rami) January 14, 2019 There could have been women in the catcalling scene, because the first person to tell me I was "asking for it" wasn't a man, but the aunt of a friend. My friend and I were 11, we'd gone for a walk, we'd been followed by three grown men in military fatigues, catcalling us for several blocks. Back at home we were terrified, and her aunt was withering. she asked. You're wearing shorts. Even at 11, I knew something was wrong with that statement. It didn't stop me from wearing long pants all through high school. She should have been in that Gillette ad. If the company - if we all - really want to "challenge gender expectations," we have to figure out a way to deal with both the men and the women propping them up. This story was originally from The Washington Post and republished here with permission

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/news/article.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=12192947

Who's cooking for the Trumps during the shutdown?

No, President Donald Trump is not living off Big Macs and Domino's pizza during the partial government shutdown. Well, wait, let me rephrase that: The president and first family are not forced to scrounge for their own meals - or have Postmates on speed dial - during the shutdown, the longest in the country's history. During a shutdown, two staff chefs are deemed essential to the daily operations at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., and their sole task is to feed the first family, said a former member of the White House kitchen. What's more, all special events would typically be canceled until the shutdown was over, said former White House chef John Moeller, so that the gatherings would not burden an understaffed kitchen. Which explains why Trump had to order out - and foot the bill, too - when he served burgers, pizzas and fries to members of the Clemson Tigers national championship team. Moeller, who worked in the White House kitchen from 1992 to 2005, was a sous-chef under executive chef Walter Scheib when the government was closed down twice between November 1995 and January 1996, including a 21-day stretch that was the previous record for the longest shutdown in U.S. history until the current stalemate between Trump and congressional Democrats. (Historical footnote: Moeller was the chef who introduced George W. Bush to the pretzels that nearly took down a president.) Advertisement Both Scheib and Moeller were deemed essential staff, Moeller recalled. Everyone else in the kitchen was sent home, including executive pastry chef Roland Mesnier. President Bill Clinton, it seems, couldn't have his cake and a furlough, too. "We did some light desserts and fresh fruits" instead, Moeller said. "There wasn't any grandiose desserts at that time." If the same pattern holds true for Trump, the president would have executive chef Cristeta Comerford and her sous-chef still available to cook the first family's meals. A spokeswoman for first lady Melania Trump did not respond to an email requesting comment. The way Moeller remembers it, Scheib handled breakfast and lunch during the two shutdowns from 1995 to 1996, the first of which lasted five days and a second that famously went on for three painful weeks. Moeller took care of dinner for the president, first lady Hillary Clinton and their daughter, Chelsea. "Then we swapped off [meals] to have a little time off," Moeller said. Frank Ruta, former chef and owner of the beloved Palena in Cleveland Park, was a White House chef for the better part of a decade, working under three presidents, including Ronald Reagan. The government shut down three times under Reagan, who repeatedly clashed with Congress over spending priorities. Ruta didn't recall executive chef Henry Haller once sending him home during a shutdown. "Nothing affected us whatsoever," Ruta said. "All of us were in there working." Then again, the government shutdowns under Reagan never lasted more than a day. To Ruta's memory, there were also no events scheduled for the shutdown days. "If there was an event, I can't imagine it was catered from an outside source," said Ruta, former chef at Mirabelle in downtown Washington. You can practically hear Ruta cringe over the phone when the discussion turns to the junk-food spread that Trump served the Clemson players. Ruta said college students already have constant access to that kind of food. "Then they come to the White House and eat the same thing," he said. "It's kind of embarrassing."

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=12192952

Can Trudeaus government convince First Nations to allow the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion?

OTTAWAIts all a bit rich to Chief Lee Spahan. The Canadian government wants to build another pipeline through his reserve. But he says it doesnt have permission for the one thats already there. Spahan was talking about the Trans Mountain pipeline, of course the 1,100-km tube that has carried Alberta crude from the oilsands to the B.C. coast. since it was built in 1956, and that Ottawa hopes to expand by building a twin line along the existing route, tripling capacity. Back in the 50s, Coldwater granted a pipeline right-of-way, in exchange for $2,417 and annual property tax payments, court records show. Theyre trying to move on the expansion pipeline before they even deal with us on the first one, he said. The pipeline is in trespass right now, Spahan told the Star by phone this week from the Coldwater reserve in the British Columbia interior, just south of the town of Merritt. The government, by then owners of Trans Mountain, ordered the National Energy Board to finish a new environmental review by Feb. 22, and started a fresh round of Indigenous consultations in December. The current situation stems from a Federal Court of Appeal decision last August that quashed the Trudeau governments approval for the expansion project. The court said Ottawa failed to consider the impacts of the sevenfold increase in oil tanker traffic, and ruled that talks with First Nations needed to be more than note-taking sessions and include two-way dialogue where efforts are made to accommodate concerns about the expanded oil pipeline. Its just one wrinkle in the complex undertaking the Liberal government has embarked upon to convince Canadas courts it has done what is necessary to build the Trans Mountain expansion. One major aspect of that is to fulfil the constitutional duty to meaningfully consult First Nations along the pipeline route many of which, like Coldwater, are flat-out against the pipeline in the first place. In 2017, a court in Canada struck down a government decision to transfer the right-of-way to Kinder Morgan, the Texas-based oil giant that bought Trans Mountain more than a decade ago and sold it to Ottawa last year for $4.5 billion. The court ruled Ottawa failed to assess the impacts of Coldwaters right to use and enjoy its lands, and asked the government to reconsider the decision to green-light the right-of-way for the pipelines new owners. We are following the direction of the court, and the court has said we can resolve these issues, Sohi told the Star this week. The goal of the new process, said Natural Resources Minister Amarjeet Sohi, is to satisfy the courts and move forward on this project in the right way a tricky political effort to show major resource projects are possible while staying true to Prime Minister Justin Trudeaus lofty aims of reconciliation with Indigenous peoples, and a credible push to fight climate change. Its good for our economy to make sure that we move forward in a way that the pipelines that we build can stand the test of the day, he said. To do that, the government has revamped its consultation process to meet what it believes the court wants to see. The Liberals recruited former Supreme Court Justice Frank Iacobucci to help design the new process. Starting last December, Iacobucci held a series of roundtables with First Nations along the pipeline route. He will also report to the government at the end of the new process, issuing judgment on whether he believes the new consultations were robust enough to satisfy Canadas legal requirements. Meanwhile, a new unit was created in the Natural Resources department with officials from various branches of government, including fisheries, the environment and Crown-Indigenous relations. Eight consultation teams with five members each are relegated to different regions along the pipeline route, and an effort has been made to ensure they have members who have identified as Indigenous, government officials told the Star in a background briefing this week. Last time, in the round of consultations that failed to pass the court, there were three of these teams. But the major difference this time around, Sohi said, is that these consultation groups are empowered to offer solutions during talks with Indigenous groups a key component of the two-way dialogue the court ruled was absent during the failed consultations. As the officials explained, this can mean discussions on issues like changing the depth of the proposed pipeline, or to consider altering the route to go around environmentally sensitive areas like salmon breeding grounds, or culturally significant sites like burial grounds or where there is a tradition of community berry-picking. These discussions are easier now that Trans Mountain is a Crown corporation, the officials said; they participate in consultations alongside the government teams. Sohi stressed, however, that the governments view is that it must only accommodate reasonable concerns, and that Indigenous communities dont have a veto over whether the project goes forward. Its a two-way dialogue, and making every sincere effort to accommodate the concerns that have been identified, Sohi said. Thats what meaningful consultation means. Its not to achieve consent. Its making efforts to achieve consent. Thats where things fall apart for some Indigenous leaders. Kwikwasutinuxw Haxwamis Chief Bob Chamberlin, a vocal pipeline opponent who is vice-president of the Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs, said Canadas support of the United Nations Declaration of Indigenous Peoples means resources projects on First Nations territory can only proceed with free, prior and informed consent. Whats more, the consultation process was designed by the government, with the final decision on the pipeline expansion reserved for Trudeau and his cabinet. Here in B.C., its unceded land, Chamberlin said, referring to how most Indigenous groups in the province have never signed treaties with the Crown. When the government maintains that level of control, there is no consent or recognition of our peoples inherent jurisdiction and authority in our lands, he said. Of course, not all Indigenous communities along the Trans Mountain pipeline oppose the expansion project. When Kinder Morgan owned the line, it signed 43 mutual benefit agreements with First Nations, deals to ensure communities get a slice of money from the revenues of the new infrastructure. Leaders in Alberta who represent First Nations with oil and gas assets met this week to discuss trying to buy Trans Mountain from Ottawa, though Sohi told the Star the Liberals are focused on satisfying the courts to approve the expansion before they move to sell the pipeline. But another complication is that some Indigenous leaders question the authority of First Nations band councils to consent to the project a situation similar to that which played out in Wetsuweten territory this month, where hereditary chiefs supported a blockade of a natural gas pipeline that is supported by elected band councils in the region. Our elders are very clear with us. They said theres no such thing as band territory, said Chief Judy Wilson of the Neskonlith First Nation. Our (land) title is held collectively by the proper title holders, which is our people, she said. For its part, officials say the government isnt closed-minded about consulting only with elected band councils; efforts are made to ensure talks are held with the appropriate group, the officials said. But for Chief Spahan from Coldwater First Nation, theres an element of respect thats missing from the discussions. He said hes asked Sohi and Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Carolyn Bennett to visit his community in person. Instead, later this month, the government is sending a lawyer to sit down with him. With hanging disagreements over the existing pipeline, and worries about the expansion that he wants addressed, Spahan said he hasnt yet noticed much difference in this new round of government consultations. Its very hard to trust them, he said. The honesty is broken. Alex Ballingall is an Ottawa-based reporter covering national politics. Follow him on Twitter: @aballinga

https://www.thestar.com/politics/federal/2019/01/18/can-trudeaus-government-convince-first-nations-to-allow-the-trans-mountain-pipeline-expansion.html

How Much Has Antarctica's Ice Mass Loss Increased Since 1979?

It's easy to forget about Antarctica's problems. After all, most people will never visit there, and the other continents are home to many more problems than can be feasibly lessened or fixed. In this connected world, however, what might seem like a problem that's restricted to a frozen, isolated part of the globe is bound to spread. A recent report, which constitutes the longest-ever assessment of remaining Antarctic ice mass, revealed the depth of the Antarctica's mass loss problem. According to the study, which was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), between 1979 and 2017, the continent's yearly ice mass loss increased sixfold. Here are the numbers: From 1979 to 1990, on average, approximately 40 gigatons (or 40 billion tons) worth of ice mass were lost each year. By the final time period (2009 to 2017) discussed in the study, the approximate average yearly ice mass loss had skyrocketed to 252 gigatons. The researchers assessed the continental ice discharge of 176 basins in a total of 18 regions, as well as the surrounding islands, using an annual time series of ice sheet velocity, ice thickness, reconstructed surface mass balance, drainage inventory and high-resolution topography data. That collection of data includes "more complete mapping of glacier thickness than in the past due to new data," new velocity data and "a newer reconstruction of surface climate compared to what our group published in 2011, so the estimates we obtain are of higher quality," lead study author Eric Rignot, an Earth-systems scientist for the University of California at Irvine and NASA, wrote in an email. "Data was derived from fairly high-resolution aerial photographs taken from a distance of about 350 meters via NASAs Operation IceBridge; satellite radar interferometry from multiple space agencies; and the ongoing Landsat satellite imagery series, begun in the early 1970s," a news release notes. To estimate the ice sheet mass balance, the team utilized a technique called the component method, which compares snowfall accumulation occurring over the interior basins with glacial ice discharge across the grounding line. "Our technique examines each glacier and the exact partitioning between the surface climate and the glacier dynamics, so we can understand the physical processes driving the mass changes," Rignot noted. The mathematics used to evaluate data for this study included "very simple to calculate fluxes at gates (integration) and error analysis," according to Rignot. "The mass loss from West Antarctica is three to four times larger than that from East Antarctica and the [Antarctic] Peninsula, respectively," the researchers wrote in the study, adding "We find that the Antarctic Ice Sheet has been out of balance with snowfall accumulation the entire period of study, including in East Antarctica." The finding about East Antarctica is particularly surprising. "Our observations challenge the traditional view that the East Antarctic Ice Sheet is stable and immune to change," the researchers wrote. That traditional view was based on the knowledge that the East Antarctic Ice Sheet "stands on higher ground, hence [it's] colder; and most of the ground is above the water line, hence protecting the ice from the influence of the ocean," Rignot noted. Since 1979, the average contribution to sea level rise stemming from Antarctica was about 3.6 millimeters per decade. What's more, Antarctica has contributed a total of about 14 millimeters to sea level rise in the last 40 years. "Evolution of the glaciers and surrounding ice shelves is consistent with a strengthening of the westerlies caused by a rise in greenhouse gas levels and ozone depletion that bring more CDW [circumpolar deep water] on the continental shelf," the researchers wrote. After analyzing their mass balance assessment (along with prior surveys), the team noted that future contributions to sea level rise from one sector of Antarctica alone (between the Cook, Ninnis and West ice shelves) may contribute multimeter sea level rise "with unabated climate warming." "Our outlook is that we have a lot of leakage of ice from many different regions of Antarctica, so we need to take the melting of Antarctica very seriously," Rignot said. Specific collection of data related to East Antarctica's ice thickness, as well as further validation of the team's mass balance model is needed, he noted.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/rachelcrowell/2019/01/18/how-much-has-antarcticas-ice-mass-loss-increased-since-1979/

Did Tate Martell make the right decision to leave Ohio State for Miami?

Quarterback Tate Martell is heading to Miami to play for the Hurricanes after the Ohio State Buckeyes picked up Justin Fields from Georgia. Many are criticizing him from running from a challenge, saying he should have stayed and competed for the starting job. Others understand his predicament and don't mind him leaving. PERSPECTIVES Martell looks weak for this move. That's not what competitors do. If he's confident in his ability, he should have stayed and earned that starting spot. He's spent a year learning under Ohio State's new head coach, Ryan Day, and already has a head start on Fields. Everyone raves about Martell's competitiveness. He should have stayed and fought. Just going to pack up and run. Ok. Don't swing and miss twice. -- WcharsnEx (@St3v3Wilds) January 10, 2019 Everyone jumping on this kid has no idea what he's going through. The coach that recruited him quit, and now he's stuck with a head coach that obviously likes Fields. There is no way it will be a fair fight for Martell, even though he spent a year under Day. Transferring to a Miami will give him a real opportunity. He made the right decision leaving Ohio State. There is more politics in D1 football than in DC. Most likely a good move on his part. If the new coach and said QB guru that coached both Haskins and Fields are eye to eye then Martell will NOT get a fair shot. #FACTS -- Rodney Cummings (@Govols4Rodney) January 10, 2019 Martell arrived at Ohio State at the wrong time as a run-first QB The Tylt is focused on debates and conversations around news, current events and pop culture. We provide our community with the opportunity to share their opinions and vote on topics that matter most to them. We actively engage the community and present meaningful data on the debates and conversations as they progress. The Tylt is a place where your opinion counts, literally. The Tylt is an Advance Local Media, LLC property. Join us on Twitter @TheTylt, on Instagram @TheTylt or on Facebook, we'd love to hear what you have to say.

https://www.cleveland.com/osu/2019/01/did_tate_martell_make_the_righ.html

Which NBA teams are saving cap space for free agency?

There is a slow buildup to what NBA executives are calling one of the most talent-rich free-agent classes in recent years. Kevin Durant, Kawhi Leonard, Klay Thompson, Kemba Walker, Kyrie Irving, DeMarcus Cousins, Khris Middleton, Kristaps Porzingis, Tobias Harris and Jimmy Butler headline the group of a projected 200 players who could hit free agency on July 1. Despite the star-studded field and the salary cap projected to increase to $109 million (from $101.8 million), teams are still feeling the ripple effect from the summer of 2016 when spending was at an all-time high. ESPN is projecting only 12 teams with cap space this offseason, an increase from nine in 2018. In 2016, there were 27 teams with room and a year later there were 16. While the big names, such as Leonard and Durant, will see max offers either from their respective teams or new destinations, possibly the Clippers or the Knicks, expect 2018's same pattern of short-term contracts to repeat itself. Keep in mind also that if either Kawhi or KD leaves, the Golden State Warriors and Toronto Raptors will not open up cap space to sign a replacement. The same holds true with players such as Irving in Boston and Walker in Charlotte. Here is an early look at the teams that are projected to have cap space, including three wild-card teams that could enter the mix in July. Atlanta Hawks Projected room: $42 million Who returns: Kent Bazemore, Miles Plumlee, Trae Young, Alex Len, Taurean Prince, John Collins, Kevin Huerter. DeAndre' Bembry, Omari Spellman, first-rounder (own) and first-rounder (from Dallas) Who may be gone: Jeremy Lin, Dewayne Dedmon, Vince Carter, Justin Anderson, Daniel Hamilton and Tyler Dorsey Other charges: Minimum roster charge ($897,000) The Hawks will enter the third year of their rebuild with a roster featuring six former first-round draft picks and two potential lottery selections (the first from Dallas is top-five protected). Expect the Hawks to act as a facilitator for unwanted contracts in exchange for draft assets. Atlanta is not at a point in its roster remake to be a destination for free agents looking to win now. The Hawks could have up to $85 million in room in 2020. Brooklyn Nets Projected room: $21 million Who returns: Allen Crabbe, Spencer Dinwiddie, Joe Harris, Jarrett Allen, Caris LeVert, Dzanan Musa, Rodions Kurucs, Shabazz Napier (contract guaranteed), Treveon Graham (contract guaranteed), D'Angelo Russell (free-agent hold), Rondae Hollis-Jefferson (free-agent hold), first-rounder (own) and first-rounder (from Denver) Who may be gone: DeMarre Carroll, Kenneth Faried, Jared Dudley and Ed Davis Other charges: Deron Williams ($5.4 million) There is a false narrative that the Nets have room for two max players. They don't. Yes, Brooklyn can clear an additional $28 million in room on top of max space, but that would come at the cost of two starters -- point guard D'Angelo Russell and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson. Both players are free agents with holds counting against the cap ($21 million for Russell, $7.4 million for Hollis-Jefferson). Brooklyn can explore moving the $18.5 million expiring Allen Crabbe contract, but that would likely require attaching a first-round pick to his contract. Crabbe has been injured for most of the season. Because Russell's salary is projected to fall well below his cap hold, expect Brooklyn to have in the neighborhood of $30 million in room. If the both players are not brought back -- an unlikely scenario -- Brooklyn will have $47 million in room. Chicago Bulls Projected room: $37 million Who returns Zach LaVine, Cristiano Felicio, Wendell Carter Jr., Kris Dunn, Lauri Markkanen, Denzel Valentine, Chandler Hutchison, Antonio Blakeney, Shaquille Harrison, Bobby Portis (free-agent hold), Ryan Arcidiacano (free-agent hold) and first-rounder (own) Who may be gone: Jabari Parker (team option declined), Wayne Selden and Robin Lopez Other charges: Omer Asik ($3 million) Despite having close to $40 million in room, another potential top-five draft pick and promising young players, Chicago will be faced with obstacles when it comes to free agency. An uncertain future in leadership, notably head coach Jim Boylen. Expect the Bulls to take a short-term approach with contracts like they did with Jabari Parker, this time with the hope of better results. Dallas Mavericks Projected room: $51 million Who returns: Harrison Barnes, Luka Doncic, Dwight Powell, Dennis Smith Jr., Jalen Brunson, Ray Spalding, Ryan Broekhoff, Max Kleber (free agent hold) and Dorian Finney-Smith (free-agent hold) Who may be gone: Salah Mejri, Devin Harris, DeAndre Jordan, Wes Matthews, Dirk Nowitzki and JJ Barea Other charges: Incomplete roster charge ($2.7 million) We will see this summer how strong the impact of Luke Doncic is. The Mavs project to have $51 million in room but would need to remake one of the top benches in the NBA, on top of replacing two starters in Jordan and Matthews. Indiana Pacers Projected room: $44 million Who returns: Victor Oladipo, Myles Turner, Doug McDermott, Domas Sabonis, TJ Leaf, Aaron Holiday, Ike Anigbogu (contract guaranteed), Alize Johnson (contract guaranteed) and first-rounder (own) Who may be gone: Thaddeus Young, Tyreke Evans, Bojan Bogdanovic, Darren Collison, Cory Joseph and Kyle O'Quinn Other charges: Incomplete roster charge ($2.7 million) and Monta Ellis ($2.2 million) Here comes the hard part for GM Kevin Pritchard and his front office: Balance the cap ledger of a top-five team in the Eastern Conference without taking a step back in the offseason. Remember it was just two years ago that Pritchard turned a dire situation with Paul George to become one of the better teams in the NBA. Although the Pacers can create up to $44 million in room, doing so could come at the cost of three starters: Collison, Bogdanovic and Young. Expect Pritchard to have two lines of communication open -- one for Indiana's own free agents and a second for a big catch, such as Khris Middleton. LA Clippers Projected room: $35.5 million Who returns: Danilo Gallinari, Lou Williams, Montrezl Harrell, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jerome Robinson, Tyrone Wallace, Sindarius Thornwell (contract guaranteed) and Tobias Harris (free-agent hold) Who may be gone: Avery Bradley (waived and stretched), Marcin Gortat, Boban Marjanovic, Patrick Beverley, Mike Scott, Milos Teodosic and Luc Mbah a Moute Other charges: Incomplete roster charge ($3.6 million) The Clippers have all but flown a flag announcing that they have cap space this summer. As ESPN's Brian Windhorst wrote, the Clippers are lining up their books to chase two max free agents. Though there is a clear path to signing a player such as Kawhi Leonard, adding a second max player would likely necessitate the Clippers renouncing the rights to Tobias Harris and find a team to take on Gallinari's expiring $22.6 million contract. In that scenario, LA would have $78 million in room, good enough for Leonard, Durant and $10 million left in room to fill out the roster. Signing two max players and retaining Harris would see the Clippers trade Gallinari, Lou Williams and Montrezl Harrell. Los Angeles Lakers Projected room: $35.3 million Who returns: LeBron James, Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram, Kyle Kuzma, Josh Hart, Mo Wagner, Isaac Bonga, Svi Mykhailiuk, Ivica Zubac (free-agent hold) and first-rounder (own) Who may be gone: Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Rajon Rondo, Lance Stephenson, Michael Beasley, JaVale McGee and Tyson Chandler Other charges: Incomplete roster charge ($897,000) and Luol Deng ($5 million) As mentioned in our trade deadline guide, there is a set timeline to how L.A.'s offseason should develop. With a max slot in place after their own free agents are renounced, the Lakers would need to sign a max player first before they explore the trade market for a star such as Anthony Davis. Using all of their available room would leave the Lakers limited in what they can send the Pelicans if a Davis trade materializes. Outside of LeBron James, the Lakers have only $23.3 million in available contracts to send out in a trade. (At least $22 million is needed to match salary and strike a deal.) All of the Lakers' young players would need to be sent out, including Kyle Kuzma and Josh Hart. New York Knicks Projected room: $30.7 million Who returns: Tim Hardaway Jr., Courtney Lee, Frank Ntilikina, Kevin Knox, Mitchell Robinson, Damyean Dotson, Kristaps Porzingis (free-agent hold) and first-rounder (own). Who may be gone: Lance Thomas (waived), Allonzo Trier (option not exercised), Enes Kanter, Emmanuel Mudiay, Mario Hezonja, Luke Kornet, Trey Burke and Noah Vonleh Other charges: Incomplete roster charge ($3.6 million) and Joakim Noah ($6.4 million) Starting with Joakim Noah's waiver and then electing to bypass extension talks with Porzingis, New York made it clear that cap space in the summer of 2019 is at a premium. However, even after reducing the Noah cap hit from $19.3 million to $6.4 million in 2019-20 and saving $10 million by not extending Porzingis, there is still work to do if the Knicks' front office wants to target a player like Kevin Durant. Because the starting number for Durant is $38 million, New York would need to trade or stretch the $12.3 million contract of Courtney Lee, after all their free agents are renounced except for Porzingis. For the Knicks to come close to two max slots, Lee and the remaining $37 million owed to Hardaway would need to be moved without taking back any salary. Moving Hardaway will likely cost the Knicks a first-round pick. Missing out on a superstar is not a doomsday scenario. New York is clearly a rebuilding team even if Porzingis returns healthy. Following the model used by Brooklyn (taking back bad contracts for draft assets) or Indiana (short-term deals) would be the best direction for the organization. Orlando Magic Projected room: $21 million Who returns: Aaron Gordon, Evan Fournier, Timofey Mozgov, DJ Augustin, Jonathan Isaac, Mo Bamba, Melvin Frazier, Wesley Iwundu (contract guaranteed), Jonathon Simmons (contract guaranteed), Isaiah Briscoe and first-rounder (own) Who may be gone: Nikola Vucevic, Terrence Ross, Jerian Grant, Jarell Martin and Khem Birch Other charges: Incomplete roster charge ($897,000) and CJ Watson ($333,000) Like most teams, creating cap space in Orlando comes at a significant cost. The $21 million in potential room is mostly written in pencil, because it would see the Magic lose both Vucevic and Ross to free agency. The two players count $36 million against the cap and their rights would need to be renounced for the Magic to use room. Philadelphia 76ers Projected room: $20 million Who returns: Joel Embiid, Ben Simmons, Jimmy Butler, Zhaire Smith, Landry Shamet, Jonah Bolden, TJ McConnell (free-agent hold) and first-rounder (own) Who may be gone: Wilson Chandler, JJ Redick, Justin Patton, Mike Muscala, Furkan Korkmaz and Amir Johnson Other charges: Incomplete roster charge ($2.7 million) Keeping Jimmy Butler's $30.6 million cap hold and renouncing all their free agents except for TJ McConnell would leave the Sixers with $20 million in room. That room would increase to $29 million if they part ways with Markelle Fultz in a trade that doesn't bring back salary. Keep in mind that with Ben Simmons becoming extension eligible on July 1, the window for the 76ers to use cap space will run out this offseason if Butler returns. If Butler doesn't return, Philadelphia would have $50 million in room. Phoenix Suns Projected room: $20 million Who returns: Devin Booker, TJ Warren, Deandre Ayton, Josh Jackson, Mikal Bridges, Elie Okobo, De'Anthony Melton, Richaun Holmes (free-agent hold) and first-rounder (own) Who may be gone: Ryan Anderson (waived), Kelly Oubre Jr., Troy Daniels, Dragan Bender and Jamal Crawford Other charges: Incomplete roster charge ($2.7 million) Despite losing $17 million in cap space when they extended Devin Booker before the season, Phoenix could still be in a position to go free-agent shopping, most notably for a permanent solution at point guard. Creating the room does come with the cost of not retaining restricted free agent Kelly Oubre Jr. and waiving the contract of Ryan Anderson. Sacramento Kings Projected room: $44 million Who returns: Bogdan Bogdanovic, Marvin Bagley III, Nemanja Bjelica, De'Aaron Fox, Buddy Hield, Skal Labissiere, Justin Jackson, Harry Giles, Yogi Ferrell (contract guaranteed), Frank Mason and Willie Cauley-Stein (free-agent hold) Who may be gone: Iman Shumpert, Kosta Koufos, Zach Randolph and Ben McLemore Other charges: Matt Barnes ($2.1 million) and incomplete roster charge ($897,000) The Kings face the unique situation of developing their own former first-round picks with a goal of using cap space to lure free agents in 2019. Sacramento can pitch free agents on a competitive team featuring one of the best, young backcourts in the NBA with Fox and Hield. If he does, free agency will be his last resort. The pitch to Davis is the ability to pick a teammate in the offseason with a projected $32 million in cap space. However, creating the room would see the Pelicans' roster stripped bare with only Davis, Jrue Holiday, E'Twaun Moore and their own first-round pick left on the team. Milwaukee Bucks Moving the contracts of John Henson and Matthew Dellavedova gave the Bucks the financial flexibility to either retain their own free agents -- Middleton, Eric Bledsoe, Malcolm Brogdon -- or look elsewhere. But with a team owning the league's best net rating, retaining all three core pieces should be the priority for the front office, despite the tease of creating up to $42 million in room. The Bucks could have $22 million in room if the price tag for Bledsoe becomes too expensive and they can't retain him. Utah Jazz The Jazz have built their roster through the draft and trades, with free agency as a distant third option. That is why the scenario of Utah becoming a player in the free-agent chase should be met with hesitancy. The team could create north of $20 million in room but that would come at the expense of starters Derrick Favors and Ricky Rubio.

https://abcnews.go.com/Sports/nba-teams-saving-cap-space-free-agency/story?id=60482148

Which Coyotes players could be on the move at the trade deadline?

Coyotes winger Richard Panik has a shot blocked by Sharks goaltender Aaron Dell during the second period of a game Jan. 16 at Gila River Arena. (Photo: Rob Schumacher/The Republic) With the NHL trade deadline about five weeks away, its never too early to start wondering how certain teams will approach one of the most anticipated days of the year. Given the clogged nature of the bottom of the Western Conference, the Coyotes are among several teams who could look to either buy or sell at the deadline depending on where they stand on Feb. 25. I dont think were really looking to be a deadline team in the sense that we need to make moves at the deadline, Coyotes President of Hockey Operations and General Manager John Chayka said. Obviously you cant make those type of moves after that, but were trying to improve our group in both the short term and the long term then were going to do that. Were always having discussions and Im not going to delay those discussions just because theres a deadline in place. If we can do something now that improves our group in both ways, Id definitely be looking to do that. That being said, heres a look at some Coyotes players who could be involved in deadline discussions: Richard Panik Coyotes right wing Richard Panik misses the net during a penalty shot on Capitals goaltender Pheonix Copley (1) during the second period of a game Dec. 6 at Gila River Arena. (Photo: Matt Kartozian, Matt Kartozian-USA TODAY Sports) Regardless of what the Coyotes try to do at the deadline, Richard Panik is probably the most likely Coyotes player to be traded. Hes one of just four pending unrestricted free agent skaters on the roster and it seems unlikely the Coyotes would bring him back this offseason. In terms of value, Panik could be viewed by teams as a top-six scoring winger who can play on both the power play and penalty kill. For a high-end contender looking for scoring help such as the Boston Bruins, Panik could come in as a really solid third-line wing. Given his somewhat inconsistent play with the Coyotes since being acquired from the Chicago Blackhawks in January 2018, some might be surprised that Panik is actually tied with Clayton Keller for the team lead in goals (18) over that span. Richard, for me, for the last couple weeks Ive been playing him a lot, Coyotes head coach Rick Tocchet said. And we need him to play a lot. My biggest thing with him is hes been inconsistent. If he can somehow get hold of his consistency in his game, he could be a very good hockey player. Thats something hes struggled with in the past and its something were trying to help him with. I think the last two to three weeks hes starting to find his identity a bit, but hes always struggling with consistency and thats something he has to work on. Panik comes with a $2.8-million cap hit this season, so keep that in mind when trying to find a good fit. The Bruins would certainly make sense with $3.8 million in space, and other teams such as the Colorado Avalanche, Nashville Predators and Minnesota Wild make some sense. If the Coyotes are looking for a comparable return a la Max Domi for Alex Galchenyuk a swap with the Washington Capitals could make sense. Andre Burakovsky has frequently been a healthy scratch for the defending Stanley Cup champions, and Arizona might be a nice change of scenery for the 23-year-old. Going back, Panik could provide some valuable secondary scoring and more of a veteran presence for the Capitals in their quest for a repeat title. Chayka has said he does not intend to make a deal simply for the sake of making one at the deadline, but he did acknowledge that Panik has recently played a key role for the Coyotes. That being said, Paniks value might be reaching its ceiling. Weve asked a lot of him, Chayka said of Panik. He plays a lot of minutes and he plays heavy minutes. Its only those elite players that can do it consistently, so hes had some inconsistencies but hes also been extremely productive. And not only productive in terms of goals and assists, but hes played on our penalty kill which is the leagues No. 1 unit right now. He plays on the power play, hes out in tight games so hes a guy thats brought a lot to our team and done a nice job. I think (Rick) Tocchets done a nice job, too, of putting him in the best position for success. Its worked out well from a trade with (Anthony) Duclair that needed a change of scenery and there wasnt the market for him that maybe some others had expected, but it was a chance to get a piece that really came in and complemented our group well. Alex Goligoski Alex Goligoski comes complete with a deal that includes a full no-move clause and a $5.475-million cap hit, but the fact that hes inked until 2021 could interest some teams. The kicker is, obviously, that Goligoski would have to be willing to go to that team. That makes it unlikely that Goligoski finds himself traded. At 33 years old, Goligoski is still a reliable defenseman who can provide occasional offense at 5-on-5 and as a second-unit anchor on the man-advantage. Goligoski is on pace for perhaps the worst offensive season of his career with just 16 points (two goals, 14 assists) through 40 games this season. Still, a contending team might be willing to take on Goligoskis money in order to add a veteran presence to their blue line. Niklas Hjalmarsson Coyotes' Niklas Hjalmarsson (4) checks Blues' Robby Fabbri (15) during the first period at Gila River Arena in Glendale, Ariz. on December 1, 2018. (Photo: Patrick Breen/The Republic) Like Goligoski, Niklas Hjalmarsson could have some value to a team needing a steady, veteran presence on the blue line. After all, the former three-time Stanley Cup champion is still regarded as one of the best shot blockers and stay-at-home defensemen in the NHL. However, Hjalmarsson does come with a no-move clause in which he submits 10 teams he would be willing to join. He also has a $5-million cap hit. It should also be noted that Hjalmarsson waived a previous no-move clause to join the Coyotes and signed a two-year extension with Arizona this offseason. It would seem that he would prefer to stay in the desert. Jordan Weal Although Jordan Weal was just acquired this very month from the Philadelphia Flyers, Weal is still a pending unrestricted free agent on a Coyotes team that, when healthy, features a surplus at the center position. Granted the Coyotes might want to invest in as much depth down the middle given their injury situation this season, Weal doesnt exactly fit on a potential 2019-20 lineup that will feature Nick Schmaltz, Derek Stepan, Christian Dvorak and Brad Richardson at center. Weal finds himself with a good situation with the Coyotes in that he is currently centering a line with Clayton Keller and Christian Fischer. If Weal starts to put up points in the next several weeks, Chayka might be able to flip him for some decent value. Jordan Oesterle Jordan Oesterle is the third of four pending unrestricted free agent skater on the Coyotes roster, but doesnt find himself with nearly as much trade talk as Panik. Still, it stands to reason that Oesterle could have some value at the deadline. Teams such as the Toronto Maple Leafs, Vegas Golden Knights, Edmonton Oilers and others are in need of puck-moving defensemen such as Oesterle and could probably strike a low-cost deal with the Coyotes in order to quench that need. MORE COYOTES Richard Morin covers the Coyotes and Diamondbacks for azcentral sports. He can be reached at rmorin@arizonarepublic.com and by phone at 480-316-2493. Follow him on Twitter @ramorin_azc.

https://www.azcentral.com/story/sports/nhl/coyotes/2019/01/18/which-arizona-coyotes-players-could-move-trade-deadline/2616443002/

Are the Cubs still in on Bryce Harper sweepstakes?

originally appeared on nbcsportschicago.com On Thursday's edition of the "At The Yard Podcast", Philadelphia Insider Jim Salisbury stated that he still feels the Yankees, Cubs and Dodgers are the three teams that are all still in the Bryce Harper and/or Manny Machado sweepstakes. Scroll to continue with content Ad He called all three franchises "very interested bystanders in one or both of these guys." Salisbury also mentioned that the St. Louis Cardinals could get in on the Manny Machado free agency if the figures for his alleged contract offer from the White Sox was correct, as reported this week. This comes just days after Cubs skipper Joe Maddon said "not going to happen" in regards to the North Siders going after Harper. And at the Cubs Convention, Tom Ricketts said "we didn't have the flexibility this year to go sign a huge free agent and I'm not sure we would have anyway, to be honest." All signs-coming from the Cubs at least-point to them not being in on Harper with all of their current financial commitments, yet reports continue to pour out stating that the Cubs are still monitoring his situation closely. On time will tell, but it certainly seems foolish to count Chicago out at this point. According to Salisbury, the Cubs have made it very clear to Harper's representatives that after he receives all of his final offers from teams, he should make sure to "check back with us [the Cubs]."

https://sports.yahoo.com/cubs-still-bryce-harper-sweepstakes-000326502.html?src=rss

Is First Solar a Buy in 2019?

A stock as volatile as First Solar's (NASDAQ: FSLR) is bound to create some polarizing opinions. On the one hand, you have one of the top manufacturers of solar panels that's been one of the best in the business at turning a profit. On the other hand, you have a company in a highly cyclical business, where industry prospects can swing wildly based on government decisions. Those bullish on the industry can point to the incredible growth prospects and rapid cost reductions for the industry, while bears can point to the past decade of growth that has left investors with little to show for it. With all of this in mind, let's take a look at where First Solar stands today and whether investors should consider buying this stock. Construction workers installing solar panels. More Image source: First Solar. Management is expecting a strong showing in 2019 and beyond 2018 wasn't a great year for the solar industry in general. Tariffs for imported panels muted demand for panels somewhat, but a large driver of industry weakness was China's decision to slow down its renewable energy investments by reducing feed-in tariffs and capping distributed generation projects. On paper, these two events shouldn't impact First Solar's business that much. First Solar's thin-film panels were exempt from U.S. tariffs, and its sales in China are minimal. These two events ended up having a significant impact on its business, though, because many U.S. solar developers bought panels in 2017 to avoid tariffs, which pulled forward a lot of demand into 2017. Also, China's slowing demand created an oversupply of panels, which drove down selling prices and deeply impacted margins. These events came at an inconvenient time for First Solar because it was in the middle of ramping up production at several of its facilities and operating costs were exceptionally high. Management thinks that the worst is behind it and expects better things this year. Those higher operating costs for new production means the company will increase production from less than 3 gigawatts in 2018 to a record 5.2-5.5 gigawatts in 2019. That will help to boost revenue to $3.25 billion to $3.45 billion for the year. While one could argue that its margin outlook still doesn't look great, the positive takeaway here is that the company should get back to generating respectable profitability after slipping into negative territory in 2017 for the first time in over a decade.

https://news.yahoo.com/first-solar-buy-2019-004900682.html

Is Jagmeet Singh capable of tapping into modern left-wing populism?

Open this photo in gallery NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh crosses a street while door knocking for his by-election campaign, in Burnaby, B.C., on Saturday Jan. 12, 2019. DARRYL DYCK/The Canadian Press Earlier this month, Jagmeet Singh celebrated his 40th birthday by posting on Instagram and Twitter a photo of himself as a newborn baby, with one eye closed. There followed an assessment by Mr. Singh of what his wink might have meant, which culminated in the leader of the New Democratic Party speaking in the voice of his one-day-old self: My name will be Jagmeet Singh and it means friend to the world. Im here to say hi and that I care about you. My secret is I think deep down we all care about each other and together were going to build a better world. Most Canadians probably didnt notice any of this; some who did found it cute. Certainly it didnt rank among the most obvious contributors to Mr. Singhs struggles, like his recent confusion during a television interview when asked about Chinas ambassador accusing Canada of white supremacy. Story continues below advertisement Yet Mr. Singhs saccharine social media post seemed to epitomize something beyond occasionally being poorly briefed, and perhaps harder to change that some New Democrats find unsettling about their leader and his ability to compete in next Octobers federal election. That discomfort has to do with whether Mr. Singh, even if he gets a boost next month by winning the by-election in British Columbia in which he is competing, is suited to the current political moment. It does not require great imagination to envision populist waves that have swept over most other Western countries hitting Canada. Arguably they already have, in provincial elections in Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick. While much of that energy has been on the right, there is potential for it on the left, especially among younger voters who feel robbed of previous generations economic security and fearful about the planets future due to climate change. It is also not unimaginable that an NDP leader could successfully paint Mr. Trudeau as someone who talks a good game about such anxieties but is too disconnected from day-to-day realities and beholden to the political establishment to take them seriously enough. But that would require striking a contrast through bold policy positions delivered with urgency and a hint of anger. And Mr. Singh has not exactly been the equivalent of Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, the rookie U.S. congressional representative who has recently been at the forefront of a movement pushing the populist left into the political mainstream. He has recently fished in some of the right policy waters, talking lots about housing affordability. But so far his proposed solutions more investment in co-op housing, and unspecified targeting of real-estate speculation have not been earth-shattering. And he has struggled to deliver the obvious message youre being priced out of cities becoming playgrounds for the rich, and other politicians dont care with the forcefulness needed for a third-party leader to break through. More perplexing has been his mildness on oil pipelines. Opposing the expansion of the Trans Mountain line was a tough call, because it alienated Albertas NDP government. Instead he scarcely made any noise at all. But then, righteous indignation has never been Mr. Singhs stock-in-trade. Despite the mixed-martial arts background he often invokes, his nature based on interactions during his time in Ontario politics, and observations of those who have worked closely with him is nonconfrontational. Some politicians hone in on precise words that will tap into voters anger; he tends more toward appealing to better angels with aspirational generalities. Story continues below advertisement Story continues below advertisement Nor did Mr. Singh promise much populism when he won the NDPs leadership, with Love and Courage as his catchphrase. His appeal was that he would out-Trudeau Mr. Trudeau cooler, sunnier, more representative of generational and cultural change. The problem, New Democrats seem to have since concluded, is that voters who grow disillusioned with Mr. Trudeau wont be looking for a variation of him. So the new campaign team with which he has surrounded himself, after his underwhelming start on the job, has been trying to steer him toward a grittier image. That means some of Mr. Singhs hipster flourishes flashy clothes, bespoke bicycles will likely be played down leading up to Octobers election. The word love is not likely to appear in as many of his scripts. Assuming he wins his by-election and remains leader, the aim will be to present him with a more common touch that, combined with a rollout of ambitious policies, make Mr. Trudeau look isolated, complacent and self-satisfied by comparison. Mr. Singh could grow into that identity. But its hard for any politician attempting some version of modern populism to succeed without being authentic. Maybe he was being cloying with that baby-photo post, and needs to get that sort of thing out of his repertoire. Maybe it was a truer reflection of who he is than the rebranding that is supposed to be under way.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-is-jagmeet-singh-capable-of-tapping-into-modern-left-wing-populism/

Is Palo Alto Networks a Buy?

Though demand for cybersecurity solutions is on the rise, Palo Alto Networks' (NYSE: PANW) stock price hasn't matched its business results the last couple of quarters. Sales have continued to rise as organizations around the globe migrate to cloud-based operations -- the security of which is a special focus of Palo Alto -- and the company continues to home in on unadjusted profitability. Nevertheless, shares rose too far, too fast in 2018, and a correction was overdue. After the reset on valuations and Palo Alto's continued double-digit growth, the stock is worth putting on buy lists for the new year. Accelerating sales and profits Over a trailing three-year period, Palo Alto's sales and free cash flow (money left over after basic operating expenses and capital expenditures) have both nearly doubled. During the fiscal year ended July 31, 2018, revenue growth began to accelerate due to the company's acquisition of smaller peers. Palo Alto also got a new CEO, Nikesh Arora, a former executive at Google parent Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOG)(NASDAQ: GOOGL). Those trends continued during the fiscal 2019 first quarter. Sales growth topped the 29% rate posted during 2018, and unadjusted losses were inching toward black. Metric Three Months Ending Oct. 31, 2018 Three Months Ending Oct. 31, 2017 YOY Increase Revenue $656 million $502 million 31% Gross profit margin 72% 71.8% 0.2 p.p. Operating expenses $505 million $414 million 22% Earnings (loss) per share ($0.41) ($0.70) N/A Adjusted earnings per share $1.17 $0.75 56% YOY = year over year. P.p. = percentage point. Data source: Palo Alto Networks. Businesses' and organizations' cloud-based operations are growing increasingly complex, as are bad guys' efforts to disrupt them. With digital transformation only increasing around the globe, Palo Alto has a strong tailwind at its back that could bolster growth for years to come. Nevertheless, some investors may shy away due to the lack of profits -- at least on an unadjusted basis, which includes share-based compensation and one-time expenses related to acquisitions and tax law changes. When accounting for those items and the fast uptick in sales, Palo Alto looks like an attractive investment. An illustrated blue shield over a wall of numbers, illustrating cybersecurity software. More Image source: Getty Images. Really expensive, but only on the surface Though Palo Alto is currently running at a loss, its one-year forward price to earnings is 32.8 -- implying Wall Street's expectations that the cybersecurity outfit will soon turn a corner on the bottom line. However, paying for more than 30 years' worth of profits that haven't yet arrived may not be your cup of tea. Things look a lot better when using price to free cash flow, though. Based on that, Palo Alto is making healthy profits -- $901 million over the last trailing 12-month period, to be exact. That's good for a price-to-free-cash-flow ratio of 20.5. That looks like a reasonable price for a company that is notching better than 30% and 50% sales and adjusted profit growth, respectively. However, it's still worth noting that Palo Alto's stock will be a volatile one. Misses in top-line growth trajectory can send shares on a gut-wrenching ride, so investors with no patience for that should steer clear. For those who don't mind the ups and downs and have at least a few years to wait, shares look like a good value given how fast the company is expanding. More From The Motley Fool Suzanne Frey, an executive at Alphabet, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Nicholas Rossolillo and his clients own shares of Alphabet (C shares). The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Alphabet (A shares), Alphabet (C shares), and Palo Alto Networks. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

https://news.yahoo.com/palo-alto-networks-buy-012000676.html

Whats an index fund?

(The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.) Jordan Schoenfeld, Georgetown University (THE CONVERSATION) The creation of the index fund in 1975 revolutionized investing, lowering costs for millions of ordinary investors. Their inventor John Bogle died on Jan. 16 at the age of 89. Bogle took a complex universe of thousands of stocks and reduced it to a simple, singular entity, the index fund. Through index funds, investing in the stock market became easy, and one could do so at low cost while minimizing risk. Practitioners and academics have researched the drivers and consequences of index fund investing myself included. Here is some of what we know. Investing before index funds In the 1970s, academics and others began finding that many highly paid stock pickers do not outperform broad market indices. That is, investors could earn higher returns by simply holding a diversified portfolio of stocks and avoiding speculation altogether. But at the time, the average investor didnt have an easy way to this because an investment vehicle for such diversification did not yet exist. So Bogle stepped in and created the index fund. An easy way to diversify In a nutshell, index funds are designed to give investors exposure to a diversified set of stocks at a very low cost. The name index reflects the idea that by buying the fund an investor in effect immediately owns a broad index of the underlying stocks. All you must do is pay an intermediary like Vanguard, the investment company Bogle founded, which now manages US$5.1 trillion in assets a small, built-in fee in exchange for spreading your money out across the market. In part, thats because index funds are bought and sold just like individual stocks and many even have their own stock symbols. For example, if you want exposure to a mix of all the companies in the S&P 500 index, you can buy the stock VOO, and your money will automatically be invested in a value-weighted portfolio of the S&P 500 companies. If you want to divest, simply sell your shares of VOO. Why theyre so popular The underlying logic of index funds still prevails today. Academics regularly find that stock pickers who continue to be highly paid do not outperform the market, on average. It should thus not be surprising that, according to Moodys, nearly one-third of all investments in the U.S., or almost $6 trillion, are now in index funds or other passive investments. Analysts expect this amount to increase further over the next decade. Economies of scale resulting from their popularity have caused the fees for some index funds to hit zero. And by one estimate, Bogles creation is saving investors $100 billion every year. Bogles innovative investment philosophy overturned an industry, which in my view makes him one of Wall Streets superstar investors. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article here: http://theconversation.com/whats-an-index-fund-110092.

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/article/What-s-an-index-fund-13543843.php

Can genetic engineering save disappearing forests?

(The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.) Jason A. Delborne, North Carolina State University (THE CONVERSATION) Compared to gene-edited babies in China and ambitious projects to rescue woolly mammoths from extinction, biotech trees might sound pretty tame. But releasing genetically engineered trees into forests to counter threats to forest health represents a new frontier in biotechnology. Even as the techniques of molecular biology have advanced, humans have not yet released a genetically engineered plant that is intended to spread and persist in an unmanaged environment. Biotech trees genetically engineered or gene-edited offer just that possibility. One thing is clear: The threats facing our forests are many, and the health of these ecosystems is getting worse. A 2012 assessment by the U.S. Forest Service estimated that nearly 7 percent of forests nationwide are in danger of losing at least a quarter of their tree vegetation by 2027. This estimate may not sound too worrisome, but it is 40 percent higher than the previous estimate made just six years earlier. In 2018, at the request of several U.S. federal agencies and the U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine formed a committee to examine the potential use of biotechnology to mitigate threats to forest tree health. Experts, including me, a social scientist focused on emerging biotechnologies, were asked to identify the ecological, ethical, and social implications of deploying biotechnology in forests, and develop a research agenda to address knowledge gaps. Our committee members came from universities, federal agencies and NGOs and represented a range of disciplines: molecular biology, economics, forest ecology, law, tree breeding, ethics, population genetics and sociology. All of these perspectives were important for considering the many aspects and challenges of using biotechnology to improve forest health. A crisis in US forests Climate change is just the tip of the iceberg. Forests face higher temperatures and droughts and more pests. As goods and people move around the globe, even more insects and pathogens hitchhike into our forests. We focused on four case studies to illustrate the breadth of forest threats. The emerald ash borer arrived from Asia and causes severe mortality in five species of ash trees. First detected on U.S. soil in 2002, it had spread to 31 states as of May 2018. Whitebark pine, a keystone and foundational species in high elevations of the U.S. and Canada, is under attack by the native mountain pine beetle and an introduced fungus. Over half of whitebark pine in the northern U.S. and Canada have died. Poplar trees are important to riparian ecosystems as well as for the forest products industry. A native fungal pathogen, Septoria musiva, has begun moving west, attacking natural populations of black cottonwood in Pacific Northwest forests and intensively cultivated hybrid poplar in Ontario. And the infamous chestnut blight, a fungus accidentally introduced from Asia to North America in the late 1800s, wiped out billions of American chestnut trees. Its complicated Although there are many potential applications of biotechnology in forests, such as genetically engineering insect pests to suppress their populations, we focused specifically on biotech trees that could resist pests and pathogens. Through genetic engineering, for example, researchers could insert genes, from a similar or unrelated species, that help a tree tolerate or fight an insect or fungus. Its tempting to assume that the buzz and enthusiasm for gene editing will guarantee quick, easy and cheap solutions to these problems. But making a biotech tree will not be easy. Trees are large and long-lived, which means that research to test the durability and stability of an introduced trait will be expensive and take decades or longer. We also dont know nearly as much about the complex and enormous genomes of trees, compared to lab favorites such as fruit flies and the mustard plant, Arabidopsis. In addition, because trees need to survive over time and adapt to changing environments, it is essential to preserve and incorporate their existing genetic diversity into any new tree. Through evolutionary processes, tree populations already have many important adaptations to varied threats, and losing those could be disastrous. So even the fanciest biotech tree will ultimately depend on a thoughtful and deliberate breeding program to ensure long-term survival. For these reasons, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine committee recommends increasing investment not just in biotechnology research, but also in tree breeding, forest ecology and population genetics. Oversight challenges The committee found that the U.S. Coordinated Framework for the Regulation of Biotechnology, which distributes federal oversight of biotechnology products among agencies such as EPA, USDA and FDA, is not fully prepared to consider the introduction of a biotech tree to improve forest health. Most obviously, regulators have always required containment of pollen and seeds during biotech field trials to avoid the escape of genetic material. For example, the biotech chestnut was not allowed to flower to ensure that transgenic pollen wouldnt blow across the landscape during field trials. But if biotech trees are intended to spread their new traits, via seeds and pollen, to introduce pest resistance across landscapes, then studies of wild reproduction will be necessary. These are not currently allowed until a biotech tree is fully deregulated. Another shortcoming of the current framework is that some biotech trees may not require any special review at all. The USDA, for example, was asked to consider a loblolly pine that was genetically engineered for greater wood density. But because USDAs regulatory authority stems from its oversight of plant pest risks, it decided that it did not have any regulatory authority over that biotech tree. Similar questions remain regarding organisms whose genes are edited using new tools such as CRISPR. The committee noted that U.S. regulations fail to promote a comprehensive consideration of forest health. Although the National Environmental Policy Act sometimes helps, some risks and many potential benefits are unlikely to be evaluated. This is the case for biotech trees as well as other tools to counter pests and pathogens, such as tree breeding, pesticides and site management practices. The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine report suggests an ecosystem services framework for considering the various ways that trees and forests provide value to humans. These range from extraction of forest products to the use of forests for recreation to the ecological services a forest provides water purification, species protection and carbon storage. The committee also acknowledged that some ways of valuing the forest do not fit into the ecosystem services framework. For example, if forests are seen by some to have intrinsic value, then they have value in and of themselves, apart from the way humans value them and perhaps implying a kind of moral obligation to protect and respect them. Issues of wildness and naturalness also surface. Paradoxically, a biotech tree could increase and decrease wildness. If wildness depends upon a lack of human intervention, then a biotech tree will reduce the wildness of a forest. But perhaps so would a conventionally bred, hybrid tree that was deliberately introduced into an ecosystem. There are no right or wrong answers to these questions, but they remind us of the complexity of decisions to use technology to enhance nature. This complexity points to a key recommendation of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine report: dialogue among experts, stakeholders and communities about how to value forests, assess the risks and potential benefits of biotech, and understand complex public responses to any potential interventions, including those involving biotechnology. These processes need to be respectful, deliberative, transparent and inclusive. Such processes, such as a 2018 stakeholder workshop on the biotech chestnut, will not erase conflict or even guarantee consensus, but they have the potential to create insight and understanding that can feed into democratic decisions that are informed by expert knowledge and public values. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article here: http://theconversation.com/can-genetic-engineering-save-disappearing-forests-109793.

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/article/Can-genetic-engineering-save-disappearing-forests-13543851.php

Is winter miserable for wildlife?

(The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.) Bridget B. Baker, Wayne State University (THE CONVERSATION) While the weather outside may indeed get frightful this winter, a parka, knit hat, wool socks, insulated boots and maybe a roaring fire make things bearable for people who live in cold climates. Anyone whos walked their dog when temperatures are frigid knows that canines will shiver and favor a cold paw which partly explains the boom in the pet clothing industry. But chipmunks and cardinals dont get fashionable coats or booties. In fact, wildlife can succumb to frostbite and hypothermia, just like people and pets. In the northern United States, the unfurred tails of opossums are a common casualty of cold exposure. Every so often an unusual cold snap in Florida results in iguanasfalling from trees and manatees dyingfrom cold stress. Avoiding the cold is important for preserving life or limb (or, in the opossums case, tail) and the opportunity to reproduce. These biological imperatives mean that wildlife must be able to feel cold, in order to try to avoid the damaging effects of its extremes. Animal species have their own equivalent to what human beings experience as that unpleasant biting mixed with pins-and-needles sensation that urges us to warm up soon or suffer the consequences. In fact, the nervous system mechanisms for sensing a range of temperatures are pretty much the same among all vertebrates. One winter challenge for warm-blooded animals, or endotherms, as theyre scientifically known, is to maintain their internal body temperature in cold conditions. Interestingly though, temperature-sensing thresholds can vary depending on physiology. For instance, a cold-blooded that is, ectothermic frog will sense cold starting at a lower temperature compared to a mouse. Recent research shows that hibernating mammals, like the thirteen-lined ground squirrel, dont sense the cold until lower temperatures than endotherms that dont hibernate. So animals know when its cold, just at varying temperatures. One solution: Slow down and check out Many cold-climate endotherms exhibit torpor: a state of decreased activity. They look like they are sleeping. Because animals capable of torpor alternate between internally regulating their body temperature and allowing the environment to influence it, scientists consider them heterotherms. During harsh conditions, this flexibility offers the advantage of a lower body temperature remarkably in some species, even below the 32 degrees Fahrenheit freezing point that is not compatible with many physiologic functions. The result is a lower metabolic rate, and thus lower energy and food demand. Hibernation is a prolonged version of torpor. Torpor has energy conservation benefits for smaller-bodied wildlife in particular think bats, songbirds and rodents. They naturally lose heat faster because the surface area of their body is large compared to their overall size. To maintain their body temperature within normal range, they must expend more energy compared to a larger-bodied animal. This is especially true for birds who maintain higher average body temperatures compared to mammals. Unfortunately, torpor is not a perfect solution to surviving frigid conditions since it comes with trade-offs, such as a higher risk of becoming another animals lunch. Adaptations that help Unsurprisingly, animals have evolved other adaptations for weathering the winter months. Wildlife species at northern latitudes tend be larger-bodied with smaller appendages than their close relatives closer to the tropics. Many animals have evolved behaviors to help them beat the cold: herding, denning, burrowing and roosting in cavities are all good defenses. And some animals experience physiological changes as winter approaches, building fat reserves, growing thicker fur, and trapping an insulating layer of air against the skin beneath the fur or feathers. Nature has devised other neat tricks to help various animals deal with conditions that people, for instance, would be unable to endure. The secret is the close proximity of the arteries and veins in their extremities that creates a gradient of warming and cooling. As blood from the heart travels to the toes, the warmth from the artery transfers to the vein carrying cold blood from the toes back to the heart. This countercurrent heat exchange allows the core of the body to remain warm while limiting heat loss when the extremities are cold, but not so cold that tissue damage occurs. This efficient system is used by many terrestrial and aquatic birds and mammals, and even explains how oxygen exchange occurs in the gills of fish. Luckily, ice floats because water is most dense as a liquid, allowing fish to swim freely in not-quite-freezing temperatures below the solidified surface. Additionally, fish may lack the cold-sensing receptor shared by other vertebrates. They do, however, have unique enzymes that allow physiologic functions to continue at colder temperatures. In polar regions, fish even have special antifreeze proteins that bind to ice crystals in their blood to prevent widespread crystallization. Another secret weapon in mammals and birds during long periods of cold exposure is brown adipose tissue or brown fat, which is rich in mitochondria. Even in people, these cellular structures can release energy as heat, generating warmth without the muscle contractions and energy inefficiency involved in shivering, another way the body tries to heat up. This non-shivering heat production probably explains why people in Anchorage can contentedly wear shorts and t-shirts on a 40 degrees Fahrenheit spring day. Of course, migration can be an option though its expensive in terms of energetic costs for wildlife, and financially for people who want to head closer to the equator. As a species, human beings have the ability to acclimate to an extent some of us more than others but were not particularly cold-adapted. Maybe thats why its hard to look out the window on a frigid day and not feel bad for a squirrel hunkered down as the winter wind whips through its fur. We may never know if animals dread winter its difficult to gauge their subjective experience. But wildlife do have a variety of strategies that improve their ability to withstand the cold, making sure they live to see another spring. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article here: http://theconversation.com/is-winter-miserable-for-wildlife-108734.

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/article/Is-winter-miserable-for-wildlife-13543844.php

Whats up with the fairy doors all around Healdsburg?

For more stories like this, check out The Chronicles weekly Travel newsletter! Sign up here. Healdsburg is known for great wine and top-notch restaurants. Some, however, hold the city in high regard for another reason: its resident fairies. No one ever has seen the fairies, mind you. But the doors to their homes are all over town literally. Sometime in 2017, local business owners started noticing the doors 5-inch-tall portals adorned with different details appearing on the sidewalks in front of their shops and propped up on the sides of buildings downtown. Dozens of them. Local officials figured someone from the community would come out and take credit for the phenomenon. But nobody has. More than a year later, the doors have become a mainstay of the downtown experience. Take a stroll around Healdsburg Plaza, and youll almost certainly notice them. Part of the magic behind the fairy doors is the mystery of who is creating them, says Mark Themig, the citys director of community services. While no local businesses have installed or affixed the doors on their own, many have embraced the challenge of decorating the doors once they appear. The city has embraced the fairy portals with open arms, putting together a map for anyone curious to spot them. Copies are available at the Chamber of Commerce office near the Mill Street roundabout and a handful of other places around town. The fairy door at the Camellia Inn appeared just before St. Patricks Day last year, says owner Lucy Lewand. Fairies painted on the door, placed near the inns fishpond, are depicted with a boat and a little car; perhaps they like to fish or swim, Lewand says. She has questions about the tiny creatures who live behind the door. What do they spend their time on? Lewand wonders. On the other side of town, staffers at the Healdsburg Museum add different decorative details to their fairy door at different times of year. In December, for instance, Executive Director Holly Hoods and her staff outfitted the door with a tiny wreath, a diminutive sled full of presents, a small Christmas tree and mini garland. We were thrilled when (the door) appeared one day, Hoods says. We have embraced it and have promoted it on social media. Healdsburg isnt the only Bay Area city to receive fairy doors out of the blue; theyve popped up in Cloverdale (two towns to the north) and Alameda recently; some have emerged in San Franciscos wooded Glen Canyon Park as well. In one fell swoop. Set aside an hour or two, grab a map, and head out to spot as many as you can. If youve got young kids in tow, challenge them to record their observations along the way. Just be sure to have them keep their eyes peeled for fairies. Because you never know.

https://www.sfchronicle.com/travel/article/What-s-up-with-the-fairy-doors-all-around-13544915.php

Who Is North Korean Diplomat Kim Yong-Chol?

MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST: We want to take a closer look now at the man who met with President Trump today - Kim Yong Chol. For that, we are joined by Jean Lee, who opened the Pyongyang bureau of The Associated Press and who is now at the Wilson Center. Welcome, Jean Lee, to our studio. JEAN LEE: Great. Glad to be here. KELLY: So I have seen Kim Yong Chol referred to - we just called him the top negotiator. I've seen him referred to as the former spy chief, as a diplomat. I noticed the BBC just had a profile of him calling him Kim Jong Un's right-hand man. LEE: All of those titles apply. KELLY: That's a whole lot of titles. LEE: Exactly. We should remember, though, that even though he's here as Kim Jong Un's chief envoy, he is a man with an intelligence background, a military background and wears many, many different hats inside North Korea. But one thing that I pay attention to is the bulk of his career has been in intelligence and in the military and overseeing some of the strategy related to reunifying the Korean Peninsula. And when I see Kim Yong Chol, it brings to mind that he has a certain mission, and that is probably to really press the point that North Korea wants to have some sort of discussion about this piece declaration. KELLY: This is something North Korea really wants - to formally end the Korean War. LEE: Exactly. And there are several different reasons for that. I do think that Kim Jong Un does need to tell his people that they are ready to move past this Korean War that has been unresolved since 1953. Remember that they signed a cease-fire with the United States and the United Nations. And that ideology of the Korean War being a central fight and focus for the North Korean people has been such a preoccupation. And I do think that he wants to move past that. And it's a way to perhaps decouple the U.S.-South Korean alliance. And so there are pros and cons to whether this is a good idea. But I do think he has multiple reasons for why he wants to move past this and turn his attention to North Korea's economy. KELLY: To pick up on something else you just said, his intelligence background. This is a guy with military intelligence in his background. He was director until fairly recently of the General Reconnaissance Bureau, North Korea's spy agency. LEE: Absolutely. And he oversaw some extremely destabilizing incidents, including the 2010 sinking of a South Korean warship, the Cheonan, that killed 46 South Korean sailors and really compelled South Korea to institute what are the toughest bilateral South Korean sanctions on North Korea, the May 10 sanctions. And, of course, some of the cyber warfare that I think is a very dangerous arm of North Korea's asymmetrical military tactics. KELLY: There were reports that he was involved with the hacking of Sony Pictures. LEE: He certainly would have been aware and overseen elements of that operation. But we could also point out that we too have a former spymaster, Mike Pompeo... KELLY: Who was at the table today. Fair point, indeed. LEE: Oh, he certainly does go way back with Kim Jong Un. He has close ties to the Kim family. I think, you know, I also think of him as somebody who's tough. And in my dealings with the North Koreans, there was always somebody I called the bulldog. There was somebody who was charming, and there was always a bulldog. He's the bulldog in this equation. He's the tough guy. And it's interesting because obviously he is - the one thing we didn't mention is that - his diplomacy background. He is not a diplomat. And certainly we have other people that we've been dealing with who are very seasoned, very worldly - he is not. KELLY: Well, he certainly extracted something that North Korea wants today, which is a second sit-down between President Trump and Kim Jong Un that appears to be on. LEE: Is it a victory. Of course, another summit would help propel this process and give Kim Jong Un another opportunity for that kind of propaganda and the legitimacy that he craves and the chance to really move this process forward. But the challenge - what I'm focused on is more that the challenge lies for the working-level group, for the working - the negotiators to nail down that road map that we heard earlier. That's the challenge. KELLY: We will see what happens there. Jean Lee, North Korea expert with the Wilson Center. Thanks so much. LEE: Thank you. Copyright 2019 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by Verb8tm, Inc., an NPR contractor, and produced using a proprietary transcription process developed with NPR. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPRs programming is the audio record.

https://www.npr.org/2019/01/18/686696849/who-is-north-korean-diplomat-kim-yong-chol?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=world

Could flexitarianism save the planet?

It has been known for a while that the amount of animal products being eaten is bad for both the welfare of animals and the environment. People cannot consume 12.9bn eggs in the UK each year without breaking a few. But the extent of the damage, and the amount by which people need to cut back, is now becoming clearer. On Wednesday, the Lancet medical journal published a study that calls for dramatic changes to food production and the human diet, in order to avoid catastrophic damage to the planet. The study sets out the targets for a daily diet to place consumption within the boundaries of the planet. They include a reduction in red meat consumption of more than 50%, and a doubling of the intake of nuts, fruits, vegetables and legumes. But in specific places the changes are stark. North Americans need to eat 84% less red meat but six times more beans and lentils. For Europeans, eating 77% less red meat and 15 times more nuts and seeds meets the guidelines, wrote The Guardians Damian Carrington. Others have called for even more drastic changes to human diet to be mad. Another study, published in Octoberin the journal Nature, estimated that meat consumption had to be reduced by 90% to avoid unsustainable global warming, deforestation and water shortages. Facebook Twitter Pinterest A chef preparing meat in Buenos Aires. A study is calling for a 50% reduction in intake. Photograph: Ronaldo Schemidt/AFP/Getty Images Whatever the figure, there is a growing consensus that a drastic reduction in overall meat consumption is needed to maintain the health of the planet. What is not clear is how that will be achieved. Excessive meat consumption, like other environmental crises, needs political solutions. Yet most discussion about whether to eat meat remains rooted in personal choice. So far the biggest change in our diets has come from a small but increasing percentage of people who identify as vegetarian or vegan: their answer to a global crisis is to swap out beef for cauliflower steak. The trend towards a meat-reduced diet is largely being driven by young people. A study released this month by the analysts Mintel found the UK has overtaken Germany in the number of new vegan products brought to market. Another agency, Acosta, found 26% of millennials are currently vegetarian or vegan. But by just focusing on personal consumption, a paradoxical situation has emerged where the number of people who consider themselves vegetarian has risen, but so has overall meat consumption because the population of the world is increasing, and many people who do eat meat are eating more of it. That is why many are now calling for a shift in approach: towards a regime that can involve more people and be less rigid about the rules of meat consumption. Sometimes given the slightly clunky titles flexitarian or reducetarianism, advocates of this approach are not especially bothered if you eat a bowl of chicken soup every now and again. What is more important to them is encouraging people to think about what they can do to reduce meat consumption worldwide. One of the leaders of this movement is a man called Brian Kateman, who coined the term reducetarian and now runs a foundation bearing that name. Speaking to the Guardian via Skype, he paces his office eating a bowl of vegetables from the salad chain Sweetgreen. He says there is no one thing behind his desire to motivate people to eat less meat: he is worried about heart disease, animal cruelty, high food prices and environmental destruction. Reducing meat intake can solve a lot of problems, but he says people need to be less puritanical. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Brian Kateman. Photograph: Andrei Severny His own inspiration came from a bout of sibling score-settling. I remember one Thanksgiving, I ate a small piece of turkey and in that moment my sister, as siblings will do, said to me: I thought you were a vegetarian Brian. I couldnt articulate then as well as I can now, but I thought about how the average person in the developed world eats around 200lb [90kg] of meat a year, and Im eating lets say 5lb of meat a year. Thats a lot better. We need to be mindful of how challenging that can be for people and we need to create systems where the default choice is the moral one. Brian also says that not all meat is the same. High quality, organic meat produced in cruelty free conditions is preferable. The foundation he set up aims to encourage society at large to reduce its intake. Were used to thinking about food as a personal choice so in our brain were accustomed to it being in this different category. But once you understand that factory farming and the products it produces are so connected to so many issues that are detrimental not just to ourselves but to others, it allows us to recognise that what comes out of your mouth is just as important as what goes into your mouth. He suggests supporting policy initiatives and encouraging restaurants to broaden their menus as small actions that can help. Facebook Twitter Pinterest The UK consumes 12.9bn eggs each year. Photograph: David Levene for the Guardian While there has been some light government intervention around food when it comes to personal health, including improvements to school dinners and the levy on sugary drinks, food ethics has traditionally been outside the realm of parliamentary politics. Dr Marco Springmann, who led the research group that published the report in Nature, says the stakes are too high for politicians to remain squeamish about regulation. Just yesterday I had a meeting with civil servants from Defra [the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs] and they were commenting that dietary change is a contentious topic and politicians dont want to get close to that. We saw similar statements from some politicians after we released the report. I think theyre just so afraid of not being electable if it appears to be trying to prescribe what people eat. If there is not a substantial change within society first, politicians wont lead the way because its too controversial. He says he is hopeful there will be a groundswell of change, particularly in big cities where restaurants specialising in plant-based dishes are popular. But millennials cannot make the change on their own. The challenge is to make it not only a very trendy thing for young folks but also to make it accessible for the older generation. A big problem with relying on vegetables becoming increasingly fashionable, though, is that it is a global issue that needs a global solution. Since the death of Mao Zedong in 1976, pork demand in China has increased by an average of 5.7% each year. It is now the biggest per-capita consumer of pork products in the world. Facebook Twitter Pinterest A customer builds a salad at a supermarket in Los Angeles. Photograph: Bloomberg via Getty Images But Springmann says small local changes can still have a global impact. Well they very often look towards the west to see what rich people eat, he says. If you talk to a Chinese person and you say youre vegetarian for example they dont get it. But if there is a large enough group that eats that way and its clear that it is progressive rather [than] a sacrifice, then it would be a strong signal to rapidly industrialising countries like China that want to catch up. Even in the west, people switching from animal to plant products does not necessarily mean an immediate reduction in meat and dairy production. In the US, a decrease in dairy consumption has led to lower milk prices, meaning that farmers are now overproducing to try to offset their loses. Thousands of gallons of unwanted milk have been turned into processed cheese and is sitting in warehouses across the US, uneaten. May I have a word about flexitarian diets | Jonathan Bouquet Read more But there are reasons to be optimistic. In California, campaigners petitioned for a ballot measure that would make intense factory farming of caged chickens illegal. It passed during the most recent midterm elections and although Peta and others say it does not go far enough, itis a step in the right direction. If, in the UK, councils fine people for not recycling and high-emissions cars can be banned from the centre of London, it is time for individuals, companies and governments to actively work to reduce peoples meat intake, whether they want to or not, campaigners say. Springmann says if we do not get over our squeamishness about making these changes quickly, things are going to get a lot worse. If we continue with our current levels of meat consumption, its very likely that we will have more flooding, more hurricanes, extreme weather that is associated with exceeding the two-degree target for climate change ... if nothing is done then those pressures could increase by 50 to 90% and by that time it will basically exceed all environmental limits or so-called planetary boundaries that define a safe operating space for humanity.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/jan/19/could-flexitarianism-save-the-planet

Should I volunteer to be a company pension trustee?

My colleagues are encouraging me, but Im worried it will mean loads of pointless work Every week a Guardian Money reader submits a question, and its up to you to help him or her out a selection of the best answers will appear in next Saturdays paper. My company lets employees choose trustees to help oversee its pension scheme. My colleagues are pushing me to sign up, but Im worried it will mean loads of work without achieving anything. Email your suggestions to money@theguardian.com or write to us at Money, the Guardian, Kings Place, 90 York Way, London N1 9GU

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2019/jan/19/should-i-volunteer-to-be-a-company-pension-trustee

Could renting without huge deposits become the norm?

Tenants are being offered schemes that do away with the need for large amounts upfront Scraping together a deposit on a new flat is always tough for tenants, with the average amount demanded now more than 1,400 in England and Wales. Thats the deal being dangled in front of tenants by some of Britains biggest letting agents. Rental deposits have soared in recent years, with tenants frequently asked to put down the equivalent of two months rent, which they wont see returned for possibly years and then with possible deductions. But a growing number of agents are being offered zero deposit schemes. Since last April, new tenants renting property through Haart have been offered the chance to sign up to the Flatfair scheme. UK house prices fall at fastest rate in six years on back of Brexit Rics Read more Instead of paying a traditional deposit, the scheme charges a one-off premium, typically worth just one weeks rental payment. This buys a kind of insurance for the landlord, offering to cover any costs at the end of the tenancy. Now Haart is extending the offer to existing tenants. They will be asked if they want to get back their deposit, typically 1,407, according to the firm, and sign up with Flatfair. Alongside Flatfair, there are a number of other schemes including Zero Deposit and Canopy. The basic principle of each is the same. The tenant pays a premium, which buys protection for the landlord. At the end of the tenancy the tenant can move on with no more fees to pay, unless the landlord makes a claim for damage. If that happens, the landlord receives money from the scheme, which will then pursue the tenant to recover some cash. Critics say that tenants, after paying the insurance premium, can potentially be left with having to fork out again if the landlord claims on it. Whats more, the agents pushing the scheme receive a commission from the insurance company, worth about 20% of whatever the tenant has paid. It is also apparent that these schemes have only appeared after it emerged that high deposits demanded by landlords were going to be capped. The cap comes into force on 1 June ), limiting deposits to five weeks rent. Flatfair was founded more than two years ago and the amount weve saved tenants from being frozen during their tenancy is into seven figures, says Franz Doerr, who set up the scheme. The majority of tenants who are well behaved will benefit from a membership discount for future tenancies. Zero Deposit says its scheme is underwritten and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Jon Notley, co-founder of Zero Deposit, says: Unfortunately, some providers are launching products that do not fall under FCA regulation. This is dangerous, with landlords and tenants potentially being misled about the cover they are being provided, and certainly without the protections that regulated products provide. Groups representing tenants say they cannot see the benefits for most of their members. Dan Wilson Craw from Generation Rent says zero-deposit schemes are an unnecessary expense for tenants. This is money that you will never see again, whereas with a standard deposit if you take care of the property you should get all that money back, he says. People need to realise that its not taking away their responsibility for keeping the home in good condition and paying the rent. If there are problems you will have to pay what they ask for. Even landlord groups are concerned. John Stewart, policy manager at the Residential Landlords Association, says he can see the potential for a loss-loss situation with this type of scheme. For tenants, he says it might cut the upfront fees but it is an absolute cost at the end of the day, while for landlords it was unclear how long claims would take to be paid and what would happen if a scheme went bust. The deposit can be held by a landlord if they use the insured scheme, and a lot of landlords would prefer the cash, he adds. Stewart says that in some cases there would be an advantage in using this type of scheme after the new deposits cap comes into effect. Most deposits are set at the five- week level but there are some times when the landlord asks for more for instance, if there are pets, or there are high-risk tenants who have a history of arrears. David Cox, the chief executive of Arla Propertymark, says his group is not recommending the schemes to members. We are not endorsing any of these schemes the market needs to prove itself first, he says. We are telling agents that they need to be careful to explain what they are to tenants. In most cases they are not insurance policies and tenants will be pursued for any costs at the end. Cap on letting fees and deposits from June Long-promised restrictions on the charges landlords and agents are allowed to levy on tenants in England and Wales are set to come into force on 1 June after the House of Lords approved the governments Tenant Fees Bill. The bill still needs to be approved by the House of Commons and the rules will only apply to tenancies signed from 1 June. The new regulations will: Ban landlords and agents from charging for credit checks, inventories or references. Cap the cost of varying a tenancy at the tenants request (such as a name change) at 50, unless the landlord can show it cost them more. Cap the amount that tenants can be charged as security deposit at a sum equal to five weeks rent. Cap the amount tenants can be charged for a holding deposit at one weeks rent. Only allow default fees for the cost of replacing lost keys or recovering missed rent.

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2019/jan/19/could-renting-without-huge-deposits-become-the-norm

Will a Dallas schools trustee be forced to resign after eligibility concerns arise?

A Dallas schools trustee running for a spot on the Dallas City Council is unsure whether he'll be able to finish his term after questions arose about whether he lives in the district he represents. Social media posts began circulating Friday criticizing trustee Jaime Resendez for not living within the District 4 boundaries in the Pleasant Grove area. Public records show that in 2017, Resendez purchased a home a few blocks outside his district in the adjacent District 9. Resendez met with school district attorneys Friday and issued a statement saying he is awaiting clarification from them. "It has been an honor to serve students and my community," he wrote in a text message to The Dallas Morning News. "I have received questions and contacted DISD for their guidance. The district is unclear on the guidelines. Once I receive their opinion, I will take the appropriate steps."

https://www.dallasnews.com/news/education/2019/01/18/will-dallas-schools-trustee-forced-resign-after-eligibility-concerns-arise

Will Blue Dog Democrats Have the Last Say?

This is a rush transcript from "Your World With Neil Cavuto," October 13, 2009. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated. NEIL CAVUTO, HOST: President Obama getting ready to speak out about winning a key vote in his pursuit of health care reform. As I`m sure you know by now, the Senate Finance Committee passing its health plan just a couple hours ago. He got one Republican backing it, Olympia Snowe of Maine. He will no doubt be doing a little bit of bragging about that, as this now makes it way to merge with another bill in the Senate, then on to the Senate, then reconciling whatever comes out of the House. It`s a mess, but, eventually, they hope to have something on the big guy`s desk. We will see. All right, in the meantime, the Senate vote is over, but health care battle in the House just beginning. Pennsylvania Congressman Blue Dog Democrat Jason Altmire joining me right now. Congressman, you guys seem to be like the Rodney Dangerfields in this process. (LAUGHTER) CAVUTO: No one respects you. No really cares what you think. And they seem to think that is the Democratic leadership they can go full-throttle without you. REP. JASON ALTMIRE (D), PENNSYLVANIA: Well, look, we have a bicameral system here. The House and the Senate are both going to have a voice. It does seem like this bill has been negotiated between the White House and the Senate. But the House has to pass a bill for this to become law. I, as we have talked before, have been unhappy with the direction that the House has gone. I do think that we have moved towards the center and we have a better product. We have to see what CBO says on whether or not I will be able to support it. But I think that we are moving in the right direction. And I see the Senate moving in the right direction. CAVUTO: Well, Nancy Pelosi you guys don`t like the public option. She does. She`s the boss. You`re not. She is not toast, but you are. ALTMIRE: My concerns about the House bill dealt with the lack of cost containment, the income tax that I thought was misguided and misplaced, and the fact that small businesses were penalized for being unable to offer health care... CAVUTO: Right. ALTMIRE: ... being unable to afford it. I think we should use a carrot, and not a stick. And I think, over the course of this year in the debate that has taken place, we have gotten better in all three of those things. The bill is not, I think, where it needs to be. CAVUTO: Yes. ALTMIRE: But, hopefully, when we merge the bill with the Senate- passed bill, we will end up in the center. And that's where the American people wants us to be. CAVUTO: Maybe so. It doesn`t look that way now. But you could be right. You are closer to that. So, let me ask, there are 52 of you are Blue Dogs. ALTMIRE: Right. CAVUTO: There were 28 at last count who were not keen on what was going on in the House. ALTMIRE: I don`t know what the count out of 52 is, but I do know the magic number is 38. You can lose 38 Democrats to pass a bill. If you lose one more, you can`t do it. And with 52 Blue Dogs, we are going to be the decisive factor in this whole thing. CAVUTO: And 28 of you are not yes, that is cutting it pretty close. That`s interesting. Sir... ALTMIRE: Right. And I can`t say what the number is going to be, but I know there`s a lot of different concerns with the bill. CAVUTO: All right. ALTMIRE: We will see if CBO scores it as a savings, and then we will take the vote. CAVUTO: OK. Congressman, I admire your guts, because every time after talking to you, I always think, oh, the poor guy is going to have his parking spot taken or something like that. (LAUGHTER) CAVUTO: But always great seeing you. Thank you very much. ALTMIRE: Thank you, Neil. CAVUTO: All right. Content and Programming Copyright 2009 FOX News Network, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Transcription Copyright 2009 CQ Transcriptions, LLC, which takes sole responsibility for the accuracy of the transcription. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No license is granted to the user of this material except for the user's personal or internal use and, in such case, only one copy may be printed, nor shall user use any material for commercial purposes or in any fashion that may infringe upon FOX News Network, LLC'S and CQ Transcriptions, LLC's copyrights or other proprietary rights or interests in the material. This is not a legal transcript for purposes of litigation.

https://www.foxnews.com/story/will-blue-dog-democrats-have-the-last-say

Why does Texas still have an official holiday to commemorate Confederate soldiers?

On Monday, the nation will remember the legacy of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., but first, Texas' official calendar has a very different state holiday Confederate Heroes Day. Texas established Confederate Heroes Day in 1973 to counter national demands for an official holiday honoring Martin Luther King's birthday. Not by happenstance, Confederate Heroes Day is four days after King's birthday and sometimes falls on Martin Luther King Day. This session, the Texas State Legislature needs to remove Confederate Heroes Day. Confederate Heroes Day implicitly and unavoidably suggests it is heroic to die defending the enslavement of African-Americans. Some argue the holiday is not honoring the Confederacy's defense of slavery, but the defense of state rights. The Confederates were fighting for the right to deny African-Americans recognition as people so they could maintain them as property. This is clear from Texas' 1861 Declaration of Causes for seceding from the Union, which stated that: "All white men are and of right ought to be entitled to equal civil and political rights; that the servitude of the African race, as existing in these States, is mutually beneficial to both bond and free, and is abundantly authorized and justified by the experience of mankind, and the revealed will of the Almighty Creator, as recognized by all Christian nations; while the destruction of the existing relations between the two races, as advocated by [the Union]." While there may have been more to the Confederate cause, it remains undeniable that Confederates fought to maintain slavery. Today, it is indefensible to celebrate their efforts. I have been told by some of my fellow Texans that removing Confederate Heroes Day would erase our history, and I agree that the danger of erasing history is a legitimate concern. However, Confederate Heroes Day does not protect our history. In fact, celebrating Confederate soldiers as heroes erodes the reality of our history; these soldiers were insurrectionists attacking the United States of America, not heroes. By celebrating them, we prevent our state from coming to grips with the truth of our past and prevent our country from moving forward as a united nation. Furthermore, it is not necessary to formally honor history in order to remember it. At least 78 Texans are known to have died at Pearl Harbor, but Texas does not have a state holiday honoring them. Surely not. Georgia no longer celebrates a holiday honoring the Confederacy, and yet, I doubt anyone has forgotten that Georgia was a Confederate state. History books and classes are necessary to remember our past, not holidays. A couple of Texas lawmakers recently sought to rename the holiday as "Civil War Remembrance Day." While I respect their intentions and applaud their effort, the holiday would be redundant. Memorial Day was originally established to honor fallen Confederate and Union soldiers in the Civil War and, therefore, serves the purpose of honoring all fallen Civil War soldiers. Michael Stanley is a policy specialist in Washington and a former intern for President Donald Trump. He wrote this column for The Dallas Morning News.

https://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/commentary/2019/01/19/texas-still-official-holiday-commemorate-confederate-soldiers

Do I Have to Put Social Security on My Tax Return?

Tax season is about to start, and many taxpayers hope that new tax reform laws will help them pay less in tax this year than in the past. In particular, retirees who rely on Social Security to supplement their savings and provide them with a regular source of income are looking forward to any break they can get from the IRS. However, one thing that Social Security recipients need to understand as they prepare their returns for the 2018 tax year is that they may have to include some of their benefits as income on their tax returns. Even though the laws governing taxation of Social Security benefits have been on the books for decades, that fact comes as a shock to retirees each and every year, and the structure of the tax seems to snare more and more people every year. Magnifying glass on top of a 1040 tax return. More Image source: Getty Images. The tax laws don't make everyone put their Social Security on their tax returns. Instead, there's an income tax that determines whether you'll end up including a portion of your benefits as taxable income. The rules governing exactly how much of your Social Security gets taxed involve complex calculations. First, you'll need to come up with your combined income. That includes your adjusted gross income from sources other than Social Security and any nontaxable interest from municipal bonds. It also includes one-half of what you get from Social Security. So if you have $10,000 in income from work and get $24,000 in Social Security benefits, then your combined income will be $10,000 plus half of $24,000. That works out to $22,000. You'll then have to figure out if your combined income is larger than the thresholds for taxing Social Security. The chart below has the key numbers you'll need to know, depending on your filing status. Filing Status 50% Taxation Threshold 85% Taxation Threshold Single, Head of Household, Qualifying Widow(er) $25,000 $34,000 Married Filing Jointly $32,000 $44,000 Source: IRS. If your combined income is above the number in the 50% column, then you might have to treat as much as 50% of your Social Security as taxable income. If it's above the number in the 85% column, then the taxable portion rises to as much as 85%. However, the key words there are "as much as." Often, the amount you have to treat as taxable income is much less than those percentages. For instance, the rules that govern the 50% threshold say that the taxable amount is also limited to 50% of the amount by which your combined income exceeds the threshold. So if you're single and your combined income was $25,100 in 2018, then the most you'll have to include as taxable Social Security benefits is half of the $100 amount by which $25,100 is above the $25,000 threshold. That amounts to just $50 of taxable income, no matter how much Social Security you received. If you want to run some numbers, the easiest way to do it is by using a calculator. This Social Security income tax calculator lets you consider any scenario you want and then helps you figure out the tax consequences. Why the problem could get worse One oddity about Social Security taxation is that the threshold numbers above aren't indexed for inflation. Instead, they've remained basically unchanged since their enactment. Meanwhile, income levels have gradually increased, and as that's happened, more people have to pay taxes on a portion of their Social Security every year. Unfortunately, since you have limited control over income, it's hard to do much planning to affect the taxation of your Social Security. Just about the only thing you can do is to try to time taxable distributions from retirement accounts in order to keep your combined income under the thresholds, or to put off getting Social Security until your other income won't be as large. Because so many people don't have that level of financial flexibility, more and more taxpayers will find their Social Security benefits subject to tax as time goes by. More From The Motley Fool The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

https://news.yahoo.com/put-social-security-tax-return-121700211.html

Is there any business tougher than retail, online or not?

Open this photo in gallery The sign for the Amazon Go brick-and-mortar grocery store without lines or checkout counters, is pictured in Seattle on Dec. 5, 2016. JASON REDMOND/Reuters One of the toughest managerial jobs these days is in retail, whether youre running an individual store, chain, mall or online purveyor of goods. People are buying, but the context has changed dramatically thanks to the internet. Even greater change may be coming. Consultants Bobby Gibbs and Nick Harrison suggest in Harvard Business Review that, just as giant travel search engines such as TripAdvisor, Expedia, Kayak and Google Flights have undercut travel agents, the next evolution of retail will see the emergence of refined technologies. Algorithms will tailor recommendations, then hunt the internet for the best deal. Story continues below advertisement Clarity may be sharpened by the matrix that Wharton School marketing professor Barbara Kahn offered in her recent book, The Shopping Revolution. The horizontal axis in her matrix illuminates the crucial retail proposition of strong product benefits and pleasing customer experience. The vertical axis, superior customer advantage, reflects the fact that for a company to win customers it must offer products and experience that are better than the competitors. That duality is not novel. But its also clear for strategists and produces four quadrants they can choose to operate in: Product brand: Here, branded performance superiority is the essence. Examples include footwear firm Nike, retailer Saks Fifth Avenue, and eyeglass firm Warby Parker. Its about confidence. Experiential: The customer experience is exceptional. Beauty-care firm Sephora and Eataly, a cornucopia of Italian restaurants and food products, are examples. Shoppers can count on fun. Low Cost: Walmart and Costco aim for operational excellence that through efficiencies will yield low prices. The essence: savings. Frictionless: Amazon makes your buying comfortable. In one word, easy. But these days dominance in one square is apparently not enough. You need to aim for two dimensions, Prof. Kahn says. For example, Amazons burst to prominence was based on offering online convenience. Now its also pursuing a low-cost advantage. Walmart, the low-cost exemplar for decades, is now trying to provide online convenience. Warby Parker offered hip, branded eyeware to millennials but is now also trying to excel on price. Retail can be a world of contradictions and innovation. Expert Greg Satell captured an important one when he wrote in his blog: It seems that in a digital world, physical stores have become a thing of the past. For every announcement of closures and divestments, there seems to be a similar announcement of investment and rebirth. Often we miss the countertrends as we jump on business bandwagons. This countertrend is driven, he argues, by the basic concept of humans serving humans. People still crave that, as Prof. Kahns matrix shows, just like they also want convenience and good prices. As individuals, our impulses can differ for various purchases. As well, rents are falling, as some retail empires collapse and landlords cant demand top prices, leading to opportunities for other entrepreneurs. Story continues below advertisement Story continues below advertisement Offline and online have become tangled. Amazon buys Whole Foods, and can use that for distribution. Bonobos, an online retailer, responded to demand from people wanting to try on its clothes with Guideshops, where Mr. Satell notes customers can get fitted, receive advice from a stylist and have their purchase shipped to them. Apple doesnt care whether you make a purchase at one of its stores any more than Bonobos does. Their locations exist to provide the kind of human connection that you cant easily get online, he says, adding that value never really disappears, it just shifts somewhere else. Thats not to underplay Amazons impact. I set out a year-and-a-half ago to look at the David and Goliath struggles in my hometown between independent retailers and the chains a small, local pharmacy and Shoppers Drug Mart; a health food store and Loblaws and Shoppers; and an independent bookstore and Indigo. What I didnt expect was that for each Amazon was also a continuing threat indeed, the only business owner sanguine, perhaps because he was nearing retirement age and also because he had withstood Indigo down the block for many years, was the book store owner. Amazons impact is deep and wide. It is relentless (which happens to have been an alternative name founder Jeff Bezos considered, and to this day relentless.com redirects to Amazon.com, I learned from a recent Wired article.) But it can be countered, as Prof. Kahn notes, if companies find another successful route to satisfy customers. Thats basic to retail. Picking strategies from that mix in an ever-changing commercial environment is not easy, however. Cannonballs Mon pay cest lhiver Gilles Vigneault sang. So in a country of winter, why are Canadian retailers hooked on outdoor collections of big box stores that may be acceptable if you have only one destination in mind but are a disaster for shopping excursions, browsing between stores in deplorable weather. Tanger Outlets lovely mall near Barrie, Ont., became a series of outdoor stores in its Ottawa version cold, windy, snowy, freezing rain Ottawa. Mon pays cest un centre dachat . Bring back the malls. Gilles Vigneault sang. So in a country of winter, why are Canadian retailers hooked on outdoor collections of big box stores that may be acceptable if you have only one destination in mind but are a disaster for shopping excursions, browsing between stores in deplorable weather. Tanger Outlets lovely mall near Barrie, Ont., became a series of outdoor stores in its Ottawa version cold, windy, snowy, freezing rain Ottawa. . Bring back the malls. The best way to have good conversations with your colleagues, says consultant Wally Bock, is to have lots of them, and not just about work. Worth reading: Matt Quinns short essay, Amazon stands for nothing. That almost makes it beautiful. Stay ahead in your career. We have a weekly Careers newsletter to give you guidance and tips on career management, leadership, business education and more. Sign up today.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/careers/management/article-is-there-any-business-tougher-than-retail-online-or-not/

Is The Power Of The Flour Really The Secret To Baking The Perfect Biscuit?

Enlarge this image toggle caption Brett Flashnick/The Washington Post/Getty Images Brett Flashnick/The Washington Post/Getty Images Cheryl Day makes hundreds of biscuits a day, churning them out by hand at Back In The Day Bakery in Savannah, Ga. Tall and golden, with flaky layers and a lightly crunchy exterior, people come from miles around to eat them each morning, slathered with pepper jelly, stuffed with eggs and bacon, or simply smeared with a little butter. "Biscuits are the croissants of the South," says Day, an award-winning baker and cookbook author. "They're more complicated than you think, and they keep me busy every day." Once upon a time, Day would've asserted that the best biscuits are made with White Lily Flour, her grandmother's favorite. The fans of White Lily, a silky low-protein, low-gluten flour made with soft red winter wheat, are legion, declaring that it is nigh impossible to bake a good biscuit without it. The argument was recently bolstered by a 2018 article in The Atlantic that lamented the lack of good biscuits north of the Mason-Dixon Line, suggesting that a bag of the storied flour, which is not widely available across the U.S. except online, is the key to success. Robert Dixon Phillips, a retired professor of food science at the University of Georgia, tells The Atlantic that soft wheat flour "has less gluten protein and the gluten is weaker, which allows the chemical leavening the baking powder to generate carbon dioxide and make it rise up in the oven." But the flour isn't actually that critical, according to Day even though she loves White Lily Flour. "I used to swear by it," she says, "but then I realized that lots of people don't have White Lily at their local grocery store." Even at her own bakery, Day's husband, Griff, now makes their own blend of pastry flour and all-purpose flour. For many biscuit bakers, the brand of flour is not the defining factor; it's about the other ingredients such as buttermilk and fat and plain old technique. Chef Carla Hall (full disclosure, I work for her as a culinary producer) jumped off the soft wheat flour bandwagon in 2016 when she was running her former restaurant, Carla Hall's Southern Kitchen, in Brooklyn, N.Y. Biscuits and fried chicken were two signature items on the menu, requiring two different kinds of flour: soft wheat for the biscuits and hard wheat the high-protein kind found in common all-purpose flour for coating the chicken. "The staff kept mixing up the flours," recalls Hall, "so we decided one day to just do a taste test." They made biscuits and chicken with each type of flour and, surprisingly, the hard wheat flour won for both. "The biscuit had a darker color, it had more structure, it was more crunchy, but still soft with layers inside," says Hall. "It was everything I like in a biscuit, plus I only had to purchase one kind of flour for the restaurant, which was more cost-effective." For Chadwick Boyd, a recipe developer and brand consultant who also organizes the annual International Biscuit Festival in Knoxville, Tenn., flour is simply not the key ingredient. "A home cook is going to have three or four different varieties at the grocery store to choose from," Boyd says. "The notion that if you pick one over the other is going to determine the success or failure of your biscuits is just wrong." For Boyd, Day and Hall, a good biscuit is born from practice. "We can teach you how to make a biscuit," says Boyd, "It's just a few ingredients. I believe that peoples' issues with baking unsuccessfully is because it's something they don't do regularly, so when they do it, they're excited. They keep opening the door to the oven, they pull the biscuits out too early. Just bring it all together and let the ingredients do the work." In order to help the biscuits rise, all the experts agree that the fat whether butter, shortening or margarine needs to be cold, and there should still be visible chunks of that fat in the dough. Don't overmix. If the fat is fully integrated into the dough, then fewer air bubbles will form, leading to a flatter biscuit. "Keeping fat cold is key," says Megan Meyer, director of science communication at the International Food Information Council Foundation, a nutrition science and education nonprofit. "When fat melts in the oven, an air pocket is created. Air pockets are then expanded by the leavening agents that are already in the dough, like baking soda and baking powder, leading to a fluffy texture." Fat is also important because it adds tenderness to the dough; full-fat buttermilk and European-style butter can help with texture, but "full-fat" is the critical point sour cream, olive oil, and nut milks can all be used to create successful biscuits, provided they have a high-fat content. Then technique takes center stage, where a light hand in mixing and shaping helps keep the dough soft; overworking the dough develops too much gluten, resulting in a tough biscuit. "Biscuit dough comes together very quickly," Hall says, "unlike a bread dough." Mix the dough, shape it into a rectangle on the counter, fold it like a letter to create layers, then pat it out and repeat two more times before cutting. The texture should be soft, barely sticky, somewhat akin to lumpy mashed potatoes, she says. Also, when cutting the biscuits, be careful not to twist the cutter because that pinches the edges of the biscuit and can inhibit the rise. Just press down and pull straight up. Pop those beauties in a hot oven usually at 425 or 450 degrees and then resist the urge to open the door until the biscuits are risen and golden, which usually takes 12 to 15 minutes. "I have been to small towns throughout the American South, the most remote areas where they don't have access to high quality ingredients," says Boyd, "and I've had people make me delicious biscuits from whatever they had on hand. " So don't worry about what kind of flour you've got. Just roll up your sleeves and start baking those biscuits. Practice makes perfect. Kristen Hartke is a food writer based in Washington, D.C. who also works with chef Carla Hall.

https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2019/01/19/686579106/is-the-power-of-the-flour-really-the-secret-to-baking-the-perfect-biscuit?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=storiesfromnpr

Is Southern Company a Buy?

If you look into giant U.S. utility The Southern Company (NYSE: SO), one of the first things you'll read about it is the troubles it has had building the Vogtle nuclear power plant. It's been an expensive and contentious process trying to get the project done, and it's still a few years away from completion. But that's a small part of Southern Company's business, and the stock's hefty 5.1% yield is probably worth the risk for investors willing to take on some near-term uncertainty. Here's why Southern Company is a buy for income investors despite all the bad press. About that nuclear power plant Vogtle is actually two projects in one, with the first nuclear reactor projected to be in service in 2021 and the second following in 2022. There's no way to candy coat it -- the project is behind schedule, and materially over budget. The company's original contractor, Westinghouse, even went bankrupt along the way. Shareholders have taken a hit, too, with a number of one-time charges related directly to Vogtle. The most recent charge of $1.1 billion was taken in the second quarter. In short, it has been a rough ride. Nuclear power plants with steam rising from them More Image source: Getty Images All of that said, Southern has stepped in and taken greater control of the Vogtle project. That should help ensure a smoother process from here on out. And it has also agreed to take on additional costs if there are further overruns. So at this point, there is little question of this project getting done -- it's just a matter of when. Nuclear power plants of the same design, meanwhile, have successfully started up in China, suggesting that the technology that Southern is betting on is sound. So the Vogtle issue is far from ideal, but it looks like Southern is muddling through. Eventually, this too shall pass. When the reactors are finally up and running Southern will have two carbon-fee power plants to operate for decades into the future. And while investors are worried about this project, the stock is offering up one of the highest yields in the utility space. The rest of Southern The thing is, aside from Vogtle, Southern Company is a pretty boring utility. It owns eight regulated electric and natural gas utilities serving around nine million customers, largely in the southeastern United States. It also has a renewable merchant power businesses and long-haul transmission assets with revenues backed by long-term contracts. These are very stable operations that Southern has a long history of running very well.

https://news.yahoo.com/southern-company-buy-135600684.html

Will Cannabis Products Drive Shoppers to DSWs Stores?

Last fall footwear retailer DSW (NYSE: DSW) tested out sales of Green Growth Brands' Seventh Sense CBD-infused muscle balms, body lotions, body washes, and foot creams at ten of its stores. CBD is the non-psychoactive ingredient in marijuana which treats pain. DSW stated that 74% of Seventh Sense's products that were placed on its shelves were sold. Based on that strong initial demand, DSW plans to sell nearly 55,000 more units of Seventh Sense's CBD products across 96 of its 515 U.S. stores. The recent passage of a U.S. farm bill legalizing CBD derived from hemp allows retailers like DSW to test out sales of new CBD products in their stores. A marijuana leaf on a table. More Image source: Getty Images. DSW CEO Roger Rawlins cited North America's "widespread adoption" of CBD-infused products as an example of shifting consumer behavior across the retail industry. DSW doesn't need CBD to survive In recent years DSW struggled against tough competition from bigger retailers and e-tailers, the bankruptcies of major footwear retailers, and top footwear brands launching their own brick-and-mortar stores and direct-to-consumer channels. DSW tried to offset that slowdown with acquisitions, but many of those purchases failed to generate sustainable returns. DSW realized that it needed to streamline its business to survive. It divested weaker subsidiaries like the e-commerce site EBuys, the footwear chain Gordmans, and Town Shoes' namesake brand (but retained its Shoe Company and Shoe Warehouse stores). It renovated its stores, offered a wider selection of shoes, and tested out shoe repair, manicure, and pedicure services at several locations to bring in more shoppers. A woman shops for shoes. More Image source: Getty Images. DSW also expanded its e-commerce ecosystem and loyalty program, which now reaches over 25 million members. All those efforts clearly paid off over the past year, as its comps growth accelerated and its gross margins expanded. Q4 2017 Q1 2018 Q2 2018 Q3 2018 Comps growth 1.3% 2.2% 9.7% 7.3% Gross margin 26.5% 28.9% 32.1% 32.6% Operating margin 4.7% 5.4% 3.1% 6.4% Source: DSW quarterly reports. DSW's growth is especially remarkable compared to that of its industry peers. In their most recent quarters, Shoe Carnival's (NASDAQ: SCVL) comps rose 4.5% with a gross margin of 30.2%, while Foot Locker (NYSE: FL) reported 2.9% comps growth with a gross margin of 31.6%. Analysts also have a much rosier outlook for DSW than Shoe Carnival or Foot Locker.

https://news.yahoo.com/cannabis-products-drive-shoppers-dsw-131600718.html

Is the Croydon cat killer a fox or a human still at large?

Police officers, vets and an animal rescue organisation believe that the killing and mutilation of some cats, rabbits and other animals across parts of England are the result of human involvement, even though a major police investigation has found no evidence to support that claim. Just over 100 days after the Metropolitan police closed its investigation into the Croydon cat killer, declaring that the deaths and mutilation of scores of cats in London and the south-east were most likely carried out by foxes, the Observer understands that individual officers and several veterinary practices continue to suspect that someone is targeting animals. They have been contacting South Norwood Animal Rescue and Liberty (Snarl), an organisation that has investigated the killings, insisting that some of the dead animals were killed by human hand. The Met concluded that hundreds of reported cat mutilations in Croydon and elsewhere were not carried out by a human and are likely to be the result of predation, or scavenging by wildlife on cats killed in vehicle collisions. But other forces have found that some cat killings were deliberate. Last month a man was jailed in Northampton for a string of arson attacks and cat mutilations. Snarl says that, since then, it has learned of at least seven other unsolved killings, suggesting at least one other person is at work. Earlier this month Northamptonshire police issued a press release after the discovery of a dead cat. It said: The cat was found mutilated with a vet stating that it appears to have been killed by human hands. Tony Jenkins, co-founder of Snarl, said that there had been a small drop-off in reported incidents after the Mets decision to close the case, but that numbers of reported mutilations had quickly gone back up again. The organisation had dealt with between two and seven suspicious deaths each week. In some incidents the body parts were returned after the animals corpse had been removed. You dont tell me foxes do that, said Jenkins, who has not ruled out that a small group of people could be at work. Snarl said that it had cases reported to it from as far north as Manchester and Liverpool and as far west as Devon and Cornwall. But the majority are around the south-east London area and are indicative of someone travelling around the south-east, Jenkins said. It could be a sales rep, someone who has got a job that sees them travel around a lot and they stop off to kill a cat or a rabbit or a fox. Jenkins suggested that some police officers worried that deaths were not being investigated: Weve had a number of cases reported by the police themselves. Two weeks after the police closed the investigation, an officer in Sutton rang me and said this in my mind is human-related but weve been told not to investigate. Three veterinary practices had also alerted Snarl to possible mutilations by human hands since the Met had closed the case, Jenkins said. One practice, Streatham Hill Vets, issued a warning on its Facebook page shortly after the Met closed the operation. We have had several of these bodies brought in to us, the post said. They have all consisted of clean, surgical-type amputations or beheadings. They were not done by foxes or wild animals. It is exceptionally rare for a fox to attack a cat and they should not be used as scapegoats for these horrific crimes. Jenkins said that other forces continued to investigate alleged killings: There is a case in Dartford at the moment which is still being investigated by Kent police. There is no way it was done by a fox. Although Snarl acknowledges that foxes did play a part in some of the mutilations it has seen, the organisation said that in some cases the heads had been cut off cleanly, indicating the use of a blade. What appeared to be the deliberate placing of a cats head in prominent locations often near, or on, a childs trampoline also indicated human involvement, the organisation said. Cats are not the only animals targeted. Weve had a case in Watford where a rabbit was taken out of a locked hutch, killed, and its body left in the middle of a lawn so that it was visible from the bedroom window, Jenkins said. The rabbits head was returned to the same spot as where the body was found six months later. What we can reliably say is that at least one person is killing cats and other animals after abducting them and then displaying them to be found, Jenkins said. People still need to keep their pets indoors at night.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/jan/19/croydon-cat-killer-met-police

Can China Make Its Trade Surplus with the U.S. Disappear?

Bloomberg reported Friday that Chinese trade negotiators have put forth a proposal to Trump administration counterparts that would eliminate Chinas trade surplus with the United States by 2024. The report, if accurate, suggests an astonishing breakthrough in trade talks between the two countries. In 2018, Chinas trade surplus with the U.S. topped $323 billion, a 17% jump from the previous year. Global markets rallied in response to the prospect that the worlds two largest economies were closing in on a trade truce. Ive argued previously in this space that reducing Chinas trade surplus with the U.S. to zero is mathematically improbable, if not impossibleat least in the short term. Thats so even if China were to dramatically ramp up purchases of big-ticket U.S. imports such as Boeing jets, soy beans, and natural gas. The math is less daunting over a six-year horizon. But the Bloomberg report says Trump insists hell refrain from slapping even higher tariffs on U.S. imports from China only if Beijing promises to eliminate the trade surplus within two years. Trumps fixation with the bilateral trade balance between the U.S. and China is silly for many reasons, which I wont belabor hereexcept to note that it contradicts his other, more worthy trade goals. Trump has argued Beijing should stop meddling in Chinas economy, abandon Xi Jinpings Made in China 2025 industrial policy for Chinas tech sector, stop channeling cheap capital to unproductive state-owned enterprises, and give way to free markets and private firms. But his demands that China eliminate its bilateral trade surplus with the U.S. within two years will require forceful intervention in Chinas economy by central government plannersstrengthening the role of the state in Chinas economy rather than allowing it to wither away. Meanwhile, theres been very little new information about what China would do to curb theft of U.S. technologies and eliminate requirements for U.S. companies to surrender proprietary technologies as the price of entry into the Chinese market. Derek Scissors and Daniel Blumenthal, analysts at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, recently offered this proposal outlining what a rules-based U.S. trade policy focused on intellectual property protection rather than an outcomes-based policy focused on the bilateral U.S-China trade balance might look like. They argue that comprehensive tariffs, which harm American consumers and workers unnecessarily, are not the right reaction. U.S. government intervention in trade policy, they contend, should be limited to areas that are genuinely vital to national security, prosperity and democratic values. More China news below.

http://fortune.com/2019/01/19/can-china-make-its-trade-surplus-with-the-u-s-disappear/

What players will fill the leadership void on the Cleveland Indians for 2019?

Tribe needs leaders and talent for 2019 season CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The talent drain on the Indians has been immense this offseason. The same goes for leadership. It's funny how many of the departed Indians possessed both qualities, but that's how it usually works. A team's best players are usually its best leaders because this is a game measured by daily production. A leader on a baseball team doesn't need to pound his chest and scream and shout. That can be exhausting not only to the player, but those around him. All he needs to do is show up every day and do his job. It's hard to say how much the Indians are going to miss players such as Michael Brantley, Yan Gomes, Andrew Miller, Lonnie Chisenhall, Rajai Davis, Edwin Encarnacion, and Yonder Alonso. Hard to say because they can't be replaced. The latest loss came Friday when Cody Allen agreed to a one-year deal with the Angels. Allen, the franchise leader in saves, was the definition of a late-inning reliever. He was durable, never turned down the ball and always put the team first. From a reporter's standpoint he never ducked a tough question and was always at his locker after he pitched. It didn't matter if he saved a game or lost a lead, he was always there. If the Indians couldn't afford to match the Angels' one-year offer to keep Allen, it's hard to believe they're going to be able to fill the rest of the holes on this roster without a making a big trade. If you can't keep your franchise leader in saves on a one-year deal, ownership has definitely changed the combination on the vault set aside for baseball operations. Then again it was clear from the start of the offseason that the Indians were not going to keep keep any of their high-profile free agents. Brantley, Allen, Miller, Chisenhall and Josh Donaldson have all signed elsewhere. Outfielder Brandon Barnes is the only free agent to re-sign and he did so on a minor league deal. Talent is easy to spot. Right now the Indians are loaded at one position -- starting pitching. The rest of the roster looks like a rusted out Chevy in front of a crumbling farm house. There are a few pieces of chrome that reflect a ray of sunshine, but the rest consists of chipped paint and mud. Leadership is harder to spot. Recently Mike Clevinger, who reached 200 innings and 200 strikeouts for the first time last year, was asked who would be the new leaders on the Indians. He pointed to Francisco Lindor, the All-Star shortstop. Clevinger said he talked to Lindor after the Indians lost Game 1 of the ALDS to Houston in October. He didn't like the vibe in the clubhouse and suggested Lindor say something. Lindor did before Game 2. It didn't matter. Churchill could have talked to the Indians and they still would have been rolled by the Astros in three games. It's not a surprise that Lindor would emerge as a leader in the wake of so much loss. Talent drips off him. The guy who made the suggestion is another story. Rarely does leadership come barging through the door. It comes through the team itself, and the players with enough feel to absorb what has been left behind by those who have come and gone before them. In a winter where so much has been lost, and so little gained, that is a bright spot.

https://www.cleveland.com/expo/sports/g66l-2019/01/ff73e4ad8e9112/what-players-will-fill-the-leadership-void-on-the-cleveland-indians-for-2019.html

Should the US allow a vote of no confidence in a president?

British Prime Minister Theresa May survived a vote of no-confidence after suffering a brutal defeat to her Brexit proposal. After May's plan to leave the European Union was defeated 432 to 202, many in the government believed she should resign. However, May held fast and ultimately beat the no-confidence vote 325 to 306. While some point out the vote merely caused more confusion in Britain, the incident left many wondering why the United States does not have a similar process. PERSPECTIVES The BBC explains a vote of no-confidence is, on paper, a relatively straightforward method of removing and replacing a government. If the government wins the vote, they continue to hold power. If they lose, however, they can be replaced by a strong alternative government, which will replace the prime minister with their own candidate. Or, if no alternative government exists to win a confidence vote or take power, the people will be able to vote in a general election. The New York Times points out though that the no-confidence vote in Britain has left the country on even more unstable political ground than before. Had it been successful, the no-confidence motion almost certainly would have ousted Mrs. May and probably have forced a general election, adding more layers of uncertainty in a country fast approaching the March 29 date for leaving the European Union -- yet unable to agree on how to do so. The head-snapping sequence of events leaves Mrs. May -- the leader of an intractably divided party, with a split cabinet, no parliamentary majority and no clear path forward on Brexit -- more politically wounded than ever, but somehow still standing. Some may argue the increased turmoil is not worth the ability to remove a government. The Tylt is focused on debates and conversations around news, current events and pop culture. We provide our community with the opportunity to share their opinions and vote on topics that matter most to them. We actively engage the community and present meaningful data on the debates and conversations as they progress. The Tylt is a place where your opinion counts, literally. The Tylt is an Advance Local Media, LLC property. Join us on Twitter @TheTylt, on Instagram @TheTylt or on Facebook, we'd love to hear what you have to say.

https://www.cleveland.com/nation/index.ssf/2019/01/should_the_us_allow_a_vote_of.html

Can Britains butchers survive the vegan boom?

Beleaguered by the rise of meat-free lifestyles and the decline of the high street, some in the trade are fighting back What a time to be a butcher. With Veganuary in full swing and scientists delivering an onslaught of post-Christmas advice about the perils of meat eating, butchers are under pressure from all sides, caught in the cleft of consumer demands for better quality food at ever cheaper prices. Take Robert Byford. A year ago, his shop in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, was one of four serving a population that was enthusiastic about steak and bacon. Now Byford Food Hall is the last one standing. Where we are, three butchers have closed in the last 12 months, Byford said, ticking them off: One in Rayleigh is up for sale, another in Leigh has shut and theres a third gone from Southend. They might sell it, but it seems unlikely. I think well see more and more of this happening, just like the bakers and the fishmongers. Britain had about 15,000 butchers shops in 1990, a number that declined rapidly during the BSE crisis in the following decade and the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in 2001. By 2010 there were just 6,380, according to the Office for National Statistics, and now there are 5,830. About 100 shops a year are closing down without being replaced. That decline may be speeding up again, and it certainly isnt hindered by dietary advice such as that issued last week in the Lancet, by scientists suggesting people reduce their weekly red meat intake by 50%. In November, Crawshaws, a chain of Midlands butchers, announced it was shutting 39 stores and went into administration to save the remaining 19. A month earlier Bristol lost JD Brittan, which opened in 1814 and served soldiers returning from the Napoleonic wars. Other losses include CD Field in Sedgley, West Midlands, gone after 116 years, Ron Reddy in Blackpool after 50 years and MS King in Bournemouth after 54 years. Everyone has a different explanation. Some blame vegans Pat Jenkins, a butcher of 60 years standing, thinks anti-meat publicity will see the end of her family-run shop in Bournemouth. Miranda Ballard agrees her Muddy Boots chain of five premium butchers in London shut down just over a year ago. Vegetarianism was definitely part of it, she said. I was a big fan of meat-free Mondays, because I wanted people to buy better meat less often. We thought people wanted what they say they wanted, which is to pay more for great quality meat, but in the end their decisions are really about price and convenience. Every single time we opened a new shop, someone would come in and say Id forgotten what good meat tastes like. That was great to hear, but it should have rung alarm bells for me. If people had forgotten, they werent going to come out of the supermarket to us. Facebook Twitter Pinterest A queue forms outside Hill & Szrok meat shop in Hackney, London its a restaurant in the evenings. Photograph: Jenny Matthews/Alamy Others point to the familiar problems that beset the high street: rising rents, power bills and business rates, staff costs, the growing influence of the discounters Aldi and Lidl and the dominance of supermarkets. People dont have the money, said Asif Khan, who has worked at Pak Butchers in Walthamstow for five years. In the last year people have started crying about the price. They never did that three or four years ago. They import meat from Holland and other parts of Europe. Prices have gone up. Its Brexit. Perhaps the most worrying sign for the trade is the ageing profile of independent butchers. A survey by the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Boards (AHDB) beef and lamb division in 2015 showed that 75% of butchers had been working for more than 20 years. Often what happens is someone wants to retire, their family dont want to take it on and the shop shuts, Robert Byford said. Fortunately, were still going strong and my sons involved in the business so when I retire hell take it on. Like many remaining butchers, Byford has moved away from tripe and offal to offer a touch of luxury. You cant beat the supermarkets on price, he said. We go for the quality end of the market. We do homemade pies. We cure our own bacon and smoke it in the shop. On Sundays we cook peoples joints for them, so they can go shopping and pick up their dinner on the way home. We need to remind people that meat has a lot of minerals and nutrients that its hard to get elsewhere Matt Southam, AHDB The butcher-bistro is increasingly popular. Hill & Szrok in Hackney, London, is a butchers during the day and a restaurant at night, while Michelin-starred chef Tom Kerridge created the Butchers Tap pub in Marlow, Buckinghamshire, with beef chillers turned into displays in the pub windows. The butchers that are left now are the good ones, the ones that fit with new consumer demands, said Matt Southam of the AHDB. Theres a lot of butchers doing rare breeds that you cant get in a supermarket. Were seeing a bigger link with farm shops too. Its about connecting the supply chain from the farm gate to your plate. Despite the decline in butchers shops, the meat industry is still healthy, the AHDB says. While meat consumption has dropped by about 5% since 1995, last year saw a slight rise, with Britons spending 18.3bn. Those buying new vegan products such as bleeding burgers and faux fish and chips tend to be meat eaters. When you get down to the pure numbers of people that are vegan, the numbers are very, very small, Southam said. (The Vegan Society said in 2018 there are 600,000 vegans in the UK, just above 1% of the population; however, their numbers are growing.) What is having an effect is flexitarianism those making a reduction, maybe one less meal a fortnight or one less meal a month. We just need to remind people that meat has minerals and nutrients that its hard to get elsewhere and its part of a healthy, balanced diet.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/jan/19/can-britains-butchers-survive-vegan-boom

How much can Kenneth Faried help James Harden and the Rockets?

ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reported late Friday that the Houston Rockets are expected to add big man Kenneth Faried, who has reached a buyout with the Brooklyn Nets, according to sources. Let's take a look at whether Faried makes sense for the Rockets. Since Capela suffered the thumb sprain that's expected to sideline him through the All-Star break, Rockets coach Mike D'Antoni has played the team's three healthy centers ( Marquese Chriss, Isaiah Hartenstein and Nene) a combined 51 of 101 minutes, meaning Houston has played nearly half the time without one. Smaller lineups with P.J. Tucker and rookie Gary Clark in the middle have filled the other minutes. Clearly, then, the Rockets could use a better center option. It's just not immediately clear that Faried qualifies. After all, he's played just 118 minutes all season, the reason the Nets were willing to buy him out despite being in the midst of a playoff push. And past attempts by Brooklyn and the Denver Nuggets to use Faried at center were unsuccessful. According to Cleaning the Glass, lineups with Faried in the middle have been outscored by at least 7.1 points per 100 possessions each of the past four seasons. Houston is surely counting on Faried fitting better in D'Antoni's system, which emphasizes athleticism rather than size for 5-men. Working as a screener for James Harden, Faried will be asked to rim run and catch lobs like Capela, and that's something he can do. According to Second Spectrum tracking, Faried's 151 shot attempts on lobs rank 20th in the NBA since 2013-14. By contrast, the ground-bound Nene has just 16 shots on lobs in that span. When opponents switch his screens for Harden, the Rockets will task Faried with taking smaller opponents to the offensive glass. Faried has ranked in the NBA's top 10 in offensive rebound percentage three times in his career, per Basketball-Reference.com, and his 13.8 percent career offensive rebound percentage ranks sixth among players with at least 5,000 minutes over the past decade -- two spots behind Capela. Because of his limited shooting range, Faried has always been better cast offensively as a center. The problems come at the defensive end of the floor, where Faried's instincts are to fly around the court rather than protect the rim. Among the 116 big men who have defended at least 500 shots in the restricted area since 2013-14, Second Spectrum data ranks Faried 88th in opponent shooting percentage (65.1 percent). Instead of parking Faried in the paint, Houston will likely have him switch screens and rely on his athleticism to keep up with smaller guards. Unfortunately, the results when Faried has switched haven't been better. They've actually been worse. Again, going back to 2013-14, opponents have averaged 1.03 points per chance on picks switched by Faried, according to Second Spectrum tracking. That ranks 143rd of the 147 players who have switched at least 250 picks in that span. On the plus side, Faried will have a better scheme and defenders around him when he switches. Still, he's going to have to be effective defensively, either on the perimeter or in the paint, to justify staying on the court. Otherwise, D'Antoni will go back to small ball even with another option in the middle.

https://abcnews.go.com/Sports/kenneth-faried-james-harden-rockets/story?id=60490359

Why Is Neogen (NEOG) Up 9.4% Since Last Earnings Report?

Neogen (NEOG) reported earnings 30 days ago. We take a look at earnings estimates for some clues. It has been about a month since the last earnings report for Neogen (NEOG). Shares have added about 9.4% in that time frame, outperforming the S&P 500. Before we dive into how investors and analysts have reacted as of late, let's take a quick look at the most recent earnings report in order to get a better handle on the important drivers. Neogen Sees Q2 Revenue Growth on Strong Food Safety Business Neogen reported earnings per share (EPS) of 31 cents in the second quarter of fiscal 2019. The bottom line beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 30 cents. However, EPS declined 6.1% from the year-ago quarter. Revenues increased 4.6% on a year-over-year basis to $107.1 million, missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $109 million by 1.7%. Per Neogen, growing revenues from key food safety products, including tests for foodborne pathogens and sanitation, contributed to the top line. The company also witnessed strength in the natural toxin product lines. Also, continued growth in the companys global animal genomics business boosted the top line. Revenues in Detail Food Safety Segment: Revenues at the segment totaled $53.8 million, up 9.3% on solid overall organic growth. Sales of the foodborne pathogen detection tests, like Listeria and Salmonella, rose 24% year over year in the reported quarter. Revenues also included contribution from Neogens Listeria Right Now test system. The company also witnessed a 20% rise in sales of general microbiology tests, which include tests to detect spoilage and indicator microorganisms (for instance yeasts and molds) in food and other consumer products. Animal Safety Segment: The segment recorded revenues of $53.3 million, reflecting a 3.5% rise from the year-ago quarter. Strength in the global biosecurity products, including a 22% rise in sales of agricultural insecticides and a 15% increase in Preserve disinfectants sales led the upside. The worldwide genomics business unit recorded an 8% increase in the reported quarter. Per management, this growth is partly attributable to the September 2017 buyout of the University of Queensland Animal Genetics Laboratory in Australia. Also, the upside is backed by robust revenues from the companys beef genomics business, both for beef breed associations and commercial producers. Fresh estimates followed a downward path over the past two months. VGM Scores At this time, Neogen has a subpar Growth Score of D, though it is lagging a bit on the Momentum Score front with an F. Charting a somewhat similar path, the stock was allocated a grade of D on the value side, putting it in the bottom 40% for this investment strategy. Overall, the stock has an aggregate VGM Score of F. If you aren't focused on one strategy, this score is the one you should be interested in. Outlook Neogen has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). We expect an in-line return from the stock in the next few months. Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research

https://news.yahoo.com/why-neogen-neog-9-4-143002357.html

Why Is BlackBerry (BB) Up 4.1% Since Last Earnings Report?

It has been about a month since the last earnings report for BlackBerry (BB). Shares have added about 4.1% in that time frame, underperforming the S&P 500. Before we dive into how investors and analysts have reacted as of late, let's take a quick look at the most recent earnings report in order to get a better handle on the important catalysts. BlackBerry Q3 Earnings Top Estimates on Lower Expenses BlackBerry reported healthy third-quarter fiscal 2019 (ended Nov 30, 2018) financial results, primarily driven by growth in software and services business, and lower operating expenses. Net Loss On a GAAP basis, net loss for the reported quarter was 1 cent per share compared with a loss of 52 cents per share in the year-ago quarter. The year-over-year improvement was mainly due to lower total operating expenses. Non-GAAP net income came in at $28 million or 5 cents per share compared with $16 million or 3 cents per share in the prior-year quarter. Adjusted earnings for the quarter were 3 cents per share which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 2 cents. Revenues Quarterly GAAP revenues remained stable year over year at $226 million. Software and services revenues were $217 million, up 14.2%. Non-GAAP revenues were $228 million compared with $235 million in the year-earlier quarter. The top line surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $213 million. Geographically, North America generated revenues of $151 million compared with $133 million in the year-ago quarter. Revenues from Europe, Middle East and Africa were $56 million, down 18.8% year over year, while revenues from other regions totaled $19 million, down 20.8%. Segmental Performance Non-GAAP revenues from Enterprise software and services decreased 7.5% year over year to $98 million. BlackBerry Technology Solutions non-GAAP revenues increased 23.3% to $53 million, primarily driven by BlackBerry QNX. Software development license, services and royalty revenues have grown double-digit percentage across various applications in the automotive and general embedded market, underscoring an increase in the number of design wins as the company was chosen by customers from around the world. Non-GAAP revenues from Licensing, IP and other were $68 million, up 36% year over year. The company did not generate any non-GAAP revenues from Handheld devices in the reported quarter, while generating $9 million in the year-earlier quarter. SAF (service access fees) non-GAAP revenues continued its downtrend and decreased to $9 million from $27 million in the year-earlier quarter. Other Quarterly Details Gross profit was $170 million or 75.2% of revenues compared with $168 million or 74.3% of revenues in the year-ago quarter. Total operating expenses decreased to $112 million from $426 million reported in the prior-year quarter. This was primarily due to lower arbitration charges, selling, marketing and administration expenses, and favorable adjustment of debentures fair value. Operating income improved to $58 million against operating loss of $258 million in the prior-year quarter, mainly due to lower operating expenses. Non-GAAP operating income was $27 million compared with $16 million in the year-ago quarter. Adjusted EBITDA was $44 million compared with $35 million in the prior-year quarter. During the quarter, BlackBerry has inked an agreement to acquire Cylance, an artificial intelligence (AI) and cybersecurity leader. The buyout will help to boost the companys future software and services business growth as it will provide additional cyber security capabilities with advanced AI and machine learning technology. Cash Flow During the first nine months of fiscal 2019, BlackBerry generated $82 million of cash from operations compared with $866 million in the year-ago period. In the fiscal third quarter, free cash flow before considering the impact of restructuring and legal proceedings was $39 million. Liquidity As of Nov 30, 2018, BlackBerry had $1,084 million of cash and cash equivalents and $665 million of long-term debt. The companys total cash, cash equivalents, short-term and long-term investments were $2.4 billion as of the same day. Fiscal 2019 Outlook BlackBerry has reiterated its outlook for fiscal 2019. The company continues to expect total software and services revenue growth to be in the range of 8-10% year over year. It expects total software and services billings growth to be in double-digits. The company anticipates non-GAAP earnings per share to be positive. Free cash flow for the full fiscal is also expected to be positive. Fresh estimates followed a downward path over the past two months. Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report BlackBerry Limited (BB) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research

https://news.yahoo.com/why-blackberry-bb-4-1-143002417.html

Is Illinois Tool Works a Buy?

That's the question that faces investors and potential investors in Illinois Tool Works (NYSE: ITW). Unlike shares of a peer such as 3M Company (NYSE: MMM), there's still a strong case to be made for buying Illinois Tool Works' stock. Here it is. Illinois Tool Works has near-term headwinds Along with much of the industrial sector, the stock was sold off aggressively in 2018 on fears of an upcoming cyclical slowdown in the economy. Moreover, it was a particularly brutal year for companies with significant exposure to the automotive industry, given that U.S. light vehicle sales looked like they'd passed cyclical peak, and end-market conditions are likely to get worse in 2019. For reference, Illinois Tool Works' automotive OEM (original equipment manufacturer) segment generated more than one-fifth of operating income in the first nine months of 2018: ITW Chart More ITW data by YCharts. Moreover, if prices for commodities (particularly oil) remain relatively low, then some of the company's businesses with exposure to heavy industries (such as welding, and test and measurement) are likely to come under pressure. Throw in any negative impact from the China-U.S. trade dispute, and it's clear that the company faces some cyclical risk in 2019. As a consequence, analysts have been downgrading the stock. Clearly, there are question marks around the company's prospects in 2019, but there are two reasons why the stock is still attractive. Illinois Tool Works stock looks like a good value First, the company's valuation gives it a significant margin of safety to deal with any disappointment. For example, the chart below shows how its price-to-FCF (free cash flow) valuation started to drop significantly as FCF improved and the stock price dropped in 2018. In contrast, 3M is looking expensive, even as it faces many of the same cyclical headwinds as Illinois Tool Works: ITW Price to Free Cash Flow (TTM) Chart More ITW Price to Free Cash Flow (TTM) data by YCharts. To put this into context, the company's FCF expectation for 2018 puts it at a price-to-FCF valuation of around 17. Even if Illinois Tool Works generates zero growth in FCF in 2019, it's still a good value. For 2019, management is currently forecasting organic revenue growth of 2% to 4%, and EPS (earnings per share) growth of around 6%.

https://news.yahoo.com/illinois-tool-works-buy-150400235.html

Why Is Accenture (ACN) Up 4.8% Since Last Earnings Report?

Accenture (ACN) reported earnings 30 days ago. We take a look at earnings estimates for some clues. A month has gone by since the last earnings report for Accenture (ACN). Shares have added about 4.8% in that time frame, underperforming the S&P 500. Before we dive into how investors and analysts have reacted as of late, let's take a quick look at the most recent earnings report in order to get a better handle on the important drivers. Accenture Q1 Earnings Beat Estimates Accenture plc reported strong first-quarter fiscal 2019 results wherein both earnings and revenues surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate. Adjusted earnings of $1.96 per share surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 12 cents and came ahead of the year-ago figure by 17 cents. The bottom line benefited from higher revenues and operating results, lower effective tax rate and lower share count. These were, however, partially offset by higher non-operating expense. Net revenues of $10.6 billion beat the consensus mark by $131.9 million and increased 7% year over year on a reported basis and 9.5% in terms of local currency. Net revenues came within managements guided range of $10.35-$10.65 billion. Revenues Details On the basis of type of work, Consulting revenues (56% of net revenues) of $5.97 billion increased 8% year over year on a reported basis and 10% in terms of local currency. Outsourcing revenues (44%) of $4.64 billion increased 7% year over year on a reported basis and 9% in terms of local currency. Among the operating segments, Communications, Media & Technology revenues (20% of net revenues) of $2.13 billion increased 11% year over year on a reported basis and 14% in terms of local currency. Financial Services revenues (20%) of $2.12 billion decreased 1% year over year on a reported basis as well as in terms of local currency. Health & Public Service revenues (17%) of $1.75 billion increased 4% year over year on a reported basis and 5% in terms of local currency. Products revenues (28%) of $2.93 billion increased 8% year over year on a reported basis and 10% in local currency. Resources revenues (15%) of $1.65 billion increased 18% year over year on a reported basis and 21% in terms of local currency. Geographically, revenues from North Americas (46% of net revenues) of $4.86 billion increased 9% year over year on a reported basis and 10% in terms of local currency. Revenues from Europe (35%) of $3.71 billion increased 4% year over year on a reported basis and 6% in terms of local currency. Revenues from Growth Markets (19%) of $2.04 billion increased 10% year over year on a reported basis and 17% in terms of local currency. Booking Trends Accenture reported new bookings worth $10.2 billion. Consulting bookings and Outsourcing bookings for the reported quarter totaled $5.9 billion and $4.3 billion, respectively. Operating Results Gross margin (gross profit as a percentage of net revenues) for the first quarter of fiscal 2019 increased 10 basis points (bps) to 31.1%. Operating income was $1.63 billion, up 9% year over year. Operating margin for the reported quarter expanded 20 bps. Balance Sheet & Cash Flow Accenture exited first-quarter fiscal 2019 with total cash and cash equivalents balance of $4.36 billion compared with $5.06 billion at the end of the prior quarter. Long-term debt was $19.9 million compared with $19.7 million at the end of the prior quarter. Cash provided by operating activities was $1.03 billion in the reported quarter. Free cash flow came in at $950 million. Dividend Payment On Nov 15, Accentures board of directors paid a semi-annual cash dividend of $1.46 per share to shareholders of record at the close of business on Oct 18. The total cash dividend paid was $933 million in the reported quarter. This dividend payment reflects an increase of 10% over the previous semi-annual dividend declared in March. Share Repurchases In line with its policy of returning cash to shareholders, Accenture repurchased 4.9 million shares for $788 million in the fiscal first quarter. The company had approximately 638 million total shares outstanding as of Nov 30. Guidance Second Quarter Fiscal 2019 For second-quarter fiscal 2019, Accenture expects revenues to be in the range of $10.10- $10.40 billion, which reflects 6-9% growth in local currency. The assumption is inclusive of a negative foreign-exchange impact of 4%.

https://news.yahoo.com/why-accenture-acn-4-8-143002047.html

Why Is Cintas (CTAS) Up 16.3% Since Last Earnings Report?

Cintas (CTAS) reported earnings 30 days ago. We take a look at earnings estimates for some clues. A month has gone by since the last earnings report for Cintas (CTAS). Shares have added about 16.3% in that time frame, outperforming the S&P 500. Before we dive into how investors and analysts have reacted as of late, let's take a quick look at the most recent earnings report in order to get a better handle on the important drivers. Cintas Tops Q2 Earnings Estimates, Raises FY19 View Cintas reported better-than-expected second-quarter fiscal 2019 (ended November 2018) results. Earnings/Revenues Quarterly adjusted earnings came in at $1.76 per share, up 34.4% year over year. The bottom line also surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.72. Revenues in the reported quarter improved 7% year over year to $1,718.2 million. The metric also improved 7% year over year organically. Additionally, the top-line numbers surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1,695 million. Segmental Break-Up The Uniform Rental and Facility Services segment generated $1,390.8 million revenues in the fiscal second quarter, up 6.3% year over year. The First Aid and Safety Services segments top-line performance improved 10.3% year over year to $153.3 million. Aggregate revenues from Other businesses came in at $174.1 million, up 9.3% year over year. Costs/Margins Aggregate cost of sales in the fiscal second quarter was $943.1 million, up 6% year over year. Gross profit margin improved 50 basis points (bps) year over year to 45.1% in the fiscal second quarter. Selling and administrative expenses flared up 5% year over year to $491.7 million in the reported quarter. G&K Services, Inc. (acquired in March 2017) integration expenses tanked 40% year over year to $7.8 million. Operating margin in the reported quarter was 16%, up 140 bps year over year. Balance Sheet/Cash Flow Exiting the fiscal second quarter, Cintas had cash and cash equivalents of $88.5 million, down from $138.7 million recorded as of May 31, 2018. Long-term debt stood at $2,536.4 million, as against $2,535.3 million recorded at the end of fiscal 2018. In first-half fiscal 2019, the company generated $344.6 million cash from operating activities, down 9.1% year over year. Capital expenditures were $137.6 million, up 3.9% year over year. In the six months of fiscal 2019, Cintas repurchased common stock worth $447 million, under its buyback program. Notably, the companys latest dividend payout of $2.05 per share (Dec 7, 2018) was 26.5% higher than the previous years dividend. Outlook Cintas is poised to enhance its competency on the basis of the successful G&K Services integration and effective implementation of its strategic enterprise resource planning system. The company also remains on track to boost its shareholders remuneration over time. The company raised its revenue guidance for fiscal 2019 (ending May 2019) from $6.80-$6.855 billion to $6.87-$6.91 billion. Also, adjusted earnings view for the fiscal has been raised from $7.19-$7.29 per share to $7.30-$7.38 per share. G&K Services integration expenses are predicted to lie within $18-$22 million in fiscal 2019. Fresh estimates followed an upward path over the past two months. VGM Scores At this time, Cintas has a nice Growth Score of B, a grade with the same score on the momentum front. Charting a somewhat similar path, the stock was allocated a grade of C on the value side, putting it in the middle 20% for this investment strategy. Overall, the stock has an aggregate VGM Score of B. If you aren't focused on one strategy, this score is the one you should be interested in. Outlook Cintas has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). We expect an above average return from the stock in the next few months. Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Cintas Corporation (CTAS) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here.

https://news.yahoo.com/why-cintas-ctas-16-3-143002145.html

Why Is Carnival (CCL) Up 10.2% Since Last Earnings Report?

Carnival (CCL) reported earnings 30 days ago. We take a look at earnings estimates for some clues. A month has gone by since the last earnings report for Carnival (CCL). Shares have added about 10.2% in that time frame, outperforming the S&P 500. Before we dive into how investors and analysts have reacted as of late, let's take a quick look at the most recent earnings report in order to get a better handle on the important drivers. Carnival Q4 Earnings Beat Estimates, Revenues Lag Carnival has reported mixed fourth-quarter fiscal 2018 results, wherein earning surpassed estimates but revenues lagged the same. Earnings were 70 cents per share, which outpaced the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 69 cents and improved 11.1% year over year. Revenues of $4,456 million lagged the consensus mark by $4,459 million but increased 4.6% year over year. This year-over-year top-line improvement can be attributed strength in passenger tickets, and onboard and other as well as tour and other businesses. Net revenue yields rose 3.7% year over year on a constant-currency basis. The upswing was primarily driven by higher net ticket, and net onboard and other yields that increased 2.7% and 6.4%, respectively, in constant currency. Segmental Revenues Carnival generates revenues from Passenger Tickets business, and Onboard and Other as well as Tour and Other segments. Revenues at the Passenger Tickets business segment increased 3.4% year over year to $3,236 million. Onboard and Other revenues totaled $1,170 million, up 7% year over year. Tour and Other revenues rose 42.9% year over year to $50 million. Expenses Net cruise costs (in constant dollar) per available lower berth day (ALBD), excluding fuel, declined 1.8%. Gross cruise costs (including fuel) per ALBD in current dollars increased 2.4%. Balance Sheet Carnival exited the fiscal fourth quarter with cash and cash equivalents of approximately $982 million, up from $395 million as of Nov 30, 2017. Trade and other receivables summed $358 million, up from $312 million in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2017. Long-term debt amounted to approximately $7,897 million. Cash from operations totaled $1,113 million in the quarter under review. Carnival spent $966 million on capital expenditure and $352 million on dividends in the same period. First Quarter Fiscal 2019 Outlook Carnival expects EPS to be 40-44 cents in the fiscal first quarter. Net revenue yields are expected to be flat compared with the prior fiscal year. Net cruise costs (excluding fuel) per ALBD in constant currency for the fiscal first quarter are expected to increase by roughly 2% compared with the prior fiscal year. Fiscal 2019 Guidance Carnival expects 2019 EPS to be $4.50 to $4.80 compared with adjusted earnings per share of $4.26 recorded in fiscal 2018. The company expects full-year net cruise costs (excluding fuel) per ALBD to be up approximately 0.5% compared with the prior fiscal year. Moreover, management expects net cruise revenues to be up 5.5%, with capacity growth of 4.6% and higher net revenue yields by 1%. It turns out, fresh estimates flatlined during the past month. The consensus estimate has shifted -8.49% due to these changes. VGM Scores At this time, Carnival has an average Growth Score of C, however its Momentum Score is doing a lot better with an A. Following the exact same course, the stock was allocated a grade of A on the value side, putting it in the top quintile for this investment strategy. Overall, the stock has an aggregate VGM Score of A. If you aren't focused on one strategy, this score is the one you should be interested in. Outlook Carnival has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). We expect an in-line return from the stock in the next few months. Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report To read this article on Zacks.com click here.

https://news.yahoo.com/why-carnival-ccl-10-2-143002783.html

Is Apple's Walled Garden Crumbling?

Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) has been one of the most successful companies of all time, and with good reason. The tech giant introduced the iPod and the iTunes Store, which revolutionized the music industry. Not content to stop there, the company developed the groundbreaking iPhone, changing how people interact with devices. One of the strategies that has served Apple well over the years is that of the "walled garden," a closed ecosystem enabling the company to regulate not only the hardware, but also the software, apps, and services on its devices -- effectively controlling every aspect of the user experience. Apple's meticulous attention to detail and reputation for quality kept consumers coming back for more. However, slowing iPhone sales, and Apple's increasing dependence on services for growth, are forcing the company outside its walled garden for the first time in its storied history. A crumbling garden wall with lush grass and a spreading tree More Apple's walled garden is beginning to crumble. Image source: Getty Images. Cracks in the wall Several recent developments show how Apple is beginning to abandon some of its long-standing practices, as it transitions from primarily being a device maker to a heavier reliance on services and subscriptions. In November, Apple struck a deal to sell a number of its products directly on Amazon's e-commerce site. A highlight of that deal brought Apple Music to Amazon's Echo devices, a remarkable shift for a company that had released its own HomePod speaker less than a year earlier. Even more telling was the announcement that Apple Music would be coming to other Alexa-powered devices made by Sonos and Logitech. At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas last week, a wide array of television manufacturers including LG, Sony, and Vizio announced that key products would be compatible with Apple's AirPlay 2 technology. The system lets you share videos, photos, and music from Apple devices to the Apple TV and a wide assortment of popular speakers, and soon to a range of products from the above-mentioned manufacturers. Samsung went a step further, revealing that it will include a new app on some TV models that will allow viewers to log directly into their Apple accounts and stream TV series and movies from iTunes. Setting a precedent These alliances aren't that unexpected. Apple has had a long history of partnerships to develop apps and systems for its devices, although those still gave the company a modicum of control. Collaboration with IBM in 2014 resulted in the development of a new class of business apps and brought the company's data analytics to the iPhone and iPad. This helped push Apple further into the enterprise market, but it still had input into the final product. What is surprising is Apple's willingness to expand the availability of its services and subscriptions to a growing list of products from a wide variety of manufacturers. This signals the importance of services to Apple's future growth. It also illustrates its need to abandon a long history of self-reliance in order to make access to its services more ubiquitous, and available across a greater swath of devices than just its own. The writing is on the wall Apple investors have long feared a slowdown in the sale of iPhones, and those concerns have finally been realized. In a letter to shareholders earlier this month, Apple CEO Tim Cook revised guidance for the important holiday quarter, saying that disappointing sales of the iconic device would result in a revenue decline of 5% -- just two months after guiding for year-over-year growth of 0.8% to 5.3%.

https://news.yahoo.com/apple-apos-walled-garden-crumbling-140200891.html

Is Denison Mines a Buy?

Some of the most tempting stocks in the energy and materials industry are companies looking to develop a new mine or other large-scale projects from scratch. These companies tout the incredible economics of these potential projects and how, at today's stock prices, the company is an absolute steal. Denison Mines (NYSEMKT: DNN) very much falls into that category. Based on the estimates management has put together for its uranium mine in Canada, you would be crazy not to invest in this company. What investors should consider, though, is how reliable those numbers really are. So let's dig into Denison's claims and put them to the sniff test to see if Denison Mines' stock is a buy now. Underground uranium mine. More Image source: Getty Images. The siren song of a slide deck When a company is a prospective mining or energy company and doesn't have any currently producing assets or operations, investors are betting largely on what management says in its investor presentation. Reading through Denison's investor presentation, it's easy to see why investors are attracted to the prospective uranium miner. According to Denison, it owns one of the largest undeveloped uranium deposits in the Eastern Athabasca region of Canada. This region is rich in uranium ore and is home to some of the largest producers, including Cameco (NYSE: CCJ) and Orano. On top of this deposit, known as Wheeler River, the company has leases and exploratory licenses on several other tracts of land in the region that management believes hold an immense amount of potential further down the road. The focus for now, though, is on Wheeler River and exploiting its 104 million pounds of high-grade uranium ore. What's perhaps more impressive than the size of Denison's ore deposits is the seemingly off-the-charts profitability the company claims it can achieve once operational. Denison's claim is that it can use in-situ recovery methods that will cost about $3.33 per ton of triuranium octoxide, the common ore form of uranium also known as yellowcake. With current yellowcake prices around $28 per pound, the profit margins here are incredible. With a deposit as large and as profitable as Wheeler River, Denison claims the entire project can generate internal rates of return greater than 38%. When paper runs into reality Before you go rushing to hit the "buy" button after reading Denison's sexy slide deck, it's worth taking a step back and looking at the uranium market as well as scrutinizing some of those numbers. For one, the future of nuclear power is throwing off some mixed signals and may not be as rosy as some uranium miners claim it will be. One thing that miners continue to point at is the amount of nuclear facilities under construction around the world. Cameco notes on its investor presentations that there are 55 new nuclear power plants under construction and that "many more" are planned. The International Energy Agency estimates that nuclear power will grow about 1.8% annually between now and 2040. The question investors need to ask themselves is how much faith we can put in these planned facilities actually getting built. For example, there are seven nuclear plants considered in the planning phase, but none of those seven have gone past the initial licensing phase for years. Also, according to financial advisory firm Lazard, the levelized cost of energy for a new nuclear plant is, at its most economical, double the cost of the least-economical onshore wind farm on a per Megawatt-hour basis. Lazard even estimates that the costs for building a new onshore wind farm without any government subsidies are on the low side of maintaining current operations at an existing nuclear facility.

https://news.yahoo.com/denison-mines-buy-140200816.html

Could 1st tangible signs of shutdown progress be emerging?

By JILL COLVIN, LISA MASCARO, ZEKE MILLER and CATHERINE LUCEY WASHINGTON (AP) The first tangible signs of movement may be emerging in the impasse that has shut down the government for weeks: President Donald Trump is promising a major announcement about the closure and the U.S.-Mexico border and Democrats are pledging more money for border security. It was unclear whether the developments, following days of clashes between Trump and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., might represent serious steps toward resolving the partisan fight or instead may simply be political posturing as the partial shutdown reached a record 29th day. Hundreds of thousands of federal workers have gone without paychecks, enduring financial hardship. Many public services are unavailable to Americans during the closure. The White House has declined to provide details about what the president would announce midafternoon Saturday. Trump was not expected to sign a national emergency declaration he has said was an option to circumvent Congress, according to two people familiar with the planning. Instead, he was expected to propose the outlines of a deal that the administration believes could have the potential to pave the way for a shutdown end, according to one of the people. They were not authorized to publicly discuss details about the impending announcement and spoke on condition of anonymity. I think itll be an important statement, Trump told reporters Saturday before traveling to an air base in Delaware to honor four Americans killed in a suicide bomb attack in Syria this week. Democrats are now proposing hundreds of millions of dollars for new immigration judges and improvements to ports of entry from Mexico but nothing for the wall, a House aide said, as the party begins fleshing out its vision of improving border security. Trumps refusal to sign spending bills that lack $5.7 billion he wants to start constructing that wall, which Democrats oppose, has prompted the shutdown. We need the help and the backup of a wall, the president said Saturday. Whatever the White House proposed would be the first major overture by the president since Jan. 8, when he gave an Oval Office address trying to make the public case for the border wall. Democrats have said they will not negotiate until the government reopens, raising questions about how Trump might move the ball forward. Democrats were proposing $563 million to hire 75 more immigration judges, who currently face large backlogs processing cases, and $524 million to improve ports of entry in Calexico, California, and San Luis, Arizona, the Democratic House aide said. The money is to be added to spending bills, largely negotiated between the House and Senate, that the House plans to vote on next week. In addition, Democrats were working toward adding money for more border security personnel and for sensors and other technology to a separate bill financing the Department of Homeland Security, but no funds for a wall or other physical barriers, the aide said. It was possible Democrats would introduce that measure next week as the cornerstone of their border security alternative to Trumps wall, the aide said. Earlier Friday, Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard, D-Calif., who leads the House Appropriations Committees homeland security subcommittee, said in an interview that some Democrats were asking leaders, What is our plan? The aide spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasnt authorized to discuss the details publicly. In a video posted on his Twitter feed late Friday, Trump said both sides should take the politics out of it and get to work to make a deal. But he also repeated his warnings, saying: We have to secure our southern border. If we dont do that, were a very, very sad and foolish lot. Few would argue that a humanitarian crisis is unfolding at the U.S.-Mexico border, as the demand for entry by migrants and the Trump administrations hard-line response overwhelm border resources. But critics say Trump has dramatically exaggerated the security risks and they argue that a wall would do little to solve existing problems. Trumps Friday evening tweeted announcement came after Pelosi on Friday canceled her plans to travel by commercial plane to visit U.S. troops in Afghanistan, saying Trump had caused a security risk by talking about the trip. The White House said there was no such leak. It was the latest turn in the high-stakes brinkmanship between Trump and Pelosi that has played out against the stalled negotiations. Pelosi had suggested Trump postpone the annual State of the Union address, a Washington tradition and a platform for his border wall fight with Democrats. It is tentatively scheduled for Jan. 29. Trump never responded directly. Instead, he abruptly canceled Pelosis military flight on Thursday, hours before she and a congressional delegation were to depart for Afghanistan on the previously undisclosed visit to U.S. troops. He asserted on Saturday that Pelosi is under total control of the radical left. ___ For APs complete coverage of the U.S. government shutdown: https://apnews.com/GovernmentShutdown ___ Associated Press writers Deb Riechmann, Kevin Freking, Jon Lemire, Matthew Daly, Andy Taylor, Mary Clare Jalonick, Matt Lee, Lolita C. Baldor and Alan Fram contributed to this report.

https://www.bostonherald.com/2019/01/19/trump-plans-major-announcement-on-border-longest-shutdown/

Will Arizona be crucial 38th state to ratify Equal Rights Amendment?

CLOSE State Sen. Victoria Steele, D-Tucson, talks about her support for the ERA during a rally at the Arizona Capitol on Jan. 18, 2019. Dustin Gardiner, The Republic | azcentral.com One more state. That's how close proponents of the Equal Rights Amendment say they are to crossing the 38-state threshold needed to put it into the U.S. Constitution. The question might sound far-fetched given the ERA has failed in the Republican-controlled Arizona Legislature numerous times before. But changes in the Legislature's makeup could make the fight a toss-up. ERA supporters, who held a rally at the state Capitol complex Friday morning, said the momentum for this year's legislative session has moved in their favor. Closer fight expected this year State Rep. Pam Powers Hannley, D-Tucson, sponsored an ERA resolution last year, but Republicans in House refused to allow debate on the measure, which would broadly guarantee equal rights between men and women. The amendment includes three brief sections: Section 1. Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex. Section 2. The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article. Section 3. This amendment shall take effect two years after the date of ratification. "It's time for us to make history. We could be the last state to ratify the ERA in 2019. It's time to do this!" @P2Hannley demands equality for women across AZ, equal pay for equal work! pic.twitter.com/I2NKMECKWD Arizona House Democrats (@AZHouseDems) January 18, 2019 Powers Hannley said she feels a "change in the air" this session given Democrats picked up seats in the November election and there are new Republican members. At least two Republican female legislators support it. "It's time for us to make history," Powers Hannley said Friday as she spoke to a standing-room-only crowd of about 100 women, many wearing purple-white-and-green ERA sashes. "There is no time limit on equality." The math for ERA passage in Arizona is better than it has been in decades. MONTINI: Arizona lawmakers can honor Justice O'Connor by passing the Equal Rights Amendment Democrats hold more seats in the Arizona House than they have since 1966, with a 31-29 split. They picked up four seats, so they only need to sway two moderate Republicans go along for ERA ratification. So excited! I just signed my bill to ratify the proposed amendment to the constitution of the United States providing equal rights for men and women. pic.twitter.com/6Jm7g7NgNf Victoria Steele (@VictoriaLSteele) January 18, 2019 Meanwhile, the score is even closer in the Senate. Two new state senators, Michelle Ugenti-Rita, R-Scottsdale, and Heather Carter, R-Cave Creek, previously co-sponsored the resolution when they were in the House. Both switched chambers this year. Their move means the Senate is at least split 15-15 on the ERA, so only one moderate Republican is likely needed to pass it there. Key role in revived national fight State Sen. Eddie Farnsworth, R-Gilbert, is expected to block the Equal Rights Amendment bill from being heard in Judiciary Committee. (Photo: Cheryl Evans, The Republic) In other words, advocates nationwide will be watching Arizona's debate, given that it could be the linchpin for ratification. Congress sent the ERA to the states in 1972, when women's equality issues were at the forefront of a national debate. The movement lost steam after not obtaining the approval from 38 states by the 1982 deadline Congress had set. But the issue was revived in 2017, when Nevada became the 36th state to ratify the amendment. Illinois followed and became the 37th state last year. Opponents of the ERA argue the debate is pointless because Congress' self-imposed deadline has passed. However, supporters argue that isn't a barrier because the Constitution sets no deadline for ratification. If Arizona becomes the 38th state, that issue will likely be fought in court or in Congress. Other states also are in contention to be the next to ratify the ERA. On Jan. 15, the Virginia Senate voted for ratification, though the issue faces an uphill fight in the House there. Florida, North Carolina and Utah have also debated ratification in recent years. Supporters of the Equal Rights Amendment attend a rally at the Arizona Capitol on Jan. 18, 2019. (Photo: Dustin Gardiner) Critics of the ERA contend the measure isn't needed because other areas of federal law already prohibit discrimination on the basis of gender. Among them is state Sen. Eddie Farnsworth, R-Gilbert, who chairs the powerful Judiciary Committee, where it likely would be heard. "If you have people that are paying less money based on gender, they are already breaking the law," Farnsworth said when the bill was debated last year. "Enforce the law." Farnsworth, who didn't respond to a request for comment, is expected to block the bill from being heard in his committee. That could mean Democrats and ERA supporters must use a procedural move to try to force a floor debate. Powers Hannley did that last year, on Equal Pay Day, April 10, the day on the calendar when the average woman's earnings catch up to what a male peer earns. Farnsworth argued during floor debate that the ERA could have unintended consequences and be used to remove abortion restrictions. Supporters aim for bipartisan win State Sen. Michelle Ugenti-Rita, R-Scottsdale, an anti-abortion conservative, said she joined the cause anyway because she realized apprehensions about the ERA are misconceptions. (Photo: Sean Logan, The Republic) Supporters said their campaign will dispel old arguments against the ERA. Conservatives rallied to defeat the amendment in the 1980s because they argued it would undermine traditional family roles. They also said it would guarantee access to abortion. ERA advocates say that argument is a distraction because the Supreme Court has established that the procedure is legal. Ugenti-Rita, an anti-abortion conservative, said she was initially wary to take up the ERA fight, knowing it would lead to attacks from within her party, evidenced by her bitter primary race last year. She said she joined the cause anyway because she realized apprehensions about the ERA are misconceptions. "It's a little scary for Republicans to get on this issue ... you may get vilified in your own district," Ugenti-Rita told ERA supporters Friday. "We want to give them that space and walk them through that." She said the ERA's actual language isn't remotely controversial to most Republican women she's talked about the issue with. Ugenti-Rita said she wants to return to the days when the ERA was part of the Republican Party's platform, before it was removed in 1980. CLOSE State Sen. Michelle Ugenti-Rita, R-Scottdale, explains her support for the ERA during a rally at the Arizona Capitol on Jan. 18, 2019. Dustin Gardiner, The Republic | azcentral.com Powers Hannley said the idea that women don't still face inequalities is just wrong. One area that still needs to be confronted, she said, is the gender-pay gap: Nationally, women earn about 80 cents for every dollar a man makes. In Arizona, women earn about 82 cents for every dollar. "This is wage discrimination and it hurts not only these women and their children, but it hurts our state's economy," Powers Hannley said. "Over a lifetime, most women will lose a half a million dollars. I want my money back." READ MORE: CLOSE Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney, actress Alyssa Milano and others rallied Monday for the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment. The ERA was passed by Congress in 1972, but is still one state short of the 38 needed to ratify the amendment. Click here to subscribe to azcentral.com. Go to connect.azcentral.com for a staff list, for more information about the newsroom and for details about upcoming events. Read or Share this story: https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/arizona/2019/01/19/equal-rights-amendment-why-arizona-could-state-put-over-top/2605903002/

https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/arizona/2019/01/19/equal-rights-amendment-why-arizona-could-state-put-over-top/2605903002/

How Safe Is Eaton and Its Dividend?

Eaton (NYSE: ETN) is offering investors a generous 3.7% yield today, well above what you'd get from an S&P 500 index fund. The stock, however, is down 16% over the past year. Earnings have been good lately, but the company operates globally in the industrial sector, which is highly cyclical. With investors increasingly concerned about worldwide economic growth, it's time to see if Eaton can sustain that dividend if it hits a rough patch. The business Eaton operates five main businesses: Electrical products (around 33% of revenue), electrical systems and services (28%), vehicle (16%), hydraulic (12%), and aerospace (9%). It started up a sixth division in 2018 called eMobility to serve the electric vehicle market, but it remains tiny at just 1.5% of revenue. The key takeaway here, however, is that Eaton has a fairly diversified business, with operations that do well at different points in the economic cycle. That's not to suggest that a downturn won't hurt, but that the company's business is built to weather such storms. Two men looking at blueprints above a factory floor More Image source: Getty Images. Eaton is also fairly well diversified globally, with about 54% of revenue from the United States, 22% from Europe, 12% from the Asia-Pacific region, 7% from Latin America, and 5% from Canada. Clearly the economic ups and downs in North America will have the biggest impact on Eaton's business. However, it has a broad reach that, when combined with its portfolio, should allow it to get through downturns in relative stride. Eaton is simply too large and diverse a company to get into every nook and cranny, but that's the point. It has its business spread well enough that there's little reason to be concerned about any one segment. This also gives management the ability to actively manage its portfolio via acquisitions and dispositions, adjusting the business over time so it is positioned for long-term growth. This is a common theme throughout the company's 100-plus-year history. To put some numbers on the results of all of this, during the deep 2007 to 2009 recession, earnings dipped into the red in just a single quarter. Trailing-12-month earnings, however, stayed in positive territory throughout the downturn. In other words, Eaton got hit by an economic hurricane and survived without too much pain because it is specifically built to withstand such blows. Surviving a downturn is one thing; continuing to pay a dividend throughout a soft patch is another. Eaton is currently working on a nine-year streak of annual dividend increases. It has a history of regular annual hikes stretching much further back, though. Its prior streak ended when management paused dividend hikes about a decade ago to work through the recession. Notably, though, it didn't cut the dividend. So there's a clear desire on management's part to reward investors with regular dividend increases.

https://news.yahoo.com/safe-eaton-dividend-163100415.html

Where Will Albemarle Be in 5 Years?

Albemarle (NYSE: ALB) has caught the attention of investors over the last few years because of its lithium business. The market for that single commodity has huge growth potential, and rising demand has already helped to spur a massive price increase in the metal. That price spike has cooled since early 2018, but the demand outlook for this business hasn't. Which is why Albemarle is likely to look a lot different in five years than it does today. The current view Right now, Albemarle has three primary divisions. The smallest produces bromine, which is used as a fire retardant in electronics, among other things. This group provides roughly 27% of the company's revenue. The catalysts division makes products for the refining and petrochemicals markets, among others, and accounts for around 33% of the company's sales. The largest operation is Albemarle's lithium business, which mines for and produces lithium, a key material used in batteries. Lithium is about 36% of the company's sales. An electric car charger plugged into an electric car More Image source: Getty Images All three divisions have been doing relatively well lately. Third-quarter catalyst sales were up 15%, while bromine sales grew 9%. The weak spot was actually lithium, which posted a sales gain of just 1%. However, that was partly the result of production issues at several of Albemarle's facilities, all of which have since been resolved. Despite being diversified relatively evenly across three different businesses, Albemarle stock has basically been trading in line with the price of lithium. That metal's price spiked in 2017, sending Albemarle's stock higher. It fell in 2018, and Albemarle's share price again followed along for the ride. Essentially, lithium is the story that's driving Albemarle's stock. But that actually makes a lot of sense, because lithium is also driving the company's future. Meeting the demand Albemarle is projecting demand for lithium to increase at a compound annual growth rate of 18% between 2017 and 2025. Electric vehicles are expected to be the biggest contributor to that increase, with an incredible 35% compound annual growth rate in demand over that period. Simply put, it takes a lot of batteries to power a car, and more lithium will be needed to meet that demand -- a lot more. Albemarle's Lithium Demand Projections Applications 2017 Demand (Kilotons LCE) 2017 to 2025 CAGR 2025 Demand (Kilotons LCE) Transportation 50 35% 550 Consumer electronics 60 8% 110 Other/industrial 110 3% to 4% 140 Total 220 Approximately 18% 800 Data source: Albemarle. LCE = lithium carbonate equivalent. Albermarle is positioning itself to stay atop the list of global lithium producers, using the profits from its bromine and catalyst operations to help fund growth on the lithium side of the business. Generally speaking, that has meant building new lithium mines and expanding operations at existing mines. For example, it late 2018 it inked a deal to acquire a 50% stake in a planned Australian lithium mine for roughly $1.15 billion. It has also been working on in-house projects. The company's growth goals are material. It expects to increase lithium production from 65 kilotons of lithium carbonate (LCE) in 2017 to 165 kilotons LCE in 2021. After that, its next target is to ramp up production to 325 kilotons LCE, but management hasn't given any specifics on when it expects to achieve that goal. Note, however, that prior to December's Australian mine deal, the long-term goal was 225 kilotons LCE. The trend is clear: Over the next five years, investors should expect lithium to become an increasingly important part of Albemarle's business.

https://news.yahoo.com/where-albemarle-5-years-154800289.html

Are the U.S. and Russia in a new Cold War?

The revelation of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential elections caught Americans by surprise. As we learn more about how the Russian intelligence agencies, state-controlled media and various proxies worked to influence the U.S. elections in an effort to undermine trust in the electoral process and further divide Americans, many are asking if the United States and Russia are in a new Cold War. But, as we know, the Cold War didnt end in the Soviet Unions favor. During the Cold War, the world seemed more neatly divided into a competition between two superpowers. Americans were taught that the Communists were the bad guys (and Soviet citizens were taught about the evils and hypocrisy of the West). After the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, however, the United States reigned as the sole superpower. Without the evil empire to oppose, successive U.S. administrations vacillated on the level of focus on Russia and in offering a strategic vision for the newly liberated post-Soviet republics. Each president seemed convinced that he could fix the Russia problem through a close personal relationship with the Russian leader. President Bill Clinton developed a close bond with Boris Yeltsin, and sought to integrate Russia into international institutions, such as the G-8, while at the same time pursuing policies that Yeltsin categorically opposed, most notably the U.S.-led bombing of Serbia. After Yeltsins handpicked successor, Vladimir Putin, took the reins in the Kremlin, President George W. Bush infamously said that he looked into Putins eyes and saw his soul (a comment he would later come to regret). Putin invaded Georgia at the end of Bushs term. Yet, just a year later in 2009, with Putin briefly handing over the presidency to Dmitry Medvedev (but undoubtedly remaining as the decision-maker), the Obama administration was ready for a fresh start. The Obama reset soured quickly however when Putin returned to the presidency in 2012, intent to redefine the relationship with the West as an adversarial one. Relations between Russia and the West took a nosedive in 2014. As Ukrainians rose up in a mass democratic movement to depose a corrupt, Kremlin-controlled leader, Viktor Yanukovich, the Kremlin seized the opportunity to invade Ukraine, taking over Ukraines Crimean peninsula and starting a proxy war in Ukraines east. The United States and Europe responded by imposing economic sanctions on Russia and providing financial and military support to help the Ukrainians defend themselves against further Russian aggression. Similarly, President Trump came into office seeking closer and better relations with Russia. Despite those stated intentions, U.S.-Russia relations have continued to unravel: Congress forced his administration to impose more sanctions on Russian businesses and oligarchs; the U.S. expelled 60 Russian diplomats in response to the attempt by Russian agents to poison a former Russian intelligence officer in the U.K.; and, the White House has pulled out of a Soviet-era arms-control treaty citing rampant Russian violations. that the American people are more confused about U.S.-Russia relations than during the Cold War years. Putin skillfully plays with this ambiguity: He has carefully crafted an image that often contradicts reality. In this image, he plays the roles simultaneously of defender of Christian values (even though the majority of Russians are not religious); savior of Russia from economic destitution (even though under his rule the Russian economy entered a period of stagnation and 25 percent of Russians are too poor to have an indoor toilet); and a strong leader as compared with the weak democratically elected leaders in the West (even though most Westerners who visit Russia outside the glitz of Moscow would likely not want to live there). If it wasnt clear before, it should be clear by now: Putins Russia is an adversary of the United States. The Kremlin needs to have an external enemy to distract the Russian people from the problems plaguing their country. Putin, however, is no fool he understands the limits of Russian capacities and ability to project power. Russia is no match to the United States economically, militarily, or in terms of its appeal to others. The Russian president understands that to win, you dont have to be better than everyone else; everyone else just has to do a little worse. And this is why the Kremlin has launched a strategy of political warfare against the West in the form of disinformation campaigns, support for far-right political parties in Europe, cyberattacks, money laundering, and other tools of influence that allow Moscow to undermine its perceived adversaries at very little cost. After all, its cheaper to open an internet troll farm than to build tanks and invest in sustainable economic growth. And if the Russians can cause so much damage with so little, others who see the United States as an enemy are sure to follow suit. Alina Polyakova is a fellow at the Brookings Institution and an adjunct professor of European studies at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University.

https://www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/openforum/article/Are-the-U-S-and-Russia-in-a-new-Cold-War-13546860.php

Will Chevron Raise Its Dividend in 2019?

The energy sector went through a tough year in 2018, and even the industry's giants proved vulnerable to the pressures of weak oil prices. Chevron (NYSE: CVX) saw its shares fall 13% last year, and it took the company's healthy dividend to avoid a double-digit percentage loss on a total-return basis. As the largest oil producer in the U.S., Chevron has plenty of financial strength, but it's also highly exposed to the ups and downs of the energy markets. Even with its challenges, Chevron has built up an impressive history of paying dividends to its shareholders. The company's dividend growth goes back decades, and its current yield puts it among the top-paying blue chip stocks in the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Yet as oil prices took another move lower to close 2018, some dividend investors got more nervous about Chevron's future prospects. Below, we'll look more closely at Chevron to see if it's likely to sustain its streak of higher dividends in 2019. Dividend stats on Chevron Metric Current Stat Current quarterly dividend per share $1.12 Current yield 4% Number of consecutive years with dividend increases 31 years Payout ratio 60% Last increase February 2018 Source: Yahoo! Finance. Last increase refers to ex-dividend date. How Chevron has treated its shareholders Chevron has done a good job of boosting its dividend over time. With more than three decades of annual dividend increases, Chevron qualifies as a Dividend Aristocrat, and its current yield is a healthy one compared with most other stocks across the market. One thing investors need to understand, though, is that Chevron has used technicalities to extend its streak. Even though the total amount that it's paid each year has gone up, there have been some years during which no quarterly dividend increase occurred. That sounds confusing, but it's possible because if the company does a midyear increase to its payout, then the following year's total dividend will be higher as long as Chevron sustains the higher rate throughout that subsequent year. The period from 2014 to 2016 shows how that works. In the second quarter of 2014, Chevron gave investors a 7% boost to its quarterly dividend, raising it from $1 to $1.07 per share. That means that for 2014, the total payout was $4.21 per share. In 2015, Chevron didn't hike its quarterly dividend, but because it made four payments of $1.07, the total of $4.28 per share represented an annual increase. Then in 2016, Chevron waited until the fourth quarter to give a $0.01-per-share increase to $1.08, and that resulted in annual payouts of $4.29 per share. You can see what that looks like in the chart below. CVX Dividend Chart More CVX Dividend data by YCharts. In 2018, though, Chevron was somewhat more generous, with a $0.04-per-share boost to $1.12 quarterly coming early in the year. That reflected an early 2018 rebound in energy prices, along with positive impacts from tax reform. Chevron's far from the only energy company to come under pressure in 2018. The huge drop in crude oil prices late in the year was particularly punishing for the entire industry, and adding to the trouble for Chevron was the fact that rising production in the U.S. market still met with logistical challenges that resulted in particular weakness in the West Texas Intermediate crude benchmark.

https://news.yahoo.com/chevron-raise-dividend-2019-170300339.html

Where Will Brookfield Renewable Partners L.P. Be in 5 Years?

As its name implies, Brookfield Renewable Partners L.P. (NYSE: BEP) is focused on owning assets that produce clean, renewable energy. That's a sweet spot right now as the world increasingly looks to shift from carbon-based fuels toward options that don't contribute much less to global warming. Add in Brookfield's fat 6.8% yield, and not only do investors get to claim green credentials, they can also collect a generous stream of income. That said, Brookfield Renewable Partners is about to go through a notable change that you should be aware of before you jump aboard. What it looks like today The core of Brookfield Renewable Partners' business is water. Hydroelectric facilities produce around 80% of the partnership's funds from operations (FFO). The technology behind these facilities is well understood and highly reliable. They provide important base-load power, essentially generating electricity on a continual basis. The partnership's hydroelectric footprint provides a truly solid foundation to the business. Two people carrying a solar panel More Image source: Getty Images The only problem is that you can't put a hydroelectric power plant just anywhere. And, as you might expect, most of the really good locations have already been used. To put a number on that, Brookfield estimates that $1.5 trillion has been spent on renewable power over the last five years -- but only 17% of that sum went to hydro power. This is not a growth business, with the partnership basically stuck looking for opportunistic investments. Which is where the rest of the portfolio comes into play. The other 20% of FFO comes largely from wind and solar farms. Of the $1.5 trillion spent on renewable power over the last five years, roughly 47% was put toward solar, with 35% focused on wind. But these two clean energy sources only account for 10% or so of the global power supply. (For reference, hydro is around 17%.) Solar and wind are where the growth is, and Brookfield's management expects that growth to span decades. Getting from here to there So one very big question for Brookfield Renewable Power investors to think about is, "How will the partnership grow its business along with the growth in renewable power?" The obvious answer is that it has to invest in solar and wind. Which is exactly why, in 2017, it bought all of TerraForm Global and a controlling stake in TerraForm Power. It further added to its investment in TerraForm Power in 2018. These two businesses brought with them a portfolio of non-hydro investments, largely in solar. That helped to diversify Brookfield Renewable Power's operations by both increasing its reach in solar and wind, and also expanding the partnership into new geographic regions. Which, over the long-term, should help it find more levers to pull in support of long-term growth.

https://news.yahoo.com/where-brookfield-renewable-partners-l-190400542.html

What's the Saints' biggest challenge vs. the Rams?

NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune sports columnist Jeff Duncan on Friday (Jan. 18) hosted an AMA (ask me anything) chat on the Reddit Saints forum in advance of Sunday's NFC Championship Game between the New Orleans Saints and Los Angeles Rams at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. Questions ranged from the best and worst matchups for the Saints to Drew Brees' future to Duncan's favorite memories in his nearly 20 years covering the team. Check out some of the top questions from the Q&A, and tune in to our New Orleans Saints on NOLA.com Facebook page every Thursday at 11 a.m., when he and senior Saints writer Josh Katzenstein answer your questions about the team.

https://www.nola.com/expo/sports/g66l-2019/01/a6cffb031f320/whats-the-saints-biggest-challenge-vs-the-rams.html

Would Ravens fans welcome Steelers WR Antonio Brown?

originally appeared on nbcsportswashington.com If there's one Raven who knows just how difficult it is to cover Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown, it's Marlon Humphrey. The second-year cornerback out of Alabama rose to the top of the team's depth chart in the secondary this season and was rewarded with the chance to cover the consensus top pass catcher in football over the last half-decade. Scroll to continue with content Ad It's not newsworthy to tell you that Antonio Brown is an elite receiver. In Week 14 of the 2017 season, with top CB Jimmy Smith on the bench, Brown roasted the Ravens secondary for 213 yards on 11 catches. And in two games this past season with Humphrey following him, Brown combined for 104 yards on 10 catches and a touchdown in each game. What is newsworthy is the Steelers potentially shopping Brown, after numerous reports of locker room struggles and diva qualities from the star. And since he knows just how dangerous Brown can be, it makes sense that Humphrey would prefer to see him in purple and black. Fruit PUNCH (@marlon_humphrey) January 17, 2019 Fans of every team have imagined what it would be like to see Brown in their colors, scoring touchdowns and racking up big yardage. It's no surprise that players would imagine it as well. He hasn't had fewer than 1,284 yards or 8 touchdowns in any season since 2012, but Brown will be 31 by the start of next season, so there probably aren't too many elite seasons left. For the time being, however, Brown would be a major addition for any team. Story continues That goes double for the Ravens, who would A) take a playmaker away from their biggest rivals, and B) finally give themselves a star receiver, something they haven't had on the roster since Anquan Boldin during the Super Bowl run. While no team wants to add an alleged diva to their locker room, the Ravens have historically believed in the strength and leadership of their veterans, and therefore haven't shied away from problematic players. With John Harbaugh running things and Eric Weddle and Terrell Suggs in the locker room (none of whom are guaranteed for 2019, to be fair), the Ravens will likely trust their infrastructure and focus on talent when adding to the roster this offseason, and Brown certainly is talented. Even Humphrey recognizes it's a longshot, however. Not only would it take a massive haul in draft picks and young talent, but the Ravens would need to create some cap room that's already needed to fill other holes on the roster. Plus, it's hard to imagine the Steelers allowing their best player to go to their most hated rival if they can help it, so Baltimore would likely be forced to overpay even more than other teams to pry away Brown. When asked about potentially bringing in both Brown and star running back Le'Veon Bell from Pittsburgh to Baltimore, Humphrey could only laugh. Both no chance lol Fruit PUNCH (@marlon_humphrey) January 17, 2019 Some things really would be too good to be true. It's still fun to speculate, though, and Lamar Jackson throwing up long touchdowns to Brown would be a sight to behold. If anything else, it'd just be nice to get Brown out of the black and gold. Just ask Marlon Humphrey. MORE RAVENS NEWS:

https://sports.yahoo.com/ravens-fans-welcome-steelers-wr-040400299.html?src=rss

Could 2019 be the year Kim Kardashian and Taylor Swift kiss and make up?

Kim Kardashian West has officially put her feud with Taylor Swift behind her. Just days after insisting that she had "moved on" from her past conflict with Taylor, Kim shared a video of herself on Snapchat, listening to Taylor's song 'Delicate'. The pair had a very public feud in 2016, after Kim leaked edited clips of a phone call between her husband Kanye West and Taylor in order to prove her claims that Taylor had approved Kanye's lyrics about her in his song 'Famous'. However, Taylor, 29, hit back insisting Kanye never told her he was planning to call her "that bitch" in his song. Advertisement She fumed: "You don't get to control someone's emotional response to being called 'that bitch' in front of the entire world. He promised to play the song for me, but he never did." I made that bitch famous." Taylor went on to hit out at Kim and Kanye on her album 'Reputation's lead single, 'Look What You Made Me Do', which features a number of apparent digs at the pair. Taylor slammed someone for their "tilted stage", something Kanye had during his 'Saint Pablo' tour in 2016, when she sang: "I don't like your little games/ Don't like your tilted stage/ The role you made me play/ Of the fool/ No, I don't like you." Earlier this week, during an appearance on 'Watch What Happens Live', Kim insisted she was "over it", after being asked about the feud. When host Andy Cohen asked: "Kim, you and Taylor Swift still a beef with Taylor after all that went down?," she replied: "Over it, I feel like we've all moved on." -Bang! Showbiz

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/news/article.cfm?c_id=1501119&objectid=12193293

Can the Saints limit Rams star Aaron Donald as well as they did in Week 9?

Whether it takes one, two or three players to block Aaron Donald, the New Orleans Saints have to do whatever it takes to keep the Los Angeles Rams All-Pro defensive tackle away from quarterback Drew Brees, left tackle Terron Armstead said. The Saints did well to limit Donalds impact when these teams played in Week 9, but he had one tackle for loss, a pass defensed and a fumble recovery. Donald also finished with four quarterback hits, three of which helped produce incomplete passes. Still, the Saints held Donald without a sack, and that could be a harbinger for success against the Rams defense. Los Angeles is 18-0 the past two seasons when Donald has at least one sack, compared to 5-7 in games when he doesnt produce a sack. One of those losses came in Week 9 when the Saints beat the Rams, 45-35. We just worked well together, Saints right guard Larry Warford said. He was still a problem, for sure. Hes the best D-tackle in the league, hands down. We had a great plan, and we just trusted each other, trusted the plan, worked well together and definitely limited that pass rush. Because they have one of the best pass rushes in the league, you have to take care of that to win a game against them. Saints will rout the Rams and reach the Super Bowl. Here are 5 reasons why. Blocking Donald could be tougher this time as the Saints offensive line has not been playing as well as it did in the first 10 games of the season. In the divisional round, the Saints struggled at times to block the Eagles defensive line, particularly the interior duo of Fletcher Cox and Haloti Ngata. Saints left guard Andrus Peat, in particular, had a rough game, but hell be another week removed from his hand surgery, which could help him return to form. The Saints gave up two sacks last Sunday against the Eagles, but they didnt allow any in the second half. During the regular season, the Saints allowed 18 sacks, second fewest in the NFL. Going against Donald and Ndamukong Suh, however, is a tougher challenge than most matchups. Its hard to say youre going to keep him in check, Saints coach Sean Payton said of Donald. Hes played as well at that three-technique position as weve seen in years. Hes the best defensive player today in football (with) his numbers, his production. It shows up in the run game, it shows up in the passing game, and its a challenge. 'Fuel to the fire': Visit the Los Angeles high school where Michael Thomas found his edge Donald finished 2018 as the league leader with 20.5 sacks and 25 tackles for loss, and his ability to slow the run game is something the Saints need to protect against, too. Saints fullback Zach Line said he typically runs through holes cleanly because of the prowess of the offensive line, but he knows Donald is savvy enough to set up his moves to pounce when least expected, which might make it important for Line or other non-linemen to chip him whenever possible. Warford said Donald is so good that he usually has a plan while also knowing the offensive lines plan, which helps him be even more disruptive. Hes a guy you have to know where hes at at all times, Saints backup offensive tackle Jermon Bushrod said. You dont get 20.5 sacks on accident. He has to have hands on him at all times, and when things arent done the way that we need to, he can cause problems. The Saints hope to have similar success blocking Donald as they did in Week 9, but everyone on the team knows thats easier said than done. Were not going out to try to necessarily replicate what we did, Armstead said. Its a different game. Im sure hell have his own plan in place. We just have to execute ours. At the end of the day, its not one-on-one. Its 11-on-11, our whole offense versus their whole defense. We just have to go out and execute each man doing their job, so we can come out with the win.

https://www.nola.com/saints/2019/01/can-the-saints-limit-rams-star-aaron-donald-as-well-as-they-did-in-week-9.html

Will My Retirement Fund Withdrawals Affect My Social Security Benefits?

Social Security is a government-created program designed to provide a source of continuous income to retirees, but what most people don't know is that if you earn more than a certain amount, the government will take some of that money back in the form of a benefit tax. This means retirees need to be strategic about how much they withdraw from their retirement accounts so that they don't accidentally cost themselves money. Below, I'll explain how your retirement fund withdrawals could affect your Social Security benefits and what you can do about it. How your income affects your Social Security benefits If your "combined income" -- a Social Security Administration figure that I'll explain below -- is above a certain threshold, then up to 85% of your Social Security benefits could be taxed as income. The combined-income threshold varies by marital status. Beneficiaries with a combined income over $25,000 and married couples filing jointly with a combined income of more than $32,000 could be taxed on up to 50% of their benefits. Individuals with a combined income over $34,000 and couples with a combined income over $44,000 could be taxed on up to 85% of their benefits. Mature couple evaluating finances More Image source: Getty Images. Your combined income is calculated based on three figures: your adjusted gross income, any nontaxable interest you've earned and half of your Social Security benefits. Your adjusted gross income is the total amount of taxable income you earn in a year, minus certain adjustments, such as half of any self-employment taxes, alimony payments, or contributions to retirement accounts. Your AGI does include withdrawals from traditional retirement accounts -- including traditional 401(k)s and IRAs -- but it doesn't include withdrawals from Roth accounts, because contributions to these accounts are taxed up front. You may have nontaxable interest if you have tax-exempt bond funds in your investment portfolio. Once you have this information, you just add up the numbers to figure out your combined income. So if you withdraw $25,000 from your traditional retirement accounts, you have $2,000 in nontaxable interest, and you're getting $12,000 per year from Social Security, your combined income would be $33,000: $25,000 + $2,000 + 1/2($12,000) = $33,000 Remember that if your combined income exceeds one of the taxation thresholds above, that doesn't mean you'll be taxed on the full amount. There's a special formula that determines how much tax you'll actually pay on your benefits. This can be complicated to figure out on your own, but fortunately there are Social Security tax calculators that can do the work for you. How to avoid being taxed on your Social Security benefits The simplest way to avoid Social Security benefit taxation is to be mindful of how much you're withdrawing from your retirement accounts each year. If you're close to one of the taxation thresholds, you could try to withdraw a little less than you planned to avoid the tax. But if you regularly find yourself bumping up against the limit, you may have to make some adjustments. It's typically best to delay distributions from your Roth IRA as long as possible so that it can continue to grow tax-free, but there are times when you may want to tap it sooner. If you're close to the Social Security taxation thresholds listed above, consider taking more money from Roth accounts and less from traditional accounts. This could lower your combined income enough to avoid Social Security benefit taxes while still providing enough income to cover your living expenses. And if you're not yet retired, consider investing through a Roth-type account -- or even rolling over some existing savings from a traditional account to a Roth account -- to help you manage your taxes in retirement. Even if you cannot avoid paying taxes on some of your Social Security benefits, it still pays to understand how this works. You may be able to reduce your tax burden, and at the very least, you won't get a nasty surprise come tax time. More From The Motley Fool The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

https://news.yahoo.com/retirement-fund-withdrawals-affect-social-230500996.html

Is Mastercard a Buy?

Mastercard (NYSE: MA) had a stellar run in 2018. The stock was up 25% on the back of strong revenue and earnings growth due to rising electronic payment volumes around the globe. However, shares were up even more prior to an end-of-year correction due to mounting worries that economic growth is slowing. Though the global economy is cooling, that doesn't mean the investment thesis for Mastercard is dead. Shares look like a deal given the company's highly profitable model and the fast pace of digital transformation that is just beginning in many parts of the world. An elegantly simple business Mastercard is best known for its credit and debit cards, which are issued by banks and other financial partners. Mastercard itself isn't a lender or bank, though -- instead, the company earns a fee for clearing transactions and providing other related services. It's a simple business model, and not necessarily a new one, as plastic cards have been out since the 1950s. Nevertheless, it's an incredibly powerful business model. Revenue has been up in the low double-digits this year, but high profit margins on transaction clearing has led to even faster earnings growth. Metric Nine Months Ended September 30, 2018 Nine Months Ended September 30, 2017 YOY Change Revenue $11.1 billion $9.2 billion 21% Adjusted operating profit margin 57.6% 55.7% 1.9 p.p. Adjusted earnings per share $4.94 $3.44 44% P.p. = percentage point. Data source: Mastercard. Though Mastercard isn't new, it's still a high-growth concern with plenty of room to run. Cash is still by far the most common transaction around the world, but digital transformation is making the use of plastic more common. Other services provided to banks and financial partners like analytics and security also help Mastercard embed itself into the lives of consumers and the financial industry overall. Economic growth and the increasing value of monetary payments also help Mastercard; a bigger economy generally means more card swipes and online purchases. The company's gross dollar volume (the total value of transactions cleared) was up 14% in both the first and second quarters of 2018, and increased 13% during the third quarter. A man with a tablet inputting credit card information. More Image source: Getty Images. Expensive but worth the money Though the story around cashless payments sounds promising, a 12-month trailing price to earnings ratio of 39.5 may keep many investors away from Mastercard stock. Paying for four decades'-worth of profit is certainly a premium price, but it doesn't tell the whole story. The more accurate 12-month trailing price to free cash flow -- money left over after basic operations and capital expenditures are paid for -- is only 33.7. When valuing a high-growth endeavor, though, the future is far more important. Due to its high profit margins, even small gains in revenue helps Mastercard's bottom line grow at an even faster pace. Thus, with cashless payments on the rise in many parts of the world -- propped up by a slow-and-steady expanding global economy -- the company's 12-month forward price to earnings is currently 26.0. That implies Wall Street analysts expect that profits will continue to grow at a similar clip as they have so far in 2018. Granted, those are just estimates that may or may not work out. However, consumer and business trends toward digital transactions bode well for Mastercard. Though it may not be the cheapest stock out there, solid growth makes shares look like a good value for the long-term after the pullback in late 2018. More From The Motley Fool Nicholas Rossolillo has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Mastercard. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

https://news.yahoo.com/mastercard-buy-213300254.html

Is iRobot a Buy?

Right now, when I say, "Alexa, mow the lawn," my Amazon smart speaker says, "I added 'mow the lawn' to your shopping list." So there are some things technology can't do...yet. But if you happen to have a new Wi-Fi enabled Roomba vacuum cleaner by iRobot (NASDAQ: IRBT), as well as an Amazon Echo -- and you've set it all up properly -- you can say, "Alexa, ask Roomba to start cleaning," and check vacuuming off your list of chores. And with an iRobot robotic lawn mower on the horizon, Alexa just might be able to mow my lawn soon. This all sounds amazing, but it may not be enough to earn iRobot a spot in your portfolio. Let's dig a little bit deeper to see if the robotic vacuum pioneer is a worthwhile investment. A gray cat with its paws on a robotic vacuum cleaner More Besides being a great cat toy, iRobot's best-selling robotic vacuums can integrate into smart-home systems. Image source: Getty Images. Not like the others iRobot is a small company that's making a big impact, but its balance sheet doesn't look like that of many tech start-ups. For one thing, there's no long-term debt. None. Since 2015, the company has been able to finance its growth and its extensive research and development efforts almost exclusively from its profits, while reducing its overall share count by 6%. The company's income statement also doesn't look like most manufacturers', considering its gross profit margin on a trailing-12-month basis is 50.5%. That's incredibly high for a manufacturer. Manufacturing companies often see profits eaten up by production costs. Whirlpool's gross margin, for example, is just 17%, while Hoover and Dirt Devil parent company Techtronic's is 37%. While many consumer appliance makers have struggled over the past year -- Whirlpool's stock, for example, is down 28.2% -- iRobot's is down only 4.3%, outperforming the S&P 500. That's thanks to some stellar performance that's led revenue and net income to move steadily higher throughout the year. The longer-term picture is even brighter: Over the past five years, iRobot has increased revenue and net income by 108.9% and 174.5%, respectively. But the company's biggest opportunities may lie ahead. The home of the future We're not quite living in an episode of The Jetsons, but there's no denying that the market for smart-home devices is not only growing quickly, but seeing rapid technological advances. According to eMarketer, domestic smart speaker usage is set to increase 15% year over year in 2019, partially as a result of their popularity as a Christmas gift item. That means about 74.2 million people -- roughly 27% of the U.S. population -- will have a smart speaker in their home. That's a lot, considering these devices didn't even exist a few years ago. But it's still a small enough number that there's plenty of room for the market to grow. In fact, research firm Strategy Analytics predicts that 1.94 billion smart-home devices will be sold in 2023, outpacing demand for smartphones. The Market Research Store estimates a total smart-home market of $163 billion by 2026. Of course, people with smart-home speakers aren't just going to use them to play music. They'll want to use them to vacuum and mop the floors, clean the pool, and mow the lawn. iRobot already offers robots that can do three of those four chores. As for the lawn mower, on the most recent earnings call, CEO Colin Angle would only say, "We remain committed to launching a lawnmower and I'll stop there. It's a...well, I'll stop there."

https://news.yahoo.com/irobot-buy-230000154.html

How did Jake Patterson's life lead to Jayme Closs?

One question plays endlessly in the minds of people here along the rural roads deep in the North Woods. He was an ordinary, well-behaved kid, people here say. Teachers and classmates at his small country school described him as smart and quick-witted quiet, but not a loner. He had friends and was well-accepted among the 34 members of the Class of 2015 at Northwood School, most of whom had been together since kindergarten. He played video games, board games Risk was a favorite and devoured Tom Clancy spy novels. A friend said Jake T. Patterson, pictured here in a yearbook, never said anything about girls during his middle and high school years. Whatever the answer, it lies along the stretch of Hwy. 53 that runs roughly 100 miles from Barron, Wis., to the shores of Lake Superior. Its here that the 21-year-old Patterson spent most of his days, living in a series of small towns dotting the highway before settling in at his fathers remote cabin 9 miles east of Gordon. And its there, he told police, where he kept Jayme Closs imprisoned after fatally shooting her parents with a 12-gauge shotgun in their home just outside Barron back in October. Something just got stuck in his head, said James Moyer, Pattersons maternal grandfather. I cant imagine anybody thinking about this, let alone doing it. Living off the radar An hour north of the Closs home, the tiny town of Gordon, with a population of 645 residents, was not on our radar, Barron County Sheriff Chris Fitzgerald said in the hours after Jayme escaped Jan. 10 and Patterson was arrested. And if you want to stay off the radar, northwestern Wisconsin is a good place to be. A maze of two-lane rural roads, closely lined with tall pines, reaches deep into the wilderness off Hwy. 53. Homes and cabins are spaced far apart, often set back and hidden in the woods. People mind their own business here, community ties grow slowly. In Haugen, a village of about 270 residents some 45 miles south of Gordon and home to Pattersons mother, Deborah Frey, few noticed Jake when he visited. Its a very close-knit town, said one resident. If you havent been here three generations, people dont really know you. Frey, who drives a school bus for the nearby Rice Lake district, has lived in town only a short time, but locals know who she is by the bus thats sometimes parked in front of her home. Shes friendly. Shed wave when she went by, said Jim Hill, owner of the Village Grocery. Hill said last week that he didnt see Jake often, but remembers him stopping in the store occasionally for cigarettes. Marlboros, Hill said. Frey and Jakes father, Patrick Patterson, had a troubled marriage and divorced when Jake, the youngest of three children, was 11. Court records show that they filed for divorce in 2005, reconciled, then ended their marriage in 2008 after 19 years. The divorce decree provided scant details other than outlining the financial arrangements and joint child custody. Both parents were required to take a class titled Effects of Divorce on Children. Moyer said the divorce bothered Jake, like it would any kid. But hes not sure of the lasting impact. Jayme Closs. (FBI/TNS) ORG XMIT: 1246483 As Frey moved from one local town to another over the years, Jake began spending more time at his fathers home in Gordon, according to Victoria Fisher, whose son Dylan was a close friend of Jakes through middle school and high school. Dylan Fisher, who lives in nearby Minong, said he often went to the Patterson house to play Risk and other board games. His dad, brother and sister were at the house when I was there, Fisher said last week. Marine Corps washout Fisher said to his knowledge, Patterson never dated. In fact, he never discussed the topic. He never said anything [about girls], Fisher said. It never seemed to be a pressing concern. In his high school yearbook, Patterson said his plan after graduation was Marine Corps infantry. His senior quote: Im finally done with school. Three months after graduating, Patterson headed for the Marine Corps Recruit Depot in San Diego. But he returned to Gordon after five weeks, a washout as a Marine Corps private. The character of his service was incongruent with Marine Corps expectations and standards, the Corps said in a statement last week. This is the home where Jake Patterson lived and from where Jayme Closs told police she escaped after being held captive for 88 days. It was a bitter experience, Pattersons grandfather said. It was profoundly disappointing when he didnt make it in the Marines, Moyer said. He had health issues. He wasnt able to hold up to the regimen. Asked what the health issues were, Moyer replied, It was internal. Once back home, Patterson distanced himself from his high school friends. Fisher said he tried several times to reach him in the months after graduation but never got a response. I havent talked to him in three years, Fisher said. Other classmates also were rebuffed. I wish I had known he was around, Fisher said. I wish I could have done something. He was a normal person. He had a sense of whats right and wrong. He was a good person. He laughed, he smiled, he cried. He wasnt an empty person. Mother is petrified Since her sons arrest more than a week ago, Frey hasnt left her home in Haugen, said Michael Bednar, who lives across the street. Shes petrified, said Bednar, adding that hes never seen or talked to Jake Patterson. Bednars wife, Susan, who has been walking Freys black Lab, said the mother feels terrible. She never saw any signs of violence. She feels bad that she didnt see it. Patrick Patterson apparently didnt see anything either although according to the criminal complaint filed in the case, he typically visited his son on Saturdays during the time Jayme was held captive at the house. Frey and her ex-husband have repeatedly declined media interviews. As Patrick Patterson stopped at the Barron County courthouse one morning last week, he told a CNN reporter, All I care about right now is Jaymes family. Fisher and others, meanwhile, say they have no idea how Jake got by. I dont know that he was even working, Moyer said. I think he was looking for work. He wasnt a real assertive person. He didnt have the drive to push those opportunities very hard. Several years ago, Patterson worked for one day at the Jennie-O Turkey Store in Barron, where Jaymes parents, Denise and James Closs, worked for years. Earlier last fall, he worked for two days at a cheese factory outside Almena, a small town about 8 miles west of Barron. It was on the way to that job one morning, he told police, that he spotted Jayme boarding a school bus, which set in motion his plan to kidnap the girl hed never seen before. And on the day that Jayme escaped from his house after 88 days in captivity, Patterson submitted a rsum and an online job application to a liquor wholesaler in Superior. On it, he described himself as an honest and hardworking guy. Not much work experience but I show up to work and am a quick learner. Not ordinary sad The carved wooden sign over the door of Pattersons house in Gordon reads Pattersons Retreat. In the driveway are six old and snow-covered vehicles that look as if they havent been driven in a long time. A battered snowmobile sits in the yard, along with the usual odds and ends that accumulate at a rural residence shovels, rakes, tools. Bits of rope and stacks of lumber. Theres a red, barn-shaped bird feeder hanging from a birch tree and a trampoline out back. The two-story home is worn, with peeling paint and a rusty security door with a broken lock. A wooden deck is strung with Christmas lights, a welcome mat is placed by the front door. Its here, Jake Patterson told police, where that he kept Jayme prisoner beneath a twin bed. And its here where the quiet life he once knew came to an end. Its profoundly sad. Its not ordinary sad, Moyer said softly. We lost our grandson, too. Its like a death. Said Fisher, Pattersons best friend: Ive been trying to figure it out, and I cant. Staff writers Brandon Stahl and Pam Louwagie contributed to this report.

http://www.startribune.com/how-did-jake-patterson-s-life-lead-to-jayme-closs/504601191/

Can AI Powered Education Close The Global Gender Gap?

Education is one of the most powerful predictors of future success that human society has at its disposal. How we gather, process, and disseminate knowledge to each successive generation impacts not just individual success, but a host of other related factors such as economic growth, political empowerment, and technological innovation. It is no secret that access to more effective education for individual students is a key factor in the overall betterment of society and to womens role in society. Ive long been a proponent of better education for women from my early career days working for CARE, to becoming the Chief Strategy Officer of Top Scholar, contributing to the book Innovating Women and to founding a non-profit to help the disadvantaged attain better education. Recently, Ive been looking around globally for innovative solutions that can leapfrog womens education forward. Thankfully, numerous national and global organizations have better education for women amongst their top priorities. The World Economic Forum uses Educational Attainment as one of its four subindexes in its annual analysis of the Global Gender Gap, along with Economic Participation & Opportunity, Political Empowerment, and Health & Survival. Educational Attainment also has direct impacts on the other three measures; it is an accurate predictor of future income potential, political engagement, and personal health outcomes. For women and girls, achieving equity in education is a vital part of diminishing the gender gap around the world. By the World Economic Forums standards, educational parity has been achieved in the U.S. Boys and girls born in the U.S. now have approximately equal access to education. However, just because American citizens have equal access to education does not mean that each individual is getting the best possible education for them. We see the results of this on a daily basis. Only rich families can afford to send their kids to private schools with better quality education. And of course, kids graduating from private schools have a much greater chance of attending the top universities in the U.S. But, even though the U.S. is the wealthiest country in the world, it still places only 38th in global mathematical performance, and women made up less than 24% of those employed in STEM occupations in 2015. This creates lost opportunities for American society as a whole, and especially for women. Turning to China, The World Economic Forums World Sex Gap Report 2017 showed that Chinese women were only at the 100th place in the world and the last in the health category. Education for women in China, up until recently, has been fraught with limitations and obstacles including the gender stereotype that mathematics are hard for girls. In the workplace, there were only 11% of women at higher-level roles at the provincial and ministerial level and above in 2009. This is in part because previously, it was considered unnecessary for Chinese girls to be educated because of the general expectation that men are responsible for working and supporting the family financially. The Chinese Entrepreneur database indicates that in only 4 out of the 86 Chinese companies valued over 100 billion RMB have women leaders at CEO or chairman positions. In China, only the students in the first or second tier cities can access good-quality education. Even in the first tier cities, people have to buy School-District apartments in order to enter good schools. For example, it costs around $22000/square meter for one School District apartment, where other district is only $7000 per square meter. Parents have to sell all their assets and take out loans to pay for the School District apartments. This is the unequal education situation all over China. In my search to for more innovative solutions to dramatically improve womens education nationally and abroad, I found an AI centered education company, Squirrel AI Learning. I was able to meet with the team here in Silicon Valley, and was blown away by the genuineness and passion of the team members to see their work benefit all. Derek Haoyang Li, Founder and Chairman of Squirrel AI Learning of Yixue Group, told me this: There is potential for a small grasshopper to jump 2 meters, but if you put it in a box with a cover, it can only jump to the height of the box say half a meter. In a way, low quality education can be considered that box hindering and limiting individuals potential. From an early age, Li was fascinated with the power that education held for individuals decided to dedicate his life to improving the world by improving education. In high school, he would often give lectures to other students in his self-study class. He recalls one student who, no matter how many times he gave her a lesson, could not improve her scores. After a year without progress, Li came to a realization. I cant teach her at my pace, I have to teach her at her own pace. Once I realized that, I was able to help her. That student later got into one of the top 100 schools in China. At the time, I was intrigued by how complicated education is and thought about why education is the same for every student when they dont learn the same way. Every kid is not born equal. Every kid is different, and every student is different, and they all need something different. I like to find the method of learning first. Yet efficiencies in education are hard to find. Li used his insight and experiences tutoring others to develop methods of learning and teaching in order to help his classmates. With his guidance, Lis students performed better than millions of other students around the country. When I remarked on how remarkable his successes in learning and teaching are, he simply said, I always think, How can I help people? It was in the family to help people, I think its in my blood. Currently, the best education is the most expensive. Inside China, Li says, the after-school tutoring market is $100 billion. Parents in Japan and Korea are spending 10 times more than other parents on each average child in the world. In China, only the rich families and families with good connections have the opportunity to get their kids to enter the best schools. These families also need to live in the first and second tier cities as the highest quality teaching resources are there. But the increased spending doesnt always translate to increased performance. Even in the best private schools, they have different quality ranges. My high school was number one in the province but still - some teachers gave the quality of the latest iPhone and some gave the quality of an old Nokia. I think our brain is limited by the quality of teachers when we were going through the traditional school system. Its true that, even in the top universities only the best teachers can provide the highest quality of teaching. Prior to founding Squirrel AI Learning, Li co-founded Only International Education Group (SSE: 600530.SH) and established more than 2,000 subsidiary schools over 10 years. He then led the company to a successful IPO as the first listed education company with market cap of $1.9 Billion in China. Beginning in 2005, Li experimented with all types of courses and platforms including MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses). When everyone thought MOOCs were blooming, Li predicted that MOOCs were in the process of dying a speech at an international education conference. The chair of the conference asked Li how he could make such prediction in front of Courseras founder, especially as Courseras market value was experiencing a meteoric rise from $100 million to $1 Billion. Lis prediction was based on observing that students enrolled in MOOCs couldnt concentrate for a long time on the long lessons and exercises, and that MOOCs had very low completion rates. Teaching at the same pace and with the same content to all students wasnt and is not right. Instead, Li wanted to tailor the pace of education to the strengths of the student, as he had done with the classmates he had tutored to success in middle school. In October 2014, Li stepped down from his CEO and Vice Board Chairman positions at the Chinas A-Shares listed company Only Education, even with a stable annually increase of 30%, to found Squirrel AI Learning. He believes that AI can provide the personalized and thus the best quality education for each individual student based on their differences. Its difficult for an education company to become global. Even in different provinces in China, they have different policies. AI can solve that problem. AI can recognize the infinite and nano-scaled elements from the education. These chemical elements can constitute infinite organic substances. Li said. In the past 100 years, we have uplifted about 90 percent of people out poverty, virtually eliminated illiteracy, and made progress on health and sanitation for all. In the next 100 years, AI can solve inequality in education, thus closing the gender gap and allowing all to better succeed in life. His ultimate goal for the world is for all students to be able to thrive, and Li believes that individualized education utilizing the power of AI is the only way to achieve that goal. With AI, opportunity is unlimited. Squirrel AI Learning focuses on making that dream a reality. The platform, centered on intelligent adaptive education, has a joint lab with Stanford Research Institute (SRI) in AI education, and another joint lab with the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). The team at Squirrel AI Learning is composed of scientists and technologists from Knewton, ALEKS, RealizeIT and more, and also has the Dean of the School of Computer Science of CMU, Professor Tom Mitchell, as its Chief AI Officer. Utilizing artificial intelligence to provide students with a personalized learning plan and one-on-one tutoring with human coaching as needed, Squirrel AI Learning offers high-quality after-school courses in subjects such as Math, English, Chinese, Physics, and Chemistry. Powered by its proprietary AI-driven adaptive engine and custom-built courseware, the Squirrel AI Learning platform employs models and algorithms such as knowledge space theory, genetic algorithm, Bayesian knowledge tracing, and etc. to evaluate students knowledge mastery, learning ability and methods. The platform then provides the most efficient learning path for each individual student based on the thorough assessment of their strength, weaknesses, abilities, learning paces and even personalities. Right now, the AI model can teach students very wellThe machine will teach and, the teachers will support and provide the human touch and encouragement Li shared. The platform is proving quite effective. The first AI vs. Human competition in Asia Pacific was held by Squirrel AI Learning in October 2017. It organized three subsequent competitions this year, with all of the competitions administered and monitored by third party notaries. The certified and published results showed that Squirrel AI Learning teaching delivered 7 9% higher learning gains over human teachers using traditional teaching methods. The human teachers who participated in the experiments were all top-level teachers in China. The platform has shown better results not only in a1:15 teacher to student ratio control group but also against a 1:3 ratio control group in both student efficacy and engagement measurements. In the past, I would take around 100 days a year for holidays and vacations, now I take only 2 days, Li told me. I have obtained enough fortune for myself and my familys whole life time from my first companys IPO. And now, I am on the way of achieving my mission to help the kids in the world with equal education. And this might change the whole generation and humanitys development. This is the future, and thats why I treat me so hard. I think its worth it. Li has given most of Squirrel AI Learnings shares to the team. I will also donate most of my shares to the charity in the future. This is a big mission and vision. I am 100% into it. With the power of AI, Squirrel AI Learning is also able to cut costs, charging much less than private schools for broader access. The company is also conscious of those who cant afford even the reduced cost, and donated 1 million free accounts to poor families with the commitment to donate millions more accounts in the future. Even with lower prices than traditional schooling and millions of free accounts available for the underprivileged, Squirrel AI Learning is starting to make profit - and they are of the only AI education company that currently turns profit among all the AI education and online education companies in China both in cash flow and in net income. Over the course of 2 years, Squirrel AI Learning opened 1600 schools, all with the same high-quality standards. In the next two years, Squirrel AI Learning hopes to be in the top 5 education companies in China and to expand its platform to other countries. Whats next for Li and Squirrel AI Learning is how to incorporate EQ (a measure of emotional intelligence) and creativity into the platform. This comes from Lis personal experience in recognizing the need to high EQ in order to thrive. When he was young, Li experienced social anxiety and had a lower EQ. It was something he needed to improve if he was to become an entrepreneur his hearts desire - and so he set out to learn it. He read all the books he could get his hands on but made no progress, until he decided to break down EQ in 20 smaller, more easily digested skill sets. The 20 skill sets of EQ include the ability to observe, finding other peoples interest when talking, tolerance and even the ability to find excuses to forgive someone. Li now wants to merge such EQ learning experience into the Squirrel AI Learning, cultivating students to be smarter and also more socially literate. If students are able to expand their potential in knowledge, skills, and the capacity to effectively communicate and collaborate, the possibilities for the future are endless. All of the progress on the individual education level can have colossal global impact. Currently, lack of education and lack of the opportunity to learn effectively is at the core of many of the worlds most pressing problems. Political turmoil, man-made disasters, gender discrimination, poverty, hunger, disease all would be lessened if each individual human were educated more efficiently and more personally. Its not to say that better education will solve all of the worlds problems, but rather that better education makes all of the worlds problems easier to solve by creating many more capable problem-solvers. What Squirrel AI Learning is doing is to solve the problem of education equality and accessibility. People women and men - can have the same high-quality of education no matter where they are. Providing better education to individuals globally can, in my opinion, close the gender gap. Access to more effective education increases womens abilities to earn income, boosts political engagement and participation, and provides them the support necessary to make lifestyle decisions that dramatically increase wellbeing, productivity and personal income. By creating AI systems that aim to better education on the individual student level, we are creating an easier path to achieving greater societal success for all women included.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/katieelizabeth1/2019/01/19/can-ai-powered-education-close-the-global-gender-gap/

Does Facebook game help company mine data for facial recognition technology?

The #10YearChallenge gained widespread traction on social media this month. It calls for posting two photos of yourself side by side one from today and one from a decade ago to show how youve changed. People are participating mostly on Facebook and Instagram, which is owned by Facebook. Some made jokes, paid tribute to old hairstyles or drew attention to issues like global warming. Celebrities posted glamour shots that showed negligible changes from one decade to the next. (Singer Mariah Carey won this round. I dont get this 10-year challenge, she wrote in a tweet, along with two identical photos side by side. Time is not something I acknowledge.) But one post went viral without featuring any side-by-side photos at all. It was written by Kate ONeill, author of the book Tech Humanist: How You Can Make Technology Better for Business and Better for Humans. Me 10 years ago: probably would have played along with the profile picture aging meme going around on Facebook and Instagram, she wrote in a tweet last week. Me now: ponders how all this data could be mined to train facial recognition algorithms on age progression and age recognition. Her words hit a nerve. People responded with concerns about whether they were helping the tech giant get better at identifying people. ONeills post got more than 10,000 retweets and more than 20,000 likes. She expanded on her thoughts in a widely shared article in Wired. I wondered about why this particular thought, in this particular moment, generated so much traction, ONeill said Friday, adding that she was not trying to stoke any panic. Experts said the photos uploaded for the #10YearChallenge were drops in a very, very big bucket of data that Facebook has been collecting for years. Supporters of facial recognition technologies said they can be indispensable for catching criminals or finding missing people. But critics warned they can enable mass surveillance or have unintended effects. Lauren Rhue, an assistant professor of information systems and analytics at the Wake Forest School of Business, said the #10YearChallenge could conceivably provide a relatively clean data set for a company that wanted to work on age-progression technology. But she added that Facebook already has billions of photos, and people should be wary of any company being in possession of such a large trove of biometric data. The risk in giving up any type of biometric data to a company is that theres not enough transparency, not only about how the data is currently being used, but also the future uses for it, she said, pointing to another form of biometric data, DNA, used by law enforcement to track down suspects something many people might not have anticipated when they volunteered saliva to trace their ancestral roots. There are things we dont think of as being threats, Rhue said. And then five or 10 years from now, we realize that there is a threat, but the data has already been given. Like the rest of us, Facebook looked different 10 years ago. It reached 360 million active users in 2009; now, it has more than 2 billion. Facebook announced it was using facial recognition technology in 2010. When people upload photos of their friends, Facebook can use the technology to suggest the names of people in the picture. It can also alert users if they are in a photo posted by a friend. Facebook has responded to concerns about photos and privacy in the past. The company said it does not intend to help strangers identify you, and has repeatedly pointed out that users can disable face recognition in their settings. As for the 10-year challenge, Facebook said its just a fun trend. The 10-year challenge is a user-generated meme that started on its own, without our involvement, the company said on Twitter.

http://www.startribune.com/does-facebook-game-help-company-mine-data-for-facial-recognition-technology/504603711/

What Is a Safe Withdrawal Rate in Retirement?

Retirement is a relatively new idea. In 1880, four-fifths of men over 65 were still working. The world we live in today is very different. The life expectancy of 65-and-up Americans has risen by several years, yet their labor force participation rate is under 25%. We rely on other sources of income to provide for us in our latter years. Because of all this, we need to think carefully about how much money we pull from our savings each year in retirement. Enter the "safe withdrawal rate" -- the percentage of your savings that you can, in theory, withdraw every year without running out of money while you're alive. Let's go over how to figure out what your safe withdrawal rate may be and how this number can help you plan your retirement. Image source: Getty Images. The idea behind a safe withdrawal rate is simple: It tells you how much money you can pull from your savings in year one of retirement. After that, you can adjust that rate every year to account for inflation. As we get into the nitty gritty of figuring out your safe withdrawal rate, keep in mind that there's no universally appropriate rate. Everyone's life and financial circumstances are unique. Having said that, the most popular rule of thumb is the 4% rule. This means that if you have a nest egg of $600,000, you should take out $24,000 in your first year (4% of $600,000), and then increase that amount in year two based on inflation. This is a key distinction: You do not take out 4% of your nest egg every year. You only do so in the first year, and then you make cost-of-living adjustments every year after that based on the rate of inflation. You can find recent inflation rates on websites such as USInflationCalculator.com, which shows you in a chart what the inflation rate has been for each of the past 10 years. If, for instance, inflation after year one stood at 3%, then it would be "safe" to withdraw $24,720 in year two ($24,000 X 1.03). That extra $720 would help make up for the rise in the prices of everyday goods like food and gasoline. You may think $24,000 isn't much to live on. But as we'll cover below, your nest egg is just one of (hopefully) many sources of income you can draw on in retirement. The 4% rule has an interesting origin story. For a long time, financial advisors believed it safe to withdraw up to 5% of your retirement portfolio in year one of retirement and make the same adjustments. But in 1994, financial advisor William Bengen released a landmark paper that shifted the debate markedly. According to his research, 4% should be the new standard-bearer. Bengen ran models showing how different portfolios, made up of varying blends of stocks and bonds, would have performed in the past. The two variables he looked for were 1) the initial withdrawal rate and 2) the mix between stocks and bonds. His calculations included the biggest market downturns, such as the Great Depression and the bear market of the early 1970s. Using the 4% rule, Bengen claimed, would help retirees avoid insolvency: Assuming a minimum requirement of 30 years of portfolio longevity, a first-year withdrawal of 4 percent, followed by inflation-adjusted withdrawals in subsequent years, should be safe. In no past case has it caused a portfolio to be exhausted before 33 years, and in most cases it will lead to portfolio lives of 50 years or longer. In other words, it's highly likely -- based on past data -- that the 4% rule will allow your nest egg to last at least 30 years (until your 90s) and perhaps 50 years or more. That's great news for those who plan to live to 120! Just as important, Bengen found that keeping between 50% to 75% of your nest egg in stocks was important. While stocks are more volatile in the short term, they provide higher returns than bonds in the long run. Because retirement can last anywhere from one to 40 years, long-term results matter. It's vitally important to understand the parameters of Bengen's research. Here are some key assumptions the 4% rule makes: Between 50% and 75% of your nest egg is invested in stocks, perhaps via low-fee exchange-traded funds. The remaining portion -- between 25% and 50% -- is invested in intermediate-term Treasury notes or some other sort of bond. Every year, these allocations are rebalanced to maintain your "ideal" allocation. Perhaps the most important assumption is that you do not become overly conservative if there are stock market declines. Lowering your withdrawal rate when the market dives is perfectly acceptable, but selling out of stocks and buying more bonds after market downturns can be disastrous. As Bengen points out: The client who retired in 1929 with $500,000 in a retirement fund saw that fund dwindle to less than $200,000 by the end of 1932. ... In this situation, with stocks having performed so dismally so early in retirement, it may be tempting to switch all investments to bonds in order to salvage what is left of the original capital. But that would be precisely the wrong thing to do! He goes on to explain how such a client would be committing the cardinal investing sin: buying high and then selling low, thereby locking in tremendous losses. Bengen goes on to demonstrate how this approach would lead to said client running out of money in less than 20 years. Had they left their allocation alone, the nest egg would have recovered nicely and lasted the duration of retirement. That's because every time the stock market has experienced a significant downturn, it has eventually bounced back even stronger. After falling 57% during the Great Recession, the S&P 500 has since advanced over 280%! The real killer: sequence risk! By far the biggest risk that retirees face -- especially if they choose to withdraw more than 4% from their nest egg -- is a huge drop in stocks, bonds, or (gasp) both in the first five years of retirement. In general, you will likely be safe if you are following the 4% rule. But if there's a stock market drop of over 60% in the first five years of your retirement, you should consider reducing the amount you pull out. The reason for this is twofold: The portion of the nest egg you withdraw will increase markedly above the 4% threshold. For example, say you have a $1 million nest egg. In year one, you'd withdraw 4%, or $40,000. But if the market drops 60% over the following year while inflation is flat, then according to the 4% rule, you'll need to withdraw $40,000 from the remaining balance of $384,000 the next year -- that's 10.4% of your nest egg! All of the money taken out does not get the chance to compound over the next 25 to 35 years. In other words, the extra 6% that you withdrew in the example would lose the growth it might have otherwise experienced. Here's an even better example of what I'm talking about. In this scenario, three different portfolios each earn 6% returns after inflation during normal years but suffer a 25% decline for two consecutive years at varying stages of retirement. The colored lines represent your retirement savings after the corresponding number of years of retirement. Chart showing nest egg values over time with large drops at different points in retirement More Chart by author. Assumes 6% returns during 33 of 35 years and 25% declines during the remaining two years. In all three scenarios, these retirees experience 33 years of 6% returns and just two consecutive years in which their portfolios drop 25% (for reference, the market lost a little over 50% in the financial crisis of 2008 and 2009). But as you can see, the timing of those drops makes an enormous difference. Real-life returns are never this regular, but the point is clearly illustrated: One of the greatest risks to your portfolio is a huge drop in your nest egg's returns during the first five years of retirement. If that fall comes later, the danger is mitigated because your portfolio has had plenty of time to grow. The dent isn't nearly as harmful. From this, there are two clear takeaways: If you experience a huge loss in your portfolio in your first five years of retirement, strongly consider taking out less money until your portfolio recovers. Retiring after a particularly bad year or two in the stock market can actually be a good thing. The once-in-a-decade market drop -- a 30% drop, for instance, occurs every 10 years -- has already occurred, and the chances are higher that you'll experience better-than-expected gains moving forward. This assumes that the market swoon didn't deplete your nest egg to the point where you need to withdraw more than 4% in year one. As I pointed out above, if you endure a serious market swoon in the first couple of years of retirement, it would be wise to lower your withdrawals -- but not reduce your stock allocation -- until the market recovers. There are other factors that may tempt you to change your withdrawal rates over time. For instance, if you're lucky enough to retire at a time when returns are above normal, your nest egg may continue to grow at a fast clip, regardless of your withdrawals. That may tempt you to start withdrawing more. While a modest increase in your withdrawals is acceptable -- and occasionally necessary for expenses such as medical procedures -- Bengen again cautions against dramatic changes. [Such retirees] must understand that excess returns earned today will probably be needed to offset losses in the future. They have enjoyed good luck, and nothing more. Good luck is too rare and precious to be squandered. As Bengen shows, increasing your withdrawals by even a few percentage points -- say, from 4% to 7% -- could prove disastrous if low returns and high inflation are just around the corner. As promised, we can now get to the part that covers all of your sources of income in retirement. Looking at your safe withdrawal rate is nice, but it doesn't tell the whole story. If you have a $500,000 nest egg, you might balk at spending just $20,000 per year. Chances are, however, you'll have more sources of income than this. Apart from your your nest egg, these may include: Social Security benefits Pension payouts Annuities Rental property Part-time work In 2017, the average American household with residents over 65 spent about $50,000 annually. Because this is the "mean," and we know that high spenders can pull this figure up, let's assume the "median" -- a number that better represents ordinary retirees -- is somewhere around $42,000 per year. Our hypothetical couple has a nest egg of $250,000. That may sound like a lot, but using the 4% rule, this comes out to just $10,000 per year that can be safely withdrawn. Luckily, there are other sources to consider. For instance, the average monthly Social Security retirement benefit paid in November 2018 was $1,374. Over the course of a year, assuming there are two beneficiaries in the household, that amounts to $33,000. Add in a $10,000 savings withdrawal, and this couple would cross our $42,000-per-year threshold. Of course, not all couples will fit this scenario. Some will have income from rental properties, and others will have pensions. And while some people scoff at the idea of working part-time in retirement, there are a few big side benefits to such work: It helps you maintain social contacts in your community. This is vitally important, as loneliness is the silent killer of American retirees. It keeps you active in your old age, helping you maintain your health. It likely won't require major obligations. If you need an extra $10,000 per year, that means finding a job that pays $15 an hour and doing it for just 13 hours per week. You need to consider all of these moving pieces to determine what the appropriate withdrawal rate will be for you. Taxes: They're a central part of retirement planning calculations. And they are ever-changing. Back when Bengen did his original analysis, Roth IRAs didn't even exist yet. It would be foolish to assume there will be no major changes in the tax code between now and when you pass away. So we need to come to terms with the fact that taxes will affect our investments, and we can't predict exactly how. That said, here's what we do know when it comes to withdrawing money from our nest egg: Cash that is taken out of Roth IRAs and Roth 401(k)s will not be taxed. If you take out 4% in year one, you get to spend all 4%. Cash that is taken out of traditional IRAs, 401(k)s, or 403(b)s will be taxed based on your income bracket. That means you'll end up paying somewhere between 10% and 20% of whatever you pull out of these accounts in taxes. That's vitally important to remember, as it essentially lowers the amount of your savings you can actually spend in a given year from 4% to around 3.2%-3.6%. That's a big difference. There's an endless number of ways in which your tax situation can affect your safe withdrawal rate. There's no way we could cover every situation in one article. That's why its important for you to consult a tax professional and map out how much you'll pay in taxes and how you'll cover that expense. Drawbacks of taking too much Withdrawing too much money from your nest egg increases your chances of running out of money while you're still alive. This can put a financial strain not only on you, but also on your family and friends, who may feel obligated to step in and help fund the gap. If you do decide to start withdrawing more money than the 4% rule dictates, it's much better to raise your distributions by modest amounts, and after you've been retired for five to 10 years. Of course, major life events like unexpected illness can change the calculus -- but you can only focus on the factors that you control. And if you're really worried about running out of money, you might consider lowering your initial withdrawals to 3.5%. Drawbacks of taking too little Because we humans are risk-averse, the thought of running out of money gets a lot of attention. The flip side of the coin rarely gets noticed, but it's worth mentioning: If you withdraw too little, you run the risk of never enjoying retirement. I'll be the first to argue that, beyond fulfilling your basic needs, money doesn't buy all that much sustainable happiness. That being said, if you keep putting off retirement, working in a job you don't love so that your nest egg, your ideal retirement budget, and the 4% rule line up just right, you might have a problem. And if you spend retirement living like a monk solely because you fear going broke, you may someday pass on with a lot of leftover money -- and a lot of missed opportunities to enjoy yourself. Step back from the situation and look at it from 30,000 feet. Money need not be an end unto itself; it is a tool to help you get the experiences you want from life. Only three things can really make you happy, according to Martin Seligman and Sonja Lyubomirsky, two leaders in the field of positive psychology: Purpose and meaning Healthy relationships Control over your own time Those last two items require flexibility in your schedule. Because of this, taking out a slightly higher amount -- say 4.5% -- might be a worthwhile decision if it means it will give you more time to focus on such things. Retirement surveys prove conclusively that the elderly are the most content, least stressed age group in the nation. And not only that, the benefits that come with ending mandatory work are lasting! Everyone's circumstances will be different. Running out of money is obviously a fate we all want to avoid. By carefully considering all these factors -- especially the 4% rule -- combining them with where you and your spouse are right now, and planning out what you'd like your Golden Years to look like, you should get a better idea for exactly what your own safe withdrawal rates will look like. More From The Motley Fool The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

https://news.yahoo.com/safe-withdrawal-rate-retirement-010500468.html

Is the third season the charm for Minnesota United?

Back from an offseason that was anything but, Minnesota United coach Adrian Heath returned from seven weeks in Europe with his passport worn and his hope strong for a crucial upcoming third MLS season. He scouted 36 games from Scandinavia to Spain and plenty in between while United Sporting Director Manny Lagos scoured South America, after their team released 11 players following a 2018 season that produced only one road victory and no playoff appearance. Now with $250 million Allianz Field set to open in April, Heath knows it is time for him, players and management to deliver with a roster remade for Season 3 that begins training Tuesday in Blaine. If I were owner of a team, at the end of three years Id have to ask, Is this team ready to compete at the top level? Heath said. I think we will be. Im under no illusions that we have to better than we have been, certainly on the road. As I said to some of our staff the other day, weve run out of excuses. United remade its midfield by acquiring four-time MLS All-Star Ozzie Alonso from Seattle for a salary approaching $700,000. It added Jan Gregus from F.C. Copenhagen in Denmarks first division, making him the Loons third and final salary-cap-excluded designated player. Then it reached terms with right back Romain Metanire from Frances top league. The Loons still intend to add another defender and goalkeeper, each of starters quality. Were working hard on that, Heath said about a team that brought back last seasons starter Bobby Shuttleworth and just drafted Marylands Dayne St. Clair. You do the math. Heath did. If we get the two pieces were looking for, suddenly half the team has changed, he said. Beyond the newcomers arrivals, Heath sees a changed team in other ways: Veteran midfielders Ethan Finlay and Kevin Molino each return from knee surgery, Finlay is a bit further ahead in his recovery and aimed toward the March 2 opener. The franchises first two designated players Darwin Quintero and Angelo Rodriguez as well as speedy goal-scorer Romario Ibarra are back after each was acquired a little or a lot of the way through last season. Its not easy being in a new country, surrounded by new teammates, in a new system, Heath said. Theyre little things, but they all add up. Those guys now have their feet under the table. They know where theyre coming. Thats a huge difference. He also said he expects more from Uniteds past draft picks, particularly No. 1 overall Abu Danladi, and wonders what kind of impact Chase Gasper, the 15th pick in last weeks SuperDraft, could have. Suddenly, Heath says he sees talent, experience, leadership, flexibility and healthy bodies that were missing during the Loons first two MLS seasons. If I look now at the team we can put out, I can honestly say its the first time we go onto the field with a similar hand as the teams we play, he said. I always thought we were up against it, and thats not an easy thing to say. You cant come out and say that then, but I can now. If we get the pieces were looking to bring in, well be going on the field with a far better opportunity to get some sort of result. Their makeover began with their two midfielders and what Heath calls a complementary combination of differing ages and skills. Arguably MLS best defensive midfielder this past decade and driven to win, Alonso turned 33 in November. Heath said his team has researched and studied how they might manage his age to keep him healthy late into the season. Allianz Fields natural grass might help. People will only understand what Ozzie will give us when they see him week in and week out, Heath said. A Slovakian national team member, Gregus turns 28 on Jan. 29. He is a player Heath describes as very smooth, very easy on the eye and a passer with great range. At nearly 6-3, he also could provide a needed physical presence. The two have been paired together, with both Lagos and Heath believing the defensive answers for a team that has given up 141 goals the past two seasons begin in the midfield. Heath calls Alonso a veteran whose presence and discipline will help solidify Uniteds back defensive line. Were as good as most teams in the league when we have the ball, Heath said. Our problem has been when we dont have the ball. If we can get in a real defensive structure and mind-set, our goals-against column and the standings will get significantly better. The two players also could help offensively as well when played behind both Rodriguez and Quintero. Heath hopes to use Rodriguezs quickness and strength to get and keep possession of the ball. He just wants Quintero with the ball more, period. We have a really special player in Darwin, and we feel these guys will get the ball to him quicker, he said. The quicker we can get him the ball in dangerous spots, the better for us. Heath credits Uniteds ownership for buying an expansion franchise, investing in a practice facility, funding a new stadium and now improving the roster. Players dont come cheap anymore, were starting to invest in the team, he said. We have every reason to be optimistic. Im sitting here more confident and more excited than since Ive been here. I feel this year with can match up with these teams now.

http://www.startribune.com/is-the-third-season-the-charm-for-minnesota-united/504603681/

Can I be forced to pay for college?

When we divorced, I had a good paying job. The idea of eventually contributing to college for our daughter seemed like a no-brainer. I agreed we would figure out how to share the cost at the appropriate time. That time has come and we cannot agree. Our daughter wants to attend Trinity College. But during the market crash of 2009, my company went under. I have struggled to maintain employment since and went from earning $300,000 per year to earning $60,000. I had to sell my house in a short sale and have been renting ever since. My ex took me back to court, asking that I be ordered to pay $25,000 per year of our daughters college expenses for the next four years. That is more than 40 percent of my gross income. My only remaining asset is my retirement. I cannot afford a lawyer to help me with this. My former in-laws have hired a lawyer for my ex. We are going to court in early February and the lawyer keeps telling me I need to just agree to pay because they are asking for less than half the cost and the judge will order me to either take it out of my retirement or take out a parent loan. Two things a judge cannot order you to do and expect the order to be upheld by the appeals court are: Order you to withdraw money from your retirement to finance college education, and order you to apply for and incur substantial loan debt to send your child to college. If you only earn $60,000 per year, it is unlikely a bank or lending institution would approve your application for $25,000 per year for your childs college education. You dont have sufficient assets or income to support such a loan. You should argue that it is improper to expect you to do either thing and ask the judge to deny the motion. You should also understand that if you are ordered to pay, the order should not exceed one-half of the cost of UMass Amherst. So, while it is still a hefty payment for someone in your income bracket, it is not 40 percent of your gross. Different judges have different theories about how much parents should be obligated to contribute to college after all, married parents cannot be ordered by the state to contribute to their childrens college educations. Some judges believe in making the child equally responsible with the parents, in which case your outside limit should be one-third of the cost of UMass. If the wind seems to be blowing in the direction of some contribution, argue your daughter should have some skin in the game. Finally, dont hesitate to have a frank conversation with your daughter about your desire to help her attend a less expensive school. Wendy O. Hickey has since 1994 been involved in and since 2003 been a trial lawyer who concentrates her practice on national and international family law. Any legal advice in this column is general in nature, and does not establish a lawyer-client relationship. Send questions to dearwendy@bostonherald.com.

https://www.bostonherald.com/2019/01/20/wendy-5/

Who gets to keep the pet when couples split?

The divorce court judge was frustrated. The husband, in tears. The wife, adamant. The couples love for each other had ended, but each professed to love and want the dog. The husband offered thousands of dollars to his soon-to-be-ex for the pit bull terrier mix named Sweet Pea. The wife wouldnt accept the compensation, and insisted the dog was hers a gift, in fact, from her husband. This was a mutt they got at the pound, and it wasnt worth money, said family attorney Erin Levine of Oakland, California, who represented the husband and said the judge gave her grief for not settling the dispute out of court in the 2015 case. There was no way we werent going to litigate this; they were so attached to the dog. The woman produced a greeting card from her husband saying This (dog) is your gift for Christmas. I love you. Finally, the judge gave her custody of Sweet Pea. Her husband, Levine remembered in an interview, was inconsolable. Its that kind of messy pet custody case that a new California law is supposed to help solve. Former Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown, owner of two first dogs, corgi mix Lucy and bordoodle Cali, signed the bill, which took effect Jan. 1. It outlines criteria judges can use to determine whats best for the dog. The law allows people to petition for custody of a pet. It empowers judges to take into consideration the care of the pet when determining sole or joint ownership. Questions like who walked the dog? and who took the cat to vet appointments? are now permissible criteria for determining custody. While pets are not considered children and are technically property, the California law, recognizing what it calls pets unique nature, sets up special assessments that judges can use to determine custody in contested cases. Only Alaska and Illinois have similar statutes, both of which took effect in 2017. But the California law is the most specific, and at least a handful of other states are looking to it as a model. This is something I think you could see creeping up in statehouses across the country, said Crystal Moreland, California state director for the Humane Society of the United States. Once California gets involved in something, you tend to have a national effect. Theres apparently plenty of need for the laws. A 2014 survey by the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers showed that respondents reported a 22 percent increase in pet custody hearings in the preceding five years. Dogs were the most disputed family animal, with 88 percent of the cases. Cats were a distant second at 5 percent. Horses made up 1 percent, while the category of other registered 6 percent including an iguana, python, African grey parrot and even a giant 130-pound turtle. In addition, 20 percent of the attorneys surveyed cited an increase in courts determining that pets are an asset in a divorce. In other states, such as Michigan, pets are generally considered property to be divided between warring couples. That didnt make sense to Rhode Island state Rep. Charlene Lima, a married Democrat who authored a best interests of the pet bill last year. Although the bill stalled in committee, Lima, who owns a very spoiled 8-year-old husky named Keiko, is readying a new bill modeled on Californias for this years session. She said she has had constituents tell her about contentious divorce fights that end up costing them tons and tons in legal fees over the pets. She maintained her bill would smooth the process by setting out criteria by which judges could make the determinations on pet custody. Do we want to treat them like humans? she said. Democratic California state Assemblyman Bill Quirk, the bills author and owner of a 13-year-old Maltese Shih Tzu mix named Luna, which he and his wife adopted from a shelter two years ago, said he was looking to write a law that would encourage judges to consider the pets best interests. Pets are very emotional, Quirk said. As the owner of a rescue dog I thought it was very important that their welfare be taken into consideration. But he said judges and family lawyers were concerned about how long it would take to settle pet custody in already-time-consuming divorce cases and that the new law might give spouses another avenue for revenge. Members of the Association of Certified Family Law Specialists in June testified before a California Senate committee they opposed the bill because cases of marital dissolution and legal separation already face significant delays and issues of contention in court, particularly surrounding child custody. Dorie Rogers, family law specialist in Southern California and associate director of the family law association, said her members were worried that clients would have one more thing to fight over. Before the new law, she said, she had to explain to clients that since pets were property, they simply had to try hard to settle matters before it got to a courtroom. She expects the new law will encourage more of them to go before the judge, now that they know what criteria might be taken into consideration. With more people, especially millennial couples with no children, treating their pets like kids, she said, cases are about to get very complicated. Rogers also said her group opposed the law because of worries about increased time and cost of litigation in divorce cases. Certifying the welfare of the animal will be difficult and might require expert testimony, Rogers said. Are you going to bring in the vet? she said in a phone interview. To try to address those concerns, Quirk amended his bill to make courts special consideration in pet custody cases voluntary rather than mandatory. While pleased that the new law attempts to ease what she said is a challenging and emotional issue for a lot of people, California family law attorney Deborah Marx, immediate past president of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers chapter in Northern California, is skeptical that it will make a difference in divorce cases. She noted that even though the law aims to take pets out of the property split in a divorce, the statute is in the property division section of the law, not in the family code section. But, she said in a phone interview, its in a section that deals with unusual provisions, in what is generally a community property state where marital assets are divided equally. That puts the pet question in a special category. The unusual provisions section addresses instances such as when one spouse gets a personal injury award while married, letting courts award that spouse the entire amount. Similarly, a pet could be considered the property of one person, she said. Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Read or Share this story: https://www.detroitnews.com/story/life/2019/01/20/divorce-pets/38921525/

https://www.detroitnews.com/story/life/2019/01/20/divorce-pets/38921525/

What must happen next to break Brexit deadlock?

At 7.57pm last Tuesday, as MPs, their advisers and journalists began to file out of the House of Commons after the biggest parliamentary defeat for a government in modern history, Labours deputy leader, Tom Watson, tapped Jeremy Corbyn on the arm and signalled to him to look up into the press gallery above the Speakers chair. There Seumas Milne, Corbyns director of strategy and communications, had stopped on his way out of the chamber to brief the press and was trying to catch the Labour leaders eye. As the two men the most powerful double act in Her Majestys Opposition met each others gaze, wide, triumphant smiles lit up their faces. Norway Plus is not a silver bullet to resolve Brexit impasse Read more Theresa May had been crushed and humiliated. Her Brexit deal had been rejected by 432 votes to 202 a margin far greater that even her most pessimistic supporters had envisaged. The prime minister had left her seat pale and shell-shocked. Asked for his reaction 10 minutes after leaving the chamber, a cabinet minister and May loyalist had nothing to say except we came second. He could offer no thought on what would happen next. Corbyn had called the result catastrophic for May and quickly tabled a vote of confidence in the government to be held the next day. The prime ministers governing principle of delay and denial has reached the end of the line, he had told the Commons, to ironic laughter from some on the Tory side who believed Labours approach to Brexit was exactly that. She cannot seriously believe that, after two years of failure, she is capable of negotiating a good deal for the people of this country, Corbyn added. His message was that a general election, delivering a Labour government, was the only answer. But if Corbyn and Milne really thought this was a defining moment that would lead inexorably to the end of Mays government, a general election, and a solution to Brexit under a Labour administration, their hopes were profoundly misplaced. Just 24 hours later it was the Tory benches that were in raptures as Michael Gove wound up the confidence debate by tearing into Corbyn as a threat to national security and the national interest, who could never lead the country on Brexit or anything else. The chamber was a cauldron of Tory cheers and near hysterical Labour screams of shame. When Gove sat down, May could hardly contain her excitement, repeatedy slapping the environment, food and rural affairs secretary on the back as Conservative MPs roared. Minutes later the Speaker, John Bercow, called the result in the governments favour by 325 votes to 306. It was Labours turn to go down to defeat. Parliament, albeit narrowly, had declared its confidence in Mays terribly weakened, divided ministerial team. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Jeremy Corbyn (right) and Seumas Milne. Photograph: Will Oliver/EPA The result and the theatrics of the confidence debate had been predictable, as the house had divided on party lines. But what happened in its immediate aftermath was less so. May responded to the results of both votes on Wednesday evening with a dramatic offer to open cross-party talks with opposition leaders as a way to break the Brexit deadlock and ease the parliamentary paralysis. For a few moments MPs tried to digest the notion that their parties might now embrace a consensual approach, that the national interest might take precedence over party politics. I should like to invite the leaders of parliamentary parties to meet me individually, and I should like to start those meetings tonight, May said. But no sooner had she thrown open Downing Streets doors to her political opponents than Corbyn rose to say he would not take part unless and until the prime minister took the possibility of a no-deal Brexit off the table. Outside the chamber, Downing Street officials made clear that she would most certainly not do so and suggested that all her red lines remained in place and not negotiable. Milne then briefed journalists that May was trying to blackmail MPs to accept her deal by threatening them with the chaos of no deal on the one hand, or something based on her already emphatically defeated deal on the other, which he said was an unacceptable choice. The idea of talks was a sham. Both main parties were digging deeper into their trenches, recoiling from what compromise might mean only minutes after cross-party diaogue had been offered. After all the drama and mood swings over the previous 48 hours, the entire Brexit process seemed more hopelessly gridlocked than ever. Five days after the Brexit deal she had spent two-and-a-half years painstakingly negotiating was rejected so comprehensively by the House of Commons, Theresa May is today holed up at Chequers desperately trying to find a way forward. Yesterday she was calling cabinet ministers and contacting European leaders seeking inspiration and help. She may go on a tour of European capitals again this week, but the EU, while sympathetic, has little idea as to what it can do other than delay Brexit, a prospect which the prime minister has so far refused to entertain. Yesterday the German chancellor Angela Merkel insisted she would do her best to prevent the UK crashing out of the EU with no deal. I will work until the very last day to get a solution with a deal for Britains exit from the EU, and I will work towards having the best relationship, she said at an event in the northern city of Rostock. But back home even loyalists doubt that May is the one to find a solution. One senior Tory MP who voted for Mays deal on Tuesday said: We are now in serious, serious trouble. I admire her determination. But we dont need determination now. We need imagination. The challenge for May has switched since last weekend from how to promote the merits of her deal to how to forge some consensus across parliament., now that it is effectively dead. But the very idea of cross-party agreement relies on the governing party, the Tories, being united on where that compromise might be allowed to happen. Yet they are utterly divided. Another of Labours key demands is that she embraces a permanent customs union, something some of Mays Remain-minded colleagues in cabinet would be happy to endorse if only they could. But if she did embrace the customs union plan, others in cabinet, the likes of Andrea Leadsom, Penny Mourdant and Liam Fox, would see it as a Brexit betrayal and probably resign, as would dozens of other ministers. There would be a walkout, said an aide to a cabinet minister. The Tory grassroots would also implode. On Wednesday in the Commons, the Labour MP Seema Malhotra said May seemed to want to carry on trying to sell the essence of her deal to MPs from other parties as if it had not been thrown out by parliament the day before: The prime minister said that the government would approach meetings with parliamentarians in a constructive spirit, but it appears that holding cross-party talks means inviting people in to tell her why her deal is best or to see whether they have any ideas about how to get her deal through. Divisions inside Labour have added to the sense that parliament has no way out of the Brexit conundrum. On Thursday, Corbyn instructed all his MPs to steer clear of cross-party talks, but many trooped into Downing Street nonetheless, believing he was wrong to have vetoed the discussions point blank with the country in such a desperate plight. But those who did enter dialogue in Downing Street reported little give. One senior Labour backencher who met the chancellor, Phillip Hammond, on Thursday to propose a second referendum found the whole exercise to have been completely pointless. You can imagine how that went: nowhere, he said. On Thursday afternoon Labours Yvette Cooper and Hilary Benn, both chairs of select committees, emerged from long meetings with Cabinet Office minister David Lidington, to ask for no deal to be taken off the table, only to meet a stone wall and report that Lidington did not mention any new ideas or ways forward. Tomorrow May will deliver statements to parliament on what happens next. There was little sign from Downing Street or from ministers, however, that anyone has any clear idea what she will say. Rumours that May and No 10 are so desperate they are preparing for a general election as a way out were dismissed as utter bollocks by a source at No 10. But with the prime minister unsure where to turn next for fear of further splitting her party, other ideas are emerging among Tory and Labour MPs, operating separately from the executive or from the party leaderships. Groups of MPs are devising plans to table motions that would suspend parliaments rules so they can draw up and pass Brexit legislation. Yvette Cooper is ready to push a plan that would require May to delay article 50 should no deal have been agreed by the start of March. Crucially, the government also has to table a neutral motion on the way forward on Brexit tomorrow, following last weeks defeat. This motion can be amended by MPs. The MP Frank Field will table an amendment to it that calls for MPs to be given a free vote on a range of options to show which garners most support. The amendment says these should include a reformed Northern Irish backstop, leaving the European Union with no deal, extending article 50, entering into a future Canada-style relationship with the European Union, entering into a future Norway-style relationship with the European Union, holding a new referendum, and being in a customs union with the European Union. With Mays deal defeated, the Tories divided and cross-party talks led by No 10 going nowhere, it may just be that parliament can wrestle power from the executive and offer some hope of progress. If we dont somehow take control, Field said I dont see what we talk about in parliament in the coming days we will simply fall off the precipice.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/jan/20/what-must-happen-next-break-brexit-deadlock

What alleged illegality is Mueller investigating? Trump exercising lawful presidential authority?

Special Counsel Robert Mueller wants to interview President Trump. We know that is true because the areas of inquiry that Mueller is interested in have been leaked. But the questions Mueller is looking at are not about the issue the special counsel was supposed to examine: collusion with Russians to fix the 2016 presidential election. Flynn had nothing to do with the special counsels probe. And firing the head of the FBI does not thwart what all the people under him are doing. It is beside the point at this time that there is no such crime as colluding. It is beside the point at this time that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein was so negligent in his drafting the appointment of Mueller that he did not limit the investigation in either scope or time. By agreeing to be interviewed by Mueller, Mr. President, you are agreeing to be questioned about exercising your executive authority in areas having nothing to do with any illegality or even collusion. Rosensteins omission resulted in Paul Manafort, former chairman of the Trump presidential campaign, being indicted for alleged financial crimes occurring years before he worked for Donald Trump. These alleged crimes have nothing to do with Russian collusion. It is not beside the point that a prosecutor wants to interview the president of the United States about conduct that is not only legal, but actually involves the execution of presidential authority. Two men have already fallen into Muellers trap. Retired Army Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn pleaded guilty to making statements inconsistent with tapped and taped conversations with Russian Ambassador to the U.S. Sergey Kislyak. But Flynns entire conversation was legal, or his statements would have been part of the charges against him. One might ask why the FBI, having the entire transcript of a conversation that contained nothing illegal, even questioned Flynn at all. This was the legal equivalent of the FBI showing up to ask you what you had for breakfast theres nothing illegal about eating breakfast. If you do not want to admit you had a glazed donut and reply yogurt, the prosecutor can charge you with making a false statement to the FBI. George Papadopoulos, an adviser to the Trump presidential campaign, pleaded guilty to providing false statements about the timing of his contacts with certain Russians. But the contacts were legal no matter when they occurred or they, too, would have been part of the charges against him. The caveat is not limited to a prosecutors questioning a person about legal conduct. There is also the danger of two people differing in their statements about an event and the prosecutor without any other evidence supporting one side or the other indicting one of them. But it did. Vice President Dick Cheneys chief of staff, Scooter Libby (my longtime friend and sometime client), told the FBI he had not told then-New York Times reporter Judith Miller that Valerie Plame was a covert CIA agent something prohibited under federal law. Miller remembered it differently when she was interviewed by the FBI and so testified at trial. There was no other evidence to support Miller. Libby was charged and convicted of making a false statement. Later, Miller read Plames autobiography Fair Game and realized that she had been misled by Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald, a close personal friend of Comey, who had appointed him to the position. As a result, her testimony about Libby made no sense she wrote in her book The Story: A Reporters Journey. Millers recantation was ignored by the media. Equally appalling and reminiscent of todays brouhaha over Russian collusion, there was no crime involving Libby. Comey knew when he appointed Fitzgerald that Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage was the first person to discuss Plames CIA relationship when he disclosed it to columnist Robert Novak in 2003. Armitage admitted this in 2006. If that investigation had been kosher, Armitage would have been indicted. Case over. Plame worked for the CIA but she was not covert as defined in the law that I personally drafted. Perhaps the reason for focusing the investigation on Libby and not Armitage was the fact that Fitzgerald repeatedly told Libbys lawyers that unless Libby deliver(ed) someone higher up the vice president he would be indicted. Heres my advice to President Trump: By agreeing to be interviewed by Mueller, Mr. President, you are agreeing to be questioned about exercising your executive authority in areas having nothing to do with any illegality or even collusion. In agreeing to this you may recall that an event occurred on Monday and Comey may recall it occurred on Tuesday. A la Papdoupoulos, only the timing is off.

https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/what-alleged-illegality-is-mueller-investigating-trump-exercising-lawful-presidential-authority

How will the release of the classified memo play out?

This is a rush transcript from "Special Report with Bret Baier," February 1, 2018. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS) REP. ADAM SCHIFF, D-CALIF.: This memo is really a spin on not just a set of particular documents but broader classified information than that. REP. BOB GOODLATTE, R-VA.: This memo is important to the American people understanding what's going on in the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. REP. JIM HIMES, D-CONN.: I will tell you that it is full of falsehoods. It is shoddy and poorly written memo. REP. PETER KING, R-N.Y.: It's very significant. I don't want to oversell it, but I'm saying this is vital, it's essential for the public to see. And it's certainly important in the body of evidence to be out there. RAJ SHAH, WHITE HOUSE DEPUTY PRESS SECRETARY: It's going to get review from all relevant stakeholders, that includes intelligence folks and folks in the law enforcement community. They will be advising the president and he will make a decision at the appropriate time. (END VIDEO CLIPS) BRET BAIER, ANCHOR: We've covered it, we have talked about it. A lot of people have talked about it. We think it's coming out tomorrow morning actually. A lot of talk today about edits made before the White House saw it and a back-and-forth on it. The intelligence committee putting out a statement in the majority, "It's increasingly strange attempt to thwart publication of the memo. The committee minority is now complaining about minor edits to the memo including grammatical fixes and two edits requested by the FBI and the minority themselves. The move to release the memo was absolutely procedurally sound and in accordance with House and committee rules. To suggest otherwise is a bizarre distraction from the abuses detailed in the memo which the public will hopefully and soon be able to read for themselves." We think that will happen, again, tomorrow morning. Let's bring in our panel: Steve Hayes, editor in chief for The Weekly Standard; Mara Liasson, national political correspondent for National Public Radio; and Mollie Hemingway, senior editor at The Federalist. STEVE HAYES, THE WEEKLY STANDARD: I'm not sure at this point that it possibly can be because so much has been made of it. The buildup has been so great. Having said that, I think there will be significant new information in the memo. I think that what we learn about the behavior of certain law enforcement senior federal law enforcement officials will be troubling to people. I don't think it probably is, but I think we will learn new information. It will trigger another round of finger-pointing back and forth. But it will be nice at least to understand what the claims and counterclaims are in a way that we haven't been as we've debated this for the last couple weeks. BAIER: Here is Speaker Ryan on the whole political distraction argument. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE PAUL RYAN, R-WIS.: I think they would love nothing more than to play politics and change the subject. Devin Nunes helped shepherd through a reauthorization of 702 which is the foreign terrorist foreign surveillance law, so he is focusing on keeping our country safe, focused on national security. I think what they are trying to do is just sidetrack us with some political game. MARA LIASSON, NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO: That was really interesting today because he went on to say let me tell you what this memo is and isn't. The memo is Congress doing oversight of the FBI. What it isn't is an attack on our institutions. It's not an attack on the FBI, the Department of Justice. It's not an attack on Robert Mueller or his investigation. The fact that he even had to say that shows you the kind of unprecedented moment that we're at, which is you've got the president at war basically, feuding with his handpicked FBI director, his handpicked deputy attorney general who both didn't want this memo to come out. That said it's omissions led to an inaccurate picture. And that's something we haven't ever seen before. MOLLIE HEMINGWAY, THE FEDERALIST: It's not surprising that the FBI would be freaking out about this memo coming out. They have expressed a lot of concern. Nobody likes to have their dirty laundry aired and his reportedly will air some of that dirty laundry. It's a little more disconcerting how many other people have joined with them to keep Americans from learning about these abuses at the FBI and just learning more information. Adam Schiff did a last ditch effort to try and fight the memo from being available to the America people. He fought the subpoenas that led to the information about this. There is a general obstruction there that we've seen from Democrats on the committee, also from the FBI themselves. They spent the entire last year obstructing requests for information. So I think it is wise to temper expectations. It's not going to be a huge deal. At the same I think it's the beginning of a long process of figuring out exactly what was going on at this agency and learning more and just bringing it to light. BAIER: So what do you make of Comey's tweet, I just put it earlier on the show, "All should appreciate the FBI speaking up. I wish more of our leaders would. But take heart. American history shows that in the long run weasels and liars never hold the field so long as good people stand up. Not a lot of schools and streets named for Joe McCarthy." HEMINGWAY: And there will also not a lot of schools or streets named for James Comey in all likelihood. It's very odd he would make this reference to McCarthy after Comey himself perpetuated this Russia collusion theory, privately admitting to people in the White House that there was not investigation of Donald Trump but publicly intimating that there was. BAIER: It is interesting to see former FBI director, former CIA director Brennan on Twitter tossing balls to the public discourse occasionally like this. HAYES: They are well within their rights to do that. BAIER: Of course. I am not saying it's against the law. HAYES: I think it's to a certain extent informative. In many ways I think our colleagues in the mainstream media have shown an incapability of imaging the people like James Comey would be political. People like John Brennan would be political. And for those of us who reported on the various episodes over the last eight years from Benghazi to Guantanamo to the Iran deal, it's pretty clear that they were capable of being political. So I think one of the things that will come out of the release of this memo is we will see more politics in all likelihood. I don't think it does. There are many outstanding questions that we don't have answers to right now. There is still an investigation to be had even if it's the case that -- BAIER: To that end, Mara, The New York Times has an article saying, among other things, Mr. Corallo, a P.R. person is planning to tell Mr. Mueller, the Special Counsel, about a previously undisclosed conference call with Mr. Trump and Hope Hicks, the White House communications director. Corallo planned to tell investigators that Miss Hicks said during the call that emails written by Donald Trump Jr. before the Trump Tower meeting in which the younger Mr. Trump said he was eager to receive political dirt about Mrs. Clinton from the Russians, quote, "will never get out." That left Mr. Corallo with concerns that Miss Hicks could be contemplating obstruction of justice. Hope Hicks' attorney has issued a statement. "As most reporters know, it's not my practice to comment in response to questions from the media, but this warrants a response. She never said that. And the idea that Hope Hicks ever suggested that emails or other documents would be concealed or destroyed is completely false." They're zeroing in on the Air Force One meeting about the release, the press release that came out -- LIASSON: What's interesting about that is, first of all, those are four words. We don't know what the context was. We don't know if she said them. She denies it. Or what the purpose of that was. The other thing is this is a statement that was released to the media. This wasn't a statement that he was giving to the FBI. But what I think it so interesting about this whole debate is that it wasn't that long ago the Democrats were saying the FBI was politically biased against Hillary. They were saying there were some FBI agents who leaked to Rudy Giuliani, put pressure on James Comey to release information about the emails found on Weiner's laptop. Now we've got Republicans doing this. So maybe there is cabals on the left and the right in the FBI but they're definitely on the hot seat. BAIER: I point to the New York Times and Wall Street Journal story is about how McCabe was sitting on Anthony Weiner's, the emails found on Anthony Weiner's computer for weeks maybe to get it past the election. HEMINGWAY: I think people should think less about whether this benefits Hillary or benefits Trump so much as we need to have an FBI that can be trusted no matter who is being investigated, and they need to follow procedures and not be political. And they did hurt Hillary Clinton and they did possibly hurt Donald Trump. There is no conflict between that. Content and Programming Copyright 2018 Fox News Network, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Copyright 2018 CQ-Roll Call, Inc. All materials herein are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of CQ-Roll Call. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content.

https://www.foxnews.com/transcript/how-will-the-release-of-the-classified-memo-play-out

How many people actually die in national parks?

The risk of being injured or killed while visiting a national park is very low, according to the National Park Service. When looking at fatality rates during the 2007-2013 timeframe, the average rate is 0.57 deaths [per] 1 million visits, said Jeremy Barnum, public affairs officer at National Park Service. Between 2007 and 2013, in all 59 parks, there were 1,025 fatalities. On average, approximately 160 visitors per year die while visiting national parks-- out of more 305 million visitors. In general, visitors can stay safe if they follow simple rules , Barnum said. Always plan and prepare, select the most appropriate activity that matches your skill set and experience, seek information before and when arriving at the park about hazards and environmental conditions, follow the rules and regulations, and use sound judgment while recreating. The leading causes of unintentional visitor fatalities in national parks, based on data collected by the NPS Public Risk Management Program from 2007 to 2013, are drownings, motor vehicle crashes, and falls. But there are some more unusual recorded ones, too. Here are the top six causes of death in national parks: 1. Drowning Drowning is by far the most common cause of death in national parks. The number of fatal accidents while swimming has increased every year, from 32 in 2007; 31 in 2008; 41 in 2009; 42 in 2010 and 2011; 45 in 2012, to 59 in 2013. The total number of drownings over the seven-year period, including boat, kayak and rafting incidents, is 365. Only seven of these deaths were the result of rip currents. 2. Motor Vehicle Crash National parks may not have crowded streets or busy highways, but reckless drivers can be found everywhere. A total of 143 people died as the result of a car crash between 2007 and 2013, and 42 of the victims were on a motorcycle. There were six fatalities involving bikers and seven involving pedestrians. 3. Falling or Slipping Falling and slipping while hiking is the third most common cause of death in national parks; 169 people died between 2007 and 2013. There were four fatalities in which a falling tree hit by lightning killed someone and five cases in which falling rocks or ice caused deaths. Falls are a real concern on the Precipice Trail in Acadia National Park, because steep drops and open cliffs make the walk very tricky. More from The Active Times: 50 Reasons to Love the National Parks All 59 National Parks Ranked The Great American Bucket List: 50 Things to Do in the U.S. Before You Die The Most Dangerous Places in National Parks 4. Nature Extreme weather like flash floods and lightning, which can only be blamed on Mother Nature, caused the least number of deaths between 2007 and 2013 just eight. Other environmental-related incidents, such as heat illness, cold exposure, and avalanche, killed more park visitors 26, 19, and 33, respectively. Park authorities say these incidents occur when guests are not well-prepared when going into the wilderness. Consider avalanches. Shouting and loud noises dont cause them; they are usually triggered by weight a person walking in the wrong spot or a strong wind is enough to do the trick. 5. Poisoning Carbon monoxide has been the cause of two deaths in national parks in the last seven years, and drugs and alcohol have been the cause of three. The cause of one death is yet to be determined. Still, thats just six poisonings in seven years. 6. Wildlife or Animals One of the many reasons people visit national parks is to spot wildlife. But for some people, getting a little too close may just be their last encounter. Six people have died due to wildlife and animals. The most common cause of death was grizzly bear attacks, while others were mountain goats and snakebites.

https://www.foxnews.com/travel/how-many-people-actually-die-in-national-parks

Is my baby about to lose his cute thigh-rolls?

At six months old, our son is nearly unrecognisable from when he was first born. Its odd looking at pictures of him as a tiny baby. In some, hes days old, with sallow, jaundiced skin and eyes so big he looks like an anime seal calf. Its also noticeable that he was a little underweight, as those features of his newborn self are even less familiar now hes caught up a bit. And to say hes caught up a bit is putting it mildly. He is, we can all agree, a roly-poly sort of chap, which feels good after being terrorised by his low grading on his weight percentile that odd league table of chubbiness that gives parents an inscrutable metric by which they can (a) compete with other babies, and (b) bore their non-child-having friends to bitter, salty tears. Now hes at or above his target weight were just happy not to be worried any more. But we also enjoy his chubbiness for other, less logical reasons. For one thing, its an unavoidable fact of life that babies get cuter the fatter they are, even if the images on his sleepsuits tend to warp and malform around his belly, and we end up retiring bibs after one weeks use, since they have a habit of fitting round his neck like one of those Greenpeace images of a sea turtle wearing a six-pack grid. 'The wind wouldn't blow him away,' exclaimed a family friend Carrying around a plump little baby, tiring as it is for the arms and back, also allows us to witness the gymnastic contortions people deploy to avoid calling him fat. Hes really healthy, isnt he? is a common refrain. Growing lad another. Also common are epithets like sturdy, solid, and my personal favourite robust. Terms more commonly applied to scaffolds or mining apparatus are now wielded for a six-month-old out of fear of causing offence. In Ireland, of course, people are more frank. Jesus, hes half-reared, was one particularly delightful exclamation from my auntie Moyra. The wind wouldnt blow him away, anyway, exclaimed a family friend. Insulting a childs appearance is a ritual in Irish households. Its why most UK workplaces have at least two Irish staff members; should their colleagues ever show baby pics, each will have a partner with whom they can then discreetly discuss the ugliness of said child shortly afterward. For our son, however, his days as a buttery wee spud could soon be at an end. Next week we begin weaning him on to solids, a process that, when combined with increased activity, has usually precipitated weight loss among other kids we know. Well be sad to say goodbye to his knuckle dimples and thigh rolls, but we may, at least, get a bit more use out of those bibs. Follow Samas on Twitter @shockproofbeats

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2019/jan/20/is-my-baby-about-to-lose-his-cute-thigh-rolls

Is My Social Security Income Being Taxed Twice?

Each month, nearly 63 million people receive a Social Security benefit check, making it arguably the most important social program in America. Of these recipients, an analysis by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities finds that more than a third are kept out of poverty as a result of this guaranteed monthly payout. But this payout for eligible beneficiaries has folks asking whether they're getting what they deserve. In other words, taking into account how Social Security is funded, there's the idea that, when you retire, your Social Security income is being taxed twice, thereby reducing your take-home pay. Before answering that question, it first really helps to understand how the program is funded. Two Social Security cards lying atop a large fanned pile of cash bills. More Image source: Getty Images. Understanding how Social Security collects approximately $1 trillion a year In 2017, Social Security collected $996.6 billion in revenue from three income sources. The bulk of this revenue ($873.6 billion) came from a 12.4% payroll tax on earned income, which, in 2019, ranges between $0.01 and $132,900. What this means is that paid wages of up to $132,900 are hit with a 12.4% payroll tax paid either by you entirely if you're self-employed or split between you and your employer (6.2% each). Any earned income above $132,900 is exempt from the payroll tax. Another $37.9 billion was generated from the taxation of Social Security benefits for individuals and couples earning over select income thresholds. The first threshold, passed in 1983 and introduced a year later, allows up to half of an individual's benefits to be taxed at ordinary federal rates if their adjusted gross income (AGI), plus one half of their benefits, exceeds $25,000. For couples filing jointly, this figure is over $32,000. A second threshold, passed in 1993, allows up to 85% of an individual's benefits to be taxed if their AGI, plus one-half of their benefits, exceeds $34,000. For couples filing jointly, this figure is more than $44,000. And finally, $85.1 billion was generated from the interest income on Social Security's asset reserves. The program has built up nearly $2.9 trillion in cash surpluses since 1983, and this surplus is invested in special-issue government bonds that pay interest, as required by law. The almost-2.9% average yield on these bonds led to just over $85 billion in interest income in 2017.

https://news.yahoo.com/social-security-income-being-taxed-110600786.html

Is it smarter to save for retirement or pay off debt first?

My plan currently is to contribute $500 a month to my IRA in order to max it out, and pay $700 a month to my student loans in order to get them out of the way quickly. That way, I would be debt free when I move out of my parents house next year. The stock market has done nothing but fall since I opened my account, and I am reading that it could do the same this year as well. But I have also read that it's good to just keep consistently contributing to an IRA when your debt isn't high-interest to reap the rewards of compounded returns.

https://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-money-talk-retirement-20190120-story.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+latimes%2Fbusiness+%28L.A.+Times+-+Business%29

Does the corporate debt mountain pose an avalanche risk?

Companies have accumulated a mountain of debt in recent years as they took advantage of ultralow interest rates. (AFP Photo/DENIS CHARLET) Paris (AFP) - During the years of ultra cheap money, companies loaded up on debt but now the concern is whether they will be able to handle the mountain of debt as interest rates rise. Until last year, companies basked in the sun of low interest rates while economies were expanding at a steady clip. They had no real reason not to borrow. But in 2018 the clouds set in: political uncertainty, market volatility, deteriorating growth prospects, in particular in China, and most importantly a tightening of monetary policy as central banks ended the stimulus measures taken to tame the 2007-08 financial crisis. At the end of last year the US Federal Reserve estimated that private US companies held nearly $15 trillion (13 trillion euros) in debt. In Europe, non-financial companies hold some 12 trillion euros ($13.8 trillion), according to Pierre Verle, head of credit at asset manager Carmignac. "In absolute terms, the debt of non-financial companies accounts for around 70 percent of gross domestic product in the United States and in the eurozone it is above 100 percent: these are elevated levels, but not explosive," said Isabelle Mateos y Lago, managing director and chief multi-asset strategist at BlackRock Investment Institute. She said such levels "don't say much about the capacity of firms to repay their debts." Instead Mateos y Lago pointed to another indicator: the ratio of net revenue to debt payments. In the United States, net revenues are nine times higher than debt payments, while in Europe the ratio is 12, she said. - 'Fallen angels' - In recent months, concern in the United States has focused around so-called leveraged loans, which former US Federal Reserve head Janet Yellen recently called a systemic risk. These loans, estimated by experts to be worth some $1.3 trillion, are made to companies with high debt loads or with poor credit histories, or both. These loans are riskier as there is a greater risk the borrower will default, but as they carry higher interest rates, they can be attractive to investors seeking returns. A portion of these loans have been resold to investors, much as the high-risk "sub-prime" mortgages that caused the 2008 financial crisis. "In Europe the problem is less acute as investors accept less readily debt levels that are too high and the trauma from the 2008 crisis is more present," said Vincent Marioni, who heads up credit investments in Europe for Allianz Global Investors. There are less than 300 billion euros in repackaged leveraged loans, according to Verle. Another subject of attention has been the rise in the number of companies that are just holding onto their investment grade credit rating. A downgrade into what ratings agencies call a speculative debt rating -- and investors call junk bonds -- means companies will have to pay more interest to borrow. These companies which tumble into junk territory are called "fallen angels," and if there are too many then it could spook investors and cause them to dump the bonds. - 'Dark Cloud' - This risk "hovers like a dark cloud over investors", said Claudio Borio, head of the monetary and economic department at the Bank of International Settlements, when presenting its latest quarterly report in December. Others are less concerned. "It is in the best-rated tranches that there were the most excesses these past years," said Verle, but if "in each credit cycle there are excesses, that doesn't mean that the system will collapse." Meanwhile Felix Orsini, who is global co-head for corporate debt markets at French bank Societe Generale, said that he believed the number of fallen angels would be limited. "In gaining a bit of perspective, the return of volatility in 2018 was a return to normal after years during which the markets were on central bank life support," he said. Frederic Gabizon, head of Debt Capital Markets at HSBC France, said that "the crisis had pushed borrowers to thoroughly clean up their finances", which gives them some margin of maneuver. A countervailing factor is that investors still have funds they need to place. Investors "still have considerable liquidity, especially insurers," said Orsini. "As the economic environment remains sound, there is no reason to worry," said Mateos y Lago. "When the economy enters recession the debt load will be an issue, but that is thus more a worry for 2020 than 2019," she said.

https://news.yahoo.com/does-corporate-debt-mountain-pose-avalanche-risk-113433627.html

What is the grinding noise coming from my brakes?

I got new brake pads for my Explorer Sport Trac. Since day one, the right one has been grinding. Took it back and they did a rotor grind. Still, the grinding noise. Took in again, they say its just a Ford noise problem. Didnt have it when I bought it. Debbie They just dont want to deal with it. Corroded brake rotors is one of the most common issues plaguing current-generation vehicles. Story continues below advertisement Only replacing the brake pads may offer savings initially, but this rarely works out in the long run. In my own business, I almost never change brake pads without replacing the corresponding rotors. I know a lot of do-it-yourself readers will disagree, but as a repair shop owner, I have a different perspective and additional issues to consider. First, no one, myself included, wants to roll up to a set of lights with the window down and hear that dreaded brake squeal or grinding noise. That is just inviting upset customers. Second, I know how difficult the warranty application process is going to be when I submit a claim for noisy brake pads without also having replaced the rotors. It may be more trouble than its worth, but the only thing you can do now is visit another facility for a second opinion. I suspect they will recommend replacing the pads again, with a set of rotors. I am considering the Volkswagen Alltrack but have read about problems with the pano sunroof. - Al A quick internet research reveals significant complaints regrading this vehicles panoramic sunroof. A USA technical service bulletin (TSB) details that spot welds around the perimeter of the sunroof opening may be too large. The bulletin also dictates the appropriate repair procedures. There is not much advice I can offer regarding this defect that you havent undoubtedly already discovered online, but here are my thoughts on new-car-buying in general. Story continues below advertisement Story continues below advertisement Its expected that you need to research a new car before you make such a significant purchase. But, just like heading to the doctor having already researched your symptoms, you have to be careful to not let this research misdirect you. My customers regularly want to discuss their next car purchase. I answer these questions with this: Every vehicle on the road has factory defects that have to be dealt with. Look up top-10 lists of the worst cars as reviewed by professional trusted sources. You will find common vehicles populating those lists. Its safe to say that you should stay away from those. Otherwise, just choose something that fits your lifestyle, budget, that you wont get bored of quickly, and deal with the flaws as they appear. Pay no attention to the internet armchair experts. For the record, my daily driver has that exact sunroof, and Im not concerned about it. Story continues below advertisement Lou Trottier is owner-operator of All About Imports in Mississauga. E-mail globedrive@globeandmail.com, placing Lous Garage in the subject line. Check out the new Globe Drive Build and Price Tool to see the latest discounts, rebates and rates on new cars, trucks and SUVs. Click here to get your price. Stay on top of all our Drive stories. We have a Drive newsletter covering car reviews, innovative new cars and the ups and downs of everyday driving. Sign up for the weekly Drive newsletter, delivered to your inbox for free. Follow us on Instagram, @globedrive.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/drive/culture/article-what-is-the-grinding-noise-coming-from-my-brakes/

What's Next For Manny Pacquiao After Beating Adrien Broner?

On Saturday night at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Manny Pacquiao didn't look like a future Hall of Famer who was too old to compete on an elite level. Pacquiao easily outfought Adrien Broner and retained his WBA "regular" title in the process with a unanimous-decision victory. Pay no attention to Broner's erroneous claims that he won the fight. Pacquiao outworked him and deserved the decision. After a decisive win, Pacquiao now wants a rematch with Floyd Mayweather Jr. and the massive paycheck that will come with the fight. Mayweather was on hand for Saturday's bout, but when Showtime's Jim Gray tried to corner him with inquiries about a rematch, Money wouldn't take the bait. With Mayweather non-committal, the 40-year-old Pacquiao won't be able to wait on him for long. While he looked the part of an ageless wonder on Saturday, the truth is he needs to stay active if he wants to remain elite. Fortunately for Pacquiao, he has signed with Premier Boxing Champions, and that should make negotiations with most of the top welterweights pretty simple. Here are the top options for Pacquiao if Mayweather won't come out of retirement for another mega fight. Danny Garcia The timelines don't align perfectly for Pacquiao and Garcia, but it seems like a makeable fight. Garcia is set to face the tough Adrian Granados on April 20. If he wins, which isn't a given, a Garcia-Pacquiao bout would be of some interest. Garcia doesn't have the biggest name in the welterweight division, but he's a former world champion and far from a total unknown. We'll have to see what the pay-per-view numbers were from Saturday's bout, but a Pacquiao-Garcia bout might be one best suited for Showtime. Keith Thurman Pacquiao and Thurman are on nearly identical timelines. Thurman makes his long-awaited return on January 26 against Josesito Lopez. Assuming Thurman wins, he and Pacquiao could easily substantiate a pay-per-view bout. The bout would likely generate a payday that Thurman would welcome gladly, and chances are he'd be a clear favorite to winassuming he looks decent against Lopez. Shawn Porter Of the three men on this list, Porter seems the most eager to fight Pacquiao. He was on hand on Saturday, and he named Pacquiao as one of the three fighters on his hitlist during an interview with Fight Hub. Porter is scheduled to defend his WBC title against Yordenis Ugas on March 9. If Porter can defeat the slick Cuban, he'll likely have a choice between Thurman and Pacquiao. A Pacquiao-Porter fight would be rugged and exciting. I'd favor Porter because of his physical strength and pursuit, but stylistically, it's a bout that should interest fight fans. Pacquiao's move to PBC has seemingly rejuvenated him and opened the door to more opponentseven if Mayweather refuses to play ball.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/brianmazique/2019/01/20/whats-next-for-manny-pacquiao-after-beating-adrien-broner/

What's Going On With China All Of A Sudden?

Judging by the headlines on Friday, someone in Washington is lobbying hard for the president to do so. The WSJ started it. They reported that Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin was angling for an easing of tariffs. It sent Asian markets higher despite a subsequent denial from the Treasury Department. "The WSJ is clearly a tool for the administration as I find their reporting and editorials to be universally negative on China," says Brendan Ahern, CIO of KraneShares, an ETF company with nearly all of its money in China equities. "Clearly this was a trial balloon. Hopefully folks in DC noticed how well the market responded," he says. The Hang Seng gained 335 index points. Tech was a stand out gaining 3.81% led by Apple supplier Sunny Optical & AAC which have been trading with a higher correlation to trade news. See: Is The Door Closing On Future China Tariffs -- Forbes CNBC and Bloomberg both reported Friday that China was considering buying more U.S. goods over the next six years, cutting into the trade deficit Trump seems so worried about. The U.S. had a trade deficit of $323 billion with China in 2018. This deal would aim to reduce that annual trade difference to $0 by 2024, one of the officials told Bloomberg. This is absolutely ridiculous. China has a lot of people, but unless the $0 refers to services trade, then there is no way China imports $323 billion worth of American soybeans, beef and widgets over the next five years. First, while China is a top-down economy, its private sector is becoming a bigger part of its GDP. In fact, it's more than half of China's GDP. So in order for Beijing to guarantee such a massive reduction in the trade gap, they would have to mandate private companies buy American. Chinese Vice Premier Liu He arrives in Washington on Jan. 30 for two days of talks with China-hawk, the U.S. trade representative Robert Lighthizer. The market will get a better sense of how this new offer is attractive. See: When The World Opened The Gates Of China -- WSJ The sudden bullishness on trade talks came less than three days after Republican Senator Chuck Grassley said there was no real progress during talks with China the previous week. Grassley held a meeting with Lighthizer the previous Friday and said the only thing to come out of it was confirmation that China will keep buying U.S. soybeans during the 90-day trade truce. But he (Lighthizer) said that there hasnt been any progress made on structural changes that need to be made, Grassley said. The market has not shown any signs of weakness in the last few days. One possibility is there is an agreement in the works to cut tariffs on certain products of high demand here at home in exchange for some market access for American firms in China. The U.S. is mostly keen on market access for financial services and more opportunities for American energy companies. The U.S. has tariffs on $250 billion worth of Chinese goods and has threatened to add more. If Trump removes that threat he removes his leverage, allowing for China to keep stalling. The market might be less bullish on Monday. Later today, the National Bureau of Statistics will report retail sales figures, industrial production, fixed asset investment, unemployment and GDP. Hong Kong is the market to watch for signs of weakness in China. Here in the U.S., the stock market is closed in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/kenrapoza/2019/01/20/whats-going-on-with-china-all-of-a-sudden/

Would Pfizer Shareholders Win With an Acquisition of Amarin?

January historically brings deals and rumors of deals in the biopharmaceutical industry. The first few weeks in 2019 haven't disappointed, with a couple of big buyouts already announced and rumors flying about more that could be on the way. Perhaps the juiciest gossip right now relates to a potential acquisition of Amarin (NASDAQ: AMRN) by Pfizer (NYSE: PFE). Nine days ago, StreetInsider.com reported that Pfizer could be looking to buy Amarin. Neither Amarin nor Pfizer made public comments about any discussions, but the story stirred interest among investors. Amarin's share price soared on the speculation about an acquisition. Pfizer's shares, on the other hand, fell. Woman drawing a big yellow fish on a wall with its mouth open behind a small yellow fish. More Image source: Getty Images. Arguments against a deal Probably the biggest argument against Pfizer buying Amarin is that the drugmaker really doesn't have to make a deal right now. Pfizer's pipeline is as strong as it's been in a long time. The company's top products, including blood thinner Eliquis and breast cancer drug Ibrance, continue to generate solid sales growth. There's also the fact that Pfizer's track record of acquisitions has been spotty. For example, the big pharma company made two significant acquisitions in 2016, spending $14 billion to buy Medivation and $5.2 billion to buy Anacor. Based on sales so far for the key drugs obtained with both of those transactions, it will take years for Pfizer to see a positive return on its initial investments. Many Pfizer shareholders would probably prefer that the company use its cash to boost its dividend more and buy back more shares. Actually, new Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference earlier this month that his top capital allocation priorities are to do those two things -- increase the dividend and repurchase shares. Another argument against Pfizer acquiring Anacor is that it could get more bang for the buck by buying or licensing phase 2 or phase 3 assets. Again, that's something that Bourla indicated the drugmaker would do in his comments at the J.P. Morgan conference. Checking off the boxes However, there are several reasons why an acquisition of Amarin by Pfizer could pay off nicely. Amarin definitely has a potential blockbuster on its hands with Vascepa. At least one analyst thinks that Vascepa could achieve peak sales in the ballpark of $2.5 billion. If the drug can get anywhere close to that level, Amarin's current market cap of $5.3 billion looks quite attractive. Adding Vascepa to Pfizer's lineup would increase the chances that the drug can deliver on its potential. Pfizer already has a large sales force calling on cardiologists to promote Eliquis, cholesterol drug Lipitor, and hypertension drug Norvasc. Vascepa would be a good fit with Pfizer's existing drugs. Albert Bourla said in his comments at the J.P. Morgan conference that Pfizer doesn't want any deals that are distracting. An acquisition of Amarin shouldn't be a distraction. Pfizer's cash stockpile (including cash, cash equivalents, and short-term investments) totals more than $17 billion. The drugmaker could buy Amarin at a reasonable premium to its current price without breaking a sweat.

https://news.yahoo.com/pfizer-shareholders-win-acquisition-amarin-141500651.html

Whats The Difference Between Trumps Immigration Compromise And a Communist Police State?

Donald Trumps big announcement Saturday wouldnt be the first time the word compromise was used as a euphemism for the government. Stealing even more of your money to pay for both big corporate political parties wish lists and all their friends and corporate sponsors. The big compromise is: Donald Trump gets to spend five billion dollars of not-his-money, on none-of-his-business, to solve not-the-taxpayers-problem. And in exchange for that, he will give the DACA kids, and other immigrants who have temporary protected status by the federal government, a 3-year extension. Not to come swooping into their school where theyre studying, or some place where theyre working, with a group of armed police, to arrest them and confine them like you would the most violent criminal, and then transport them to some other country far away from their home and drop them off. Give me your money, or Ill take some police state measures on a broad group of people who arent hurting or threatening anybody. U.S. immigration policy is exactly how the Soviet Union treated immigrants by the way. In a paper for Law & Social Inquiry, the Journal of The American Bar Foundation (Spring 2012), Matthew A. So from the communist point of view, the government should intervene in, control, and bureaucratize every aspect of humanity. Whether its the number of workers in a certain industry (like when Mao Zedong forced so many Chinese farmers to go into steel production that the resulting famine killed 15 million people), or how many immigrants should be living in an area, communists want the bureau to decide. Thats why one of the Ten Planks of Communism in Karl Marxs Communist Manifesto is: 4. Confiscation of the property of all emigrants and rebels. For the communist ideologue, the states prerogative to advance its agenda was the supreme consideration in a communist society, so no individual claim to fair treatment, or substantive due process, or liberty could be made against it. Thats why communisms a nightmare. If you dont feel safe, thats what the Second Amendments for; its not Washingtons problem. This idea that America is all one house and your own house has four walls, so why shouldnt America have a wall?that is communist thinking. This is not all one house. Nearly everybody has their own home inside of walls that they are paying for. Individuals should be responsible for their own walls and for their own personal safety. Thats what we have the Second Amendment for. In America, youre allowed to take whatever measures you need to keep yourself safe, and thats guaranteed by the Second Amendment, and that guarantee has been upheld very firmly and even heavily strengthened in multiple Supreme Court decisions over the last decade. So you are allowed to be armed to a degree in America that half the people here think it is insane, but I disagree with them vehemently. I think it would be insane in a world like ours not to allow people to be able to defend themselves.

https://news.yahoo.com/difference-between-trump-immigration-compromise-141803196.html

Which Big Pharma Stocks Lose Most in a War on Drug Price Hikes?

A battle is brewing for big pharma. Last year, several major pharmaceutical companies agreed to freeze price hikes on prescription drugs after coming under heavy pressure from the Trump administration. It didn't take very long for the freeze to thaw. At least 30 drugmakers plan to raise prices on some of their drugs in 2019. Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Alex Azar responded directly on Twitter, stating: "For those listening in the pharmaceutical industry: The list price increases must stop. Prices must start coming down." Democrats in the House of Representatives have also launched an investigation into price increases by drug companies. The war in Washington against drug price hikes is one of the few issues that unites both Democrats and Republicans. In any war or battle, there are losers. It's complicated. Increasingly higher stacks of coins with a pill bottle at the end of the row More Image source: Getty Images. A mixed bag One key problem in determining which stocks could be at most risk if the federal government clamps down on price hikes is figuring out just how reliant specific companies are on price increases. Many drugmakers are increasing their prices. But they're not doing it on all of their drugs. What's more, some pharma companies are increasing prices on some drugs while decreasing prices on others. For example, HHS Secretary Azar tweeted that "we've seen some good behavior from companies such as Merck, Gilead, and Amgen (NASDAQ: AMGN), who announced lower prices for their drugs." [Bolding and ticker added.] And he was correct that these three drugmakers have reduced prices on some of their drugs. However, Reuters reported that Amgen is raising prices for some drugs. Merck is also increasing prices for some drugs. And while there's plenty of steam rising in Washington, one analysis found that the overall number of price increases for 2019 dropped by around one-third from 2018. Azar echoed this on Twitter, stating that "initial data show that price increases effective Jan. 1, 2019, are smaller and fewer than those effective Jan. 1, 2018." More wrinkles Investment firm Leerink conducted an analysis of drug prices that found the pharmaceutical companies most dependent on price increases to drive growth were Amgen, AstraZeneca, GlaxoSmithKline, and Pfizer (NYSE: PFE). But, again, there are some wrinkles. Pfizer announced price increases for 41 of its drugs effective Jan. 15, 2019. The price hike on 37 of those 41 drugs will be 5%. The prices for three of the drugs will rise by 3%. One drug's price will increase by 9%. Pfizer attributed the bigger price hike to "the completion of two extensive development programs that have led to the recent FDA approvals of two new medical used that meet unmet patient needs." Forty-one drugs might sound like a lot. However, Pfizer said that it's keeping prices stable for 90% of the drugs in its product lineup. But the important thing to note is that Pfizer stated that "the net effect on revenue growth in the U.S. in 2019 is expected to be zero." It's a similar story with Allergan (NYSE:AGN). The drugmaker increased prices on 51 drugs, including 27 with 9.9% price hikes. However, Allergan doesn't expect to realize any net benefit from these price increases.

https://news.yahoo.com/big-pharma-stocks-lose-most-135900987.html

Is it time for a backbench revolt?

Prime ministers of the United Kingdom and Canada have risen to become the most powerful leaders in the G7. Not having any real separation between the executive branch Prime Minister's Office/Privy Council Office, cabinet, federal agencies and departments and the legislature the House of Commons and Senate; and with iron fisted caucus discipline the combination gives almost untrammelled authority to our PM and his advisers. And almost as much control over their caucus to successful opposition leaders. Prime Minister Theresa May addresses the media after her government defeated a vote of no confidence in the House of Commons on Wednesday. Following the Torys crushing defeat on its Brexit strategy, and their whisker-thin escape from being thrown out of office altogether, there began quite open and flagrant mating dances between MPs across tribal lines, writes Robin V. Sears. ( Dan Kitwood / GETTY IMAGES ) The U.S. executive branch is supposed to be kept in check by Congress and the Supreme Court. With a Congress behaving like poodles and a semi-packed Supreme Court, though, Donald Trump has revealed how much power an American president can wield. But wind too tightly the straps and leashes on Type A personalities, who are used to being the king of their tiny kingdoms, well, something inevitably snaps. Pierre Trudeau smeared opposition MPs collectively as nobodies. Fifty years ago, it was less than truthful. Today, sadly turned many of the nobodies become flower pots, polished and displayed for photo ops from time to time, in each of the caucuses. But in the U.S. and the U.K., there are signs of life in the legislature. Following the Tories crushing defeat on its Brexit strategy, and their whisker-thin escape from being thrown out of office altogether, there began quite open and flagrant mating dances between MPs across tribal lines. Leadership level discussions have finally begun, but like the U.S. stalemate they are bedevilled by red lines on each side. So, MPs have begun a Commons-led rebellion in open defiance of their own leaders. The backbench on both sides, unlike their leaders, seem to have realized that voters have one priority: Decide, now! Article Continued Below In parallel in Washington, Senate majority leader whose role is similar to our house leader and whip combined in the wake of his humiliation by Trump has disappeared on a work-to-rule, allegedly fishing in Kentucky. A few enraged senators, such as Lindsey Graham, have continued back room negotiations, producing deals only to be slapped down as well. Now GOP and Democrat Congress members have ratcheted up their back room negotiations. The goal is the same: Get the government back to work, now! When these two stalemates are over, maybe life goes back to normal. The poodles return to being muzzled and stroked, and the flowerpots are happy with a fresh coat of paint and a selfie. But I doubt it. When confidence in leaders has been so completely broken it is tough to reimpose by threat. Backbench Labour and Tory MPs are appalled at the behaviour of their dinosaurs in leadership, as are GOP Senate and House members in theirs. The new Democratic radical caucus is bursting with threats of insurrection: No more compromise politics! is their rallying cry. On each side of the Atlantic, they believe they have a greater connection to the pulse of the electorate. That is, Less partisan political games, more action, please! The rebels may be right. ! In fairness, we have not faced an existential crisis threatening to break up the country in a while, nor have we ever had a lunatic PM. Some were a little quirky MacKenzie Kings most trusted advisers were his dead mother and his dead dog. We may be heading toward three humdingers as challenges to caucus discipline in Canada, though: a potential refugee crackdown, escalating violence at pipeline sites, and a tax rebellion over carbon. One can see many in each caucus being tempted to hit back at their leaders on both sides of these issues. They know they are raising passions and anger among their own voters. British and American politicians have demonstrated that representative democracy can include division between the executive and their legislators. As a recovering party enforcer, I sheepishly admit that such a rebellion in Canada might be a good thing in re-establishing some credibility, authenticity and authority to parliamentary politics. Robin V. Sears is a principal at Earnscliffe Strategy Group and was an NDP strategist for 20 years. He is a freelance contributor for the Star. Follow him on Twitter: @robinvsears

https://www.thestar.com/opinion/star-columnists/2019/01/20/is-it-time-for-a-backbench-revolt.html

Will NBA prospect Ja Morant from Murray State struggle against Belmont again?

Murray State's Ja Morant may be the first guard taken in the 2019 NBA Draft. Some draft boards have the 6-foot-3 sophomore rated ahead of other top prospects such as Vanderbilt's Darius Garland, Duke's R.J. Barrett and Kentucky's Keldon Johnson. You couldn't tell it, however, by the way Morant played in a game at Belmont last season. Murray State guard Ja Morant (12) works around Auburn guard Bryce Brown (2) during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game, Saturday, Dec. 22, 2018, in Auburn, Ala. (AP Photo/Vasha Hunt) (Photo: The Associated Press) The Bruins held Morant to eight points and three assists and beat the Racers 79-72 at Curb Event Center. The Bruins will try to stymie Morant again Thursday (ESPNU, 8 p.m.) when they visit Murray State (14-2, 5-0) in a key Ohio Valley Conference showdown. Belmont warmed up for the challenge by beating Tennessee State last Saturday 92-74. The Bruins (13-4, 4-2) staged their best offensive performance of the season shooting 63.5 percent (33 of 52) from the field and 61.9 percent (13 of 21) from 3-point range. They were 73.9 percent (17 of 23) from the field in the second half. Coach Rick Byrd hopes Belmont plays as well offensively against Murray State this week as the Bruins did in Saturday's 92-74 win over Tennessee State. (Photo: Sam Simpkins / Belmont) "Belmont played an amazing game," first-year TSU coach Brian "Penny" Collins said. "I didn't even know they missed five shots (in the second half); I literally thought they made every shot they took. That's how it felt." Morant then and now With Belmont now focused on Murray State, Bruins coach Rick Byrd recalled how his team held Morant in check in the regular season last year. Morant played better in the OVC tournament championship, which Murray State won 68-51. He scored 15 points in that game, but was only 4-of-13 from the field. Morant is averaging 24.3 points this season. He scored 40 points, dished out 11 assists and had five steals Saturday in an 82-72 win over Southern Illinois-Edwardsville. He set an OVC record by making 21-of-21 free throws. "Morant's interesting because a year ago he played third fiddle to their best two players (Jonathan Stark and Terrell Miller Jr.)," Byrd said. "We really kind of went under ball screens and didn't feel like he could make shots good enough for us to worry too much about him. And now he's going to be a top three or four pick in the NBA Draft." Belmont's Nick Muszynski had 23 points and four blacks in Saturday's 92-74 win over Tennessee State at Curb Event Center. (Photo: Sam Simpkins / Belmont) Dylan Windler led Belmont in the win over TSU with 25 points. He was 7-of-8 on 3-pointers. Nick Muszynski scored 23 points. Winlder and Muszynski were a combined 17-of-21 from the field. "We're hopeful we can carry over that type of shooting (to the Murray State game)," said Windler, who averages 18.9 points per game. "We built our confidence up and carried it over into the second half of (the TSU) game. Hopefully, we can take that confidence into practice these next couple of days." Not that far away Tennessee State coach Brian "Penny" Collins said the Tigers are close to being on the same level as Belmont. (Photo: Sam Simpkins / Belmont) TSU never really threatened Belmont. After falling behind 43-31 at the half, the closes the Tigers got in the second half came when Donte Fitzpatrick-Dorsey hit a 3-pointer to cut the Belmont lead to 54-44. Belmont promptly answered by going on a 10-2 run and it was never close again. TSU fell to 5-13 and 2-4, but Collins said he firmly believes the Tigers are capable of being competing with the Bruins. "I wanted our guys to see that we're really not that far away from being the type of team that Belmont is," Collins said. "And we're going to get there. We're just trying to get there quicker than (the players) think; I want them to be there now, and they can be." TSU plays at Austin Peay Thursday (8 p.m.). More: Belmont bounces back from loss with win over Tennessee State More: Nashville's Penny: Collins has grand plan for TSU Tigers Reach Mike Organ at 615-259-8021 or on Twitter @MikeOrganWriter.

https://www.tennessean.com/story/sports/2019/01/20/ja-morant-murray-state-nba-prospect-against-belmont-dylan-windler-rick-byrd/2630114002/

What's Next For Adrien Broner After Losing To Manny Pacquiao?

Adrien "The Problem" Broner isn't an elite fighter. It's time everyone in the boxing community accepts it. On Saturday night in Las Vegas, Broner was outworked and outclassed by a 40-year-old Manny Pacquiao in losing a clear unanimous decision. Broner was in fantastic shape physically, but he again failed to throw enough punches to win. Predictably, Broner said he felt he won the fight, but it's hard to believe that was a serious take. Hall of Famer Jim Gray conducting a powerful post-fight interview. #PacBroner pic.twitter.com/y1P7jACXwY SHOWTIME Boxing (@ShowtimeBoxing) January 20, 2019 In any case, the 29-year-old's career isn't over. However, with a 3-3-1 record in his last seven fights, it seems impossible for Mayweather Promotions or Premier Boxing Champions to push Broner as a legitimate contender. If we're trying to determine who Broner should fight next, it's an arduous task. There is no way you can put him in the ring with another top-level fighterat least not in his next fight. To put it plainly, whomever the opponent is, Broner probably loses. The smart approach would be to match him with one of the 140 or 147-pound second-tier fighters on the PBC roster. Here are three potential options for Broner's next fight. Erick Bone The 30-year-old Ecuadorian scored a TKO victory over Luis Guillermo Berrio in October, but he doesn't have his next fight scheduled. Bone owns a respectable 21-6 record, but he has only 9 KOs in his career. He has fought Shawn Porter, Miguel Vazquez, Chris Algieri and Sergey Lipinets. Bone is not a massive puncher, and he's probably an opponent Broner can perhaps score a victory over. That should make him an attractive option for The Problem's matchmakers. Jessie Vargas Judges gave Broner the benefit of the doubt when he fought Vargas in April 2018. I believe Vargas won the fight, but because judges officially scored it a draw, there is perhaps room to sell a rematch. The two men discussed the prospects immediately after their bout, but nothing came to fruition. Vargas doesn't have a fight set up, and he's coming off a thrilling bout with Thomas Dulorme in October 2018, which also ended in a draw. A rematch might be the best either man can do from a payday standpoint. Omar Figueroa Jr. After a two-year layoff, Figueroa is returning to boxing in February. He's taking on 36-year-old veteran John Molina Jr in Los Angeles at the Microsoft Theater. We don't know who Figueroa will be after such a long time out of the ring, but if he continues to fight after facing Molina, he and Broner could potentially deliver an interesting bout. Figueroa is an all-action fighter who is always looking for the finish. His hand speed isn't exceptional, and he's not usually difficult to hit. Stylistically, it could be a favorable matchup for Broner. A win might help everyone involved continue to create the illusion that Broner is a legitimate contender.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/brianmazique/2019/01/20/whats-next-for-adrien-broner-after-losing-to-manny-pacquiao/

Whats open and closed on MLK Day in the Sacramento region?

Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a time to honor and remember the civil rights leader, will happen Monday, Jan 21, this year. Several government offices and businesses will be closed; look through our list to see what will be open or closed in memory of King. Government institutions All federal offices will be closed on Monday, as will state offices, including the Department of Motor Vehicles. County offices in Sacramento, Placer, El Dorado and Yolo County will be closed. Digital Access for only $0.99 For the most comprehensive local coverage, subscribe today. Post offices will be closed on Jan. 21 in observance of the holiday, and mail service will begin the following Tuesday; private services like UPS and DHL will be operating as normal. FedEx services will see some changes. Recreational facilities National parks across the country are offering free entrance on MLK day, but with a shutdown still in effect, this may be changed or altered. Park services are already limited during the shutdown, The Sacramento Bees reporting shows. Californias State parks will be open on Jan. 21, but some museums will be closed. Check with the location you plan on visiting for more details and information. Public parks will be open. Public golf courses will also be open. Those include Bing Maloney, Cavanaugh, William Land, Haggin Oaks, and Bartley. Private courses should also be open, but call ahead to the one you plan on visiting to be sure. Educational institutions K-12 public schools in the region are will be closed Monday. The Los Rios Community College District schools Sacramento City, American River and Cosumnes River will be closed. UC Davis and Sacramento State will be closed. Public libraries in Sacramento, Placer, Yolo and El Dorado County will be closed. Financial institutions Most banks like Golden 1 Credit Union, Chase, Bank of America, Citibank, Bank of the West and others will be closed on MLK Day. If you need assist, check with your bank to see if its online services will be available on the day. The major stock exchanges NYSE, Nasdaq and American exchanges will be closed. Community services Garbage pickups, that includes recyclables and yard waste, for curbside customers in Sacramento, Citrus Heights, Elk Grove and Folsom wont see a delay in pickup. Waste Management from Sacramento County will be operating as normal as well. Transfer stations and public landfills like Kiefer Landfill near Sloughhouse, Yolo County Central Landfill, and El Dorado Disposal will all be open. All emergency services including hospitals will be open. Transit and traffic The city of Sacramento will offer free meters on Jan. 21 in honor of the celebration, its website said. Sacramento RT will be operating on its holiday/Sunday schedule on MLK day. Amtrak lines like the Capitol Corridor will be on a normal schedule, according to its website. Caltrain lines will also be in service. BART and ACE trains will be on a holiday schedule Monday, so check their pages for more information about your specific route. The Tahoe Truckee Area Regional Transit (TART) is still on its winter schedule and will remain so until April 8 of this year. Commuter buses will not be operating on Jan 21 for Roseville Transit, but local, ADA, and Dial-A-Ride services will still be available. Its website said that holiday schedules can change, call 916-745-7560 for more info. Yolobus and Lincoln Transit routes will be in service on MLK day, their sites say. South County Transit, Elk Grove E-tran, and Delta Breeze buses will not be operating on Jan 21. The same is true for Placer Commuter Express and El Dorado Transit.

https://www.sacbee.com/entertainment/holidays/article223956470.html

Can China build first base on the moon by 2035?

The world is still celebrating the historic landing of China's Chang'e-4 on the far side of the moon on January 3. Last week, China announced its plans to follow up with three more lunar missions, laying the groundwork for a lunar base. Colonising the moon, and beyond, has always being a human aspiration. Technological advancements, and the discovery of a considerable source of water close to the lunar poles, has made this idea even more appealing. If we focus on the technology available, China could start building a moon base today. The first lunar base The first lunar base would likely be an unmanned facility run by automated robotics - similar to Amazon warehouses - to ensure the infrastructures and support systems are operational before people arrive. Advertisement The lunar environment is susceptible to deep vacuum conditions, strong temperature fluctuations and solar radiation, among other conditions hostile to humans. More importantly, we have yet to fully understand the long term impact on the human body of being in space, and on the moon. Seeds taken to the moon by the Chang'e-4 mission have now reportedly sprouted. This is the first time plants have been grown on the moon, paving the way for a future food farm on the lunar base. Building a lunar base is no different to building the first oil rig out in the ocean. The logistics of moving construction parts must be considered, feasibility studies must be conducted and, in this case, soil samples must be tested. China has taken the first step by examining the soil of the lunar surface. This is necessary for building an underground habitat and supporting infrastructure that will shield the base from the harsh surface conditions. 3D printed everything Of all the possible technologies for building a lunar base, 3D printing offers the most effective strategy. 3D printing on Earth has revolutionised manufacturing productivity and efficiency, reducing waste and cost. China's vision is to develop the capability to 3D print inside and outside of the lunar base. 3D printers have the potential to make everything from daily items, like drinking cups, to repair parts. But 3D printing in space is a real challenge. It will require new technologies that can operate in the micro gravity environment of the moon. 3D printing machines that are able to shape parts in the vacuum of space must be developed. New materials are required We know that Earth materials, such as fibre optics, change properties once in space. So materials that are effective on Earth, might not be effective on the moon. Whatever the intended use of the 3D printed component, it will have to be resistant to the conditions of lunar environment. So the development of printing material is crucial. Step-by-step, researchers are developing new materials and technologies to address this challenge. For example, researchers in Germany expect to have the first "ready to use" stainless steel tools to be 3D printed under microgravity in the near future. Nasa also demonstrated 3D printing technology in zero gravity showing it is feasible to 3D print in space. On a larger scale we have seen houses being 3D printed on Earth. In a similar way, the lunar base will likely be built using prefabricated parts in combination with large-scale 3D printing. Examples of what this might look like can be seen to entries in the 3D printed habitat challenge, which was started by Nasa in 2005. The competition seeks to advance 3D printing construction technology needed to create sustainable housing solutions for Earth, the moon, Mars and beyond. Living on the moon So far, we've focused on the technological feasibility of building a lunar base, but we also need to consider the long term effect of lunar living on humans. To date, limited studies have been conducted to examine the biological impact on human physiology at the cellular level. We know that human organs, tissues and cells are highly responsive to gravity, but an understanding of how human cells function and regenerate is lacking. If astronauts are to live on the moon, these fundamental questions need to be answered. In the long term, 3D bioprinting of human organs and tissues will play a crucial role in sustaining lunar missions by allowing for robotic surgeries. Russia recently demonstrated the first 3D bioprinter to function under microgravity. Absolutely. The answer is less clear. China will certainly use the next 10 to 15 years to develop the requisite technical capabilities for conducting manned lunar missions and set the stage for space exploration. Joshua Chou, Senior lecturer, University of Technology Sydney - The Conversation

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/technology/news/article.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=12193478

How many times have the Saints won the Super Bowl?

The New Orleans Saints will compete for a trip to Super Bowl LIII when the Los Angeles Rams visit the Superdome on Sunday. If the Saints prevail, they will reach the Super Bowl for the second time in franchise history. In 2009, quarterback Drew Brees led New Orleans to a franchise-record 13 wins in the regular season before carrying the team to a Super Bowl win. That season, New Orleans defeated the Arizona Cardinals and outlasted the Minnesota Vikings in the NFC championship to advance to Super Bowl XLIV, where the Saints defeated Peyton Manning and the Colts 3117. The Saints famously attempted and recovered a surprise onside kick to start the second half of that game, taking a 1310 lead on the ensuing possession. The Colts went up 1713 before the Saints responded with 18 unanswered points, including Tracy Porter's game-clinching 74-yard interception return for a touchdown. Brees, who went 32-of-39 fpr 288 yards and two touchdowns, was named the game's Most Valuable Player. The Saints have not returned to the Super Bowl since.

https://www.si.com/nfl/2019/01/20/saints-super-bowl-history-how-many-times-wins

When Did the Rams Move to Los Angeles?

The Rams relocated back to Los Angeles from St. Louis in 2016, when owner Stan Kroenke received approval from 30 of 32 NFL owners for his ambitious plan to move his team to California, where a new multi-billion dollar stadium would be built for the franchise. Kroenke paid a $550 million fee in 2016 to move the team. The Rams franchise was founded in 1936 in Cleveland, but moved to Los Angeles 10 years later, where the team remained for almost five decades. The Rams were based in the Los Angeles area from 1946 to 1994 before they relocated to St. Louis from 1995-2015. The Raiders also played in Los Angeles from 1982 to 1994 before moving to Oakland. There was a 21-year NFL absence from Los Angeles, the nation's second-largest media market, following both team's departures in the mid-1990s. While the Rams have played in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum since returning to the City of Angels in 2016it's where they played between 1946 and 1979 before spending 14 seasons in Anaheimthe franchise will relocate to the new LA Stadium, which is currently under construction, once it is finished in the summer of 2020. The facility was originally supposed to be ready in time for the 2019 season but construction was delayed by an unusually rainy winter after breaking ground. The San Diego Chargers joined the Rams in Los Angeles and will share the new facility come 2020.

https://www.si.com/nfl/2019/01/20/when-did-rams-move-los-angeles-franchise-history-locations

When is the Last Time the Saints Lost a Home Playoff Game?

The New Orleans Saints have played 10 home playoff games at Mercedes-Benz Superdome, but they haven't lost one since Jan. 3, 1993, when the Eagles posted a 26-point turnaround in an 8.5 minute span during the fouth quarter to defeat the Saints, 3620, at home in the wild-card round. Twenty-six years later, the Eagles' 26 points remains the most ever scored in the fourth quarter of an NFL postseason game. Saints quarterback Drew Brees is 86 all time in the postseason, but improved to 60 in playoff games at home after New Orleans extended the impressive streak last weekend with a 2014 divisional round win over the Eagles in the Superdome on Sunday, Jan. 13. The Saints' last road postseason loss came in 2017, when they fell to the Vikings in Minneapolis in the divisional round. The home winning streak will be tested once again this weekend, when the Saints host the Los Angeles Rams in the NFC Championship game. Kickoff is set for 3:05 p.m. ET from New Orleans on Sunday, Jan. 20.

https://www.si.com/nfl/2019/01/20/new-orleans-saints-last-home-playoff-loss-nfl-postseason

Why do the Saints have TB patches on their jerseys?

The Saints have worn jersey patches and helmet decals bearing the initials "TB" on their jerseys this season. The "TB" honors former owner Tom Benson, who died in March at age 90. Both the decal and patch feature a silhouette of Benson holding a Saints umbrella atop the letters "TB." Benson owned the Saints from 1985 until his death. His widow, Gayle, now owns the franchise in addition to the New Orleans Pelicans. After a first-round bye, the Saints beat the Eagles in the NFC Divisional Round to reach the NFC Championship. The Saints will face the Rams on Sunday in New Orleans for the chance to go to Super Bowl LIII. Kickoff from the Mercedes-Benz Superdome is set for 3:05 p.m. ET.

https://www.si.com/nfl/2019/01/20/saints-tb-jersey-patch-helmet-decal-tom-benson

Has a Conference Championship ever gone to overtime?

Six conference championships have gone into overtime during the NFL playoffs, with five of those overtime games coming in NFC clashes. The 2014 NFC Championship between the Packers and Seahawks was the most recent championship game to need extra time. The two teams went into overtime at CenturyLink Field in Seattle, Wash., after wrapping up regulation tied at 22 points apiece. The Seahawks secured the win with an overtime touchdown for six points. Seattle went into the Super Bowl with a 2822 conference championship win under its belt. The NFC championship also went into overtime during the 2011 playoffs, with the Giants defeating the 49ers by three, 2017, after an overtime field goal on Jan. 22, 2012.The 2009, 2007 and 1998 NFC championship games also went to overtime. The AFC Championship, on the other hand, has only gone into overtime once since 1970. The Broncos and Browns 1986 NFC Championship clash was locked at 2020 in regulation. Denver scored on a field goal to take the win, advancing to Super Bowl XXI where they fell to the New York Giants, 3920.

https://www.si.com/nfl/2019/01/20/conference-championship-overtime-nfc-afc-history