February 9, 2016 at 4:33 pm EDT | by Chris Johnson
N.H. congressional race could pit gay vs. gay
Gay congressional candidates Dan Innis (left) and Shawn O'Connor could compete against each other in the general election. (Washington Blade photo of Innis by Michael Key; photo of O'Connor courtesy of CreagerCole Communications)
MANCHESTER, N.H.  -  In the week of the presidential primary in New Hampshire, another race is brewing in the state that could pit two openly gay candidates  -  one Democrat, one Republican  -  against each other.
In a bid to represent New Hampshire's 1st congressional district, Shawn O'Connor, a gay businessperson and lawyer who founded the college admission advisory firm Stratus Prep before selling the company, is competing against former Rep. Carol Shea-Porter for the Democratic nomination.
Meanwhile, on the Republican side, gay business professor Dan Innis  -  the former dean of the business school at the University of New Hampshire  -  is for a second time challenging incumbent Rep. Frank Guinta (R-N.H.) after having lost the Republican nomination to the lawmaker in 2014.
If both candidates succeed in winning their party's nomination on the day of the congressional primary on Sept. 13, New Hampshire's 1st congressional district would be home to a national first: Two openly gay congressional candidates nominated by major parties competing against each other for a U.S. House seat.
In separate interviews with the Washington Blade, the two candidates outlined their visions if elected to Congress  -  and their plans reveal stark differences.
O'Connor said he formed an exploratory committee to pursue a congressional bid in February 2015 before Shea-Porter announced she'd pursue a sixth run because "people are ready for a change."
"When this race went Republican last time, it's gone back-and-forth between the same two members of Congress for about 10 years: Carol Shea-Porter and Frank Guinta," O'Connor said. "I think it's a seat that the right Democrat can definitely hold, and therefore, I decided to toss my hat into the ring without knowing who else might run."
Among the items on O'Connor's agenda are what he called "bread-and-butter" issues: Making it easier for small business owners to succeed and investing in infrastructure. According to O'Connor, 351 of the bridges in New Hampshire are designated as "red list," which means they have a series of documented deficiencies getting worse over time.
But O'Connor, who has endorsed Bernard Sanders in the presidential election, also identified income inequality as among the issues he wants to tackle.
Until the minimum wage is raised to $15 an hour, O'Connor said he'll only accept the current minimum wage as a salary from Congress, which would be $15,080 a year, and donate the remaining $159,000 to New Hampshire charities.
"I'm willing to put my money where my mouth is, and I just think it's immoral to accept a salary of $174,000 a year and go around telling people it's OK to live on $7.25 an hour," O'Connor said.
Innis said he's pursuing another bid for Congress because he had a good showing in the 2014 Republican congressional primary, earning 41 percent of the vote in the race against Guinta.
"Coming in at 41 percent as a first-time candidate against a semi-incumbent? That ain't bad." Innis said, adding he thinks he took that percentage of the vote because he ran as "a problem solver, not a political insider."
But Innis took Guinta to task for allegedly violating campaign finance laws by taking $355,000 donated to him by his parents during his first House campaign in 2010. As a result of a settlement with the Federal Election Commission, Guinta in May 2015 paid a $15,000 fine and agreed to return his parents' money.
Innis said the donation was unlawful and shamed Guinta for calling his opponents liars for bringing it up.
"And the liar was Frank. Period," Innis said. "He broke the law, he knew he broke the law. He denied it for years, and when he was fined, he tried to further cover it up."
In terms of policy differences, Innis said he differs with Guinta in some areas, although he doesn't think the difference is terribly dramatic.
"I sit closer to New Hampshire on a number of social issues, and I'd further argue I'm more fiscally conservative than just about anyone you'd meet," Innis said.
For Innis, the No. 1 crisis facing the country  -  in contrast to the views of others who say it's the Islamic State of Iraq & Syria or climate change  -  is the nation's $19 trillion debt.
"It's money, and we don't have enough," Innis said. "And we spend too much. We've got to bring these two things in balance, and if we don't the country  -  and I'm not overstating this  -  the country is doomed, right? I understand business. I studied business. I've got an advanced degree in this stuff. So, I'm not blowing smoke. I know what I'm talking about. We're doomed."
Innis was coy about whom he's backing in the presidential election, but said the way candidates approach LGBT rights is something he factors into his support.
"There are certain candidates that are more open to equality issues, and those are the candidates that I'd certainly get behind," Innis said. "There are other candidates who are clearly closed to equality and it's very, very difficult to support them, and you know who those are."
In terms of LGBT rights, O'Connor identified as a priority a federal LGBT non-discrimination bill known as the Equality Act to "make sure LGBT equality is complete," but also said we must ensure the United States is "a real social, moral leader" on international LGBT rights.
"Once we get full equality nationwide, and we've accomplished marriage, I think that incorporating LGBT rights more fully into our international policy would be really important, particularly in Africa," O'Connor said.
Innis said if he's elected, he'd "push for" a federal prohibition on employment discrimination against LGBT people, arguing his position in the Republican caucus would hasten its passage.
"If you've got a majority party that has the ability to bring that thing forward, and then you add someone to the party who is gay and who's affected by this stuff, who can speak to the other members and leadership, I think the dynamic changes," Innis said. "It always changes when you get to know someone and when you've got them sitting there with you dealing with the issue, and I do think we'll have more success in pushing that forward if candidates like me are elected."
Innis said he couldn't immediately commit to co-sponsoring the Equality Act, but based on what he heard on the legislation as described by the Blade said it "sounds like something that is easy to support."
Both candidates had differing takes on the idea of facing off in the general election as a gay candidate against a gay opponent.
O'Connor said it would be "exciting" and reflect the progress made on acceptance of LGBT people in New Hampshire.
"I think the nice thing about it in a way is in a purple state like New Hampshire  -  trending blue, but purple  -  to have two LGBT candidates face off in a general election really demonstrates that we're becoming fully integrated into the political system, which I think is wonderful," O'Connor said.
But O'Connor said the national LGBT community should support him if they both were to receive their nominations if Innis won't back affirmative action, support women's reproductive freedom or fight income inequality.
"Dan Innis has a very conservative  -  he doesn't have a voting record  -  but based on his statements, he's a pretty conservative candidate," O'Connor said. "I believe the LGBT community as a community has been marginalized for decades, if not centuries, and there's a responsibility to help others."
Innis expressed skepticism O'Connor would be able to beat Shea-Porter. If he had to face off against him in the general election, Innis said the gay vs. gay nature of the race "wouldn't matter" to him.
"I think I've defined myself as a candidate on the issues and on my background and my experience, and people now are used to the idea and more interested in what I have to say on the issues," Innis said.
They both face challenges in defeating an incumbent on one hand and one-time incumbent on the other who have name recognition in New Hampshire. Innis has the added challenge of facing another potential competitor for the Republican nomination: State Rep. Pamela Tucker.
Nathan Gonzalez, editor of the Rothenberg & Gonzalez Political Report, said it's hard to put specific odds on an O'Connor vs. Innis matchup, but it's "unlikely" both candidates will make it to the general election.
"Guinta is in an incredibly precarious electoral position, so it's not hard to see him losing the primary," Gonzalez said. "But Innis doesn't have a clean shot at winning the nomination with Tucker in the race. Shea-Porter has her fair share of general election losses, but I have a hard time believing she is going to lose in a primary, until proven otherwise."
One question is which candidate national LGBT groups  -  the Human Rights Campaign and the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund  -  will support. In the 2014 election, the Victory Fund endorsed Innis and the Human Rights Campaign endorsed Shea-Porter.
O'Connor said he applied for endorsements with both organizations, but was told by both they were staying out of the race at the time. Innis said he'll likely seek support from the Victory Fund again, but had harsh words for the Human Rights Campaign.
"They endorsed Hillary, I'm not sure they should be playing in this," Innis said. "To me, their job is to advocate for rights for equality; it's not to pick candidates at a presidential level. Part of the problem here is I've never thought of HRC as so political, but it clearly is, but HRC I always thought was more politically driven rather than agenda driven, and they seem to be moving more toward the politics."
Jarod Keith, spokesperson for the Victory Fund, said his organization usually stays out of races if multiple candidates apply for support and meet endorsement criteria.
"We typically don't endorse a candidate if they're running against another candidate who also qualifies for our endorsement," Keith said. "In order to qualify, candidates have to be openly LGBT, support LGBT rights and a woman's right to choose, and demonstrate a clear path to victory. Endorsements are made by the Victory Fund's Victory Campaign Board."
Brandon Lorenz, a Human Rights Campaign spokesperson, didn't say when his organization would make an endorsement in the race.
"HRC has not made an endorsement in this race at this time," Lorenz said. "In the 2014 cycle, HRC supported incumbent Rep. Carol Shea-Porter."
Dan Inniselection 2016Gay & Lesbian Victory FundHuman Rights CampaignNathan GonzalezNew HampshireRothenberg & Gonzalez Political ReportShawn O'Connor


Debate on drug benefit persists
By - The Washington Times - Sunday, May 14, 2006
Three years after its creation, the Medicare prescription-drug program remains a source of partisan bickering, as evidenced by the fight that has surrounded tonight's deadline for seniors to sign up for the program.
But even after the deadline passes, the fight over the program will go on. Republican leaders have been arguing that the program is working well, but dissent is starting to swell within the party over such matters as whether people should pay a penalty for missing the enrollment deadline.
"I'm pleased to see the robust enrollment in the program," said House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bill Thomas, California Republican said Friday. "Choice of plans proves competition is working. As a result, prices, premiums and drug costs are down."
After midnight tonight, seniors will have to wait until November to sign up and will face a penalty fee, which Democrats argue amounts to an unfair tax. The deadline and fee have been waived for low-income people, but Democrats said it should have been done for all, and at least one key Republican agrees.
Rep. Nancy L. Johnson of Connecticut, who leads the House Ways and Means' subcommittee on health, told the Associated Press that she will introduce a bill to waive the penalty and said she thinks a waiver has enough support to pass in the fall.
"The bottom line is, this is a democracy, and the Congress responds to the people and shapes the program so it's good for them," Mrs. Johnson said. "I think it's fair and reasonable to eliminate the penalty" for 2006.
House Republican sources said the proposal has enough support to make approval possible.
The administration said last week that about 37 million of the 43 million people on Medicare and thus eligible for the Part D program now have prescription-drug coverage  -  through Medicare, other government programs or private insurance. About 27 million of them are in the new Medicare prescription-drug program.
Democrats and advocacy groups, however, say that administration numbers have been inflated and that many of the seniors the administration counts as already having coverage from other sources in fact do not. They've been pushing to extend tonight's deadline and will continue to push to make some major changes to the program.
"To make it work for all seniors and people with disabilities, it needs clarity, and it needs common sense. Democrats are ready to provide both," said House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California, who led the Democratic demand that the deadline be extended.
The liberal advocacy group Families USA pledged Friday to closely monitor the program well after today's deadline to see whether drug prices go up, how many seniors enter the so-called "doughnut hole" when they will be without coverage for a time and how many private plans will drop out.
These factors "will determine whether the program succeeds or fails," warned Ron Pollack, executive director of Families USA.
The new Medicare drug program allows seniors to choose from several private insurers. The administration estimates that the average beneficiary will save more than $1,100 this year by enrolling, and average monthly premiums are $25, more than $10 less than expected.
Some groups say that overall, the drug program, which got off to a rocky start in January, is going much better now.
"The results are better than anyone anticipated," said Cheryl Matheis, an AARP spokeswoman. "It's been on a lot more positive trajectory over the past months." She also said AARP field offices Friday were reporting a last-minute crush of seniors signing up.


Global War on Terror gives next president broad powers
STEPHEN JAFFE

US President George W. Bush addresses the nation aboard the nuclear aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln 01 May, 2003, as it sails for Naval Air Station North Island, San Diego, California. Bush declared major fighting over in Iraq, calling it "one victory in a war on terror" which he said would continue until terrorists are defeated. "In the Battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed," Bush said. Bush touted Saddam Hussein's ouster as "a crucial advance" towards stamping out extremist violence.AFP Photo/Stephen JAFFE

When the next president is inaugurated on Jan. 20, 2017, that person will not only inherit a Global War on Terror, but he or she will also receive broad war powers over the strongest military in the world.
Following the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the American defense budget doubled within a decade, and new defense institutions were added to the federal government. With an ever-expanding United States defense, the next president could be considered the most powerful person ever.
Although the Constitution states that Congress is tasked with formally declaring war, the United States has not formally declared war since World War II. Presidents have generally accepted the responsibility when the United States goes to war.
President Bush received near universal support for War on Terror
In the weeks following the 9/11 attacks, 92 percent of Americans polled by the New York Times were in favor of using military action against al-Qaida and the Taliban.
Vowing vengeance both from the White House in an address on Sept. 11, 2001, and during a joint session of Congress nine days later, Bush garnered a historically high 90-percent approval rating, according to Gallup.
Following the attacks on the United States, Bush asked Congress to approve the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Terrorists act (AUMF), which gave the president broad powers to fight terrorists. The bill passed by a 420-1 margin in the House, and a 98-0 ledger in the Senate.
"In 2001, there was this debate of exactly what extent the president will do with this much authority," said Robert Farley, professor of political science at the University of Kentucky. "There was this debate inside the Bush administration where some people like (Assistant Attorney General) John Yoo and (Vice President) Dick Cheney were saying that the presidency is unfettered at all. Besides impeachment, the president could do whatever he wanted in terms of interpreting treaties, in terms of prisoners, in terms of going to war."
With broad power handed to the executive branch to fight terrorists, Yoo crafted highly controversial policy regarding the waterboarding of terror suspects, and to legitimize the United States' efforts fighting terror under the Geneva Convention.
Unlike past declarations of war, the AUMF gave the president authorization to use the military to fight groups considered a threat to the homeland wherever and whenever. The law did not place any restrictions on methods for fighting terrorists, allowing the Bush administration to develop policies such as the enhanced interrogation methods, and to place prisoners of war in Guantanamo Bay without trial.
Congress' lack of interest in foreign affairs coupled with the need to give the president the ability to launch an immediate attack allowed the commander-in-chief absolute power with few checks.
Although President Barack Obama issued an executive order on Jan. 21, 2009 his second day in office to officially end the United States' practice of using waterboarding, it is possible the next president could override Obama's order. While Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton has come out against enhanced interrogation tactics, GOP standard-bearer Donald Trump has said he is fond of the tactic.
"I like it a lot. I don't think it's tough enough," Trump said at an Ohio rally in June.
When Obama delivered an address in May 2013 to discuss his administration's plan moving forward after the United States would leave Afghanistan after 2014, he said he wanted to engage Congress on amending the AUMF.
"The AUMF is now nearly twelve years old," Obama said in 2013. "The Afghan War is coming to an end. Core al-Qaida is a shell of its former self. Groups like (al-Qaida) must be dealt with, but in the years to come, not every collection of thugs that labels themselves al-Qaida' will pose a credible threat to the United States. Unless we discipline our thinking and our actions, we may be drawn into more wars we don't need to fight, or continue to grant presidents unbound powers more suited for traditional armed conflicts between nation states.
"So I look forward to engaging Congress and the American people in efforts to refine, and ultimately repeal, the AUMF's mandate. And I will not sign laws designed to expand this mandate further. Our systematic effort to dismantle terrorist organizations must continue. But this war, like all wars, must end. That's what history advises. That's what our democracy demands."
With Congress' inaction on the issue, the AUMF has remained untouched since 2001.
Congress gave the Bush administration a couple blank checks in terms of the authorization of use of military force in Afghanistan and then in Iraq (in 2003)," Farley said. "Those authorizations are so broadly worded that they allow the executive branch to do anything it wants with respect to fighting those wars.
"They don't have much in the ways of geographic limits, they don't have much in the way of on limits on means or different kind of weapons. The reason that we are still fighting in Libya and Iraq and so forth even though Saddam Hussein is long gone is based on using these laws that were passed."
Even though the United States is not currently fighting al-Qaida or the Taliban groups considered directly responsible for the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks the AUMF has been used to justify a long-term battle between the United States and the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria.
While the AUMF gives the president plenty of authority, it also gives the commander-in-chief flexibility to follow terrorists across global borders. This flexibility could be considered useful going against an organization such as the Islamic State group, which spans multiple nations.
"It is a new era, I think you're going to have to realize that it is totally different from any previous era or war that the US has been involved in." - Timothy White
"We live in a different world, the same constitution exists, in that we have an old constitution, so that means it is vague enough so it can be interpreted in different ways to accommodate the needs and interest of society and government," political science professor and foreign policy expert Timothy White said.
The AUMF also accounts for groups that are not associated with official governments. For instance, the majority of the Sept. 11 attackers were from Saudi Arabia; a nation that the United States is allies with.
US President Barack Obama Shakes hands with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef of Saudi Arabia - Getty Images
What this means is that many nations, even ones the United States is on good terms with, have citizens wanting to attack using small, rogue armies.
"There are groups across the world that could be classified a terrorist organization," White said. "There are terrorist groups in many countries, so to think that all threats of terror will be gone are just wrong. The logic behind why terrorists exist is because they are militarily weak and want to have some mechanism to express their anger and outrage or resentment and want to use terror."
Military strength does not make the US immune from terror
The United States' military is not just the most expensive force in the world; the US spends more on defense than the next seven nations combined, according to the Peter G. Peterson Foundation.
The United States spends 3.3 percent of the national GDP in defense, which is more than China, the United Kingdom and Japan, but less than Russia and Saudi Arabia.
Despite having such a large military, the United States is still prone to lone wolf attacks, such as incidents that took place at the Boston Marathon in 2013 and the Pulse Nightclub in Orlando in June.
It is an unusual military dominance in the world," White said. "It has not been seen really in earlier eras This is in some ways an unusual situation. Americans are frustrated that we have all this military capability and all this power but we don't get our way.
"There is not an equal translation of military power to political influence on the world. That is probably because we live in a world where the military can't solve all of the problems of ethnic conflict in different parts of the world. Often the solution to these situations is domestic solutions, not something from an outside power like the United States."
Justin Boggs is a writer for the E.W. Scripps National Desk. Follow him on Twitter @jjboggs or on Facebook .


How Chicago Could Win Amazon's HQ2 (Updated!)
Posted by Terri McAuley on Monday, April 16th, 2018 at 3:23pm
Editor's Note: This post was originally published in October 2017 and has been revamped to include the latest information on Chicago's HQ2 bid.
What happens when one of the largest companies in the world announces that it's looking for a city in North America in which to build a massive expansion?
In early September, Amazon did just that. The company announced that it plans to spend $5 billion on a second headquarters - dubbed "HQ2" - somewhere outside of its current home in Seattle, Washington. This additional headquarters, which the company claims is "not a satellite office," is expected to employ 50,000 people beyond 2027. Naturally, cities from coast to coast have formed bid committees to attract this titan of online retail, and Chicago is no exception.
In January of 2018, Amazon announced 20 finalists for HQ2, including Chicago and a long list of rivals like Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Columbus, Dallas,Los Angeles, New York City, Pittsburg, Toronto, and D.C..
Co-led by Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Governor Bruce Rauner, Chicago's "all-hands-on-deck" committee is made up of more than 600 members, including a number of business and civic leaders as well as representatives from Chicago real estate developers like Related Midwest, Sterling Bay, and Magellan Development.
According to the mayor, Chicago sees itself as - and is recognized as - a definite frontrunner in the competition thanks to its business-friendly incentives, youthful workforce, and a robust commercial real estate market. The deadline for proposals is October 19, and the committee had been accepting nominations for possible sites until September 27.
While Chicago's chances may be good, other cities across the nation are offering some stiff competition. Atlanta's position within two-hours of 80% of the U.S. population, for instance, makes it ideal for a business that values having easy access to several American cities. And Washington DC, with its strong pool of tech talent and connection to the federal government, is also a strong possibility. Still, Mayor Emanuel and the committee are very confident that Chicago's bid will rival any other put forth. The competition is ours to lose.
Amazon's Wishlist
Why is Chicago a possible favorite? When it comes to Amazon's Request for Proposal ("RFP"), Chicago is one of the few cities in the country that can check off all the right boxes. Amazon has indicated a preference for a location that has:
A metropolitan area of more than 1,000,000 people
A stable local economy friendly to business development
An urban or suburban location that attracts technical talent
A location within 45 minutes of an international airport
A location with 1-2 miles of major highways
Mass transit accessible at the site
Possible Locations
A lot of the speculation about possible locations for this massive headquarters has centered on the troubled redevelopment of the Old Main Post Office in West Loop. In the past, new construction at the Old Main Post Office was slated to include a series of residential and commercial buildings, including construction of twin mixed-use towers that would have been the tallest in North America. However, after financing fell through, the project languished until preface by New York-based 601W. Mayor Emanuel has pushed to get development started again, and a bid from Amazon might be all the fuel he needs.
According to Curbed, other potential sites under consideration are likely Related Midwest's sprawling 62-acre South Loop - expected to be the largest development project in the city's history - and Sterling Bay's similarly ambitious series of redevelopment on both sides of the North Branch. The inclusion of these developers on the committee lends credence to speculation that, at the very least, these sites are being considered for HQ2.
No matter what site the committee chooses for its proposal, Amazon requires that it must have at least 500,000 square feet with the possibility of expanding up to 8 million square feet in the next decade. This doesn't necessarily entail new developments, though. Amazon will accept proposals for existing buildings, 100-acres of shovel-ready land, creative infill, or a combination of these.
What HQ2 Could Mean For Chicago Real Estate
Though the logistical challenges are many, there will be plenty of rewards for Chicagoans and the Chicago real estate market if Amazon decides to locate HQ2 here. The $5 billion investment in the local economy would certainly be a boon, for instance, and Amazon's presence in Chicago would likely bring many other tech companies and retailers to the city as well, likely setting off a boom in the commercial real estate market.
Given how many new, high-paying jobs this would create, the residential market will also be affected. According to the Tribune, HQ2 is also expected to offer the average worker compensation of more than $100,000, more than double the current median household income. This will lead to greater demand for luxury real estate and luxury condos and probably accelerate future development. Properties near the site would likely see their values skyrocket, so we're excited to see what site the committee puts forward.
However, since Amazon is likely to attract a young workforce eager to start families, HQ2 may also lead to the desire to build single-family housing as close as possible to the headquarters. For this reason, many of Chicago's suburbs and nearby communities could also benefit from an influx of upper-middle-class families looking to plant roots near the company.
Updated: Amazon's Chicago Visit
In March of 2018, representatives from Amazon visited Chicago, where they inspected half of the sites that make up Chicago's 10 location bid. Though this visit was cloaked in secrecy, we know that the trip included a visit to the 37-acre River West District development as well as Lincoln Yards, The 78 on Chicago's Near South Side, and Fulton Market. These mega-investments in Chicago's residential and commercial real estate were likely to have impressed Amazon, though we'll have to wait and see if they've been convinced.
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A Board Gamer's Guide to Marketing Strategy
By Joe Judd on February 14, 2017
In my free time, I like to play board games. I enjoy the various themes that come with each - saving the world from an outbreak, building rail lines across the U.S. in the early 1900s, capturing treasure from a hidden island before it sinks into the sea and is lost forever, outbuilding your opponents in the middle ages, and working together as superheroes to defeat a villain, to name a few. There are board games that appeal to virtually anyone - even those who are interested in quilting and sewing.
But I especially love learning about the different strategies and tactics involved with each game, then putting them into practice. Sure, it doesn't result in a victory every time, but my gameplay definitely improves as I put these tried-and-true methods to work. And I can't help but see the parallels between various board game strategies and my job as a marketing and advertising strategist, like the many twists and turns that one must navigate to reach an objective.
Here are six marketing strategy tips you can learn from board games (or maybe it's the other way around):
1. Understand the basics.
Before getting started with any board game, it's important to have a thorough understanding of the rules, objectives, and gameplay. Sometimes the rules are simple, but other times they're complicated, 16-page novels where the rules change as the game progresses (yeah, I'm talking about you, Power Grid). As much as possible, it's also good to get a handle on your opponents. Are they board game veterans who purchase the VIP ticket package to Gen Con each year? Or are they casual weekend players? Understanding the basic landscape is critical if you want to compete.
The same applies to marketing. Before diving head first into producing web videos, promoting posts on social media, creating brochures and other marketing collateral, or placing print ads in the IBJ, take a step back and understand the basics. What are your business objectives? What are your marketing goals? Who is your audience? What does the competitive landscape look like? What are your competitors doing? Where are your biggest opportunities? Answering these questions and others will lay the foundation as you begin developing your marketing plan and strategy.
2. Focus your efforts.
Dominion is a deck-building game where players try to build up their hands by adding more money and actions, with the ultimate goal of purchasing victory points. One particular card - Chapel - allows a player to trash up to four cards from his or her hand. I was so confused when I first saw this card, thinking, "Why would I ever want to permanently get rid of cards from my deck?" Well, the answer is quite simple. The idea is to continually "trim the fat" from your deck in order to make your powerful cards appear more frequently, giving you a lean deck and an effective hand virtually every turn of the game. Donald X. Vaccarino, creator of Dominion, goes so far as to say that "Chapel is the most powerful Dominion card relative to its cost."
How does this apply to marketing? Too often, we see small organizations with small marketing budgets trying to accomplish too much and not getting anywhere as a result. They're spreading their resources too thin. With this in mind, it's important to take a hard look at your marketing goals and objectives, your marketing budget, and the tactics you're employing to see how everything stacks up. Every tactic should be directly related to an organizational goal. And if your tactics are all connected in some way, all the better. More on that soon.
3. Plan ahead.
In most games, you have to think multiple turns in advance, and that planning should ideally start before the game does. In Catan, players begin the game by strategically placing settlements and roads on intersections that touch various resources (brick, wood, wool, wheat, and ore). In short, these early placements will affect your entire game and will either help you turn your settlements into sprawling cities or deserted villages. Beyond these initial placements, it's important to think about how you're going to grow your empire, what resources you'll need as the game progresses, and what threats there are from your opponents.
Similarly, in marketing, it's good to think through your strategies thoroughly, to have a really good grasp of how they will play out in the world, and to have contingency plans in place should things not go according to the original plan. Most marketing success doesn't happen overnight. It takes careful planning and thoughtful execution over a period of time to gain traction. Which leads me to my next point.
4. Pick a strategy and stick with it.
The winners rarely change strategies mid-game, and the losers usually go into a game not knowing what their strategy is. But a winning strategy takes time to develop and perfect. You've probably heard this before, but I'll say it again: There's no silver bullet in marketing. Marketing takes time to pick up steam. You won't jump to the top of a Google search overnight, nor will you triple your leads in a week's time. But stick with it, and with a sound strategy and the creative to support it you're bound to see success. As a rule of thumb, we suggest monitoring marketing performance and making small tweaks on a monthly basis, with larger adjustments on a quarterly basis.
5. Remain flexible.
While it's not wise to change your strategy mid-game, it is important to remain flexible. After all, there are tons of things you won't be able to control: the moves your opponents will make, the cards that will be drawn, the number rolled on the dice, or turning up an "epidemic" card. You need to have the ability to remain calm and to adapt as these external threats come into play.
Just as it's important to keep an eye on how these threats shape a board game, it remains equally important in marketing. Ever hear of Murphy's Law? Well, Mr. Murphy tends to hang around the marketing and advertising industry. Things will go wrong: There's a new marketing goal that wasn't a goal just two days prior, board members aren't buying into a particular strategy, or a competitor is rolling out a campaign that's eerily similar to what you've been working on for months. As a marketing professional, it's your job to remain calm, adjust (not change) your strategy, and put a plan in place to overcome these hurdles.
6. Multiply your efforts.
In Dominion, it's possible to build your deck in such a way that the action cards you play allow you to draw and play more cards. If you have the right combination of action cards - usually consisting of Libraries, Markets, and Villages - you can go on playing and drawing cards until you've added a lot of money to your hand. This is called a non-terminal engine strategy.
In today's immersive media environment, it's important to have strategies and tactics that go deep. A 15-second pre-roll spot may get a good laugh, but not be likely to trigger an action on its own. If it's good, consumers will inevitably want to see more, and you need to have the content strategy to support that.
Ticket To Ride is a game set at the turn of the 20th century where you're competing to claim railway routes connecting cities throughout North America. The longer the routes, the more points you earn. Once you've fulfilled two or three large routes, say one going East-West and another couple North-South, it becomes much easier to fulfill additional routes later in the game by adding small tracks to the larger, already established routes - giving you a lot more victory points in the end.
The bottom line: once you have the foundation in place, consider adding to it. The last thing you want to do is cut corners with a marketing strategy or advertising campaign. Make sure you support your content with more content. If it's any good, your customers will only want more.
Need help with your marketing? Give us a shout.
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Police and Crime Commissioner thanks Julian Knight MP for funding boost
Julian Knight MP has been publicly thanked for his role in delivering millions of pounds of new funding to crime-fighting in the West Midlands.
David Jamieson, Labour's Police and Crime Commissioner for the area, wrote to Julian after the Home Office allocated £3.37 million to set up the region's first-ever Violence Reduction Unit (VRU). The VRU will focus on reducing crime by preventing children and young people from getting involved in criminality.
Julian has been a long-standing champion of policing in the West Midlands, and only recently spoke in the House of Commons during the debate on the Government's new Serious Violence Strategy.
Commenting on the news, Julian Knight said:
"I'm delighted that the Government have chosen to commit millions of pounds to combating violent crime in Solihull and the West Midlands - the latest in a strong track record of central government support for local policing in our region.
"There is always more to do, and I will continue to fight to ensure that our police have the resources they need. That includes a proper base in our community, and I hope David Jamieson will carry on this spirit of cross-party cooperation and work with me to save Solihull Police Station."
In his letter, David Jamieson wrote:
"May I thank you once again for your support in helping to secure this funding which will make a big difference to the work we can do to tackle serious violence in our region. The VRU will succeed with all partners engaged and involved. It will work closely with the NHS, local authorities, education, Community Safety Partnerships, and other key stakeholders who all have a part to play to tackle serious violence on our streets."
Sutton Coldfield Royal Town youth challenged to tug of war with royal town politicians
The Sutton Coldfield Community Games take place this weekend and are to be opened at one o'clock on Saturday by the Royal Town's MP Andrew Mitchell and the Mayor of Royal Sutton Coldfield, David Allan.


France thwarts possible attack, warns of threats
Jacques Brinon
PARIS (AP)  -  French police have arrested a 15-year-old boy at his Paris home to thwart what they feared was a planned weekend attack, as the prime minister warned on Sunday some 15,000 people in the country could be in the process of being radicalized.
The arrest of the teenager on Saturday came two days after police moved in on what the Paris prosecutor says was a group of female "commandos" arrested after an aborted attack at Notre Dame Cathedral and another possible attack. Those arrested included a 15-year-old girl, the daughter of one of three women arrested south of Paris.
A security official said Sunday that France's intelligence services "detected a threat" and a judicial official said police moved into action Saturday fearing a planned attack this weekend.
The officials weren't authorized to speak publicly about the arrest and asked not to be named. Both said the boy's arrest was not linked to the arrests last week of four women, the 15-year-old daughter of one of the women and a man. So far, one woman has been charged.
Intelligence agents suspected the boy planned to carry out a knife attack in a public place this weekend, the judicial official said, refusing to name a spot where it was thought the attack might occur. The official said the teenager, born in December 2000, is 15  -  not 16 as officials previously said.
France is in a state of emergency after three attacks this year, including the Bastille Day truck attack in Nice that killed 86 people. That followed two waves of attacks last year, notably the Nov. 13 attacks on restaurants, bars, a concert hall and stadium that left 130 people dead.
News of the arrest came shortly after Prime Minister Manuel Valls said Sunday that "every day attacks are foiled ... (including) as we speak."
Valls said nearly 15,000 people in France are being tracked because they are suspected of being in the process of radicalization, while 1,350 are under investigation  -  293 of them for alleged links with a terrorism network.
"Today the threat is at a maximum, and we are a target," Valls said on Europe 1 radio. "Every day intelligence services, police foil attacks, dismantle networks, track terrorists."
Despite the tracking, with plots uncovered, "There will be new attacks. There will be innocent victims," the prime minister said.
The teenage boy had been placed under house arrest this summer due to France's state of emergency, after a search of his home, the judicial official said. It wasn't known what was found in the search.


Russia to renew kangaroo meat imports after three year ban
12 DEC 2012: After a complete three year ban on the import of kangaroo meat due to serious health breaches, Russia has reportedly reached an agreement with Australia's largest kangaroo meat processor, Macro Meats, to renew imports.
However, leaked documents between Macro Meats and its kangaroo shooters have revealed that shooters have been ordered to spray all kangaroo carcasses with acid in an attempt to combat controversial contamination issues.
The Russian government announced a total ban on importing kangaroo meat in 2009 after systematic food safety and hygiene violations were found within the industry. Russia had previously accounted for about 76% of Australia's kangaroo meat exports.
Russian delegates examined kangaroo meat processing recently in a three week visit to Australia. Wildlife Protection Association of Australia has now revealed that in the months leading up to the visit, Macro Meats ordered its shooters to spray the carcasses with acetic acid, despite stating on its website that its "kangaroo meat is completely free from antibiotics, chemicals, growth hormones or any artificial intervention". Spokesperson Mark Pearson stated that Russian delegation left Australia with the "last minute revelation that they had been deceived by industry with misleading reports about hygiene and contamination control."
Acetic acid is used in the preparation of numerous topical medications including wart removal, in ear drops, as an expectorant, liniment and astringent. The Australian Government Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities states that acetic acid is also used in the manufacturing of a number of chemical compounds, plastics, pharmaceuticals, dyes, insecticides, photographic chemicals, vitamins, antibiotics, cosmetics and hormones among other uses.
The Government warns that when acetic acid is ingested it "may cause severe corrosion of the mouth and gastrointestinal tract, leading to vomiting, diarrhoea, circulatory collapse, kidney failure and death."
This happens also in spite of the expose shown on Lateline this year of the high levels of contamination and E. Coli being present in supermarket samples of kangaroo meat purchased by Animal Liberation activists. See here.
WLPA and other animal welfare groups are stunned by this turn of events and remain deeply concerned over how far an industry will go to deceive consumers in an attempt to revive a cruel and out dated practice.


Trump expected to pick State spokeswoman for UN ambassador
FILE - In this Aug. 9, 2017, file photo, State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert speaks during a briefing at the State Department in Washington. President Donald Trump is expected to nominate Nauert to be the next U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Two administration officials confirmed Trump's plans. A Republican congressional aide said the president was expected to announce his decision by tweet on Friday morning, Dec. 7, 2018. The officials were not authorized to speak publicly. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File) (Source: Alex Brandon)
By CATHERINE LUCEY, MATTHEW LEE, and ZEKE MILLER | December 7, 2018 at 1:38 AM CST - Updated December 7 at 1:38 AM
WASHINGTON (AP)  -  President Donald Trump is expected to announce he will nominate State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert to be the next U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, officials familiar with the plans said Thursday.
Two administration officials confirmed Trump's plans. A Republican congressional aide said the president was expected to announce his decision by tweet on Friday morning. The officials were not authorized to speak publicly before Trump's announcement.
Trump has previously said Nauert was under serious consideration to replace Nikki Haley, who announced in October that she would step down at the end of this year. If Nauert is confirmed by the Senate, she would be a leading administration voice on Trump's foreign policy.
Trump told reporters last month that Nauert was "excellent," adding, "She's been a supporter for a long time."
Still, with Trump, no staffing decision is final until he makes the formal announcement, since he has been known to change course in the past.
Nauert did not respond to requests for comment.
She was a reporter for Fox News Channel before she became State Department spokeswoman under former secretary Rex Tillerson.
Plucked from Fox by the White House to serve as State Department spokeswoman, Nauert catapulted into the upper echelons of the agency's hierarchy when Tillerson was fired in March and replaced with Mike Pompeo. Nauert was then appointed acting undersecretary of state for public diplomacy and public affairs and was for a time the highest-ranking woman and fourth highest-ranking official in the building.
Nauert, who did not have a good relationship with Tillerson and had considered leaving the department, told associates at the time she was taken aback by the promotion offer and recommended a colleague for the job. But when White House officials told her they wanted her, she accepted.
That role gave her responsibilities far beyond the news conferences she held in the State Department briefing room. She oversaw public diplomacy in Washington and all of the roughly 275 overseas U.S. embassies, consulates and other posts. She was in charge of the Global Engagement Center that fights extremist messaging from the Islamic State group and others, and she has a seat on the U.S. Agency for Global Media that oversees government broadcast networks such as Voice of America.
Just 18 months ago, she wasn't even in government.
Nauert was a breaking news anchor on Trump's favorite television show, "Fox & Friends," when she was tapped to be the face and voice of the administration's foreign policy. With a master's degree from Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism, she had come to Fox from ABC News, where she was a general assignment reporter. She hadn't specialized in foreign policy or international relations.
Shut out from the top by Tillerson and his inner circle, Nauert developed relationships with career diplomats. Barred from traveling with Tillerson, she embarked on her own overseas trips, visiting Bangladesh and Myanmar last year to see the plight of Rohingya Muslims, and then Israel after a planned stop in Syria was scrapped. All the while, she stayed in the good graces of the White House, even as Tillerson was increasingly on the outs.
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders described Nauert in March as "a team player" and "a strong asset for the administration."
According to a new rule published in the Federal Register, asylum seekers who pass through another country first will be ineligible for asylum at the U.S. southern border. The rule, expected to go into effect on Tuesday, also applies to children who have crossed the border alone.
JONATHAN LEMIRE and CALVIN WOODWARD
Published July 14, 2019 at 11:30 AM
ICE immigration raids, arrests to start Sunday
Around 2,200 federal inmates to be released under reform law


Kiev: A Portrait, 1800-1917
Author: Michael F. Hamm
Size: 107.25МБ
In an "urban biography," Michael Hamm tells the story of one of Europe's most diverse cities and its distinctive mix of Ukrainian, Polish, Russian, and Jewish inhabitants. A splendid urban center in medieval times, Kiev became a major metropolis in late Imperial Russia, and is now the capital of independent Ukraine. After a concise account of Kiev's early history, Hamm focuses on the city's dramatic growth in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The first historian to analyze how each of Kiev's ethnic groups contributed to the vitality of the city's culture, he also examines the violent conflicts that developed among them. He shows why Kiev came to be known for its "abundance of revolutionaries" and its anti-Semitic violence. This carefully detailed account reveals another side of the city's history. It helps to put present events in context, showing that at least one of the 'new' nationalisms in the former Soviet Union has old and very deep roots.
WorldHistory -> Literature. Modern history


Novell Expects 75% Jump In E-Mail Software Sales
a Wall Street Journal Staff Reporter
Updated Sept. 6, 1996 12:01 am ET
SAN FRANCISCO -- Novell Inc. expects a 75% jump in unit sales of its GroupWise electronic-mail software in the next 12 months, said vice president Stewart Nelson.
Mr. Nelson said the sales growth will be driven by GroupWise 5, a new version of the product that will be unveiled in New York on Sept. 12. It is expected to begin shipping in volume within days of the announcement.
"We...


The W. Edwards Deming Center for Quality, Productivity, and Competitiveness " Deming Cup " Deming Cup 2010
The inaugural Deming Cup Award Dinner took place on October 18, 2010 at Columbia University's Low Rotunda from 6 to 9 pm. We honor Samuel Palmisano, Chairman, President and CEO of IBM, for his outstanding contributions in the area of operations. We truly believe his accomplishments are a model to foster operational excellence practices.
Chairman of the Board, President and Chief Executive Officer
Sam Palmisano is Chairman of the Board, President and Chief Executive Officer of IBM. Mr. Palmisano was appointed to Chief Executive Officer in March 2002 and Chairman in January 2003. Previously, he served as President and Chief Operating Officer.
He began his career in 1973 in Baltimore, Maryland. Since then, Mr. Palmisano has held a series of leadership positions during his IBM career, including senior vice president for the Enterprise Systems and Personal Systems groups. Mr. Palmisano also played a key role in creating and leading IBM's Global Services, rising to senior vice president, and building the largest and most diversified IT services organization in the industry. He also served as senior managing director of operations for IBM Japan.
Mr. Palmisano is a graduate of The Johns Hopkins University. In recognition of his leadership role as co-chair of the Council of Competitiveness' National Innovation Initiative, as well as his many business accomplishments, Mr. Palmisano was awarded an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Humane Letters from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in September 2005. In July 2006, he was awarded an Honorary Fellowship from the London Business School.
Download the Deming Cup Award Ceremony Highlights 2010 (.pdf)
Samuel Palmisano, Chairman, President and CEO - IBM
Read his speech(PDF) | Read his bio
In this picture Paul O'Neill, 72nd Secretary of the U.S. Treasury, and co-chair of the Deming Cup, congratulates the inaugural recipient, Sam Palmisano, Chairman, IBM.


Third Rock's Bet on Lotus Tissue Repair Generates Big Return
Luke Timmerman
conservative in hopes of eking out some short-term returns, Third Rock has bet on long-term fields of science, like tumor metabolism, gene therapy, and epigenetics. Sometimes, like in the case of Lotus, it decided to take the risky route of being the sole investor, rather than build a broader syndicate of venture investors that could help mitigate the downside.
Although some of these early portfolio companies have shown signs of promise, like Agios Pharmaceuticals, Foundation Medicine, and Constellation Pharmaceuticals, many of Third Rock's investments, by their nature, will take years to achieve the scientific validation they need to generate liquid returns.
Only one member of Third Rock's original portfolio of more than 30 companies had delivered a liquid return before Lotus. That was Cambridge, MA-based Alnara Pharmaceuticals, which was acquired by Eli Lilly for $180 million up front in July 2010. That return, however, wasn't as meaningful to Third Rock, because it was one of five venture firms in the deal, and it didn't start the company.
Lotus, which we profiled at its start back in June 2011, was founded by Third Rock to treat a rare genetic disease called dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa (DEB).
Only about 300 people in the U.S. are thought to have this condition, which causes painful skin blisters that can result in fingers and toes getting fused together. Sometimes the blisters migrate internally, to the esophagus, the mouth, the gastrointestinal tract and the upper airways, causing all kinds of pain and suffering. Victims are also at high risk of developing squamous cell carcinoma, a deadly skin cancer. There is currently no FDA-approved treatment for the disease.
The technology for the startup came from Mei Chen and David Woodley, a pair of dermatology professors at the University of Southern California. They performed animal studies with a protein replacement treatment that is supposed to migrate to the wounded skin, and heal it. Mark de Souza, formerly of Dyax, was the founding CEO, and served as a co-founder with Philip Reilly, a venture partner at Third Rock.
Third Rock Gets $616M to Grow New Crop of Biotech Startups


Improving quality, increasing impact: The Youth Programme Quality Intervention UK-Wide Pilot
The Centre for Youth Impact has received over £607,000 of National Lottery funding through the Big Lottery Fund to lead a three and a half year (Apr 2018- Sep 2021) test and learn project for a ground-breaking quality improvement initiative. The Youth Programme Quality Intervention (YPQI) was developed in the US, and has never before been piloted in the UK. Through extensive research, the YPQI has been shown to improve outcomes for young people, to create a sustainable and supportive culture of organisational reflection and improvement, and to refocus evaluation on the quality of relationships and setting. This pilot project will test the YPQI in all four nations of the UK, to learn from its impact on culture and practice, and assess its applicability to different policy and practice contexts. It will build the foundations for wider roll-out, through establishing a community of practice and cohort of trained coaches. It will translate the YPQI for the UK context. It is an exciting and potentially transformative opportunity for the UK youth sector.
 Quality improvement and impact measurement in the youth sector
 The drive to measure, demonstrate and prove impact is strong within the UK youth sector, though it has evolved at different 'speeds' across the four nations. Regardless, a uniting feature is a policy narrative that connects sustainability and funding to evidence of impact, which has led to an over-focus on the measurement of outcomes in isolation in an effort to prove impact at the expense of improving services. Refocusing on the quality of practice would create the opportunity for two profound shifts: firstly, it would direct energies to the improvement and observation of quality alongside the monitoring of outcomes, and secondly, as a consequence, it would create the potential for the observation of quality to become predictive of outcomes for young people.
At the same time, there has been a concerted development of quality standards across the UK youth sector, which although welcome, have a different focus to the YPQI. Indeed, the systematic and embedded reflection on continuous improvement that is at the centre of the YPQI approach is both different and complementary to formal quality assurance processes.
The Youth Programme Quality Intervention (YPQI)
 The YPQI is a systematic approach to quality improvement, developed in the States during the 1990s. It is based around an observational assessment tool, the Program Quality Assessment, and training in Youth Work Methods from qualified coaches. It follows an assess-plan-improve sequence to help youth organisations focus on and improve the quality of their provision.
The YPQI looks at quality in four domains of practice: safety, support, interaction and engagement, which together create a set of key developmental experiences for young people. The assessment of quality is based on observation, by peers and youth work managers. The YPQI creates a context where quality improvement is prioritised, provides technical support for providers to improve, and builds capacity within providers to put continuous quality improvement into practice. It has been subjected to an experimental trial, which highlighted its positive impact on the quality of provision, and thus outcomes for young people[1].
[1] See Smith, C et al (2009) Managing for Positive Youth Development: Linking Management Practices to Instructional Performances in Out-of-school Time Organizations.; and Smith, C. et al (2012) Continuous quality improvement in afterschool settings: Impact findings from the Youth Program Quality Intervention study; both Washington, DC: The Forum for Youth Investment.
The UK pilot plan
The UK pilot is being led by the Centre for Youth Impact in partnership with the David P Weikart Center for Youth Program Quality. The pilot will work with its first wave of organisations in England (starting Autumn 2018), followed by Scotland and Wales (starting Spring 2019) and finally in Northern Ireland (starting Autumn 2019). We will be working with partners in each country to help support and guide the pilot. Alongside the piloting of the YPQI itself there will be substantial research and evaluation that aims to understand both the experience and success of the approach in different contexts and assess the link between the quality framework and positive outcomes for young people.
The Centre for Youth Impact will work with partner organisations in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to recruit and support pilot organisations and build the infrastructure for further roll-out beyond this project. Specifically, the goals of the pilot are to:
Explore the applicability of the model to informal and non-formal youth provision in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland;
Test the potential of the model to make a measurable improvement to the quality of informal and non-formal youth provision;
Assist participating organisations in developing a culture of continuous quality improvement;
Learn about the support delivery organisations need - and how best to provide this support - to improve the quality of their provision; and
Demonstrate that the YPQI can assist a diverse group of providers in improving the quality of their provision.
The ultimate goal of the pilot is to both increase the availability of high-quality provision for young people in the different countries of the UK, and to develop an in-depth understanding of the relationship between the quality of practice and outcomes for young people.
For more information please contact Matthew Hill at .
Our monthly newsletter collects news, events, research and blogs from the Centre, our networks and practitioners and organisations around the world. Sign-up, and read our previous newsletters, here.
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Watch The United States of Leland (2003) Online
Crime, Drama, Romance
Chris Klein, Don Cheadle, Jena Malone, Kevin Spacey, Ryan Gosling
Matthew Ryan Hoge
Watch The United States of Leland Online Free:
Tells the story of a young man's experience in a juvenile detention center that touches on the tumultuous changes that befall his family and the community in which he lives.
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"The Believer" explores a Jewish student's private journey to understand the meaning of Judaism in his life. Set in New York City, the Plot follows a morally confused young adult struggling with the conflict between his beliefs and his heritage. "The Believer" examines themes of religion, family, and self-loathing. It is a psychological examination into the forces of intolerance, both on the individual and society as a whole.
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Wonder Boys
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Levity
The film philosophical approach at redemption. The protagonist Manual Jordan has gotten parole from a life sentence for the murder of Abner Easley, and returns to the city he lived in to try to seek redemption. He ends up living and working at a community house run by a preacher, Miles Evans. The film is equipped with beautiful voice-overs about the meaning of life and different philosophies for getting redeemed. Manual also becomes friends with Adele Easley, his victims sister, in an attempt to make up for what he did. While working at the home he has interactions with Sofia Mellinger, the druggie daughter of a famous singer, struggling with the lack of adult guidance in her life.
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The Rise Of VoIP Scammers: How To Protect Yourself From Getting Scammed
Reysel Montero
The advent of sophisticated digital technologies has produced more accessible and convenient ways for people to interact and do business transactions. But, along with the digital revolution and the spawn of technologies, comes a considerable uncertainty in terms of security of valuable information.
Nowadays, scammers and illegal transactions are taking full advantage of the internet, as well as, technology solutions. Most frauds are usually done in cloud communications and in Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), to access crucial data for financial purposes.
VoIP makes businesses communication inexpensive and straightforward, that is why intelligent scammers have found a way to use it as a means to carry out "vishing scams;"a type of phishing where frauds make phone calls to trick somebody. Usually, scammers pose as a businessman or a financial partner who request private details from their victims.
The reason why I am writing this article is mainly, not to give you tips on how to detect scams online, because that alone is a job of a fraud investigator. What I am trying to do here is to make you understand these scams well, so you know how to beat the fraudsters personally.
With VoIP, people can create fake numbers easily. Using a phony number, scammers can make calls and pretend to be a bank or a business representative, who may ask for critical information such as employee data, bank details, or even about company's properties; and they can get away with it effortlessly. This is because attackers can easily hide their tracks with minimal risk of detection, and nowadays, VoIP hardware has become more accessible and less expensive.
If you think that cybercriminals have to be geniuses to make fraud calls or illegal transactions, the answer is NO. VoIP is easy to set up but difficult to track, meaning to say, cybercriminals can conveniently connect this equipment to their computers and smartphones to steal vital information. They only need to know the basics of a VoIP set up.
Also, fake numbers are difficult to track because they can be destroyed instantly. And with the feature of advanced voice-changing software, has been made available to the public nowadays, a vishing scam is much easier to pull off.
In some cases, attackers don't have to destroy a number to cover their tracks. Instead what they usually do is tampering with the caller ID. With this vicious scheme, they can trick users into thinking that they are having a conversation with some of the most legitimate business representative in the country, a Microsoft technical support staff, or even a fraud investigator.
Traditional phone lines are said to be very expensive, that is why scammers choose VoIP services to target victims all over the globe at a fraction of the cost. Other than traditional phones and email phishing scams, cybercriminals are resorting to VoIP due to its cost-efficiency. These people are very resourceful, and they will use all means to attack you and your family for profit.
These scenarios may happen to you and your loved ones since cybercriminals are very rampant today, especially with the advent of digital technologies. VoIP is very useful and offers a lot of advantages; it all depends on the people and how they intended to use it.
There are no effective ways on how to spot scammers, but the best thing you can do is to protect yourself. The first step is to set stringent policies on information-sharing and impose stricter security processes for all your business communications and other personal transactions. Or, if you detect one, you may get in touch with scam experts.
Businesses Agreed With The Conversion Of Plain Old Telephone Service Into VoIP
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I've been contributing news since 2010, both online and print. Aside from Z6Mag, I manage independent news blogs that provide awareness on a diverse list of topics to every reader.
AMCA Breach: 20 Million Victims, 19 Class Actions
[bctt tweet="AMCA previously reported that there were only 200,000 victims in the recent breach, but their partner labs said there were more than 20 million." username="Z6Mag"]
Al Restar
AMCA previously reported that there were only 200,000 victims in the recent breach but the company, but their partner labs said there were more than 20 million. Photo: cbgrfx123 | Flickr | CC BY-SA 2.0
More than 20 million and not 200,000 have fallen victim to a massive data breach that has seen medical clients using the services of healthcare billing company, American Medical Collection Agency (AMCA), to pay for their laboratory tests in different blood testing labs across the U.S. were confirmed by the SEC filings of affected medical institutions amidst the earlier claims of AMCA that there were fewer victims.
The data breach was a result of a cyber attack that aims to phish for financial information from the website of the AMCA. The exposed data belongs to Americans who paid laboratory services at several clinical and blood testing labs and institutions and used the AMCA billing portal.
What happened in the AMCA breach?
Data that were stolen from the victims include their names, phone numbers, dates of birth, home addresses, social security numbers, credit card numbers, and other bank details. The said information was auctioned off by the hacker in several financial hacking forums.
According to DataBreaches.net, the organization who first reported about the incident, AMCA officials, following the notification of the breach confirmed that their system has been compromised and has remained undetected for more than eight months. AMCA corroborated that the breach took place between August 1, 2018, and March 30, 2019.
Notifications have been sent by several of AMCA's corporate partners and clients to their customers following the disclosure of the security breach that has seen information from millions of Americans compromised.
Related: Hospitals Only Spend 5% Of Its Budget For Cybersecurity Amidst 82% Of Them Reporting To Have Been Attacked
The list of impacted testing laboratories includes Quest Diagnostics (11.9 million patients), LabCorp (7.7 million patients), BioReference Laboratories (Opko Health subsidiary, 422,600 patients), Carecentrix (500,000 patients), and Sunrise Laboratories (undisclosed number of patients).
However, neither the AMCA nor its five clients have yet to notify ALL impacted citizens by the breach making them vulnerable to a lot of cyber crimes and their financial data could be used by anyone who gets hold of the information against the persons of those who still don't know that their financial information is floating around the internet.
The companies involved in the breach are facing several lawsuits
Appropriately, the lawsuit came into the direction of AMCA, Quest, and LabCorp regarding the incident. More than 11 class-suite actions have been filed against the three companies for their inability to protect consumer data. The 11 lawsuits were recorded at The United States Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPML) on June 3. Since then, eight more lawsuits were filed against the companies in federal courts from New Jersey, New York, and California.
According to litigation experts, "If many cases are filed in federal court, any of the lawyers on any of those cases can file a motion with the JPML [..] to centralize the various federal cases that have been filed by sending all of them to a single judge for coordinated pre-trial proceedings."
"Healthcare companies are especially susceptible to data breaches not only because they aggregate a tremendous amount of important and sensitive data, but also because they tend to be less focused on cybersecurity protection than other industries," said John Yanchunis of Morgan and Morgan, one of the firms who filed lawsuits against Quest Diagnostics.
"These companies, like Quest Diagnostics, know they are at an increased risk and yet have not taken the proper steps to protect their patients' data. We will fight for justice on behalf of those impacted by this breach," added Yanchunis.
Lawmakers are demanding an explanation
The U.S. government, led by attorneys general from Connecticut and Illinois has also opened an investigation on the matter. Furthermore, lawmakers and other politicians have sent letters to the responding companies to ask for an explanation of why an eight-month data breach remained undetected and to demand accountability from them.
In Washington, US Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) also sent a letter to Quest Laboratories demanding the company explain its vetting process for selecting AMCA as a billing vendor, and what requirements a third-party vendor has to pass. Democratic New Jersey Sens. Cory Booker and Bob Menendez also sent letters to AMCA, Quest, and LabCorp, seeking official answers on how a breach of this severity went undetected for eight months.
"The months-long leak leaves sensitive personal and financial information vulnerable in the hands of criminal enterprises. Moreover, such breaches force victims to contend with identity theft that may lead to irreparable harm to their credit reports and financial future," said the letter sent by the NJ senators.
'The Hunger Games' Is Launching A Prequel And A Possible Movie
[bctt tweet="Suzanne Collins is releasing a prequel to The Hunger Games storyline and Lionsgate is already looking forward in turning it into a blockbuster movie" username="Z6Mag"]
Sean Louis Salazar
Source: Scholastic
Almost fours years after the last The Hunger Games movie (The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part II) and almost nine years after the first book from the trilogy was released, Suzanne Collins is returning with the famed trilogy  -  but this time in a form of a prequel.
Scholastic, the publishing company that distributed Collins' The Hunger Games trilogy, announced today that it is publishing a prequel novel to the series, currently untitled, which will hit shelves on May 19, 2020.
"Suzanne Collins is a master at combining brilliant storytelling, superb world-building, breathtaking suspense, and social commentary," Scholastic Trade Publishing President Ellie Berger said in a statement. "We are absolutely thrilled  -  as both readers and publishers  -  to introduce the devoted fans of the series and a new audience to an entirely new perspective on this modern classic."
Collins' original Hunger Games trilogy - The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, and Mockingjay - altogether, sold more than 100 million copies and has been translated into more than 50 languages. Moreover, The Hunger Games books appeared on the New York Times bestseller list for more than 260 consecutive weeks (more than five straight years).
After writing the last installment in 2010, Collins teased in 2013 that she was working on a new series, but did not say whether it was related to The Hunger Games.
This time, the novel will be set in the world of Panem, 64 years before the events of the original Hunger Games trilogy - the morning where Katniss Everdeen volunteered as a tribute on the 74th Hunger Games. Presumably, Katniss Everdeen played by Jeniffer Lawrence will not be involved in the upcoming novel.
Based on the previous novels in the series, 74 years before the main novels, the 13 Districts of Panem already tried to initiate a rebellion against the Capital. In the aftermath of the failed attempt, 12 Districts remained to leave District 13 to rubbles. The Hunger Games was a result and served as a reminder that all the other Districts should obediently comply with the Capital's rule.
The novel will take place 10 years after the first rebellion and will tell the story of Panem during the "Dark Days following a failed rebellion in Panem "With this book, I wanted to explore the state of nature, who we are, and what we perceive is required for our survival," Collins told the Associated Press in the announcement. "The reconstruction period 10 years after the war, commonly referred to as the Dark Days  -  as the country of Panem struggles back to its feet  -  provides fertile ground for characters to grapple with these questions and thereby define their views of humanity."
On other news, the Lionsgate film studio, who adapted The Hunger Games trilogy into movies, is already looking forward to the next addition to Collins' franchise given that it received praise and public attention for producing them.
"As the proud home of the Hunger Games movies, we can hardly wait for Suzanne's next book to be published," said Joe Drake, chairman of the Lionsgate Motion Picture Group, in a recent statement to the Associated Press. "We've been communicating with her during the writing process and we look forward to continuing to work closely with her on the movie."S
Lionsgate turned Collins' Hunger Games novels into a series of four films, dividing the last novel, Hunger Games: Mockingjay, into a two-part finale. Over the course of the four movies, it earned almost $3 billion dollars an the worldwide box office with the last movie earning $653.4 million.
Collins helped with the movies as an executive producer and a co-screenwriter on the first 2012 movie but distanced herself after she finalized Mockingjay in 2010.
Lionsgate is also known to have produced Twilight, which is one of their platinum franchises along with Collins' trilogy. The studio earlier licensed The Hunger Games to theme parks and live concert tours being built around the movie franchise.
Additionally, it starred Jenniffer Lawrence who played the main character as Katniss Everdeen in all of the four movies, which helped catapult her acting career in 2012.
Scholastic acquired world English rights to the prequel novel and it will publish in print, digital and audio formats in the US, Canada, the UK and Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand next year. The deal was negotiated by Rosemary Stimola of the Stimola Literary Studio for Suzanne Collins and David Levithan, VP, Publisher, and Editorial Director, for Scholastic.
Global Ice Melting At Rates Faster Than Expected
Photo by Sergey Kuznetsov on Unsplash
The global ice, or the size and number of glaciers located across cold spots around the world, is a clear indicator of the effects of global warming. With human's excessive and consistent use of o-zone depleting resources such as fossil fuels  -  the rate of global ice is melting will only keep accelerating.
The National Snow and Ice Data Center reported that based on data they have gathered since the1900s, glaciers around the globe are shrinking and melting at an alarming rate.
Arctic sea ice has been in constant general low over the years following the increasing trend of greenhouse gas. Additionally, as the frozen ground across the Arctic melts, it releases a massive amount of methane, a potent greenhouse gas. Scientists say that this effect could make global ice melt accelerate even faster.
A separate study found that parts of the Canadian Arctic are experiencing a rate of permafrost thaw six times the long-term average.
Meanwhile, melted ice is especially notable both in and around Greenland  -  home to the second largest ice sheet on the planet.
"Communities in #Greenland rely on the sea ice for transport, hunting, and fishing. Extreme events, here flooding of the ice by abrupt onset of surface melt call for increased predictive capacity in the Arctic," Steffen Olsen, a climate researcher at the Danish Meteorological Institute said in a tweet.
Olsen was referring to Greenland losing 2 billion metric tons of ice. "The high melt is unusual so early in the season but not unprecedented," Greenland Ice said in a tweet.
Experts are calling the lost ice "not normal" considering that it equates to almost half of Greenland. Roughly 45 percent of the ice sheet surface has been melting. Usually, less than 10 percent of the ice sheet surface is melting at this time of year. According to data from the National Snow and Ice Data Center, Wednesday set a daily record for the widest melt area on that date, with 275,000 square miles.
"I'm losing the ability to communicate the magnitude [of change]," Jeremy Mathis, a longtime Arctic researcher and a current board director at the National Academies of Sciences told Mashable. "I'm running out of adjectives to describe the scope of change we're seeing."
On other parts of the globe, a city in western Alaska is experiencing drastic changes to its land formations as the state's ice and permafrost are starting to thaw away.
"Springtime in Alaska isn't what it used to be. This is the 3rd time past 21 years we can say" warmest spring of record." 1998 was the warmest to date, exceeded in 2016 and now 2016 exceeded in 2019. Trend +4.0F (+2.2C) since the 1970s." Rick Thoman said in a tweet.
The continued ice and permafrost melting in Iceland are causing significant damages in terms of requiring towns and villages like Newtok in western Alaska to relocate to avoid dangers.
"It's a real challenge because in the US there isn't the precedence to deal with this and there isn't the political framework to deal with it either," said Susan Natali, a scientist and Arctic expert at the Woods Hole Research Center in Massachusetts. "The numbers needing relocation will grow, the costs are going up and people's lives and cultural practices will be impacted.
"Every year there's a new temperature record, it's getting worse and worse and you feel like a broken record saying it. This should be the number one urgent conversation happening right now because it's not just going to be Alaska, it's going to be other communities all over the US," Natali added.
The problem does not only persist in Greenland, the Arctic or Alaska. Global ice is melting all across the globe. "The famed snows of Kilimanjaro have melted more than 80 percent since 1912. Glaciers in the Garhwal Himalaya in India are retreating so fast that researchers believe that most central and eastern Himalayan glaciers could virtually disappear by 2035 [...] From the Arctic to Peru, from Switzerland to the equatorial glaciers of Man Jaya in Indonesia, massive ice fields, monstrous glaciers, and sea ice are disappearing, fast," the National Geographic reported.
This week, the Pope has talked to oil executives in the Vatican to find solutions in the growing problem of global warming. He called for a "radical energy transition" from conventional fossil fuels and develop greener energy alternatives.
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A Life of Prayer, Grace, and Community
Vocations and Membership
Professed Members: Men and Women (friars and sisters) who have bound themselves to the community through the vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, living in small communities, in hermitages, or with their families. Professed dedicate themselves to prayer from the Liturgy of the Hours twice daily, the Augustinian meditative study of scripture and theology each day, and a ministry of inclusive justice and communio. Membership is ecumenical and inclusive to anyone who has reached the age of 21 and is self sufficient regardless of orientation, marital status, or other considerations. All are welcome at our Table! Faculties for candidates who wish Holy Orders are provided by our Prior General/Bishop. Clerics from other Sacramental Churches are welcome to join with permission of their bishop. Professed have certain obligations to community functions, particularly the annual chapter each year in August.
Oblate Members: Men and women who feel called to the spirit of the Order and wish to share in our life of prayer and ministry, but who, for various reasons, do not feel able or called to vowed commitment. These brothers and sisters of ours make promises to live the spirit of the Rule in their life situation, promise to pray each day according to their custom, and share their lives in ministry of some kind. Oblates are always welcome, but are only obligated to participate in the Annual Chapter and Retreat in August, and in six (6) other community functions during the year. These functions can be in person during a community day or a community ministry, or they may participate via our weekly fellowship and prayer conference call.
Friar Joseph Augustine - Profession
Living a 4th Century Rule in the 21st Century
Members live on their own, in small communities, or with their family
Members live poverty within self-sufficiency and a spirit of shared resources as "tent making" friars
Celibacy is an option but not a requirement
Membership is open to all equally regardless of gender, marital status, or sexual orientation
For more information about vocations or oblation in the AIHM, please Click the Vocations Form in the menu to the right, or contact Fr. Thomas Gabriel Bradshaw below:
Fr. Thomas Gabriel Bradshaw
Vocations Director
Friary of the Annunciation
Vocations Form
Seminary Formation Program


" Hurricane Michael Could Be Strongest to Hit Panhandle | Main | Haley to Step Down as UN Ambassador "
S.C. Waiver Eases Evacuation of Farm Animals from Storms
Tuesday, October 9, 2018 at 6:30PM
COLUMBIA  -  For the second time in less than a month, South Carolina officials have issued a temporary waiver of certain requirements for farm animals being evacuated due to a hurricane.
The action was requested by agriculture officials in Florida, where Hurricane Michael is bearing down on the coast, said State Veterinarian Boyd Parr.
"In order to accommodate evacuations in advance of the hurricane, we are temporarily suspending some of the requirements governing the importation of agricultural animals into South Carolina as we did during Hurricane Florence," Parr said.
Parr directs Clemson University's Livestock-Poultry Health, a regulatory agency that oversees animal health issues.
To prevent the spread of animal disease, both state and federal regulations include requirements for interstate movement and identification of animals, such as horses, cattle, swine and goats. These regulations frequently require certification by veterinarians as to the health status of the animals being transported.
Parr's declaration waives many of those requirements. Specifically:
Horses being evacuated to South Carolina that have a current Coggins test will be admitted to the state without a Certificate of Veterinary Inspection (CVI). A current Coggins test chart should accompany these horses.
Horses being evacuated to South Carolina without a current Coggins test will be allowed entry into the state provided they will be allowed to return to their state of origin without a current Coggins or CVI after the evacuation is lifted.
All other animals being evacuated without a CVI will be temporarily admitted to South Carolina and also allowed to leave South Carolina provided the state to which they are destined also has waived their import requirements.
The order extends until Oct. 31 unless extended or rescinded.
South Carolina and states throughout the Southeast took similar action during Hurricane Florence in September. The waivers apply only to animals being evacuated from the hurricane.
Information for animal owners on emergency preparedness, response and recovery is posted on the LPH Emergency Preparedness, Response and Recovery page.


India's growing environmental crisis
A longstanding ALERT fan, Dr Shaju Thomas from the Tropical Institute of Ecological Sciences in India, weighs in here with worries about the future of India's environment:
Indian environments in peril (photo by William Laurance)
Environmental governance in India has evolved over the last 60 years, via a bevy of Acts, Rules, Bills, Ordinances, and other such legal measures. Despite growing pressures from various vested interests, these legal acts have clearly helped to save India's environment from even worse deterioration than it has so far suffered.
But the opening up of India to global market forces in the 1990s, and the policies that accompanied it, have created severe challenges for the environment.
A striking example is the appointment of a High Level Committee (HLC) in 2014 by the Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change. The HLC was charged with reviewing major environmental laws in the country, including:
- The Environment Protection Act, 1986
- The Forest Conservation Act, 1980
- The Wildlife Protection Act, 1972
- The Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974
- The Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981
- The Indian Forests Act, 1927
The HLC submitted its report in November 2014 -- without giving enough time for public discourse.
The biggest problem with the report that it oversteps its mandate. The HLC wants to get rid of time-consuming procedures for approval of development projects. It wants to introduce "speed" in project approvals, which it says are the "engines of the nation's growth".
Further, the HLC is proposing an "Environment Law (Management) Act", as well as more centralized federal and state environmental authorities, which can be more easily controlled. And the HLC's report has no provision at all to deal with climate change and related issues.
These are all dangerous developments. The HLC report is a deliberate attempt to derail the legal and policy framework that has evolved over time to protect India's environment.
Indians need to stand up and be heard. If its recommendations are adopted, the HLC report will pose great perils for India's environmental future.
High Level Committee, India, environmental protection, governance, Ministry of Forestry, Shaju Thomas, globalization