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<p>When explaining her decision to reevaluate Title IX guidelines as they pertain to sexual assault on college campuses, Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/betsy-devos-overhaul-obama-era-guidance-campus-sex-assault-n799471" type="external">said</a>: “Every survivor of sexual misconduct must be taken seriously. Every student accused of sexual misconduct must know that guilt is not predetermined.”</p>
<p>The Obama administration’s changes to Title IX have been <a href="" type="internal">criticized</a> for, among other things, substantially lowering the burden of proof as it pertains to sexual assault, as well as denying elements of due process to the accused.</p>
<p>However, many progressives are lashing out at DeVos because they hate her, and also rape culture and stuff.</p>
<p>Perhaps the most grotesque attack came when Rob Ranco, a Texas attorney, tweeted Friday that “I'm not wishing for it … but I'd be ok if #BetsyDevos was sexually assaulted. #Sexual Assault #TitleIX.”</p>
<p><a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/sep/9/rob-ranco-texas-lawyer-says-he-would-be-ok-if-bets/" type="external">The Washington Times</a> reports that in several other tweets (condensed for this publication), Ranco wrote: “Perhaps Betsy doesn’t understand how horrible rape is. She’s made the world more dangerous for my daughters. I need her to understand,” and “Make the world more dangerous for my daughters — intentionally — and your well being is not my concern. Full stop.”</p>
<p>Ranco's additional tweets don't make his first one any less vile.</p>
<p>In the wake of the overwhelming negative response, Ranco locked his Twitter profile, then <a href="https://www.redstate.com/brandon_morse/2017/09/09/cowardly-austin-lawyer-wished-sexual-assault-betsy-devos-locked-twitter-account/" type="external">deleted</a> it.</p>
<p>Many on social media are calling for the attorney to be fired from The Carlson Law Firm, where he is a partner, or even disbarred:</p>
<p><a href="https://twitter.com/PrisonPlanet" type="external">@PrisonPlanet</a> I'm wishing for it... but I'd be ok if <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/RobRanco?src=hash" type="external">#RobRanco</a> was disbarred.</p>
<p>As of this publication, the law firm’s Twitter account has also been locked, though Ranco is still listed on the official website’s “ <a href="https://www.carlsonattorneys.com/team-member/robert-ranco/" type="external">Team</a>” section.</p>
<p>A <a href="https://www.change.org/p/texas-bar-association-removal-of-law-license-for-misogynistic-tweet-of-approval-of-sexual-assault-on-woman?recruiter=778517695&amp;utm_source=share_petition&amp;utm_medium=twitter&amp;utm_campaign=share_twitter_responsive" type="external">petition</a>, which currently boasts nearly 2,200 signatures, has also been started in an effort to get the attorney disbarred.</p> | After DeVos Announced Plans To Reexamine Title IX, Texas Attorney Tweets He Would 'Be Ok If [She] Was Sexually Assaulted' | true | https://dailywire.com/news/20858/after-devos-announced-plans-reexamine-title-ix-frank-camp | 2017-09-10 | 0right
| After DeVos Announced Plans To Reexamine Title IX, Texas Attorney Tweets He Would 'Be Ok If [She] Was Sexually Assaulted'
<p>When explaining her decision to reevaluate Title IX guidelines as they pertain to sexual assault on college campuses, Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/betsy-devos-overhaul-obama-era-guidance-campus-sex-assault-n799471" type="external">said</a>: “Every survivor of sexual misconduct must be taken seriously. Every student accused of sexual misconduct must know that guilt is not predetermined.”</p>
<p>The Obama administration’s changes to Title IX have been <a href="" type="internal">criticized</a> for, among other things, substantially lowering the burden of proof as it pertains to sexual assault, as well as denying elements of due process to the accused.</p>
<p>However, many progressives are lashing out at DeVos because they hate her, and also rape culture and stuff.</p>
<p>Perhaps the most grotesque attack came when Rob Ranco, a Texas attorney, tweeted Friday that “I'm not wishing for it … but I'd be ok if #BetsyDevos was sexually assaulted. #Sexual Assault #TitleIX.”</p>
<p><a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/sep/9/rob-ranco-texas-lawyer-says-he-would-be-ok-if-bets/" type="external">The Washington Times</a> reports that in several other tweets (condensed for this publication), Ranco wrote: “Perhaps Betsy doesn’t understand how horrible rape is. She’s made the world more dangerous for my daughters. I need her to understand,” and “Make the world more dangerous for my daughters — intentionally — and your well being is not my concern. Full stop.”</p>
<p>Ranco's additional tweets don't make his first one any less vile.</p>
<p>In the wake of the overwhelming negative response, Ranco locked his Twitter profile, then <a href="https://www.redstate.com/brandon_morse/2017/09/09/cowardly-austin-lawyer-wished-sexual-assault-betsy-devos-locked-twitter-account/" type="external">deleted</a> it.</p>
<p>Many on social media are calling for the attorney to be fired from The Carlson Law Firm, where he is a partner, or even disbarred:</p>
<p><a href="https://twitter.com/PrisonPlanet" type="external">@PrisonPlanet</a> I'm wishing for it... but I'd be ok if <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/RobRanco?src=hash" type="external">#RobRanco</a> was disbarred.</p>
<p>As of this publication, the law firm’s Twitter account has also been locked, though Ranco is still listed on the official website’s “ <a href="https://www.carlsonattorneys.com/team-member/robert-ranco/" type="external">Team</a>” section.</p>
<p>A <a href="https://www.change.org/p/texas-bar-association-removal-of-law-license-for-misogynistic-tweet-of-approval-of-sexual-assault-on-woman?recruiter=778517695&amp;utm_source=share_petition&amp;utm_medium=twitter&amp;utm_campaign=share_twitter_responsive" type="external">petition</a>, which currently boasts nearly 2,200 signatures, has also been started in an effort to get the attorney disbarred.</p> | 0 |
<p>A Florida university will honor Trayvon Martin with a posthumous Bachelor of Science Degree in Aviation at a May 13 commencement ceremony. The degree will be accepted by his parents, Tracy Martin and Sabrina Fulton.</p>
<p>Seventeen-year-old Martin was killed in February of 2012 by former neighborhood watch captain George Zimmerman, who is Hispanic, in self-defense. After a long, racially-charged public debate and court trial, Zimmerman was completely exonerated in July of 2013.</p>
<p>Florida Memorial University officially <a href="https://www.facebook.com/FLMemorialUniv/" type="external">announced</a>the posthumous degree via Facebook on Wednesday.</p>
<p>"The University will confer upon TRAYVON MARTIN a posthumous degree in Aeronautical Science with a concentration in Flight Education, in honor of the steps he took during his young life toward becoming a pilot," says the Facebook post. "This particular Bachelor’s degree is designated for those studying to be pilots. Martin’s parents, both social justice activists and co-founders of The Trayvon Martin Foundation ... will accept the degree on behalf of their son."</p>
<p>“Of special significance is awarding posthumously the Bachelor of Science Degree in Aviation to Trayvon Martin. Sybrina, our alum, epitomizes strength and dignity as she uplifts other victims of violence while effecting change for a more equal and just society," said Florida Memorial University President Dr. Roslyn Clark Artis.</p>
<p>Additionally, the school will host a post-commencement fundraiser which will partly support The Trayvon Martin Foundation.</p> | University To Award Trayvon Martin With Posthumous Degree In Aviation | true | https://dailywire.com/news/16103/university-award-trayvon-martin-posthumous-degree-amanda-prestigiacomo | 2017-05-05 | 0right
| University To Award Trayvon Martin With Posthumous Degree In Aviation
<p>A Florida university will honor Trayvon Martin with a posthumous Bachelor of Science Degree in Aviation at a May 13 commencement ceremony. The degree will be accepted by his parents, Tracy Martin and Sabrina Fulton.</p>
<p>Seventeen-year-old Martin was killed in February of 2012 by former neighborhood watch captain George Zimmerman, who is Hispanic, in self-defense. After a long, racially-charged public debate and court trial, Zimmerman was completely exonerated in July of 2013.</p>
<p>Florida Memorial University officially <a href="https://www.facebook.com/FLMemorialUniv/" type="external">announced</a>the posthumous degree via Facebook on Wednesday.</p>
<p>"The University will confer upon TRAYVON MARTIN a posthumous degree in Aeronautical Science with a concentration in Flight Education, in honor of the steps he took during his young life toward becoming a pilot," says the Facebook post. "This particular Bachelor’s degree is designated for those studying to be pilots. Martin’s parents, both social justice activists and co-founders of The Trayvon Martin Foundation ... will accept the degree on behalf of their son."</p>
<p>“Of special significance is awarding posthumously the Bachelor of Science Degree in Aviation to Trayvon Martin. Sybrina, our alum, epitomizes strength and dignity as she uplifts other victims of violence while effecting change for a more equal and just society," said Florida Memorial University President Dr. Roslyn Clark Artis.</p>
<p>Additionally, the school will host a post-commencement fundraiser which will partly support The Trayvon Martin Foundation.</p> | 1 |
<p>Nov. 15 (UPI) — Texas State University has suspended all Greek life activity on campus after a pledge died after attending an event hosted by a university fraternity.</p>
<p>Police officers found Matthew Ellis, a 20-year-old Phi Kappa Psi pledge, dead on Monday after they responded to an off-campus call. Ellis attended a Greek life event on Sunday hosted by fraternity members, but it is unclear if the event was hosted by one fraternity or multiple fraternities.</p>
<p>Although an autopsy has been ordered, <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/hazing-in-america/texas-state-university-suspends-greek-life-activity-after-frat-pledge-n820946" type="external">a preliminary investigation suggested alcohol poisoning</a> as a factor in the student’s death.</p>
<p>Phi Kappa Psi Executive Director Mark Guidi said that the organization is “heartbroken.”</p>
<p>“Our thoughts and prayers are with his family, friends and the entire TSU student body during this difficult time,” Giudi said.</p>
<p>Texas State University President Denise M. Trauth <a href="http://www.txstate.edu/news/news_releases/news_archive/2017/November-2017/Greeks111417.html" type="external">released a statement</a> announcing the suspension of Greek life activity on campus.</p>
<p>“I am deeply saddened by the tragic death of one of our students who attended an off-campus social event on Sunday evening hosted by members of a university fraternity,” Trauth said.</p>
<p>“As a result of this tragedy, I have suspended activities of all Greek fraternity and sorority chapters at Texas State. These chapters are prohibited from holding new-member events, chapter meetings, social functions, and philanthropic activities until a thorough review of the Greek Affairs system is completed.”</p>
<p>Trauth also said Vice President for Student Affairs Dr. Joanne Smith would “immediately initiate this review” and would “propose recommendations” for the Greek chapters to show their “commitment to the core values of Texas State.”</p>
<p>“It is imperative that our entire university community develop a culture that places the highest priority on the safety of its students, faculty, and staff.”</p> | Texas State University suspends Greek life after student death | false | https://newsline.com/texas-state-university-suspends-greek-life-after-student-death/ | 2017-11-15 | 1right-center
| Texas State University suspends Greek life after student death
<p>Nov. 15 (UPI) — Texas State University has suspended all Greek life activity on campus after a pledge died after attending an event hosted by a university fraternity.</p>
<p>Police officers found Matthew Ellis, a 20-year-old Phi Kappa Psi pledge, dead on Monday after they responded to an off-campus call. Ellis attended a Greek life event on Sunday hosted by fraternity members, but it is unclear if the event was hosted by one fraternity or multiple fraternities.</p>
<p>Although an autopsy has been ordered, <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/hazing-in-america/texas-state-university-suspends-greek-life-activity-after-frat-pledge-n820946" type="external">a preliminary investigation suggested alcohol poisoning</a> as a factor in the student’s death.</p>
<p>Phi Kappa Psi Executive Director Mark Guidi said that the organization is “heartbroken.”</p>
<p>“Our thoughts and prayers are with his family, friends and the entire TSU student body during this difficult time,” Giudi said.</p>
<p>Texas State University President Denise M. Trauth <a href="http://www.txstate.edu/news/news_releases/news_archive/2017/November-2017/Greeks111417.html" type="external">released a statement</a> announcing the suspension of Greek life activity on campus.</p>
<p>“I am deeply saddened by the tragic death of one of our students who attended an off-campus social event on Sunday evening hosted by members of a university fraternity,” Trauth said.</p>
<p>“As a result of this tragedy, I have suspended activities of all Greek fraternity and sorority chapters at Texas State. These chapters are prohibited from holding new-member events, chapter meetings, social functions, and philanthropic activities until a thorough review of the Greek Affairs system is completed.”</p>
<p>Trauth also said Vice President for Student Affairs Dr. Joanne Smith would “immediately initiate this review” and would “propose recommendations” for the Greek chapters to show their “commitment to the core values of Texas State.”</p>
<p>“It is imperative that our entire university community develop a culture that places the highest priority on the safety of its students, faculty, and staff.”</p> | 2 |
<p>Against the backdrop of an increasingly polarized political landscape, one organization is issuing a clarion call for collective unity and understanding. On Tuesday, Acheinu, a Jewish missionary group working to draw Jews closer to the traditional core of Judaism, is holding a <a href="http://dayofjewishunity.com/" type="external">Day of Jewish Unity</a> to consolidate the disparate voices of the diaspora in a seven-hour period (7 am- 2pm) of sober reflection.</p>
<p />
<p>“Orchestrated by the Acheinu organization, the Day of Jewish Unity was born: a revolutionary initiative designed to unify all Jewish people from around the world in a day of prayer on behalf of the current -and cautioning – state of affairs, both nationally and internationally,” explains the event’s webpage.</p>
<p>Under the hashtag #DayofJewishUnity, Acheinu is working to mobilize one million Jews of varied ideological orientations from around the world to take a step back and reexamine the often petty and disorienting political divisions that divide us. The event is open to people of all faiths, but Acheinu is specifically marketing its message to Jews, many of whom have felt marginalized or overshadowed by the forceful social currents of grievance-based identity politics.</p>
<p>Watch Acheinu’s promotional video below:</p>
<p><a href="https://vimeo.com/182868992" type="external">Will the character assassination ever stop...</a> from <a href="https://vimeo.com/dayofjewishunity" type="external">Day of Jewish Unity</a> on <a href="https://vimeo.com" type="external">Vimeo</a>.</p>
<p>In previous years, the annual Day of Jewish Unity has galvanized hundreds of thousands of people from Jerusalem to New York City, thanks to Acheinu’s powerful videos and promotional material. In fact, the organization drew a record-setting 500,000 participants in the 2015 event. This year, they plan on doubling that.</p>
<p>As Americans, and quite frankly, people across the world, set to watch what will likely be one of the most cynical and rancorous debates in modern history on Monday night, it’s worth remembering that tribalism and partisanship don’t have to define us.</p>
<p>“There is no civility in politics anymore. Our politicians cannot get anything passed because of so much animosity,” notes the event’s webpage. adding:</p>
<p>We need to have bipartisan decency and respect for our counterparts. There once was a time when members of Congress would call their colleagues from the other side of the aisle their "friends." This year, the Presidential candidates didn't even congratulate each other after they won their respective races.</p>
<p>Purposely scheduled less than 24 hours after the Clinton-Trump showdown, the Day of Jewish Unity is designed to counter the scourge of bitter political division infecting public discourse.</p>
<p>If you’re feeling jaded after Monday’s debate, then there may be an outlet or perhaps even a way to reinstate your faith in humanity. To partake in Tuesday’s Day of Jewish Unity, Acheinu is asking event participants to do two simple things:</p>
<p>Recite two chapters of Psalms</p>
<p>Refrain from speaking gossip and harmful speech</p>
<p>For more information about the event, see <a href="http://dayofjewishunity.com/" type="external">here</a>.</p> | Jewish Organization's Huge Day Of Unity On Tuesday | true | https://dailywire.com/node/9485 | 2016-09-26 | 0right
| Jewish Organization's Huge Day Of Unity On Tuesday
<p>Against the backdrop of an increasingly polarized political landscape, one organization is issuing a clarion call for collective unity and understanding. On Tuesday, Acheinu, a Jewish missionary group working to draw Jews closer to the traditional core of Judaism, is holding a <a href="http://dayofjewishunity.com/" type="external">Day of Jewish Unity</a> to consolidate the disparate voices of the diaspora in a seven-hour period (7 am- 2pm) of sober reflection.</p>
<p />
<p>“Orchestrated by the Acheinu organization, the Day of Jewish Unity was born: a revolutionary initiative designed to unify all Jewish people from around the world in a day of prayer on behalf of the current -and cautioning – state of affairs, both nationally and internationally,” explains the event’s webpage.</p>
<p>Under the hashtag #DayofJewishUnity, Acheinu is working to mobilize one million Jews of varied ideological orientations from around the world to take a step back and reexamine the often petty and disorienting political divisions that divide us. The event is open to people of all faiths, but Acheinu is specifically marketing its message to Jews, many of whom have felt marginalized or overshadowed by the forceful social currents of grievance-based identity politics.</p>
<p>Watch Acheinu’s promotional video below:</p>
<p><a href="https://vimeo.com/182868992" type="external">Will the character assassination ever stop...</a> from <a href="https://vimeo.com/dayofjewishunity" type="external">Day of Jewish Unity</a> on <a href="https://vimeo.com" type="external">Vimeo</a>.</p>
<p>In previous years, the annual Day of Jewish Unity has galvanized hundreds of thousands of people from Jerusalem to New York City, thanks to Acheinu’s powerful videos and promotional material. In fact, the organization drew a record-setting 500,000 participants in the 2015 event. This year, they plan on doubling that.</p>
<p>As Americans, and quite frankly, people across the world, set to watch what will likely be one of the most cynical and rancorous debates in modern history on Monday night, it’s worth remembering that tribalism and partisanship don’t have to define us.</p>
<p>“There is no civility in politics anymore. Our politicians cannot get anything passed because of so much animosity,” notes the event’s webpage. adding:</p>
<p>We need to have bipartisan decency and respect for our counterparts. There once was a time when members of Congress would call their colleagues from the other side of the aisle their "friends." This year, the Presidential candidates didn't even congratulate each other after they won their respective races.</p>
<p>Purposely scheduled less than 24 hours after the Clinton-Trump showdown, the Day of Jewish Unity is designed to counter the scourge of bitter political division infecting public discourse.</p>
<p>If you’re feeling jaded after Monday’s debate, then there may be an outlet or perhaps even a way to reinstate your faith in humanity. To partake in Tuesday’s Day of Jewish Unity, Acheinu is asking event participants to do two simple things:</p>
<p>Recite two chapters of Psalms</p>
<p>Refrain from speaking gossip and harmful speech</p>
<p>For more information about the event, see <a href="http://dayofjewishunity.com/" type="external">here</a>.</p> | 3 |
<p>President-elect Donald Trump has reached an agreement with United Technologies (UTC) to keep 1,000 Carrier jobs in the state of Indiana, according to CNBC. Both Trump's transition and Carrier have confirmed that a deal has indeed been struck.</p>
<p>BREAKING: Trump team and United Technologies reach agreement on keeping close to 1,000 factory jobs in Carrier plant in Indiana - sources</p>
<p>We are pleased to have reached a deal with President-elect Trump &amp; VP-elect Pence to keep close to 1,000 jobs in Indy. More details soon.</p>
<p>The company had planned on moving thousands of jobs to Mexico, to the chagrin of workers and labor groups. On Thanksgiving Day, Trump said via Twitter that he was “working hard” to “get Carrier A.C. company to stay in the U.S. (Indiana).” After days of negotiation with Carrier, he seems to have succeeded in keeping his campaign promise.</p>
<p>I am working hard, even on Thanksgiving, trying to get Carrier A.C. Company to stay in the U.S. (Indiana). MAKING PROGRESS - Will know soon!</p>
<p>Manufacturing jobs have been increasingly exported to foreign countries, including China and Mexico over the last few decades. Hundreds of thousands of blue collar workers have been laid off as a result. American manufacturers say, however, that in order to stay competitive in the global economy they need to keep costs low. The most efficient way to do that is to hire cheap foreign labor. Carrier Corp was looking to follow this formula to keep profit margins in the green.</p>
<p>“The jobs at Carrier Corp. are on the way to Mexico because the company concluded that it could not stay competitive and reward its shareholders unless it took advantage of lower production costs south of the border,” <a href="http://www.courant.com/business/hc-trump-carrier-20161128-story.html" type="external">reports</a> CNBC. “Things are as simple as that…”</p>
<p>But Trump (or Mike Pence, who is still the governor of Indiana) managed to work his magic and convince Carrier’s parent company, UTC, to keep 1,000 jobs in Indiana where manufacturing jobs have been hemorrhaging for decades.</p>
<p>Promising a combination of tax relief and regulation easing, Trump made an offer UTC couldn’t refuse. Left-wing economic populists like Bernie Sanders pushed Trump to make Carrier stay in the United States, suggesting that it was something the Trumpian right and labor left could agree on. Rather than incentivizing the conglomerate, Sanders and his allies were looking to use UTC’s multi-billionaire business relationship with the Pentagon as leverage. While Trump had promised to deploy similarly coercive tactics, such as high tariffs and penalties on companies that ship jobs abroad, he ultimately took a free market approach to the problem.</p>
<p>During the presidential campaign, Trump called out Carrier by name and used the air conditioning company as an example of the worker unfriendly economic environment the United States has become.</p>
<p>“From the earliest days of his campaign, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/topic/person/donald-trump?inline=nyt-per" type="external">Donald J. Trump</a> made keeping manufacturing jobs in the United States his signature economic issue, and the decision by Carrier, the big air-conditioner company, to move 2,000 of them from Indiana to Mexico was a tailor-made talking point for him on the stump,” <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/29/business/trump-to-announce-carrier-plant-will-keep-jobs-in-us.html?smid=tw-share" type="external">explains</a> The New York Times.</p>
<p>Championing a populist economic message, Trump vowed to keep more jobs here in the United States. While technology will likely continue replacing manufacturing jobs at a much faster rate than foreign labor ever could, the billionaire businessman’s Carrier deal is a symbolic victory for the “America first” Trump movement.</p>
<p>Without a doubt, it’s a good way to start a presidency. However, there’s only so much the federal government can do to alleviate the economic hardship of the Rust Belt, America’s manufacturing heartland. The steamboat of globalization and technological innovation cannot be tamed, let alone reversed. In short, there won’t be a manufacturing renaissance. That’s a pipe dream.</p>
<p>Nonetheless, it looks like Trump came through this time around.</p>
<p>Trump and future vice-president/current Indiana governor. Mike Pence plan on holding a event at the Carrier plant in Indiana on Thursday.</p> | BREAKING: Trump Reaches Agreement To Keep 1,000 Carrier Jobs In Indiana, Keeping Major Campaign Promise | true | https://dailywire.com/news/11184/breaking-trump-reaches-agreement-united-joshua-yasmeh | 2016-11-29 | 0right
| BREAKING: Trump Reaches Agreement To Keep 1,000 Carrier Jobs In Indiana, Keeping Major Campaign Promise
<p>President-elect Donald Trump has reached an agreement with United Technologies (UTC) to keep 1,000 Carrier jobs in the state of Indiana, according to CNBC. Both Trump's transition and Carrier have confirmed that a deal has indeed been struck.</p>
<p>BREAKING: Trump team and United Technologies reach agreement on keeping close to 1,000 factory jobs in Carrier plant in Indiana - sources</p>
<p>We are pleased to have reached a deal with President-elect Trump &amp; VP-elect Pence to keep close to 1,000 jobs in Indy. More details soon.</p>
<p>The company had planned on moving thousands of jobs to Mexico, to the chagrin of workers and labor groups. On Thanksgiving Day, Trump said via Twitter that he was “working hard” to “get Carrier A.C. company to stay in the U.S. (Indiana).” After days of negotiation with Carrier, he seems to have succeeded in keeping his campaign promise.</p>
<p>I am working hard, even on Thanksgiving, trying to get Carrier A.C. Company to stay in the U.S. (Indiana). MAKING PROGRESS - Will know soon!</p>
<p>Manufacturing jobs have been increasingly exported to foreign countries, including China and Mexico over the last few decades. Hundreds of thousands of blue collar workers have been laid off as a result. American manufacturers say, however, that in order to stay competitive in the global economy they need to keep costs low. The most efficient way to do that is to hire cheap foreign labor. Carrier Corp was looking to follow this formula to keep profit margins in the green.</p>
<p>“The jobs at Carrier Corp. are on the way to Mexico because the company concluded that it could not stay competitive and reward its shareholders unless it took advantage of lower production costs south of the border,” <a href="http://www.courant.com/business/hc-trump-carrier-20161128-story.html" type="external">reports</a> CNBC. “Things are as simple as that…”</p>
<p>But Trump (or Mike Pence, who is still the governor of Indiana) managed to work his magic and convince Carrier’s parent company, UTC, to keep 1,000 jobs in Indiana where manufacturing jobs have been hemorrhaging for decades.</p>
<p>Promising a combination of tax relief and regulation easing, Trump made an offer UTC couldn’t refuse. Left-wing economic populists like Bernie Sanders pushed Trump to make Carrier stay in the United States, suggesting that it was something the Trumpian right and labor left could agree on. Rather than incentivizing the conglomerate, Sanders and his allies were looking to use UTC’s multi-billionaire business relationship with the Pentagon as leverage. While Trump had promised to deploy similarly coercive tactics, such as high tariffs and penalties on companies that ship jobs abroad, he ultimately took a free market approach to the problem.</p>
<p>During the presidential campaign, Trump called out Carrier by name and used the air conditioning company as an example of the worker unfriendly economic environment the United States has become.</p>
<p>“From the earliest days of his campaign, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/topic/person/donald-trump?inline=nyt-per" type="external">Donald J. Trump</a> made keeping manufacturing jobs in the United States his signature economic issue, and the decision by Carrier, the big air-conditioner company, to move 2,000 of them from Indiana to Mexico was a tailor-made talking point for him on the stump,” <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/29/business/trump-to-announce-carrier-plant-will-keep-jobs-in-us.html?smid=tw-share" type="external">explains</a> The New York Times.</p>
<p>Championing a populist economic message, Trump vowed to keep more jobs here in the United States. While technology will likely continue replacing manufacturing jobs at a much faster rate than foreign labor ever could, the billionaire businessman’s Carrier deal is a symbolic victory for the “America first” Trump movement.</p>
<p>Without a doubt, it’s a good way to start a presidency. However, there’s only so much the federal government can do to alleviate the economic hardship of the Rust Belt, America’s manufacturing heartland. The steamboat of globalization and technological innovation cannot be tamed, let alone reversed. In short, there won’t be a manufacturing renaissance. That’s a pipe dream.</p>
<p>Nonetheless, it looks like Trump came through this time around.</p>
<p>Trump and future vice-president/current Indiana governor. Mike Pence plan on holding a event at the Carrier plant in Indiana on Thursday.</p> | 4 |
<p>LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) _ The winning numbers in Tuesday evening’s drawing of the “2 By 2” game were:</p>
<p>Red Balls: 9-21, White Balls: 10-19</p>
<p>(Red Balls: nine, twenty-one; White Balls: ten, nineteen)</p>
<p>Estimated jackpot: $22,000</p>
<p>¶ Top Prize $22,000.</p>
<p>LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) _ The winning numbers in Tuesday evening’s drawing of the “2 By 2” game were:</p>
<p>Red Balls: 9-21, White Balls: 10-19</p>
<p>(Red Balls: nine, twenty-one; White Balls: ten, nineteen)</p>
<p>Estimated jackpot: $22,000</p>
<p>¶ Top Prize $22,000.</p> | Winning numbers drawn in ‘2 By 2’ game | false | https://apnews.com/46135a1ed45145fb82f654644df47863 | 2017-12-27 | 2least
| Winning numbers drawn in ‘2 By 2’ game
<p>LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) _ The winning numbers in Tuesday evening’s drawing of the “2 By 2” game were:</p>
<p>Red Balls: 9-21, White Balls: 10-19</p>
<p>(Red Balls: nine, twenty-one; White Balls: ten, nineteen)</p>
<p>Estimated jackpot: $22,000</p>
<p>¶ Top Prize $22,000.</p>
<p>LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) _ The winning numbers in Tuesday evening’s drawing of the “2 By 2” game were:</p>
<p>Red Balls: 9-21, White Balls: 10-19</p>
<p>(Red Balls: nine, twenty-one; White Balls: ten, nineteen)</p>
<p>Estimated jackpot: $22,000</p>
<p>¶ Top Prize $22,000.</p> | 5 |
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said Friday after markets closed that it expects costs per person for Medicare Advantage plans to fall more than 2 percent in 2014, a bigger drop than many analysts who cover the industry anticipated.</p>
<p>The government uses this figure as a benchmark to determine payments for these privately run versions of the government’s Medicare program that covers the elderly and disabled people, and analysts worry that this might lead to big payment cuts.</p>
<p>More than 13 million people were enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans last year including 89,270 in New Mexico, or about 27 percent of the Medicare population, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. New Mexico’s Medicare population is 330,000.</p>
<p>Medicare Advantage plans could see payment reductions topping 5 percent, considering they also face cuts from the health-care overhaul and from the steep federal budget cuts known as sequestration that are slated to start next month. Plus, their profits also are expected to be pressured by a premium tax imposed to help fund the overhaul, which aims to cover millions of uninsured people.</p>
<p>“There’s no way around it. The proposed Medicare Advantage rates for 2014 are really, really bad,” Citi analyst Carl McDonald said in a research note, adding that big cuts could wipe out smaller competitors and leave customers with less choice.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Medicare Advantage plans have become a key source of growth for insurers. UnitedHealth Group Inc. and Humana Inc. are the two largest providers of the plans.</p>
<p>While the CMS announcement on Friday may have scared some investors, it doesn’t guarantee that customers are doomed to premium hikes or skimpier benefits in 2014 because insurers have had to slash costs. CMS will announce final rates in April, and analysts say the government likely will find ways soften the blow.</p>
<p>The government needs Medicare Advantage plans to help cut costs and reform health care, said Dan Mendelson, president of Avalere Health.</p>
<p>Among insurers, Humana’s stock fell more than 6 percent, or $5.04, to about $72.95 in Tuesday trading, and UnitedHealth shares dropped 66 cents to $56.66, while broader trading indexes climbed slightly.</p>
<p>Journal staff contributed to this report.</p> | Health insurance stocks slump in face of potential steep cuts in 2014 in Medicare Advantage payments | false | https://abqjournal.com/170683/health-insurance-stocks-slump-in-face-of-potential-steep-cuts-in-2014-in-medicare-advantage-payments.html | 2least
| Health insurance stocks slump in face of potential steep cuts in 2014 in Medicare Advantage payments
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said Friday after markets closed that it expects costs per person for Medicare Advantage plans to fall more than 2 percent in 2014, a bigger drop than many analysts who cover the industry anticipated.</p>
<p>The government uses this figure as a benchmark to determine payments for these privately run versions of the government’s Medicare program that covers the elderly and disabled people, and analysts worry that this might lead to big payment cuts.</p>
<p>More than 13 million people were enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans last year including 89,270 in New Mexico, or about 27 percent of the Medicare population, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. New Mexico’s Medicare population is 330,000.</p>
<p>Medicare Advantage plans could see payment reductions topping 5 percent, considering they also face cuts from the health-care overhaul and from the steep federal budget cuts known as sequestration that are slated to start next month. Plus, their profits also are expected to be pressured by a premium tax imposed to help fund the overhaul, which aims to cover millions of uninsured people.</p>
<p>“There’s no way around it. The proposed Medicare Advantage rates for 2014 are really, really bad,” Citi analyst Carl McDonald said in a research note, adding that big cuts could wipe out smaller competitors and leave customers with less choice.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Medicare Advantage plans have become a key source of growth for insurers. UnitedHealth Group Inc. and Humana Inc. are the two largest providers of the plans.</p>
<p>While the CMS announcement on Friday may have scared some investors, it doesn’t guarantee that customers are doomed to premium hikes or skimpier benefits in 2014 because insurers have had to slash costs. CMS will announce final rates in April, and analysts say the government likely will find ways soften the blow.</p>
<p>The government needs Medicare Advantage plans to help cut costs and reform health care, said Dan Mendelson, president of Avalere Health.</p>
<p>Among insurers, Humana’s stock fell more than 6 percent, or $5.04, to about $72.95 in Tuesday trading, and UnitedHealth shares dropped 66 cents to $56.66, while broader trading indexes climbed slightly.</p>
<p>Journal staff contributed to this report.</p> | 6 |
|
<p>WASHINGTON&#160;(RNS) — One group of Christians confidently proclaims that a plain reading of the Bible is a slam-dunk in their favor. The other side appeals to Scripture’s grand narrative toward freedom and inclusive love.</p>
<p>The argument boils over and ripples through the wider culture.</p>
<p>The search for middle ground proves futile. Denominations break apart.</p>
<p>Sound familiar? It could be 2010 — or the mid-19th century.</p>
<p />
<p>As churches and denominations in the United States slog through divisive and long-running arguments over homosexuality, many Protestant progressives have sought to claim the historical and moral high ground by aligning their cause with abolitionism.</p>
<p>“I think almost everybody who makes the liberal argument about homosexuality makes the connection with abolition and slavery,” said Jeffrey Krehbiel, a Washington, D.C., pastor in the Presbyterian Church (USA) who supports gay rights.</p>
<p>Abolitionists, he said, “were the first to make the argument that the plain reading of the text maybe isn’t the most fruitful way to read the Bible.”</p>
<p>But while there are striking parallels between the slavery and homosexuality debates, historians caution that important differences emerge upon close examination.</p>
<p>In both eras, cultural trends forced Christians to question practices that long had been taken for granted, said Mark Noll, a professor of American religious history at the University of Notre Dame and author of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0807830127?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=wwwbaptiststa-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=9325&amp;creativeASIN=0807830127" type="external">The Civil War as a Theological Crisis</a>.</p>
<p>Likewise, the Bible, and how to interpret it, has played a central role both then and now, Noll said.</p>
<p>In the 19th century, even some Northern abolitionists concluded the Bible condoned slavery.</p>
<p>Many, therefore, sought other sources of morality and methods of biblical interpretation; conservatives countered that such appeals undermined the power of the sacred text.</p>
<p>As conflict heated up, Noll writes in his book, slavery’s defenders increasingly saw “doubts about biblical defense of slavery as doubts about the authority of the Bible itself.”</p>
<p>As with slavery, few Christians are neutral on homosexuality.</p>
<p>“Like the situation in the 1830s and ’40s, once a certain kind of heat is generated, it becomes really hard to talk through these various kinds of debating strategies and implications,” Noll said.</p>
<p>Methodists, Presbyterians, Baptists — and to some extent, Episcopalians — all split over slavery, mainly along the Mason-Dixon Line. Some reunited decades later. Baptists re-main apart to this day.</p>
<p>Likewise, in the last few years, a number of mainline Protestant congregations have parted with their denominations over homosexuality, although in far fewer numbers than during mid-19th century splits.</p>
<p>But the exodus may not be over. For example, conservative Presbyterians and United Methodists have threatened to leave en masse if their denominations decides to allow gay clergy and same-sex marriages.</p>
<p>“The parallels to the contemporary debate are fairly striking,” said Mark Valeri, a professor of church history at <a href="http://www.upsem.edu/" type="external">Union Presbyterian Seminary</a> in Richmond, Va.</p>
<p>“You have a long-simmering moral dispute that heats up an ecclesiastical and political question, which results in a division.</p>
<p>“And the question is, when the division creates branches, how courts adjudicate those disputes.”</p>
<p>But there are key differences between the disputes over slavery and homosexuality, some historians say.</p>
<p>For instance, many conservatives say that it is not simply the gay issue that is driving them out the door, but a long liberal trend in mainline denominations that stretches back 30 years or more.</p>
<p>Second, Scripture shows only a grudging tolerance of slavery, a far cry from its ringing endorsement of heterosexual unions, argues <a href="http://www.robgagnon.net/" type="external">Robert Gagnon</a>, an associate professor of New Testament at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary.</p>
<p>“What kind of legitimate analogy can be made between the two? In my opinion, absolutely none. It’s just night and day,” he said.</p>
<p>Moreover, what seem like similar clashes over biblical interpretation can mask the role of self-interest in the debates.</p>
<p>Southern plantation owners — and the pastors they built churches for — had a huge financial stake in the slavery debate, said Charles Irons, an assistant professor of church history at North Carolina’s Elon University.</p>
<p>Today, it is not easy to see where the financial—or political—advantage lies in supporting or opposing gay rights, he said.</p>
<p>There’s one final — and significant — difference. Noll notes the theological crisis over slavery ultimately was decided politically by generals and armies.</p>
<p>Almost everyone agrees the homosexuality debate more likely will be settled by judges and lawmakers.</p> | ANALYSIS: Does gay debate mirror church dispute on slavery? | false | https://baptistnews.com/article/analysisdoesgaydebatemirrorchurchdisputeonslavery/ | 3left-center
| ANALYSIS: Does gay debate mirror church dispute on slavery?
<p>WASHINGTON&#160;(RNS) — One group of Christians confidently proclaims that a plain reading of the Bible is a slam-dunk in their favor. The other side appeals to Scripture’s grand narrative toward freedom and inclusive love.</p>
<p>The argument boils over and ripples through the wider culture.</p>
<p>The search for middle ground proves futile. Denominations break apart.</p>
<p>Sound familiar? It could be 2010 — or the mid-19th century.</p>
<p />
<p>As churches and denominations in the United States slog through divisive and long-running arguments over homosexuality, many Protestant progressives have sought to claim the historical and moral high ground by aligning their cause with abolitionism.</p>
<p>“I think almost everybody who makes the liberal argument about homosexuality makes the connection with abolition and slavery,” said Jeffrey Krehbiel, a Washington, D.C., pastor in the Presbyterian Church (USA) who supports gay rights.</p>
<p>Abolitionists, he said, “were the first to make the argument that the plain reading of the text maybe isn’t the most fruitful way to read the Bible.”</p>
<p>But while there are striking parallels between the slavery and homosexuality debates, historians caution that important differences emerge upon close examination.</p>
<p>In both eras, cultural trends forced Christians to question practices that long had been taken for granted, said Mark Noll, a professor of American religious history at the University of Notre Dame and author of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0807830127?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=wwwbaptiststa-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=9325&amp;creativeASIN=0807830127" type="external">The Civil War as a Theological Crisis</a>.</p>
<p>Likewise, the Bible, and how to interpret it, has played a central role both then and now, Noll said.</p>
<p>In the 19th century, even some Northern abolitionists concluded the Bible condoned slavery.</p>
<p>Many, therefore, sought other sources of morality and methods of biblical interpretation; conservatives countered that such appeals undermined the power of the sacred text.</p>
<p>As conflict heated up, Noll writes in his book, slavery’s defenders increasingly saw “doubts about biblical defense of slavery as doubts about the authority of the Bible itself.”</p>
<p>As with slavery, few Christians are neutral on homosexuality.</p>
<p>“Like the situation in the 1830s and ’40s, once a certain kind of heat is generated, it becomes really hard to talk through these various kinds of debating strategies and implications,” Noll said.</p>
<p>Methodists, Presbyterians, Baptists — and to some extent, Episcopalians — all split over slavery, mainly along the Mason-Dixon Line. Some reunited decades later. Baptists re-main apart to this day.</p>
<p>Likewise, in the last few years, a number of mainline Protestant congregations have parted with their denominations over homosexuality, although in far fewer numbers than during mid-19th century splits.</p>
<p>But the exodus may not be over. For example, conservative Presbyterians and United Methodists have threatened to leave en masse if their denominations decides to allow gay clergy and same-sex marriages.</p>
<p>“The parallels to the contemporary debate are fairly striking,” said Mark Valeri, a professor of church history at <a href="http://www.upsem.edu/" type="external">Union Presbyterian Seminary</a> in Richmond, Va.</p>
<p>“You have a long-simmering moral dispute that heats up an ecclesiastical and political question, which results in a division.</p>
<p>“And the question is, when the division creates branches, how courts adjudicate those disputes.”</p>
<p>But there are key differences between the disputes over slavery and homosexuality, some historians say.</p>
<p>For instance, many conservatives say that it is not simply the gay issue that is driving them out the door, but a long liberal trend in mainline denominations that stretches back 30 years or more.</p>
<p>Second, Scripture shows only a grudging tolerance of slavery, a far cry from its ringing endorsement of heterosexual unions, argues <a href="http://www.robgagnon.net/" type="external">Robert Gagnon</a>, an associate professor of New Testament at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary.</p>
<p>“What kind of legitimate analogy can be made between the two? In my opinion, absolutely none. It’s just night and day,” he said.</p>
<p>Moreover, what seem like similar clashes over biblical interpretation can mask the role of self-interest in the debates.</p>
<p>Southern plantation owners — and the pastors they built churches for — had a huge financial stake in the slavery debate, said Charles Irons, an assistant professor of church history at North Carolina’s Elon University.</p>
<p>Today, it is not easy to see where the financial—or political—advantage lies in supporting or opposing gay rights, he said.</p>
<p>There’s one final — and significant — difference. Noll notes the theological crisis over slavery ultimately was decided politically by generals and armies.</p>
<p>Almost everyone agrees the homosexuality debate more likely will be settled by judges and lawmakers.</p> | 7 |
|
<p>On a hilly slope in São Paulo City, a group of sixth graders is busy at work. They’re armed with seeds, soil and a range of gardening tools. Upside-down soda bottles, filled with water, outline a series of rectangular garden plots. A boy named Felipy Pigato tells me they are preparing the soil for planting.</p>
<p>“Yesterday we mixed regular soil with coconut fiber,” he says. “The coconut fiber holds the seeds in the soil.” &#160;</p>
<p>Today, he says they will add in the compost. As the students dig, they pull back chunks of dirt, creating shallow pits, where earthworms wriggle in the freshly dug soil.&#160;</p>
<p>Mateus Feitosa de Almeida, 12, slowly pulls back the soil around a worm. “We have to pull like that so we don’t hurt the worms,” he explains. “If we take them out, it’s bad for the soil.”</p>
<p>This digging is going on in a quiet middle-class neighborhood, in a garden that belongs to Leão Machado School, a large public school.</p>
<p>The students are working under the guidance of two teachers, Daniel Giglio Colombo and Marta Martins.</p>
<p>This is the second year of the project, says Colombo, who helped start the garden. “We’re going to grow the same things we did last year — arugula, lettuce, radishes.”</p>
<p>The vegetables they grow are used in school meals. But the real aim of the school garden is not to supply ingredients, he says, but to teach students where food comes from, so they can develop a connection to their food.</p>
<p>“When we ask students where lettuce comes from, they say the market,” Colombo says. “They have lost contact with nature, the soil, sowing, and growing of crops.”</p>
<p>And that is reflected in their diets, he says, which are increasingly unhealthy.</p>
<p />
<p>Students say the school garden project is teaching them a lot about how to grow food, though it's still hard for some of them to appreciate vegetables.</p>
<p>Rhitu Chatterjee</p>
<p>Just like in the US, highly processed foods like fast food, soda, and high-fructose corn syrup have become all too popular here in Brazil. And obesity rates are rising, even among children. It is a nation-wide problem that has alarmed the government and public health experts in the country.&#160;Brazil’s government has banned sodas, cakes&#160;and cookies in school meals. It has restricted the amount of salt and sugar in them as well. It also requires at least one daily serving of fruits and vegetables.</p>
<p>Initially, students used to reject fresh food, says Martins. She and her colleagues hoped that the school garden would change that.</p>
<p>“We wanted to create better habits with this project,” Martins says. “We wanted them to improve their eating and become healthier.”</p>
<p>That idea is behind flourishing school gardens across Brazil. The program started 12 years ago as a pilot program in five schools, as part of a project by the United Nations Food and Agricultural Program. Today, there are a few thousand school gardens in 700 cities and towns. Many are run independently by schools. Others are supported by city governments.&#160;</p>
<p>It’s hard to know yet whether school gardens have improved children’s health, says Albaneide Peixinho, who ran Brazil’s school meal program for 13 years. But she says schools are reporting that the gardens have made students more aware of their food.</p>
<p>“With school gardens, they see that food comes from the Earth,” Peixinho says, and they are eating healthier. Some studies even show that the students are influencing how their families eat. “Parents say that the kids are eating a lot of fruits and vegetables, and they insist on eating those foods at home.”</p>
<p />
<p>Sarah Campos (left) and Juliana Santos, former students of&#160;the Leão Machado School. Campos says she tried her first radish after working in the school garden. Now she loves them.</p>
<p>Rhitu Chatterjee</p>
<p>Sarah Campos, 14, took the school garden class last year at Leão Machado in São Paulo. “I had never eaten radishes before,” she says. But she tried some when she and her classmates cooked radishes they had grown in the school garden.</p>
<p>“I loved it so much that I even had a second plate,” Campos says. Now, she says she eats radishes often. “I ask my mom to make them for lunch sometimes. She puts them in the salad with carrots, and with potatoes. It’s very good.”</p>
<p>She and her classmates say they are more open to eating vegetables now. They try to avoid fast food and they’re more conscious of their diets.Out in the garden, I ask Mateus, the student who told me about protecting earthworms, what he has learned in his gardening class.</p>
<p>“Many things,” he says. “Like digging, what organic fertilizer is, what animals do to make the soil better.”</p>
<p>“What did you learn about vegetables?” I ask.</p>
<p>“That they are good for our health and well-being.” &#160;</p>
<p>“Do you eat vegetables?”</p>
<p>“I’m not so keen on them, but I guess I do now with this project,” he says, laughing sheepishly. &#160;</p>
<p>The hope is that by the end of the school year, he will really enjoy them.</p>
<p>Related:&#160; <a href="http://pulitzercenter.org/project/south-america-brazil-school-lunch" type="external">What does Brazil feed its school kids?</a></p>
<p>This story was produced with support from the&#160; <a href="http://pulitzercenter.org/people/rhitu-chatterjee" type="external">Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting</a>.</p> | How schools in Brazil are teaching kids to eat their vegetables | false | https://pri.org/stories/2016-02-11/how-schools-brazil-are-teaching-kids-eat-their-vegetables | 2016-02-11 | 3left-center
| How schools in Brazil are teaching kids to eat their vegetables
<p>On a hilly slope in São Paulo City, a group of sixth graders is busy at work. They’re armed with seeds, soil and a range of gardening tools. Upside-down soda bottles, filled with water, outline a series of rectangular garden plots. A boy named Felipy Pigato tells me they are preparing the soil for planting.</p>
<p>“Yesterday we mixed regular soil with coconut fiber,” he says. “The coconut fiber holds the seeds in the soil.” &#160;</p>
<p>Today, he says they will add in the compost. As the students dig, they pull back chunks of dirt, creating shallow pits, where earthworms wriggle in the freshly dug soil.&#160;</p>
<p>Mateus Feitosa de Almeida, 12, slowly pulls back the soil around a worm. “We have to pull like that so we don’t hurt the worms,” he explains. “If we take them out, it’s bad for the soil.”</p>
<p>This digging is going on in a quiet middle-class neighborhood, in a garden that belongs to Leão Machado School, a large public school.</p>
<p>The students are working under the guidance of two teachers, Daniel Giglio Colombo and Marta Martins.</p>
<p>This is the second year of the project, says Colombo, who helped start the garden. “We’re going to grow the same things we did last year — arugula, lettuce, radishes.”</p>
<p>The vegetables they grow are used in school meals. But the real aim of the school garden is not to supply ingredients, he says, but to teach students where food comes from, so they can develop a connection to their food.</p>
<p>“When we ask students where lettuce comes from, they say the market,” Colombo says. “They have lost contact with nature, the soil, sowing, and growing of crops.”</p>
<p>And that is reflected in their diets, he says, which are increasingly unhealthy.</p>
<p />
<p>Students say the school garden project is teaching them a lot about how to grow food, though it's still hard for some of them to appreciate vegetables.</p>
<p>Rhitu Chatterjee</p>
<p>Just like in the US, highly processed foods like fast food, soda, and high-fructose corn syrup have become all too popular here in Brazil. And obesity rates are rising, even among children. It is a nation-wide problem that has alarmed the government and public health experts in the country.&#160;Brazil’s government has banned sodas, cakes&#160;and cookies in school meals. It has restricted the amount of salt and sugar in them as well. It also requires at least one daily serving of fruits and vegetables.</p>
<p>Initially, students used to reject fresh food, says Martins. She and her colleagues hoped that the school garden would change that.</p>
<p>“We wanted to create better habits with this project,” Martins says. “We wanted them to improve their eating and become healthier.”</p>
<p>That idea is behind flourishing school gardens across Brazil. The program started 12 years ago as a pilot program in five schools, as part of a project by the United Nations Food and Agricultural Program. Today, there are a few thousand school gardens in 700 cities and towns. Many are run independently by schools. Others are supported by city governments.&#160;</p>
<p>It’s hard to know yet whether school gardens have improved children’s health, says Albaneide Peixinho, who ran Brazil’s school meal program for 13 years. But she says schools are reporting that the gardens have made students more aware of their food.</p>
<p>“With school gardens, they see that food comes from the Earth,” Peixinho says, and they are eating healthier. Some studies even show that the students are influencing how their families eat. “Parents say that the kids are eating a lot of fruits and vegetables, and they insist on eating those foods at home.”</p>
<p />
<p>Sarah Campos (left) and Juliana Santos, former students of&#160;the Leão Machado School. Campos says she tried her first radish after working in the school garden. Now she loves them.</p>
<p>Rhitu Chatterjee</p>
<p>Sarah Campos, 14, took the school garden class last year at Leão Machado in São Paulo. “I had never eaten radishes before,” she says. But she tried some when she and her classmates cooked radishes they had grown in the school garden.</p>
<p>“I loved it so much that I even had a second plate,” Campos says. Now, she says she eats radishes often. “I ask my mom to make them for lunch sometimes. She puts them in the salad with carrots, and with potatoes. It’s very good.”</p>
<p>She and her classmates say they are more open to eating vegetables now. They try to avoid fast food and they’re more conscious of their diets.Out in the garden, I ask Mateus, the student who told me about protecting earthworms, what he has learned in his gardening class.</p>
<p>“Many things,” he says. “Like digging, what organic fertilizer is, what animals do to make the soil better.”</p>
<p>“What did you learn about vegetables?” I ask.</p>
<p>“That they are good for our health and well-being.” &#160;</p>
<p>“Do you eat vegetables?”</p>
<p>“I’m not so keen on them, but I guess I do now with this project,” he says, laughing sheepishly. &#160;</p>
<p>The hope is that by the end of the school year, he will really enjoy them.</p>
<p>Related:&#160; <a href="http://pulitzercenter.org/project/south-america-brazil-school-lunch" type="external">What does Brazil feed its school kids?</a></p>
<p>This story was produced with support from the&#160; <a href="http://pulitzercenter.org/people/rhitu-chatterjee" type="external">Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting</a>.</p> | 8 |
<p>Aug. 18 (UPI) — Wildlife removal experts discovered a large venomous rattlesnake underneath a home in Louisiana.</p>
<p>Gulf Coast Wildlife Removal <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pg/GulfCoastWildlifeRemoval/posts/?ref=page_internal" type="external">shared photos</a> Wednesday of the nearly 6-foot long canebrake rattlesnake that was found living under a homeowner’s deck in New Orleans.</p>
<p>“By far the biggest venomous snake we’ve encountered near the city,” the wildlife removal company said. “Please keep a close eye out in these last few hot months of summer.”</p>
<p>Ryan Cook of Gulf Coast Wildlife removal <a href="http://www.fox8live.com/story/36159317/monster-snake-captured-beneath-new-orleans-east-home" type="external">told WVUE</a> he marveled at the size of the snake, noting that “anything over 5 feet with a rattlesnake is considered a monster.”</p>
<p>“This one was 5 foot 8 inches and has 13 rattles on it, so it’s been around a good long time,” he said.</p>
<p>Cook added that he’s received reports of rattlesnakes in the area near the site of an old Six Flags amusement park.</p>
<p>“I’ve been hearing of a lot more rattlesnake activity in the New Orleans East area. I believe especially around the Six Flags area because it’s so overgrown. No one’s really doing anything to knock the numbers down, so you’re starting to see more and more of these guys showing up in residential neighborhoods,” he said.</p>
<p>The wildlife removal expert encouraged residents to keep their yards and homes clear of debris and other clutter that rattlesnakes can use to form a shelter.</p> | Massive venomous snake found under New Orleans home | false | https://newsline.com/massive-venomous-snake-found-under-new-orleans-home/ | 2017-08-18 | 1right-center
| Massive venomous snake found under New Orleans home
<p>Aug. 18 (UPI) — Wildlife removal experts discovered a large venomous rattlesnake underneath a home in Louisiana.</p>
<p>Gulf Coast Wildlife Removal <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pg/GulfCoastWildlifeRemoval/posts/?ref=page_internal" type="external">shared photos</a> Wednesday of the nearly 6-foot long canebrake rattlesnake that was found living under a homeowner’s deck in New Orleans.</p>
<p>“By far the biggest venomous snake we’ve encountered near the city,” the wildlife removal company said. “Please keep a close eye out in these last few hot months of summer.”</p>
<p>Ryan Cook of Gulf Coast Wildlife removal <a href="http://www.fox8live.com/story/36159317/monster-snake-captured-beneath-new-orleans-east-home" type="external">told WVUE</a> he marveled at the size of the snake, noting that “anything over 5 feet with a rattlesnake is considered a monster.”</p>
<p>“This one was 5 foot 8 inches and has 13 rattles on it, so it’s been around a good long time,” he said.</p>
<p>Cook added that he’s received reports of rattlesnakes in the area near the site of an old Six Flags amusement park.</p>
<p>“I’ve been hearing of a lot more rattlesnake activity in the New Orleans East area. I believe especially around the Six Flags area because it’s so overgrown. No one’s really doing anything to knock the numbers down, so you’re starting to see more and more of these guys showing up in residential neighborhoods,” he said.</p>
<p>The wildlife removal expert encouraged residents to keep their yards and homes clear of debris and other clutter that rattlesnakes can use to form a shelter.</p> | 9 |
<p>Almost 10 years in the making, the largest regional trade accord in history was agreed to Monday by the United States and 11 other Pacific Rim nations. The controversial <a href="" type="internal">Trans-Pacific Partnership</a> (TPP) represents “a potentially precedent-setting model for global commerce and worker standards that would tie together 40 percent of the world’s economy, from Canada and Chile to Japan and Australia,” according to The New York Times.</p>
<p>In this NYT video, U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman declares, “We, the trade ministers … are pleased to announce that we have successfully concluded the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiation.”</p>
<p>Froman says that what he calls the “historic” TPP agreement will “support jobs, drive sustainable growth, foster inclusive development and promote innovation across the Asia-Pacific region,” while also raising living standards.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>The New York Times reports:</p>
<p>The Trans-Pacific Partnership still faces months of debate in Congress and will inject a new flash point into both parties’ presidential contests.</p>
<p>But the accord — a product of nearly eight years of negotiations, including five days of round-the-clock sessions here — is a potentially legacy-making achievement for President Obama, and the capstone for his foreign policy “pivot” toward closer relations with fast-growing eastern Asia, after years of American preoccupation with the Middle East and North Africa.</p>
<p>The Pacific accord would phase out thousands of import tariffs as well as other barriers to international trade. It also would establish uniform rules on corporations’ intellectual property, open the Internet even in communist Vietnam and crack down on wildlife trafficking and environmental abuses.</p>
<p>Its full 30-chapter text will not be available for perhaps a month, but labor unions, environmentalists and liberal activists are poised to argue that the agreement favors big business over workers and environmental protection. Donald Trump has repeatedly castigated the Pacific trade accord as “a bad deal,” injecting conservative populism into the debate and emboldening some congressional Republicans who fear for local interests like sugar and rice, and many conservatives who oppose Mr. Obama at every turn.</p>
<p>Long before an accord was reached, it was being condemned by both Mr. Trump, the Republican presidential front-runner, and Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who is challenging Hillary Rodham Clinton for the Democrats’ nomination. Other candidates also have been critical. Mrs. Clinton, who as secretary of state promoted the trade talks, has expressed enough wariness as she has campaigned among unions and other audiences on the left that her support is now in doubt.</p>
<p>Read the full article <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/06/business/trans-pacific-partnership-trade-deal-is-reached.html?_r=0" type="external">here</a>.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">Click here</a> to read Ralph Nader’s 10 reasons why the TPP is not a “progressive” trade agreement.</p>
<p>–Posted by <a href="" type="internal">Roisin Davis</a></p> | VIDEO: U.S. Reaches Trans-Pacific Partnership Deal With 11 Other Countries | true | https://truthdig.com/articles/video-u-s-reaches-trans-pacific-partnership-deal-with-11-other-countries/ | 2015-10-05 | 4left
| VIDEO: U.S. Reaches Trans-Pacific Partnership Deal With 11 Other Countries
<p>Almost 10 years in the making, the largest regional trade accord in history was agreed to Monday by the United States and 11 other Pacific Rim nations. The controversial <a href="" type="internal">Trans-Pacific Partnership</a> (TPP) represents “a potentially precedent-setting model for global commerce and worker standards that would tie together 40 percent of the world’s economy, from Canada and Chile to Japan and Australia,” according to The New York Times.</p>
<p>In this NYT video, U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman declares, “We, the trade ministers … are pleased to announce that we have successfully concluded the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiation.”</p>
<p>Froman says that what he calls the “historic” TPP agreement will “support jobs, drive sustainable growth, foster inclusive development and promote innovation across the Asia-Pacific region,” while also raising living standards.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>The New York Times reports:</p>
<p>The Trans-Pacific Partnership still faces months of debate in Congress and will inject a new flash point into both parties’ presidential contests.</p>
<p>But the accord — a product of nearly eight years of negotiations, including five days of round-the-clock sessions here — is a potentially legacy-making achievement for President Obama, and the capstone for his foreign policy “pivot” toward closer relations with fast-growing eastern Asia, after years of American preoccupation with the Middle East and North Africa.</p>
<p>The Pacific accord would phase out thousands of import tariffs as well as other barriers to international trade. It also would establish uniform rules on corporations’ intellectual property, open the Internet even in communist Vietnam and crack down on wildlife trafficking and environmental abuses.</p>
<p>Its full 30-chapter text will not be available for perhaps a month, but labor unions, environmentalists and liberal activists are poised to argue that the agreement favors big business over workers and environmental protection. Donald Trump has repeatedly castigated the Pacific trade accord as “a bad deal,” injecting conservative populism into the debate and emboldening some congressional Republicans who fear for local interests like sugar and rice, and many conservatives who oppose Mr. Obama at every turn.</p>
<p>Long before an accord was reached, it was being condemned by both Mr. Trump, the Republican presidential front-runner, and Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who is challenging Hillary Rodham Clinton for the Democrats’ nomination. Other candidates also have been critical. Mrs. Clinton, who as secretary of state promoted the trade talks, has expressed enough wariness as she has campaigned among unions and other audiences on the left that her support is now in doubt.</p>
<p>Read the full article <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/06/business/trans-pacific-partnership-trade-deal-is-reached.html?_r=0" type="external">here</a>.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">Click here</a> to read Ralph Nader’s 10 reasons why the TPP is not a “progressive” trade agreement.</p>
<p>–Posted by <a href="" type="internal">Roisin Davis</a></p> | 10 |
<p>Donald Trump’s Saturday morning Twitter meltdown was flat-out unhinged, but his incompetence may have ultimately done nothing more than screw himself over.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">To his supporters</a>, Trump did nothing more than pander to the right-wing paranoia and irrational hatred of Barack Obama that helped him become a superstar among millions of conservatives. For most Americans, even many on the left, the true severity of this rant went unnoticed.</p>
<p>You see, when someone in Trump’s position does something like this, as opposed to a private citizen or even presidential candidate, there are a whole mess of legal issues that become involved.</p>
<p>For starters, a&#160;president doesn’t have the power to single-handedly order a wiretap. Meaning that, if Trump or anyone associated with him were&#160;monitored, a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISA court)&#160;would have had to grant&#160;a warrant to do so. And the only way the FISA court would have done that is if they found probable cause.</p>
<p>In case you didn’t know, the FISA court was authorized under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 to oversee requests for surveillance of spies inside the United States by U.S. intelligence agencies. The Chief Judge&#160;appointed to oversee the court is Rosemary Collyer, a United States District Court judge who was appointed by George W. Bush. She was then given her position on the FISA court by Chief Justice of the United States John Roberts — who was also&#160;picked by Bush and heavily supported by the Republican party.</p>
<p>So, right off the bat Trump’s claim, if true, would indicate that the evidence surrounding <a href="" type="internal">these Russian allegations</a> was sound enough that the FISA court found probable cause to approve the surveillance.</p>
<p>In other words, if we’re to take Trump at his word, it’s not&#160;Obama&#160;who “bugged Trump Tower,” it was U.S. intelligence officials presenting evidence to the FISA court which then approved the monitoring of communication within that building over suspicion that Trump, or members of his campaign, engaged in possible <a href="" type="internal">treasonous contact with Russian officials</a>.</p>
<p>Most people have concluded that Trump’s tantrum was triggered by a Breitbart article — which was based off comments made by right-wing conspiracy theorist Mark Levin — claiming there’s a “police state” being secretly run by Obama to create some sort of “coup.”</p>
<p>Again, any wiretapping of Trump Tower would have been granted by the FISA court amid&#160;overwhelming&#160;evidence of Russian links to Trump or his associates. If Trump wants to continue to claim this is true, then he’s either accusing Barack Obama of a blatant crime that&#160;should be investigated immediately, or he’s admitting that the FISA court found enough evidence of Russian ties to approve these supposed wiretaps.</p>
<p>So it’s either one or the other. Either Trump is:</p>
<p>Well, then there’s always the possibility&#160;that, because <a href="" type="internal">he’s an unhinged moron</a>, he simply read this article in Breitbart, threw&#160;another ridiculous hissy fit on Twitter, and he has absolutely no damn idea what he’s talking about. Hell, he compared this to Watergate, proving that he doesn’t even understand what the Nixon-era scandal was about.</p>
<p>But the kicker to this is, Trump’s incompetence has opened the door for a public reveal of the details surrounding why, if true, the FISA court approved any requests to monitor anything related to him or his associates. After all, even if you&#160;think Trump’s mentally unstable, he was clearly serious when he made these comments. Considering the office he currently occupies, his words should then immediately require an independent investigation — which means subpoenas — that would ultimately bring practically anything and everything related to this into public light.</p>
<p>Because he has no idea what he’s doing, Trump has screwed himself over in several ways. If you take him at his word, and this is like “Watergate,” then he’s going to have to order extensive independent investigations, along with Congress being involved, into what he claims was a blatant and extremely illegal order by a Barack Obama to have Trump Tower put under surveillance.</p>
<p>However, if he doesn’t do that, then he’s essentially admitting this whole rant was nothing more than pure ignorance, based on his trusting of a fringe, right-wing conspiracy site, and <a href="" type="internal">he’s too incompetent</a> to hold the position he currently occupies.</p>
<p>That or he’s aware of the FISA court granting these warrants, he thinks they were illegal and not justified, so he should order all the information contained within them to be made public to “clear his name.” And if any FISA warrants related to investigations into him or his associates do exist, but he doesn’t want to make any of that information public, then he’s more or less admitting that they were credible and he doesn’t want people to know about the information that was used that led to their approval.</p>
<p>The bottom line is, Donald Trump’s stupidity has basically led to one of four main possibilities:</p>
<p>That&#160;means the only positive outcome for Trump and Republicans is the extremely unlikely possibility that his accusations against Barack Obama are right. Otherwise, nothing good is going to&#160;come of this for Trump or the Republican party.</p>
<p />
<p>21 Facebook comments</p> | Trump’s Desperate Attempt to Distract Americans From His Scandals Backfires ‘Bigly’ | true | https://forwardprogressives.com/trumps-desperate-attempt-distract-americans-scandals-backfires-bigly/ | 2017-03-04 | 4left
| Trump’s Desperate Attempt to Distract Americans From His Scandals Backfires ‘Bigly’
<p>Donald Trump’s Saturday morning Twitter meltdown was flat-out unhinged, but his incompetence may have ultimately done nothing more than screw himself over.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">To his supporters</a>, Trump did nothing more than pander to the right-wing paranoia and irrational hatred of Barack Obama that helped him become a superstar among millions of conservatives. For most Americans, even many on the left, the true severity of this rant went unnoticed.</p>
<p>You see, when someone in Trump’s position does something like this, as opposed to a private citizen or even presidential candidate, there are a whole mess of legal issues that become involved.</p>
<p>For starters, a&#160;president doesn’t have the power to single-handedly order a wiretap. Meaning that, if Trump or anyone associated with him were&#160;monitored, a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISA court)&#160;would have had to grant&#160;a warrant to do so. And the only way the FISA court would have done that is if they found probable cause.</p>
<p>In case you didn’t know, the FISA court was authorized under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 to oversee requests for surveillance of spies inside the United States by U.S. intelligence agencies. The Chief Judge&#160;appointed to oversee the court is Rosemary Collyer, a United States District Court judge who was appointed by George W. Bush. She was then given her position on the FISA court by Chief Justice of the United States John Roberts — who was also&#160;picked by Bush and heavily supported by the Republican party.</p>
<p>So, right off the bat Trump’s claim, if true, would indicate that the evidence surrounding <a href="" type="internal">these Russian allegations</a> was sound enough that the FISA court found probable cause to approve the surveillance.</p>
<p>In other words, if we’re to take Trump at his word, it’s not&#160;Obama&#160;who “bugged Trump Tower,” it was U.S. intelligence officials presenting evidence to the FISA court which then approved the monitoring of communication within that building over suspicion that Trump, or members of his campaign, engaged in possible <a href="" type="internal">treasonous contact with Russian officials</a>.</p>
<p>Most people have concluded that Trump’s tantrum was triggered by a Breitbart article — which was based off comments made by right-wing conspiracy theorist Mark Levin — claiming there’s a “police state” being secretly run by Obama to create some sort of “coup.”</p>
<p>Again, any wiretapping of Trump Tower would have been granted by the FISA court amid&#160;overwhelming&#160;evidence of Russian links to Trump or his associates. If Trump wants to continue to claim this is true, then he’s either accusing Barack Obama of a blatant crime that&#160;should be investigated immediately, or he’s admitting that the FISA court found enough evidence of Russian ties to approve these supposed wiretaps.</p>
<p>So it’s either one or the other. Either Trump is:</p>
<p>Well, then there’s always the possibility&#160;that, because <a href="" type="internal">he’s an unhinged moron</a>, he simply read this article in Breitbart, threw&#160;another ridiculous hissy fit on Twitter, and he has absolutely no damn idea what he’s talking about. Hell, he compared this to Watergate, proving that he doesn’t even understand what the Nixon-era scandal was about.</p>
<p>But the kicker to this is, Trump’s incompetence has opened the door for a public reveal of the details surrounding why, if true, the FISA court approved any requests to monitor anything related to him or his associates. After all, even if you&#160;think Trump’s mentally unstable, he was clearly serious when he made these comments. Considering the office he currently occupies, his words should then immediately require an independent investigation — which means subpoenas — that would ultimately bring practically anything and everything related to this into public light.</p>
<p>Because he has no idea what he’s doing, Trump has screwed himself over in several ways. If you take him at his word, and this is like “Watergate,” then he’s going to have to order extensive independent investigations, along with Congress being involved, into what he claims was a blatant and extremely illegal order by a Barack Obama to have Trump Tower put under surveillance.</p>
<p>However, if he doesn’t do that, then he’s essentially admitting this whole rant was nothing more than pure ignorance, based on his trusting of a fringe, right-wing conspiracy site, and <a href="" type="internal">he’s too incompetent</a> to hold the position he currently occupies.</p>
<p>That or he’s aware of the FISA court granting these warrants, he thinks they were illegal and not justified, so he should order all the information contained within them to be made public to “clear his name.” And if any FISA warrants related to investigations into him or his associates do exist, but he doesn’t want to make any of that information public, then he’s more or less admitting that they were credible and he doesn’t want people to know about the information that was used that led to their approval.</p>
<p>The bottom line is, Donald Trump’s stupidity has basically led to one of four main possibilities:</p>
<p>That&#160;means the only positive outcome for Trump and Republicans is the extremely unlikely possibility that his accusations against Barack Obama are right. Otherwise, nothing good is going to&#160;come of this for Trump or the Republican party.</p>
<p />
<p>21 Facebook comments</p> | 11 |
<p>New clashes erupted Thursday between Venezuelan riot police and President Nicolas Maduro's opponents, inflaming the tension after a day of deadly unrest in the beleaguered oil-rich nation.</p>
<p>Police backed by armored trucks fired tear gas to break up a large march as it reached a vital freeway in Caracas, then edged back slightly as masked protesters pelted them with stones.</p>
<p>Demonstrators vowed not to flinch in their campaign to oust Maduro, despite three weeks of protest violence that has left eight people dead, including three on Wednesday.</p>
<p>"Sure we're tired, but we've got to stand strong. I'm ready to take to the streets every day if I have to," said 22-year-old student protester Aquiles Aldazoro.</p>
<p>Senior opposition leader Henrique Capriles vowed there would be "no surrender."</p>
<p>"It is our duty to defend the constitution," he said.</p>
<p>Protesters blame Maduro — the heir of the leftist "Bolivarian revolution" launched by the late Hugo Chavez in 1999 — for an economic crisis marked by severe shortages of food, medicine and basic goods.</p>
<p>Pressure on Maduro has been mounting since 2014, as falling prices for&#160;Venezuela's crucial oil exports have sent the once-booming economy into a tailspin.</p>
<p>The crisis has escalated since March 30, when&#160;Venezuela's Supreme Court moved to seize the powers of the legislature, the only lever of state authority not controlled by Maduro and his allies.</p>
<p>Hundreds of thousands of protesters took part in Wednesday's marches, which erupted into clashes with security forces and armed groups of government supporters.</p>
<p>A 17-year-old boy and a 23-year-old woman died after they were shot in the head, and Maduro's camp said a soldier outside Caracas was also killed.</p>
<p>The opposition accuses Maduro of letting state forces and gangs of armed thugs violently repress demonstrators.</p>
<p>Interior Minister Nestor Reverol said one person had been arrested for the soldier's death, which he called a pre-meditated "act of fascism."</p>
<p>Numerous businesses and universities remained closed — some in tacit support of the protests, others for fear of a repeat of the previous day's violence.</p>
<p>Looting erupted amid the chaos Wednesday. In the Paradise neighborhood in western Caracas, looters carted off food and beer from a series of ransacked businesses, residents said.</p>
<p>In poor neighborhoods traditionally loyal to Maduro, some protesters have cited hunger as their reason for joining calls for his ouster.</p>
<p>The escalation of&#160;Venezuela's political crisis since late March has galvanized the often divided opposition in its efforts to force Maduro from power.</p>
<p>The president, in turn, has urged his supporters, the military and civilian militias to defend the "revolution."</p>
<p>International concern meanwhile continues to mount.</p>
<p>UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Thursday urged all sides in&#160;Venezuela&#160;to take steps to ease tensions.</p>
<p>"We call for concrete gestures from all parties to reduce polarization and create the necessary conditions to address the country’s challenges," he said in a statement.</p>
<p>The European Union added to the condemnation, calling the deaths of protesters "highly regrettable" and urging all sides to "de-escalate."</p>
<p>The opposition has called for the military — a pillar of Maduro's power — to abandon him.</p>
<p>But the defense minister, General Vladimir Padrino Lopez, has pledged the army's "unconditional loyalty" to Maduro.</p>
<p>The president accuses the opposition of inciting a "coup" backed by the United States.</p>
<p>According to a survey by pollster Venebarometro, seven in 10 Venezuelans disapprove of Maduro, whose term does not end until 2019.</p>
<p>The president said Wednesday that he is ready to face his opponents at the ballot box.</p>
<p>"I want to have elections soon ... to seek a peaceful path so the revolution can put the conspirators, murderers and interventionist right-wingers in their place," he told a rally of supporters in central Caracas.</p>
<p>Regional elections due in December were indefinitely postponed and there is still no date for local polls due this year. The next presidential election is due in December 2018.</p> | With tensions high, protests erupt across Venezuela | false | https://pri.org/stories/2017-04-20/tensions-high-protests-erupt-across-venezuela | 2017-04-20 | 3left-center
| With tensions high, protests erupt across Venezuela
<p>New clashes erupted Thursday between Venezuelan riot police and President Nicolas Maduro's opponents, inflaming the tension after a day of deadly unrest in the beleaguered oil-rich nation.</p>
<p>Police backed by armored trucks fired tear gas to break up a large march as it reached a vital freeway in Caracas, then edged back slightly as masked protesters pelted them with stones.</p>
<p>Demonstrators vowed not to flinch in their campaign to oust Maduro, despite three weeks of protest violence that has left eight people dead, including three on Wednesday.</p>
<p>"Sure we're tired, but we've got to stand strong. I'm ready to take to the streets every day if I have to," said 22-year-old student protester Aquiles Aldazoro.</p>
<p>Senior opposition leader Henrique Capriles vowed there would be "no surrender."</p>
<p>"It is our duty to defend the constitution," he said.</p>
<p>Protesters blame Maduro — the heir of the leftist "Bolivarian revolution" launched by the late Hugo Chavez in 1999 — for an economic crisis marked by severe shortages of food, medicine and basic goods.</p>
<p>Pressure on Maduro has been mounting since 2014, as falling prices for&#160;Venezuela's crucial oil exports have sent the once-booming economy into a tailspin.</p>
<p>The crisis has escalated since March 30, when&#160;Venezuela's Supreme Court moved to seize the powers of the legislature, the only lever of state authority not controlled by Maduro and his allies.</p>
<p>Hundreds of thousands of protesters took part in Wednesday's marches, which erupted into clashes with security forces and armed groups of government supporters.</p>
<p>A 17-year-old boy and a 23-year-old woman died after they were shot in the head, and Maduro's camp said a soldier outside Caracas was also killed.</p>
<p>The opposition accuses Maduro of letting state forces and gangs of armed thugs violently repress demonstrators.</p>
<p>Interior Minister Nestor Reverol said one person had been arrested for the soldier's death, which he called a pre-meditated "act of fascism."</p>
<p>Numerous businesses and universities remained closed — some in tacit support of the protests, others for fear of a repeat of the previous day's violence.</p>
<p>Looting erupted amid the chaos Wednesday. In the Paradise neighborhood in western Caracas, looters carted off food and beer from a series of ransacked businesses, residents said.</p>
<p>In poor neighborhoods traditionally loyal to Maduro, some protesters have cited hunger as their reason for joining calls for his ouster.</p>
<p>The escalation of&#160;Venezuela's political crisis since late March has galvanized the often divided opposition in its efforts to force Maduro from power.</p>
<p>The president, in turn, has urged his supporters, the military and civilian militias to defend the "revolution."</p>
<p>International concern meanwhile continues to mount.</p>
<p>UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Thursday urged all sides in&#160;Venezuela&#160;to take steps to ease tensions.</p>
<p>"We call for concrete gestures from all parties to reduce polarization and create the necessary conditions to address the country’s challenges," he said in a statement.</p>
<p>The European Union added to the condemnation, calling the deaths of protesters "highly regrettable" and urging all sides to "de-escalate."</p>
<p>The opposition has called for the military — a pillar of Maduro's power — to abandon him.</p>
<p>But the defense minister, General Vladimir Padrino Lopez, has pledged the army's "unconditional loyalty" to Maduro.</p>
<p>The president accuses the opposition of inciting a "coup" backed by the United States.</p>
<p>According to a survey by pollster Venebarometro, seven in 10 Venezuelans disapprove of Maduro, whose term does not end until 2019.</p>
<p>The president said Wednesday that he is ready to face his opponents at the ballot box.</p>
<p>"I want to have elections soon ... to seek a peaceful path so the revolution can put the conspirators, murderers and interventionist right-wingers in their place," he told a rally of supporters in central Caracas.</p>
<p>Regional elections due in December were indefinitely postponed and there is still no date for local polls due this year. The next presidential election is due in December 2018.</p> | 12 |
<p>Nearly 80 percent of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck, according to a survey released Thursday by <a href="http://press.careerbuilder.com/2017-08-24-Living-Paycheck-to-Paycheck-is-a-Way-of-Life-for-Majority-of-U-S-Workers-According-to-New-CareerBuilder-Survey" type="external">CareerBuilder.</a></p>
<p>The results:</p>
<p>“Living paycheck to paycheck is the new way of life for U.S. workers,” CareerBuilder spokesman Mike Erwin told <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/americans-living-paycheck-to-paycheck/" type="external">CBS News</a>. “It’s not just one salary range. It’s pretty much across the board, and it’s trending in the wrong direction. Jobs have come back, but we haven’t seen salaries rebound.”</p>
<p>Further, 59 percent of Americans making $100,000&#160;or more say they are in debt, and 70 percent of those making between $50,000&#160;and $99,000&#160;are in debt, according to the survey.</p>
<p>“As an employer, your employees’ financial problems become your financial problems,” said Rosemary Haefner, chief human resources officer for CareerBuilder. “If workers are constantly thinking about their financial struggles, their quality of work can decrease, and it can take a hit on their morale and productivity.”</p>
<p>The survey was conducted online within the U.S. by Harris Poll on behalf of CareerBuilder among 2,369 hiring and human resource managers ages 18 and over and 3,462 employees ages 18 and over between May 24 and June 16, 2017. There’s a 95 percent probability that the results have sampling errors of up to +/- 2 percentage points.</p> | Survey: Nearly 80 Percent of Americans Live Paycheck to Paycheck | false | https://newsline.com/survey-nearly-80-percent-of-americans-live-paycheck-to-paycheck/ | 2017-08-24 | 1right-center
| Survey: Nearly 80 Percent of Americans Live Paycheck to Paycheck
<p>Nearly 80 percent of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck, according to a survey released Thursday by <a href="http://press.careerbuilder.com/2017-08-24-Living-Paycheck-to-Paycheck-is-a-Way-of-Life-for-Majority-of-U-S-Workers-According-to-New-CareerBuilder-Survey" type="external">CareerBuilder.</a></p>
<p>The results:</p>
<p>“Living paycheck to paycheck is the new way of life for U.S. workers,” CareerBuilder spokesman Mike Erwin told <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/americans-living-paycheck-to-paycheck/" type="external">CBS News</a>. “It’s not just one salary range. It’s pretty much across the board, and it’s trending in the wrong direction. Jobs have come back, but we haven’t seen salaries rebound.”</p>
<p>Further, 59 percent of Americans making $100,000&#160;or more say they are in debt, and 70 percent of those making between $50,000&#160;and $99,000&#160;are in debt, according to the survey.</p>
<p>“As an employer, your employees’ financial problems become your financial problems,” said Rosemary Haefner, chief human resources officer for CareerBuilder. “If workers are constantly thinking about their financial struggles, their quality of work can decrease, and it can take a hit on their morale and productivity.”</p>
<p>The survey was conducted online within the U.S. by Harris Poll on behalf of CareerBuilder among 2,369 hiring and human resource managers ages 18 and over and 3,462 employees ages 18 and over between May 24 and June 16, 2017. There’s a 95 percent probability that the results have sampling errors of up to +/- 2 percentage points.</p> | 13 |
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>Moussaoui is serving a life sentence for his involvement in the planning of the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. He has recently inserted himself into litigation in which 9/11 victims allege that the Saudi government funded Islamist charities that provided financial and logistical support to al-Qaida.</p>
<p>Moussaoui’s account of being a liaison between Osama bin Laden and members of the Saudi royal family was told to Philadelphia lawyer Sean Carter over the course of two days of questioning in October at the federal supermax prison in Florence, Colo., and has only now been cleared for public release by the U.S. government.</p>
<p>Carter has been defending against a Saudi motion to dismiss his case, facing the unenviable burden of producing evidence of a Saudi link to al-Qaida without the benefit of taking discovery. Moussaoui’s testimony was unforeseen. The man who once took flight lessons in Oklahoma and Minnesota in preparation for a terror strike contacted the federal judge presiding over the case and offered to provide information.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>According to Carter, much of what Moussaoui told him was new information about his role with al-Qaida, not even revealed during his own trial.</p>
<p>“He testified that he had this role in creating a digital database of al-Qaida’s donors and he says that he personally entered the names of a number of senior Saudi officials and members of the royal family,” Carter said.</p>
<p>“He explained to us that it was his understanding that they were making donations to bin Laden in order to maintain their legitimacy in the eyes of the Saudi Ulema, who are the Wahhabi religious clerics,” Carter said. “The Saudi state itself is the product of a pact between the House of Saud and the Wahhabi Ulema and the continuing legitimacy of that government resides very much on maintaining that bargain.”</p>
<p>Inside the walls of supermax, Moussaoui first took an oath to Allah – “May Allah curse the liar” – before providing Carter with sworn testimony. He claimed that Sheikh Sa’id, the chief financial officer of al-Qaida, asked him to track Saudi contributions to the jihad effort, a request that came from bin Laden.</p>
<p>“Sheikh Osama wanted to keep a record who give money … who is to be listened to or who continue to – to the jihad,” Moussaoui told Carter.</p>
<p>Moussaoui named many members of the Saudi royal family as having been supportive, a funding source he described as “crucial.” He also claimed to have served as a courier for written communications between bin Laden and the House of Saud.</p>
<p>The Saudis vehemently deny Moussaoui’s assertions, claiming that he is mentally imbalanced and that the 9/11 Commission was dismissive of such claims. That report “found no evidence that the Saudi government as an institution or senior Saudi officials individually funded al-Qaida.”</p>
<p>Not so fast, say two 9/11 Commission members – former Navy Secretary John Lehman and former Sen. Bob Kerrey. Both say the 9/11 Commission did not exonerate Saudi Arabia.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>And, former Sen. Bob Graham, past chairman of the Senate intelligence committee, told me he is convinced there was a connection between some of the 9/11 terrorists and Saudi Arabia. Graham co-chaired the congressional inquiry into intelligence activities before and after the attacks, whose report included the classified 28 pages. He believes that a Saudi government agent named Omar al-Bayoumi provided assistance to 9/11 hijackers Nawaf al-Hazmi and Khalid al-Mihdhar.</p>
<p>“I can’t give details because they are classified, Michael, but you correctly state they primarily deal with who financed 9/11 and they point a strong finger at Saudi Arabia,” Graham said. He maintains that the 9/11 Commission did not “pursue some of the leads that we had left them with.”</p>
<p>What might resolve the discrepancy is the release of 28 pages.</p>
<p>According to Carter, that matter rests with the director of national intelligence for an interagency declassification review, “whatever that is.”</p>
<p>“We think the 28 pages are really the tip of the iceberg,” he added.</p>
<p>So why would Moussaoui want to help 9/11 plaintiffs?</p>
<p>“I think the reality is he’s sitting in prison for the rest of his life and the Saudi royals are not, and I think he has a desire to demonstrate and clear the record about everyone who was involved,” Carter said.</p>
<p>Two weeks ago, I asked White House chief of staff Denis McDonough whether the passing of Saudi King Abdullah would support the release of the 28 pages?</p>
<p>“I’m not going to get involved in the 28 pages now, Michael, any more than I did before,” McDonough said.</p>
<p>Moussaoui’s testimony makes that position even less sustainable. Mr. President, release the 28 pages. We can handle the truth.</p>
<p>Michael Smerconish writes for The Philadelphia Inquirer, and is host of “Smerconish” on CNN. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.</p>
<p /> | Time to learn whether top-secret pages tie Saudis to 9/11 | false | https://abqjournal.com/539722/time-to-learn-whether-topsecret-pages-tie-saudis-to-911.html | 2least
| Time to learn whether top-secret pages tie Saudis to 9/11
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>Moussaoui is serving a life sentence for his involvement in the planning of the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. He has recently inserted himself into litigation in which 9/11 victims allege that the Saudi government funded Islamist charities that provided financial and logistical support to al-Qaida.</p>
<p>Moussaoui’s account of being a liaison between Osama bin Laden and members of the Saudi royal family was told to Philadelphia lawyer Sean Carter over the course of two days of questioning in October at the federal supermax prison in Florence, Colo., and has only now been cleared for public release by the U.S. government.</p>
<p>Carter has been defending against a Saudi motion to dismiss his case, facing the unenviable burden of producing evidence of a Saudi link to al-Qaida without the benefit of taking discovery. Moussaoui’s testimony was unforeseen. The man who once took flight lessons in Oklahoma and Minnesota in preparation for a terror strike contacted the federal judge presiding over the case and offered to provide information.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>According to Carter, much of what Moussaoui told him was new information about his role with al-Qaida, not even revealed during his own trial.</p>
<p>“He testified that he had this role in creating a digital database of al-Qaida’s donors and he says that he personally entered the names of a number of senior Saudi officials and members of the royal family,” Carter said.</p>
<p>“He explained to us that it was his understanding that they were making donations to bin Laden in order to maintain their legitimacy in the eyes of the Saudi Ulema, who are the Wahhabi religious clerics,” Carter said. “The Saudi state itself is the product of a pact between the House of Saud and the Wahhabi Ulema and the continuing legitimacy of that government resides very much on maintaining that bargain.”</p>
<p>Inside the walls of supermax, Moussaoui first took an oath to Allah – “May Allah curse the liar” – before providing Carter with sworn testimony. He claimed that Sheikh Sa’id, the chief financial officer of al-Qaida, asked him to track Saudi contributions to the jihad effort, a request that came from bin Laden.</p>
<p>“Sheikh Osama wanted to keep a record who give money … who is to be listened to or who continue to – to the jihad,” Moussaoui told Carter.</p>
<p>Moussaoui named many members of the Saudi royal family as having been supportive, a funding source he described as “crucial.” He also claimed to have served as a courier for written communications between bin Laden and the House of Saud.</p>
<p>The Saudis vehemently deny Moussaoui’s assertions, claiming that he is mentally imbalanced and that the 9/11 Commission was dismissive of such claims. That report “found no evidence that the Saudi government as an institution or senior Saudi officials individually funded al-Qaida.”</p>
<p>Not so fast, say two 9/11 Commission members – former Navy Secretary John Lehman and former Sen. Bob Kerrey. Both say the 9/11 Commission did not exonerate Saudi Arabia.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>And, former Sen. Bob Graham, past chairman of the Senate intelligence committee, told me he is convinced there was a connection between some of the 9/11 terrorists and Saudi Arabia. Graham co-chaired the congressional inquiry into intelligence activities before and after the attacks, whose report included the classified 28 pages. He believes that a Saudi government agent named Omar al-Bayoumi provided assistance to 9/11 hijackers Nawaf al-Hazmi and Khalid al-Mihdhar.</p>
<p>“I can’t give details because they are classified, Michael, but you correctly state they primarily deal with who financed 9/11 and they point a strong finger at Saudi Arabia,” Graham said. He maintains that the 9/11 Commission did not “pursue some of the leads that we had left them with.”</p>
<p>What might resolve the discrepancy is the release of 28 pages.</p>
<p>According to Carter, that matter rests with the director of national intelligence for an interagency declassification review, “whatever that is.”</p>
<p>“We think the 28 pages are really the tip of the iceberg,” he added.</p>
<p>So why would Moussaoui want to help 9/11 plaintiffs?</p>
<p>“I think the reality is he’s sitting in prison for the rest of his life and the Saudi royals are not, and I think he has a desire to demonstrate and clear the record about everyone who was involved,” Carter said.</p>
<p>Two weeks ago, I asked White House chief of staff Denis McDonough whether the passing of Saudi King Abdullah would support the release of the 28 pages?</p>
<p>“I’m not going to get involved in the 28 pages now, Michael, any more than I did before,” McDonough said.</p>
<p>Moussaoui’s testimony makes that position even less sustainable. Mr. President, release the 28 pages. We can handle the truth.</p>
<p>Michael Smerconish writes for The Philadelphia Inquirer, and is host of “Smerconish” on CNN. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.</p>
<p /> | 14 |
|
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>Just touch the stamp with your finger, and the heat transforms the image of the blacked-out sun into the moon. Remove your finger, and the eclipse reappears. The trick is using temperature-sensitive ink.</p>
<p>There’s a map on the back of the stamp sheet showing the eclipse’s diagonal path across the U.S. on Aug. 21, as the moon covers the sun in the sky.</p>
<p>It will be the first total solar eclipse visible in the contiguous United States since 1979 and the first one coast to coast since 1918.</p>
<p>Announced Thursday, the Forever 49 cent stamp comes out in June — on the summer solstice.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Online:</p>
<p>Postal Service: <a href="http://about.usps.com/news/welcome.htm" type="external">http://about.usps.com/news/welcome.htm</a></p> | Touch new stamp and presto, total solar eclipse becomes moon | false | https://abqjournal.com/994909/touch-new-stamp-and-presto-total-solar-eclipse-becomes-moon-2.html | 2017-04-27 | 2least
| Touch new stamp and presto, total solar eclipse becomes moon
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>Just touch the stamp with your finger, and the heat transforms the image of the blacked-out sun into the moon. Remove your finger, and the eclipse reappears. The trick is using temperature-sensitive ink.</p>
<p>There’s a map on the back of the stamp sheet showing the eclipse’s diagonal path across the U.S. on Aug. 21, as the moon covers the sun in the sky.</p>
<p>It will be the first total solar eclipse visible in the contiguous United States since 1979 and the first one coast to coast since 1918.</p>
<p>Announced Thursday, the Forever 49 cent stamp comes out in June — on the summer solstice.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Online:</p>
<p>Postal Service: <a href="http://about.usps.com/news/welcome.htm" type="external">http://about.usps.com/news/welcome.htm</a></p> | 15 |
<p />
<p>Bad news for Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL): The company needs to launch the “next big thing” in order to reverse investors’ soured sentiment according to Barclays Capital analyst Ben Reitzes, and that next big thing could be Apple’s HDTV.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Why is that bad news? Because according to a recent report from The Wall Street Journal, the company’s TV set won’t be launching any time soon — if it even launches at all.</p>
<p><a href="http://bgr.com/2012/12/12/apple-tv-next-big-thing/" type="external">See more tech stories on the FOX Business Technology homepage. Opens a New Window.</a></p>
<p>In a research note sent to clients on Tuesday evening, Reitzes ponders what might snap investors out of their “recent funk.” Shares of Apple stock plummeted by as much as 25% in November from a high of $705.07, which was hit just before the iPhone 5 launched this past September. While some say “people overbelieved in Apple” and the end is nigh, Reitzes thinks Apple just needs to launch the “next big thing” to remind investors why it is the most successful consumer electronics company in the world.</p>
<p>Reitzes goes on to say that an Apple HDTV might be just what the doctor ordered and that a set-top box and service combination could do the trick as well. He sees Apple unveiling its big plans for the living room some time in 2013, and he says he believes Apple is “exploring a new service that integrates iOS, iCloud, iTunes and more content that would bring customers a new experience around a TV-like device.”</p>
<p>The analyst continued, “We believe that the Apple version of TV may evolve into a product that is ‘always on’ with the ability to display a variety of messages (texts, Facebook postings, Tweets, email, etc.), weather, pictures, news and other key information as well as even act as a video conferencing device [...] any Apple solution seems like it will need to work along side traditional cable and media arrangements. However, we see opportunity in Apple being able to perhaps work out deals with providers to gain access to channel guides and other key information in order to provide a more elegant integration experience.”</p>
<p>MORE FROM BGR:</p>
<p>Advertisement</p> | Where is Apple’s ‘Next Big Thing’? | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2012/12/12/where-is-apples-next-big-thing.html | 2016-01-29 | 0right
| Where is Apple’s ‘Next Big Thing’?
<p />
<p>Bad news for Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL): The company needs to launch the “next big thing” in order to reverse investors’ soured sentiment according to Barclays Capital analyst Ben Reitzes, and that next big thing could be Apple’s HDTV.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Why is that bad news? Because according to a recent report from The Wall Street Journal, the company’s TV set won’t be launching any time soon — if it even launches at all.</p>
<p><a href="http://bgr.com/2012/12/12/apple-tv-next-big-thing/" type="external">See more tech stories on the FOX Business Technology homepage. Opens a New Window.</a></p>
<p>In a research note sent to clients on Tuesday evening, Reitzes ponders what might snap investors out of their “recent funk.” Shares of Apple stock plummeted by as much as 25% in November from a high of $705.07, which was hit just before the iPhone 5 launched this past September. While some say “people overbelieved in Apple” and the end is nigh, Reitzes thinks Apple just needs to launch the “next big thing” to remind investors why it is the most successful consumer electronics company in the world.</p>
<p>Reitzes goes on to say that an Apple HDTV might be just what the doctor ordered and that a set-top box and service combination could do the trick as well. He sees Apple unveiling its big plans for the living room some time in 2013, and he says he believes Apple is “exploring a new service that integrates iOS, iCloud, iTunes and more content that would bring customers a new experience around a TV-like device.”</p>
<p>The analyst continued, “We believe that the Apple version of TV may evolve into a product that is ‘always on’ with the ability to display a variety of messages (texts, Facebook postings, Tweets, email, etc.), weather, pictures, news and other key information as well as even act as a video conferencing device [...] any Apple solution seems like it will need to work along side traditional cable and media arrangements. However, we see opportunity in Apple being able to perhaps work out deals with providers to gain access to channel guides and other key information in order to provide a more elegant integration experience.”</p>
<p>MORE FROM BGR:</p>
<p>Advertisement</p> | 16 |
<p>Currently there is a bit of a “civil war” going on among progressives between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders supporters. During a primary season, that’s to be expected. Undoubtedly, it’s at this point during an election year when voters are most emotionally tied to a particular candidate. Primary elections often resemble sporting events more than political contests.</p>
<p>But what’s alarmed me most about this particular primary season&#160;is the number of people threatening to “sit out” or “write-in” a candidate if their particular candidate doesn’t happen to win the nomination. A belief that I think is one of the <a href="" type="internal">most asinine stances I’ve ever heard</a>. If you think either Donald Trump, Ted Cruz or Marco Rubio would be better (or just as bad) as voting for either Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders, you are out of your damn mind.</p>
<p>I don’t care what your thoughts are of either Clinton or Sanders, on their worst day, either candidate is a million times better than anyone from the Republican party. And with the rights for millions of Americans at risk, as well as the Supreme Court and our progress on climate change, <a href="" type="internal">there’s too much at stake this election</a> to have any group of people not support the eventual Democratic nominee.</p>
<p>And while I have encountered a few Clinton supporters who’ve vowed not to support Sanders if he becomes the nominee (I’ve even been blocked by a few of them for calling them idiots), the “my candidate or no one” crowd <a href="" type="internal">is mostly found among Sanders supporters</a>. Though I will gladly admit that the majority of those supporting Sanders do&#160;understand the bigger picture and have said they plan to support whichever candidate ultimately wins the nomination.</p>
<p>To those people, I can’t thank them enough. In fact, I can’t thank anyone enough for realizing what’s on the line this election and why it’s so crucial that we all get out and “vote blue, no matter who.” I don’t even want to think about how much damage Republicans will be able to do to this nation if we hand them the White House this November. <a href="" type="internal">It will make George W. Bush’s eight years</a> seem like a wonderful dream compared to the nightmare that a President Trump/Rubio/Cruz would inflict upon the country.</p>
<p>But there’s an irony to anyone who says that they’re going to take their ball and go home if their candidate doesn’t win, and it’s this:&#160;Neither candidate can win without help from the supporters of their primary rival.</p>
<p>If Hillary Clinton wins the nomination, then half of all Sanders supporters decide not to support her, she likely&#160;loses and we’re stuck with a President Trump/Rubio/Cruz.</p>
<p>But guess what?</p>
<p>If Bernie Sanders wins the nomination, then half of all Clinton supporters decide not to support him, he’s likely&#160;going to lose and we’re going to be stuck with a President Trump/Rubio/Cruz.</p>
<p>The truth of the matter is, whether each side wants to admit it or not, they both need each other this&#160;November. Because come election day, if one group decides to let selfish ego and pride get in the way by not supporting the Democratic nominee, guess what?</p>
<p>We all lose.&#160;</p>
<p>So, no matter what Clinton or Sanders supporters might think of one another, the reality is, they’re in this together – whether they like it or not.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p><a href="" type="internal">I Asked Liberals to Unite to Protect the Rights of Millions, Here are Some of the Responses</a></p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">Ultra Pro-Bernie Backer Robert Reich Feels the Wrath of Sanders Supporters for Preaching Unity</a></p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">For the Last Time: Here's Proof the Democratic Primary Wasn't Rigged Against Bernie Sanders</a></p>
<p>0 Facebook comments</p> | Supporters of Both Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders Need to Acknowledge This Crucial Fact | true | http://forwardprogressives.com/supporters-both-hillary-clinton-bernie-sanders-need-acknowledge-crucial-fact/ | 2016-02-27 | 4left
| Supporters of Both Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders Need to Acknowledge This Crucial Fact
<p>Currently there is a bit of a “civil war” going on among progressives between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders supporters. During a primary season, that’s to be expected. Undoubtedly, it’s at this point during an election year when voters are most emotionally tied to a particular candidate. Primary elections often resemble sporting events more than political contests.</p>
<p>But what’s alarmed me most about this particular primary season&#160;is the number of people threatening to “sit out” or “write-in” a candidate if their particular candidate doesn’t happen to win the nomination. A belief that I think is one of the <a href="" type="internal">most asinine stances I’ve ever heard</a>. If you think either Donald Trump, Ted Cruz or Marco Rubio would be better (or just as bad) as voting for either Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders, you are out of your damn mind.</p>
<p>I don’t care what your thoughts are of either Clinton or Sanders, on their worst day, either candidate is a million times better than anyone from the Republican party. And with the rights for millions of Americans at risk, as well as the Supreme Court and our progress on climate change, <a href="" type="internal">there’s too much at stake this election</a> to have any group of people not support the eventual Democratic nominee.</p>
<p>And while I have encountered a few Clinton supporters who’ve vowed not to support Sanders if he becomes the nominee (I’ve even been blocked by a few of them for calling them idiots), the “my candidate or no one” crowd <a href="" type="internal">is mostly found among Sanders supporters</a>. Though I will gladly admit that the majority of those supporting Sanders do&#160;understand the bigger picture and have said they plan to support whichever candidate ultimately wins the nomination.</p>
<p>To those people, I can’t thank them enough. In fact, I can’t thank anyone enough for realizing what’s on the line this election and why it’s so crucial that we all get out and “vote blue, no matter who.” I don’t even want to think about how much damage Republicans will be able to do to this nation if we hand them the White House this November. <a href="" type="internal">It will make George W. Bush’s eight years</a> seem like a wonderful dream compared to the nightmare that a President Trump/Rubio/Cruz would inflict upon the country.</p>
<p>But there’s an irony to anyone who says that they’re going to take their ball and go home if their candidate doesn’t win, and it’s this:&#160;Neither candidate can win without help from the supporters of their primary rival.</p>
<p>If Hillary Clinton wins the nomination, then half of all Sanders supporters decide not to support her, she likely&#160;loses and we’re stuck with a President Trump/Rubio/Cruz.</p>
<p>But guess what?</p>
<p>If Bernie Sanders wins the nomination, then half of all Clinton supporters decide not to support him, he’s likely&#160;going to lose and we’re going to be stuck with a President Trump/Rubio/Cruz.</p>
<p>The truth of the matter is, whether each side wants to admit it or not, they both need each other this&#160;November. Because come election day, if one group decides to let selfish ego and pride get in the way by not supporting the Democratic nominee, guess what?</p>
<p>We all lose.&#160;</p>
<p>So, no matter what Clinton or Sanders supporters might think of one another, the reality is, they’re in this together – whether they like it or not.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p><a href="" type="internal">I Asked Liberals to Unite to Protect the Rights of Millions, Here are Some of the Responses</a></p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">Ultra Pro-Bernie Backer Robert Reich Feels the Wrath of Sanders Supporters for Preaching Unity</a></p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">For the Last Time: Here's Proof the Democratic Primary Wasn't Rigged Against Bernie Sanders</a></p>
<p>0 Facebook comments</p> | 17 |
<p>Don’t get me wrong, rape—on college campuses or anywhere else—is a very serious crime that should be punished severely. But when <a href="http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-California/2014/06/04/College-Students-May-Need-Verbal-or-Written-Consent-to-Have-Sex-on-Campus" type="external">lawmakers start demanding that college students obtain “written or verbal consent”</a> before having sex, it’s a sign we’ve become a tad hysterical on this issue.</p>
<p />
<p><a href="" type="internal" /> <a href="" type="internal" /> <a href="http://www.laweekly.com/informer/2014/06/04/verbal-or-written-permission-could-be-required-for-college-sex" type="external">From LA Weekly:</a></p>
<p>Sounds quite unspontaneous. But a law co-authored by L.A. state Sen. Kevin de Leon would have state-run college campuses establish an “affirmative consent” standard for its students.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>According to the language of the bill, SB 967, students who want to have sex must essentially establish that there has been “an affirmative, unambiguous, and conscious decision by each participant to engage in mutually agreed-upon sexual activity.”…No more making sexy faces and sounds for you. You’ve got to verbalize. Or get it on paper.</p>
<p>Why not just require a notarized letter from an attorney, or better yet, a license? If we’re going to go this far, maybe college kids who want to have sex should go to a DMV-like office to get permission.</p>
<p />
<p>All joking aside, the fact that this is even an issue suggests that a lot of college kids are having sex they’re not comfortable with having. People don’t sign a waiver when they’re engaging in any activity with someone they know and trust. (My advice to college kids: if you feel like you need to have a written contract drawn up with your “partner,” you shouldn’t be having sex with them.)&#160; <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/05/01/college-sexual-assault_n_5247267.html" type="external">Some of the colleges under investigation right now for mishandling sexual assault cases</a> are the most liberal, anything-goes, sexually open institutions in America. They host extravagant “Sex Week” events and pass out condoms to freshmen. They talk a lot about “consent,” but very little about respect, caring, or good judgment. Plying a “yes” out of someone is all that matters.</p>
<p>In an environment like this, the boundaries of consent begin to break down. Students—who face enormous peer pressure to participate in this free-for-all—have trouble saying “no” when they want to. Other students simply don’t respect a “no.” Add a huge amount of alcohol into the mix, and chaos ensues.</p>
<p />
<p>This is the problem that college administrators and lawmakers are trying to fix. But until they have the guts to criticize the culture on college campuses, they’ll get nowhere.</p>
<p /> | California Bill Demands “Verbal or Written Consent” for Sex on College Campuses | true | http://thepoliticalinsider.com/california-bill-demands-verbal-written-consent-sex-college-campuses/ | 2014-06-11 | 0right
| California Bill Demands “Verbal or Written Consent” for Sex on College Campuses
<p>Don’t get me wrong, rape—on college campuses or anywhere else—is a very serious crime that should be punished severely. But when <a href="http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-California/2014/06/04/College-Students-May-Need-Verbal-or-Written-Consent-to-Have-Sex-on-Campus" type="external">lawmakers start demanding that college students obtain “written or verbal consent”</a> before having sex, it’s a sign we’ve become a tad hysterical on this issue.</p>
<p />
<p><a href="" type="internal" /> <a href="" type="internal" /> <a href="http://www.laweekly.com/informer/2014/06/04/verbal-or-written-permission-could-be-required-for-college-sex" type="external">From LA Weekly:</a></p>
<p>Sounds quite unspontaneous. But a law co-authored by L.A. state Sen. Kevin de Leon would have state-run college campuses establish an “affirmative consent” standard for its students.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>According to the language of the bill, SB 967, students who want to have sex must essentially establish that there has been “an affirmative, unambiguous, and conscious decision by each participant to engage in mutually agreed-upon sexual activity.”…No more making sexy faces and sounds for you. You’ve got to verbalize. Or get it on paper.</p>
<p>Why not just require a notarized letter from an attorney, or better yet, a license? If we’re going to go this far, maybe college kids who want to have sex should go to a DMV-like office to get permission.</p>
<p />
<p>All joking aside, the fact that this is even an issue suggests that a lot of college kids are having sex they’re not comfortable with having. People don’t sign a waiver when they’re engaging in any activity with someone they know and trust. (My advice to college kids: if you feel like you need to have a written contract drawn up with your “partner,” you shouldn’t be having sex with them.)&#160; <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/05/01/college-sexual-assault_n_5247267.html" type="external">Some of the colleges under investigation right now for mishandling sexual assault cases</a> are the most liberal, anything-goes, sexually open institutions in America. They host extravagant “Sex Week” events and pass out condoms to freshmen. They talk a lot about “consent,” but very little about respect, caring, or good judgment. Plying a “yes” out of someone is all that matters.</p>
<p>In an environment like this, the boundaries of consent begin to break down. Students—who face enormous peer pressure to participate in this free-for-all—have trouble saying “no” when they want to. Other students simply don’t respect a “no.” Add a huge amount of alcohol into the mix, and chaos ensues.</p>
<p />
<p>This is the problem that college administrators and lawmakers are trying to fix. But until they have the guts to criticize the culture on college campuses, they’ll get nowhere.</p>
<p /> | 18 |
<p><a href="" type="internal">Peter LaBarbera</a> is claiming that gays, or, as he calls them, “homosexual activists,” are are “doing to Christians” what the “Nazis used to do to the Jews.” LaBarbera, head of the <a href="http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/intelligence-files/ideology/anti-gay/active_hate_groups" type="external">certified anti-gay hate group</a>, <a href="" type="internal">Americans For Truth About Homosexuality</a>(AFTAH), was speaking with <a href="" type="internal">Judith Reisman</a>, of Jerry Falwell’s&#160; <a href="" type="internal">Liberty University</a>. <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/labarbera-homosexual-activists-doing-to-christians-what-nazis-used-used-to-do-to-jews" type="external">Right Wing Watch</a>, which has the audio of this conversation, calls Reisman “Liberty University’s&#160; <a href="http://www.alternet.org/story/20744/her_kinsey_obsession" type="external">resident junk scientist</a>.”</p>
<p>“Homosexual activists in many ways drive our culture, they decide what’s going to be in a movie, we see all the portrayals, homosexuals are the most positively portrayed in the movies and on TV, Christians are often negatively portrayed and stereotyped,” LaBarbera claims in his conversation with Reisman. “In many ways, in fact Judith you are Jewish, I think you’re starting to see Hollywood what they’re doing to Christians and to people of faith who actually adhere to traditional values, they’re demonizing them like the Nazis used to do to the Jews. They would compare Jews to rats and we see these vicious, ugly caricatures of Christians coming out of Hollywood. How did we go from that in such a short amount of time to homosexuality being deviant conduct which wasn’t spoken about to now driving our culture?”</p>
<p>Brian Tashman at <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/labarbera-homosexual-activists-doing-to-christians-what-nazis-used-used-to-do-to-jews" type="external">Right Wing Watch</a> notes “while the two anti-gay activists in their last interview&#160; <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/labarbera-gays-muslims-power-oppressing-freedom" type="external">likened gays to Soviet spies and radical Islamists</a>, LaBarbera and Reisman went straight to the Nazi comparisons this time.” Tashman adds:</p>
<p>Reisman eagerly agreed and likened public education in the US to schools in Hitler’s Germany and said that just as Nazis put up Hitler posters instead of the Ten Commandments, “here in the United States we removed the Ten Commandments but we didn’t put up Hitler we put up the AIDS posters, which is just as telling, isn’t it?”</p>
<p>For the record, the Nazis systematically murdered “ <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holocaust" type="external">between 11 million and 17 million people</a>,” including Jewish people, gay people,&#160;Polish&#160;and&#160;Soviet&#160;civilians,&#160;Romani,&#160;communists, and&#160;Soviet prisoners of war, among many others.</p>
<p>Related:</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">‘The New Normal’ Makes LaBarbera Lament There Are No ‘Healthy, Contented Ex-Gays’ On TV</a></p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">Homosexuality: How Much Difference Lies Between US Anti-Gay Groups And Iran?</a></p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">What Peter LaBarbera Will Never Understand</a></p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">Call For ‘Dictator’ Obama To Be Impeached For ‘Celebration Of Homosexuality’</a></p>
<p>Tagged as: <a href="" type="internal">call</a>, <a href="" type="internal">Christianity</a>, <a href="" type="internal">claims</a>, <a href="" type="internal">date of birth missing</a>, <a href="" type="internal">doing</a>, <a href="" type="internal">Gay</a>, <a href="" type="internal">gay hate groups</a>, <a href="" type="internal">gays</a>, <a href="" type="internal">human behavior</a>, <a href="" type="internal">human sexuality</a>, <a href="" type="internal">jerry falwell</a>, <a href="" type="internal">judith reisman</a>, <a href="" type="internal">labarbera</a>, <a href="" type="internal">nazis</a>, <a href="" type="internal">nazism</a>, <a href="" type="internal">Peter LaBarbera</a>, <a href="" type="internal">reisman</a>, <a href="" type="internal">social issues</a>, <a href="" type="internal">the nazis</a></p>
<p>Friends:</p>
<p>We invite you to <a href="http://visitor.r20.constantcontact.com/manage/optin?v=001whLQo73KzGhEjdskYG07rHNy_XoDDkSBBO4INZHx6oD9kfp2yeeQAJeMQUu9oTviZa0VEl5k0rNiLifxlZsOFScMz8rVGmIaN-FFOO3GTKc%3D" type="external">sign up for our new mailing list</a>, and&#160; <a href="http://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mailverify?uri=TheNewCivilRightsMovement&amp;amp;loc=en_US" type="external">subscribe to The New Civil Rights Movement via email</a> or <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/thenewcivilrightsmovement" type="external">RSS</a>.</p>
<p>Also, please&#160; <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-New-Civil-Rights-Movement/358168880614" type="external">like us on Facebook</a>, and <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/gaycivilrights" type="external">follow us on Twitter</a>!</p> | Gays Are ‘Doing To Christians’ What ‘Nazis Used To Do To Jews’ Says LaBarbera | true | http://thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/gays-are-doing-to-christians-what-nazis-used-to-do-to-jews-says-labarbera/politics/2012/10/15/51263 | 2012-10-15 | 4left
| Gays Are ‘Doing To Christians’ What ‘Nazis Used To Do To Jews’ Says LaBarbera
<p><a href="" type="internal">Peter LaBarbera</a> is claiming that gays, or, as he calls them, “homosexual activists,” are are “doing to Christians” what the “Nazis used to do to the Jews.” LaBarbera, head of the <a href="http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/intelligence-files/ideology/anti-gay/active_hate_groups" type="external">certified anti-gay hate group</a>, <a href="" type="internal">Americans For Truth About Homosexuality</a>(AFTAH), was speaking with <a href="" type="internal">Judith Reisman</a>, of Jerry Falwell’s&#160; <a href="" type="internal">Liberty University</a>. <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/labarbera-homosexual-activists-doing-to-christians-what-nazis-used-used-to-do-to-jews" type="external">Right Wing Watch</a>, which has the audio of this conversation, calls Reisman “Liberty University’s&#160; <a href="http://www.alternet.org/story/20744/her_kinsey_obsession" type="external">resident junk scientist</a>.”</p>
<p>“Homosexual activists in many ways drive our culture, they decide what’s going to be in a movie, we see all the portrayals, homosexuals are the most positively portrayed in the movies and on TV, Christians are often negatively portrayed and stereotyped,” LaBarbera claims in his conversation with Reisman. “In many ways, in fact Judith you are Jewish, I think you’re starting to see Hollywood what they’re doing to Christians and to people of faith who actually adhere to traditional values, they’re demonizing them like the Nazis used to do to the Jews. They would compare Jews to rats and we see these vicious, ugly caricatures of Christians coming out of Hollywood. How did we go from that in such a short amount of time to homosexuality being deviant conduct which wasn’t spoken about to now driving our culture?”</p>
<p>Brian Tashman at <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/labarbera-homosexual-activists-doing-to-christians-what-nazis-used-used-to-do-to-jews" type="external">Right Wing Watch</a> notes “while the two anti-gay activists in their last interview&#160; <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/labarbera-gays-muslims-power-oppressing-freedom" type="external">likened gays to Soviet spies and radical Islamists</a>, LaBarbera and Reisman went straight to the Nazi comparisons this time.” Tashman adds:</p>
<p>Reisman eagerly agreed and likened public education in the US to schools in Hitler’s Germany and said that just as Nazis put up Hitler posters instead of the Ten Commandments, “here in the United States we removed the Ten Commandments but we didn’t put up Hitler we put up the AIDS posters, which is just as telling, isn’t it?”</p>
<p>For the record, the Nazis systematically murdered “ <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holocaust" type="external">between 11 million and 17 million people</a>,” including Jewish people, gay people,&#160;Polish&#160;and&#160;Soviet&#160;civilians,&#160;Romani,&#160;communists, and&#160;Soviet prisoners of war, among many others.</p>
<p>Related:</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">‘The New Normal’ Makes LaBarbera Lament There Are No ‘Healthy, Contented Ex-Gays’ On TV</a></p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">Homosexuality: How Much Difference Lies Between US Anti-Gay Groups And Iran?</a></p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">What Peter LaBarbera Will Never Understand</a></p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">Call For ‘Dictator’ Obama To Be Impeached For ‘Celebration Of Homosexuality’</a></p>
<p>Tagged as: <a href="" type="internal">call</a>, <a href="" type="internal">Christianity</a>, <a href="" type="internal">claims</a>, <a href="" type="internal">date of birth missing</a>, <a href="" type="internal">doing</a>, <a href="" type="internal">Gay</a>, <a href="" type="internal">gay hate groups</a>, <a href="" type="internal">gays</a>, <a href="" type="internal">human behavior</a>, <a href="" type="internal">human sexuality</a>, <a href="" type="internal">jerry falwell</a>, <a href="" type="internal">judith reisman</a>, <a href="" type="internal">labarbera</a>, <a href="" type="internal">nazis</a>, <a href="" type="internal">nazism</a>, <a href="" type="internal">Peter LaBarbera</a>, <a href="" type="internal">reisman</a>, <a href="" type="internal">social issues</a>, <a href="" type="internal">the nazis</a></p>
<p>Friends:</p>
<p>We invite you to <a href="http://visitor.r20.constantcontact.com/manage/optin?v=001whLQo73KzGhEjdskYG07rHNy_XoDDkSBBO4INZHx6oD9kfp2yeeQAJeMQUu9oTviZa0VEl5k0rNiLifxlZsOFScMz8rVGmIaN-FFOO3GTKc%3D" type="external">sign up for our new mailing list</a>, and&#160; <a href="http://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mailverify?uri=TheNewCivilRightsMovement&amp;amp;loc=en_US" type="external">subscribe to The New Civil Rights Movement via email</a> or <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/thenewcivilrightsmovement" type="external">RSS</a>.</p>
<p>Also, please&#160; <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-New-Civil-Rights-Movement/358168880614" type="external">like us on Facebook</a>, and <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/gaycivilrights" type="external">follow us on Twitter</a>!</p> | 19 |
<p>WESTERLY, R.I. (AP) — A Rhode Island public school district has been paying for a crossing guard at a private school for 18 years, now the superintendent says it needs to stop.</p>
<p>Westerly Superintendent Mark Garceau told the school committee Wednesday that the deal with St. Pius X Regional Academy came to light earlier this month when the department's payroll office was preparing for the upcoming budget.</p>
<p>The Sun <a href="http://www.thewesterlysun.com/News/Westerly/Regular-Westerly-School-Committee-meeting.html" type="external">reports</a> that Garceau said the crossing guard was costing the school district about $5,000 a year. He called the principal of St. Pius X to tell her the situation would end.</p>
<p>The Catholic school's principal said the crossing guard is important because the school is on a dangerous street.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Information from: The Westerly Sun, <a href="http://www.thewesterlysun.com" type="external">http://www.thewesterlysun.com</a></p>
<p>WESTERLY, R.I. (AP) — A Rhode Island public school district has been paying for a crossing guard at a private school for 18 years, now the superintendent says it needs to stop.</p>
<p>Westerly Superintendent Mark Garceau told the school committee Wednesday that the deal with St. Pius X Regional Academy came to light earlier this month when the department's payroll office was preparing for the upcoming budget.</p>
<p>The Sun <a href="http://www.thewesterlysun.com/News/Westerly/Regular-Westerly-School-Committee-meeting.html" type="external">reports</a> that Garceau said the crossing guard was costing the school district about $5,000 a year. He called the principal of St. Pius X to tell her the situation would end.</p>
<p>The Catholic school's principal said the crossing guard is important because the school is on a dangerous street.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Information from: The Westerly Sun, <a href="http://www.thewesterlysun.com" type="external">http://www.thewesterlysun.com</a></p> | Public schools paid for private school crossing guard | false | https://apnews.com/amp/7c227a05ec494cdd9eb9ce1218263b47 | 2018-01-25 | 2least
| Public schools paid for private school crossing guard
<p>WESTERLY, R.I. (AP) — A Rhode Island public school district has been paying for a crossing guard at a private school for 18 years, now the superintendent says it needs to stop.</p>
<p>Westerly Superintendent Mark Garceau told the school committee Wednesday that the deal with St. Pius X Regional Academy came to light earlier this month when the department's payroll office was preparing for the upcoming budget.</p>
<p>The Sun <a href="http://www.thewesterlysun.com/News/Westerly/Regular-Westerly-School-Committee-meeting.html" type="external">reports</a> that Garceau said the crossing guard was costing the school district about $5,000 a year. He called the principal of St. Pius X to tell her the situation would end.</p>
<p>The Catholic school's principal said the crossing guard is important because the school is on a dangerous street.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Information from: The Westerly Sun, <a href="http://www.thewesterlysun.com" type="external">http://www.thewesterlysun.com</a></p>
<p>WESTERLY, R.I. (AP) — A Rhode Island public school district has been paying for a crossing guard at a private school for 18 years, now the superintendent says it needs to stop.</p>
<p>Westerly Superintendent Mark Garceau told the school committee Wednesday that the deal with St. Pius X Regional Academy came to light earlier this month when the department's payroll office was preparing for the upcoming budget.</p>
<p>The Sun <a href="http://www.thewesterlysun.com/News/Westerly/Regular-Westerly-School-Committee-meeting.html" type="external">reports</a> that Garceau said the crossing guard was costing the school district about $5,000 a year. He called the principal of St. Pius X to tell her the situation would end.</p>
<p>The Catholic school's principal said the crossing guard is important because the school is on a dangerous street.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Information from: The Westerly Sun, <a href="http://www.thewesterlysun.com" type="external">http://www.thewesterlysun.com</a></p> | 20 |
<p>Staples announced Tuesday that it would close 60 of its stores mostly in Europe to cut $250 million by 2015.</p>
<p>Europe will see 45 stores closed while the US stores will see total square footage reduced by 15 percent.</p>
<p>The move is part of a restructuring in which the office supply giant likely hopes to sell off its European printing business while strengthening its online presence.</p>
<p>Office supply retailers like Staples have been badly bruised in the recession during which business customers declined.</p>
<p>They have also had to face growing competition from online retailers like Amazon, while dealing with an increasingly paper-less world, <a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/deals/2012/09/25/staples-plans-restructuring-and-store-closings-but-no-word-of-sale/" type="external">said the Wall Street Journal</a>.</p>
<p>More from GlobalPost:&#160; <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/asia-pacific/china/120925/top-11-wealthiest-economy-slowdown-finance" type="external">Meet the top 11 wealthiest people in China</a></p>
<p>The company reported a large fall of its net income in the first and second quarters of the fiscal year, <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/business/bloomberg/article/Staples-to-Close-60-Stores-in-Plan-to-Save-250-3893495.php" type="external">said Bloomberg</a>, and has been hurt by a lack of job creation in the US and Europe.</p>
<p>Foot traffic is also down at Staples stores across the country and in Europe in particular, <a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/Business/Latest-News-Wires/2012/0925/Staples-speeds-up-store-closures-focuses-online" type="external">said the Christian Science Monitor</a>.</p>
<p>Apart from closing stores and increasing its online presence, the company also named a new executive, Demos Parneros to run its US retail and online division, <a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/deals/2012/09/25/staples-plans-restructuring-and-store-closings-but-no-word-of-sale/" type="external">said the Wall Street Journal</a>.</p>
<p>The Framingham, Mass., company currently operates in 26 countries and on every continent except Africa.</p>
<p>Staples's stock slipped 5 cents to $12.30 with the news of the shake-up.</p> | Staples says its closing 60 stores, mostly in Europe, to cut costs | false | https://pri.org/stories/2012-09-26/staples-says-its-closing-60-stores-mostly-europe-cut-costs | 2012-09-26 | 3left-center
| Staples says its closing 60 stores, mostly in Europe, to cut costs
<p>Staples announced Tuesday that it would close 60 of its stores mostly in Europe to cut $250 million by 2015.</p>
<p>Europe will see 45 stores closed while the US stores will see total square footage reduced by 15 percent.</p>
<p>The move is part of a restructuring in which the office supply giant likely hopes to sell off its European printing business while strengthening its online presence.</p>
<p>Office supply retailers like Staples have been badly bruised in the recession during which business customers declined.</p>
<p>They have also had to face growing competition from online retailers like Amazon, while dealing with an increasingly paper-less world, <a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/deals/2012/09/25/staples-plans-restructuring-and-store-closings-but-no-word-of-sale/" type="external">said the Wall Street Journal</a>.</p>
<p>More from GlobalPost:&#160; <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/asia-pacific/china/120925/top-11-wealthiest-economy-slowdown-finance" type="external">Meet the top 11 wealthiest people in China</a></p>
<p>The company reported a large fall of its net income in the first and second quarters of the fiscal year, <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/business/bloomberg/article/Staples-to-Close-60-Stores-in-Plan-to-Save-250-3893495.php" type="external">said Bloomberg</a>, and has been hurt by a lack of job creation in the US and Europe.</p>
<p>Foot traffic is also down at Staples stores across the country and in Europe in particular, <a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/Business/Latest-News-Wires/2012/0925/Staples-speeds-up-store-closures-focuses-online" type="external">said the Christian Science Monitor</a>.</p>
<p>Apart from closing stores and increasing its online presence, the company also named a new executive, Demos Parneros to run its US retail and online division, <a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/deals/2012/09/25/staples-plans-restructuring-and-store-closings-but-no-word-of-sale/" type="external">said the Wall Street Journal</a>.</p>
<p>The Framingham, Mass., company currently operates in 26 countries and on every continent except Africa.</p>
<p>Staples's stock slipped 5 cents to $12.30 with the news of the shake-up.</p> | 21 |
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<p />
<p>— David L. Otero, Albuquerque</p>
<p>WOW! LEAVE IT UP to the Journal to wax poetic, AGAIN, about anything Rio Rancho! Now, praising a former eighth-grader who left for all places, Texas, without a mention of two native New Mexicans who represented at NCAA Wrestling tourney. Awesome job Eric Montoya from Volcano Vista … and Rico Montoya from Robertson. Stick to news about Albuquerque, Journal!</p>
<p>— Tony Duran</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Thanks for the heads up. Eric Montoya won four matches at the NCAAs for Nebraska and finished in sixth place at 133 pounds. Rico Montoya of (Las Vegas) Robertson, competing at Northern Colorado, lost twice at the NCAAs. He&#160; finished fourth in the Big 12 tournament.&#160; — Randy, Journal</p>
<p>MOST OF US wanted to see former Lobo Cullen Neal, now playing for Ole Miss, do well in the NIT. I’m not sure, however, what coach Neal was thinking while promoting Rebel basketball on national TV in an Ole Miss T-shirt. Given that UNM compensates him almost $1 million per year, how about a Lobo shirt? …</p>
<p>— Lobo (Not Rebel) BB Fan</p>
<p>C’MON ANTHONY Mathis … please don’t transfer.</p>
<p>— Fran</p>
<p>HAIL THE RETURN of the jerseys! (and the cleats and helmet … )!</p>
<p>— Patricia Murphy</p>
<p>A ROD AND J LO are now an item. Luckily, there are no innocent bystanders.</p>
<p>— Larry the VOL</p>
<p>CONGRATULATIONS TO the NMSU men’s and women’s basketball teams. Thank you to Coach Weir and to Coach Trakh for your dedication to prepare these student-athletes for competition at the highest level. Go Aggies!</p>
<p>— Aggie Nation</p> | Speak Up! Journal, Cibola High alumni doing big things applauded | false | https://abqjournal.com/974236/speak-up-journal-cibola-high-alumni-doing-big-things-applauded.html | 2least
| Speak Up! Journal, Cibola High alumni doing big things applauded
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>— David L. Otero, Albuquerque</p>
<p>WOW! LEAVE IT UP to the Journal to wax poetic, AGAIN, about anything Rio Rancho! Now, praising a former eighth-grader who left for all places, Texas, without a mention of two native New Mexicans who represented at NCAA Wrestling tourney. Awesome job Eric Montoya from Volcano Vista … and Rico Montoya from Robertson. Stick to news about Albuquerque, Journal!</p>
<p>— Tony Duran</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Thanks for the heads up. Eric Montoya won four matches at the NCAAs for Nebraska and finished in sixth place at 133 pounds. Rico Montoya of (Las Vegas) Robertson, competing at Northern Colorado, lost twice at the NCAAs. He&#160; finished fourth in the Big 12 tournament.&#160; — Randy, Journal</p>
<p>MOST OF US wanted to see former Lobo Cullen Neal, now playing for Ole Miss, do well in the NIT. I’m not sure, however, what coach Neal was thinking while promoting Rebel basketball on national TV in an Ole Miss T-shirt. Given that UNM compensates him almost $1 million per year, how about a Lobo shirt? …</p>
<p>— Lobo (Not Rebel) BB Fan</p>
<p>C’MON ANTHONY Mathis … please don’t transfer.</p>
<p>— Fran</p>
<p>HAIL THE RETURN of the jerseys! (and the cleats and helmet … )!</p>
<p>— Patricia Murphy</p>
<p>A ROD AND J LO are now an item. Luckily, there are no innocent bystanders.</p>
<p>— Larry the VOL</p>
<p>CONGRATULATIONS TO the NMSU men’s and women’s basketball teams. Thank you to Coach Weir and to Coach Trakh for your dedication to prepare these student-athletes for competition at the highest level. Go Aggies!</p>
<p>— Aggie Nation</p> | 22 |
|
<p>Chris Matthews was on a roll last night.&#160; First it was the fawning interview with Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz on her new role as the DNC Chairman, then it was this segment about Donald Trump, where he compared Fox News to being a roach motel for Republican candidates.</p>
<p />
<p>Visit msnbc.com for <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com" type="external">breaking news</a>, <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032507" type="external">world news</a>, and <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032072" type="external">news about the economy</a></p>
<p>Matthews: By the way, working at Fox has kind of turned out to be kind of the roach motel. I mean anybody who's going over there to work seems like they're getting the sticky stuff on the floor over there. They haven't been able to come back.</p>
<p>Any real or perceived implosion by prospective Republican candidates as a result of their appearances on Fox would be of their own doing and has nothing to do with being associated with Fox. But for liberals like Matthews any chance to link conservative or Republican failure to Fox, no matter how much it strains credulity, is just too good to pass up.</p>
<p>But who needs real facts when you have Chris Matthews?</p>
<p>&#160;</p> | MSNBC's Matthews Calls Fox News a 'Roach Motel' for GOP Candidates | true | http://aim.org/don-irvine-blog/msnbcs-matthews-calls-fox-news-a-roach-motel-for-gop-candidates/ | 2011-04-15 | 0right
| MSNBC's Matthews Calls Fox News a 'Roach Motel' for GOP Candidates
<p>Chris Matthews was on a roll last night.&#160; First it was the fawning interview with Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz on her new role as the DNC Chairman, then it was this segment about Donald Trump, where he compared Fox News to being a roach motel for Republican candidates.</p>
<p />
<p>Visit msnbc.com for <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com" type="external">breaking news</a>, <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032507" type="external">world news</a>, and <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032072" type="external">news about the economy</a></p>
<p>Matthews: By the way, working at Fox has kind of turned out to be kind of the roach motel. I mean anybody who's going over there to work seems like they're getting the sticky stuff on the floor over there. They haven't been able to come back.</p>
<p>Any real or perceived implosion by prospective Republican candidates as a result of their appearances on Fox would be of their own doing and has nothing to do with being associated with Fox. But for liberals like Matthews any chance to link conservative or Republican failure to Fox, no matter how much it strains credulity, is just too good to pass up.</p>
<p>But who needs real facts when you have Chris Matthews?</p>
<p>&#160;</p> | 23 |
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<p />
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>Richardson is suspending all hiring during the transition.&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>“We took decisive action two years ago to severely restrict hiring, which has shrunk state government by more than 2,000 employees and saved tens of millions of dollars,” Richardson said in a statement. “However, in an effort to work with Governor-Elect, I am suspending all hiring during the transition.”</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>Richardson created a more restrictive hiring process in fall 2009, the statement said. He took away the ability of state agencies to hire new employees without justification. Agency heads during the past two years have been required to justify a critical need and get approval from the State Personnel Office and the Department of Finance &amp; Administration for each new hire.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>From now on, executive branch agencies will not be allowed to hire new employees.</p> | Richardson Says No More Executive Branch Hires For The Rest Of The Year | false | https://abqjournal.com/10136/richardson-says-no-more-executive-branch-hires-for-the-rest-of-the-year.html | 2least
| Richardson Says No More Executive Branch Hires For The Rest Of The Year
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<p>Richardson is suspending all hiring during the transition.&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>“We took decisive action two years ago to severely restrict hiring, which has shrunk state government by more than 2,000 employees and saved tens of millions of dollars,” Richardson said in a statement. “However, in an effort to work with Governor-Elect, I am suspending all hiring during the transition.”</p>
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<p>&#160;</p>
<p>Richardson created a more restrictive hiring process in fall 2009, the statement said. He took away the ability of state agencies to hire new employees without justification. Agency heads during the past two years have been required to justify a critical need and get approval from the State Personnel Office and the Department of Finance &amp; Administration for each new hire.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>From now on, executive branch agencies will not be allowed to hire new employees.</p> | 24 |
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<p>International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde said on Thursday she believes the IMF can work successfully with the Trump administration to improve the global trading system, but added that open trade must be preserved as a growth engine.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Lagarde told a news conference at the opening of the IMF and World Bank spring meetings in Washington that the IMF saw the need to reduce subsidies and other trade distortions that limit competition, but also said "protectionist measures" needed to be avoided.</p>
<p>"From the various contacts that I've had with the administration so far, I have every reason to believe that we will make progress, that we will cooperate all together in order to support and indeed improve the system as we have it," Lagarde said. (Reporting by David Lawder; Editing by Paul Simao)</p> | Lagarde: IMF can Cooperate with Trump to Improve Global Trade | true | http://foxbusiness.com/politics/2017/04/20/lagarde-imf-can-cooperate-with-trump-to-improve-global-trade.html | 2017-04-20 | 0right
| Lagarde: IMF can Cooperate with Trump to Improve Global Trade
<p />
<p>International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde said on Thursday she believes the IMF can work successfully with the Trump administration to improve the global trading system, but added that open trade must be preserved as a growth engine.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Lagarde told a news conference at the opening of the IMF and World Bank spring meetings in Washington that the IMF saw the need to reduce subsidies and other trade distortions that limit competition, but also said "protectionist measures" needed to be avoided.</p>
<p>"From the various contacts that I've had with the administration so far, I have every reason to believe that we will make progress, that we will cooperate all together in order to support and indeed improve the system as we have it," Lagarde said. (Reporting by David Lawder; Editing by Paul Simao)</p> | 25 |
<p>Empires die.&#160; Some abruptly, by cataclysmic defeat and destruction; most in stages, over years, decades.&#160; Our own meltdown–early in the fantasized “New American Century”–will not be exceptional… unlike our arrogance.</p>
<p>When human injury results in coma, a victim is assessed on the Glasgow Coma Scale.&#160; Eye function, and sound and motion capability, indicate if death is imminent or not.</p>
<p>Empires’ ends are unpredictable, but three criteria seem determinant: military overreach, state insolvency, and economic inequity.</p>
<p>Our overreach is obvious, ridiculous, and inalterable: our criminal economy demands it.&#160; America attacks, invades, and destroys so our murderous war machine can engorge itself on wealth extracted from our own blood and marrow.</p>
<p>Our State–absolutely insolvent, existing on loans–runs a giant shell game using keystroke fiat money on nations so gigantically bankrupt, so utterly captive, that they have to accept the wildly bogus dollar’s value or crash and burn.</p>
<p>Economic inequity is at a level unmatched in any empire since Ninevah and all financial levers work to increase it.</p>
<p>So then, for America, is it all over but the shouting?</p>
<p>Or can this absurdly precarious condition continue?&#160; It probably can, until a Black Swan event roars out of the dark and sweeps the whole moribund structure away.</p>
<p>So, a clumsily provoked war, perhaps, against a real adversary, not one of the tiny, poor, primitive “enemies” that routinely stalemate our glitzy war machine.&#160; Or a category 5 typhoon of 200 trillion in derivatives that blows Wall Street’s house down?&#160; A “people’s revolution”..?&#160; Nah.</p>
<p>The unique feature of our Empire may be the stunning contrast between its ponderous material might and the imbecility of its human owners.&#160; Wherever one looks in the stratosphere of American authority, instead of wisdom and probity there is rabid vacuity or what-me-worry bufoonery.</p>
<p>Our President is the incarnation of infantile autism.&#160; His Braindead Trust of dotty warlords are brass boobs with the intellectual acuity of ventriloquists’ dummies.&#160; His cabinet is a looney gaggle of retro clowns and Snerd goofuses, embarrassing even to that stumblebum Congress of sociopathic criminals and defectives that confirmed them.</p>
<p>And the Goldberg Machine of US Empire churns on.&#160; And so it goes, as Vonnegut said.&#160; In his view humans were put on earth to fart around, and this seems certain in our case.</p>
<p>But listen!&#160; The sound you hear behind the idiocy of official fake news is the tectonic rumble of imperial earthquake.</p> | How Long, America? | true | https://counterpunch.org/2017/10/02/how-long-america-2/ | 2017-10-02 | 4left
| How Long, America?
<p>Empires die.&#160; Some abruptly, by cataclysmic defeat and destruction; most in stages, over years, decades.&#160; Our own meltdown–early in the fantasized “New American Century”–will not be exceptional… unlike our arrogance.</p>
<p>When human injury results in coma, a victim is assessed on the Glasgow Coma Scale.&#160; Eye function, and sound and motion capability, indicate if death is imminent or not.</p>
<p>Empires’ ends are unpredictable, but three criteria seem determinant: military overreach, state insolvency, and economic inequity.</p>
<p>Our overreach is obvious, ridiculous, and inalterable: our criminal economy demands it.&#160; America attacks, invades, and destroys so our murderous war machine can engorge itself on wealth extracted from our own blood and marrow.</p>
<p>Our State–absolutely insolvent, existing on loans–runs a giant shell game using keystroke fiat money on nations so gigantically bankrupt, so utterly captive, that they have to accept the wildly bogus dollar’s value or crash and burn.</p>
<p>Economic inequity is at a level unmatched in any empire since Ninevah and all financial levers work to increase it.</p>
<p>So then, for America, is it all over but the shouting?</p>
<p>Or can this absurdly precarious condition continue?&#160; It probably can, until a Black Swan event roars out of the dark and sweeps the whole moribund structure away.</p>
<p>So, a clumsily provoked war, perhaps, against a real adversary, not one of the tiny, poor, primitive “enemies” that routinely stalemate our glitzy war machine.&#160; Or a category 5 typhoon of 200 trillion in derivatives that blows Wall Street’s house down?&#160; A “people’s revolution”..?&#160; Nah.</p>
<p>The unique feature of our Empire may be the stunning contrast between its ponderous material might and the imbecility of its human owners.&#160; Wherever one looks in the stratosphere of American authority, instead of wisdom and probity there is rabid vacuity or what-me-worry bufoonery.</p>
<p>Our President is the incarnation of infantile autism.&#160; His Braindead Trust of dotty warlords are brass boobs with the intellectual acuity of ventriloquists’ dummies.&#160; His cabinet is a looney gaggle of retro clowns and Snerd goofuses, embarrassing even to that stumblebum Congress of sociopathic criminals and defectives that confirmed them.</p>
<p>And the Goldberg Machine of US Empire churns on.&#160; And so it goes, as Vonnegut said.&#160; In his view humans were put on earth to fart around, and this seems certain in our case.</p>
<p>But listen!&#160; The sound you hear behind the idiocy of official fake news is the tectonic rumble of imperial earthquake.</p> | 26 |
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