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Which Democrats are running in 2020?

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Warren and Kirsten Gillibrand The number of Democrats lining up to try to take on President Donald Trump as he seeks re-election is growing by the week. This field of candidates promises to be the most diverse yet. It already has the most women running in US history. The BBC's Anthony Zurcher casts his eye over them. Senator for California, 54-year-old attorney, mixed race Anthony's take: Kamala Harris is the kind of Democrat who could stick around and prevail in what is sure to be a gruelling nomination battle. She is from California, which is rich in both primary delegates and fundraising dollars. As a woman, and from an ethnic minority, she is well positioned to capitalise on her party's growing diversity. She has one of the most liberal voting records in the US Senate at a time when Democrats are leaning to the left, but she also has a background as a hard-nosed prosecutor. Image copyright Getty Images That background may end up a vulnerability as well, given that some progressives have criticised her for failing to support California criminal justice reform efforts and pointed to her prosecutorial record as being insufficiently sensitive to the rights of the accused. She will have to walk a fine line to tout her accomplishments while justifying her decisions. Ms Harris has only been on the national stage two years, and not every political neophyte can hold up under fire the way Mr Obama did in 2008. She will be tested in the coming months, but she starts the contest near the head of the pack. Another senator, this time from Massachusetts, a thorn in the side of big banks Anthony's take: Elizabeth Warren has been a favourite of the progressive left since she emerged on the political scene to push for tougher regulation of the financial sector after the 2008 economic crash. During her time in the US Senate she became known for her hard-nosed interrogations of Wall Street executives and as an outspoken critic of income inequality. That loyal base may be enough to rise to the top of a fractured Democratic presidential field - particularly if Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, the other progressive star of the Senate, decides not to run. Image copyright Getty Images The challenge for Ms Warren will be expanding her appeal beyond the already converted. She's an academic by training, having spent much of her adult career as a professor. Her campaign, however, is already emphasising her working-class upbringing over her educational pedigree, as a means of connecting her personal story to the activist government policies she supports. Ms Warren will face the challenge of having to define her candidacy while taking fire from Donald Trump, who has repeatedly disparaged her past claims of native American heritage. Although she hardly mentions the president in speeches these days, she'll have to convince Democrats she won't be only the latest politician the president has belittled - and then defeated. New York senator who likes to emphasise she's a mother of two, the candidate most closely allied to #MeToo Anthony's take: Announcing a presidential campaign on the Stephen Colbert Show may end up a clich by the time the year is over, but credit Kirsten Gillibrand with being one of the first to try it. The New York senator's decision to (almost) throw her hat into the ring isn't a huge shock. She's long been positioning herself as one of the candidates most likely to capitalise on the #MeToo movement, and her pitch as someone who will "fight as hard for other people's kids as she would for her own" just might resonate. Image copyright Getty Images Her steady march to 2020 hit a few bumps along the way, though. She angered some Democrats by quickly calling for Senator Al Franken's resignation after he faced sexual harassment charges. And she alienated Clinton loyalists by criticising Bill Clinton's handling of the Monica Lewinsky scandal. These decisions could hurt her, even if she cites them as evidence that she matches her feminist rhetoric with action. As a New Yorker, however, she can tap into a deep vein of campaign cash. She's young and charismatic. If she catches the wave of women voters that powered Democrats to victory last year, it just might carry her to the nomination. Mayor of San Antonio, Texas, from 2009 to 2014, aged 44 and served as housing secretary for President Obama Anthony's take: It wasn't long ago that Julian Castro would have been considered a top-tier candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination. He was a well-regarded mayor of San Antonio, landed the keynote address at the 2012 Democratic National Convention and went on to a Cabinet position in the Obama administration. Now, however, he may not even end up the most popular Texan in the race, if former congressman (and Democratic heartthrob) Beto O'Rourke decides to run. And there are other politicians - ones currently holding elective office or, like former Vice-President Joe Biden, with instant name recognition - who are generating more presidential buzz. Image copyright Getty Images Even if Mr Castro isn't quite the rising star he used to be - and, quite honestly, he has never been a particularly compelling public speaker - he still has the potential to build a following in the race to come. He's a third-generation Mexican-American at a time when Democrats are desperate to engage the growing Latino population in the US. He's young at a time when many Democrats are seeking generational change. As a moderate in a party moving to the left, however, he's got his work cut out for him. Born in America Samoa, aged 37, represents Hawaiian district in Congress Anthony's take: Tulsi Gabbard, the first Hindi member of the US Congress, is a difficult candidate to characterise. Most of the Hawaii congresswoman's views fit firmly in the Democratic Party's progressive camp. She was an early and outspoken supporter of Bernie Sanders' 2016 presidential campaign and has been an advocate of universal government-provided healthcare, raising the minimum wage and an anti-interventionist foreign policy. Image copyright Google The Iraq War veteran has drawn criticism, however, for meeting with Bashar al-Assad in January 2017 - after the Syrian president had been accused of repeatedly using poison gas on civilian populations. The daughter of a socially conservative politician and activist, Ms Gabbard may also draw the ire of Democratic voters for her past criticism of "homosexual extremists" and opposition to abortion rights and gay marriage. She's also opposed the Iran nuclear deal and condemned "Islamic extremism" in language more reminiscent of a Republican candidate. If Democrats are looking for a young, charismatic iconoclast - even if it means supporting someone whose views don't always match their own - then Ms Gabbard might have a shot. As Republicans will attest, stranger things have happened. Became a city mayor when still in his 20s and served in the Navy, first openly gay candidate Anthony's take: Most stories published about Pete Buttigieg prominently mention that he is a Millennial - a member of the generation born between 1981 and 1996. That isn't by accident. The South Bend, Indiana, mayor isn't the only Millennial in the 2020 race - Hawaii Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard is also 37 - but Mr Buttigieg is positioning himself as a voice for the young. As he notes, his generation came of age in the aftermath of 9/11, were the ones who fought in subsequent US wars and struggled to establish a financial foothold amidst the wreckage of the 2008 economic collapse. Image copyright Getty Images Where their aging parents, the postwar Baby Boomers, may not be as concerned about long-term impact of US policies, Mr Buttigieg says Millennials will have to deal with the fallout from today's crises for decades. Mr Buttigieg enters the race with a unique resume. He's an openly gay veteran of the Afghanistan War and a Rhode Scholar. As mid-western mayor, he's shown he has voter appeal in a region that helped deliver the presidency to Donald Trump. The march of time ensures Millennials will run things someday. A Buttigieg presidency is a long shot for 2020, but his candidacy is a sign of things to come. Son of an electrician, spent six years as congressman in Maryland. Anthony's take: Delaney was officially the first entrant into the 2020 Democratic presidential field when he announced his candidacy in July 2017. The former tech entrepreneur has a platform that focuses on jobs, education and infrastructure and a return to bipartisan co-operation. A retired Army Major who was state senator in W Virginia, aged 48 Anthony's take: He may not have won his 2018 campaign for a House seat from West Virginia, but that didn't stop the former Army paratrooper from already announcing his presidential bid. He offers an unusual blend of economic populism, education advocacy and support for coal mining and gun rights. An entrepreneur, 44, born in New York to Taiwanese parents Anthony's take: A technology entrepreneur who is proposing the US government pay a $1,000-a-month "freedom dividend" to all Americans between the ages of 18 and 64 as a form of universal basic income to cushion against fewer jobs due to increased automation.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-46954566

What was that small flash of light during the super blood wolf moon?

The super blood wolf moon eclipse is seen Jan. 20 in Burbank, California. (Photo: Kevin Winter, Getty Images) As if a super blood wolf moon wasn't enough, some observers noticed another spectacular sighting in Sunday night's sky: A small flash of light. During the lunar eclipse, a meteorite actually struck the moon. Researcher Jose Maria Madiedo shared a video of the crash he captured through Spain's Moons Impacts Detection and Analysis System. "A rock hits the moon," he tweeted on Tuesday. He wasn't the only one who noticed the object. Some users on Reddit also started a discussion about the "bright flash." The crash was easy to miss. Even with advanced equipment, the meteorite appeared as a quick, speck of light near the top of the moon, as seen in a video. It occurred at 11:41 p.m. Eastern, according to Madiedo's sighting. This could be the first time a meteorite hitting the moon was ever recorded during a lunar eclipse, Gizmodo reports. More: Remarkable photos of the super blood wolf moon eclipse from around the world Follow Ashley May on Twitter: @AshleyMayTweets Read or Share this story: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/01/23/flash-during-super-blood-wolf-moon-meteorite-crash/2655585002/

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/01/23/flash-during-super-blood-wolf-moon-meteorite-crash/2655585002/

Has there been no major terror attack in India since 2014?

Claim: India has not experienced a single major terror attack since Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government came to power in 2014. Verdict: Both official and independent data provide details of a series of fatal attacks by militant groups within India since 2014. The government's own documents refer to at least two of these as being "major" attacks. In a speech to a recent convention of India's ruling BJP, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman made a bold claim. "We have not had one major terrorist attack in this country after 2014," she said. "There are of course disturbances on the border," she went on, "but the Indian Army has made sure that every attempt to come into this country is eliminated even at the border." The remarks have proved controversial, provoking discussion over what constitutes a "major" attack, given the large number of incidents that have taken place. Opposition response "Will the defence minister take the map of India and locate Pathankot and Uri?" tweeted P Chidambaram, former finance minister from the main opposition Congress party. He was referring to two attacks on military establishments in 2016. Seven Indian soldiers and six militants were killed in an attack on a base in Pathankot in Punjab state in January that year, blamed on a Pakistan-based group Four gunmen attacked the army base at Uri in Indian-administered Kashmir in September, killing 17 soldiers Government figures The Indian Ministry of Defence breaks down internal security issues into four categories: incidents in the Indian-administered Kashmir region insurgency in the north-eastern states left-wing extremism in various areas terror attacks in the hinterland (ie the rest of the country) According to the government's own data, presented to parliament by the home affairs ministry, there was a "major terrorist attack in the hinterland" in both 2015 and 2016. The data presented mentions incidents in the other three categories, but the term "major" is only used with reference to the hinterland. "There's no policy statement or government release where the difference between a major or minor attack has been defined clearly," according to defence expert Ajai Shukla. "It's a matter of perception," he says. "It depends on intangible factors such as the importance of the target, the origin and outcome of the attack and its symbolic value." Image copyright Getty Images The BBC has sought clarification from the Indian government, pointing out that its own documents refer to "major" terror incidents, but has not received a response at the time of writing this article. One non-governmental group, the South Asian Terrorism Portal (SATP), provides its own definition of a major attack. It calls any incident with three or more fatalities - civilian or military - a major attack. According to SATP, there were 388 "major" incidents in India from 2014 to 2018 using their definition. Their reporting uses available ministry data and other media reports. It's helpful to look at how insurgent and militant attacks have changed over time, comparing the situation under the current government with that under the previous administration. From 2009 to 2013, when a Congress-led government was in power, government records show 15 "major cases of terrorist incidents in the hinterland" - significantly more than under the current government. But incidents in Indian-administered Kashmir, which were showing a steady decline from 2009 to 2014, have been on the rise under the current government. And in 2018, Indian-controlled Kashmir saw the highest fatalities in terror-related violence in a decade with 451 deaths, according to the SATP. The last time this toll was exceeded was in 2008 when Congress held power. In the north-eastern part of the country, except for a spike in 2012, there have been fewer and fewer reports of violent incidents - and a sharp fall in civilian deaths since 2015, according to official data. The region has seen ethnic and separatist conflicts for decades, involving a variety of groups fighting for local autonomy or complete independence. When it comes to left-wing insurgent groups in the country, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has compared his government's track record favourably to the previous Congress-led administration. Mr Modi told the Swarajya magazine in July 2018: "Maoist violence has declined by 20% in the affected states with a concomitant reduction of 34% in deaths in 2017 compared to 2013." Maoist rebels, who are active in several eastern and central states, say they are fighting for communist rule and greater rights for tribal people and the rural poor. Mr Modi's figures about the decrease in fatalities match the official tally. But according to the Home Affairs Ministry's own reports, the declining trend in this type of insurgency actually began in 2011 under the previous government. Read more from Reality Check Send us your questions Follow us on Twitter

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-46902935

Who is Pete Buttigieg, the newest 2020 presidential candidate?

SOUTH BEND, Ind. Democrat Pete Buttigieg, the 37-year-old mayor of South Bend, Indiana, says hes forming an exploratory committee for a 2020 presidential bid. The reality is theres no going back, and theres no such thing as again in the real world. We cant look for greatness in the past, Buttigieg says in a video (watch it below) that includes before-and-after footage of South Bend, a Rust Belt city once described as dying. "Right now our country needs a fresh start," he says. Buttigieg has touted his work to improve his city of 100,000 residents as hes prepared for a jump from local politics to a presidential campaign. Hes also said Democrats could benefit from a new generation of leaders as they try to unseat President Donald Trump in 2020. He's expected to travel to Iowa next week to meet with voters in the nation's first caucus state, followed by stops in New Hampshire. Buttigieg is a Rhodes scholar who was first elected mayor of his hometown in 2011 at age 29, making him the youngest mayor of a U.S. city with at least 100,000 residents. A lieutenant in the Navy Reserve, he served a tour in Afghanistan in 2014. Buttigieg raised his national profile with an unsuccessful 2017 run for Democratic National Committee chairman, saying the party needed a new start. He withdrew from the race before a vote when it became clear he didnt have the support to win. Buttigieg has spent time in Iowa and other battleground states in recent years as he tried to build financial support and name recognition. He cracks that those who do know his name still arent sure how to pronounce it. (Its BOO'-tah-juhj.) Most of the time he goes by Mayor Pete. Amid his campaign for a second term, Buttigieg came out as gay in a column in the local newspaper. He went on to win re-election with 80 percent of the vote. In 2018, three years to the day after the column ran, he married his husband, middle school teacher Chasten Glezman. If he were to win the Democratic nomination, Buttigieg would be the first openly gay presidential nominee from a major political party. Buttigieg announced in December that he wouldnt seek a third term as mayor, stoking speculation he would join a field of roughly two dozen candidates who may seek the Democratic nomination for president most of them better known and with experience in higher office, and all of them older. I belong to a generation that is stepping forward right now, he says in the video released Wednesday (Jan. 23). Were the generation that lived through school shootings, that served in the wars after 9/11, and were the generation that stands to be the first to make less than our parents unless we do something different. We cant just polish off a system so broken. It is a season for boldness and a focus on the future. Buttigieg is releasing in February a book about his life and his tenure leading South Bend. - Sara Burnett, Associated Press

https://www.nola.com/news/2019/01/who-is-pete-buttigieg-the-newest-2020-presidential-candidate.html

How safe is the Ketogenic Diet?

Thats the question WebMD recently posed to its readers. The simplistic answer, according to the website, is people use a ketogenic diet most often to lose weight, but it can help manage certain medical conditions, like epilepsy, too. It also may help people with heart disease, certain brain diseases and even acne, but there needs to be more research in those areas. Lets add to the list certain forms of cancer and polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS). Type 1 diabetics need, in my opinion, to be under medical supervision, if they elect to try the KD due to the potential for excessive build up ketones and the associated lower pH (acidity). According to Mignonne Mary, an internal medicine physician and medical director of the Remedy Room in New Orleans, a ketogenic diet is not advised for children, who are still growing or for people, who are significantly below normal body weight or who are nutritionally compromised. Korean researchers writing in the December 2018 online journal Nutrients Two-Week Exclusive Supplementation of Modified Ketogenic Nutrition Drink Reserves Lean Body Mass and Improves Blood Lipid Profiles in Obese Adults: A Randomized Clinical Trial commented that although there is no standardized ketogenic diet therapy, it can be classified as a diet with a carbohydrate intake of less than 10 percent or a total daily carbohydrate intake of less than 30 grams. When a person goes on the KD, glycogen (sugar) stored in the liver is depleted, resulting in losses of water and body fat. One gram of body fat has an associated 1.12 grams of bound water, with protein and carbohydrate both at the 4-gram level. As the liver and muscle glycogen is depleted due to a restricted carbohydrate intake, the body turns to lipolysis (breakdown of fat), which in turn generates ketone bodies for energy, replacing glycogen, as an energy source while causing a diuretic effect of sodium and water. A possible downside of the KD has been the potential for protein (muscle) loss, by the process of gluconeogenesis how the body makes glucose from non-carbohydrate sources. However, newer research tends to disprove this potential loss of metabolically active muscle tissue for energy. It appears low-carbohydrate diet therapy has been reported to reduce body fat and maintain fat-free mass, which is partially a response to the decrease in plasma insulin, according to 2012 research Therapeutic Potential of Ketogenic Diets. As to potential side effects of the KD, Mary commented that as people adapt to burning fat for fuel rather than burning sugar, they might feel a series of symptoms known as the keto flu. This includes fatigue, headaches, irritability or even flu like symptoms but most people feel better after two or three days. In addition, the kidneys become more efficient at releasing excess fluid, leading to dehydration, so its important to stay well hydrated. One side benefit of the KD is hunger control by reducing the appetite-regulating hormones ghrelin and leptin. Ketogenic food choices include meat, fatty fish, eggs, butter and cream, cheese, nuts, seeds, healthy oils, avocados, low carbohydrate veggies, herbs and spices. Foods to avoid include sugar, grains/starches, fruit (expect small portions of berries), beans/legumes, root veggies, low fat diet foods and sugar-free foods. While the ketogenic diet is an excellent tool to reduce inflammation, lose weight, increase energy and stimulate cellular healing, the key to long lasting success is diet variation, Mary said. This is when we vary our diet in order to take advantage of the bodys innate ability to adapt. A ketogenic diet for prolonged periods of time without any variation can lead to increased production of sugars from the liver, which will lead to poor results. Its best to check with your physician first. Mackie Shilstone, a regular contributor to NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune, has been involved in the wellness sports performance industry for 40 years. He is currently a fitness consultant to Serena Williams and has trained numerous other professional athletes and consulted a litany of professional sports franchises. Contact him at mackieshilstone.com.

https://www.nola.com/health/2019/01/how-safe-is-the-ketogenic-diet.html

How dangerous is Australia for women?

Image copyright Aya Maasarwe / Instagram Image caption Aya Maasarwe was killed after getting off a tram in Melbourne last week In the past week, Australians have been shocked by the killing of a young woman who had been walking home at night in Melbourne. The death of Israeli Arab student Aya Maasarwe, 21, has sparked an outcry and fresh debate about violence against women in Australia. According to her family, Ms Maasarwe's belief that Australia was "safer" than other places was one reason she had opted for a university exchange there. Her killing follows several high-profile murders in Australia in recent times which have caused similar anger. What the statistics say Almost one in three Australian women have experienced physical violence, and nearly one in five have endured sexual violence, according to the most recent Australian Bureau of Statistics figures. The rates are even higher for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women. Image copyright EPA Image caption A sign left among public tributes to Aya Maasarwe Almost one in 10 women have experienced violence from a stranger, the statistics show. Domestic violence is more common. On average, one woman per week is murdered in Australia by a current or former male partner. "Violence against women is at its most extreme in murder, but it is more common that women are injured either physically or emotionally in their own home," said Associate Prof Ruth Phillips, a social work expert from the University of Sydney. "It is a serious problem. Not a crisis, but more of an ongoing gender power problem in Australian culture." High-profile murders involving women and children have elevated the issue on the national agenda. Public debate intensified last year following the murder of a comedian, Eurydice Dixon, in another part of Melbourne. Just months later, a particularly alarming October saw 11 women die in violent circumstances around Australia. Image copyright FACEBOOK Image caption Comedian Eurydice Dixon was murdered in Melbourne last June "Sometimes, violence against women comes in a cluster together which alerts us to the problem, but really the hidden epidemic of abuse and violence is always with us," said Associate Prof Kelsey Hegarty, a family violence researcher from the University of Melbourne. One leading public voice has been Rosie Batty, who emerged as a powerful campaigner against domestic violence after her son, Luke, was killed by his father in 2014. The rape and murder of an Irish woman, Jill Meagher, in Melbourne in 2012 also generated immense attention. It led to public marches, and tighter restrictions around parole for sexual offenders. The death of Aya Maasarwe last week has again triggered deep concern. The UN has said violence against women in Australia is "disturbingly common", but experts say it is not an outlier among developed nations. Domestic violence - described by the World Health Organization as the leading cause of violence against women globally - is more prevalent in poorer nations. According to the UN, women in Africa and the Americas are more likely to be killed by their partner than women in Oceania. Among G20 nations, Australia ranks eighth for rates of domestic violence against women, according to the OECD, although data for five countries was not available. In 2012, the Australian government launched a dedicated anti-violence policy, the National Plan to Reduce Violence Against Women and their Children. However, Associate Prof Phillips said many frontline services, such as women's shelters, had not improved since then. "There has been little evidence of a reduction in violence or a strengthening in women's safety," she told the BBC. Experts have urged more focus on reducing broader disrespect towards women. "We will only be able to eradicate violence against women and their children, when women are not only safe, but respected, valued and treated as equals in private and public life," Australia's Sex Discrimination Commissioner Kate Jenkins told the BBC.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-46913913

Are speed cameras coming to Cincinnati?

Buy Photo City of Cincinnati police car (Photo: The Enquirer/Liz Dufour) It might work something like this: Youre driving down the street, going a little faster than the limit. You do not get stopped by a police officer. But, a few days later, a speeding ticket shows up in the mail. Cincinnati police and city hall officials are looking into whether the city could give police officers handheld traffic cameras that would let them issue tickets without ever getting out of their cars. These are not like the red-light cameras that have caused so much controversy in the past. Police officers would likely still hold these cameras, but instead of pulling over drivers on the spot which itself can cause congestion and safety concerns speeding tickets would get sent through the mail. Cincinnati City Councilman Greg Landsman has been pushing the idea, saying it would make everyone safer. And City Manager Patrick Duhaney broached the topic on Tuesday in a memo to city council and the mayor. Cincinnati has put $500,000 a year toward a pedestrian safety program, Duhaney wrote, but more needs to be done. it is very difficult to allocate all the resources needed to address this issue in totality given the operating and capital budget constraints faced by the city, Duhaney wrote. Cars keep hitting people: And it's only getting worse. Neil Kelly: This man would like you to stop hitting him with cars. There were 428 pedestrian crashes in Cincinnati in 2018, according to an Enquirer analysis, a 46 percent increase compared to 2013. Thirteen Cincinnati Public Schools students were hit by cars in 2018. One, a 15-year-old named Gabby Rodriguez, died. It wouldn't be as easy as just buying some cameras and mailing tickets, though. Such speed cameras are against the city charter, which puts strict limits on photo-monitoring devices used to detect traffic violations. The charter would have to be changed in order for the cameras to be legal. Specifically, in order for a ticket to be issued in Cincinnati right now, a law enforcement officer has to be present and personally issue the ticket at the time and location of the incident. CLOSE 13 Cincinnati Public Schools students were hit by vehicles in 2018. Michael Nyerges, Cincinnati Enquirer Read or Share this story: https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2019/01/23/speeding-cameras-cincinnati-officials-looking-into-idea/2656118002/

https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2019/01/23/speeding-cameras-cincinnati-officials-looking-into-idea/2656118002/

How Much Can The Indians Cut From Their Payroll And Still Win Their Division?

The popular perception among many Cleveland Indians fans is When are they going to do something? In reality, the Indians have done a lot. More than you might realize, but less than is advisable. For a team that supposedly hasnt done much, the Indians sure have been busy. For example, the following players, each of whom spent all or part of the 2018 season on the Indians major league roster, are no longer members of the organization: Cody Allen, Michael Brantley, Melky Cabrera, Lonnie Chisenhall, Rajai Davis, Josh Donaldson, Andrew Miller, Oliver Perez, Adam Rosales, Josh Tomlin, Brandon Guyer, Erik Gonzalez, Yan Gomes, Yandy Diaz, Yonder Alonso and Edwin Encarnacion. Here is a list of players acquired by the Indians during the offseason: Carlos Santana, Jake Bauers, Kevin Plawecki, A.J. Cole, Jordan Luplow, Daniel Johnson, Jefry Rodriguez, Chih-Wei Hu, and Max Moroff. Six of the nine hitters in the Indians starting lineup for their last postseason game last year against Houston in the Division Series are no longer with the organization: Brantley, Encarnacion, Donaldson, Diaz, Guyer, and Gomes. Of the nine newcomers listed above, only one, barring injury, is guaranteed to be in the Indians opening day lineup this year: Santana, and the Indians arent even sure where that will be. You dont have to be Branch Rickey to realize the Indians list of players gone and players acquired is wildly lopsided towards the players gone side of the ledger. That doesnt mean the Indians cant win their fourth consecutive AL Central title. But it does at least raise the question of whether they may be underestimating the competition in their division. It is, to be sure, a daring strategic cliff dive: a defending division champion lopping off six everyday players in its pursuit of a more manageable payroll. That seems like a fine line to walk, but the Indians, with less than a month to go before the start of spring training, are straddling that precarious ravine. The operative number is $136 million, which was Clevelands opening day payroll last year, the largest in franchise history. As a result of their radical roster reduction, they have rid themselves of Encarnacions $20 million 2019 salary, plus those of Alonso ($8 million), and Gomes ($7 million). With their four of their free agents signing with other teams the Indians are additionally out from under some hefty financial obligations reflected by the 2019 base salaries in the contracts Donaldson ($23 million), Brantley ($15 million), Miller ($11 million) and Allen ($8.5 million) received from the various teams with which they signed as free agents. Thats a lot of money, but also a lot of talent, out the door. The only expensive addition is Santana, who is owed $17 million this year and $17.5 million next year. Cleveland wants to shave some commas and decimal points from its payroll in 2019, and club officials are confident they can do so while still remaining the biggest dog on the AL Central porch. Clevelands $136 opening day payroll last year was $50 million more than the Chicago White Sox $86 million. Payrolls for the other three division teams were Minnesota $129 million, Kansas City $115 million, and Detroit $111 million. In this offseason, the rest of the division has been more aggressive in adding talent and money to their payrolls, but they also have a lot of ground to make up. Cleveland won the division by 13 games last year, by 17 games in 2017, and by eight games in 2016. The Twins have added slugger Nelson Cruz and will pay him $14 million this year. Kansas City added Billy Hamilton ($4.2 million). Detroit signed free agents Tyson Ross ($5.7 million) and Jordy Mercer ($5.2 million). Chicago has been the most aggressive of the AL Central teams. In addition to Alonso ($8 million), the White Sox added Ivan Nova ($8.5 million), Kelvin Herrera ($8.5 million), Alex Colome ($7.3 million), and Jon Jay ($4 million). Chicago is also reportedly trying to bag the biggest free agent catch of the season, Bryce Harper. The challenge facing the Indians in 2019 is whether they can spend less and win more, or at least as much as they did last year _ or, at the absolute very least, however much it takes to insure a fourth straight trip to the postseason. Failure to do so will call into serious question the ownership-mandated payroll and talent downsizing that prevented the Indians from _ never mind adding a key piece here or there _ simply maintaining the elite team the organization had built.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jimingraham/2019/01/23/how-much-can-the-indians-cut-from-their-payroll-and-still-win-their-division/

Is VR (Virtual Reality) The New Kid on The Blockchain?

Back in 2010 when then-18-year-old Palmer Luckey created the first prototype of the Oculus Rift virtual reality (VR) headset, his creation seemed poised to usher in a new era of virtual worlds. It raised $2.4 million on Kickstarter and the Oculus company sold to Facebook for a cool $3 billion in 2014. However, so far VR has struggled to gain the wide-scale adoption that seemed inevitable when the Oculus Rift first appeared. In fact in 2018, Statista reports only 171 million active VR users compared with 2.3 billion active gamers (if we were to assume the only use case for VR is gaming, which its not). Among the reasons for the lack of adoption of VR headsets, sources point to their high cost as well as to the lack of VR content which limits the scope of investment. A survey of 4,000 individuals at the 2018 Game Developers Conference in San Francisco showed that 29% of people believed that developing gaming content for VR isnt a long-term, sustainable business model at this moment in time and 31% of respondents believed that VR headsets blocked further content development. They gaged it would take another 3-4 years before VR headsets become commonplace. So, if VR adoption appears to be stuck in a vicious cycle as there is lack of content development, nobody will buy the headsets. Among the several features of blockchain that lend themselves well to VR, the following are worth looking into: Secure Ownership of Assets Blockchain offers the secure and immutable ownership of digital assets. In the world of gaming, this is significantly advantageous as gamers can accrue huge stores of in-game assets and rewards, often through paid participation, yet their account is vulnerable to external attacks. Players of Fortnite, the popular video game, have been subject to hacks and attacks to rack up spending on their accounts. Non-Fungible Assets Ethereums ERC-721 token standard provides developers with the feature of issuing non-fungible assets. This means that VR developers could use blockchain to create one-of-a-kind digital assets that can be traded in a virtual universe. It may be a weapon or armour in a game; wearables for an avatar; or even a digital music token signed by an artist in the same way as a vinyl record. Token Economy By making a digital token the currency of a virtual universe, the universe can govern the economics of that token in the same way as any other currency in real life. In this alternate economy, users can spend their currency on goods or services, which in turn determine its value. Current Developments Presently, there are various projects seeking to create virtual worlds, merging blockchain and VR in a way that could see VR finally gain the adoption it has so far failed to achieve. Decentraland Decentraland is developed on the Ethereum blockchain as a kind-of Second Life-style decentralized virtual world. Using the native MANA ERC-20 tokens, users can purchase non-fungible LAND tokens, which represent a 10m x 10m area in the Decentraland universe. On their newly-acquired land, users can build a business where they can trade their goods or services with others. The project is also releasing an SDK (Software Development Kit) so that developers can create new functionality within the Decentraland universe. For example, imagine building your own casino on your virtual strip of land. You could lease some gambling game functionality from a developer, say a roulette wheel and a blackjack table. As users come in and stake their tokens to play your games, you take any of the house winnings, paying a commission to your game developer for their efforts. The same concept could be applied to shops, pubs, sports stadiums or concert halls. BeachHead BeachHead develops the Decentraland concept even further, by introducing objectives for users to make the BeachHead city into a true VR, blockchain-based game. Here, users enjoy all the same entertainment and trading functionality as in Decentraland. However, in the BeachHead universe, the city is under invasion from attacking forces. Users can earn tokens by helping to defend the city against the marauders, using anti-aircraft and anti-tank weaponry to keep BeachHead safe from harm. These tokens can be spent on entertainment and e-commerce activities elsewhere in the universe. This project is the brainchild of Pepe Moreno, who launched a first-person shooter game called BeachHead 2000 back in 1999. The game went on to become a cult hit, selling more than a million copies worldwide. Moreno is now anticipating that the launch of BeachHeads new virtual world will help to launch VR into the mainstream. Conclusion: Of the other projects in the blockchain/VR area worth watching, Mark.Space is one. This platform is more focused around the e-commerce and corporate branding opportunities within VR. For example, a brand could set up their own chain of virtual stores showcasing merchandise available in real life. While it may be less popular with the gaming crowd, Mark.Space potentially opens up VR to new audiences in fashion and retail. Meantime, VR investors and fans alike continue to wait patiently for the tipping point of widespread adoption. Visionary projects like the ones listed above are now coming to the forefront of virtual reality innovation. Therefore, perhaps, the tipping point could arrive sooner rather than later!

https://www.forbes.com/sites/geraldfenech/2019/01/23/is-vr-virtual-reality-the-new-kid-on-the-blockchain/

Who made Rob Maclean's team of the Scottish Cup fourth round?

The weekend Scottish Cup ties threw up some surprises and outstanding performances. Here, BBC commentator Rob Maclean reveals his picks for team of the fourth round. Formation 4-3-3: Scott Bain (Celtic); Tony Ralston (Celtic), Craig McCracken (Auchinleck Talbot), Stuart Findlay (Kilmarnock), Gordon Pope (Auchinleck Talbot); Jamie Glasgow (Auchinleck Talbot), Ryan Gauld (Hibernian), Daryl Horgan (Hibernian); Lewis Vaughan (Raith Rovers), Brian Graham (Ross County), Scott Sinclair (Celtic). Goalkeeper - Scott Bain Celtic stand-in keeper Scott Bain's save on Saturday which stopped an Airdrieonians equaliser was so good it came in five instalments. That's how many stops he made in the space of a 10-second goalmouth scramble at the end of the first half as the League One team tried to spring a surprise. Media playback is not supported on this device Celtic goalkeeper Scott Bain's denies Airdrie with five of the best Defenders - Tony Ralston, Craig McCracken, Stuart Findlay, Gordon Pope As Celtic continue their search for a right-back, 20-year-old Tony Ralston has to be worthy of consideration. He's had loan spells with Queen's Park and Dundee United to give him game time and the Scotland Under-21 international was an eye catcher in the 3-0 Scottish Cup defeat of Airdrie. Defender Craig McCracken has a happy habit of scoring big goals. His stoppage-time winner in last May's Junior Cup final took the trophy to Auchinleck Talbot for a 12th time. On Saturday, his 78th-minute header against Ayr United delivered the biggest shock of the Scottish Cup fourth round. Media playback is not supported on this device What a goal! Kilmarnock's Stuart Findlay scores cup cracker Another central defender in great goal-scoring form at the weekend was Kilmarnock's Stuart Findlay. His stunning left-foot strike was the opener in Killie's 2-0 home win against Forfar, which set up a likely last-16 Scottish Cup meeting with Rangers. Gordon Pope is the Auchinleck postie and a long-serving player in the Talbot team. An offside flag wrongly denied him a Scottish Cup goal against Hearts seven years ago but he's heading back to Tynecastle in a few weeks after playing a big part in that sensational Ayrshire derby win on Saturday. Media playback is not supported on this device Scottish Cup: Watch the moment Auchinleck Talbot became giant killers Midfielders - Jamie Glasgow, Ryan Gauld, Daryl Horgan Jamie Glasgow epitomised the impressive work ethic of the Auchinleck Talbot team as the minnows of the competition showed local rivals Ayr the exit door. Midfielder Glasgow was a bundle of energy as the underdogs got the result they richly deserved. Ryan Gauld and Hibs could be just the right fit. The on-loan Sporting Lisbon midfielder made a classy contribution to the 4-0 Scottish Cup defeat of Elgin City and, while there are obviously bigger challenges to come, the former Dundee United youngster promises to be a great signing. Gauld might have grabbed the attention but it was midfield partner Daryl Horgan who scored two of the goals that eased Hibs into the cup's last 16. The Irishman is a big talent who just needs to come up with the goods on a more regular basis. Forwards - Lewis Vaughan, Brian Graham, Scott Sinclair Lewis Vaughan's hat-trick was the highlight of Raith Rovers' derby defeat of Dunfermline at Stark's Park on Saturday. He's been injured and missed a lot of football this season but that's nine goals in 12 games now on the back of a total of 23 last season. Brian Graham has scored goals wherever he's been. Ross County are his ninth club and his double for the Championship promotion chasers secured a cup shock at Fir Park. Top-flight Motherwell were knocked out by two typical close-range finishes from Graham. Scott Sinclair made it six goals in his past five Celtic games as he nabbed a couple in the comfortable cup defeat of Airdrie. He also missed a sitter, had a penalty saved and had a perfectly good goal ruled out. Sinclair's not yet back to his best but he's getting there.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/46948768

Can Democratic presidential nominees outrun their baggage?

As the Democratic field for president becomes more crowded every day, every life decision and each vote is coming under intense scrutiny. Most candidates have a long history in government and public service, which can sometimes be fraught with missteps and misjudgments. From Joe Biden's treatment of Anita Hill during the Clarence Thomas hearings to Kirsten Gillibrand's about-face on gun control, many worry the candidates will be tripped up by past actions. PERSPECTIVES Joe Biden was the chairman of the Judiciary Committee during Clarence Thomas' infamous Supreme Court confirmation hearings and refused to allow for a delay in his confirmation vote. He failed to protect Anita Hill from vitriolic questioning and refused to give credence to FBI investigations into Thomas' behavior. Patti Solis Doyle, Biden's campaign chief of staff in 2008, told Politico in September 2018 that while she considers him one of the strongest contenders in the field, his conduct during the Anita Hill hearings could damage his chances. "If Anita Hill believes she's owed an apology, then she's owed an apology, without question. And he should give one," Solis Doyle said. "Certainly, Joe Biden did not do the harassing. Joe Biden ended up voting against Clarence Thomas. But what was done to Anita Hill in those hearings ... it was unseemly. And as chair of the Judiciary back then, he probably should have taken a bigger role in making Anita Hill feel safe and comfortable, and clearly, she did not feel that way." Biden confronts the ghost of Anita Hill Biden has said he stands by the way he conducted the hearings, claiming there was no way he could have prevented members of the committee from asking inappropriate questions. However, he has expressed regret for the way Hill was treated. Per Vox: "Anita Hill was vilified when she came forward by a lot of my colleagues, character assassination. I wish I could've done more to prevent those questions, the way they asked them," he told NBC. "It takes enormous courage for a woman to come forward." He still tops many lists for the most promising presidential candidate. Joe Biden apologizes again about Anita Hill during the Kavanaugh firestorm New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand announced her intention to run for president on "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert." Gillibrand has branded herself a liberal crusader during her time in the Senate, taking on issues like sexual assault in the military and on college campuses. However, some have expressed concerns about Gillibrand's rapidly changing political views. Before inheriting Hillary Clinton's Senate seat, Gillibrand represented a rural district in upstate New York. While in this position, she was much more politically moderate, particularly on gun control. Per the Washington Post: Gillibrand overhauled her political identity during this period, abandoning the conservative positions that made her popular upstate and embracing or even moving further left than the liberal consensus on guns, immigration, Wall Street and same-sex marriage. As the Democratic Party itself moved left, she staked out positions popular with the party's swelling base of liberals, a posture most evident when she called for abolishing the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. She has voted against President Trump's agenda more than any other senator. 'I will stand up for what I believe in' Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand says -- but what she believes quickly changed as she moved from House to Senate Gillibrand has said her changing opinions were based not on political calculation but on exposure to new people and issues. Per Newsday: "I recognized that my focus on the concerns of my upstate district were not enough, I needed to focus on the concerns of the whole state," she said on CBS. "I met with families who were being torn apart because of policies that I did not have enough compassion and empathy for. So I recognized I was wrong." Gillibrand: Regrets past views but ready for Trump California Sen. Kamala Harris has also thrown her hat into the presidential ring, running as a progressive liberal candidate. But many are worried she is much more conservative than she has been portrayed. Before serving in the Senate, Harris was the attorney general for California, where she had a reputation for running a somewhat hardline law-and-order office. In an op-ed for the New York Times, Lara Bazelon, the former director of the Loyola Law School Project for the Innocent in Los Angeles, noted Harris had frequently fought to maintain conservative criminal justice policies and uphold potentially wrongful convictions. Consider her record as San Francisco's district attorney from 2004 to 2011. Ms. Harris was criticized in 2010 for withholding information about a police laboratory technician who had been accused of "intentionally sabotaging" her work and stealing drugs from the lab. After a memo surfaced showing that Ms. Harris's deputies knew about the technician's wrongdoing and recent conviction, but failed to alert defense lawyers, a judge condemned Ms. Harris's indifference to the systemic violation of the defendants' constitutional rights. Kamala Harris was not a 'progressive prosecutor' Harris' campaign disputes these claims, saying they are taken out of context and imply that Harris had control over the actions of every single prosecutor in the state's office. Lily Adams, Harris' spokesperson, told CNN: "In 2004, when most prosecutors were using a tough on crime approach, Senator Harris was starting Back on Track in 2004 which diverted young people charged with first time drug offenses into apprenticeship and training programs instead of decades long prison sentences. When she was Attorney General, she brought accountability to the system with the first statewide training on implicit bias and procedural justice in the country, body cameras to the agents at DOJ, launched multiple pattern and practice investigations and demanded data on in-custody deaths and police shooting be made available to the public." Kamala Harris takes hits on her criminal justice record The Tylt is focused on debates and conversations around news, current events and pop culture. We provide our community with the opportunity to share their opinions and vote on topics that matter most to them. We actively engage the community and present meaningful data on the debates and conversations as they progress. The Tylt is a place where your opinion counts, literally. The Tylt is an Advance Local Media, LLC property. Join us on Twitter @TheTylt, on Instagram @TheTylt or on Facebook, we'd love to hear what you have to say.

https://www.nola.com/interact/2019/01/can_democratic_presidential_no.html

What is the EU Settlement Scheme?

Getty Images A scheme to process the applications of European Union (EU) citizens currently living in the UK to allow them to remain in the UK after Brexit is going live. From 21 January 2019, people will be able to apply for the EU Settlement Scheme. Anyone currently living in the UK who is an EU citizen will have to apply to it by 30 June 2021 in order to be allowed to stay in the country. Successful applicants will be given either settled or pre-settled status. Anyone who doesn't apply by this deadline when they should have will no longer be living in the country legally. The government says this is a "voluntary test phase" and the scheme will become fully open to applicants on 30 March 2019. The EU Settlement Scheme has proved to be controversial as lots of people say that it won't work in the way that the government say it will. They also feel lots of people may lose their legal status to live here when they don't deserve to. The government says it is a good way to organise people living here legally, while also allowing the UK to control its immigration more. Find out more about the scheme below. The scheme is being introduced because from 11pm on 29 March 2019, the UK will no longer be an EU country. This means that people from other EU countries living and working in the UK will not legally be allowed to stay here after this date without applying successfully through the scheme. One of the key parts of being a member of the EU is that EU citizens can easily move to live and work in other EU countries. This is called freedom of movement and, as part of its plans for Brexit, the British government wants to leave this policy. Getty Images Citizens of EU countries are free to go to live, work and study in other EU countries Some critics of the scheme and supporters of the freedom of movement believe the positive language being used to describe the Settlement Scheme doesn't reflect potential problems with it, both in terms of its fairness and whether it will work properly. But the government says that having more control over who can come to live and work here is an important part of why people voted for Brexit. After the UK has left the EU, people from EU countries will no longer will able to freely live and work here in the way they could beforehand. It is thought that there are about three million EU citizens living in the UK who will need to apply for the scheme, which the government says will cost about 170 million. Originally EU Nationals who wanted to stay in the country would need to pay a 65 fee, but that has been scrapped and the application is now free. By 30 June 2021, all of these people will need to go through the process if they want to remain in the UK. Anyone who is a citizen of an EU country currently living in the UK and who wants to carry on living in the UK, will need to apply to the scheme - even if they are married to someone British. Adults will need to apply on behalf of children, as children need to go through the process too. Getty Images EU citizens currently living in the UK who would like to carry on living in the UK will need to apply to the Settlement Scheme The scheme also includes citizens of Switzerland, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, even though these are not EU member states. Successful applicants will be granted either settled or pre-settled status. Ministers have said that EU nationals who have lived in the UK for five years by the end of 2020 will be granted settled status, unless they have serious criminal convictions or there is a security reason why they can't stay. During those five years, they need to have spent at least six months of each year in the UK. People who are granted settled status will only need to apply to the EU Settlement Scheme once. Settled status will grant a person the same rights to healthcare, education, benefits and pensions as a British citizen. If somebody from an EU country lives in the UK, but has not been here for the five years that the scheme requires, they can be given something called pre-settled status. This will allow them to stay in the UK until they hit the five-year mark. Then, they will need to claim settled status. Critics of the scheme have said that it will be difficult to verify information like how much of one year a person has spent in a country or how long a person has lived somewhere, so some do not think the plan to decide people's statuses will work properly. How to apply for settled status To apply to the EU Settlement Scheme, people need to fill in a form online, via post or by using a smartphone app. However, people who use Apple phones won't be able to use the app as it only works on Android phones. Getty Images People who use iPhones will not be able to apply using the app as it only works on Android phones Ministers have said it should only take a few minutes to complete. They say this avoids the need for people to complete lots of paperwork. Applicants will need proof of three things: ID (e.g. a valid passport or national identity card) Residence in the UK (unless they have a valid permanent residence document or something called indefinite leave to remain or enter the UK) Relationship to a family member from the EU living in the UK, if they want to come to the UK from outside the EU They will also need to provide information about any criminal convictions, as well as a recent digital picture of themselves. In June 2018, Home Secretary Sajid Javid said that it should take no longer than two weeks for people to get a decision, but many critics do not think this is realistic. Last year, Mr Javid said there would have to be "a very good reason" for an application to be refused and that the idea was, generally, to grant settled status wherever possible. Those who do not support the process do not think that it will be as simple as this, though. Getty Images Last year, Home Secretary Sajid Javid said there would have to be "a very good reason" for an application to be refused If an application is rejected, the government has said an applicant would have 28 days from the date of their decision to apply for an administrative review, if they're eligible for one, but not everybody will be. They also might have to pay to appeal the decision, although the money could be given back to them if - for example - their appeal is successful. There are a lot of question marks about how exactly this scheme will work given that Parliament has not been able to agree on a course of action for Brexit yet. Theresa May is still trying to convince MPs to approve her Brexit deal. Back in August 2018, former Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab was asked whether the UK could promise a future for EU workers in the UK if there was no deal. He replied that in the "unlikely eventuality" that the UK faced a no deal Brexit, the UK would "move swiftly to secure their position". "There's no question that we're going to see EU citizens turfed out. We've made that clear in the past. I've made that clear in the past, I'm happy to give that reassurance today." Getty Images When asked about EU citizens in the UK when he was Brexit Secretary, Dominic Raab said: "There's no question that we're going to see EU citizens turfed out" The government has repeatedly said it will guarantee the rights of EU citizens currently living in the UK. But many groups representing EU citizens say the way the government has talked about them and confusion over the plans is causing many people to fear and mistrust the government's plans. If the UK leaves the EU without a deal, then the arrangements for British citizens living in EU countries have not been fully worked out. Governments in EU countries have said that UK citizens living there would be treated in a similar way to how the UK government treats EU citizens living in the UK. Supporters of the scheme believe it is the best way to ensure that EU citizens are able to stay in the UK legally, even once the UK is no longer a member of the EU. But many people have been critical of the scheme as they say that it needs to be improved to avoid thousands of people in the UK ending up without legal status. They say that the Windrush scandal shows the dangers if the scheme goes wrong. They say that, if - by mistake - an adult doesn't register a child, then that child could lose his or her legal rights through no fault of their own. Some say that it will be very difficult to verify information that people provide.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/46937812

Who is Stefanos Tsitsipas?

Getty Images Greek rising star Stefanos Tsitsipas has reached his first Grand Slam semi-final at the Australian Open tennis tournament. He beat Roberto Bautista Agut to continue his brilliant run, which included a victory over six-time champion Roger Federer in the previous round. At 20 years and 168 days, Tsitsipas is the youngest man to reach the last four of a Grand Slam since Novak Djokovic in 2007. He will face Spain's Rafael Nadal or American Frances Tiafoe next. Grand Slams are the most important competitions in tennis. There are four Grand Slam tournaments - Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and US Open. No Greek man had ever reached the world's top 100 until the then teenager cracked it in October 2017, never mind anywhere near his current ranking of 15. Here is Newsround's quick guide to Stefanos Tsitsipas - tennis's rising superstar! Sporting family Instagram / @stefanostsitsipas98 Stefanos with his father Apostolos (left) and his mother Julia (right) after winning his first ATP title at the Stockholm Open in 2018 Born in Athens, Greece, Stefanos comes from a family that loves tennis. His mum Julia, who's Russian, was a professional player and former world junior number one. While his Greek dad, Apostolos, was trained as a tennis coach. "My first memory is to be three and to hit balls with my father in the gap between lessons. I remember watching games on TV, as a baby, I can not tell you who was playing, but I remember watching," he said in an interview with Greek publication, Sport24. Getty Images Stefanos's grandad played football for the then Soviet Union - a collection of Eastern European countries run by Russia Stefanos is the eldest of four children. His three younger siblings Petros, Pavlos and Elizavet are also talented tennis players. His grandad Sergei Salnikov was a successful sportsman too. He won an Olympic gold medal with the Soviet Union football team at the 1956 Olympics. 'Zero fear' Getty Images Stefanos playing as a junior at the European Youth Olympic Festival in 2013 The young tennis star nearly drowned while swimming at a tournament in Crete. His father helped to save his life after the water carried him away from the shore. He said that the incident is the reason he has "zero fear" now on court. Social media fan Twitter / @StefTsitsipas Taking a quick selfie in the sea He has his own YouTube channel with 28,000 subscribers, and nearly 400,000 combined followers on Instagram and Twitter. As someone who travels the world playing sport, Stefanos posts a lot about the cool things he gets to do abroad. He's recently visited the zoo in Australia, jetskiied in Cyprus, and got lost in China. Twitter / @StefTsitsipas He posted this photo during a visit to an Australian zoo: "One of the few animals that can smile to you." Greek journalist Vicky Georgatou, who first met Stefanos as a teenager, told the BBC: "He's not like the other guys on their phones, playing games." "He likes to take pictures, he likes to read, he's very different." Shy guy EPA After his third-round win at the Australia Open in 2019, Tsitsipas admitted he did not have many friends in the locker room. "I think I'm comfortable meeting new people and having a discussion with someone," he said when asked about his perceived shyness. "Not many of the players want to be friends on the tour. That's a problem. "But I would love to have more friends on tour." Souvlaki star Getty Images A skewer of grilled souvlaki Stefanos's incredible run at this year's Australian Open in Melbourne has been supported by lots of Greek-Australians fans living in the city. A Greek restaurant there has even promised to honour him with a special dish if he makes the final. Stalactites wants to name a Souvlaki after him - a popular Greek dish made of small pieces of meat and sometimes vegetables grilled on a skewer. "We'd love for him to choose what he'd like in his souvlaki and even if he wants to come and roll the first one, we'd love that too and we'd definitely put it on the menu for him," managing director Nicole Papasavas told Omnisport.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/46949995

What is vitiligo and why are we talking about it?

To enjoy the CBBC Newsround website at its best you will need to have JavaScript turned on. Meet Kaiden - the model making a difference For 13-year-old Kaiden, dreams really do come true. The rising star is the face of a new campaign for high street store, Primark. But it hasn't been an easy journey for him to get here. Kaiden has a skin condition called vitiligo - it can be seen as pale patches on the skin. For a long time Kaiden tried to cover up his skin, but now he shows it with pride. Getty Images In recent years, there has been more representation of people with vitiligo in the media and in the fashion industry, but charity Changing Faces feels there is more that could be done. Vitiligo is a skin condition that is often shown through paler patches on the skin. These patches have very little melanin in them. Melanin is what gives our skin, hair and eyes colour. When you have less melanin in your skin it makes you more sensitive to sunburn, so people with vitiligo must be careful to protect themselves when they're out in the sunshine. Vitiligo is a condition that affects 1% of people in the world. But it is very rare that we see people with vitiligo in the media. People like Kaiden and international model Winnie Harlow have found confidence in themselves and the way they look. To enjoy the CBBC Newsround website at its best you will need to have JavaScript turned on. WATCH: Nikki Lilly on how to not let being different bother you Young people often tell us that they never see themselves represented in the media, or in mainstream culture and how this can have a huge impact on their self-esteem. Ensuring that people with visible differences are seen and heard across the fashion industry, in the media and in public life is so important. Statement from charity, Changing Faces But some people are ashamed that they have vitiligo and use clothes and makeup to hide their skin. Changing Faces - a charity that supports people with visible differences on their face or bodies - believe there should be more discussion about conditions like vitiligo. They believe there should be more acceptance and inclusion of people with visible differences in the media.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/46963683

What was Kindertransport?

Getty Images Thousands of children were transported to safety on the Kindertransport, ahead of World War Two Kindertransport was the name given to the mission which took thousands of children to safety ahead of World War Two (1939-1945). It helped 10,000 children to escape from Adolf Hitler's reign of terror in parts of Europe controlled by the Nazis. It is called this as kinder means 'children' in German. It was an extremely difficult experience for these children as they were told that they would need to leave their family and friends behind - and there was a chance they might never see them again. Their parents were not allowed to go with them. To enjoy the CBBC Newsround website at its best you will need to have JavaScript turned on. Feo's story: 'My mother was supposed to follow me to England - but she never made it' Many had to learn a new language, as they didn't speak English, and lots of Jewish children were sent to live in non-Jewish households. The Kindertransport mission unfolded between November 1938 and September 1939, when World War Two broke out. Getty Images At the time, the Nazi party - led by Adolf Hitler (seen in this picture) - were in power in Germany At the time, the Nazis were in power in Germany - and they were making life unbearable for Jewish people. Laws had been made which discriminated against them and many people were being murdered. On 9 November 1938, there was a night of particularly terrible violence against Jewish people. Ninety-one people murdered, 30,000 were arrested and sent to concentration camps, and 267 synagogues were destroyed. It became known as Kristallnacht - the 'night of broken glass' - because there was lots of smashed glass all over the streets from shops that were raided. Despite the Nazis' brutal regime, many countries had not wanted to take in such a great number of Jewish refugees to save them from what they were going through. But after Kristallnacht, the British government agreed that some Jewish children under the age of 17 could temporarily come to Britain to safety. Over the coming nine months, thousands were rescued. The first Kindertransport from Berlin in Germany departed for the UK on 1 December 1938. Getty Images Thousands of children had to leave their parents behind and many of them would never see them again The first train from Vienna left on 10 December in the same year. When the German army entered Czechoslovakia in March 1939, trains were quickly arranged from here too, and transport also took children to safety from Poland in March and August 1939. The last Kindertransport train to leave Germany departed from Berlin on 1 September 1939 - the very same day that Germany invaded Poland. Britain declared war on Germany two days later. To enjoy the CBBC Newsround website at its best you will need to have JavaScript turned on. Kindertransport: One survivor talks about how Kindertransport saved him Up to 10,000 youngsters from Germany, Austria Poland and Czechoslovakia arrived in the UK. Children as young as five years old and up to the age of 17 were taken to safety. Some of the older children who had been rescued went to live in hostels. Meanwhile, younger children were sent to live with foster families. The government did not pay for the children to be looked after, though. Each child had to have a sponsor to do this. Many parents of children who had been rescued on Kindertransport were killed in the war. So lots of children chose to stay in the UK and build new lives for themselves, as they had no family to go home to. Others returned to their original home, while some rejoined their families who had resettled elsewhere, like in the US. While the number of children rescued might not seem very high when you think that millions of Jewish people - including children - were killed by the Nazis, the story is a very important part of World War Two as it was a matter of life or death for the thousands who were rescued. The children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren of those who were rescued wouldn't be here today if it wasn't for the mission which took these thousands of children to safety. There is a statue at Liverpool Street Station in London, where the young refugees arrived 80 years ago. Many survivors have talked about their experiences in order to help people to understand what it was like.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/46877532

Has Usain Bolt retired from football?

Getty Images World-record breaking sprinter, Usain Bolt, has hinted that a football career might not be his thing after all. The runner trialled with a number of football clubs in 2018 following his retirement from sprint athletics. When asked about how his dreams of entering the football world were going, he said "It was fun while it lasted." Bolt was offered a two-year contract with Maltese club Valletta, but turned the offer down in October. He's suggested he is now going to focus more on his businesses. Getty Images Usain Bolt has won many Olympic records and holds the world record for the fastest 100m sprint in 9.58 seconds! I'm just doing many different things ... the sports life is over, so I'm now moving into different businesses, I have a lot of things in the pipeline, so as I say, I'm just dabbling in everything and trying to be a business man now. Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/46964441

How Will J.K. Rowling Continue To Dominate Markets In 2019?

J.K. Rowling has been a household name for over twenty years, and last year alone saw the release of Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald - the second film scripted by the Harry Potter author - as well as the publication of Lethal White, the fourth novel in her bestselling Cormoran Strike series written under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith. Listed as #42 on the Worlds Highest-Paid Celebrities List with estimated earnings of $54 million as of July 2018, a new Wizarding World brand logo was even created in 2018 to identify official works inspired by her fictional world. Box office numbers for Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, the second film in the five-part Fantastic Beasts series, were lower than expected, opening with global takings of $253 million and bringing in a total gross of just over $650 million to date. Fantastic Beasts 3 was due to start production in Summer this year, however, Warner Bros Entertainment recently informed Deadline that production has been delayed until Fall, reflecting the new approach of Warner Bros executives: not rushing big productions. The future success of the series looks pinned on the third instalment, and with an original expected release date of November 2020 (continuing with the trend of the first two films), the delay in production this year could give the time needed to address plot questions raised by the second instalment, and increase the overall profitability of the series. Books continue to be Rowlings strongest suit, and last year the Harry Potter series celebrated 500 million copies sold. In their latest report, U.K. Harry Potter publisher Bloomsbury shared intent to increase focus on Harry Potter as one of its strongest assets. Sales of the Harry Potter series have grown by 31%, indicating the continuing success of Rowlings publications into 2019. Bloomsbury recently announced that Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, illustrated by Jim Kay, will publish on October 8th, and with the upcoming celebrations of Harry Potter Book Night and the 20th anniversary of the publication of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, 2019 looks to be another opportunity for 'special anniversary' sales. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child opened on London's West End in 2016, and on Broadway in 2018. The play recently set a new house record at Broadway's Lyric Theatre, grossing over $2.5 million in ticket sales for the week ending December 30, 2018, passing the high mark set by the two-part play for the week ending November 25, 2018 ($2.3 million). Winning 24 major theater awards in the U.K. and a record-breaking nine Olivier awards and six Tony Awards, the play continues to fill theaters on a daily basis. Having just opened preview performances at The Princess Theatre in Melbourne, Cursed Child will also open at San Franciscos Curran this Fall, followed by Hambergs Mehr! Theater am Gromarkt in 2020, showing no signs of growth slowing down anytime soon. In January 2018, Universal Orlando Resort hosted its fifth annual Celebration of Harry Potter event, an exclusive weekend dedicated to fans of J.K. Rowlings Wizarding World. Universal Orlando Resort recently announced that the event will not take place in 2019, to allow time to work on exciting new experiences for guests to continue to celebrate The Wizarding World, including a new thrill ride on its way to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter Hogsmeade, as well as other experiences that have yet to be announced. With studio tours showcasing the behind-the-scenes of the Harry Potter films based in London and Hollywood, as well as the global touring exhibit Harry Potter The Exhibition, visitors wanting to know more about the film series and get a closer look at the costumes, props, sets and secrets behind the movies are a constant supply of income, with thousands of guests visiting the exhibit each day. Warner Media International Limited (previously Timer Warner Limited) reported in 2017 that the studio tour had made $435.7 million in revenue since opening to visitors in 2012. Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden Limited most recently reported a 15% increase in turnover in the year ending December 2017, as a result of ongoing investment in the companys facilities at Leavesden. The tour itself brought in over 100 million ($128 million USD) of this turnover in 2017 - 69% of the overall turnover. Special events at Warner Bros Studio Tour - The Making of Harry Potter continue to bring new and old guests alike. Introducing The Art Department and Valentines Dinner in the Great Hall will kick off their 2019 programme, and their announcement that a new feature is on the way continues a tradition of marketing plans designed to engage Potter fans. Wizarding World merchandise continues to expand at an almost alarming pace, from new ventures in tech, to various ranges at global retail outlets. Jim Citys 2018 mobile game Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery averages a 4.5 star rating on Apples App Store and Androids Google Play store, and received the Google Play Best of 2018 Fan Favorite award in 5 countries. Hogwarts Mystery is the first mobile app to release under the new label Portkey Games (from Warner Bros Interactive Entertainment), created to bring gamers and fans new gaming experiences that allow them to delve into the magic of the Wizarding World in immersive ways where they can define their own Wizarding World story." In 2019, new mobile game Harry Potter: Wizards Unite will launch under Warner Bros Entertainment, Portkey Games and Niantic. Niantic recently filed that it had raised $245 million in Series C financing leading up to the eagerly anticipated launch of Harry Potter: Wizards Unite, helping ensure that it will be a strong contender to rival Niantic's viral game, Pokmon GO. Official Harry Potter site and digital publishing and e-commerce company, Pottermore Limited recently reported an expected" decrease in revenue and pre-tax profit, with revenue decreasing from 40.3 million ($52.2 million) in the year ending March 2017 to 32.8 million ($42.5 million) in the year ending March 2018. However, the company shows an overall increase in sales from 2015, thanks to a strong sales performance of the Harry Potter eBooks and digital audiobooks, as well as investment in franchise planning with Warner Bros and celebrations of the 20th anniversary of Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone in the U.K.. Digitalisation and updating of Rowling's previous works and companion books, and the sales of special collections have offered the opportunity to bring in higher revenue in recent years, and collaborations with Audible on new projects (such as new audiobook project Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald - Makers, Mysteries and Magic) offer new ways forward in selling fans digital Wizarding World experiences. Overall, 2019 looks to be another year of expanding J.K. Rowling's Wizarding World beyond the Harry Potter books and film series, and marketing strategies capturing the attention of fans worldwide. The delay in Fantastic Beasts 3 production will likely be an opportunity to focus on developing the series in response to negative reviews, whilst new ventures in gaming, publishing, theater and new additions to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter and the Warner Bros Studio Tour will keep the franchise at the forefront of consumers' minds long into 2020 and beyond.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/emmapocock/2019/01/23/how-will-j-k-rowling-continue-to-dominate-markets-in-2019/

Why Open A Reverse Mortgage Before It Is Actually Needed?

We can further explore this question with a more realistic example. Exhibit 1.1 below provides an illustration of the impact of opening a reverse mortgage at different points in time using a few basic assumptions. For more information, download our Reverse Mortgage 101 Cheatsheet. Still keeping matters relatively simple, I assume that the one-month LIBOR rate stays permanently at 1.25 percent and the ten-year LIBOR swap rate remains permanently at 2.25 percent. The lenders margin is assumed to be 2.75 percent, and home inflation is 2 percent. For a sixty-two-year-old with a home worth $250,000 today, the exhibit charts three values over time until the individual is ninety. The home value grows by 2 percent annually, and it is worth $435,256 by age ninety. The principal limit for a reverse mortgage opened at sixty-two is $102,500 (based on a principal limit factor of 41 percent for the 5 percent expected rate. The principal limit grows at an effective rate of 4.5 percent, and the principal limit is worth $351,544 by age ninety. Finally, Exhibit 1.1 also shows the available principal limit if the reverse mortgage is not opened until each subsequent age rather than at age sixty-two. By delaying the start of the reverse mortgage, and assuming that the expected rate of 5 percent remains, the principal limit grows because the principal limit factor is higher at advanced ages, and because this factor is applied to a higher home value. Nonetheless, even at age ninety, the available principal limit for a new reverse mortgage is only $284,222, which is based on a PLF of 65.3 percent applied to a current home value of $435,256. The message from this example is that opening the line of credit earlier allows for greater availability of future credit relative to waiting until later in retirement. Exhibit 1.1: Comparing Principal Limits Based on When the Reverse Mortgage Opens Admittedly, Exhibit 1.1 does look less impressive in terms of the potential value of opening the reverse mortgage early compared to the same exhibit from the first edition, before the October 2017 rule changes. Exhibit 1.2 compares the growth in the principal limit for loans from before and after the October 2, 2017, change in program parameters. Under the old rules, the principal limit could grow more rapidly, as it started from a higher initial base and included an ongoing mortgage insurance-premium of 1.25 percent in the effective rate instead of the current 0.5 percent. By age eighty-three, the principal limit exceeded the value of the hometwenty-one years after the loan was initiated. More broadly, Exhibit 1.2 shows how the pace of principal limit growth was substantially slowed by the October 2017 rule change. Exhibit 1.2: Comparing Principal Limit Growth Beginning at Age 62 for HECMs before and after October 2017 This example assumes that interest rates remain low. But if interest rates increase in the future, the value of opening the line of credit today would be greater. Rising future interest rates would help to bring back some of the excitement about line-of-credit growth that was tempered by the October 2017 rule updates. With lower rates today, the available PLF is higher. Then, higher future interest rates would cause the future effective rate to be higher so that the principal limit grows more quickly. Rising rates would also increase the expected rate used to calculate principal limits on new reverse mortgages in the future. This would reduce the principal limit on newly issued future loans. An example of this is provided in Exhibit 1.3. The scenario is the same as in Exhibit 1.1, except that later in the first year of analysis, interest rates permanently increase by 1 percent, which raises the effective rate to 6 percent for HECMs issued at later ages and the effective rate for principal limit growth to 5.5 percent. The exhibit shows the widening gap in available principal limit created by opening the reverse mortgage sooner. If interest rates rise in the future, the case for opening the reverse mortgage sooner than it is potentially needed becomes stronger. Exhibit 1.3: Comparing Principal Limits Based on When the Reverse Mortgage Opens, Assuming that Interest Rates Permanently Increase by Age 63 All of this may sound too good to be trueand it probably is, to some extent. Perhaps this is why it is difficult to grasp the concept of line-of-credit growth throughout retirement. Ive previously noted that unused lines of credit work for borrowers to the detriment of lenders and the governments insurance fund. Such use of a reverse mortgage still exists today and would be contractually protected for those who initiate reverse mortgages under the current rules. I wrote in the first edition of my book that at some point in the future, I expect to see new limitations on line-of-credit growth, especially as more people start to follow the findings of recent research on this matter. A round of such limitations came into effect in October 2017 and have weakened the case for the growing line of credit, though value still exists for these strategies. Line-of-credit growth may be viewed a bit like an unintended loophole that has been strengthened by our low-interest-rate environment. Further limitations on line-of-credit growth could potentially be created someday for newly issued loans. Until then, research points to this growth as a valuable way that reverse mortgages can contribute to a retirement-income plan.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/wadepfau/2019/01/23/why-open-a-reverse-mortgage-before-it-is-actually-needed/

Can Arsenal Overcome Its Injury Woes?

Hector Bellerin went down like a sniper had taken him out from the roof of the Emirates during the second half of Arsenal's 2-0 win over Chelsea last Saturday. When video replay showed contact with another player didn't cause him to go to the turf, it was clear this injury would be a bad one. The low-key injuries are often the worst. Indeed, you could classify Bellerin's injury among "the worst." The 23-year-old Spaniard ruptured one of his cruciate knee ligaments and will miss the remainder of the season. It's possible he won't be fully recovered for the start of the 2019-20 campaign in August either. But this is far from the first injury Arsenal has faced this season. In fact, the Chelsea match marked Bellerin's return to the starting lineup following a month-long absence because of a calf injury, and now he'll return to a packed injury list. In addition to Bellerin, central defender Rob Holding will miss the rest of the season after tearing his ACL against Manchester United in December, while striker Danny Welbeck is out for the season with a broken ankle suffered in November. That's on top of the run-of-the-mill injuries that have kept players such as full-back Nacho Monreal, midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan, full-back Stefan Lichsteiner and central defenders Konstantinos Mavropanos off the pitch. Arsenals first season under a new manager in two decades was always going to be tough and the slew of injuries on the back line have made it all the tougher. Now Unai Emery and his men enter the backstretch of the season as the walking wounded but with the hope they can overcome these injury woes and still make a return to the UEFA Champions League. The biggest issue with all the injuries is that the majority are coming on defense, which was Arsenal's weakest area even when at full strength. The Gunner's 32 goals conceded is the 10th-most in the Premier League this season, and their four clean sheets ranks 15th, while the four teams ahead of them in the EPL table have at least nine apiece. The severe injuries Arsenal has suffered this season would hamper any team. Unluckily, most have also come at the one spot they can ill afford more attrition. Holding's absence has been the toughest to deal with because Arsenal was already thin (and bad) in central defense. While Sokratis of Shkodran Mustafi struggled at the back during the first half of the season, Holding was coming on strong as the lone bright spot and was beginning to solidify himself as an automatic selection at central defender. With Movrapanos and Monreal, who moonlights as a central defender, out at the time of Holding's injury, and Laurent Koscielny just returning from a long injury spell of his own, Arsenal was left with only Sokratis and Mustafi at the back for much of December. Emery was even forced to experiment with Granit Xhaka at center back. Koscielny has now fully recovered and reclaimed his spot in the lineup, having started Arsenal's last four Premier League matches, and that's an enormous boost for the defense. While Koscielny isn't as quick or athletic as he once was, he's a leader with plenty of experience running a defense. Intelligent defending was something the Gunners clearly lacked in the first half of the season, and Koscielny's ability to provide intelligence and a calming presence in the back upon his return has been a tremendous boon. Bellerin's absence is deleterious because of just how good he is when at this best, he's one of the top right-back in the Premier League but Arsenal isn't actually hurting for options at his position. The obvious candidate to replace him is young Ainsley Maitland-Niles, who shifted to Bellerin's post when the Spaniard was stretched off in the Chelsea match. Maitland-Niles, 21, is one of the most promising young talents at Arsenal, and fans have been clamoring for him to get a chance in the starting XI, though none will have wanted it to happen like this. After him, there's the Lichsteiner, a much more experienced and veteran presence, if well past his prime. Between those two, Arsenal should be fine at right-back, but should worst come to worst, Carl Jenkinson is still knocking about at the club and could be used even though he might be the least-talented player at the club. Of the long-term absences, Welbeck's has been the easiest to cope with because of the other options Arsenal has in attack. Welbeck was always going to be used as backup to Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette. Without Welbeck, Arsenal is obviously thinner at the front, but not to the point where it's been a hindrance. The Gunners rank third in the league in terms of goals scored (48) and they should stay near the top for the rest of the season barring further injury to attackers. With the impending return of Mkhitaryan, one of the team's best supporting attackers when fit this season, Arsenal's offense could even improve in the coming weeks. Emery has already ruled out signing an emergency replacement for Bellerin, citing the three potential replacement mentioned above. It seems unlikely any players will be signed to replace the long-term injured players if only because of the club's current transfer policy. Emery said recently the club can only loan players this January, and the most prominent reported loan targets Denis Suarez, Ever Banega are midfielders. It seems Arsenal will be dancing with who brought 'em. The bright side for Arsenal is that its injury situation isn't the worst in the league. It isn't even the worst in North London. Tottenham finds itself in a fair bit of trouble as well. While none of Spurs' absences are as long-term as Arsenal's, they will be without Harry Kane and Dele Alli, their two best players, until mid-March. On top of that, Son Heung-Min will be away from the team for the rest of January while competing in the Asian Cup of Nations with South Korea. With plenty of tough matches coming up before Kane and Alli are expected to return from injury including two legs against Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League and a North London Derby Tottenham's season could fall apart over this stretch if it can't cope with their absences. For Arsenal to make the top four this season, it will need help, and these injuries to Spurs' stars may be just the help it needs. But that alone won't be enough. The Gunners must also help themselves first and foremost by playing more solid at the back but also by relying on their world-class attackers. They have the best attack force in the league outside of title favorites Liverpool and Manchester City, and that may well be their saving grace. If Arsenal can stay healthy the rest of the way, it may have just enough firepower for a top-four finish.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/cybrown/2019/01/23/can-arsenal-overcome-its-injury-woes/

What will it take for Britain to turn on Ant and Dec?

Present-day English nationalism, said the Irish thinker Fintan OToole, has a problem: it knows who them are; it doesnt know who us are. Sure. But also, Ant and Dec. The pair won the National Television award for best presenters for the 18th year running on Tuesday, causing a backlash, which is today-speak for Piers Morgan pulling some trinket of vitriol out of his scammers overcoat. Morgans facts were correct: Ant McPartlin could not have won an award for his 2018 output. He had indeed taken a year off; perhaps Morgan was even correct to say the only time hed got out of bed was to walk the dog. For anyone who wants to judge him, there is plenty to go on: last March, drunk in charge of a vehicle, McPartlin crashed into a car containing a four-year-old, and spent the rest of the year fighting alcohol and substance addiction. But judgment, scorn, shared disgust, its a rusty old tin drum to warm your hands upon. Given the choice, we would prefer to empathise, walk a mile in a mans shoes, preferably with his dog. Often we dont have that choice because its all moving so fast your pitchfork has got halfway around the world before your best self has its pants on. Thats the first jewel in the crown of Ant and Dec: they are never moving too fast. They are like a two-man Slow Presenter movement in a world of over-processed noise. Which is not to say theyre witless, or even at all quiet. Rather, they have a high tolerance for silliness and self-parody, an idealised brotherhood since no brothers like each other that much, which all combines in this talismanic way to ward off hate. You could never raise a mob, with Ant and Dec around. Too much wholesomeness is built-in obsolescence for a TV personality. After a while, it gets on your nerves. When it comes to Ant and Decs failures, none were magnificent. There was just a trace of amusement in all four of their eyebrows whenever something was a bit rubbish, the choreography of PJ and Duncan; certain choice episodes of Byker Grove; the thick seam of nonsense histrionics running through Im a Celebrity. Hard to say, but it insulated them against the ennui of their niceness, not to mention the stain of their success, the untold wealth and fame that could put anyone off. They are funny, but theyre no Frankie Boyle; they have warmth in the Johnny Ball tradition, steaming off them like an Icelandic hot spring; but I dont think its any intrinsic trait that makes them so popular. Rather, its what they bring out in us: a near-infinite indulgence and capacity for understanding. We inscribe our best traits on to them, and thereby love them more. Every time they win an award, it is a medal for the nation, for being more Ant than Piers.

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/commentisfree/2019/jan/23/what-will-it-take-for-britain-to-turn-against-ant-and-dec

Who are the Black Hebrew Israelites, the religious group in the viral confrontation at the Lincoln Memorial?

The Black Hebrew Israelites, members of which identify themselves as a historic religious group, has taken center stage after some of its members appeared to be part of a controversial confrontation at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. over the weekend. A video of high school students from Covington Catholic High School in Kentucky and Native American activist Nathan Phillips went viral. The students, who were in D.C. to participate in the March for Life, were initially accused of mocking Philips and faced immediate backlash for the alleged behavior. VIDEO SHOWS TENSION BETWEEN NATIVE AMERICANS, HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS BEFORE VIRAL CLIP But just hours after a Catholic diocese in Kentucky threatened to expel several high school students involved in the incident, new footage emerged showing tension developing before the confrontation. And conservatives argued the original clip didn't tell the whole story, with many noting members of the Black Hebrew Israelites appeared to instigate the incident. In one of the varying versions of the story of the encounter he told media outlets, Phillips told The Detroit Free Press one of them spit toward the students. Others were "saying some harsh things," he said, and so he decided to "put [himself] in between that, between a rock and hard place." Additionally, Covington student Nick Sandmann, who was seen in the first video, later said in a statement that four members of the Black Hebrew Israelite movement called the students "racists, bigots, white crackers, f----ts, and incest kids." "They also taunted an African-American student from my school by telling him that we would 'harvest his organs,'" he added. Sandmann, who said one of the students asked a teacher chaperoning the trip for permission to "begin our school spirit chants" to drown out the hecklers, added he was trying to defuse the tense situation by remaining "motionless and calm." He also denied taunting Phillips by making faces at him. Instead, he said he smiled at the protester "because I wanted him to know I was not going to become angry, intimidated or be provoked into a larger confrontation." Following the confrontation, the religious group has been thrust into the spotlight for some of the members alleged behavior at the rally. Heres what to know about the Black Hebrew Israelites. The Black Hebrew Israelites sometimes called Black Jews Black Hebrews and Hebrew Israelites, according to Vox are a controversial offshoot of an American religious movement known as Black Israelism, The Washington Post reported. The movement dates back to the 18th century, if not before. More specifically, the movement is rooted in Black Judaism, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, which noted the Black Judaism doctrine states when the Kingdom of Israel was destroyed, the Israelites were first scattered across the African continent and then selectively targeted by enemy African tribes who captured and sold them to European slave traders for bondage in the New World. The principles of the Black Hebrew Israelites vary: the group does not appear to have an official creed. In fact, Lewis Gordon, a professor of Africana philosophy at the University of Connecticut, told The Philadelphia Inquirer some sects within the movement identify as Jews, as Christians, and as neither. Some who identify with the group read the Christian bible, while others read the Hebrew Bible. Some believe Jesus was the Messiah while others do not, according to The Post. Overall, there are dozens of Black Hebrew organizations. Many members continue to follow the teachings of a rabbi who founded a congregation in Harlem, New York, in 1919, according to a 2000 report in The New York Times. However, one belief appears to hold true for the majority of those who identify as Black Hebrew Israelites: African Americans are the literal descendants of the Israelites of the Bible and have been severed from their true heritage, The Post reported. The Post reported a branch known as One West began to form in the 1970s and 1980s, or in the years after the civil rights and Black Power movements. One Westers, according to The Post, saw themselves as radical reformers of earlier generations of Hebrew Israelites who had gone astray. They would troop out to street corners dressed in colorful and ornate capes and leather vivid imaginings of what ancient Israelites might look like transported into the urban culture of New York City. They were also early and eager adopters of new media, hosting local television slots and filming their often-confrontational street ministry. Members of the One West group believe Native Americans and Hispanics, in addition to African Americans, are descendants of the Israelites or the original 12 Tribes of Israel. One prominent offshoot on One West is a group known as House of Israel (HOI). Vox reported this sect of Black Israelites are often seen as the fringe sect and are known for their highly confrontational form of street ministry commonly seen in large cities such as Washington, D.C. and New York. KENTUCKY TEEN IN VIRAL VIDEO SAYS HE DID NOTHING PROVOCATIVE: 'I HAD EVERY RIGHT' TO STAND THERE Members of HOI were reportedly present at the Lincoln Memorial confrontation over the weekend. Some Black Israelite groups, such as HOI, have been labeled as hate groups by organizations like the Southern Poverty Law Center. The SPLC reported in 2008 that while most Hebrew Israelites are neither explicitly racist nor anti-Semitic and do not advocate violence, there is a rising extremist sector within the Hebrew Israelite movement whose adherents believe that Jews are devilish impostors and who openly condemn whites as evil personified, deserving only death or slavery. Fox News' Gregg Re and Samuel Chamberlain contributed to this report.

https://www.foxnews.com/us/who-are-the-black-hebrew-israelites-the-religious-group-in-the-viral-confrontation-at-the-lincoln-memorial?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+foxnews%2Fnational+%28Internal+-+US+Latest+-+Text%29

Has Trump boredom set in?

Take a cue from Democratic political advisers. In the final month of the 2018 campaigns, their candidates mentioned Trump in only 11 percent of their ads. They generally stuck to their plans for the future. That apparently worked for them. It started during the midterm campaign. Democrats stopped talking about President Donald Trump all the time. Now presidential hopefuls are doing the same. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, once a relentless sparring partner on Twitter, all but ignores Trumps goading comments. Perhaps, but the change in approach seems to reflect something more, something beyond mere Trump fatigue. We may have entered the era of Trump boredom. Share your thoughts on the news by sending a Letter to the Editor. Email Share your thoughts on the news by sending a Letter to the Editor. Email letters@seattletimes.com and please include your full name, address and telephone number for verification only. Letters are limited to 200 words. Some of that may come from the sense that hes mattering less. The midterm elections were a repudiation. His poll numbers keep dropping. His latest escalation, closing the government, is eating into his base of ardent supporters. Many who sort of liked him are giving up. The precedent has to be set that a president cant close the government because he didnt get his way on some matter. Throwing the country into turmoil is not a normal negotiating tactic. Americans, meanwhile, are getting nervous about the economy, which has been Trumps pride and joy. Just wait till sluggish growth collides with trillion-dollar budget deficits. Ive been unfollowing Twitter mates who habitually list Trumps old crimes and personal frailties as if they were news. They dont seem to understand that for many, raw anger has turned into acceptance of what he is. Theres no fixing Trump. Hes a problem that needs managing. Enter House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. She is a model of self-control. She speaks in the calm manner needed for dealing with people who act on impulse. Mother of five, shes a proven master at containing tantrums. Measured leadership in national politics is exactly what most Americans want. Theres a yearning for normality in their national politics. On this subject, we urge some of the hotheads on the left to modulate their emotions. It is in their interests to play it cool, assuming that their interests center on getting Democrats elected and not building their own brands for a niche audience. Thus, it was pleasant to watch a Golden Globe Awards presentation that didnt bubble over with rage at the man in the Oval Office. The moral preening in the past was hard on the stomach, including for many who agree with the messages. Hollywoods elite should know that celebrity does not necessarily confer superior political insight. Take a cue from Democratic political advisers. In the final month of the 2018 campaigns, their candidates mentioned Trump in only 11 percent of their ads. They generally stuck to their plans for the future. That apparently worked for them. Meanwhile, the serious scandals grow. The older scandals tied to sexual behavior are minor next to the extraordinary, but now thinkable, possibility that a president has been working for a foreign adversary. Continually repeating the smaller misdeeds only distracts from the bigger stuff. What Democrats need is their own media environment in which they control the message. And that means leaving Trump little opportunity to grab attention at their expense. The worse things get for him the more bombastic his diversions will be. An impeachment proceeding would add another layer of chaos on a fatigued American public. New revelations might force that action, but this should not be the Democrats focus at this point. The best day for sending Trump home would be Nov. 3, 2020, Election Day. (Law enforcement may have plans for him later.) Whatever the means for removal, its obvious that time is running out on the Trump years. Dont drown out the sound of the ticking.

https://www.seattletimes.com/opinion/has-trump-boredom-set-in/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_all

Could Trump And Hill Democrats Make A Deal To Curb Medicare Drug Prices?

Believe it or not, there is a chance President Trump and congressional Democrats can reach an agreement this year to limit the growth in Medicare drug prices. It certainly wont be easy, given the toxic relationship the president and Democrats have built up in just the past few weeks. But both sides have good reasons to make a deal, and they may not be that far apart on the substance of an agreement. After all, lowering drug prices has been on the Democratic agenda for years while Trump has been talking about the idea since the early days of his presidential campaign. And, as with many issues, he has been extremely flexible about how to do it. At times, hes even seemed to embrace proposals such as allowing Americans to import drugs directly from Canada or even having government negotiate prices with drug makersideas that have strong support among progressive Democrats. Top priority In his first state of the union address, Trump highlighted the subject: One of my greatest priorities is to reduce the price of prescription drugs. In many other countries, these drugs cost far less than what we pay in the United States. That is why I have directed my Administration to make fixing the injustice of high drug prices one of our top priorities. Prices will come down. And the Administration has indeed proposed several initiatives aimed at lowering drug prices. They include a requirement that drug makers disclose prices in their direct-to-consumer marketing. Most ambitious, however, was a proposal by the Department of Health and Human Services to tie US prices for Medicare Part B drugs to the prices in other developed countries that are nearly always lower. The HHS plan is far from ideal. It has many technical problems. And Part B drugs, such as vaccines and chemotherapy, account for a relatively small share of all Medicare drug spending. Still, the idea of benchmarking US prices to those in other countries has significant Democratic support. Similar ideas Indeed, earlier this month, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and two dozen liberal House Democrats introduced a package of bills to lower drug prices. Two of the three are similar to Trump Administration ideas, at least conceptually. The bills would: Peg the price of prescription drugs in the US to the median price in Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Japan; Direct the HHS Secretary to negotiate lower prices for Part D prescription drugs Allow patients, pharmacists, and wholesalers to import drugs from Canada and other major countries. Of course there are differences between the more cautious Trump versions of these ideas and the more expansive Democratic ideas. For example, Sanders would tie all US drug prices to an international benchmark while Trump would limit the idea to Part B drugs only. Still, it is not be hard to see a compromise. Motivating a deal Reaching agreement may be tougher in the Republican-controlled Senate, where key lawmakers have close ties with the pharmaceutical industry. But even there, some lawmakers are looking for deals. For example, the Senate Finance Committees new Republican Chairman, Chuck Grassley of Iowa, has introduced a bill with Minnesota Democrat (and possible presidential hopeful) Amy Klobuchar to allow Americans to buy prescription drugs from approved pharmacies in Canada. OK, a drug deal seems crazy. After all, the government has been partially shut down for more than a month over a largely symbolic argument over a border wall, and the House speaker and the President cant even agree on whether Trump can give his state of the union address in the House chamber next week. Yet, in some ways the current battles over border security and the government shutdown may motivate both Trump and congressional Democrats to show voters that they can reach agreement on an important consumer issue. Presidential politics The drug industry is worried. One lobbyist told me recently that drug makers live in fear that Trump will throw them under the bus and cut a deal with Hill Democrats. The industry is gearing up a major lobbying effort to block a deal, while some firms are quietly working with lawmakers to craft compromise legislation that would allow some benchmarking of prices. There are many good reasons why a deal may not happen: The mercurial president may walk away from a perfectly reasonable compromise or Democrats may not be willing to give a weakened Trump a major political talking point for the 2020 campaign. The two sides may not make a deal, and indeed probably wont. But they could.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/howardgleckman/2019/01/23/could-trump-and-hill-democrats-make-a-deal-to-curb-medicare-drug-prices/

Is it the right time for the Portland Trail Blazers to make a trade?

The Portland Trail Blazers have been one of the best teams out west as we near the midway point of the 2019 NBA season, but with the February 7 trade deadline looming, the Blazers have to consider how their team is equipped to perform in the playoffs after being swept in embarrassing fashion by the New Orleans Pelicans in 2018. Portland has two of the best backcourt scorers in the league in Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum, and center Jusuf Nurkic is finally starting to look like he is back to being the Bosnian Beast fans fell in love with when he first arrived in Portland. Forward Jake Layman has also seen his game develop to a point of being a regular contributor. The Blazers have sung the praises of roster continuity and how it has helped them find regular season success. But the fact remains that when this team hits the playoffs, it falls flat. In the last three seasons, the Blazers have made it out of the first round just once, in 2015-16, and that was in large part due to a rash of injuries the Los Angeles Clippers suffered during that series. Since then, the Blazers have been swept out of the first round twice in a row. So much for that roster continuity. Saddled with a slew of bloated contracts he doled out in 2016, President of Basketball Operations Neil Olshey has seen his hands tied when it comes to signing players in free agency, but the one avenue he does have to explore improving the roster is through trades. With the 2019 NBA trade deadline coming up fast, teams across the league will surely be willing to deal. Sign in and head to the comments section to let us know what you think the Portland needs to do as a franchise to take the next step and give Rip City some hope for playoff success. To get the ball rolling and help you find some ideas, here are just a few of the players rumored to be available as the deadline approaches: - Carmelo Anthony was traded from the Houston Rockets to the Chicago Bulls, but Anthony, who has sat out the majority of this season despite being healthy, will not play a game for Chicago. - The Memphis Grizzlies are reportedly fielding offers for franchise pillars Marc Gasol and Mike Conley, but the Grizzlies will want a lot in return. - The Washington Wizards were in a tailspin to begin the season, and along with their struggles came rumors that the franchise will look to blow up the team and rebuild. That could mean players like John Wall and Bradley Beal might be available for the right offer. Sharp-shooter Otto Porter has been mentioned as a good fit for a team like Portland who are still in need of more three-point shooting and defense on the wing. - Shams Charania of The Athletic reported that there is an early list of teams that will be sellers at the NBA trade deadline and that includes Atlanta, New York, Cleveland and Chicago in the East. Out West, Phoenix and Memphis could be looking to move some players. Post your thoughts in the comments and we may use them in our roundup of Blazers trade targets as the deadline draws closer.

https://www.oregonlive.com/blazers/2019/01/is-it-the-right-time-for-the-portland-trail-blazers-to-make-a-trade.html

Will Baidu Stock Bounce Back in 2019?

One of China's original dot-com rock stars is having a hard time getting back into a good groove. Baidu (NASDAQ: BIDU) shares plummeted 32% last year. Many Chinese growth stocks are showing signs of life in 2019, but Baidu stock is essentially still where it was when the year began. It's been a rough January for China's leading search engine provider. Things kicked off with Baidu CEO Robin Li warning about slowing growth. An analyst downgrade eventually followed. Even a bullish Wall Street pro put out a note detailing near-term negative catalysts, nipping any potential for Baidu to ride the wave of its fellow Chinese growth stocks higher. The stock hit a 35-month low earlier this month. Things appear to be bleak, but the one thing investors have learned in sizing up Baidu volatility over the years is that you can never count out the country's initial dot-com darling. Baidu research executives at Baidu office. More Image source: Baidu. Spring follows winter Baidu's founder-CEO sent a letter to employees three weeks ago, detailing past accomplishments and future challenges. Li notes that the economic slowdown is "as cold and real as winter" in China. He tries to put a positive spin on the setback -- arguing that it's giving Baidu time to cut costs, expand into higher-growth markets, and improve efficiency -- but the takeaway for investors is that growth will slow in the near term. Morgan Stanley would go on to downgrade the stock a few days later. The firm warns that a new investment cycle will weigh on margins as growth rates for its paid-search cash cow start to moderate. Morgan Stanley lowered its rating to the neutral equal weight, slashing its price target on the shares from $230 to $188. Citi analyst Alicia Yap chimed in late last week, sticking to her bullish rating on the stock but lowering her price target from $262 to $205. The new price goal still offers 28% of upside off of current levels, but she also has "Negative Catalyst Watch" on the stock through the next 30 days. She fears that the upcoming fourth-quarter report could come in soft, cuffed to weak guidance for the current quarter. Baidu won't be immune to a slowdown in China. Advertisers will be spending less to reach consumers that will be curbing expenditures if recent measures to accelerate growth in the world's most populous nation fall short. However, it doesn't seem fair that Baidu is trading near its worst levels since early 2016. There is still growth to be had at Baidu. Even if it falls short of its late-October goal calling for 20% to 26% in revenue growth adjusted for recent asset sales -- a real possibility given its cautious tone -- this is still an online pioneer that finds a way to eventually land on its feet. As rough as last year was, Baidu has beaten Wall Street profit targets by a double-digit-percentage margin in each of the past four quarters. Baidu is cheap. Wall Street expectations continue to inch lower, but Baidu is still trading at a mere 15 times this new year's projected profit. If Baidu is trading at a forward earnings multiple in the mid-teens while it makes big investments in future technologies, one can only imagine how cheap the shares will be in retrospect when it's firing on all cylinders again. Baidu will bounce back, as that is what the stock has historically done. We just may have to wait a few weeks before it truly bottoms out after a financial report that is now widely expected to disappoint. More From The Motley Fool Rick Munarriz has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Baidu. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

https://news.yahoo.com/baidu-stock-bounce-back-2019-194500596.html

Is 2019 The Year That Robot Delivery Takes Over The Retail World?

2019 will be a watershed year for autonomous delivery, predicts Lex Bayer, the CEO of Starship Technologies, one of the world leaders in delivery robots. Its easy to see why Bayer makes the case for autonomous delivery so boldly. Delivery vans clog up our roads, pollute our air, and are not cost efficient. So last year saw even more retailers ask themselves why they werent trying the futuristic alternative. As the sight of a robot, drone or even a robot dog out for delivery becomes more familiar, heres why autonomous will make a viable alternative to our usual last-mile delivery options, but wont become widespread...yet. The appeal of autonomous delivery for retailers In the U.K., youll find some of Starships bots wheeling around Milton Keynes, fulfilling grocery and food orders for Tesco and the Co-op. In America, they recently announced a partnership with George Mason University that will allow food to be delivered by their robots to anywhere on campus. It is about trying to find a way to cut through all the traffic on the roads and find a more efficient way of delivering goods, said Simon Liss, managing director of the innovation agency for retail, Omnifi. Bayer argues that robots are beginning to meet those needs. As our shopping habits have developed to favor online orders, retailers have been faced with mounting delivery numbers and ever diminishing time frames within which they need to make sure the parcel arrives. McKinsey estimates that the number of packages needing to be delivered every year could rise to more than 25 billion in the U.S. over the next ten years. Increased demand is placing a significant strain on retailers as they struggle to find delivery methods that don't eat into their profits. Thats where robots could 'step' in, so to speak. Starships robots can dramatically reduce the end-to-end costs involved in the last mile, Bayer explained. Whats more, as consumers become more environmentally-conscious, they want shops to offer them delivery options which wont impact on their carbon footprint. Electrically-powered robots are an attractive alternative as they take vans and trucks off the road, thereby reducing congestion and the levels of harmful gases in the air. Why customers love the idea of a robot delivering their orders Consumer interest in robots is initially by the novelty of the technology, though that soon wears off. What gives autonomous delivery staying power is the convenience and reliability it can offer shoppers. Having a robot deliver your weekly food shop is a time-saver. Whether shoppers still go into store to shop or whether they get an online order, with robots they will be able to get items delivered to their front doors when and where they want them at low cost, Bayer explained. Starships robots have already completed more than 25,000 deliveries globally. And Bayer is confident that number will increase: We predict that 1 million autonomous deliveries will be completed before 1 million people ride in autonomous vehicles, he said. But there are still a few major hurdles to making robot delivery the go-to option. Scaling up to operate within a city appears to be the biggest challenge. I cannot see it happening in London, said the innovation agency head, Simon Liss. The U.K. has a chaotic road system and to have an army of small capacity robots trundling around our streets will cause all sorts of issues, both practical and legal. But autonomous vehicles and autonomous deliveries dont have to be positioned as enemies. They could be complementary. Once self-driving vehicles become a part of our everyday lives, Liss sees them taking on delivery responsibilities.Large self-driving vehicles could be dropping off packages along their journey, he said. Multi-purpose autonomous vehicles would be cost-effective, and their size would give them capacity to carry many more packages than the current robots can. Only once robot delivery companies have cracked how to make their technology scalable to cities and densely populated urban areas will their popularity soar as retailers begin to take their viability seriously. So although neither autonomous vehicles or robots appear ready to completely take over in 2019, the obvious benefits for retailers and consumers mean we can expect them to integrate further into shoppers' lives this year.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/annaschaverien/2019/01/23/robot-autonomous-delivery-starship-technologies/

Has Abbott's Acquisitive Miles White Made His Last Big Deal?

Entering his third decade as chief executive of Abbott Laboratories and with his successor waiting in the wings, Miles White feels no immediate pressure to make another big deal for the diversified healthcare company. Abbott, White says, is doing just fine growing the businesses it has. We certainly don't see gaps right now that we have to fill with M&A, Abbotts chairman told analysts on a conference call Wednesday morning to discuss the companys 2018 earnings and outlook for this year. The 63-year-old White has transformed Abbott since he became CEO in 1999, spinning off its pharmaceutical division six years ago into the fast-growing drug maker Abbvie and building a new empire with established drugs, implantable medical devices, nutritional products and diagnostic tests. Abbott sales rose nearly 12% to $30.6 billion last year, the company said Wednesday. Though White hasnt announced any retirement plans, hes likely to hand off the company in better shape than he inherited 21 years ago. Last year, White named long-time Abbott executive Robert B. Ford, who is 45 years old, as the companys president and chief operating officer. Its the first official No. 2 executive and chief operating officer Abbott has had in more than a decade and Ford is expected to succeed White at some point. The elevation of Ford came after a series of sizable acquisitions. In 2017, Abbott closed on its $5.3 billion acquisition of medical test maker, Alere and last year paid down a whopping more than $8 billion debt accumulated from its $25 billion purchase of device maker St. Jude Medical, which closed in January 2017. The Alere and St. Jude deals contributed to the largest debt load Abbott has had in its 131-year history, approaching nearly $28 billion at the end of 2017. With our recent strategic shaping completed, our focus in 2018 was on running the company we've built, and the result was an excellent year by every measure, White said. All four of our major businesses performed well, contributing to overall organic sales growth of more than 7%, which is above the initial guidance range we set at the beginning of last year. So White indicated to Wall Street analysts he doesnt think its a good time for Abbott to be looking at mergers and acquisitions even though the company generated more than $6 billion in cash flow last year and returned $2 billion to shareholders. Though Abbott is no longer in the brand name pharmaceutical business, the company is churning out individual products that are achieving blockbuster status, a moniker Wall Street uses when a treatment surpasses $1 billion in sales. For example, Abbotts diabetes care business grew by 35% in 2018 thanks to its FreeStyle Libre glucose monitoring system . The product, which surpassed $1 billion in global sales last year, is considered unique in that it measures glucose continuously for two weeks. During the fourth quarter, we added 300,000 new users, White said of Freestyle Libre. "As of the end of 2018, there are now approximately 1.3 million active users worldwide, of which approximately 2/3 are type 1 diabetics and 1/3 are type 2. FreeStyle Libre is an example of Abbotts focus in 2019. You make much higher return on your organic growth, White said. The growth we're getting from all of our businesses and even St. Jude is coming out of pipeline, and it's coming out of our own organic development. So we're able to return a pretty good sales and profit growth rate across the business.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/brucejapsen/2019/01/23/has-abbotts-acquisitive-miles-white-made-his-last-big-deal/

Can Democrats prevent shutdowns by refusing to reward the tactic?

From Day One of the longest government shutdown in history, Democrats have stuck to their guns: First, open the government. Then negotiate over border security. Their unwavering message has been that the president must not be allowed to hold federal workers hostage to get what he wants. Shutdowns must not be rewarded as a political tool. On Thursday, Democrats will have an opportunity to put this reasoning to a test in the Senate, where lawmakers will vote for the first time on reopening the government since the partial shutdown began more than a month ago. Senators will vote on dueling measures: President Trumps plan, which would fund the government through September and includes $5.7 billion for a wall; and the Democrats plan, which would fund the government through Feb. 8, allowing time to negotiate border security. It has no wall money. Both measures seem destined to fail in the polarized Senate. But even if Democrats prevail in their demand, its far from clear that this stand would deter future shutdowns. Government closures have become weaponized, observers say, and thats not likely to change. Indeed, just one year ago, Democrats themselves forced a shutdown, though brief, over immigration. Recommended: Art of the deal: In politics, Trump finds negotiations a different ballgame The Democrats demand to open the government first is just part of the game, says Patrick Griffin, who was legislative director for President Bill Clinton during the previous record-holding shutdown of 21 days. It works until it doesnt work, he says. You use it when it serves your purpose. The message also has served to keep Democrats unified. Not all Democrats oppose more funding for physical barriers along the border even if they object to a concrete wall. Its a good argument because its about a fundamental framing, as opposed to a component that people may agree or disagree on, says Democratic pollster Celinda Lake. Plus, people overwhelmingly agree the shutdown is Trumps fault. In a speech on Saturday, Mr. Trump stepped back from demanding a $5.7 billion wall as a 2,000-mile concrete structure from sea to sea and instead called for barriers in select high priority locations, in exchange for three years of protected status for Dreamers and certain other immigrants. Democrats have rejected the offer, pointing out that it also would place new restrictions on asylum seekers who are minors. Despite being presented by the president as a compromise, the proposal was not made in consultation with Democrats. Still, a group of centrist House Democrats reportedly wants Speaker Nancy Pelosi to offer the president a vote on his border wall and other security measures by the end of February, while allowing amendments to protect Dreamers after the government is opened up. And some Democrats could support steel slats, a description that the president has been using. I think in some places it might be appropriate, yes, Rep. Jahana Hayes, a Democratic freshman from Connecticut told reporters last week, referring to slat fencing. I want the border to be secure. Each shutdown has its own character including, in this case, a dispute over whether the president will give his State of the Union address in the House on Jan. 29. The president insisted in a letter to Ms. Pelosi today that he would; she wrote back that the House will not consider it until the shutdown ends. Each shutdown also has its own political pain, and that will determine its next use as a political tool for leverage, says Mr. Griffin. He points to the three-week shutdown over the holidays in the winter of 1995-96, when then-Speaker Newt Gingrich (R) of Georgia went to the mat to balance the budget in seven years through dramatic cuts. Mr. Clinton offered a different plan: 10 years without those cuts. In the end, Republicans were forced to admit defeat, and Clinton won reelection. It would be more than 17 years before congressional Republicans would again trigger a shutdown, this time over the Affordable Care Act. Their approval rating plummeted after that 16-day standoff in October 2013, instigated by the tea party caucus (one of its former members, Mick Mulvaney, is now the presidents acting chief of staff). But interestingly, that drop in approval did not last, and a year later, Republicans still vowing to repeal Obamacare took over the Senate.

https://news.yahoo.com/democrats-prevent-shutdowns-refusing-reward-tactic-211629215.html

Will Sonny Gray, Yasiel Puig lift the Reds in the NL Central?

Barring a disaster of injury or underperformance or overwhelming misfortune, the 2019 Cincinnati Reds will be better than the 2018 Cincinnati Reds. That is, of course, not a high bar. The Reds have finished in last place for four consecutive seasons, and given the strength of the NL Central, they will likely have to be much better to avoid a fifth. When it comes to mapping out the clubs struggles, theres ample blame to go around. This is a team whose most recent win totals read like a mediocre spring forecastbrisk, not quite balmyat 67, 68, 68, 64. The bulk of the responsibility falls on Cincinnatis starting pitching, which has been the worst in baseball over the last three seasons by a wide margin. Choose virtually any metric that youd like here and almost all of them will point you to the same answer. Theres an illustrative one in FanGraphs WAR: From 2016-2018, 29 teams rotations accumulated value ranging from 16 WAR (Chicago White Sox) to 60 (Cleveland Indians). Then theres Cincinnati, in last place with 10 WAR. Sure, WAR is an imperfect metric with different formulas and different perspectives when it comes to evaluating pitching. Yikes. And in that time, Cincinnatis rotation has a 5.12 ERA and 5.14 FIP, with baseballs highest home run rate. Not good! TAYLER: Rivera Makes History With Hall of Fame Election The Reds have spent the winter ensuring that the 2019 rotation will be markedly different from 2018. In December, they traded for Tanner Roark and Alex Wood. Earlier this week, they added Sonny Gray and signed him to a three-year contract extension. (The Wood trade had the added benefit of shipping out Homer Bailey, who held the dubious honor of being the leagues worst starting pitcher last year.) Cincinnatis three new acquisitions join Luis Castillo and Anthony DeSclafani, with a potential sixth man in Tyler Mahle. Potentially quite a bit if 2019 Tanner Roark returns to a pitcher resembling 2016 Tanner Roark (151 ERA+) or 2014 Tanner Roark (131 ERA+), or maybe hell continue on the same path that hes been on for the last two seasons (98 ERA+ in 2018, 96 ERA+ in 2017). Maybe Anthony DeSclafani will show that hes made a full recovery from an elbow injury that led him to miss all of 2017 and a spate of poor performances in 2018. The biggest variable of all is Sonny Graywhos gone from finalist for the Cy Young in 2015 to injury-stricken in 2016 to solidly above average to 2017 and back down to well below in 2018. Theres a lot of upside for this group, but theres a sizable gap between the ceiling and floor. Still, the floor is much higher than it was last year or the year before. On its own, thats enough to offer some decent hope that the team is on its way to solving its biggest problem. The Reds have a strong infield and a remade outfield. In 2018, three of the four players were deserving All-Stars, and in 2019, they should benefit from the debut of top prospect Nick Senzel. 35-year-old Joey Vottos performance dipped last year, as his offense fell to its lowest mark in several seasons, but it didnt change so much as to make him unrecognizable or ineffective. The Reds also beefed up the outfield this winter with the addition of Yasiel Puig, and the clubs other two regularsScott Schebler and Jesse Winkerare each coming off strong seasons at the plate. The bullpen isnt a strength, but Raisel Iglesias is a strong closer while Jared Hughes is coming off a career year as a setup man. The 2019 Reds look like a different team, after what appears to be a concentrated effort by the front office. FanGraphs projects them for 80 wins, as Jeff Sullivan wrote about earlier this week. In a tight NL Central, that might not be enough to go very far. But its enough to make a markedly more interesting teamnot quite contending for the wild card, but contending to be on the fringes of the conversationand it should be enough for a win total that feels a little warmer, for the first time in years.

https://www.si.com/mlb/2019/01/23/cincinnati-reds-sonny-gray-yasiel-puig-nl-central

How Does Today's Digital Media Environment Influence The Way We Behave?

originally appeared on Quora: the place to gain and share knowledge, empowering people to learn from others and better understand the world. Answer by Douglas Rushkoff, author and host of Team Human, on Quora: First off, for those who dont know exactly what a media environment is, its the social, mental, and economic environment engendered by a particular medium or technology. The smart phone isnt just the device in your pocket, but the entire environment it creates around it - from people walking in the street without looking up, to surveillance, to never getting to be truly alone, and so on. The digital media environment seems to be characterized by two main features: everything is discrete, and everything is in memory. By discrete, I mean 1/0, yes/no. No matter how smooth or anti-aliased things may look, everything is still in one place or another. Here or there. Like a snap-to grid. You cant be in the middle. We can get greater resolution, for sure. But its either here or there. So we get lots of definitions and boundaries. Lets build a wall. By memory, I mean the way that all digital processing happens in memory. RAM. Processors are really just different forms of memory. And, likewise, the digital media environment is a place where everything is remembered, and with perfect fidelity (even if it doesnt come back to us or get disseminated accurately). Every email you wrote is there, somewhere. Someday, as accessible as a text file. Your old friends show up on Facebook - people who would have receded into the distance of the past - now as crisp and clear as if you hadnt left them behind twenty years ago. The digital media environment leads people to think back - really to false memories. Make America Great Again. Or lets restore Britain to its prior glory, by separating from Europe. The European Union is too messy for the digital age. As for people, psychologically, a lot of what happens to us is really just a subset of those two features. We are often disoriented because were trying to be here and there at one time. Or were trying to be on one side of an artificial distinction or another. Or were trying to maintain multiple instances of ourselves at the same time. But for the most part, the digital media environment makes us see differences over similarities - opposition - and long for some remembered past. This question originally appeared on Quora - the place to gain and share knowledge, empowering people to learn from others and better understand the world. You can follow Quora on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+. More questions:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2019/01/23/how-does-todays-digital-media-environment-influence-the-way-we-behave/

How Are Government Workers Affected By The Shutdown?

originally appeared on Quora: the place to gain and share knowledge, empowering people to learn from others and better understand the world. Answer by Adam Roseman, Co-founder and CEO at Steady, on Quora: A custodian from NASA contacted my offices looking for help finding part-time work. After two decades on the job, hes found himself furloughed as part of the longest shutdown in U.S. history. He needs help. There are about 800,000 federal workers like him. Theyre receiving no paychecks, even though more than half have to keep working anyway. Thousands are applying for state unemployment benefits, which may provide partial pay for a limited time. Theyll then have to go through the bureaucratic hassle of paying back those benefits if they get back pay when the government resumes. But the big picture is this: Government workers have had the rug pulled out from under them. Its the latest sign that workers in todays economy are without stability. Even as disruption has led to all kinds of changes in traditional businesses in recent years, federal government work has maintained a reputation of being relatively stable. Workers have turned down higher paying jobs in the private sector in hopes of finding job security in the public sector. Now, many of these workers across the country are having second thoughts - and discovering its not so stable after all. As all these workers find themselves suddenly looking for sources of income, theyre facing the difficult realities of the modern economy - a reality that differs greatly from the rosy pictures often provided by news reports and so-called jobs numbers. Were in the gig economy, and businesses of all kinds have become increasingly reliant on hiring contractors and part-time workers. Theyre counted as employed in official government numbers, even if theyre not making enough money to pay their bills. In fact, 78% of U.S. workers live paycheck-to-paycheck. Nearly all the jobs created between 2005 and 2015 were made up of temporary work, a study by Harvard and Princeton professors. An estimated 94 percent of the net employment growth in the U.S. economy during that period occurred in alternative work arrangements, which include temporary help agency workers, on-call workers, contract workers, and independent contractors or freelancers, the study said. Millions of Americans are working part-time because they can't get full-time work. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that nearly 5 million people were working part-time in December for economic reasons, which include slack work or unfavorable business conditions, inability to find full-time work, or seasonal declines in demand. Now, furloughed government workers are entering the fray as well, looking for side hustles, from bartending to Uber driving. One veteran diplomat described in the Washington Post is doing her day job of analyzing a nation in economic upheaval for the State Department, unpaid, while also pet sitting and doing product reviews so she can make some money. As these federal employees enter the pool of gig workers in larger numbers, theyre creating a larger available workforce for companies that want cheap temporary labor. Its another stage in what weve seen all too much of for years now: economic changes that empower corporations and disempower individuals. Some of these federal employees, like the NASA janitor, began their government jobs decades ago, when things were different. For them, suddenly facing this new economy can come as a shock, whether theyre looking for gig work during the shutdown or seeking a job in the private sector. The longer a shutdown continues, the more likely people are to look for new jobs - particularly since President Trump said hes prepared to to keep the government closed for months or even years. These are steep challenges facing federal workers as they try to keep themselves and their families fed and housed, both now and in the future. Its why a White House economic adviser was wrong when he said some workers were better off in some sense as a result of the shutdown. His argument was that theyd get the holidays off, and then eventually get back pay. But the threats to their livelihoods mean workers told to stay home, and those forced to keep working without pay, are very simply not better off. No one should suggest otherwise. A government office recently faced criticism after suggesting furloughed workers seeking legal advice consult your personal attorney, as though they have the money to hire one. The same office also expressed regret after tweeting a letter from several years ago suggesting furloughed workers offer to do manual labor for their landlords. While this advice may have been well intended, this isnt what workers need from their employers. Its time for the government, and all employers, to empower workers with the security, stability, dignity, and respect they deserve. After all, NASA custodians helped put a man on the moon. This question originally appeared on Quora - the place to gain and share knowledge, empowering people to learn from others and better understand the world. You can follow Quora on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+. More questions:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2019/01/23/how-are-government-workers-affected-by-the-shutdown/

Will The Office Leave Netflix For NBC's New Streaming Service?

In December, it was reported by The New York Times that Netflix paid around $100 million to keep Friends available to stream through 2019, after the entire internet started to freak out at the prospect of the show leaving the site. After 2019, the future is unclear. Warner Bros parent company AT&T is also starting its own streaming service, so that's where Friends could go starting in 2020. AT&T's streaming service will launch at the end of this year, featuring multiple tiers for WarnerMedia movies and TV shows. (Disney will also have its own streaming service, just in case you need yet another one!) NBC's streaming service, which is scheduled to launch in 2020, will be free for cable subscribers, supported by ads, but an ad-free version will also be available for a fee, somewhat similar to Hulu. Which series go to which platforms will be judged on a "case-by-case basis," according to THR, but it already sounds like TV fans might just end up subscribing to every gosh darn platform there is in order to keep all our shows close.

https://www.eonline.com/news/1007762/the-office-is-not-leaving-netflix-yet-but-might-in-a-couple-years

Will Derek Jeter be unanimously elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame?

Mariano Rivera became the first player ever to be unanimously elected for the Baseball Hall of Fame. Many feel this precedent is good for Rivera's former teammate and 2020 Hall candidate, Derek Jeter. He was the best player on one of the most dominant teams of his era and if anyone were to be unanimously selected, it would be him. Others feel he was great, but not great enough to garner that kind of honor. PERSPECTIVES Jeter was supposed to be the first player to be unanimously voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame after Ken Griffey Jr. failed, but Rivera became the first inductee with that distinction. That's okay; he can get it in 2020 anyway. The Yankees legend defined the most storied franchise for an entire generation. He has five World Series Championships, 14 All-Star selections in 20 seasons, one World Series MVP and a career .310 batting average. The Captain deserves the honor of being the second unanimous Baseball Hall of Fame selection. Derek Jeter next to make the HALL OF FAME #Unanimous .... heard it here first!!! #Yankees #NYY @Yankees -- JOHNNY RED (@JRED164) January 22, 2019 Many thought a unanimous Hall of Fame selection was impossible, especially after Griffey was unable to pull it off. But Rivera proved to be the exception and for good reason. The Panamanian native is the greatest closer of all time. With a single pitch -- the cut fastball -- he finished with 652 career saves, an MLB record. He also holds the record for most games finished and ERA+. Those are extraordinary accomplishments Jeter just doesn't have relative to his position. Jeter isn't considered the greatest at his position and while he was a great player, he doesn't have mind-boggling numbers like his former teammate. He is worthy of a first-ballot selection for sure, but not a unanimous one. For those who think Jeter is gonna be unanimous, just stop. He's not. Use your brain. #Mo is the greatest closer of all time. Jeter is NOT the greatest SS of all time. #Yankees #HallOfFame #MarianoHallOfFame #MLBHOF -- Russell in New Haven (@Rdematts99) January 23, 2019 The Tylt is focused on debates and conversations around news, current events and pop culture. We provide our community with the opportunity to share their opinions and vote on topics that matter most to them. We actively engage the community and present meaningful data on the debates and conversations as they progress. The Tylt is a place where your opinion counts, literally. The Tylt is an Advance Local Media, LLC property. Join us on Twitter @TheTylt, on Instagram @TheTylt or on Facebook, we'd love to hear what you have to say.

https://www.oregonlive.com/tylt/2019/01/will_derek_jeter_be_unanimousl.html

Could Qualcomm Stock Really Get Cut in Half?

Mobile-chip giant Qualcomm (NASDAQ: QCOM) has had a rough couple of years, in no small part due to legal challenges all around the world. That includes a contentious suit filed by Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) two years ago, as well as legal complaints filed by regulators including the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, an antitrust trial that is currently playing out right now in California federal court. Shares have lagged the broader market by a significant margin over the past two years, but one activist investor thinks there's a lot more downside in store. QCOM Chart More QCOM data by YCharts. Making a short thesis Kerrisdale Capital, which is short Qualcomm shares, today released a research report arguing that Qualcomm is "teetering on the brink of disaster" and that its unique business model, which includes licensing its technology while simultaneously selling chips, is "living on borrowed time." Kerrisdale points to numerous authorities globally that have accused Qualcomm of monopolistic and anticompetitive behavior, including China, Taiwan, South Korea, and Japan. Qualcomm sign at headquarters More Image source: Qualcomm. The FTC trial is unearthing some damning evidence as well, including an internal 2015 document that acknowledged that licensing its technology on fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory (FRAND) terms to rivals like Intel could crush its business model. For example, here's an excerpt from the FTC's trial brief (via FOSS Patents): Qualcomm's internal documents recognize the impact that offering competitors FRAND licenses would have on Qualcomm's ability to secure elevated royalties from OEMs. In 2005, Qualcomm's Marvin Blecker explained that making a license available to a chip competitor would impair Qualcomm's ability to collect high royalties from OEM customers: 'we absolutely cannot give a chip supplier a full license to our IP with pass through rights to his customers as that would have the potential of severely impacting our subscriber licensing program.' [...] Qualcomm's views were unchanged in 2015, when it concluded that granting a FRAND license to Intel 'would destroy the whole current QTL [licensing] business. Apple has tried to license Qualcomm tech under FRAND terms to no avail. Companies that hold standards-essential patents (SEPs) are required to license that intellectual property on FRAND terms. "And they don't do that," Apple CEO Tim Cook recently said.

https://news.yahoo.com/could-qualcomm-stock-really-cut-224700250.html

Did drones really interfere with flights at Newark airport?

The FAA had initially said the drones were spotted near Teterboro Airport, about 17 miles north of Newark Liberty International Airport. A day later, agency officials said the drones were operating about nine miles from the Newark airport in airspace used by incoming flights. One day after reports of drone activity near Newark Liberty International Airport temporarily halted flights, there are questions about whether the unmanned objects spotted in the New Jersey sky were indeed drones. Officials with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said that at 4:44 p.m. on Tuesday, they received two reports of possible drones operating near the Newark airport. One came from a Southwest pilot and the other from a United pilot who saw what each believed was a drone in the air as they prepared to land at Newark. However, an FAA spokesman said Wednesday, the agency has been unable to independently confirm the sightings. We continue to work with local law enforcement to find additional evidence, the spokesman said. The agency had initially said the drones were spotted near Teterboro Airport, a smaller facility about 17 miles north of Newark. On Wednesday, they said the drones were operating about nine miles from the Newark airport in airspace used by incoming flights. Industry experts, however, are pushing back against the reports. The objects could have been balloons, plastic bags or space junk, they said. Brendan Schulman, spokesman for DJI, the worlds largest drone-maker, said the pilots likely saw something in the air and that its unlikely it was a drone. One reason, Schulman said: The drones were reportedly flying at 3,500 feet. Under FAA rules, drones are not permitted to fly higher than 400 feet. And while its possible for them to fly higher with FAA permission, Schulman said its highly unlikely. He said previous reports of drones flying near Gatwick and Heathrow airports in London have made people more predisposed to assuming when they see something in the air, its a drone. Theres certainly cases of knuckleheads flying drones where they shouldnt be, but we have strong reservations on (the Newark) report, he said. There has been case after case after case of someone who saw a drone in the air that turned out to be a bat or a balloon or a plastic bag. Federal officials are wrestling with how to regulate drones as their numbers continue to grow. Government officials estimate that more than 1 million are already in use.

https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/did-drones-really-interfere-with-flights-at-newark-airport/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_nation-world

Is there a 'circular' solution to the world's food problems?

ROME (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The pesticide exposure, antibiotic resistance, air and water pollution and other factors caused by industrial food production could kill 5 million people a year by 2050, a new report said. That is four times the number of deaths caused by traffic accidents globally. Preventing that from happening requires producing food locally, using eco-friendly methods, eliminating waste and designing and marketing healthier products, said a foundation set up by record-breaking British sailor Ellen MacArthur. Redesigning the food industry into a so-called circular economy model would reduce health costs, save land and water and create new business opportunities, said the report, launched Thursday at the World Economic Forum. Cities could be important catalysts in this change as 80 percent of all food is expected to consumed in cities by 2050, it said. Under the current linear system, food enters cities where it is processed or consumed and only a small portion of the resulting organic waste, in the form of discarded food, byproducts or sewage, gets used again. In a circular economy, raw materials and byproducts are reused and very little is wasted. Cities would need to source food produced locally in ways that regenerate the ecosystem, distribute the surplus to those who cannot afford it, and turn byproducts into new products from fertilizer to feed to materials for bioenergy. The benefits could be worth $2.7 trillion a year to the global economy, according to the report. In contrast, the extractive, wasteful, and polluting nature of current food production costs society $5.7 trillion a year globally, through costs to human and environmental health, the report said. What you eat matters, but how it has been produced matters as well. You could very well be eating healthy, but still be exposed to the negative impacts because of the way food is produced, said Clementine Schouteden, the reports lead author. We are at an absolutely critical point, she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation from Davos. Scientists are increasingly calling for systemic changes to the way food is being produced and consumed, saying industrial farming has led to a food system that contributes to climate change, cripples the environment and causes a malnutrition crisis. Agriculture, forestry and other land uses are responsible for a quarter of the greenhouse gas emissions heating up the planet, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Meanwhile, one third of all food produced, worth nearly $1 trillion, is wasted globally every year, FAO figures show, even as 821 million people go hungry and one in eight adults are obese. Last week, scientists unveiled for the first time what they say is an ideal diet for the health of the planet and its people, recommending a doubling of consumption of nuts, fruits, vegetables and legumes, and a halving of meat and sugar intake.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-global-agriculture-davos/is-there-a-circular-solution-to-the-worlds-food-problems-idUSKCN1PI003

Has Riverdale Lost Its Mind Or Have We Lost Ours?

The show has never been not a little bit insane in the best kind of way, but this season takes the cake. It takes the cake so far that you can't see the cake anymore. The cake is gone. A bear has eaten the cake, after it attacked Archie Andrews (KJ Apa) in some Canadian woods. At some point, this season was about a Dungeons and Dragons-esque game called Gryphons and Gargoyles that was driving teens to commit suicide and causing others to have still-mysterious seizures. Eventually, we learned that the parents had all played G&G back in the day, but had stopped and vowed to never speak of it again after their principal ended up dead. The first half of the season ended with the assumption that Hiram Lodge (Mark Consuelos) was controlling the game as a way of getting Riverdale under his thumb. He got Mayor Hermione (Marisol Nichols) to shut down the school and got the governor to declare a quarantine on the town, and that's where the show left off in 2018.

https://www.eonline.com/uk/news/1007879/has-riverdale-lost-its-mind-or-have-we-lost-ours?cmpid=rss-000000-rssfeed-365-topstories&utm_source=eonline&utm_medium=rssfeeds&utm_campaign=rss_topstories

Will Sacramento Or St. Louis Become Major League Soccer's Next Franchise?

On Tuesday, Sacramento received wonderful news when billionaire financier, Ron Burkle, agreed to buy controlling interest in Sacramento Republic FC. Before answering these questions, let's review the key criteria for admittance into MLS: Deep pocketed ownership, preferably with local/regional ties. A soccer-specific stadium, preferably located in/near the urban core. A local/regional history of strong soccer roots. Geographically positioned where regional rivalries could naturally ensue. Prior to October 1st, 2018, neither city was able to satisfy all of these criteria...primarily because they were each devoid of an ownership group that possessed the wealth and stability generally favored by MLS leadership. However, things have evolved in recent months: In October 2018, the Taylor family - which owns St. Louis-based Enterprise and has long maintained business and philanthropic ties to the St. Louis region - stepped forward with their willingness to take the financial lead behind a renewed St. Louis bid, buffered by a privately-financed downtown stadium and a majority female ownership group (an MLS first). While Burkle's interest in Sacramento soccer became public in June 2018, things became official with yesterday's announcement. A TALE OF THE TAPE So let's evaluate each market based on the criteria identified above: Deep pocketed ownership, preferably with local/regional ties St. Louis...The Taylor family certainly fits this criteria (estimated worth of $5.8 billion as of July 2016), and are deeply rooted within the St. Louis region. Sacramento...Mr. Burkle fits this criteria as well (estimated worth of $2 billion as of Feb 2018), and has ties to California. 2. A soccer-specific stadium, preferably located in/near the urban core St. Louis...While the stadium site has been identified and will be privately financed, construction of the facility is contingent upon St. Louis receiving an MLS franchise. If a team was awarded in the first half of 2019, time estimates for a completed stadium have suggested that the facility could be ready for the start of the 2022 MLS season. Sacramento...In July 2017, construction began for their soccer-specific stadium, set in the historic Railyards District. The projections are that the facility could be ready for the start of the 2020 MLS season. 3. A local/regional history of strong soccer roots St. Louis...One would be hard-pressed to find a community with stronger historical ties to the sport of soccer than St. Louis. Numerous people I've spoken with over two decades of living within the St. Louis community have helped educate me on the deep roots the region has with soccer...from CYC leagues dating back 100 years, to the 1950 World Cup team who was largely comprised of St. Louis natives (and upset England in that tournament), to the years of collegiate soccer dominance at Saint Louis University in the 1960s and 1970s. Their USL team only averaged 4,271 fans per game in 2018, but this is deceptive since the capacity of their current facility is smaller than several other markets. Sacramento...While not quite on par with St. Louis in this category, I learned much about Sacramento's ties to soccer in speaking with a source intimately familiar with the Sacramento soccer scene. I learned about decades of amateur leagues in Sacramento spanning numerous cultures (Portuguese, Italian, Korean). I learned there are nearly 100,000 youth soccer players in the Sacramento area, which is massive number when you consider thats almost double the youth participation levels in the state of Oregonwhich obviously has had huge MLS success with the Seattle and Portland franchises. And their USL team finished 2nd in attendance in 2018 with 11,311 fans per game. 4. Geographically positioned where regional rivalries could naturally ensue. St. Louis...Existing teams in Sporting Kansas City and the Chicago Fire, along with new expansion team Nashville, are all within a 3.5-4.5 hour drive. Furthermore, the Columbus Crew (founding team in MLS) and FC Cincinnati (an expansion team starting in 2019) are 5-6 hours drive. Sacramento...While the San Jose Earthquakes are the only reasonable drive, this will make for a fourth team in California (LA Galaxy, LAFC). Other considerations: The St. Louis bid would mean a majority female ownership group, a first for MLS. This factor could be a tie-breaker, especially in the #metoo era. It is my sense that there are more political connections between the St. Louis soccer contingent and the power brokers of soccer in America (e.g. MLS executives, as well as influencers from U.S. Soccer and the national soccer media) than there is for Sacramento. That said, Major League Soccer has previously all-but-guaranteed Sacramento would get a franchise once their ownership matter was resolved...especially since their downtown soccer facility will be ready much sooner than would be true of the St. Louis facility. PREDICTIONS First, I believe both Sacramento and St. Louis would be great additions to Major League Soccer. My June 2018 Forbes post makes a case for Sacramento, and my October 2018 Forbes post makes a case for St. Louis. And, as long as their current bids do not deviate from present plans, then I believe both cities will be invited to join Major League Soccer by the end of 2019. Possibly by the 2019 MLS All-Star Game. That said, here are my franchise allotment predictions for the near-term: MLS will ultimately expand to 30 teams, and in my view, should stop there for at least a decade to allow the new markets to evolve. As such, both St. Louis and Sacramento are ultimately destined for MLS inclusion...with Sacramento likely able to begin sooner since their facility will be ready sooner. If MLS believes both markets have checked all the necessary boxes and criteria (which I believe both cities have at this point), then there is no reason for them not to announce both cities as MLS expansion sites when MLS makes their next formal expansion announcement. The fact this would yield an odd number of teams (29 teams if both were added together) would only be a short-term phenomenon, and would likely expedite the selection of the 30th and final franchise...likely by the beginning of the 2020 season (with Phoenix, Detroit, and San Diego among the viable alternatives). However, if MLS is only prepared to announce one city at a time, and plan to do so in the coming months, they will: A) Opt for Sacramento first IF MLS (i) places greater weight on their stadium being done first, (ii) feels a sense of obligation because of how close Sacramento has been for some time before the last domino (i.e. securing Burkle) fell, and (iii) believes Sacramento has been closer to the finish line for a longer stretch than St. Louis...whose bid was all but lost after the failed public vote in April 2017 (before the Taylors breathed new life into the bid in October 2018); B) Opt for St. Louis first IF MLS (i) places greater value upon the deep ties the Taylors and Jim Kavanaugh have to St. Louis, (ii) places value on the fact that the St. Louis bid would be the first majority-owned female ownership group in MLS, (iii) recognizes St. Louis' deep historical soccer roots, and (iv) has stronger political ties with the St. Louis soccer community than Sacramento's.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/prishe/2019/01/23/will-sacramento-or-st-louis-become-major-league-soccers-next-franchise/

Could 49ers, Raiders find an edge rusher at the Senior Bowl?

MOBILE, Ala. 49ers general manager John Lynch spent a good part of Tuesdays South team practice at the Senior Bowl standing near an end zone at Ladd-Peebles Stadium, watching the defensive linemen go through position drills. Several of the top prospects in Mobile this week are pass rushers. And edge rusher happens to be a primary need of both the 49ers and the Raiders, who are coaching the North team. The 49ers top edge rusher last season was arguably Cassius Marsh who recorded 5.5 sacks. After releasing Bruce Irvin (3 sacks) halfway through the season, the Raiders did not have a defensive end with more than two sacks and finished with an NFL-low 13 sacks as a team. Both teams could consider using their top picks in Aprils draft the 49ers pick second overall and the Raiders fourth on an outside rusher, with several tentatively projected to go near the top of the draft order. The few prospects generating the most buzz are not in Mobile, but the Senior Bowl does feature an intriguing group of pass rushers. I like it, Raiders head coach Jon Gruden said of the group Tuesday. There are a lot of guys that are going to get a real opportunity, I think, to help themselves in this game. Gruden specifically cited South rushers Montez Sweat (Mississippi State) and Jaylon Ferguson (Louisiana Tech) and North players Zach Allen (Boston College) and L.J. Collier (TCU). Sweat is perhaps the top overall prospect in Mobile after totaling 22.5 sacks and 30.5 tackles for loss in his final two college seasons. Amid some questions about whether he is too lean, Sweat measured in Tuesday at 6-foot-6 and 252 pounds with 35 5/8-inch arms. In one sequence Tuesday, Sweat came off the left edge against Alabama State tackle Tytus Howard. Sweat lost his footing on his first rep and jogged back to the line of scrimmage. On his second, he hesitated briefly before bull-rushing Howard, who was knocked backward to the ground. You look at him, the main thing is just the length, Howard said. He has pretty good game, he has some pretty nice moves. Hes a tall, long guy, so you cant hesitate with him The first rep, I came to him. The second rep, I hesitated. 49ers defensive coordinator Robert Saleh said Sweat is lining up in practice this week at the Leo position (which typically goes to the teams best pass rusher), but that the coaches are rotating South defensive linemen through different positions. Were not really basing it Leo, big end, Saleh said. Its making sure that everyone gets an opportunity to showcase what theyre best at. Ferguson, the Louisiana Tech edge rusher, said he has lined up more as big end in the 49ers defense in a 5- or 6-technique, on the outside shoulder of the offensive tackle. Ferguson said hes a fan of the aggressive way the 49ers deploy their pass-rushers. I really like it just get down and go, Ferguson said. My mentor, (former defensive lineman) Chuck Smith, he taught me to live life like its 3rd-and-long. Just get down and go. Ferguson left Louisiana Tech as the NCAA career sacks leader, having recorded 17.5 his senior season. Coming from a program outside the Power 5 conferences, Ferguson said his goal in Mobile this week is to shed any perception of him as a small-school product. Its bothersome a little bit, because you cant look at sacks without seeing my name on top, Ferguson said. But at the same time, I knew the chance coming in. I really accept it. And Im still practicing right now to get better. Raiders defensive coordinator Paul Guenther said the North coaching staff is rotating linemen also Allen and Collier have played both outside and inside this week and the Raiders coaches have moved some linebackers down to rush end. Theres some good guys, Guenther said. Our job here is to showcase these guys, highlight them, try to put the talents on display for all these GMs and coaches. Saleh said Lynch and his staff provide coaches a list of prospects to watch throughout the predraft process. You start athletically, obviously, with which ones really stand out, and then you get into the character of which ones really fit the locker room best, Saleh said. The process is never-ending (from) now until the actual 15 minutes that were on the clock. Matt Kawahara is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mkawahara@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @matthewkawahara

https://www.sfchronicle.com/49ers/article/Could-49ers-Raiders-find-an-edge-rusher-at-the-13556886.php

Can NVIDIA Recover in 2019?

Investors in NVIDIA (NASDAQ: NVDA) had a rough 2018. Last year, the stock fell a highly unpleasant 31% (including dividends). Still, over the past three years, the stock is up a whopping 450%. At roughly $150 per share at the time of this writing, NVIDIA now trades at a reasonable P/E ratio of 20, a discount to the market and the Nasdaq Composite index overall. NVIDIA's forward P/E is also 20, meaning the market doesn't believe the company will grow its earnings at all in the coming year. a young man recoils in disappointment while playing a desktop video game. More Image source: Getty Images. A bad crypto hangover NVIDIA's stock is suffering from many of the same headwinds plaguing all semiconductor companies, including a severe slowdown in the Chinese economy and cloud spending due to the U.S.-China trade war. NVIDIA is also suffering from a related headwind: a hangover from the bust in cryptocurrencies. Cryptocurrencies peaked in December 2017, then plummeted over the past year. NVIDIA's graphics cards are used in cryptocurrency mining, as the task, like graphics processing and big data processing, is very compute-intensive and benefits from GPU parallel-processing. On its last conference call with analysts, NVIDIA guided for a year-over-year decline in revenue and earnings for its fourth quarter, which should be reported in the coming weeks. The company called out the fact that it wouldn't ship any older-generation Pascal gaming cards, in order to clear excess channel inventory. While NVIDIA had expected lower Pascal prices to lead to more buying after the crypto bust, that happened more slowly than the company anticipated. Pascal is the No. 1 graphics card in the world, and NVIDIA hinted at a roughly $600 million adjustment that must take place. That's nearly 20% of NVIDIA's $3.18 billion in revenue reported last quarter. A big opportunity ahead Despite this near-term hiccup, there's a lot that's exciting in NVIDIA's future. While Pascal is currently dominating the company's numbers, NVIDIA released its new Turing chips with industry-leading capabilities toward the end of 2018. These newer chips don't make up for the huge Pascal shortfall this quarter, but are expected to overtake Pascal in the years ahead. Founder and CEO Jensen Huang pointed to three innovations in particular. 1. RAPIDS: RAPIDS is an accelerated platform for machine learning and big data. Machine learning is now being done largely in the open-source Apache software community, but NVIDIA's new RAPIDS platform for GPUs can greatly accelerate the speed at which big data training takes place. Huang stated that the machine learning method "has never been accelerated before," and believes that RAPIDS should lead to a big leap in speeds for data-intensive training workloads. 2. Turing T4 Cloud GPU: In September, NVIDIA unveiled its new Turing T4 GPU chips geared toward the inference side of artificial intelligence. Once an AI engine is trained, it uses inference to understand and interpret new information based on what it's learned. NVIDIA claims the new T4 GPU is 12 times more power-efficient than Pascal, and up to 36 times faster than CPUs for inference workloads. In November, Nvidia said Turing had received the fastest adoption of any server GPU in history, claiming T4 was already in 57 server platforms, including Alphabet's (NASDAQ: GOOG) (NASDAQ: GOOGL) Google Cloud Platform. That's interesting, as Alphabet has been developing its own in-house AI chip, called TensorFlow, that some have called a potential NVIDIA competitor. The fact that Google Could was so keen to adopt Turing indicates NVIDIA has something unique in this chip.

https://news.yahoo.com/nvidia-recover-2019-030400297.html

Why is Juan Guaid holding a book with a picture of Simn Bolvar?

Nineteenth-century revolutionary who ousted Spanish from the Andes claimed by all sides of politics When Juan Guaid, the newly minted Venezuelan opposition leader took the oath and declared himself the countrys interim president, he did so holding an incongruous copy of the countrys constitution. It was emblazoned with the mustachioed face of Simn Bolvar, the Venezuelan military leader who liberated the Andes from the Spanish empire in the early 19th century. Bolvar is a national hero in Venezuela and, with monuments dedicated to him at home and in many cities across the north of South America, its little surprise that politicians have long sought to use his legacy to rally supporters. Nicols Maduro and his late predecessor, Hugo Chvez, co-opted the image, framing their socialist project as a continuation of Bolvars freedom-fighting tenacity. Venezuela: Trump recognises opposition leader as president Read more When Chvez was elected in 1999, he changed the official name of the country to the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, and in 2012 commissioned a 90m mausoleum to house the liberators exhumed remains. Maduro, who succeeded Chvez after his death from cancer in 2013, kept up the trope. In one of his more fanatical moments in late 2017, Maduro claimed that Bolvars spirit had become incarnated in the Venezuelan people. Despite the revolutionarys appropriation by the chavistas (followers of Chvez), Bolvars legacy remains intact. After all, his image had once been tied to the Venezeulan nationalist military dictatorship of Marcos Prez Jimnez which ended in 1958. Guaids decision to use a copy of the constitution with Bolvar face rather than Venezuelas stately shield and crest indicates that the marriage of the liberators legacy and turbulent politics will continue.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jan/24/in-turbulent-times-venezuela-clings-to-the-memory-of-simon-bolivar

Will Warriors Klay Thompson make the All-Star team?

WASHINGTON Warriors guard Klay Thompson has authored two of the NBAs best individual performances this season, but he still may not make the All-Star team. The problem is that the Western Conference boasts far more All-Star-caliber players than All-Star slots. If rosters were picked Wednesday, Thompson would probably be competing with the likes of Luka Doncic, Russell Westbrook, Mike Conley, Steven Adams, LaMarcus Aldridge, Tobias Harris and DeAaron Fox, among others, for the final two slots. "I want to be there," Thompson said after practice Wednesday night. "If we keep winning and were in first place, I think I deserve to be there just because our performance the last five years at the top of the standings, thats not easy." Thompson, who opened the season in one of the most pronounced shooting slumps of his career, wouldnt have had much of a case for an All-Star selection just a few weeks ago. But thanks to a recent surge, he has a chance at his fifth All-Star appearance in a row. In nine January games, Thompson is averaging 26.8 points on 56.5 percent shooting (50.6 percent from three-point range). That has spiked his season average to 22.1 points on 46.4 percent shooting (38.2 percent from three). However, his resume doesnt stop there. Thompson is a core member of the Wests best team, a respected defender and, in a season in which Golden State has endured injuries to key players, he has yet to miss a game. It also doesnt hurt that Thompson has delivered a couple of record-setting outings. In addition to hitting an NBA record 14 three-pointers in an Oct. 29 rout of Chicago, he tied a league record Monday against the Lakers with 10 consecutive made three-pointers. "If I dont make it, its not the end of the world," Thompson said. "Ill go to the beach and enjoy myself." For the first time in four years, forward Draymond Green is poised to miss the All-Star Game. Though he has thrived in recent weeks, Green has already sat out 14 games, been involved in a much-publicized rift with teammate Kevin Durant and failed to play at an All-Defensive Team level. "I really dont know whats the criteria or how people judge that," Green said. "At the end of the day, thats not really something I worry about. If it happens, great." Jerebko gone: Forward Jonas Jerebko is expected to miss the final three games of the Warriors trip Thursday in Washington, Saturday in Boston and Monday in Indiana to be with his wife for the birth of their second child. Connor Letourneau is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: cletourneau@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @Con_Chron

https://www.sfchronicle.com/warriors/article/Will-Warriors-Klay-Thompson-make-the-All-Star-13557329.php

Can I buy a monitor for photo editing that shows colour like print?

Pa wants the screen image to be true to the print image, but his budget is only 300 I read your answer about the best computer monitor for under 200. Im looking for a monitor for serious photo editing. I want to get as true to what the print will be like (when printing via online printers). My budget is about 300. Pa Sad to say, prints can never look like screen images. Screens are bright and display colours using combinations of red, green and blue pixels (RGB). Prints dont light up so they cant have the same brightness or contrast range, and theyre printed using cyan, yellow, magenta and black inks (CMYK). Colours are also affected by the light under which you view things, which is why smart buyers take clothes and materials to shop doorways to see what the colours look like in daylight. A print viewed under warm room lighting should not look the same as it does on a monitor set to the standard daylight colour temperature of 6500K, even though your brain will automatically try to compensate for the difference. Nonetheless, photographers can learn from experience of how colours are going to be reproduced, as long as the process is consistent. I was obliged to do this in the days before personal computing, when I edited photography magazines. Todays DSLR cameras produce images that are much like the colour slides we used to view on lightboxes, so happily this skill has transferred. However, the more variables you can eliminate, the better your guesses should be. This is where colour gamuts, screen calibration, printer profiles and, yes, standard light sources can help. A thought experiment There should be a way to get the screen image closer to the print, but it would be quite a lot of work, expensive, and you probably wont like it. First, get a calibration device such as an X-Rite i1 Display Pro (178) or a Datacolors Spyder5 Elite (also 178). Next, calibrate your monitor to match the printer and paper youre using. In other words, adjust the screen display so that the white matches the white of your paper, and the black matches the maximum black that ink can produce on that particular paper. Its better to print a colour patch or test card, rather than a naturalistic image where the brain can interfere with the colour rendering. Fujifilm has a good composite test card. Ive never actually tried this, but I imagine the monitor display would be disappointing. Youd have reduced the brightness and contrast range, and most people like bright, contrasty screens. Im also not sure how well this would work when using an online printer rather than your own ink-jet. If they do their own colour profiling, their software might try to compensate for yours. You could certainly ask if their printer will respect your colour management profiles (there are preserve embedded profiles settings for RGB and CMYK in Adobe Photoshop), but affordable colour printing is based on a high level of automation. Colour-accurate monitors If your monitor produces accurate colour and the printer produces accurate colour, then the results ought to be predictable, even though the images are not identical. This is the device-independent solution that underlies the traditional answer, which is to buy a monitor with an accurate colour profile. The main ones are standard sRGB and Adobe RGB. Of course, for this to work, the whole reproduction chain must follow the same standard. The argument for using Adobe RGB is that its wider and includes most of the colours that a CMYK printer can print. That should be better. The argument for using 8-bit sRGB is that practically every device supports it well, and some devices dont support anything else. If youre producing images for internet distribution and on-screen viewing, I think you are better off sticking to sRGB. If youre producing images for some form of printing, theres an argument for using Adobe RGB, as long as you can be sure it will be printed that way. Youd have to check this with your online printing service. The websites I looked at all requested sRGB. Another advantage of using sRGB is that it sets a lower standard that cheap monitors can meet, though better Adobe RGB scores generally indicate a better quality monitor. In passing, the whole chain ought to include the camera, and you can set some (most?) serious cameras including my own Nikon D7500 to produce Jpeg images to either sRGB or Adobe RGB standards. This doesnt mean the colours will be accurate: most cameras give pictures a pleasantly warm boost. (You may be able to check the accuracy of your cameras colour rendering by searching for the product name at imaging-resource.com.) However, the setting makes no difference if you work from RAW files, which can capture more colours than any colour gamut can handle, including Kodaks ProPhoto RGB. Possible choices Rtings.com keeps a list of The Five Best Monitors for Photo Editing, based on its thorough tests. The Quad HD/2K Dell U2518D is the only one in your price range at 284.49, because it has been discounted from 599. Rtings notes that it doesnt cover the Adobe RGB color space very well, which is something to consider if you plan to use that. (Im quoting Amazon prices for convenience but you can shop around for better deals.) Monitors designed for photographers tend to be outrageously expensive, but BenQ offers the 24in SW240 PhotoVue for only 399. It claims 99% Adobe RGB coverage [and] hardware calibration support for accurate colours. The obvious drawback is the 1920 x 1200 resolution, and the ViewSonic VP2468 seems to offer the same features for only 214.41. BenQs PD2700Q Designer Monitor would get you a 27in screen with a resolution of 2560 x 1440 pixels for 289.98, which is almost the same price as Dells 25in U2518D. But anyone looking for a cheap QHD screen could check out the 24in L24q-10 currently on Lenovos website for 179.99, or at PC World for 179. The QHD/2K resolution of 2560 x 1440 pixels is now the sweet spot for most applications, including gaming. However, if you use Photoshop to edit 5568 x 3712-pixel or similar images, Id save up for Rtings top pick, the LG 27UK650-W. This is a 27in 4K (3840 x 2160) monitor for 459.99. Alternatively, the LG 27UK600 has the same panel without the built-in speakers or the adjustable stand for 404.99. Its well over budget, but you could spend several hours a day looking at it for the next five years, or more. The price difference is only 30 a year. DisplayMate Technologies is an industry leader in the business of evaluating, calibrating and optimising displays, and Raymond Soneira founder, president and CEO benchmarks some flagship products for colour accuracy. His tests show that the Apple iPhone X and XS Max, Googles Pixel 3 XL and Samsungs Galaxy S9 and Note 9 smartphones all provide close to textbook perfect calibration accuracy and performance that is visually indistinguishable from perfect. Theyre almost certainly better than any TV or monitor you own. Colour-accurate tablets include the Samsung Galaxy Tab S and the Apple iPad Pro 9.7 (2016). The Microsoft Surface Pro 4 also impressed: it was the best ever tablet display when tested, though since surpassed. Today, the simplest way to check a photos colour rendering is to view it on one of DisplayMates top-rated smartphones or tablets, preferably on an OLED or AMOLED screen. This is great news if you already own one, but not a cheap option if you dont. Email it to Ask.Jack@theguardian.com This article contains affiliate links, which means we may earn a small commission if a reader clicks through and makes a purchase. All our journalism is independent and is in no way influenced by any advertiser or commercial initiative. The links are powered by Skimlinks. By clicking on an affiliate link, you accept that Skimlinks cookies will be set. More information.

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/askjack/2019/jan/24/can-i-buy-a-monitor-for-photo-editing-that-shows-colour-like-print

Is Tony Romo already the greatest TV analyst in US sports?

After last weekends AFC Championship Game, in which Tom Brady led the New England Patriots to victory over MVP front-runner Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs, the internet was abuzz with praise for a third quarterback, this one working from the booth. Tony Romo, the former Dallas Cowboys QB who began his career as an NFL broadcaster in 2017, received wide acclaim for his in-game analysis alongside play-by-play announcer Jim Nantz. Through four quarters and overtime, Romo gleefully diagnosed the strengths and weaknesses of both teams, offering sharp insight into the mindsets of his fellow quarterbacks. Most impressive of all, Romo predicted how plays would develop with uncanny accuracy, earning him the title of Romostradamus from Nantz and a #YoureAWizardTony hashtag from MLB All-Star Bryce Harper. On Monday, the NFL tweeted a compilation of Romos eerily accurate pre-play predictions: NFL (@NFL) . @TonyRomo was calling plays before they happened! pic.twitter.com/4jdm9I8Pl5 His employers CBS are just as impressed as the NFL. This week, there have been reports that the broadcaster is willing to give Romo a substantial raise, just in case he feels tempted by any of the legitimate contract offers he has reportedly received from NFL teams. And that interest may be because Sundays game was far from a one-off, Romo has generally been considered the best analyst in US sports for some time. And we wont have to wait long to hear him in action again: Romo and Nantz are on the call for next months Super Bowl between the Patriots and the Los Angeles Rams. Its a combination of the same qualities that made him a good quarterback: enthusiasm, knowledge of the game, and the ability to communicate clearly and, importantly on a live broadcast, quickly. Part of Romos appeal is that he cares. Hes like your favorite teacher from school, bubbling with a genuine passion for his subject. None of the other color commentators match his energy. Compared to Tony Romo, Foxs Troy Aikman is downright lethargic. Jason Witten the former Dallas Cowboy who caught 37 career touchdowns from Romo was widely panned during his first year in ESPNs Monday Night Football booth, coming across as confused and unnatural. Since 2006, Cris Collinsworth has been a linchpin of NBCs well-produced Sunday Night Football broadcasts, but his style is more restrained. Romo, on the other hand, manages to share a slew of interesting details without speeding into the manic excess of Jon Gruden, the ex-Monday Night Football commentator and present head coach for the Oakland Raiders. Of course, all of these ex-NFL players and coaches know the game of football. Whats been lost in our collective gushing over Romo-as-analyst is that his commentary is middle-school algebra compared to the advanced calculus of whats actually happening on the field. Personnel packages, pass concepts, gap alignments, blitz and protection schemes: the modern game is incredibly complex, and, given the speed of the action and the demands of producing an accessible, entertaining broadcast, it would be impossible for any commentator to do more than scratch the surface. Romo tells us more than most. But lets not kid ourselves into believing that hes a seer. His pre-snap predictions are the result of years of experience combined with basic observations about formations, motions, shifts, game trends, and down-and-distance. Many coaches and plenty of savvy players at every level of football, from the NFL to college to high school could make similar predictions and frequently get them right. The simple answer is that its a bad look when you inevitably get a call wrong. The production crews at the major networks operate like well-oiled machines, always working to minimize risk and keep the show on track. Errant predictions, bad jokes and awkward exchanges are road bumps to be avoided. Romo has previously suggested that his producers at CBS never asked him to predict anything: calling out things he noticed just felt natural. With the goodwill he has already built up with viewers, Romo now has leeway to simply say what he sees. And, to his credit, hes usually on-point with his predictions. Romo is only a couple years removed from being an NFL quarterback, the most mentally-demanding position in sports, so his knowledge of the game is essentially current and his playing experience perfectly suited to quick thinking and fast talking. These advantages along with the novelty of predicting plays may wane over time, but, for now, its a joy to experience the biggest games in the company of such a natural and genuine communicator. I watched the AFC Championship with friends and family. After a few quarters of listening to Romos commentary, I noticed that we were joining him in dissecting every pre-snap movement, every players alignment: The tight end is motioning to the left, its a run! We were absorbed in the action. Romo may or may not be a mastermind or a future head-coach, as some players believe but he certainly knows football. And he inspires us viewers at home to feel like we know football too. During Super Bowl LIII, most of us will understand only a portion of the games many layers, but well see the field a little more clearly with Romo on the call.

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2019/jan/24/tony-romo-cbs-nfl-analyst-dallas-cowboys

What Time Does The 'Anthem' VIP Demo Start On PC, PS4 And Xbox One?

It's nearly time to see what all the fuss is about. EA has been driving the hype train on Bioware's Anthem for a few years now, and now it's finally time to lift that veil. Anthem isn't out for another month, but this weekend anyone that's pre-ordered the game--as well as anyone with EA Access/Origin Access and their friends--will get a chance to dive headfirst into a demo to give the whole thing a shot. Next weekend we'll be getting a wider demo available to anyone who wants to try, but this weekend is a more exclusive "VIP" experience. The Anthem VIP Demo will start at 9:00 AM Pacific Time on January 25 and runs until January 27. You can pre-load the game now on your preferred platform, but you won't be able to start playing until servers switch on at 9:00 AM. For me, it's going to all come down to basic gameplay feel. Things like the economy, loot loop or long-term progression can't really be judged in a brief demo, and you can't really get a sense of the story in such a short snippet, either. But this is an opportunity to see if Bioware can make a combat experience that feels powerful and engaging in its own right, something that I've been wondering about since the developer first announced this game. The action in the Mass Effect series was always...fine. Not broken, at least not usually, but never really what you would call hard-hitting. It was a good way to experience the story and a good way to let the personalities of various crew members express themselves through combat, but it wasn't strong enough to stand on its own. Anthem will necessarily involve grinding, repetition and the need to make the player feel like a superhero, and all of that falls apart if the game doesn't feel good on that basic level. This is important regardless, but it's even more important when you consider the competition. Bungie has had no share of problems with Destiny 2 since launch, but it's always had some of the most rock-solid shooter mechanics in the industry underpinning the experience. If you want to know why fans seem to have endless patience with a game that they seem to complain about on a near-constant basis, it's because it feels just as good to get a headshot on your millionth vandal as it does on your first. We'll see. I'm guessing we're going to see a lot of ability-based synergistic combat that makes the game feel good to play in a squad, but still possible to play solo. We'll see how everything works pretty soon.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidthier/2019/01/24/what-time-does-the-anthem-vip-demo-start-on-pc-ps4-and-xbox-one/

Who Wants to Be a College President?

The board of governors was, predictably, furious with Folts decision. "We are incredibly disappointed at this intentional action, Harry Smith, the board chair, said in a statement. It lacks transparency and it undermines and insults the Board's goal to operate with class and dignity." The board met the next day and accepted her resignation; but not effective at the end of the semester, instead they gave her two weeks. The accelerated ouster was the culmination of years-long tension at the university between the ideologically conservative board and university leaders. Margaret Spellings, the president of the UNC system who announced shed be resigning this year as well, had her own tensions with the board, including one over her decision to ask the state governor for help in deciding Silent Sams fate. She had been hired after Tom Ross, the former system president, was himself forced out by the board in 2016. The rapid cycle of hiring, resignation, and removals creates a problem for the university. I don't know who would want that job right now given the board and its ideology; and I worry about who they would find palatable enough to put in the position, Harris told me. One of the great university systems, and one of the great universities, is going to be damaged by this process. That tension between a college's board and its president isnt one exclusive to the UNC-system. A few years ago, following a string of athletic scandals, Harris wanted to know whether more college presidents had gotten fired in recent yearsor had their resignations accepted on an accelerated schedule. Two years ago, he and Molly Ellis, a graduate student, published what they found. Yes, the study said, over the past two decades, presidents had been getting fired more often. But the why was perhaps more interesting: Boards have always had the responsibility of hiring and firing a president, but there's a sense of activism among boards now, he said. Historically there has been a little more deference than boards are willing to give now. Read: The liberal arts may not survive the 21st century. Of course, it isn't just board oversight that could make the job of college president seem unappealing. Provosts, or even deans, who may have been groomed for the position might balk at the fundraising and politics associated with it. And these days, open college presidencies often come ready-made with crises. John Engler recently became the second president to leave Michigan State in a year. The University of Oklahomas president, Jim Gallogly, is trying to navigate instances of racism at the institution, notably, a Snapchat video of students wearing blackface and saying the N-word that went viral this month, which follows another racist viral video at the institution in 2015. There's also an ongoing crisis at Baylor, which is dealing with the fallout from its own sexual assault scandal.

https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2019/01/how-politics-are-reshaping-college-presidency/581077/?utm_source=feed

Is Warsaw Brexit Braced?

The Polish government has put aside 1 billion zlotys ($278 million) in its 2019 fiscal plans in case of a no-deal Brexit. Our budget is ready for an orderly as well as a no-deal Brexit, Finance Minister Teresa Czerwinska told Bloomberg this week. There arent any serious risks for Polands $525 billion economy, she added. But worries for Poland do exist. EU Berlin - and others in the EU - wants to link access to EU funding with "preserving democratic values" and the European Commission has proposed cutting about one quarter of Polands funding in the 2021-2027 budget as a starting point for talks. Poland is the biggest net beneficiary of the EU budget, which when - if - the UK leaves may be diluted. The UK contributes about 6 percent of the EUs budget, so the direct impact could be limited. But the UKs departure will see average GDP per capita levels decline in the EU and that would deprive some countries of funds as their GDP per capita levels rise above the new EU average. Poland, alongside the Czech Republic and Bulgaria could be affected. New EU rules on minimum wages for road hauliers also pose a threat to Polands $57 billion trucking and logistics industry. Polish companies have a 40 percent share of the EU market. Growth The economy in 2019 is set to slow and needs more stimulus, Czerwinska admitted. This years budget shortfall is set at 28.5 billion zlotys, compared with 15 billion zlotys last year. Poland's economic growth will reach 4 percent in 2019, the World Bank says, having revised upwards its October 2018 forecast of 3.9 percent, but slow in 2021 to 3.3 percent. Budget Polands 2019 budget balances economic growth with social solidarity, the countrys prime minister said. Mateusz Morawiecki said the budget ensured funding for the governments key social assistance programs while meeting "all EU requirements. Under the bill Poland's budget deficit is expected to be no more than 28.5 billion zlotys this year, and the target for the general government deficit is 1.7% of GDP. End of competitive advantages Poland has exhausted the reserves in its labor market, with unemployment near historic lows and wages showing a natural uptick, Czerwinska said. At the same time, Morawiecki says he wants more workers to return from the UK to help Poland's economy grow. Morawiecki told the BBC that "more and more are coming back and I'm pleased about that because there is a low level of unemployment... Give us our people back. About a million Poles live in Britain. Remittances The expected drop in remittances is also a concern. According to the World Bank, the UK is the fourth largest remittance-sending country in the world. With total inflows of 1 billion euros a year from the UK (out of 2.6 billion from the EU), Poland is the largest recipient of remittances. But he said people who want to stay in the UK should be allowed to, "and be treated exactly as they are now. He said Prime Minister Theresa May had given him that commitment. Trade Polish-British trade is worth more than $20 billion a year. Polands agricultural sector might take a hit from disruption caused by Britains withdrawal, as agricultural & processed food exports to the UK account for 1.4 million euros and 12 percent of total exports to the country. Enter the politics Added to this, Poland is in the EUs bad books over alleged undemocratic practises and Warsaws recent proposal to limit to five years the Irish backstop arrangement in the agreement with Britain on its withdrawal from the EU is not the position of the EU, European Commission spokesman Margaritis Schinas said. This has been seen by many in the UK as a sign of cracks in the solidarity of the EU27's negotiating position. Morawiecki told the Financial Times: Brussels and the European Commission need to be very receptive to what is going on in different countries. In December 2017, the European Parliament voted to trigger Article 7 of the EU Treaty against Poland leading to a suspension of the country's voting rights in the European institutions. Morawiecki has called on the EU to drop disciplinary actions ahead European elections in May. He said his government guaranteed that Poles will fulfill their European aspirations and unveiled the partys new slogan: Poland -- the beating heart of Europe.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/joharper/2019/01/24/is-warsaw-brexit-braced/

Is Rihanna the most influential person in fashion?

Its just like Rihanna to use fashion to telegraph her news. Womens Wear Daily ran a front-page scoop last week detailing rumours that Rihanna is knee-deep in negotiations with LVMH to produce a designer-level fashion label under her name. Along with what the fashion industry paper-of-record cited as multiple sources, she was snapped in a tease: A pair of oversized, visor-style sunglasses with the name Fenty stamped prominently in gold on the side. Fans went straight to speculation and jubilation. There has yet to be public confirmation from LVMH, the Paris-based multinational conglomerate that controls a slew of top heritage fashion brands from Louis Vuitton and Dior to Givenchy, Fendi, and Celine. These exist alongside a stable of aspirational luxury brands in the categories of fine wines and liquors (including Mot Hennessy), beauty and perfume, as well as international duty-free outlets, and the beauty behemoth Sephora. This sheer Adam Selman gown and cap embellished with Swarovski crystals is among Rihanna's most fearless fashion looks. ( GETTY IMAGES ) Rihanna in Guo Pei, complete with the 16-foot train that launched a million memes, at the 2015 Met Gala. ( GETTY IMAGES ) Womens Wear Daily ran a front-page scoop last week detailing rumours that Rihanna is knee-deep in negotiations with LVMH to produce a designer-level fashion label under her name. ( GETTY IMAGES ) A deal like this could be game-changing for Rihanna and her current fashion initiatives. Many celebrities have clothing lines, but few have the leg-up Rihanna does. She already has her foot in the LVMH door: Fenty Beauty was launched with a massive bang in September 2017 by Kendo, which is LVMHs beauty brand incubator. The strategy was to be the first-ever global beauty launch dropping online and in thousands of stores in 17 countries simultaneously. The foundation line 40 shades strong shook the industrys scanty offerings for women of colour, proving that respecting diversity means dollars. Suddenly, everyone in beauty was playing catch-up to Rihanna. The line moved roughly $100 million in product in the first 40 days. The Savage x Fenty lingerie collections of the past few seasons have also been applauded for their wildly inclusive runway castings and commensurate wide-range of size availabilities. (The current online Valentines Day collection, dubbed SavageAF, is modelled by Rihanna herself.) Article Continued Below Last year, Time estimated Rihannas personal net worth at $245 million (U.S.). In addition to her music sales and megaconcert tours, her shares in the music streaming service Tidal, and her acting gigs (Oceans 8), she has attached her name to no less than six perfumes. There have been a number of previous fashion endeavours, most notably Fenty Puma x Rihanna, wherein her Creeper sneakers sold out in a hot second. Then there were those much-imitated fuzzy slide shoes; Rihanna is single-handedly credited with giving the German athletic brands bottom line a hefty boost, as well as increasing the brands appeal with women. After an early collab with British high street brand River Island in 2013, Rihanna has earned big bucks for endorsements from brands ranging from Chopard to Dior and Manolo Blahnik. But the multi-faceted star was also in the news last week for a more painful story, though one that shows she is willing to stand up for herself, no matter how uncomfortable the situation. In a sad turn of events, she had to sue her father, Ronald Fenty, as well as his business partners in Fenty Entertainment. The suit, filed in Los Angeles court, seeks an injunction to protect the name Fenty, for which Rihanna holds a trademark. She is also petitioning them to stop misrepresenting her participation in Fenty Entertainment activities. The most upsetting of these allegations includes her father making a fraudulent deal with a third party for a Latin American concert tour. Basically, she alleges he has been pretending to be her agent. Rihanna comes by her ferocity honestly, having been out on her own since she was discovered at the tender age of 15 in her native Barbados. She gained some early fashion retail experience growing up on the Caribbean island, selling clothes at a market stall with her dad. She was also an army cadet, before she cut a demo that was routed straight onto Jay-Zs desk. She signed with Def Jam and thus was transported out of a childhood that doesnt seem as sunny as its location. Her father has long struggled with substance use issues, though she reportedly distanced herself from him until she discovered he had sold info and family pics to tabloids around the time of her assault by Chris Brown in 2009. Suffice to say, Rihanna isnt going to let anyone stand in her way. And I think I speak for the internet when I say we want this LVMH fashion fairy tale to be true. It will succeed where other celeb brands fail because she has the fashion chops and an attitude that makes us fall to our knees. Even Vogue voted it the best Met look ever, which is like winning the Fashion Olympics, All-Star edition. Please note that Rihanna was 26 at the time. And also note that she had the best quip a few years later, when she said her only regret in life is wearing a thong that wasnt bedazzled under that dress. We all have regrets, but Rihannas is better than ours. She also owns street style. Theres never any demurring ballcap-lowered looks for the paparazzi. She never phones it in. Shes skin-tight one minute, baggy the next. You cant characterize her look or underestimate how daring shes willing to be. Flip through any year of her street-style shots and you cant put your finger on what ties it together except, maybe, that she is so cool everything works on her. We can learn from her beauty launch, though, that Rihanna wants substance with her style. Her inclusive line shows an innate understanding of who she is, and what she represents to consumers. She delivered something that, in retrospect, was so obvious yet few luxe offerings had seen the profits waiting in those gaping holes of nuanced skin-tone coverage. If she can do the same with fashion her sellout shoe collabs and lingerie efforts are strong bellwethers then LVMH would be foolish not to sign up the most fashionable and forward-thinking woman in the world. This is outside the core business of LVMH, which was built on reviving major European heritage brands. But its a great way to add something next, something with larger pop-culture relevance and cutting-edge youth cred when the luxury market is in flux. After all, Rihanna is a celebrity who is defiant, funny and deliciously relatable. She demands two different kinds of Cheetos (hot and regular) on her appearance rider contract. She is photographed crazy-often with a glass of red wine, possibly the greatest accessory of all time. Fact is, she knows she is going to have her photo taken every damn time she leaves the house, or hotel, or club or restaurant or airport. So she has fun with it, camps it up, and goes big before she goes home. The only logical thing for her to do now is a complete line of fashion, clothing and accessories, heavy on the daring and the legendary, so we can all own just a little bit of that insouciance. Leanne Delap is a Toronto-based freelance contributor for the Star and The Kit. Reach her via email: leannedelap@hotmail.com

https://www.thestar.com/life/fashion_style/2019/01/24/is-rihanna-the-most-influential-person-in-fashion.html

Does Johnson & Johnson's Grim Outlook Spell Trouble for Big Pharma Stocks?

Every January, Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) executives share their expectations for the year ahead, and this year investors didn't like what they heard. The company isn't expecting much growth from its pharmaceutical segment in 2019, or next year. Some of the competitive pricing pressures highlighted were pretty standard, but the old way of offsetting those losses by raising prices on other successful products isn't working anymore. Here's why we could hear similar concerns this earnings season from J&J's big pharma peers. A bald businessman looking out a window with binoculars. More Image source: Getty Images. Why big pharma investors are nervous In 2018, worldwide pharmaceutical segment sales grew 12.4% to $40.7 billion for J&J, but U.S. sales rose just 8.4% on year. That's not necessarily bad, but during the earnings call management startled investors by revealing that net prices in the U.S. dropped between 6% and 8% last year despite list prices that kept going up. The company didn't say net prices would fall again in 2019, but it didn't try to offer any assurances that they wouldn't. Once insurers have treatment options to choose from, they like to demand huge rebates from drugmakers. In return, insurers make it easier for patients to access heavily rebated drugs, and drugmakers that refuse to play the rebate game lose market share. This isn't the first time Johnson & Johnson has reported a net price decline. In 2017, net prices fell 4.6% despite an 8.5% list price increase. J&J isn't the only big pharma company to suffer. In 2010, the average discount applied to Merck & Co.'s (NYSE: MRK) product line was already at 27% of the list price. By 2017, that figure rose to 45%, and during the same year, Eli Lilly's (NYSE: LLY) average discount climbed to 51% of list prices. The practice has gotten so out of hand that the pharmaceutical industry actually supports a plan to lower drug prices by regulating rebate practices. The proposal doesn't seem to be going anywhere fast, which is why consensus estimates for J&J's pharmaceutical division suggest sales will rise just 2.9% in 2019, and another 4.8% in 2020. Colorful assortment of pills on a bed of hundred dollar bills. More Image source: Getty Images. Analytics provider IQVIA noticed protected brand net prices grew by just 1.9% in 2017, but consumers saw list prices rise 6.9% on average. Johnson & Johnson's fourth-quarter results suggest the trend continued into 2018 and it's still getting worse.

https://news.yahoo.com/does-johnson-johnson-apos-grim-121900011.html

Which Party Is to Blame for Social Security's Imminent Crisis?

Ready or not, Social Security is in trouble. Our nation's most important social program, which has been providing monthly payouts to seniors for nearly eight decades, stands on the precipice of a major change. Soon, Social Security will begin paying out more on a monthly basis than it's generating in revenue, creating its first net cash outflow since 1982, the year before the Reagan administration enacted the last major overhaul of the program. Spending more than it's collecting in revenue suggests that Social Security's existing payout schedule isn't sustainable over the long run. Projections from the Social Security Board of Trustees jibe with this assessment, with the Trustees forecasting the complete exhaustion of the program's $2.9 trillion in asset reserves by the year 2034. Dice and casino chips lying atop two Social Security cards. More Image source: Getty Images. To be clear, Social Security running out of its excess cash doesn't make the program insolvent or put it on a path to bankruptcy. Recurring revenue sources, such as its 12.4% payroll tax on earned income and the taxation of Social Security benefits, ensure that money will continue flowing into the program, which in turn can be divvied out to all of its eligible beneficiaries. But the complete depletion of Social Security's asset reserves would coerce lawmakers to cut benefits across the board by up to 21%. Doing that should ensure that payouts continue without any further need for cuts until 2092. While it's probably a relief to know that Social Security will be there for you when you retire, it's not such great news that a hefty benefit cut could await you and future generations of workers. Part of the blame goes to ongoing demographic changes, such as the retirement of baby boomers, increased longevity over many decades, growing income inequality, and a recent decline in fertility rates. However, additional blame can be placed on lawmakers who've yet to tackle Social Security's estimated $13.2 trillion cash shortfall between 2034 and 2092. The particular issue with kicking the can down the road on a fix is that the longer Congress waits, the more painful the fix will be on working Americans. A Democrat donkey and Republican elephant facing off atop an American flag. More Image source: Getty Images.

https://news.yahoo.com/party-blame-social-security-apos-120600823.html

What Is The State Of Crypto And Blockchain In Japan After Regulation?

Across the globe, there have been different stabs at regulation in the cryptocurrency industry. From incredibly welcoming and forward-thinking ideas in places like Malta and Switzerland, to all-out war with in China. Still, there is no global codified approach to cryptocurrency and blockchain, rather somewhat reactionary regulatory actions from different governments. Japan is an interesting case-study of cryptocurrency regulation as the country has suffered the two biggest exchange hacks in history - that of Mt. Gox and Coincheck. Thus, when the Japanese government intervened and started cracking down heavily on exchanges, it could not be called surprising. Business improvement orders were doled out across the countrys exchange ecosystem to force these companies into offering safe, secure and effective cryptocurrency services. Some could not get themselves up to a suitable level, and rather shut down, while others banded together to form a self-regulatory committee. The argument has always been that hardline regulation will stifle the cryptocurrency and blockchain ecosystem and cause the innovative technology, and fintech, to suffer. However, a look at the state of blockchain and cryptocurrency in Japan, as seen from the viewpoint of the Japan Blockchain Conference, paints a different story. One of the originals It would be fair to say that China was probably the first cryptocurrency superpower. The Peoples Republic, at a stage, had the largest Bitcoin transaction volume, a considerable amount of individuals invested in the cryptocurrency space, and was full of companies and organisations exploring blockchain and cryptocurrency industry. However, China is also the original country that pioneered outright banning within the cryptocurrency ecosystem. It began with ICOs, then access to Exchanges, and even extended to setting up the Great Firewall to block access to foreign exchanges for the Chinese population. However, with that ban, Japan quickly stepped in to pick up the slack and become a leading force in cryptocurrency and blockchain. David Otto, International Media Coordinator at Japan Blockchain Conference, explains why the Asian country has become this crypto hub. There are a few reasons, he mused. Japan has always been very forward thinking and looking for ways to innovate across all aspects of technology. Japan was the tech capital of the world for decades, and even if it may seem that a lot of the focus has shifted to its neighbours, a lot of technology still originates from Japan and innovation continues. Also, the country has a lot of investors looking for new opportunities to invest in a country that has a very low federal interest rate, even reaching negative interest rates at times. These two factors have sparked interest in cryptocurrencies and crypto-assets as a way for Japan to shape the future of crypto. With that innovative blueprint ingrained in Japan and its business sector, Otto goes on to explain how large corporations such as the e-commerce giant Rakuten, chat service Line, and internet giant DMM are all showing their latest offerings at this blockchain conference. These three companies are well respected in Japan, and they will all be presenting their latest developments at the conference. We believe that this will invigorate the Japanese crypto startup scene to bring blockchain and crypto further into the mainstream, added Otto. Firm but fair The real conclusion that needs to be sought in examining where Japans blockchain and cryptocurrency scene finds itself is to see where the government is positioned in regards to the industry. The decision to step in and put out firm business improvement orders to the exchanges may seem harsh, but really, it is an indication that the government wants this sector to work, but work properly. Setting standards that the cryptocurrency industry needs to live up to and adhere to is a step towards a legislative framework, and as Otto explains further about the Japan Blockchain Conference, there is interest and participation from the government in fostering this. We are proud to say that the conference has the support of the Ministry of Trade, Economy and Industry and will be attended by Mr Yohei Matsuda, Director-General of the Commerce and Information Policy Bureau and the Director of the Information Economy Division. We also have the support of the City of Yokohama, explained Otto. Furthermore, the holy grail of cryptocurrency regulations which is full and direct classification seems to be just on the horizon, and there is talk of cryptocurrencies being labelled and treated as crypto-assets. Showing face For Otto, the importance of meaningful conferences is vital to the expansion and acceptance of cryptocurrency, especially in an efficient and rule-following nation like Japan. The opportunity for major corporations to show what they are working on for the world to see, under the watchful eye of the government, seems to suggest that the industry will be growing in a prescribed manner, rather than in a speculative whirlwind of hype which brought it into the light to begin with. Conferences are an important place for the top minds to share information and for people to network, explained Otto. "Many fruitful business partnerships form at conferences and others around the world. The first Japan Blockchain Conference helped many leading crypto companies around the world get in touch with Japan. We have a range of great crypto companies participating for the first time and a lot of large Japanese and international corporations entering the sphere, and we anticipate that a lot of unique partnerships could arise from these groups.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/darrynpollock/2019/01/24/what-is-the-state-of-crypto-and-blockchain-in-japan-after-regulation/

Will Pop Music's Bubble Burst With the Economy?

Some experts see a correlation between how much money people have in their pockets and the music on their CDs. Their theory is that folks groove to fluffy, Britney-style pop when the good times roll, but turn to melancholy, introspective tunes when the economy goes soft. "When you have happy, carefree times, it is reflected in popular music," said professor William Schurk, sounds recordings archivist for the Bowling Green State University music library in Ohio. "This is true not only for the euphoria, but the doldrums too." The history of music and money over the last two decades seems to support this theory. From 1983 until the end of that decade, the U.S. experienced sustained economic growth. At the same time, flashy pop artists such as Madonna, Michael Jackson and saccharine teen sensations New Kids On The Block dominated the music landscape. "When there's a lot of disposable income floating round, as there was in the '80s and also recently, you see that reflected in huge sales," said Greg Milner, associate editor at Spin magazine. But in the early '90s, the economy took a downturn, and pop fizzled with it. In came grunge, a darker, more cynical sound, led by such Seattle-bred bands Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Soundgarden. "With the recession in the early '90s, grunge became huge among teenagers," said Deb Goldstein, Editor at Alloy.com, a popular teen Web site. Even '80s pop icons Madonna and Michael Jackson changed their tones. Madonna in 1992 released the controversial album Erotica, along with her scandalous book Sex. And Jackson debuted his video for "Black & White," which had to be edited for violence. That trend lasted only as long as the sagging economy, according to Goldstein. "After (grunge) the economy got better, and teen pop music exploded." By the end of 1999 the longest peacetime economic expansion ever pop music experienced a parallel rise. The Spice Girls invaded America with their jaunty songs. And teeny-bopper pop has dominated the music scene ever since. Artists such as the Backstreet Boys, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera and 'N Sync have not only sold millions of albums they've broken records along the way. In March 2000, 'N Sync sold 2.4 million copies of their sophomore album No Strings Attached in its first week of sales the first album ever to break the 2 million mark in that time period, according to SoundScan. "Everything in society has been exploding in the past four years, and the economy is feeding it all." Schurk said. "When the upturn in the economy comes, you have bright, shiny faces looking for something happy and fun, like pop music." But with the recent dot-com and tech shakeout, the economy is in question once again. "Right now, today's teen artists have reached their peak," Schurk said. "Not just in musical styles, but they are now assuming adult habits and growing up themselves." While 'N Sync sold 1.88 million copies of their latest album Celebrity in its first week of release, it failed to break the first-week sales record held by their previous album. And, sales dropped 67 percent in its second week in stores. The Backstreet Boys are facing more serious troubles. Last month, member A.J. McLean checked himself into rehab for alcoholism and anxiety, causing the band to postpone several weeks of their current tour. If this pop music/economy correlation holds true, teen pop may be fading away. But there may be hope for fans. "The best music comes out of times of desperation," Spin's Milner said. "A lot of great music plays off its opposition to the way things are at any given moment, and I do think an unstable economy is a good indicator of good music to come."

https://www.foxnews.com/story/will-pop-musics-bubble-burst-with-the-economy

What is the Drought Contingency Plan and will it affect me?

CLOSE Arizonas top water managers continue to meet to create a drought contingency plan for Colorado River water supply. David Wallace, The Republic | azcentral.com Arizona's water leaders and lawmakers are running out of time to complete the state's Drought Contingency Plan, a blueprint for how Arizona water users would share a likely shortage on the Colorado River. The water managers and elected officials working on the plan have tried to convey a sense of urgency to get the work done on what could soon be the most important water-related legislation in recent times. But there are a lot of moving parts to understand and a lot of concepts that may seem overwhelming. The Drought Contingency Plan is an interstate agreement among Arizona and other states whose communities depend on Colorado River water. Arizona and those states that use the water have been developing the agreement for several months in an effort to divvy up expected cutbacks on the river needed to keep storage reservoir levels from dropping too low. Before finalizing the interstate agreement, states must hash out intrastate agreements, among local water users, and that's what Arizona is still working on. The Arizona deal would try to avoid deep cutbacks by spreading them around. A line along a cliff illustrates where the surface of Lake Mead once stood near South Cove in the Lake Mead National Recreation Area on Aug. 1, 2018. Lake levels are at or near historic lows. In short, the water we use from the river is outpacing the water being replenished naturally we're in a drought. The soon-to-be-finalized agreement addresses the anticipated shortfalls and tries to spread the pain among the states so that no one is hit too hard if the drought persists. Lake Mead, the largest reservoir in the US, is now 39 percent full and approaching its first-ever shortage. Lake Powell, the other major reservoir on the river, is 40 percent full and could drop lower. Together, the two reservoirs help keep water flowing to the seven states even during dry years. Powell stores water that New Mexico, Utah, Colorado and Wyoming depend on. Water from that reservoir is released downstream to Mead, which stores water for the states on the lower Colorado Arizona, Nevada and California. If water levels drop too low, water users across the region could face severe shortages. The drought plan is a balancing act to keep water flowing where it needs to and to preserve supplies for the future, keeping water levels for Mead and Powell where they should be. Arizona water leaders including U.S. Bureau of Reclamation Leslie Meyers (left); Arizona Department of Water Resources director Tom Buschatzke (center); and Central Arizona Project general manager Ted Cooke talks about the Colorado River drought plan, during a meeting at the Central Arizona Project Headquarters in Phoenix. (Photo: Nick Oza/The Republic) A group of 38 water leaders, state and city politicians, tribal leaders, farmers and business representatives are working through negotiations over who is assured what water and what money. In the end, some users will start relying more on groundwater and others will be paid for water they forfeit. This group is focusing on water delivered by the Central Arizona Project Canal, not on Colorado River water used by farmers in and near Yuma. CAP delivers about 1.5 million acre-feet a year to Maricopa, Pima and Pinal counties for cities, businesses and farmers to use. Most Phoenix area cities use a mix of water from the CAP and other sources. Right now, Pinal County farmers are among those who would take the brunt of those cuts. Those farmers were prepared for a more groundwater-reliant future but were not expecting it for another 11 years. They expected to lose assured access to CAP water in 2030 based on a 2004 water settlement, but those cutbacks would come quicker if and when this drought plan is approved, forcing them to adapt sooner. Under proposed terms of the drought plan, the farmers would receive an interim supply of water through tribal communities and other water users. Some would pump groundwater sooner or leave farmlands fallow. Money to buy water for the farmers would come from a $30 million appropriation proposed by Governor Doug Ducey in his budget and another $5 million to drill wells. But those farmers are asking for more CAP water and more money for those wells. Tiffany Shedd, a cotton farmer from Eloy, speaks at a press conference at the Capitol in Phoenix with other farmers and legislators from Pinal County to talk about their overall support for the drought contingency plan, Tuesday, January 15, 2019. Unless you are a Pinal County farmer or one of the city, county and tribal water managers moving supplies around in exchange for something in this deal, you likely will not notice anything. Ducey suggested last week, he will promote water conservation education to Arizonans, asking them to use less water and save money. So you can still expect to have water in your tap, as no direct cutbacks are likely, but you may soon be asked to voluntarily use less. If lawmakers continue these conservation conversations and turn those discussions into enforceable legislation, that is another issue for another day. Federal Reclamation Commissioner Brenda Burman speaks at the Colorado River Water Users Association conference in Las Vegas on Thursday, urging water managers to finish negotiations on drought-contingency plans. January 31. If a plan is not signed by Arizona Department of Water Resources Director Tom Buschatzke by then, the Bureau of Reclamation, which oversees water projects in the West, is threatening to make the cuts for them. Brenda Burman, the agency's commissioner, made that clear at the Colorado River Water Users Association conference in Las Vegas in December, a meeting where Arizona was ideally supposed to bring a close-to-final plan. Burman stressed that if Western states, especially Arizona, do not file a plan by then, the Interior Department will ask the states what the government should do. "We will act, if needed, to protect this Basin," Burman said at the December conference. "This is absolutely not our preferred course of action. But if we do, we will give the states 30 days for those submissions. And the department will take those submissions and decide on a course of action." Those cuts would likely upend the compromises built so far in these months of delicate negotiations. But it could end up forcing the state into a corner, leaving it no choice but to get serious about conserving water. Apparently not. The Bureau of Reclamation is one of the many agencies affected by Washingtons longest ever political standoff, but it says the lawyers tasked to enforce that deadline have been deemed essential and will continue working. Regardless of whether that deadline is enforced, lawmakers and water leaders are working to pass something and not risk finding out what happens if they do nothing. CLOSE Pinal County farmers and state legislators talk about the Drought Contingency Plan as the federal deadline looms. We have not been putting this off for that long. There has been a drought plan in place since 2007 when states first foresaw the severity and urgency of eventual reservoir shortages. But as a shortage became more possible and it was clear more action would be needed, states got together to develop a Drought Contingency Plan to help share the pain of cutbacks. If they had not done that, Arizona would have had to cut back the most. It is also important to remember these things take time to figure out because the people in charge are negotiating over one of the West's most valuable resources. Nobody wants to give away too much for too long, which is why the pace is so sluggish. This process is now on two separate tracks. On one track, the state Legislature got drafts of an agreement last week, which essentially is a formalized version of what that group of 38 water leaders has agreed on. Along with those formalities, the bill provides the legal mechanisms needed to enact a deal that does not yet exist and one that is not yet fully understood by many lawmakers. Lawmakers are being briefed by staff to better understand it, and once they do, they will introduce an official version to a committee and begin the legislative process with that January 31 deadline in mind. On the other track, the group of water leaders must settle the sticking points, many of which are the same ones they were tasked to sort out in July and give the Legislature something to approve. You can learn more about what was in the draft legislation given to lawmakers last week, what they thought of it and what comes next. Reach reporter Andrew Nicla at andrew.nicla@gannett.com. Environmental coverage on azcentral.com and in The Arizona Republic is supported by a grant from the Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust. Follow The Republic environmental reporting team at environment.azcentral.com and at OurGrandAZ on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Read or Share this story: https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona-environment/2019/01/24/drought-contingency-plan-how-affects-arizona-lawmakers-colorado-river-doug-ducey-water-conservation/2659832002/

https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona-environment/2019/01/24/drought-contingency-plan-how-affects-arizona-lawmakers-colorado-river-doug-ducey-water-conservation/2659832002/

Will there be a public vote on Suns arena renovation deal?

The Phoenix City Council may have approved a $230 million deal with the Phoenix Suns to renovate Talking Stick Resort Arena, but a group of dissidents has its sights on a referendum -- and a public vote on the agreement. it looks that way. Seems theres a group of people upset by the $230 million agreement approved by the council late Wednesday afternoon that's seeking a referendum that would give the public an up or down vote on the matter. Drew Chavez of Petition Partners, a Phoenix outfit that runs a majority of initiative petitions in the state, said a committee calling itself Common Sense Phoenix is set to file paperwork Thursday. Voters having say 'would be a public service' The group and my firm are serious, Chavez said in an email. The group would have 30 days to gather roughly 10,500 signatures of registered Phoenix voters to qualify the referendum for an election. Chavez declined to identify committee members, only to say he has been approached in recent weeks by close to half a dozen people who believe the city is committing too much to upgrade the Suns home. He issued a statement from Common Sense Phoenix: This seems like a situation where the voters of Phoenix very well may want to weigh in. If we can give them a chance to do so, it would be a public service. Were talking about millions of dollars that could be spent on public safety or repairing our streets instead of fixing up the arena for the Suns and their billionaire owner. Measure may be 1 of 3 on Phoenix ballot As for his confidence of gathering sufficient signatures in a months time, Chavez says his outfit will secure 27,000 signatures. The direct democracy route on the arena would certainly add to a strange year in Phoenix. Two other initiatives seek to do what city council wouldnt. One would halt light expansion and redirect the city portion of funding toward street improvements; that measure has been certified by the city but faces a challenge in court. The other would reform how city pension obligations are calculated and funded. It awaits verification of the petition signatures. The trio of measures is remarkable especially given that citizen initiatives and referendums are often considered a tool of the left think minimum wage increase, recreational marijuana, clean energy mandates, etc. Here, all three are grounded on conservative principles with the Suns arena referendum, it is the opposition to whats viewed as corporate welfare or subsidies. There are those who wanted, all along, a public vote on the matter. but because Talking Stick Resort Arena is not a new structure, Phoenix needed only city council approval to reach a deal. The referendum would make a public vote real and final. Well know in about 30 days. Reach Kwok at akwok@azcentral.com. Click here to subscribe to azcentral.com. Read or Share this story: https://www.azcentral.com/story/opinion/op-ed/abekwok/2019/01/24/suns-arena-renovation-referendum/2665253002/

https://www.azcentral.com/story/opinion/op-ed/abekwok/2019/01/24/suns-arena-renovation-referendum/2665253002/

What can Seattle learn from cities where homelessness has dropped?

We look at four cities that saw steep reductions in homelessness, and asked what they did to get there. Its no secret that homelessness has engulfed the West Coast: Rises in cities like Seattle, LA and San Francisco are the reason homelessness in the U.S. has gone up in the last few years while it continues to go down on the East Coast. Project Homeless has gone to many of those cities looking at what their governments are trying: How San Diego is giving people safe places to live in their cars, how Vancouver, B.C., is betting on small prefabricated homes to end homelessness, and how San Francisco is cracking down on public camping. But reporters went to each of those cities because of their work with a certain population, not the breadth of homelessness. A readerrecently asked us, What cities similar in size to Seattle have significantly reduced homelessness and how did they do it? Using federally mandated point-in-time counts, we looked at major U.S. cities where homelessness has gone down the most in the last five years: New Orleans, Atlanta, Milwaukee and Virginia Beach, Virginia. All have seen a 40 percent or more drop in homelessness. There are some caveats. Point-in-time counts, conducted on one night in January, are really just an estimate, and methods of counting vary across the country. Tucson, Arizona, saw a huge decrease over the last five years, but part of that is because they changed the way they count, according to Claudia Powell, board chair of the Tucson Pima Collaboration to End Homelessness. Point-in-time counts may also be measuring cities economies as much as their effectiveness at addressing homelessness. Many of these cities are less expensive places to live than Seattle and other West Coast cities. A lot of these systems in (more expensive cities) are housing people faster and faster because the number coming in, which the homeless system cant do anything about, is getting bigger and bigger, said Nan Roman, CEO of the National Alliance to End Homelessness. Still, point-in-time counts are the most common and standardized measure America has for homelessness. Here is what we learned from cities with the biggest decreases over the past five years. New Orleans: Experience dealing with a housing disaster In 2015, first lady Michelle Obama traveled to New Orleans to congratulate the city for being the first in the country to house all of its homeless veterans. We want cities across this country to follow your lead, she said. But the Obama administration had poured hundreds of millions into federal housing vouchers for homeless veterans; there was lots of money to house them. After 2015, New Orleans leaders decided they were going to focus on a tougher population: chronically homeless people, who have been homeless many times or for years, and often have overlapping mental-health issues and sometimes drug dependencies. New Orleans had dealt with this issue before after Hurricane Katrina, when thousands of people with disabilities were put out of a home and had to live on the streets, said Casey Guidry, executive director of the Start Corporation, which runs New Orleans city-funded shelter. After Hurricane Katrina, the state built more than 3,000 units of permanent supportive-housing projects for poor people with disabilities. Today, its one of the few states in the country to use Medicaid to pay for the supportive services in those facilities (which Washington is also working toward). It paid off. From 2013 to 2018, New Orleans had the biggest drop in homelessness in the nation, reducing its homeless population by almost half. And the drop was even steeper with chronically homeless people: the city counted 677 in 2013 and fewer than 200 in 2018. All of that combined with the fact that the New Orleans area has rents about as high, compared to median income, as King County, according to a recent study from Zillow. I think we had a big problem, and then Hurricane Katrina made it a catastrophic problem, so it forces you to address it , said Guidry. Atlanta: Jobs programs and landlords willing to rent to homeless people Atlanta has seen some of the most impressive reductions in homelessness in the country (a 44 percent drop since 2013), and not just in the city. Some of the counties in Atlanta metro have seen a bigger decrease. The most impressive part: Atlantas chronically homeless population dropped from over 1,400 in 2013 down to just 335 in 2018. But before we start bragging about how clever we are, said Jack Hardin, co-chair of the United Way regional commission on homelessness, we have to realize we are in a favorable economic situation. Atlanta bounced back really well from the recession, with a job market thats friendly to entry-level workers and cheaper rents than Seattle. Atlantas philanthropic community also has put millions into getting homeless people jobs. One of the countrys largest nonprofit staffing agencies, First Step Staffing, started in Atlanta. In 2018, First Step hired over 3,500 homeless people in Atlanta, and the company says it paid $19 million in wages. Yet even when they can afford rent, homeless people many of whom have bad credit histories or criminal backgrounds have trouble finding a place to live, Hardin said. Atlantas most innovative program may be Open Doors, an organization employing people with real-estate backgrounds to leverage their relationships in the market and persuade landlords to rent to homeless people. That program opened up thousands of apartments to homeless people, and its a program Seattle and King County are already replicating, as The Seattle Times wrote in December. Milwaukee: Handing out rent vouchers in homeless camps There are two important differences between Wisconsins Milwaukee County and King County: First, Milwaukee is one of the cheapest major cities to live in rent has barely risen since 2015 in America; and second, the county government not a federal housing authority, like in King County controls Section 8 and other federal vouchers. Those and other factors have added up to a 40 percent plunge in homelessness in the past five years, among the highest in the nation. Milwaukee County (population of nearly 1 million people) focused on ending chronic homelessness with a plan that moved people off the streets and immediately into permanent housing, even before entering mental-health and drug treatment. And because the county controls the federal vouchers, it has social workers walking into homeless camps and handing people rent vouchers. What we found is that once peoples basic needs are met, their housing needs are met, theyre able to focus on treatment, on employment and the other things, said James Mathey, the countys housing director. Three years later, Milwaukee is on track to the be the nations largest county to effectively end chronic homelessness. The Housing First strategy is credited with savings millions of dollars by reducing demand for mental-health and emergency-room care. Mathey acknowledges Milwaukee had advantages not available in King County, including low rent. But the strategy works, he said. We really think weve found the blueprint not just to ending chronic homelessness but dramatically reducing overall homelessness in our state, he said. Virginia Beach: Getting rid of most transitional housing Transitional housing is the middle step between emergency shelter and an apartment, with staff and services, and stays of a few months to a few years. But often, people staying in transitional housing stay there for the allotted time and dont have a plan to leave, according to Roman, of the National Alliance to End Homelessness. I dont mean to be pejorative about it, but it can undercut peoples decision-making ability, Roman said. It doesnt teach you how to live in an apartment, it teaches you how to live in a facility. In Virginia Beach, Virginia, the average stay for each of the citys 107 transitional-housing beds was well over 100 days, according to Pam Shine, coordinator of the citys housing homeless programs. The limit was two years. The whole time theyre in transitional housing, all of those people count as homeless. So what Virginia Beach did was part accounting and part restructure: It took most of the money from transitional housing and put it toward rapid rehousing vouchers so people could go straight from the streets to an apartment. Seattle and King County have done this as well, reducing transitional housing by about a thousand beds since 2015, according to numbers from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, while also dramatically increasing spending on rental vouchers (although that approach has been criticized by some nonprofits). We have really taken away the connotation that transitional housing is about sitting for two years and then working on your plan six months before you have to leave, said Shine. Seattle Times Project Homeless editor Jonathan Martin contributed to this report.

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/homeless/what-can-seattle-learn-from-cities-that-decreased-their-homelessness/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_seattle-news

Do truth and reconciliation commissions heal divided nations?

This article was originally published on The Conversation, an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts. Disclosure information is available on the original site. Author: Bonny Ibhawoh, Professor of History and Global Human Rights, McMaster University As long as unresolved historic injustices continue to fester in the world, there will be a demand for truth commissions. Unfortunately, there is no end to the need. The goal of a truth commission in some forms also called a truth and reconciliation commission, as it is in Canada is to hold public hearings to establish the scale and impact of a past injustice, typically involving wide-scale human rights abuses, and make it part of the permanent, unassailable public record. Truth commissions also officially recognize victims and perpetrators in an effort to move beyond the painful past. Over the past three decades, more than 40 countries have, like Canada, established truth commissions, including Chile, Ecuador, Ghana, Guatemala, Kenya, Liberia, Morocco, Philippines, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, South Africa and South Korea. The hope has been that restorative justice would provide greater healing than the retributive justice modelled most memorably by the Nuremberg Trials after the Second World War. There has been a range in the effectiveness of commissions designed to resolve injustices in African and Latin American countries, typically held as those countries made transitions from civil war, colonialism or authoritarian rule. Most recently, Canadas Truth and Reconciliation Commission addressed historic injustices perpetrated against Canadas Indigenous peoples through forced assimilation and other abuses. Its effectiveness is still being measured, with a list of 94 calls to action waiting to be fully implemented. But Canadas experience appears to have been at least productive enough to inspire Australia and New Zealand to come to terms with their own treatment of Indigenous peoples by exploring similar processes. Although both countries have a long history to trying to reconcile with native peoples, recent discussions have leaned toward a Canadian-style TRC model. South Africa set the standard There had been other truth commissions in the 1980s and early 1990s, including Chiles post-Pinochet reckoning. But the most recognizable standard became South Africas, when President Nelson Mandela mandated a painful and necessary Truth and Reconciliation Commission to resolve the scornful legacy of apartheid, the racist and repressive policy that had driven the African National Congress, including Mandela, to fight for reform. Their efforts resulted in widespread violence and Mandelas own 27-year imprisonment. Through South Africas publicly televised TRC proceedings, white perpetrators were required to come face-to-face with the Black families they had victimized physically, socially and economically. There were critics, to be sure, on both sides. Some called it the Kleenex Commission for the emotional hearings they saw as going easy on some perpetrators who were granted amnesty after demonstrating public contrition. Others felt it fell short of its promise benefiting the new government by legitimizing Mandelas ANC and letting perpetrators off the hook by allowing so many go without punishment, and failing victims who never saw adequate compensation or true justice. These criticisms were valid, yet the process did succeed in its most fundamental responsibility it pulled the country safely into a modern, democratic era. Saving humanity from hell Dag Hammarskjold, the secretary general of the United Nations through most of the 1950s who faced criticism about the limitations of the UN, once said the UN was not created to take mankind to heaven, but to save humanity from hell. Similarly, South Africas Truth and Reconciliation Commission was not designed to take South Africa to some idyllic utopia. After a century of colonialism and apartheid, that would not have been realistic. It was designed to save South Africa, then a nuclear power, from an implosion one that many feared would trigger a wider international war. To the extent that the commission saved South Africa from hell, I think it was successful. Perhaps, but it did its work. Since then, other truth commissions, whether they have included reconciliation or reparation mandates, have generated varying results. Some have been used cynically as tools for governments to legitimize themselves by pretending they have dealt with painful history when they have only kicked the can down the road. In Liberia, where I worked with a team of researchers last summer, the records of that countrys truth and reconciliation commission are not even readily available to the public. That secrecy robs Liberia of what should be the most essential benefit of confronting past injustices: permanent, public memorialization that inoculates the future against the mistakes of the past. U.S. needs truth commission On balance, the truth commission stands as an important tool that can and should be used around the world. Its painfully apparent that the United States needs a national truth commission of some kind to address hundreds of years of injustice suffered by Black Americans. There, centuries of enslavement, state-sponsored racism, denial of civil rights and ongoing economic and social disparity have yet to be addressed. Like many, I dont hold out hope that a U.S. commission will be established any time soon especially not under the current administration. But I do think one is inevitable at some point, better sooner than later. Wherever there is an ugly, unresolved injustice pulling at the fabric of a society, there is an opportunity to haul it out in public and deal with it through a truth commission. Still, there is not yet any central body or facility that researchers, political leaders or other advocates can turn to for guidance, information and evidence. Such an entity would help them understand and compare how past commissions have worked or failed to work and create better outcomes for future commissions. As the movement to expose, understand and resolve historical injustices grows, it would seem that Canada, a stable democracy with its own sorrowed history and its interest in global human rights, would make an excellent place to establish such a centre. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Disclosure information is available on the original site. Read the original article: https://theconversation.com/do-truth-and-reconciliation-commissions- https://theconversation.com

https://nationalpost.com/pmn/news-pmn/do-truth-and-reconciliation-commissions-heal-divided-nations

Is First Trust Dow Jones Global Select Dividend Index Fund (FGD) a Strong ETF Right Now?

A smart beta exchange traded fund, the First Trust Dow Jones Global Select Dividend Index Fund (FGD) debuted on 11/21/2007, and offers broad exposure to the Broad Developed World ETFs category of the market. The ETF industry has long been dominated by products based on market cap weighted indexes, a strategy created to reflect the market or a particular market segment. Because market cap weighted indexes provide a low-cost, convenient, and transparent way of replicating market returns, they work well for investors who believe in market efficiency. There are some investors, though, who think it's possible to beat the market with great stock selection; this group likely invests in another class of funds known as smart beta, which track non-cap weighted strategies. Based on specific fundamental characteristics, or a combination of such, these indexes attempt to pick stocks that have a better chance of risk-return performance. The smart beta space gives investors many different choices, from equal-weighting, one of the simplest strategies, to more complicated ones like fundamental and volatility/momentum based weighting. However, not all of these methodologies have been able to deliver remarkable returns. Fund Sponsor & Index The fund is managed by First Trust Advisors. FGD has been able to amass assets over $464 M, making it one of the average sized ETFs in the Broad Developed World ETFs. This particular fund seeks to match the performance of the Dow Jones Global Select Dividend Index before fees and expenses. This Index is an indicated annual dividend yield weighted index of 100 stocks selected from the developed-market portion of the Dow Jones World Index. Cost & Other Expenses Cost is an important factor in selecting the right ETF, and cheaper funds can significantly outperform their more expensive cousins if all other fundamentals are the same. Annual operating expenses for this ETF are 0.58%, making it one of the more expensive products in the space. FGD's 12-month trailing dividend yield is 5.54%. Sector Exposure and Top Holdings Even though ETFs offer diversified exposure that minimizes single stock risk, investors should also look at the actual holdings inside the fund. Luckily, most ETFs are very transparent products that disclose their holdings on a daily basis. Looking at individual holdings, Centurylink, Inc. (CTL) accounts for about 2.23% of total assets, followed by Gamestop Corp. (class A) (GME) and Element Fleet Management Corp. (EFN.CT). The top 10 holdings account for about 16.83% of total assets under management. Performance and Risk The ETF has gained about 6.13% so far this year and is down about -11.67% in the last one year (as of 01/24/2019). In the past 52-week period, it has traded between $21.06 and $28.07. The ETF has a beta of 0.81 and standard deviation of 13.70% for the trailing three-year period, making it a low risk choice in the space. With about 102 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk. Alternatives First Trust Dow Jones Global Select Dividend Index Fund is a reasonable option for investors seeking to outperform the Broad Developed World ETFs segment of the market. However, there are other ETFs in the space which investors could consider. IShares MSCI ACWI ETF (ACWI) tracks MSCI All Country World Index and the Vanguard Total World Stock ETF (VT) tracks FTSE Global All Cap Index. IShares MSCI ACWI ETF has $10.79 B in assets, Vanguard Total World Stock ETF has $12.46 B. ACWI has an expense ratio of 0.31% and VT charges 0.10%. Investors looking for cheaper and lower-risk options should consider traditional market cap weighted ETFs that aim to match the returns of the Broad Developed World ETFs. Bottom Line To learn more about this product and other ETFs, screen for products that match your investment objectives and read articles on latest developments in the ETF investing universe, please visit Zacks ETF Center. Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report iShares MSCI ACWI ETF (ACWI): ETF Research Reports GameStop Corp. (GME) : Free Stock Analysis Report Vanguard Total World Stock ETF (VT): ETF Research Reports To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research

https://news.yahoo.com/first-trust-dow-jones-global-133301137.html

How Should The US Spend Carbon Tax Revenue?

The debate over a carbon tax is about two big things: The most obvious is whether a tax at politically acceptable levels could significantly slow climate change. But a second is at least as important: what to do with the hundreds of billions of dollars a carbon tax would likely generate each year. The tax will never be feasible unless the public supports the way the government uses the revenue. Question #2 has been all over the news in recent days, both explicitly and implicitly. And the answer is far from obvious, either politically or economically. Indeed, in many respects it seems more muddled than ever. In just the past week: A growing group of high-powered economists has endorsed the idea of a carbon dividend: Rebating carbon tax revenues to all households. A new public opinion survey by the Associated Press and the University of Chicago finds that while public support for a carbon tax is relatively high, respondents want government to use the revenue to reduce the use of fossil fuels rather than fund the tax rebate economists prefer. The many Democrats who are running for president began fleshing out their policy agendas, and they include costly new federal initiatives ranging from big middle-class tax credits to government-funded health care and college education to a green New Dealwith no way to fully pay for any of them. The Congressional Budget Office announced it will release updated fiscal projections next week. They are likely to show the US is facing annual federal deficits exceeding $1 trillion. Regrettably, a dollar of tax revenue can be used only once. By earmarking a dollar for one purpose, Congress will foreclose its use for the others. Real money It might be politically satisfying for Congress to divide the revenue pie into a half-dozen slicesa piece for deficit reduction, another chunk for Medicare for all, and a bit to offset some tax cut. But while money is fungible, spreading dollars around that way would ultimately fall short of significantly financing any one of these priorities. And there is real money at stake. My Tax Policy Center colleagues Donald Marron and Elaine Maag estimate that a $43 per metric ton carbon tax that increases by inflation plus 5 percent annually would raise about $180 billion in new revenue in 2021 and nearly $300 billion in 2031. Congress could return the revenue to US households through the carbon dividend, an idea being promoted by a group called the Climate Leadership Council. Last week, nearly four dozen eminent economists, ranging from conservatives such as Martin Feldstein to progressives such as Larry Summers, endorsed both a carbon tax and a rebate. Intense pushback Donald and Elaine estimate that in 2021 a rebate on the $43 per ton tax would be about $600 per adult, or about $1,700 for a family with two adults and two children. Canada already has adopted a similar carbon tax plus dividend , but as the taxs effective date nears, it is facing intense pushback from both federal lawmakers and four provincial governments. But the AP survey may confound conventional wisdom about what do with carbon tax revenue. While many policy experts believe a rebate would soften voter criticism of a big new tax, the polls respondents said theyd rather see government spend the money on reducing carbon emissions or repairing environmental damage rather than rebate it back. Overall, about 44 percent said theyd support a carbon tax. Two-thirds of them said they wanted the revenue used to restore forests, wetlands, and other natural features. Fifty-nine percent theyd want government to spend the money on renewable energy research. By contrast, only 49 percent said the revenue should be used to provide a tax rebate and 45 percent favored deficit reduction. Ambitious goals Democratic presidential hopefuls may have quite different ideas. Some likely would support using the revenue for climate initiatives, Others might like the rebate, which is a modest version of universal basic incomeanother idea getting traction among progressives. But that would preclude using the tax as a revenue source for their other ambitious ideas. And without a carbon tax, it is hard to imagine where else the money would come from. For example, Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) has proposed a big new tax credit for households making $100,000 or less (very different from a plan to rebate taxes to all households regardless of income). But it would cost nearly $3 trillion over the next decade. While she has suggested rolling back elements of the TCJA to finance such a plan, the entire 2017 law cuts taxes by only about $1.5 trillion. Thus, shed need to find extra revenue elsewhere. Similarly, carbon tax revenue could significantly reduce the growing budget deficit. But that idea has relatively little public support, either in the US or elsewhere. See France. And if carbon tax revenue is earmarked for other prioritieswhether a rebate, environmental policy, or other initiatives, it would no longer be available for deficit reduction. If new revenue wont come from the income tax, and if carbon tax revenue is spoken for, that leaves only a broad-based consumption tax such as a Value Added Tax. But it is hard to imagine Congress enacting both a carbon tax and a VAT anytime in the near future. All this means policymakers must make not one but two difficult choices as they consider a carbon tax: Whether to enact it at all and what to do with the money.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/howardgleckman/2019/01/24/how-should-the-us-spend-carbon-tax-revenue/

Why Is Apple Going To Sleep?

Apple recently made headlines by rolling out its Beddit sleep tracker -- a product that allows anyone to track the quality of their sleep without needing to wear it to bed or worry about turning it on every night. Because it isnt actually mundane: Sleep is the future of health. You see, wellness has three pillars: nutrition, exercise and sleep. Nutrition and exercise are already well-known, studied and attended to by all types of products and services. But the third pillar, sleep, is equally important and often overlooked. The average American is getting just 6.8 hours per night, down more than an hour from over six decades ago. This deficit recently led the New York Times to call sleep improvement "the simplest way to drastically improve your life. We are finally starting to see this message enter the public dialogue. Look no further than the press frenzy over Elon Musks sleep health. But Apple knows that better sleep is more than just a trend, more than a market opportunity. A few years ago, I was like many other entrepreneurs -- plagued by sleepless nights that left me completely drained and defeated. By consciously working to improve my sleep, I drastically improved the quality of my life. I felt fitter, more refreshed and filled with renewed energy. The change made me realize that sleep deserves to be viewed through the same lens as fitness: It is an activity you can train for and master. These insights inspired me to found Eight Sleep, a company devoted to supporting sleep fitness. Before my breakthrough, Id thought of sufficient sleep as desirable but not crucial -- a nice-to-have rather than a requirement. In reality, quality sleep is not only essential for overall well-being, but it grants the power to control your own health outcomes while reducing the costs of your own health care -- and not a moment too soon. In 2017, the average American spent $10,739 on health care. For all these reasons, sleep is already a huge business, and with a company like Apple getting involved, it's certain to continue to grow. Sleep trackers alone are a $1.3 billion market and are projected to expand at a CAGR of 7.6% by 2028. We've seen multiple other companies enter the arena in recent years, including Whoop and Fitbit. The wellness and health care fields seem to be expanding every year; supporting healthy sleep lies at the intersection of both industries. Whats more, prevention is the gold standard of all health care, and better sleep has been scientifically shown, time and time again, to enhance cognitive function, sharpen memory, improve physical and mental health, and boost athletic performance. Between Beddit and the Apple Watch Series 4, with its built-in ECG and fitness coaching, Apple is clearly bullish on personal health care. Its also clear that Apple understands what other companies like mine, Withings and more have already realized: The future of sleep lies beyond our wrists. With both wearable and nonwearable tools becoming more commonplace, the transformative benefits of sleep fitness will continue to receive more attention and become more attainable for even the busiest among us.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2019/01/24/why-is-apple-going-to-sleep/

Could a bond with UW signee Noa Ngalu help lure prized linebacker prospect Daniel Heimuli to Washington?

Daniel Heimuli who earned defensive MVP honors at the Polynesian Bowl last weekend won a championship with Washington defensive tackle signee Noa Ngalu in December. Family. Thats what Daniel Heimuli found at Menlo-Atherton High School in Menlo Park, Calif., where the 2019 linebacker prospect secured a California state title last December. Thats what the consensus four-star recruit brought with him to Hawaii, where he was named the defensive MVP of the Polynesian Bowl All-Star Game last Saturday. And thats what hes hoping to discover during an official visit at the University of Washington this weekend. (Im looking for) family, really, because thats what Im going to miss the most, Heimuli said in a phone interview with The Times on Tuesday. Hopefully I can find my second family and second home. He wouldnt have to look far. Heimuli attended Menlo-Atherton with Noa Ngalu, a 280-pound defensive tackle who signed with UW in December. In between the lines, Heimuli literally watched Ngalus back. Outside of it, they were inseparable. Their houses sit two blocks apart. They won together, lost together, traced the path back and forth from school together. Heimuli and Ngalu are close, literally and figuratively. If I did something, he would be there too. If he did something, I would be there too, Heimuli said. Whenever we went to go eat, itd be us two. Whenever we went to go work out, itd be us two. Whenever coach needed something, itd be like, Ask Daniel, or, Ask Noa. We were a combo. Wherever hes at, Im at. Wherever Im at, hes at. Ngalu will be in Seattle this summer. I would be absolutely stunned if he didnt end up there, said 247Sports national recruiting editor Brandon Huffman. I would just be stunned if Washington didnt get him. The only wild card in there is Oregon to an extent, because he visited (previously). But they had so much ground to make up, and Washington is essentially going to get the last real visit. Granted, Heimuli who is ranked by 247Sports as the No. 155 overall player in the 2019 class, and the No. 9 inside linebacker also plans to visited Alabama between now and national signing day on Feb. 6. But the California linebackers primary recruiter in Tuscaloosa, Tosh Lupoi, just left to become the defensive line coach for the Cleveland Browns. Huffman speculated that with Alabama losing Tosh, I think the Alabama visit is just that. Its just a visit. Chris Petersen and Co. are hoping Heimulis third stop in Seattle precedes a more permanent stay. And, considering the Huskies are tasked with replacing their top two tacklers from 2018 linebackers Ben Burr-Kirven and Tevis Bartlett, who produced a combined 249 tackles, 10.5 tackles for loss, seven forced fumbles and three sacks last season they could certainly use the help. Hes got the versatility, Huffman said. He can be a true inside linebacker. He can blitz. He can get to the quarterback, get past his blockers. But if you want to drop him outside you can, because he can drop into coverage. Hes really athletic. He moves well in space. Hes sideline to sideline. Hes a running back too for his (high school) team, so hes a two-way player, a lot like (UW early signee) Josh Calvert. Hes just an all-around football player. Heimuli showed that last weekend, when the 6-foot-2, 225-pound linebacker who also plays third base on his high schools baseball team piled up six tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss and a sack en route to earning defensive MVP honors at the Polynesian Bowl in Honolulu. He was joined, as always, by Ngalu and eight other Washington signees. And, as expected, the sales pitches came early and often. Every night, he said with a laugh, when asked how frequently UW signees attempted to recruit him. Every chance they got. Every chance they got. Of course, Washington already has three linebacker signees in the 2019 class four-star Josh Calvert (6-1, 227) and three-star recruits Miki Ah You (6-0, 207) and Alphonzo Tuputala (6-2, 249). But, should he sign with UW, Heimuli might be the most prized prospect of the group. He carried his team to a state championship, not taking any plays off, Huffman said. They dont have a lot of depth on that team so he was playing literally every snap. Hes tough. Hes got really good durability, but I think his athleticism really is remarkable. Technically, Heimuli carried Menlo-Atherton to a state championship with the help of Ngalu with his family. To use Heimulis word, they were a combo. Teammates. Brothers. Hes my brother for life, Heimuli said. Ive been rocking with (Ngalu) since freshman year. I hang out with him every day. So thats my guy. It would be unbelievable (to continue to play together). Being able to play with my brother, its amazing. To already have family at the college Id be going to, itd be amazing, because Id have a piece of home with me.

https://www.seattletimes.com/sports/uw-husky-football/could-a-bond-with-uw-signee-noa-ngalu-help-lure-prized-linebacker-prospect-daniel-heimuli-to-washington/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_all

Can goalie Joey Daccord carry ASU hockey over the finish line into NCAA Tournament?

CLOSE ASU hockey coach Greg Powers talks surging Sun Devils, captain Brinson Pasichnuk and NCAA Tournament hopes Jeff Metcalfe, azcentral sports Joey Daccord returns to his native Massachusetts this week as perhaps the best goalie in college hockey. At minimum, the junior is in strong contention for the Mike Richter Award despite not being among 20 on the watch list for the nation's top goalie when the season began. Last week, Daccord and ASU forward Johnny Walker made the ballot for the Hobey Baker Award, presented to the premier overall college hockey player. Fan voting is part of determining the top 10 candidates, to be announced March 20. Sun Devils are up for the coveted @HobeyBakerAward! Fans can vote EVERY DAY through March 10: https://t.co/QKerE1XcRQpic.twitter.com/Uj4a2Ntcy5 Sun Devil Hockey (@SunDevilHockey) January 16, 2019 "I'm truly honored to be included in that group and even be in the mix for such a prestigious and coveted award," Daccord said. "There's only a handful of teams that had two guys nominated so that speaks to what we're doing here as a program. This is going to be one of the top teams in the country for a long time." Even coming off consecutive losses, No. 17-ranked ASU is having unprecedented success in its fourth NCAA season in no small part thanks to Daccord, the national leader in shutouts (6), saves (767) and wins (16). ASU junior goalie Joey Daccord is nominated for the Hobey Baker Award (nation's best player) and among the contenders for the Mike Richter Award (nation's top goalie). (Photo: Darryl Webb/Special for the Republic) The Sun Devils have played more games to this point than most teams, inflating Daccord's save total, but he also is No. 7 nationally in saves percentage (.930, up from .909 last season). Until Jan. 11, Daccord had played every minute between the pipes. But after ASU fell behind 5-1 in the third period at Cornell, coach Greg Powers gave freshman Evan DeBrouwer his first college playing time. "That was genuinely just to save Joey's legs more than anything," Powers said. "It wasn't his fault we were down 5-1. He wasn't yanked because of performance. He was pulled to preserve him for Saturday, and it almost worked (ASU lost 3-2 in game 2). "That's the difference in Joey this year. He's always had the technique and talent and fundamentals. It's just his brain and maturity catching up to his talent. Now he has all three." ASU (16-9-1) has not lost more than two straight and to keep that alive must win Friday at Boston University (9-9-3). It's an important weekend on multiple levels for Daccord, whose hometown is North Andover, Mass. He played at Cushing Academy outside Boston and in the USHL before starting at ASU in 2016-17. On Jan. 4-5, Daccord registered two wins including a shutout over Boston College. Now he gets a shot at beating another Boston school on its ice. "I'm really looking forward to it," he said. "I don't think there's many people that would have had us in this position before the season," with a chance to make the 16-team NCAA Tournament. "We should be grateful but at the same time we've got to kick it into high gear and take advantage of the opportunity." ASU probably needs to win six of its final eight games to have a realistic chance of making the NCAA field as an independent, last accomplished by Alaska Anchorage in 1992. Only two of the eight are at home and the next four are in the East. Arizona State University goalie Joey Daccord (35) saves the puck against Clarkson's Nico Sturm (17) during the first period of their game in the 2018 Desert Hockey Classic in Glendale, Friday, Dec. 28, 2018. (Photo: Darryl Webb/Special for the Republic) Daccord stresses that team improvement has made his life a lot easier. "It's guys getting block outs, keeping shots to the outside and giving me a chance to make easy saves," he said. "And we've been scoring a lot too. Past year we had to win low-scoring games or have a great night offensively, and those didn't come as much." ASU averages 3.12 goals (No. 17 nationally) while giving up 2.38 (No. 16). Plus, in no small part thanks to Daccord, the Sun Devils are No. 11 in penalty kill. Daccord, 22, is solidly focused on the present and not the near future, when he must decide whether to sign with the Ottawa Senators. He was a 2015 NHL seventh-round draft pick and becomes a free agent if he doesn't sign this year and instead returns for his senior season at ASU. Also because of his tri-citizenship U.S., Swiss, Canadian through his parents, Daccord's options include playing professionally in Switzerland. "As soon as you start looking ahead, that's when your mind gets running and you lose focus," Daccord said. "I honestly don't even know how it's going to go. I don't know what the process is like. Right now I'm a Sun Devil and that's what I'm focused on." READ MORE:

https://www.azcentral.com/story/sports/college/asu/2019/01/24/asu-hockey-joey-daccord-returns-home-one-nations-top-goalies/2593840002/

Where Will bluebird bio Be in 5 Years?

bluebird bio (NASDAQ: BLUE) had a rough 2018, but it's still sporting a market cap north of $6.5 billion despite not having any drugs on the market. To justify that valuation, investors have to look to the future -- through its impending first approval and on to a second or third. One of Bluebird's slides presented at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference earlier this month lays out the path forward. Chart listing expected activities for bluebird during 2019-2023. More Image source: bluebird biotech. TDT = transfusion-dependent beta-thalassemia, CALD = cerebral adrenoleukodystrophy, MM = multiple myeloma, SCD = sickle cell disease, INDs = investigational new drugs Near term: TDT and CALD Bluebird's quickest path to sales comes from its gene therapy LentiGlobin to treat transfusion-dependent beta-thalassemia (TDT), a blood disorder in which patients require transfusions of red blood cells because they have defective production of beta globin. The LentiGlobin treatment pulls cells out of the patient and adds DNA that causes the cells to express beta globin, which are then put back into the patient. Late last year, Bluebird submitted a marketing application to EU regulators, setting up a potential approval and launch this year. The U.S. is further behind, but the drug should be launched stateside next year. The data has looked good enough for approval in both regions, especially given the unmet need, although investors should keep in mind that regulators will also look at the complicated manufacturing process during the approval process to ensure repeatability, which is a bit of a black box for investors. Also in 2020, look for an approval of another gene therapy called Lenti-D for cerebral adrenoleukodystrophy (CALD), a rare genetic brain condition that results in degradation of the myelin sheath that protects nerve cells. Neither TDT nor CALD is a large market; the incidence of TDT is about one in 100,000, while CALD is about one in 20,000. Bluebird can make up for the small numbers with a large price tag, but it faces an uphill battle with U.S. insurers that may be unwilling to pay even if the treatments end up being cures. In countries with one-payer systems, the return on the cost will be more apparent because the healthcare system can reap benefits from not paying for a lifetime of treatment, but in the U.S., where people switch insurance carriers regularly, Bluebird will likely face challenges similar to those for other high-cost, one-time treatments. Midterm: Multiple myeloma and sickle cell disease Multiple myeloma, a type of blood cancer, is a fairly large market, but the initial approval for bb2121 will be limited to late-stage patients because that's the population that Bluebird and partner Celgene (NASDAQ: CELG) tested the CAR-T therapy on. An approval could come in 2020, but results from studies in patients who haven't progressed as far will really drive sales in the 2023 range and beyond. In addition to TDT, Bluebird is also developing LentiGlobin for sickle cell disease, which causes red blood cells to sickle due to abnormal hemoglobin, which can be counteracted with the expression of beta globin. The company had some issues getting the expression right, but it appears to be back on track for applying for approval in 2022, putting a global launch in the 2023 range.

https://news.yahoo.com/where-bluebird-bio-5-years-151200578.html

Will Brown & Brown (BRO) Beat Estimates Again in Its Next Earnings Report?

Brown & Brown (BRO), which belongs to the Zacks Insurance - Brokerage industry, could be a great candidate to consider. This insurance company has an established record of topping earnings estimates, especially when looking at the previous two reports. The company boasts an average surprise for the past two quarters of 4.03%. For the most recent quarter, Brown & Brown was expected to post earnings of $0.34 per share, but it reported $0.38 per share instead, representing a surprise of 11.76%. For the previous quarter, the consensus estimate was $0.27 per share, while it actually produced $0.26 per share, a surprise of 3.70%. Price and EPS Surprise Thanks in part to this history, there has been a favorable change in earnings estimates for Brown & Brown lately. In fact, the Zacks Earnings ESP (Expected Surprise Prediction) for the stock is positive, which is a great indicator of an earnings beat, particularly when combined with its solid Zacks Rank. Our research shows that stocks with the combination of a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) or better produce a positive surprise nearly 70% of the time. In other words, if you have 10 stocks with this combination, the number of stocks that beat the consensus estimate could be as high as seven. The Zacks Earnings ESP compares the Most Accurate Estimate to the Zacks Consensus Estimate for the quarter; the Most Accurate Estimate is a version of the Zacks Consensus whose definition is related to change. The idea here is that analysts revising their estimates right before an earnings release have the latest information, which could potentially be more accurate than what they and others contributing to the consensus had predicted earlier. Brown & Brown currently has an Earnings ESP of +5.38%, which suggests that analysts have recently become bullish on the company's earnings prospects. This positive Earnings ESP when combined with the stock's Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) indicates that another beat is possibly around the corner. We expect the company's next earnings report to be released on January 28, 2019. With the Earnings ESP metric, it's important to note that a negative value reduces its predictive power; however, a negative Earnings ESP does not indicate an earnings miss. Many companies end up beating the consensus EPS estimate, but that may not be the sole basis for their stocks moving higher. On the other hand, some stocks may hold their ground even if they end up missing the consensus estimate. Because of this, it's really important to check a company's Earnings ESP ahead of its quarterly release to increase the odds of success. Make sure to utilize our Earnings ESP Filter to uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they've reported. Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Brown & Brown, Inc. (BRO) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here.

https://news.yahoo.com/brown-brown-bro-beat-estimates-151003017.html

Will SkyWest (SKYW) Beat Estimates Again in Its Next Earnings Report?

SkyWest (SKYW), which belongs to the Zacks Transportation - Airline industry, could be a great candidate to consider. This regional airline has an established record of topping earnings estimates, especially when looking at the previous two reports. The company boasts an average surprise for the past two quarters of 13.80%. For the most recent quarter, SkyWest was expected to post earnings of $1.41 per share, but it reported $1.57 per share instead, representing a surprise of 11.35%. For the previous quarter, the consensus estimate was $1.23 per share, while it actually produced $1.43 per share, a surprise of 16.26%. Price and EPS Surprise Thanks in part to this history, there has been a favorable change in earnings estimates for SkyWest lately. In fact, the Zacks Earnings ESP (Expected Surprise Prediction) for the stock is positive, which is a great indicator of an earnings beat, particularly when combined with its solid Zacks Rank. Our research shows that stocks with the combination of a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) or better produce a positive surprise nearly 70% of the time. In other words, if you have 10 stocks with this combination, the number of stocks that beat the consensus estimate could be as high as seven. The Zacks Earnings ESP compares the Most Accurate Estimate to the Zacks Consensus Estimate for the quarter; the Most Accurate Estimate is a version of the Zacks Consensus whose definition is related to change. The idea here is that analysts revising their estimates right before an earnings release have the latest information, which could potentially be more accurate than what they and others contributing to the consensus had predicted earlier. SkyWest currently has an Earnings ESP of +2.77%, which suggests that analysts have recently become bullish on the company's earnings prospects. This positive Earnings ESP when combined with the stock's Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) indicates that another beat is possibly around the corner. We expect the company's next earnings report to be released on January 31, 2019. With the Earnings ESP metric, it's important to note that a negative value reduces its predictive power; however, a negative Earnings ESP does not indicate an earnings miss. Many companies end up beating the consensus EPS estimate, but that may not be the sole basis for their stocks moving higher. On the other hand, some stocks may hold their ground even if they end up missing the consensus estimate. Because of this, it's really important to check a company's Earnings ESP ahead of its quarterly release to increase the odds of success. Make sure to utilize our Earnings ESP Filter to uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they've reported. Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report SkyWest, Inc. (SKYW) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research

https://news.yahoo.com/skywest-skyw-beat-estimates-again-151003762.html

Can Solid Order Flows Aid Lockheed Martin's (LMT) Q4 Earnings?

Lockheed Martin Corporation LMT is expected to release fourth-quarter and full-year 2018 results on Jan 29, before the opening bell. In the last reported quarter, the company delivered a positive earnings surprise of 18.98%. Also, it outperformed the Zacks Consensus Estimate in three of the trailing four quarters, the average beat being 13.92%. Let's see how things are shaping up prior to this announcement. Our proven model shows that Lockheed Martin is likely to beat estimates in the fourth quarter because it has the right combination of the two key ingredients. A stock needs to have both a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) for this to happen. You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before theyre reported with our Earnings ESP Filter. Earnings ESP: Lockheed Martin has an Earnings ESP of +4.20% as the Most Accurate Estimate is pegged at $4.57, higher than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $4.34. Zacks Rank: Lockheed Martin carries a Zacks Rank #3. We caution against Sell-rated stocks (#4 or 5) going into the earnings announcement, especially when the company is witnessing negative estimate revisions. Lockheed Martin Corporation Price and EPS Surprise Lockheed Martin Corporation Price and EPS Surprise | Lockheed Martin Corporation Quote Factors at Play Being a prominent defense contractor, Lockheed Martin continues to win significant contracts from the U.S. Defense Department and its allies. This, in turn, is likely to provide a boost to the companys earnings in fourth-quarter 2018. Moreover, management at the company predicted higher segment operating profit to drive the soon-to-be-reported quarters earnings. In line with this, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for fourth-quarter earnings is pegged at $4.36, mirroring a 1.4% improvement year over year. On the revenue front, the Zacks Consensus Estimate does not reflect any improvement during the fourth quarter. The consensus mark of $13.8 billion reflects a year-over-year decline of 8.7%. This downside can be attributed to apprehensions that ample order growth might not have been realized into substantial revenue recognition. Key Picks In addition to Lockheed Martin, investors can consider the following players from the same industry that also have the right combination of elements to post an earnings beat this quarter. L3 Technologies, Inc. LLL is expected to report fourth-quarter 2018 results on Jan 29. The company has an Earnings ESP of +1.19% and a Zacks Rank #3. You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank stocks here. Huntington Ingalls Industries, Inc. HII is expected to report fourth-quarter 2018 results on Feb 14. The company has an Earnings ESP of +11.85% and a Zacks Rank #3. Recent Defense Releases Teledyne Technologies TDY reported adjusted fourth-quarter 2018 earnings of $2.33 per share, which surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $2.19 by 6.4%. The bottom line also improved 27.3% from the year-ago quarters figure of $1.83. More Stock News: This Is Bigger than the iPhone! It could become the mother of all technological revolutions. Apple sold a mere 1 billion iPhones in 10 years but a new breakthrough is expected to generate more than 27 billion devices in just 3 years, creating a $1.7 trillion market. Zacks has just released a Special Report that spotlights this fast-emerging phenomenon and 6 tickers for taking advantage of it. If you don't buy now, you may kick yourself in 2020. Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Huntington Ingalls Industries, Inc. (HII) : Free Stock Analysis Report Lockheed Martin Corporation (LMT) : Free Stock Analysis Report Teledyne Technologies Incorporated (TDY) : Free Stock Analysis Report L3 Technologies Inc. (LLL) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research

https://news.yahoo.com/solid-order-flows-aid-lockheed-150903688.html

Can Solid Consumables Drive Illumina's (ILMN) Q4 Earnings?

Illumina, Inc. ILMN is slated to report fourth-quarter 2018 results, after the market closes on Jan 29. In the last reported quarter, the company delivered a positive earnings surprise of 21.6%, the average trailing four-quarter beat being 27.3%. Let's see how things are shaping up prior to this announcement. Key Catalysts Over the last few quarters, Illuminas product revenues have been gaining traction from rising demand for sequencing consumables and instruments plus the microarray range. In the last reported quarter, the company saw strong consumables growth across its sequencing portfolio with an uptick in all throughput categories. Despite the ongoing customers transition from HiSeq consumables to NovaSeq, the company is expected to gain from this high throughput family in the fourth quarter as well. Illumina, Inc. Price and EPS Surprise Illumina, Inc. Price and EPS Surprise | Illumina, Inc. Quote Within consumables, the NovaSeq platform witnesses steady growth on the back of a strong S4 flow cell,representing the largest revenue contributor across the entire high throughput family of flow cells. Management is bullish about experiencing impressive demand across the NovaSeq portfolio that also includes the S2 and S1 flow cells. From the mid throughput consumables, NextSeq is expected to perform well with many customers adopting the system as their primary workhorse for NIPT (Non Invasive Prenatal Test) and oncology applications. The low throughput family is also projected to show an improved performance with pull-through for both MiSeq and MiniSeq within the respective ranges. Within Sequencing Systems, the last reported quarter witnessed highest revenue contribution from NovaSeq with stable ASP trends. The company believes that the NovaSeq upgrade cycle will span multiple years. Management is accordingly continuing to target 330-350 NovaSeq shipments for the full year. This should get reflected in the fourth quarter itself. Evidently, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for Product revenues is pegged at $715 million, depicting an increase of 15.1% from the year-ago quarter. Total Services and other revenues, which include genotyping and sequencing services, instrument maintenance contracts and revenues from oncology agreements, have been improving. This upside is driven by sturdy genotyping services, courtesy of sequencing instrument maintenance contracts and solid consumer demand. In this area, the company envisions consistent development, banking on multiple progresses that should enable genomics to carry on with the advancement from research to the clinic and over time, the standard-of-care. In this regard, the company joined Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center during the second half of 2018 to identify genomic biomarkers, which predict response to immunotherapy using whole exome and whole genome sequencing. Additionally, Illumina collaborated with BMS on tumor mutational burden. Moreover, the company is thriving on NIPT adoption, backed by a constant uptake of VeriSeq NIPT Solution, which includes CE-IVD marked library prep and analysis software. Countries like the Netherlands and Denmark have already started covering this test followed by England and France. The company continues to see positive reimbursement trends in Europe as well. While the Netherlands program is in preliminary stages of its ramp, it is expected to more than double VeriSeq sales in 2018. The worldwide upbeat reimbursement trend is anticipated to boost Illuminas fourth-quarter top line as well. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Service and other revenues stands at $148 million, representing a rise of 24.4% from the year-earlier quarter. Overall, fourth-quarter total revenues are projected to be $863.1 million, indicating 10.9% growth from the prior-year period. What Our Model Suggests

https://news.yahoo.com/solid-consumables-drive-illuminas-ilmn-150303698.html

Will Penske (PAG) Beat Estimates Again in Its Next Earnings Report?

It is worth considering Penske Automotive (PAG), which belongs to the Zacks Automotive - Retail and Whole Sales industry. This auto dealership chain has seen a nice streak of beating earnings estimates, especially when looking at the previous two reports. The average surprise for the last two quarters was 6.36%. For the most recent quarter, Penske was expected to post earnings of $1.38 per share, but it reported $1.40 per share instead, representing a surprise of 1.45%. For the previous quarter, the consensus estimate was $1.42 per share, while it actually produced $1.58 per share, a surprise of 11.27%. Price and EPS Surprise With this earnings history in mind, recent estimates have been moving higher for Penske. In fact, the Zacks Earnings ESP (Expected Surprise Prediction) for the company is positive, which is a great sign of an earnings beat, especially when you combine this metric with its nice Zacks Rank. Our research shows that stocks with the combination of a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) or better produce a positive surprise nearly 70% of the time. In other words, if you have 10 stocks with this combination, the number of stocks that beat the consensus estimate could be as high as seven. The Zacks Earnings ESP compares the Most Accurate Estimate to the Zacks Consensus Estimate for the quarter; the Most Accurate Estimate is a version of the Zacks Consensus whose definition is related to change. The idea here is that analysts revising their estimates right before an earnings release have the latest information, which could potentially be more accurate than what they and others contributing to the consensus had predicted earlier. Penske currently has an Earnings ESP of +3.15%, which suggests that analysts have recently become bullish on the company's earnings prospects. This positive Earnings ESP when combined with the stock's Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) indicates that another beat is possibly around the corner. We expect the company's next earnings report to be released on February 7, 2019. With the Earnings ESP metric, it's important to note that a negative value reduces its predictive power; however, a negative Earnings ESP does not indicate an earnings miss. Many companies end up beating the consensus EPS estimate, though this is not the only reason why their shares gain. Additionally, some stocks may remain stable even if they end up missing the consensus estimate. Because of this, it's really important to check a company's Earnings ESP ahead of its quarterly release to increase the odds of success. Make sure to utilize our Earnings ESP Filter to uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they've reported. Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Penske Automotive Group, Inc. (PAG) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here.

https://news.yahoo.com/penske-pag-beat-estimates-again-151003447.html

What's Next For Privacy Policy?

Privacy, and specifically the future planks of an organizations privacy policy, may be the most significant wild card marketers now face. The uncertainties and the absence of a codified policy roadmap make planning difficult. Whatever transitions need to be implemented to evolve privacy are obscure. For the perspective of The Electronic Frontier Foundation, a San Francisco-based global non-profit digital rights group, I asked director of grassroots advocacy Shahid Buttar to share his insights on where privacy policy should be headed. Shahid Buttar: The right of any user to opt-in to data collection about her behavior online is near the top of the list. Its reflected in corporate data privacy regulations proposed from Washington to Sacramento and is the single most important principle to consider in terms of empowering users. Another proverbial elephant in the room is the co-optation of data in corporate hands by national security authorities, whose warrantless monitoring of millions of Americans poses a profound threat to freedom of expression. Buttar: One discrete area where the interests of consumers and marketers converge is with respect to notification of data breaches. Consumers benefit from knowing when their data has been compromised, especially to the extent they receive guidance to, for instance, update their passwords and cease using any credentials that may have been exposed. Marketers also benefit from robust disclosure, which (despite the disappointing role of bearing bad news) can prevent their users and platforms from enduring ongoing vulnerabilities. We favor state-based regulations to enshrine user privacy standards and compel respect from corporate marketers. Proposals in Congress are generally premature, especially to the extent they might limit or pre-empt innovation in the states. Talbot: There is clearly no shortage of privacy abuse. There is a shortage of government intervention and legislative oversight. Buttar: Again, the single most pressing issue here is the right of consumers to demand that platforms seek their informed consent before collecting information about their behavior. Data privacy regulations proposed in Congress, and those which have been passed into law in California and Vermont, recognize and require new respect for this long-abused right. That said, Id challenge the premise that there is a shortage of government intervention, since unfortunately, there has been entirely too much in the form of warrantless surveillance unhinged from the individual basis for suspicion required to justify state scrutiny under our Constitution. Indeed, corporate data collection threatens user privacy. So does the co-optation of the Internet as a tool for global surveillance by authorities who continue to hide their actions behind a wall of executive secrecy despite global controversy. Congress must reform our nations dysfunctional classification system, which allows officials to hide embarrassing facts and evade meaningful civilian oversight. Buttar: Were I in such a position, the marketing team would be among my audiences, but Id be more focused on reiterating limits to our investors and engineering teams. In particular, Id reiterate some of the same commitments that EFF has long made to our users: to abstain from tracking their behavior online or responses to emails, to respect their autonomy and choice, and to deliver information that empowers users, rather than preying on them. I would also be eager to focus my hypothetical organization on business models that address users as customers, rather than treating them as resources from which to extract data. Similarly, that commitment must extend well beyond marketing executives in order to be meaningful.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/paultalbot/2019/01/24/whats-next-for-privacy-policy/

Can we trust companies to solve the problems they cause?

Large companies have a huge impact on the communities they call home. In the case of organizations like Microsoft and Amazon, housing prices have skyrocketed in their wake. Other companies, like BP and Shell, are largely responsible for much of the world's carbon emissions. Some say these large corporations have a responsibility to fix the problems they've caused, but others feel it's too late for any action to reverse these wrongs. PERSPECTIVES Microsoft recently announced that it would be investing $500 million to help reverse the housing affordability crisis in Seattle. Forbes' Samantha Sharf reports: The efforts are focused on adding to the area's housing stock, so half that amount will be used to provide builders with low-interest loans to construct low-income housing. Another $225 million in lending will subsidize the preservation and construction of middle-income residences. And the remainder will take the form of a philanthropic grant to fight homelessness. With companies as large as Microsoft and Amazon, having two HQ locations in the same city can have a major impact on a city's economy. In Seattle, Microsoft and Amazon's growth has translated to higher demand for housing, causing prices to go up and pushing long-time residents further out of the city. These companies need to invest outside of their own walls in order to truly repair the damage they've done to their communities, which is exactly what Microsoft is doing. More organizations should model its example. Microsoft just announced $500 million for affordable housing in Seattle and not restricted to their own employees but also including municipal employees, teachers, etc. Great leadership. Will other Big tech companies follow. They should, particularly in the Bay Area -- Howard Dean (@GovHowardDean) January 17, 2019 But some feel that Microsoft's efforts are coming too late-there are some consequences that simply can't be fixed after decades of neglect. Plus, Microsoft's motives are a bit murkier than they appear on the surface. The Guardian's Shaun Scott reports: But when you look the Microsoft gift horse in the mouth, certain cavities are visible. For instance, $475m of the funds are not, as is widely assumed, donations. We should thank Microsoft for the aid and wish it the best of luck turning a profit on its foray into philanthropy. But a cash-strapped public in desperate need of relief shouldn't allow software companies to have the final word. According to Scott, the public sector does better when it comes to providing basic services like affordable housing. The mere fact that Microsoft's intentions are questionable already derails what good it might do for the community. The moment a company recognizes its residual impact is one to be celebrated. Microsoft's decision to fight the affordable housing crisis is much better than continuing to exist silently within it. Other companies, like Levi-Strauss, are acknowledging their impact and taking action because of it. For Levi, this comes down to conserving water while producing jeans. According to its website: In an era of increasing water scarcity, we recognize that water is an essential raw material for agriculture and many industries besides apparel. We must decouple the growth of our business and our water needs if we want to continue leading into the future. Efforts like these are essential to growing the economy while not ruining the planet or our communities. Companies must act in line with Microsoft and Levi if they want to thrive in the coming decades. Although these efforts should be commended, some of the problems caused by large corporations are simply too powerful to reverse. According to The Guardian's Tess Riley and the Carbon Majors Report, only 100 companies have been the source of more than 70 percent of the world's greenhouse gas emissions since 1988: ExxonMobil, Shell, BP and Chevron are identified as among the highest emitting investor-owned companies since 1988. If fossil fuels continue to be extracted at the same rate over the next 28 years as they were between 1988 and 2017, says the report, global average temperatures would be on course to rise by 4C by the end of the century. This is likely to have catastrophic consequences including substantial species extinction and global food scarcity risks. Catastrophic consequences might also mean deadly weather events, famine, and a huge economic downturn. These types of problems cannot be fixed by mere donations-loans or otherwise. They can only be changed by overhauling our current system and replacing it with new practices, which is not something that many existing companies are likely to propose. The Tylt is focused on debates and conversations around news, current events and pop culture. We provide our community with the opportunity to share their opinions and vote on topics that matter most to them. We actively engage the community and present meaningful data on the debates and conversations as they progress. The Tylt is a place where your opinion counts, literally. The Tylt is an Advance Local Media, LLC property. Join us on Twitter @TheTylt, on Instagram @TheTylt or on Facebook, we'd love to hear what you have to say.

https://www.oregonlive.com/tylt/2019/01/can_we_trust_companies_to_solv.html

How exactly did a Dragon Ball movie become a box-office hit in 2019?

A lot of people whose business it is to predict box-office returns were left bewildered this week by a movie whose success was unpredictable. Dragon Ball Super: Broly, a feature-length Japanese anime, was released across North America last Wednesday in more than 1200 cinemas. Its distributor, a subsidiary of Sony that specializes in importing cartoons from Asia, provided little in the way of conventional advertising, and marketed the theatrical engagement as a show of courtesy to eager fans of the long-running Dragon Ball TV series. In Canada, Dragon Ball Super Broly opened at Cineplex, where it has been relegated to its Event Cinema vertical, alongside Andre Rieu Live in Concert and La Traviata at the Metropolitan Opera. By the end of the weekend, it had finished fourth at the domestic box office and earned $20 million. Nobody understands it. I saw Dragon Ball Super: Broly on Sunday evening at a big multiplex in downtown Toronto. I would have seen it on Friday, or on Saturday, but every screening at a reasonable hour was sold out well in advance. As it was, when I finally did get in, I barely found a seat. The auditorium hummed with an enthusiasm more akin to the atmosphere of a football game than a movie. The crowd talked amongst themselves as if silence werent the etiquette, making excited remarks about the action as it unfolded. After every joke or reference, they laughed uproariously, and when characters transformed or reached new summits of superhuman power, as happens at regular intervals throughout the film, they burst into exuberant applause. It was bizarre and indescribably delightful. At most movies, the audience comprises a range of responsive states, fluctuating between degrees of intrigue and indifference: nobody knows until the lights dim whether theyll be enraptured or bored stiff. But the audience at Dragon Ball Super had an unusually clear idea of what they were in for. The energy in the room was like a rock concert, as devotees gather to hear their favourite hits performed. Interestingly, and contrary to the conclusions of industry analysts mystified by its unforeseen commercial success, Dragon Ball Super isnt some seemingly esoteric curio with surprise mainstream appeal, in the way that, say, My Big Fat Greek Wedding defied forecasts to capture the mass market. Dragon Ball Super really is as esoteric as it seems. It appeals to an extremely specific market of passionate, dedicated fans there simply happen to be more of them than anybody realized, with money to spend. This demands an explanation. It doesnt come easy. Dragon Ball Super: Broly is the 20th film in the Dragon Ball franchise. It is based on a Japanese comic book, or manga, created by an illustrator and writer named Akira Toriyama and serialized in Shonen Jump magazine for more than a decade starting in 1984. In the mid-80s, the manga was adapted as an anime for television in Japan, which was dubbed in English and broadcast on the Cartoon Network in America (and on YTV in Canada) a decade later, starting in 1995. It bred a sequel, Dragon Ball Z, which become enormously popular when it aired in the west. An inexhaustible supply of video games, action figures and home video box sets gave the show continued relevance in the imagination of adolescents long after it went off air. The sequel series ran in the U.S. and Canada until early 2003, by which time it had secured its position as the best-known anime abroad beside bona fide crossover Pokmon. It remained dormant for another 10 years, then reemerged with Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods, a theatrical feature that heralded a sort of renaissance for the franchise, inspiring a new series under the title Dragon Ball Super, a direct movie sequel called Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection F, and a triple-A video game, Dragon Ball FighterZ, that was one of the most acclaimed of last year. Dragon Ball is having a moment, in other words 35 years after it was introduced. As a recent essay in Wired explains, the new film is a culmination of years of slow building and at least a year of popular resurgence. No less compellingly, it may be the best piece of Dragon Ball animation ever produced. I can confirm this bold declaration. I feel qualified to do so because between the fall of 1999 and the winter of 2001, when I was 13 and 14, I spent so many hours watching Dragon Ball Z that, had I used the time to study languages instead, I would today be fluent in French, German, Arabic and Mandarin. As it stands, I didnt even learn Japanese, as I watched the show dubbed in English rather than with subtitles. Im not sure what it was about Dragon Ball that so endlessly fascinated me. One was hard-pressed to ignore its shortcomings, frequently cited: glacial pace, repetitive structure, ludicrous action. Most episodes consisted of nothing more than two truculent adversaries staring each other down for 30 minutes, slowly building to a battle. Sometimes people would fight. Mainly they would stand around and glower. Either way, Id sit there transfixed, thirsty for more. In its original comic-book incarnation, Toriyamas Dragon Ball was a light-hearted farce about a boy with a tail like a monkey. This boy, Goku, was on a quest to find the seven mystical Dragon Balls, which, when assembled, could summon the genie-like dragon Shenlong, who would reward the finder with a wish. By the time of Dragon Ball Z, the child hero was an adult with children of his own, and his adventures tended more toward the serious life-or-death struggles and clashes of good and evil, the kind of earth-shaking bouts that routinely fill out Marvel movies. But even as the content got darker and the tone more severe, childish beginnings meant Dragon Balls reputation as a program for kids stuck, a misconception that, oddly enough, has extended the life of the show. The same boys who loved Dragon Ball at age 10 often still do now at 25. This lasting personal affection is responsible for its endurance as a fixture of popular culture for more than 30 years. And it accounts for the incredible triumph of Dragon Ball Super: Broly, which arrives prime to exploit the affection of all those who once did, or still do, adore this cherished franchise of their eternal youth. When, midway through the film, the churlish Saiyan prince Vegeta spars with the mysterious and powerful newcomer Broly, I could feel my critical faculties relieving themselves. The choreography was delirious, the animation beautiful; virtually everything happening, I acknowledged reluctantly, would be incomprehensible to anyone not intimately versed in the lore. Dragon Ball Super: Broly is not a movie for the average moviegoer. Yet it had me thrilled, cheering along with the rest of my gawky, wistful, weirdo audience.

https://nationalpost.com/entertainment/movies/how-exactly-did-a-dragon-ball-movie-become-a-box-office-hit-in-2019

What caused pieces of Superdome ceiling to fall during NFC Championship?

Long forgotten after the non-call that impacted the New Orleans Saints' NFC Championship loss Sunday was something unique that occurred in the first quarter. When linebacker Demario Davis intercepted a pass that helped the Saints to a 13-0 lead, the crowd reaction created a vibration so strong that small pieces of debris came loose from the ceiling above a ground-level walkway. Stadium workers quickly cleared the walkway, and nothing more fell from the ceiling. A closer look at part of the Superdome ceiling that fell during the first quarter. #Saints fans are loud. pic.twitter.com/3vnGHgaKPw Julie Boudwin (@Julie_Boudwin) January 20, 2019 On Wednesday (Jan. 23), Doug Thornton, the executive vice president of stadiums and arenas for SMG, offered an explanation for what happened. What people were experiencing was the movement in the stadium, he said. Any tall building, if you look at the Empire State Building or any tall building, youll see when the winds blow, theres probably a 6 or 8 inch sway, which might surprise some people. Anytime you have a big building like this, which might be six or eight stories tall, theres going to be a little play in the steel and the concrete. In this case, the boisterous crowd reaction created a vibration through the Dome strong enough for pieces of a fiberboard inside an expansion joint to break loose, he said. The fiberboard was being used as filler to prevent leakage between the two large concrete sections of the Dome. An expansion joint is the gap of space between large pieces of concrete. That gap allows for thermal expansion in the concrete without causing distortion. It wasnt like the ceiling is falling, Thornton said. Thornton has worked at the Dome for 22 years. He said the noise level at the time of that interception was louder than hed ever heard louder than when Steve Gleason blocked a punt in the first post-Katrina game at the Dome in 2006 and when Garrett Hartley kicked the field goal that clinched a Super Bowl berth in 2010. Ill have to be honest with you, he said. Ive been here 22 years and Ive never seen it. Weve had damage and destruction from rowdy fans who will punch holes in walls and throw beer cans, throw trashcans upside down, put dents in doors. Things like that. Ive never heard it that loud before. And Ive never seen it with the vibration where the space filler would fall out." Doug Thornton has been through it all inside the Superdome, but this was different

https://www.nola.com/saints/2019/01/what-caused-pieces-of-superdome-ceiling-to-fall-during-nfc-championship.html

What's in the Offing for ServiceNow (NOW) in Q4 Earnings?

ServiceNow, Inc. NOW is scheduled to report fourth-quarter 2018 results on Jan 30. Notably, the company has surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate in three of the trailing four quarters and came in line in the remaining one, recording average positive surprise of 19.7%. In the third quarter, non-GAAP earnings of 68 cents per share outpaced the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 8 cents. Further, the figure soared 78.9% from the year-ago quarter. Moreover, revenues advanced 36.7% year over year to $673.1 million, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $659.4 million. We believe robust adoption witnessed by companys expanding range of application based products by government agencies, big private and public companies will drive top-line growth in the to-be-reported quarter. Guidance & Estimates For fourth-quarter 2018, management anticipates non-GAAP subscription revenues in the range of $664 million to $669 million, representing year-over-year growth of 33-34%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenues is pegged at $717.3 million, translating to year-over-year growth of 31.3%. Moreover, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings is pegged at 64 cents per share, implying a surge of 82.9% from the year-ago quarter. Lets see how things are shaping up prior to this announcement. Factors Likely to Influence Q4 Results Expanding Customer Base & Deal Wins: Key Catalysts ServiceNows enterprise customer base exceeded 5,000 at the end of the third quarter. Further, the companys total number of customers contributing more than $1 million to the business reached 614 in the third quarter. The figure increased 37% on a year-over-year basis. Moreover, ServiceNow witnessed significant growth in its customer base which contributes above $10 million. There were 11 such customers including four Fed agencies. Notably, the figure was three times more than that of the prior-year quarter. Additionally, ServiceNows platform and tools are gaining rapid traction among the Global 2000 ("G2K") companies. Per the last reported quarter, the company added 20 new G2K companies. Further, it closed 36 contracts in the third quarter with an annualized contract value (ACV) of more than a million. Moreover, ServiceNow is also exploring new end-markets beyond G2K. New deal wins in particular from federal, state and local governments is a positive. In fact, in the third quarter, the company witnessed strong momentum across the government sector with U.S. government accounting for majority of its deals, including four Fed agencies. The growing influence of its ServiceNow Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC) offering is also a positive. Further, the companys recent notable alliances with IBM IBM, Accenture and NTT Communications are anticipated to aid it in expanding digital transformation initiatives. Other Notable Factors ServiceNows acquisition of FriendlyData, in a bid to add natural language query (NLQ) technology capabilities to its platform, remains a notable development in the quarter under review. Notably, NLQ technology enables non-technical users to pose questions in simple English and obtain direct answers in real time. NLQ tech will be integrated with Now Platform and assist users to leverage Performance Analytics dashboards. Recently, the company entered into a partnership with Microsoft MSFT in a bid to offer ServiceNow digital workflows via Azure Government Cloud. It is aimed to facilitate the U.S. Federal customers with digital transformation by deploying ServiceNows technology via the Microsoft Azure Marketplace. The aforementioned factors are expected to garner new deals, consequently bolstering customer base. However, the company faces stiff competition from the likes of Oracle and Salesforce.com in the non-ITSM market, compelling it to increase spending on sales and marketing, which is likely to limit margin expansion. What Our Model Says According to the Zacks model, a company with a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) has a good chance of beating estimates if it also has a positive Earnings ESP. Sell-rated stocks (Zacks Rank #4 or 5) are best avoided. ServiceNow, Inc. Price and EPS Surprise

https://news.yahoo.com/whats-offing-servicenow-now-q4-164504012.html

Will GPU Product Introduction Benefit AMD's Q4 Earnings?

Advanced Micro Devices Inc AMD is set to report fourth-quarter 2018 results on Jan 29. Notably, AMD has a positive record of earnings surprises in the trailing four quarters, the average surprise being 24.7%. In the last reported quarter, earnings of 13 cents per share were in line with the Zacks Consensus Estimate but jumped 44.4% year over year. Revenues increased 4.4% year over year to $1.65 billion but lagged the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.71 billion. IP-related revenues were $86 million, including revenues related to THATIC joint venture. Strong computing and graphics segment revenues drove year-over-year growth. Estimates & Guidance For fourth-quarter 2018, AMD expects revenues to be roughly $1.45 billion (+/-$50 million), up 8% on a year-over-year basis. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for fourth-quarter revenues is currently pegged at $1.44 billion, reflecting year-over-year decline of almost 2.7%. Moreover, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for fourth-quarter earnings is currently pegged at 9 cents, displaying year-over-year growth of almost 12.5%. Management expects client compute business, which faces seasonality in the fourth quarter, to perform better, due to strong adoption of new products. The company anticipates the server business to grow on solid adoption of EPYC products by cloud service providers. Moreover, graphics business is expected to grow sequentially, on the back of product portfolio strength that includes new datacenter GPU products. However, semi-custom is projected to decline sequentially in the to-be-reported quarter. Notably, AMDs stock has returned 59.6% year over year, against the industrys decline of 1.8%. Lets see, how things are shaping up prior to this announcement. Product Rollouts: Key Catalyst in Q4 AMDs portfolio strength is a key catalyst. The company recently unveiled its new Radeon RX 590 graphics card. Notably, AMD also presented its new Radeon Software Adrenalin 2019 Edition. This updated version will feature the WattMan technology and be based on the AMD Radeon Graphics Processing Units (GPUs). This card is ideal for gamers who require superior graphic performance and high-quality visual experiences. Going forward, AMD launched the much-awaited next generation 7-nanometer (nm) Radeon Vega GPU, AMD Radeon VII. These launches are likely to provide AMD an edge against the likes of NVIDIA NVDA and Intel. With these cards, AMD is foraying into the high-end graphics card market. Consequently, AMDs revenues are poised to benefit significantly if the latest GPU can cater to the rising demand of the users. Moreover, robust sales of GPU, driven by increasing adoption of AI techniques and machine learning tools in industries like gaming, automotive and blockchain, present significant growth opportunity. Moreover, strong adoption of EPYC server processors is another catalyst. The companys partnerships with major game developers like Ubisoft, Capcom and Rebellion to optimize their next generation of games on Radeon graphics is also a major growth driver. However, intensifying competition in the traditional pc market and GPU segment, and customer concentration are the major headwinds. What the Zacks Model Unveils According to the Zacks model, a company with a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) has a good chance of beating estimates if it also has a positive Earnings ESP. The Sell-rated stocks (Zacks Rank #4 or 5) are best avoided.

https://news.yahoo.com/gpu-product-introduction-benefit-amds-164104676.html

Will Lower Prices Hurt U.S. Steel's (X) Earnings in Q4?

United States Steel Corporation X is scheduled to come up with its fourth-quarter 2018 results after the bell on Jan 30. The steel giant saw higher profits in the third quarter, driven by a significant increase in earnings in its Flat-Rolled unit and higher steel prices. It logged net earnings of $291 million or $1.62 per share in the quarter, up roughly 98% from $147 million or 83 cents a year ago. Adjusted earnings of $1.79 a share were in line with the Zacks Consensus Estimate. Revenues rose roughly 15% year over year to $3,729 million in the third quarter, exceeding the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $3,706.1 million. U.S. Steel has outpaced the Zacks Consensus Estimate in three of the trailing four quarters, delivering a positive average earnings surprise of 12.3%. Shares of U.S. Steel are down around 49% over a year, underperforming the industrys decline of roughly 31%. Lets see how things are shaping up for this announcement. Factors to Watch For U.S. Steel, in its third-quarter call, noted that it expects adjusted EBITDA for the fourth quarter at roughly $575 million. The company also cut its adjusted EBITDA guidance for 2018 to $1.8 billion from its earlier view of around $1.85-$1.90 billion. The company envisions results in the Flat-rolled unit to continue to improve on the back of higher shipments and reduced maintenance and outage costs, partly masked by lower average realized prices. For the Tubular unit, U.S. Steel sees results to improve mainly due to higher shipments, partly offset by lower average realized prices. However, it expects results in the European segment to decline due to inventory revaluation adjustments associated with volatility in raw material prices. The company is seeing unfavorable impact of higher iron ore and coal costs in this unit. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenues for U.S. Steel for the fourth quarter is $3,752 million, reflecting an expected increase of roughly 19.8% on a year over year basis. U.S. Steel is seeing strong market conditions with stable end-user steel consumption. It remains focused on improving its cost structure and operations on a sustainable basis through its Carnegie Way initiative that includes actions such as manufacturing process/logistics improvements and savings on SG&A costs. As part of the Carnegie Way initiative, the company is implementing an asset revitalization plan aimed at improving its profitability and competitiveness. Carnegie Way actions are expected to deliver meaningful benefits. U.S. Steel is also expected to benefit from higher expected steel shipments in the December quarter. Shipments for the Flat-Rolled segment are projected to see a 5.3% increase on a sequential comparison basis as the Zacks Consensus Estimate for the fourth quarter is pegged at 2,800,000 tons. For the Tubular segment, shipments for the fourth quarter are expected to rise 3.3% sequentially , as the Zacks Consensus Estimate is 190,000 tons. Higher steel prices supported the performance of the companys Flat-Rolled unit in the third quarter. However, lower expected realized prices are likely to hurt margins of the segment in the fourth quarter. U.S. Steel, in its third-quarter call, said that it is witnessing lower customer order rates due to falling spot and index prices. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for average realized price for the Flat-Rolled unit for the fourth quarter is pegged at $826 per net ton, which represents an expected 3.8% decline from the sequentially prior quarter. Steel prices weakened during the fourth quarter on concerns over a slowdown in steel demand in China, the worlds top consumer, amid a cooling Chinese economy. Signs of weakness across the countrys major steel end-use markets construction and automotive have clouded steel demand outlook. In fact, after rallying to multi-year highs on the back of Trump administrations imposition of 25% tariffs on imported steel, U.S. steel prices have now fallen back to the levels seen prior to the tariff announcement in March 2018. Lower prices are also likely to weigh on the performance of the companys Tubular segment. Average realized price for the Tubular segment is expected to decline around 0.9% sequentially as the Zacks Consensus Estimate for the fourth quarter is $1,587 per net ton. What the Zacks Model Says Our proven model does not show that U.S. Steel is likely to beat estimates this quarter. That is because a stock needs to have a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) for this to happen. That is not the case here, as you will see below: Earnings ESP: Earnings ESP for U.S. Steel is -4.05%. This is because the Most Accurate Estimate is currently pegged at $1.81 while the Zacks Consensus Estimate stands at $1.89. You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before theyre reported with our Earnings ESP Filter. Zacks Rank: U.S. Steel currently carries a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell). Note that we caution against stocks with a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell) or #5 going into the earnings announcement, especially when the company is seeing negative estimate revisions.

https://news.yahoo.com/lower-prices-hurt-u-steels-163804530.html

Is Cara Therapeutics a Buy?

The morbid reality of the opioid epidemic is all around us. About 30,000 people die in the U.S. each year from overdoses involving opioids; that's 82 people a day, according to the Centers for Disease Control. The crisis has pushed drug makers to search for abuse-tolerant pain treatments. These are often drugs that selectively target specific opioid receptors in the central nervous system that aren't likely to cause dependence, which is an all too common side effect of opioids like morphine, oxycodone, and hydrocodone that primarily target the mu-opioid receptor, known as the gateway to addiction. A hand placing blocks with medical icons on them in a triangular tower. More Image source: Getty Images. Cara Therapeutics (NASDAQ: CARA) is developing a single asset belonging to a novel class of drugs called kappa opioid receptor agonists. In addition to bearing the "abuse-tolerant" label, the drug candidate has avoided other common side effects associated with traditional opioids, such as nausea, sedation, and respiratory depression. The little pharma company has impressed Wall Street in recent years but still trades at a market cap of only $600 million. The therapeutic approach Cara Therapeutics is developing its CR845 drug in five different indications. However, each clinical trial is evaluating the drug candidate's potential to selectively target kappa-opioid receptors as a way to treat either pain or pruritus, a technical term for itching. Investors are most excited about the drug candidate's potential in chronic kidney disease-associated pruritus (CKD-aP), a severe form of itching some dialysis patients suffer from. It may seem like a niche area, but an estimated 270,000 Americans suffer from the condition. Analysts think the drug candidate, branded as Korsuva in this indication, could generate over $500 million per year in peak sales. The market opportunity, coupled with solid midstage trial results, allowed Cara Therapeutics to de-risk the drug candidate's development and potential commercialization by inking a deal in May 2018 with Vifor Fresenius Medical Care Renal Pharma (VFMCRP), a joint venture between Vifor Pharma Group and the largest dialysis provider in the U.S. Fresenius Medical Care. In other words, it's a great partner for Korsuva. Cara Therapeutics collected $70 million in upfront payments from this endeavor. It also stands to receive royalties on all sales and up to $470 million in additional milestone payments. And that's just for an injectable formulation of Korsuva. The small-cap company owns the rights to all other uses of CR845. That includes an oral formulation of Korsuva for CKD-aP and chronic liver disease-associated pruritus, in addition to intravenous and oral formulations of CR845 for post-operative pain and chronic pain, respectively. By the numbers As a development-stage company with all its value wrapped up in its lone pipeline asset, Cara doesn't have much to report in terms of revenue or income. However, investors can consider the company's cash position and cash burn. The $600 million company finished September 2018 with $206 million in cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities. That was bolstered by $92 million in net proceeds from a stock offering in July 2018.

https://news.yahoo.com/cara-therapeutics-buy-170840440.html

Could Influencer-Led Fakery Lead To The Demise Of Influencer Marketing For Businesses?

The relationship between businesses and their influencers has always been interesting for a wide variety of reasons. In the past, businesses have paid large sums to influencers in the hope that they may promote their brands to large audiences. These influencers have ranged from actors to Instagram or Youtube stars, but they all have a common ability - they are able to reach a brands target audience via a simple Instagram story or Youtube post. An example of a business using an influencer could be that of BECCA Cosmetics. The famous makeup brand teamed up with Chrissy Teigen, a model and the wife of John Legend, to promote a new makeup palette. The announcement was made via Chrissys Instagram page and it had around 5 million views - quite an amazing figure. We see, therefore, the power of influencer marketing because it can allow you to appeal to a large audience in a simple and effective manner. The world of influencer marketing, however, could be changing. It has recently been reported, however, that influencers are beginning to post about fake brand deals which could completely change the world of influencer marketing. The reason that influencers may have started faking brand deals (and buying fake followers) is due to the feeling that it is often quite difficult to score a major deal with a major company. The feeling is that companies are looking for people who have good promotional skills and who have a good track record when it comes to promoting goods and a significant following. If you are new into the industry this may be a hard thing to do therefore one might think that the only way to raise your credibility, is to fake it. To the general public, of course this method of gaining publicity may portray influencers in a negative light; more interestingly, it may be having a negative effect on the way in which businesses and influencers interact. These interactions may be particularly important for business owners and entrepreneurs, because they may be able to gain customers in a cost-free way. Well, with influencers advertising fake brand deals, they are essentially advertising a product for free. Now, in the past this may have been crazy because it seemed that all influencers got paid large sums for their advertising work. It must be remembered, however, that influencers must start with lower profile deals so that they can build their credibility up and receive bigger deals. All the influencer would need to do is publicise and review a product and in return they gain status, popularity and more followers. Such a concept seems to be beneficial for both parties because both the brand and influencer are getting their desired publicity. What is more, the brand is not having to spend money and in return they are helping to build the portfolio of an aspiring influencer. This method of influencer marketing is completely different to what we have seen in the past, because it has been commonly believed that businesses needed high profile celebrity influencers to grow. The likes of Odell Beckham Jr or Nick Young have done a great job for Nike and Adidas (respectively) and have been the necessary promoters that the brands have needed. It seems, however, that the relationships between influencers and business owners are becoming much more balanced, there are non-celebrity influencers who have a vast and dedicated following and need to find a synergy with a brand. It is, essentially, becoming a more symbiotic relationship, whereby each party needs one another in order to grow and become more popular. That said, I dont think pretending to deliver brand sponsored content is the right way to do it. I firmly believe that the influencers need to work on their personal brand and content to showcase who they are, what they do, what they stand for and the types of brands they could represent. I have worked with some of the biggest brands in the world on campaigns and the best way to build relationships with brands is to understand your WHY, your WHAT and your WHO. Your why is what you want to represent , your what is your areas of influence or expertise and your who is the demographic of the people you influence or want to influence. As the saying goes you have to stand for something or you fall for nothing, in an influencer marketing scenario this means you have to find synergy with the right brands, which are authentic to who you are. The world of influencer marketing has changed and continues to change but we can use this change for the good of SMEs. The discovery of influencers promoting fake brand deals has opened up opportunities for small-scale entrepreneurs to contact influencers about the idea of free brand deals. It is, all things being considered, not unlikely for influencers to say yes because they seem to have realised the importance of building their influencer portfolios. Whether this change will be a good or bad thing is debatable; but two things are clear influencers and brands need each other to grow and influencers need to look at building their personal brand to make them investment/sponsorship ready. The conclusion, stop the fakery - instead work with new or smaller brands, build synergy, build a loyal following and build a future as a real influencer.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/biancamillercole/2019/01/24/could-influencer-lead-fakery-lead-to-the-demise-of-influencer-marketing-for-businesses/

Will ex-Trump lawyer Cohen comply with Senate subpoena?

WASHINGTON (AP) A Senate committee has subpoenaed President Donald Trumps former personal lawyer Michael Cohen, a day after Cohen postponed his public testimony to a House committee. Word of the subpoena from the Senate Intelligence Committee comes from one of Cohens lawyers, Lanny Davis. Davis statement doesnt say whether Cohen will comply with the subpoena. That committee generally has held its Russia-related hearings in private. Cohen delayed his Feb. 7 appearance before the House Oversight and Reform Committee on the advice of his defense team because Cohen is still cooperating in special counsel Robert Muellers Russia investigation. Davis also said Cohen has received threats against his family. Cohen has pleaded guilty to lying to Congress about a Trump business proposal in Moscow. Hes set to begin a three-year prison sentence in March.

https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/nation/senate-committee-subpoenas-ex-trump-lawyer-michael-cohen/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_all

What is really preventing Atmos from making critical pipeline safety upgrades right away?

The regulatory and legislative wheels are in motion for Atmos Energy to more quickly upgrade its aging, dangerous natural gas distribution pipelines in North Texas. Speed is important because after a natural gas explosion in a home that killed a girl last year, Atmos found a worrying number of leaks in North Dallas. Dallas Rep. Rafael Anchia has filed legislation to require natural gas utilities to upgrade lines made of older materials by the end of next year. Thats faster than Atmos plan to replace such pipelines by the end of 2021. But if you live in a neighborhood with natural gas leaks, all of this is taking far too long to play out, as residents cant tell which spot is most likely to explode next. A cynic might say thats the way things often go in corporate America when the needs of customers conflict with the interests of shareholders. To that we say, but Atmos is a regulated monopoly, and those goals are supposed to align. Atmos, as with all natural gas utilities, is required to maintain its network of distribution pipelines to meet safety standards, as regulated by the Texas Railroad Commission. When the network needs upgrading to meet those standards, Atmos is required to make those investments, and the company is entitled to recoup the cost plus a profit margin by raising customer rates. This involves what used to be a long, onerous process of filing a rate case every few years and waiting for the money to finally roll in via customer bill payments. But Atmos persuaded the Railroad Commission a few years ago to implement an accelerated rate hike approval process, and the time between investment and payback has contracted. All of that means that Atmos can upgrade the aging lines and expect customers to pay for the cost of those upgrades plus a profit. In fact, capital investment is a key profit mechanism for regulated companies. We have two theories. 1. The scope of the needed upgrades in North Texas is so large that it is difficult to muster the workforce to do the entire job simultaneously and immediately. Replacing a pipeline involves digging up streets, alleys and private property and working with various crews and contractors to replace the line, fill in the hole, and replace the concrete or landscaping. This can be hugely disruptive to residents. Atmos said via email on Friday: Factors that may influence the rate of acceleration include the availability of materials; trained and qualified employees to design, coordinate, and inspect this level of construction activity; contractors to fill material for street repairs; increase demand of line-locate contractors due to increasing activity; inclement weather and city resources to support this pace of replacement. In consideration of these factors and regulatory requirements, we are continuing forward with pipeline replacement as quickly and safely as possible. 2. The Atmos board has boosted its dividend regularly, handing out large amounts of its profit to shareholders. Last year, the board increased the dividend 8.2 percent, amounting to a total cash payout of around $215 million. And in 2018 Atmos also boosted capital investment to $1.5 billion for the entire company, which includes regulated utility operations outside of Texas and a non-regulated pipeline company. Shareholders might forgo a little dividend in the short term but still reap the benefits when customers begin paying for the upgrades. Atmos answer via email is that the company relies on investors and creditors to finance a portion of its capital investments. As an investor-owned utility, we can only attract these additional resources if we are financially healthy. This means we must maintain manageable debt balances, grow earnings and increase dividends. Atmos last week filed with the city of Dallas for a rate hike of $10.1 million, which is in line with prior annual rate increases. If the company invests more, it would be entitled to raise rates to compensate. We have no problem with Atmos recouping from customers a fair rate of return on safety upgrades. We would urge Atmos and its shareholders as they meet in a few weeks to seriously consider whether making more investment money available for safety upgrades could shorten the amount of time that some customers live on top of a leaking time bomb. Send a letter to the editor, and you just might get published.

https://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/editorials/2019/01/24/really-preventing-atmos-making-critical-pipeline-safety-upgrades-right-away

How should parents teach their kids about racism?

As images of teens seemingly mocking protesters and giving apparent Nazi salutes go viral, parents can help ensure children understand sensitive issues Its now common to come across a headline about videos or photos of teens that goes viral and strikes a nerve. Teenagers posing with Nazi salutes, painting on blackface and, most recently with the students from Covington Catholic high school, seemingly mocking Native American protesters. What may initially be seen as a joke between friends suddenly delivers hurt, frustration and backlash from thousands on social media. Many come to the teens defense, saying that kids will be kids; as adolescents, they have and will always do some stupid things. Until 10 minutes ago, it was broadly agreed in our culture that kids are allowed to do some dumb things because theyre kids, said Kyle Smith for the National Review in response to the backlash against the students from Covington Catholic high school. But experts in youth and teenage behavior say this behavior isnt inevitable. There are ways parents and teachers can help ensure a child has the maturity and understanding to think about sensitive issues such as race before they behave inappropriately. We could raise a future of anti-racist youth if we wanted to, said Jennifer Harvey, author of Raising White Kids: Bringing Up Children in a Racially Unjust America and professor of philosophy and religion at Drake University. Thats the work we have to be doing in a very proactive, every single day kind of way to reduce the incidents that are happening in the first place. Sign up for the US morning briefing Parents, specifically white parents, can develop tools needed to raise children who are sensitive to race, Harvey said. For example, teaching children that race doesnt matter can be counterproductive to achieving equality. If youre living in a society where people are not being treated equally that position ends up enabling racism to thrive, Harvey said. For example, if a five-year-old child never sees an African American doctor, they will assume African Americans cant be doctors unless their parents have discussed structural racism with them, Harvey said. Thats just how kids brains work. Evan Apfelbaum, an associate professor at Boston Universitys Questrom School of Business focused on social psychology and diversity, agreed that its good to start teaching children about race when theyre young. Having these tough, uncomfortable conversation at home in advance, in a structured setting, is one way to help prepare kids for facing these types of complex things in the real world, he said. Parents can use such viral videos that demonstrate inappropriate behavior as an opportunity to have a conversation with their children about racism, Apfelbaum added. When things go viral, theres an opportunity for learning, he said. If kids are going to be talking about it why not frame it in a structured discussion where you can actually get at feelings and get at peoples concerns and help [your children] think through multiple sides of a situation. Salome Thomas-El, head of school at Thomas Edison charter school in Wilmington, Delaware, agrees that parents and teachers can use viral videos as learning tools, but they should be wary of the other things their children may come across on social media. Something he and many educators struggle with is limiting the negative influences that can come from online, he said. We have to be aware of whats going on in the online community and how it impacts what will happen in school, Thomas-El said. Prevention is much more powerful than intervention. Students at his own school go through internet safety training, Thomas-El said, where they learn the full consequence of a viral video. Children need to understand once you post a video, and it goes viral, you cant take it back, he said. Its also important for teachers, parents and teenagers themselves to understand how a teenagers developing brain can shape their behavior, said Dan Siegel, clinical professor of psychology at the University of California Los Angeles medical school. The remodeling of the teenage brain into an adult brain entails four core changes: emotional sparks, social engagement, novelty-seeking and creative exploration what Siegel calls Essence. The four changes represent an uptick in passion, drive to be a part of a group and a desire for new experiences that is normal for teenagers. These changes can be positive or negative, depending on how theyre fostered, Siegel said. The development also heightens what psychologists call in-group, out-group distinction, or the tendency to lump oneself in social groups, he added. When a person feels like their in-group is threatened by an out-group people part of a group they dont identify with theres a chance they will dehumanize the out-group. Adolescents are equally prone to having this in-group-out-group distinction as adults are, Siegel said. Essence exacerbates the distinction, and thats what can be seen in the viral videos, he added. In these videos, theres evidence of emotion they dont know how to control, collaboration where they give up morality to gain membership, novelty-seeking which drives them to do things that are really dangerous and following ideals as they push against things that have them not think logically, Siegel said. Read more Helping teenagers learn about things like in-group, out-group phenomena and how their changing brains affect it will give them the ability to be mindful of their behavior. When you let an adolescent know theyre in charge of how their brain is going to develop in these important dozen years of life, thats totally different from saying: Adolescents, this is whats going on with you and do this, Siegel said. Its kind of empowering from the inside out. If a child ends up behaving badly, experts agree that it could be a moment of self-reflection, but parents and teachers need to hold themselves accountable for the behavior as well. Kids respond to positive reinforcement and modeling behavior, Apfelbaum said. Parents should focus on showing kids the right way to respond and how to show respect and tolerance of differences.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jan/24/racism-parents-teach-children

Why are we paying people to sue the government?

By Josh Dehaas When a Muslim woman decided to challenge the Harper governments policy forbidding face-coverings during the oath of citizenship, a feminist non-profit group called Womens Legal Action Fund (LEAF) sought to intervene on her behalf. When the Harper government cut extended health-care benefits like drugs and dental to refugee claimants, LEAF argued that the change had a discriminatory effect upon refugee women. When homelessness advocates claimed that the Charter of Rights and Freedoms was being violated unless the government implemented policies to eliminate homelessness and inadequate housing, LEAF supported the fight against lawmakers. This week, LEAF is in court fighting a group of Christian doctors who oppose a policy by their regulator requiring them to refer patients who seek abortions or euthanasia. Theres nothing wrong with groups of citizens pooling their money to intervene in court cases. Thats healthy in a democracy. But these kinds of activist legal groups shouldnt be getting taxpayer funding. Yet thats whats happening under the Trudeau government. The new Department of Women and Gender Equality (formerly Status of Women Canada) just awarded LEAF $880,000 to develop a new five-year plan for strategic litigation. The project will undertake a needs assessment with feminist groups and other key stakeholders to identify intersectional gender equality issues that can be effectively addressed through feminist strategic litigation. Its a big boost to their budget. The Liberals have also restored funding to the Court Challenges Program that will hand out grants to groups who claim their human rights or minority language rights have been violated. The committee doling out the money is stacked with prominent left-wing advocates, including former LEAF director and Ottawa law professor Joanne St. Lewis, labour activist and McGill law professor Adelle Blackett, and University of Windsor francophone services proponent Emmanuelle Richez. Harper had scrapped the program, created in 1978 by Pierre Trudeau, as one of his first acts. John Baird, then president of the Treasury Board, argued that it didnt make sense for the government to pay people to fight its own laws in court. Indeed, it did not. University of Waterloo political scientist Emmett Macfarlane suggested at the recent Law and Freedom conference in Toronto that Canada has a growing culture of deference to courts, in which politicians would rather wait for judges to make law than work to build consensus on controversial issues. If so, then giving money to lawyers to sue the government is a backdoor way for Liberals to force the policy changes they want without the political risks. Assisted-death is a good example. It was popular with Canadians at large but many Catholics were opposed, which made it difficult for the Liberals to support legalization without risking seats in Quebec until a successful Charter challenge allowed the Liberals to say that the courts forced their hands. Politicians would rather wait for judges to make law than work to build consensus on controversial issues This type of funding may be particularly concerning to those with strong views on abortion. The Liberals wouldnt dare legislate a right to abortion but they do like to claim its a Charter right. Its easy to imagine someone seeking to firmly establish abortion as a Charter right through the Court Challenges Program or the newly bolstered LEAF. This type of funding should also concern those who support abortion. If the practice of funding activist legal groups becomes normalized, a future Conservative government could conceivably hand out grants to anti-abortion groups to do their bidding. Canadians shouldnt put up with this. If our politicians want social change, they should campaign on making those changes and introduce bills to make it happen. Funding activist groups risks becoming a backdoor way to have politicized lawyers doing their dirty work. Josh Dehaas is a Toronto-based writer.

https://nationalpost.com/opinion/why-are-we-paying-people-to-sue-the-government

Could Texas A&M quarterback Nick Starkel reunite with Kevin Sumlin at Arizona?

Texas A&M Aggies quarterback Nick Starkel (17) could be transferring. (Photo: Jim Dedmon-USA TODAY Sports) The Arizona Wildcats' quarterback room could get more crowded. Nick Starkel, the backup at Texas A&M last season, announced this week that he intends to transfer. He could be eligible to play next season as a graduate transfer. Thank you Aggieland pic.twitter.com/7CRUy2YxkU Nicholas Starkel (@NickStarkel) January 23, 2019 Starkel has some links to the Arizona Wildcats coaching staff. He played for Wildcats coach Kevin Sumlin and offensive coordinator Noel Mazzone with the Aggies when they coached in College Station. Starkel would have some competition at quarterback in Tucson. Khalil Tate is returning to Tucson and the Wildcats also have Rhett Rodriguez, Kevin Doyle and Jamarye Joiner on the roster, in addition to signee Grant Gunnell. Arizona has some competition for Starkel, according to MyAggieNation.com. The quarterback also has interest from Duke, Ohio State and SMU, the site reports. He has two years eligibility remaining. Starkel appeared in 12 games with the Aggies. He threw for 15 touchdowns and six interception and completed 138 of 227 passes for 1,962 yards at Texas A&M. He explained his transfer decision to MyAggieNation.com: I kind of knew my situation here was not the best situation for me if I was looking to play the final two years because Kellen and I have the same eligibility left, Starkel said. Texas A&M QB Nick Starkel will hit the transfer portal any minute now & will not participate in spring practice, he said. Will complete 120 hours before July & should be on new campus July 1. Said he's looking at Duke, Ohio State, SMU & Arizona (former HC Kevin Sumlin). . (@Travis_L_Brown) January 23, 2019 Tate will be a senior for the Wildcat next season. He passed for 2,530 yards with 26 touchdowns and eight interceptions in 2018. Rodriguez will be a junior for Arizona, while Doyle and Joiner are redshirt freshmen. In October, Gunnell became the all-time passing yards and touchdowns leader in Texas prep history and finished his high school career at Houstons St. Pius X with 16,108 and 195, respectively. READ MORE

https://www.azcentral.com/story/sports/college/ua/2019/01/24/nick-starkel-transfer-arizona-ohio-state-smu-duke-options-qb/2667829002/

Did Vanderbilt's Bryce Drew intentionally skip UT's Grant Williams in handshake line?

CLOSE Vanderbilt coach Bryce Drew's postgame press conference following an 88-83 overtime loss to No. 1 Tennessee. In a word: No. Or, at least, thats what Drew said on Thursday via text message. I would never not shake hands with someone. I thought I did and told every player and coach good game like I always do, Drew said. I was talking to Rick for a little, I remember, before going through the line. I would never do that. There is nothing there. Bryce Drew is sooooooooooooo mad he gives MVP Grant Williams the cold shoulder after Grant, showing great sportsmanship, waits to shake the opposing coaches hand pic.twitter.com/eXAKOP77Gb #1 Tennessee Williams (@TN_Williams) January 24, 2019 Drew said the same earlier Thursday to 104.5 The Zones Brent Dougherty, adding that Williams is a great kid. Williams waited, but no handshake As shown on the ESPN2 telecast, Drew and UT coach Rick Barnes embraced and spoke closely into each others ear on the Memorial Gym court immediately after the No. 1 Vols 88-83 overtime win. Williams, who had a career-high 43 points, approached the pair of coaches and waited with his right hand extended to greet Drew. Drew then pulled away from Barnes, turned his head and mostly bypassed Williams without a handshake. From the angle, its difficult to see if Drew tapped Williams on the side, as coaches and players often do in a handshake line, or if he noticed that the waiting player was Williams. Its open to interpretation, and fans of both teams weighed in heavily on Twitter not surprisingly with opposite perspectives. Handshake line came after controversial foul call The handshake, or lack thereof, was a topic because Williams was the recipient of a controversial flagrant foul called against Vanderbilts Clevon Brown, which resulted in a four-point possession and cut the Commodores lead from 76-70 to 76-74 with 1:20 remaining in regulation. I dont know but TN is doing this ... pic.twitter.com/UfSe6f0Gsx Morgan Wilhelm (@MorganWilhelm17) January 24, 2019 Fans on Twitter, again from opposite perspective, debated whether Williams flopped to draw the critical foul, which turned the game. It started the Vols late rally and overtime win. In the post-game press conference, Drew said, "We thought we deserved this game. We thought there were some things that happened, obviously, that were out of our control for us winning." When asked specifically about the flagrant foul, Drew opted not to comment. Kevin Stallings had a handshake incident in UT game This isnt the first time a Vanderbilt coach was asked about the handshake line after a UT game. However, it was quite a different scenario last time. In 2015, Vanderbilt beat UT in Knoxville, which followed with an on-court profanity-laced tirade by Commodores coach Kevin Stallings toward his own player, Wade Baldwin. Stallings was told by a Vols staff member that Baldwin was taunting UT player Armani Moore at the end of the game. Stallings yelled profanities at Baldwin while walking through the handshake line, which was picked up by ESPN cameras. Get the (expletive) up here. Whose face did he get in?" said Stallings, according to ESPN's transcript of the audio. "(Expletive) apologize. Mother (expletive) we dont do that. Ill (expletive) kill you. (Expletive) mouthing off. (Expletive) I told you a hundred times. Stallings later said Baldwins clapping at Moore was not quite as egregious as it felt like in that moment. Vanderbilt will play at UT on Feb. 19. Reach Adam Sparks at asparks@tennessean.com and on Twitter @AdamSparks.

https://www.tennessean.com/story/sports/college/vanderbilt/2019/01/24/vanderbilt-bryce-drew-ut-vols-grant-williams-handshake/2668392002/

When students choose, they learn better. How can schools deliver?

At Vertus, an all-boys charter high school in Rochester, N.Y., students have some autonomy over the process of learning, but the boys are expected to work on every subject at least weekly. Personalized learning is seen as a way to close achievement gaps and increase student engagement. But offering students choices about their learning experience is difficult: Teachers must know the standards thoroughly and their curriculum well enough to improvise within it, and they must stay within the bounds of district and state mandates. While educators debate what will best prepare students for future workplaces, researcher Tanji Reed Marshall found that few teachers actually offer any choice at all. But giving students a say in each of three areas is critical: in what they learn, in the way they learn it, and in the way they demonstrate their learning, says Dr. Reed Marshall. Teacher coach Krystal Bankston says students sometimes make the wrong decisions, but that they learn important lessons when they reflect on their choices. I think its a worthwhile shift, Ms. Bankston says, because it builds student confidence and it builds student buy-in. Before Michael Mota goes to sleep each school night, the 17-year-old lies in bed thinking through his plan for the next day. Michael is a senior at Vertus High School, an all-boys charter school in the Rochester City School District whose hallmark is a program that blends online classes with more traditional classroom teaching. Students spend about half their time in computer labs doing online coursework, and its this part of the day that Michael plans in advance. He decides whether to tackle a math lesson or a science one, for example, taking into account his own interests as well as his responsibilities. If hes behind in science, he knows he should focus on that, even if he likes math better. Many of the boys enter Vertus several years behind grade level, particularly in reading and math, and the lab time gives them a chance to fill gaps in their achievement. It seems to work: Vertus says that 71 percent of its students pass their Regents exams, required by the state of New York to graduate, compared with 38 percent in the Rochester City School District. For his part, though, Michael appreciates the opportunity to work faster than traditional classrooms allow. He says he used to get in trouble in middle school because hed finish his work more quickly than his peers and have nothing else to do but goof around. Now, for example, if he finishes a history lesson first, he goes on to the next one or switches to another subject. Michael likes being able to move at his own pace. It helps me stay on track and focused, he says. But Roshawn Murraine, a 16-year-old in his third year at Vertus, says the freedom to move at his own pace is fake freedom, because he still has to complete all of his classes within a set time frame. And he says Vertuss brand of personalized learning isnt all that personalized. Its not like youre learning different stuff, Roshawn says. Its just a different pace. Each student still takes life sciences, global history, algebra, and the other courses New York State requires for graduation. And, unlike some schools that personalize learning by giving students a say over what they learn in each class and how they prove they have learned it, Vertus requires students to complete the exact same assignments and tests. It turns out thats common. Personalized learning is among the most popular solutions in US schools today. It is seen as a way to close achievement gaps, increase student engagement, and offer a better education. Yet it doesnt have a consistent script and every school does it differently. Giving students more control in the classroom is a common feature of personalized-learning programs, in theory, but in practice, how teachers do that and how much control they offer varies widely. The fact is, offering students choices about their learning experience is difficult. Tanji Reed Marshall, a former teacher and current researcher at The Education Trust, an education research and advocacy organization, recently studied how frequently teachers offer students choices in the classroom. The results very seldom were not entirely surprising. Dr. Reed Marshall says teachers have to know the standards theyre supposed to teach incredibly well, they have to know their curriculum enough to improvise within it, and they have to stay within the bounds of district and state mandates over what and how they teach. And designing learning is very complex, she says. They dont always have the skill set. Tara Garca Mathewson/The Hechinger Report Vertus High School, an all-boys public charter school in Rochester, N.Y., offers students a personalized-learning experience by letting them complete classes at their own pace. In-school mentors, called preceptors, keep tabs on students' academic progress as well as their behavior and attendance. Autonomy leads to engagement The Education Trust defines three areas in which teachers can give students choice: in what they learn, in the way they learn it, and in the way they demonstrate their learning what researchers called content, process, and product in a recent study. While this was not a study of personalized learning, per se, but student choice more narrowly, the results are illustrative. A review of more than 6,800 middle school assignments found only 10 percent of the assignments in English language arts, science, and social studies offered students choice in any of these three areas. In math, only 3 percent of assignments did the same, according to the study. Reed Marshall believes that is a grave missed opportunity. Giving students a say in each of these three areas is critical, she says. With the autonomy to make choices, students are more engaged, and when thats the case, they learn better. Krystal Bankston, who taught math for 10 years in Chattanooga, Tenn., and now coaches other teachers, saw that firsthand. When she was a teacher, she prioritized giving students a say in how they learned and how they demonstrated their progress. When they were working on projects, they also got to choose what, exactly, they studied. Ms. Bankston says students sometimes made the wrong decisions with their newfound power, but that they learned important lessons when they reflected on their choices. I think its a worthwhile shift because it builds student confidence and it builds student buy-in, Bankston says. When students have a choice in the way they learn, they take ownership because they chose it. At Vertus, students have a level of autonomy over the process of learning. But their control ends there. Vertus co-founder Leigh McGuigan is frank about why her school sets those limits: In college and in their first jobs, students likely will have to do things the way their professors and bosses say to do them. High school, she says, needs to prepare students for what comes next. Ironically, this is the same argument some educators use in favor of more student control in the classroom. Personalized learning, they say, will prepare students for success in 21st-century workplaces. But Dr. McGuigan argues that while some students may end up in jobs that give them freedom and autonomy, most wont. We personalize based on what the student needs to be academically successful; we do not necessarily personalize based on what the student wants, McGuigan says. The fact is, teenagers arent always that good at wanting what is best for them, she adds, so teachers need to set some boundaries. In 2014-15, the charter schools first year, some students went months without working on subjects they didnt like. Now the boys are expected to work on every subject at least weekly and in-school mentors, called preceptors (see sidebar), keep a close eye. In some cases, its just a student being a teenager I dont like this; I dont want to work on it but we dont want to miss the flags that its an academic issue and we need to have an intervention, says Julie Locey, the school principal. And as much as she says shed like to give students more say over what to study, the state requirements that every student must meet to graduate are uncompromising. Multiple ways to personalize Thats something school leaders across the country have to contend with. Amy Huang is the senior director of programs at Chicago-based LEAP Innovations, which created a personalized-learning framework used nationally. She acknowledges that state and even district-level requirements can limit flexibility. At the end of the day, we do need certain baseline knowledge and skills, Ms. Huang says. But, she adds, Personalized learning we think of as a way to make those come to life. The LEAP Learning Framework urges schools to personalize learning in multiple ways. Most schools focus first on giving students more control over their own education through goal-setting, monitoring of their own progress, and opportunities for self-advocacy, according to Huang. Self-paced instruction, which Vertus offers, is less common because most schools run up against the firm deadlines of the school day and year. Running a charter school, though, Vertus founders were free to add an extra hour to each school day and 20 extra days to the academic year, creating the time necessary to offer students this control. And the promise of such freedom is what hooks many students thinking about enrolling. And even with fairly narrow control over pace, students do take on new responsibility in the classroom. Clovis Meikle, a 17-year-old senior, says that in the fall he was spending about four hours on the computer each night. In part thats because hes taking an extra social studies class this year and had to put in extra work to stay on track, but its also because he knew that when basketball season started, it would take up more of his time. Thats an example of good decisionmaking teachers tout when giving students more control over their own learning. Though, of course, some of Cloviss peers are not as self-motivated and forward-thinking, and Vertus educators want them to graduate, too. Thats one reason why The Education Trust researchers advocate offering students control of something beyond just the pace of their learning. Giving students choices about what they learn and how they prove they learned it creates additional opportunities to engage them. Reed Marshall, The Education Trust researcher, says she hopes the study identifying how few assignments offer any choice at all prompts educators to think carefully about the connection between student motivation and engagement and outcomes. Get the Monitor Stories you care about delivered to your inbox. By signing up, you agree to our Privacy Policy If Im motivated, Im going to stay the course, Reed Marshall says. Im probably going to learn more. This story about personalized learning was produced by The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education.

https://www.csmonitor.com/EqualEd/2019/0124/When-students-choose-they-learn-better.-How-can-schools-deliver

Will Chipotle Stock Hit All-Time Highs in 2019?

One of last year's more surprising gainers was Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE: CMG). The burrito roller soared 49% in 2018, is trading 21% higher year to date, and has more than doubled since bottoming out 11 months ago. There's been a lot of love coming Chipotle's way on Wall Street, and with the shares hitting two-year highs this week, it's easy to get excited. The rub for longtime investors is that the stock still has a long way to go to hit the all-time highs it scored in late 2015. Chipotle stock is still more than 30% away from its peak price of $757. Momentum is in its corner now, but it will take more than inertia to catapult Chipotle shares to record highs in 2019. Chipotle employees training at a store. More Image source: Chipotle Mexican Grill. The turnaround is relative There are plenty of things working for Chipotle these days. Comps are positive, revenue is growing, and the chain's adjusted profit is growing even faster. However, there are also plenty of imperfections once you dig beneath the superficial metrics. Comps may be positive for its latest quarter -- as well as through the first nine months of last year -- but it's only because folks are spending more as a result of price hikes and new items. The actual number of transactions per store declined 2% through the first three quarters of 2018. We will see if Chipotle can end that streak when it reports its fourth-quarter results in two weeks. Revenue is moving higher, but not at a very exciting pace. Chipotle's top line has clocked in with a single-digit percentage increase for five consecutive quarters. Brisk expansion used to pad revenue gains, but the buildout has slowed lately. Chipotle actually closed or relocated more restaurants than it opened during the third quarter. Once-promising sister concepts are sputtering. Chipotle shuttered ShopHouse -- which served Southeast Asian cuisine -- a couple of years ago, and it closed down several Pizzeria Locale restaurants in 2018. Profitability is taking big steps higher, but mostly because the chain is still working off of depressed levels over the two previous years. Chipotle isn't likely to ever achieve the double-digit net margin it posted from 2012 to 2015. The good news is that Chipotle isn't broken. It's just not running the way it was in its prime. BTIG analyst Peter Saleh boosted his price target on the shares from $515 to $605, putting him at the top of the 30 Wall Street pros covering the fast-casual pioneer. He sees a return to double-digit sales growth in 2019, fueled by expansion and comps in the mid-single digits. He also sees continuing margin improvement, with earnings per share soaring better than 45%. Chipotle is no longer being held back by the unfortunate string of foodborne illness outbreaks that started in late 2015, even if it's still not in the clear on that front. It's also seeing many of the operational miscues over the past few years shrinking in the rearview mirror. The chain doesn't need to get back to its peak unit-level sales or companywide margins to take out the all-time high its stock hit in October 2015. There are a lot more locations now than there were in 2015. There are also fewer shares, as buybacks have helped lower the number of outstanding shares by more than 11% in that time. The lower share count means that profits will be higher on a per-share basis than they were before.

https://news.yahoo.com/chipotle-stock-hit-time-highs-201500734.html

How Do Families Find The Best School For Their Child?

As school choice becomes more widely available across the country, many families are choosing a school for their child for the first time. This is a major decision. Major decisions come with risks and anxieties. Luckily there are organizations like Texas Families Empowered and people like Colleen Dippel to help families navigate the school choice journey. Colleen Dippel: Families Empowered is a nonprofit parent service organization. We provide parents with information, tools, and support to navigate the increasingly complex and diverse set of school options available to them. We have served over 60,000 families in Texas over the past six years. Our vision is that families will have access to schools that work, for them. Our core customers are the most resource-constrained parents. These are some of the lowest income parents in Houston, Austin, and San Antonio. Roughly 40% of our families identify Spanish as their dominant language and approximately 1/3 in Houston have a household income of less than $25,000 a year. In short, the stakes for choosing a quality school are higher for these kids than for their more affluent peers. Dippel: Our first priority is to provide parents with basic information about the additional school options available to them. This typically includes location, type (traditional, charter, private, or micro school), and state data. Many people assume that parents know they have alternatives to their zoned school and that they are able to navigate the school application process with relative ease. This is an incredibly privileged perspective. Of the parents we serve, 82% could name only one schoolof the thousands of optionsthat they felt was an option for their child. Families Empowered does not rank or rate schools; we do provide parents with 3rd party ratings if they are interested in campus achievement data (this includes State of Texas Report Cards, Children at Risk rankings, and the GreatSchools school finders). The most valuable information we provide to parents is focused on application timelines, processes, and enrollment constraints. We empower them with the rules of game and data to make informed choices. Dippel: Our data suggest that the most trusted source for finding a school is other parents: people trust people, not institutions & certainly not websites. Given this, we use multiple strategies to meet parents where they are and offer them several ways to find a school: we host fairs, invest heavily in social media outreach, text, call, and send postal mail to reach our families. We have a website that includes a school search tool and other useful data, but we are totally unconvinced that any parent picks a school based on a web search alone. What differentiates our work is that we are committed to building trusting relationships and personalized service because we find that it makes a difference with our parents. For example, we have a full-time bilingual call center. This person-to-person strategy allows us to support parents who call in and need/want to talk to a real person. Additionally, on any given day, we proactively call parents to conduct surveys, inform families about a school opportunity, or remind them to turn their applications in on time. In 2018 we launched ApplyHouston in partnership with several Houston charter schools. This tool allows families to apply to multiple schools with one application and one timeline. Prior to launching ApplyHouston only 6% of our families were applying to 2 or more schools per year. In just one year 23% of the families who used ApplyHouston applied to 2 or more schools. Applying to multiple schools is really important. It increases the likelihood that kids will not languish on one waitlist for years on end and it provides parents with more opportunities to find a school that works for them. Dippel: Our parents often feel resigned to schools that are not working for their children. Schools have little incentive to provide neutral information about alternatives. Government agencies are too far removed from parents to provide meaningful and action-oriented data. Many school finders provide information about only certain types of schools, acting as marketing channels for schools rather than highlighting objective data, and/or fall short of providing actionable data to parents such as information on how to apply. To boot, we find the vast majority of parents we work with dont access these tools. Having more options is important, but having options is only useful if you 1) know they exist 2) understand how to access/ apply to those options and 3) trust that the information you have is neutral and credible. Remember: the majority of families we serve are unable to name even one other school when they first come ask for our help. While there are lots of barriers between low-income families and high-quality seats, if I had to highlight the three biggest, it would be the supply of quality school options, transportation, and knowledge about how to navigate a choice system. Dippel: We measure success by tracking how many parents apply from one school to two or more schools, by how many families view our services as neutral and valuable, and how many are ultimately able to take action on information we provide. We know from following up with a random sample of our parents that about 1/3 of the parents we served had switched schools within 18 months from their first touch point with Families Empowered, and 83% of those are more satisfied with this school than their previous school. Of these families, 87% said our support is useful and 93% say that we present information in a neutral manner. We place our bets on parents and their ability to know what is best for their kids and therefore we measure our success based on what creates value for them. (For what its worth, here are my thoughts !) Dippel: ApplyHouston is a common application, not a unified enrollment system. Both systems rely on common timelines, both rely on one application for multiple campuses, and both provide some kind of school finder feature. We are skeptical that a unified enrollment strategy creates more equitable access for low-income parents and it certainly does not put parents in the driver seat. Most unified enrollment (UE) systems assign families to a preference school based on an algorithm pre-determined by some anointed group of central planners. Now it is very important to consider who sets the constraints (participation and enrollment rules) for these systems. These rules control the ultimate suite of choices available to parents. ApplyHouston does not use a black box algorithm to assign kids to a school and doesnt constrict enrollment processes. ApplyHouston empowers parents to apply to multiple schools, schools run their lotteries, and then parents determine where to enroll and how long they stay at their chosen school. Proponents of UE claim that these systems promote equity, and this may be the case, but the data is thin on this point. In fact, Ive not yet seen any data to support this claim. Often the UE strategy allows districts to keep low-performing schools open due to guaranteed enrollment rather than forcing them to seriously evaluate closing. Ultimately it seems UE puts the algorithm in the driver seatnot parents. A common-application system, like ApplyHouston, puts parents in the driver seat. McShane: There has been a great deal of interest around the country in so-called harbormasters (theyre sometimes called quarterbacks or even air traffic controllers"), organizations that coordinate philanthropic dollars in decentralized schooling systems to try and make sure that low-income students get into high-quality schools. Dippel: I have a mixed view of this strategy. By and large, I am skeptical that a centralizing strategy, controlled and funded by an elite few, will lead to significant measurable change for low-income kids. I am even more skeptical that the innovations and reforms promoted by these organizations will be proximate to and aligned with the needs of the families we serve. We believe that innovation should be community-driven and guided by the voices of the parents and families who are most affected by changes in the quality and variety of school options. Our experience teaches us that the best schools are those that are created by listening to parents and the needs of the specific community they intend to serve from the start. This concentration of wealth and power has the very real potential of squashing local innovation and solutions that are proximate to the actual problems at hand. These organizations led by the super wealthy and the sycophants that sometimes surround them should make everyone concerned. Will these funders demand that local organizations bend to the will of the smart rich folks who know better? Many of these organizations have traditional district superintendents and large Charter Management Organization leaders on their boards. On the other hand, in cities where there is no clear history of innovation, or infrastructure to support reform, these organizations can have a catalyzing effect. In the end, wealthy folks have a right to do what they want with their money. But there will be consequences for this kind of philanthropy concentration and the diversion of resources to a few preferred organizations. I just hope that we dont throw the innovation baby out with the scale, centralizing, and top-down control bath water. To date, the best reforms Ive seen have not come from large top-down organizations but rather from scrappy innovators and entrepreneurs who live very close to the problems they relentlessly worked to solve. The conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/mikemcshane/2019/01/24/how-do-families-find-the-best-school-for-their-child/

Why is hotel coffee so awful?

When it comes to hotel coffee, maybe it's time to wake up and smell it. Something smells, alright. Blame cheap, substandard coffee makers, low-quality coffee and sloppy housekeeping for an epidemic of bad hotel brew. But you can find a decent cup of joe on your next trip if you know where to look. Very important, according to a survey by Le Mridien Hotels & Resorts, which found that as far as wake-up calls go, a decent cup of brew is better than sex. While some hotel coffee is great even award-winning a lot of it isn't. Coffee makers are prone to breaking, leaking and malfunctioning. Fortunately, I have a few survival tips from hotel-coffee connoisseurs. By the way, good hotel coffee isn't an oxymoron. At the Four Seasons Resort Huallai on Hawaii's Big Island, you'll find a resident coffee expert who can help you choose between local coffee grown and freshly roasted by Big Island Coffee Roasters or Paradise Coffee Roasters. Or if you like your java a little stronger, you could check out a joint like Ninth Street Espresso at New York's Lombardy Hotel. Many hotel rooms feature a selection of mediocre coffees and a coffee maker that's difficult to use and only makes a beverage one tiny cup at a time. (Photo: Getty Images/iStockphoto) Why hotel coffee is usually bad But let's face it: Normally hotel coffee is an unceremonious DIY affair, brewed in the early morning hours in the dark. So much can go wrong. So much does. Heather Turner remembers a coffee machine connected directly to a water line, so it never needed refilling. "I had gone into the bathroom for a minute to keep packing, and when I came out there was a small flood on the floor," says Turner, who owns a marketing firm in Enfield, Connecticut. "The only way to shut it off was to unplug the machine." James Baussmann, who works for a technology company in Bedford, Massachusetts, says he's afraid to use the coffee maker in his room. "When I go to make a coffee in the hotel room, I'm turned off by all the dust or grime that has collected on the coffee maker," he says. "It makes me wonder how safe it is to use and I usually pass it up and get a coffee down the street at a coffee store." Not that safe. A study of hotel coffee makers by the University of Valencia revealed the existence of "a varied bacterial community" in all of the machines sampled. The pathogens included those linked to illnesses such as urinary tract infections and pneumonia. More: Surviving a dirty hotel stay Hotel guests ignore coffee makers Maybe that's why some hotel guests ignore the coffee makers. "I never use them," says Colleen Neurohr, an administrative assistant from Buffalo, New York. "Nine times out of 10 they're located in the bathroom. Yuck! Who would want to use that?" Then again, maybe they pretend the coffee makers don't exist because the coffee itself is beyond awful. The product tastes stale and watered-down, unfit to fertilize your gardenias. My coffee maker complaint is that it discriminates against tea drinkers like me. It's usually the only source of hot water, but every cup of tea I make with it has a faint coffee aftertaste. Yes, some hotels offer water heaters so you can make a decent cup of tea. And yes, the coffee systems like Keurig that use pods to make your beverage can make a terrific cup of tea. But generally, for tea drinkers, it's a wasteland out there. You can buy a better cup of coffee downstairs in the lobby (hello, Starbucks) or you can bring your own coffee maker. That's what Turner the one with the flooded espresso machine does now. For a few years, before I switched to tea, I traveled with a French press and ground my own beans. Hey, if you're serious about coffee, don't take any chances. Tips for a better cup of in-room hotel coffee Rinse and run: Always rinse your coffee maker thoroughly and run it once without any coffee; that will clear out any residual coffee or other debris. (Readers have reported finding insects in their hotel coffee makers.) Consider bringing your own beans: You can overcome even a substandard coffee machine with terrific grounds. If you bring your own beans and grind them, you might get a survivable cup of brew. Maybe. Call room service: If you find a coffee maker that doesn't meet your standards, consider ordering coffee through room service or buying one in the lobby. Or try an app like Bean Hunter, which hosts an online community of coffee lovers, to find a place that serves a better cup of joe. Christopher Elliott is a consumer advocate. Contact him at chris@elliott.org or visit elliott.org. Read or Share this story: https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/advice/2019/01/24/hotel-coffee-makers/2667400002/

https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/advice/2019/01/24/hotel-coffee-makers/2667400002/

Why Are Democrats Freaking Out About Electability?

Ben Terris calls it Pundititis. Democrats still havent recovered from the trauma of Hillary Clintons loss to Donald Trump, and its causing them to wring their hands about every candidate emerging to challenge him in 2020. So the Washington Post reporter coined this term to describe a virus affecting the nervous system of Democratic voters that was born out of the 2016 elections. Those infected find themselves unable to fall in love with candidates, instead worrying about what theoretical swing voters may feel. Signs of Pundititis include excessive electoral mapmaking, poll testiness, and an anxious, queasy feeling that comes with picking winners and losers known as Cillizzaseaa dig at Terriss former colleague. This is not an inaccurate diagnosis of the Democrats today. Terris is also right to attribute this malady not only to the results of the last presidential election, but to the mainstream medias analysis of the emerging Democratic field. Reading much of the punditry of late, one might expect the primary season to be the political equivalent of WWEs Royal Rumble, a massive free-for-all in which the candidates beat each other to a pulp in a race to the left, leaving one wobblyand perhaps not very electablecandidate standing for Trump to effortlessly defeat. Fear not, afflicted ones. While Democrats are understandably scarred by 2016, the party has learned its lesson: There will be no coronation this time around, no stark contrast between two candidates representing their respective wings of the party. And while the 2020 primary thus will be crowded, it will be a marked contrast to the clown car Republican primary of 2016. For the next year, the Democrats will showcase a party that looks and sounds very different not only from the GOP, but from the Democratic Party of just a few years ago. Rather than a moment of anxiety, this should be a moment of hope and prideand Republicans should be the ones feeling queasy. Democrats are gearing up for a long, contentious primary season. Nine major candidates have already entered the fraymost recently South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg, an openly gay 37-year-old military veteran, who announced on Wednesday. By the summer, that number may have ballooned to two dozen or more. That vast field will reflect the Democratic Party in all of its diversity, from ideology to race to sexual orientation to, yes, age. But that has some Democrats nervous that the unfolding contest will distract from the only thing that matters: beating Trump.

https://newrepublic.com/article/152949/democrats-freaking-out-electability

Is a Surprise in the Cards for Novartis (NVS) in Q4 Earnings?

Swiss pharma-giant Novartis AG NVS is scheduled to report fourth-quarter 2018 results on Jan 30. Novartis has a mixed track record. In the last reported quarter, Novartis reported in-line results. The company posted average positive earnings surprise of 1.27% in the trailing four quarters. Let's see how things are shaping up for this announcement. Factors at Play Novartis did not provide any quarterly guidance. The company expects net sales in 2018 to grow mid-single digit. Innovative Medicines is projected to grow mid to high-single digit. Revenues from Sandoz are expected to decline low-single digit, while Alcon sales are estimated to grow mid-single digit. The Innovative Medicines division maintains momentum on the back of strong oncology performance. Novartis has a strong oncology portfolio of drugs like Afinitor, Exjade, Jakavi, Zykadia, Tasigna, Jadenu and Kisqali. Oncology franchise continues to grow on the back of Promacta/Revolade, Tafinlar + Mekinist, Jakavi and recent launches. The Eurooean Commission recently approved a label expansion of Kisqali. Psoriasis Cosentyx continues to gain traction on the back of strong growth in its three approved indications, while Entrestos sales benefited from continued access improvements and expansion of sales force in the United States. We expect the division to record similar growth in the fourth quarter and combat generic pressure for key drugs Diovan, Gleevec and Exforge. However, the generic division faces challenges in the form of price erosion in the United States due to competitive pressure. The trend might continue in the fourth quarter as well. Nevertheless, the launches of Rixathon, the biosimilar version of Rituxan (rituximab), and Erelzi, the biosimilar of Enbrel in EU, will partially offset the decline in the United States. In Europe, Sandoz also obtained approval for Zessly, a biosimilar version of Johnson & Johnsons Remicade. The FDA also approved Hyrimoz, the biosimilar of Humira. Novartis intends to spin-off its ophthalmology division, Alcon, into a separately-traded standalone company in order to grow as a medicines company solely. The Alcon business wasnt performing according to managements expectations. While it did revive in between, the company decided to spin-off the same to focus better on its legacy drug business. Nevertheless, Alcon sales are estimated to grow in low-to-mid-single digits. Apart from the top and bottom-line numbers, we expect investors to focus on the companys pipeline updates. Novartis recently acquired Endocyte to expand expertise in radiopharmaceuticals and transformational therapeutic platforms. The acquisition will add 177Lu-PSMA-617, a potential first-in-class radioligand therapy, to Novartis diverse portfolio. The therapy is in phase III development for metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC). The FDA has accepted the company's Biologics License Application (BLA) for AVXS-101, now known as Zolgensma (onasemnogene abeparvovec-xxxx). The FDA also granted a Priority Review to Zolgensma and regulatory action is expected in May 2019. The European Commission also approved Luxturna, a one-time gene therapy, for the treatment of patients suffering from vision loss due to a genetic mutation in both copies of the RPE65gene who have enough viable retinal cells. The EC granted marketing authorization to Ziextenzo, the biosimilar of Amgens AMGN Neulasta. Management should also throw more light on its acquisition plans for 2019. Share Price Performance Novartis stock has gained 4.7% in the last six months, same as the industry's growth.

https://news.yahoo.com/surprise-cards-novartis-nvs-q4-213409592.html

Could an effort to restore wetlands along Mukwonago River cause problems for a half-inch amphibian?

The tiny Blanchard's cricket frog sits comfortably on a person's index finger. This species, which is listed as endangered in Wisconsin, has been found living near the Davis Nature Preserve near Mukwonago. (Photo: Rori Paloski/Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources) MUKWONAGO - Naturally, the last thing you expect a wetland restoration effort to do is negatively impact an already-endangered little frog. Strictly speaking, according to state officials, the 52-acre wetland mitigation project within the Davis Nature Preserve isn't a major factor in the survival of the Blanchard's cricket frog, a half-inch long amphibian that has been struggling to hang on in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan. But on about 1.3 acres west of the village of Mukwonago along the Mukwonago River, the dark-colored frog has been making a home in the vicinity of the former wetland habitat that was drained for agricultural use in the 1950s. The process of converting the land back to wetlands, ironically, could cause the frog some problems if it is found to also be living on the preserve, the state's Department of Natural Resources noted in an "incidental taking" notification on Jan. 22. In essence, the Waukesha County Land Conservancy, which is leading the restoration, is faced with the need to consider the frog at the same time it is considering the wetland work as part of the DNR's permit process. Which is what the WCLC intends to do. "Since a frog was identified near our preserve, the DNR rules work to ensure we restore the preserve in a way that creates habitat for the frog and that we dont disrupt their breeding as we restore the property if they exist on the site," said Cheryl White, the land conservancy's executive director. "The DNR rules are more aligned with our mission, so we dont perceive this as a negative." Davis preserve The Davis Nature Preserve in the town of Mukwonago is among the 2,900 acres managed by the WCLC, which was awarded an $886,000 grant from the DNR's Wisconsin Wetland Conservation Trust program for its efforts. Under the long-term project, the WCLC will disable drainage ditches which were put in place seven decades ago to make about 47 acres suitable for farming and restore the land to allow native plants to grow there instead, according to DNR and WCLC sources. The effort will also improve the native habitat by removing non-native plant species throughout the project area, including in 5 acres of existing floodplain forest wetlands along the river. The Davis wetland mitigation project helps reciprocate for what DNR officials call "unavoidable wetland loss" elsewhere in Wisconsin in effect, creating wetlands in one place to offset the elimination of wetlands in an unrelated place. The WCLC is one of the agencies that helps the DNR fulfill that goal. "Our mission is to protect and care for environmentally significant land and water in Waukesha County for future generations," White said. "We focus on protecting and restoring land for rare species, so we want to create suitable habitat for rare species like the Blanchards cricket frog." A frog's place In an environment that has been the norm since the mid-20th century, the diminutive frog got comfortable over the years, despite its struggles within the state. According to online sources, this species of tree frog is commonly found in wetlands or ponds, or near rows of crops planted by farmers. The DNR also notes the tiny frog has been known to move from streams to adjacent wetlands or marshes and needs to find safe cover to hibernate in winter to avoid freezing. At some point, the DNR found the frog close to the Davis preserve project area. "The presence of the state-endangered Blanchard's cricket frog (Acris blanchardi) has been confirmed in the vicinity of the project site," the DNR said in its official notification this month. "DNR staff determined that the proposed project may result in the incidental taking of some frogs." White noted that in surveys conducted by the WCLC, the Blanchard's cricket frog was not found within the 52-acre restoration area itself. "At this point no frog have been identified on the site," she said. "The reason we are going through this process was one was identified near the site." Frog friendly Nevertheless, some of the work planned as part of the restoration could affect that population, the DNR acknowledged. But not to the level that significantly impacts the frog's status in the state. "Department staff concluded that the proposed project is not likely to appreciably reduce the likelihood of the survival or recovery of the species within the state, the whole plant-animal community of which it is a part or the habitat that is critical to its existence," the DNR said in its notification. Under the proposed permit that would allow for the anticipated losses, the WCLC would try to limit the damage through added conservation efforts, according to the DNR. The WCLC will keep the frog in mind throughout the project, White added. "In summary, we follow the DNR to ensure theres no negative effects to the species," she said. "Weve created a conservation plan that goes in tandem with our conservation site plan to help guide the restoration phase of the project. The conservation plan was approved by the Incidental Take department of the DNR. The DNR notification opens up a month-long comment period, which runs through Feb. 21. (Public comments from anyone concerned about the permit or the frog's status should be sent to Rori Paloski, Wisconsin DNR, P.O. Box 7921, Madison, 53707-7921 or rori.paloski@wi.gov.) WCLC's role The Waukesha County Land Conservancy was recently honored for its ongoing efforts in land conservation. In September, the organization was presented with Gathering Water's 2018 Land Trust of the Year during a ceremony at the Land Conservation Leadership Award in Madison. In a press release, the WCLC noted that the designation "acknowledges a land trust that demonstrates its commitment to permanently safeguard Wisconsins natural treasures and open lands through its leadership, achievements, projects, and more." Formed in 1992, the WCLC protects 2,900 acres of land and water areas. Read or Share this story: https://www.jsonline.com/story/communities/waukesha/news/mukwonago/2019/01/24/wetland-restoration-near-mukwonago-could-impact-half-inch-long-frog/2649872002/

https://www.jsonline.com/story/communities/waukesha/news/mukwonago/2019/01/24/wetland-restoration-near-mukwonago-could-impact-half-inch-long-frog/2649872002/

Is The Direct-To-Consumer Bedding Business Turning Into A Bad Dream?

Once held up as the new model for selling mattresses, direct online sellers, including just this week Nectar, are moving into physical retailing as fast as they can. And in doing so, they are admitting a reality that punches a big fat hole in the direct-to-consumer business model: beyond a certain point, it really doesnt work. From the earliest pioneers of the Internet-driven direct selling movement, its proponents touted that it was the retailing wave of the future and a far, far better way to reach and sell customers. To most people Warby Parker is considered the lead dog in the movement and its original direct model was certainly all the rage when it debuted in 2010. But it didnt take very long before the company started opening physical locations. They danced around the word store, but try as they might there was never any other way to describe these places: a store is a store is a store. Now, six years after the first store opened, there are around 100 Warby Parker locations and the company has said they now contribute more of its revenue than online. It didnt take long for all the Warby wannabes to jump on the store bandwagon and from Bonobos to Everlane to Harrys the push into physical retailing either through their own stores or distributed at existing retailers has become the de facto default for any direct seller. But perhaps in no other category have we seen this march to the mall happen faster and with more veracity than with mattresses. Led by Casper, the Warby of the category, virtually every major player has initiated some sort of a physical strategy. None have been as big or direct-defying as Casper. Not too long after its 2014 launch, the brand began distributing its products through West Elm stores. That was quickly astonishingly quickly in fact usurped by a bigger program with Target. At about the same time, it opened a pop-up store or two under its own name. Nearly as quickly it announced the test a success and said it would open 200 permanent stores by the end of 2021. Casper hasnt officially said how many are now open or what percentage of its business is done in-store versus online but one has to assume it represents a substantial portion of its estimated $600 million in annual sales. It hasnt taken long for Caspers direct mattress competitors to adapt similar, if somewhat less ambitious plans. Purple partnered up with Mattress Firm. Leesa took Caspers place at West Elm. Tuft & Needle went one step further and announced it was merging read that being acquired by Serta Simmons Bedding, one of the two giant traditional wholesale suppliers in the business. And this week Nectar, yet another direct mattress seller, said it was doing a deal with Mattress Warehouse to distribute its products in their 250 stores. All of this activity is suggesting that the fresh approach these direct sellers were allegedly bringing to the marketplace may just be a bad dream. High customer acquisition costs, potentially costly return rates, pricey shipping charges and just the sheer number of competitors seem to be conspiring to lead most of the major players in the space to the same solution: since direct aint working the way we expected the lowly physical retail store is the best place to sell mattresses. None of them are ready to admit all of this at least not in public. In the world of tech-driven start-ups were used to seeing plenty of burn-outs and abnormally high attrition rates. But in the world of direct mattress sellers, were seeing something else entirely: they are rapidly turning into the very companies they were supposed to be disrupting in the first place.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/warrenshoulberg/2019/01/24/is-the-direct-to-consumer-bedding-business-turning-into-a-bad-dream/

Does The Gig Economy Really Contribute To Higher Job Insecurity?

Circumstance stole the joy of 14,000 General Motors workers, with the announcement in November that they would be laid off. In addition, as many as five GM plants will be closing in North America. What was once a major slice of the U.S. economy an industry in which workers had compete job security is now in decline. This is not an isolated incident. Its gone. At the same time, the gig economy is growing individuals and freelancers who have decided to take control over their own work lives and dump the yoke of dependency on companies that are becoming quite fickle. Many would argue no. And, of course, those who state that he does. So, lets take a look at both sides of this argument. The case for job insecurity in the gig economy Certainly, the choice to become a part of the gig economy has its risks. Marketing oneself, having enough reserve to last through the lean months, dealing with a marketplace that is highly competitive and contractors (individual or company) that can be quite fickle and very slow to pay, etc. do all contribute to a lack of job security. There are just no employment guarantees for gig workers. Another case for lack of security relates to wages. Regular employees can count at the minimum wage requirements set by governments. Gig workers have no guarantee of at least a minimum wage. As well, they often take on projects that consume more time than they anticipated and their hourly wage thus falls far below what they might have earned for the same project as a traditional employee. Regular employment offers retirement benefits, both through company plans and the government. Gig workers must plan for their retirement incomes on their own and failing to do so, must continue to work until they drop. Many gig workers are in fields that are changing rapidly, especially technology. As newer entrants into these markets have the latest skills, they are more attractive than those established workers who have not taken the time and spent the money to update their own skills. Uncertainty as a gig worker is a given. The case for job security Many do argue that gig work does produce greater job security, for the following reasons: While there is no guaranteed minimum wage for such workers, their income is also not restricted by a set salary and paycheck. During their high income-producing months, they can set money aside for the lean months and even invest through firms like RE/DEV Crowd and thus have security of meeting their financial obligations. There is no one in control of the hours or amount of work that a gig worker chooses to invest. Those who work hard and smart tend to do well. Its a matter or passion, energy, focus and organization. Additionally, there is no threat of being laid off or terminated because an employer has decided to downsize. In fact, when employers do downsize, they often turn to gig workers for specific task and project work. Its cheaper for them to do so. Gig workers have several clients at a time and, if they continue to market themselves aggressively, they can continue to add to that base, replacing any that dry up. Having a lot of eggs in the basket at all times does create some solid security. If gig workers develop a few areas of expertise, then they have a larger potential client base. Thus, web designers become developers too, or get training in network security or other tech areas. Writers who have focused only on blog posts can increase their client bases by becoming content marketing specialists or strategy consultants. Gig workers who also spread their tentacles and establish a strong presence and portfolio on gig platforms like Moonlighting, PeoplePerHour and FlexJobs can have access to more clients and land more jobs. Job security is not guaranteed for anyone in this new and changing workplace environment. There is still a place for regular employment, to be sure, but more and more skilled and talented individuals have determined that gig work is a better work life for them. Make no mistake about it, though. The gig economy is not for the lazy, the dispassionate, or the disorganized.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/abdullahimuhammed/2019/01/24/does-the-gig-economy-really-contribute-to-higher-job-insecurity/

What if Trump tried to go ahead with his State of the Union address at the Capitol without an invitation?

Add Donald Trump as an interest to stay up to date on the latest Donald Trump news, video, and analysis from ABC News. Trump periodically visits the Capitol without much notice or congressional approval to meet with lawmakers. He even dropped by lunch with Senate Republicans during this current shutdown on Jan. 9, stopping to talk to reporters outside the Senate chamber. The president of the United States has House and Senate floor privileges, meaning he could freely mingle about either chamber and visit with lawmakers. But in order to speak, congressional rules dictate that both the House and Senate must adopt a concurrent resolution granting that permission. House Rule IV states that "the Hall of the House shall be used only for the legislative business of the House and for caucus and conference meetings of its Members, except when the House agrees to take part in any ceremonies to be observed therein." Hence, the need for a concurrent resolution for each presidential State of the Union address. The responsibility to block the president from delivering an address on the House floor would likely fall to the House Sergeant at Arms, Paul Irving, whose traditional role at the State of the Union is to announce the presidents arrival to the chamber, generally with great fanfare. But Irving is also the lower chamber's chief law enforcement officer and is responsible for maintaining decorum in the House of Representatives. Oh, and if Trump's goal were to gain the national spotlight, Pelosi also controls the House TV cameras -- and the on-off switch -- ensuring that any stunts pulled by Trump would never see the light of day.

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-ahead-state-union-address-capitol-invitation/story?id=60596549

Should the NFL replay the NFC Championship game?

New Orleans Saints fans are still reeling from the NFC Championship game, a game the team lost in part due to a controversial no-call on obvious pass interference. Fans are so irate, one group has sued the NFL to replay the game and another started a petition demanding the same. Under Rule 17, Section 2, the NFL Commissioner can reverse a game's result and replay the entire game, or at the point when the extraordinary event occurred. PERSPECTIVES The result of a playoff game has never been reversed nor replayed in NFL history, but extraordinary situations call for extraordinary measures. The blatant no-call affected the outcome of the entire game. A pass interference call would have given New Orleans a first down late in the game and a chance to ice it if the Saints scored a touchdown -- a touchdown the team was in great position for. The Saints should be Super Bowl-bound but were robbed by incompetent referees. The league has the chance to redeem itself by calling on the power of Rule 17, Section 2 of the NFL rule book. The league needs to replay this game. Teams have to deal with bad calls on a regular basis. Unlike you, they get over it because it's just a game. There is no reason for the NFL to replay the NFC Championship. Say the Saints did get that pass interference call. The team could've been stopped by the Rams on the next set of downs and scored a field goal, resulting in the same situation. Also, the Saints could have missed a field goal, giving the Rams a chance to win the game. Or New Orleans could've scored a touchdown and the Rams could've scored on the next drive, too. There are too many variables and outcomes to say one specific situation directly altered the result of the entire game. A replay should not be granted. Allowing fans to dictate what the league can and should do sets a bad precedent for the NFL. The fans need to get over the loss. Analysis: Sorry, Saints fans: Roger Goodell was never going to overturn the result of the NFC title game The Tylt is focused on debates and conversations around news, current events and pop culture. We provide our community with the opportunity to share their opinions and vote on topics that matter most to them. We actively engage the community and present meaningful data on the debates and conversations as they progress. The Tylt is a place where your opinion counts, literally. The Tylt is an Advance Local Media, LLC property. Join us on Twitter @TheTylt, on Instagram @TheTylt or on Facebook, we'd love to hear what you have to say.

https://www.oregonlive.com/tylt/2019/01/should_the_nfl_replay_the_nfc.html

Are U.S. diplomats being used to make political point in Venezuela?

CLOSE Large crowds of protesters gathered in Caracas waving flags and chanting "Get out Maduro" in what was shaping up to be the largest demonstration since a wave of unrest that left more than 120 dead in 2017. (Jan. 23) AP WASHINGTON American diplomatic personnel stationed in Venezuela have suddenly been thrust into the middle of an escalating geopolitical feud between the Trump administration and embattled Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. Maduro demanded Wednesday that all U.S. embassy staff leave Venezuela, after President Donald Trump said Maduros claim to power was illegitimate and recognized Juan Guaido, head of Venezuelas opposition-led National Assembly, as the countrys interim president. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo quickly rejected Maduros mandate, saying Maduro had no authority to expel the American diplomats and insisting they would remain in Venezuela at the invitation of Guaido. The situation has sparked concern in Congress, where the top Democrat and Republican lawmakers on the House Foreign Affairs Committee raised concerns about Pompeos decision and suggested the Trump administration might be using U.S. diplomats to make a political point. Even with the Administrations recognition of Juan Guaid as President, Maduro maintains control over Venezuelas security forces and could use those forces to harm or intimidate American diplomats, Reps. Eliot L. Engel, the Democratic chairman of committee, and Michael T. McCaul, the panels top Republican, wrote in a letter to Pompeo on Thursday. More: Putin warns against 'destructive interference' in Venezuela after Trump recognizes Juan Guaido Given this potential situation, we want to ensure the safety of our diplomats and not allow it to be compromised in order to reiterate the political point that the United States no longer recognizes Maduros legal authority, the two lawmakers wrote. Engel, D-N.Y., and McCaul, R-Texas, also asked Pompeo for immediate briefings and written materials on all efforts to keep U.S. government employees and their families in Caracas safe and contingency plans for these individuals to exit the country if needed. Former diplomats and security experts also questioned Pompeos decision saying it is risky and potentially irresponsible. They note that Venezuela faces massive political upheaval at the moment, as anti-Maduro protesters face off against the Maduro-controlled security forces. At least a dozen protesters have been killed in the recent violence, according to the Associated Press. Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro demonstrates his Salt Bae sprinkling technique during a press conference at the Miraflores Presidential Palace, in Caracas, Venezuela, Tuesday, Sept. 18, 2018. Maduro demonstrated the technique after speaking about the invitation to the famed Nusr-Et steakhouse in Istanbul when he stopped over briefly in Turkey on the way home from a trip to China. (Photo: Ariana Cubillos, AP) This puts Americans lives in danger. Full stop, tweeted Laura Rosenberger, a former State Department and National Security Council official and foreign policy adviser for Hillary Clintons 2016 presidential campaign. And here I thought Republicans cared about the security of our diplomats? Rosenbergers remark was a not-so-subtle reference to the House GOPs two-plus-year investigation of the 2012 terrorist attacks on the U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, which left four Americans dead including Ambassador Christopher Stevens. Republicans blasted then-Secretary of State Clintons handling of the attack. One of Clintons most aggressive questioners was Pompeo, then a GOP congressman representing Kansas. I am surprised somewhat that Secretary Pompeo, given his particular role in the Benghazi investigation, is sort of taking this amount of risk with the personnel (in Venezuela), said Kelly Magsamen, a former National Security Council and Department of Defense official in the Obama administration. These are all tough calls, Magsamen said of whether to leave or evacuate U.S. personnel from potentially dangerous posts in foreign countries. If you choose to keep your personnel in a country where theres potentially significant violence, you really need to depend on the host government to defend the embassy from any potential protests or whatnot, said Magsamen, now vice president for national security and international policy at the Center for American Progress, a liberal Washington think tank. Given that the Maduro government still appears to maintain control of the police and the army, there are reasonable questions about whether or not they would protect American personnel in the event of violence. This puts Americans lives in danger. Full stop. U.S. to defy Venezuelan order for American diplomats to leave Caracas in 72 hours https://t.co/HHbqJ9o09f Laura Rosenberger (@rosenbergerlm) January 24, 2019 R. Evan Ellis, a research professor in Latin American studies at the U.S. Army War College, said Pompeo's decision was "strategically gutsy" because it puts Maduro in a no-win situation. If Maduro sends Venezuela's armed forces to attack the embassy or its staff, the military could turn against him, Ellis said. If Maduro doesn't do anything, Ellis said, he risks looking impotent at a tipping point in his presidency. But while strategically smart, Ellis said, Pompeo's decision is also potentially perilous for those Americans hunkered down in Venezuela. Those foreign service officers are "essentially right now pawns in the middle of a war zone, controlled by a hostile force who is intent on not dislodged from power and so clearly it puts them in a very very difficult situation," said Ellis, who is also a senior associate with the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "This is a very dangerous game of chicken." In an interview with Fox News on Thursday, Trumps National Security Adviser John Bolton said the U.S. had warned Maduro not to harm American citizens in Venezuela. We put a very high priority on the safety both of official Americans in Venezuela and private citizens as well, Bolton said. Weve told the Maduro (regime) very clearly yesterday that if they do anything to endanger Americans, we will hold them directly responsible. I dont think its possible to be any clearer with them than we were. The State Department did not answer questions about how many Americans are stationed in Venezuela or whether any U.S. staff have asked to return to the U.S. despite Pompeo's directive. But a State Department spokesman said the agency was keeping close tabs on the safety of U.S. personal. We are monitoring the security situation in real time, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, the spokesman said. The full range of United States government resources are at the ready to ensure the safety and security of U.S. diplomats and their families. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, defended the administration's decision, saying in a tweet that it was important to make clear Maduro doesn't have the authority to oust American diplomats from Venezuela. . @StateDept@SecPompeo makes clear Maduro has no authority to expel US diplomats from #Venezuela & that The United States will take appropriate actions to hold accountable anyone who endangers the safety and security of our mission and its personnel. https://t.co/5to0WfMarF Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) January 24, 2019 Magsamen said its always desirable to maintain a U.S. diplomatic presence in a foreign country if possible. And she said it was appropriate to telegraph to Maduro that he would be responsible if the embassy or its staff were to be attacked. But keeping diplomats in Venezuela to make a political point is, when theres potential for violence, is to me seems irresponsible, she added. The Maduro government could perceive them (as pawns), she said, and its generating risk for our diplomats in a way that I think is unnecessary. Read or Share this story: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2019/01/24/u-s-diplomats-being-used-make-political-point-venezuela/2666836002/

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2019/01/24/u-s-diplomats-being-used-make-political-point-venezuela/2666836002/

Are the Bulls Right About JD.com's Upside Potential?

2018 was a terrible year for JD.com (NASDAQ: JD), the second largest e-commerce company in China. Its stock was cut in half as its revenue growth decelerated, its profits plunged, and CEO Richard Liu was arrested on a rape allegation. Concerns about escalating trade tensions, the slowing Chinese economy, and the marketwide sell-off exacerbated the pain. However, a few of those headwinds recently dissipated. The charges against Liu were dropped, JD restructured its businesses to prioritize the growth of JD Mall and its Services revenues, it announced a $1 billion buyback, and there were flickers of hope for a trade deal between the U.S. and China. Wall Street also refused to give up on the stock -- of the 40 analysts who cover JD, none of them have issued a "sell" rating yet; 14 of those firms still rate it a "buy." A bull figurine in front of a stock chart. More Image source: Getty Images. One of those firms is Goldman Sachs. Goldman analyst Ronald Keung recently reiterated his bullish stance on JD, declaring that its restructuring and an improved user experience could boost its active customers over 360 million this year -- up from 305.6 million last quarter. Keung also claims that JD experienced significant growth in monthly active users in November (during Singles Day), and that it could generate about 20% sales growth in both the fourth and first quarters -- which would roughly match analyst expectations. Keung maintained a price target of $41 on JD -- which is significantly higher than the average price target of $28 and would mark a near-90% gain from its current price. Reviewing JD's biggest problems JD's growth in gross merchandise volume (GMV), active customers, and revenue all clearly decelerated over the past year. Metric Q4 2017 Q1 2018 Q2 2018 Q3 2018 GMV* 33.1% 30.4% 30.5% 30.5% Active customers 29.1% 27.6% 21.5% 14.6% Revenue* 38.7% 33.1% 31.2% 25.1% Data source: JD quarterly reports. Year-over-year growth. *RMB terms. During the third quarter, JD blamed those declines on slower sales of "large ticket" electronics and home appliances, which was partly offset by stronger demand for other general merchandise. However, the bears will likely note that Alibaba's (NYSE: BABA) core commerce revenue rose 56% annually last quarter, compared to 61% growth in the first quarter. Alibaba also reached 601 million active buyers during the quarter -- giving it nearly double the e-commerce presence of JD. JD's margins also contracted. Its non-GAAP gross margin fell 10 basis points annually to 15.2% as its operating margin dropped 120 basis points to 0.6%. That was caused by a 27% jump in its operating expenses -- which was led by a 96% increase in its Technology and Content costs. Those expenses are spent on improving JD's automated warehouses, its drone deliveries, logistics services, and the user experiences on its website and app.

https://news.yahoo.com/bulls-jd-com-apos-upside-234000851.html

Can an aviation strike end the government shutdown?

With 800,000 federal workers in lines at food banks, calling in sick and looking for other jobs during the longest government shutdown in history, some labor leaders are calling for a bold measure to end the impasse: a mass strike by aviation workers, crippling the movement of travelers and goods, that would force the warring sides to sit down and reopen the government. Couple senior Republican lawmakers tell me the only way this breaks open is if TSA employees stay home and Americans get furious about their flights. Thats the only out, they say. And theyre close to the WH. Robert Costa (@costareports) January 15, 2019 Unions representing air traffic controllers, pilots and flight attendants this week released a grim assessment of the air travel situation. "In our risk-averse industry, we cannot even calculate the level of risk currently at play, nor predict the point at which the entire system will break. It is unprecedented," wrote the unions. Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants, has explicitly called for a general strike to end the shutdown. "If there were a time for the labor movement to speak up, the time is now. The time for action is now," Nelson told CBS News. One major reason there hasn't been a strike during the shutdown is that the law clearly forbids federal workers from striking--unlike their private-sector counterparts. "They cannot legally strike. That's a firm position in federal law and I think all the union leaders understand that," Joseph McCartin, a professor at Georgetown University specializing in U.S. labor relations, told CBS News of the air traffic controllers. That law has been on the books since the 1970s The last time federal workers struck was in 1981, when 11,000 air traffic controllers walked off the job to demand better pay and working conditions. The backlash was severe; then-President Ronald Reagan fired the controllers and their union, Patco, was dissolved. Unlike in 1981, when most of the public supported Reagan's action, public opinion this time is much more divided. A majority of Americans say they have been personally affected by the shutdown, and 70 percent say the issue of a border wall is not worth a shutdown. The circumstances are different enough this time around that today's workers who've not been paid can expect more public sympathy than striking workers in 1981, some labor advocates say. "Even more than the law, what allowed Reagan to fire the controllers successfully was that the public backed him," McCartin said. "If President Trump tried to do the same thing today, with circumstances that are really radically different .... I'm not sure the public would want to back the type of action that Ronald Reagan took." Short of a strike, there are other actions workers can take that would send a message -- and affect how government works. "Federal employees work within the rules, but when they want to protest, they all of a sudden stop doing things efficiently," said Dan Meyer, a partner at law firm Tully Rinckey and a former federal investigator. "Law enforcement is notorious for this." They can also sueas a number of federal workers' unions are currently doing. Lawyers representing workers in one case note that, while the law prevents "essential" workers from walking off the job, it also prevents the government from forcing them to work without pay.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/can-an-aviation-strike-end-the-government-shutdown/

Is It The Right Time For Packers To Draft Aaron Rodgers' Replacement?

Brett Favre was 35 years, six months and 13 days old when the Green Bay Packers drafted his replacement Aaron Rodgers in 2005. Rodgers will be 35 years, three months and 23 days when the 2019 NFL Draft arrives. Green Bay is armed with two first round draft picks No. 12 and 30 for the first time since 2009. Rodgers is coming off arguably his worst year since he became a starter in 2008. The Packers, who went 6-9-1 in 2018, have far greater needs than quarterback. But as Green Bay showed 14 years ago, having the foresight to replace a Hall of Fame quarterback at the right time can lead to continued success. During a 2015 interview, Rodgers was asked how hell feel when the Packers draft his eventual replacement. Ultimately this game is a young mans game and I think your legacy is how you treat your teammates and how they remember you, Rodgers said. Its hard to speculate on that. Im sure that will be interesting, the kind of feelings that Ill be feeling. No one in the Packers organization was feeling very good about Green Bays quarterback play in 2018. Rodgers struggled with accuracy and holding onto the football too long, which led to him being sacked 49 times the fifth most in the league. At times, Rodgers also refused to run the plays former head coach Mike McCarthy sent into the huddle. I've never seen anything like that before in my life, Packers tight end Marcedes Lewis told Yahoo Sports recently. Rodgers completed 62.3% of his passes, his second-lowest number since becoming a starter in 2008. Rodgers had 25 touchdowns, his fewest in a season where hes played at least 10 games. Rodgers fumbled six times and lost three. And his quarterback rating of 97.6 was his fourth-poorest since becoming a starter. Green Bay fired McCarthy with four games left in the regular season, in part because his relationship with Rodgers was beyond repair. The Packers hired 39-year-old Matt LaFleur, and he understands the importance of connecting with Rodgers and getting him back to his MVP level. Honestly, Im not going to have any preconceived notions, LaFleur said of working with Rodgers. I just want to try to develop the best relationship with Aaron because he is a key piece to the puzzle and a key reason why were going to get to where we want to go. When right, Rodgers is one of the top-15 quarterbacks in NFL history. Rodgers has a 103.1 career passer rating, the best in NFL history. Rodgers touchdown-to-interception ratio of 4.23-1 is also tops in league history. In 2018, though, Rodgers didnt look like the player who won MVP honors in 2011 and 2014, and who led the Packers to a championship in Super Bowl XLV. Rodgers threw off his back foot far too often, his mechanics were flawed and he misfired on throws that he rarely missed in past seasons. When asked about his inconsistency late in the year, Rodgers said: Just not being on the same page with the guys were throwing to. It became crystal clear this season that Green Bays future quarterback isnt on the current roster. DeShone Kizer, who went 0-15 as a starter for Cleveland in 2017, played in three games and had a miserable passer rating of 40.5. Kizer completed just 47.6% of his passes, averaged only 4.0 yards per passing attempt and turned the ball over three times without throwing a touchdown pass. The quarterback class of 2019 is solid, but far from spectacular. Ohio States Dwayne Haskins is widely considered the top prospect, while Oklahomas Kyler Murray, Dukes Daniel Jones and Missouris Drew Lock are all expected to go in the first round. With two first round draft picks, the Packers will have a lot of ammunition to move up and down the draft board and potentially find their quarterback of the future. After Green Bay drafted Rodgers in 2005, he sat behind Favre for three years, then took over in his fourth season. If Green Bay drafted its quarterback of tomorrow in April, an identical timeline could unfold. Rodgers has three years left on his contract, meaning the newbie could sit and learn for the same amount of time Rodgers once did. It remains a longshot that the Packers a team littered with holes would take a first round quarterback. But you never say never. My personality has always been to help the young guys out that they bring into our room, Rodgers said in 2015. Ive never felt threatened in those situations. Ive always felt like if there is any type of competition, there wouldnt be a competition. But it would probably be a different situation if they had somebody in here to compete with me. Then the dynamic would probably be a little different. Whether or not that happens this offseason remains to be seen.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/robreischel/2019/01/24/could-packers-look-for-aaron-rodgers-replacement-in-nfl-draft/

Could a sawmill help stem the housing crisis faced by Indigenous communities?

THUNDER BAYOntarios Minister of Indigenous Affairs Greg Rickford sent a particularly rich letter to the federal government this week, demanding urgent action from Ottawa concerning the crisis in Cat Lake. Rickford, the MPP for KenoraRainy River, called it Ottawas legal, fiduciary and constitutional responsibility to make sure First Nations received the basic needs of on-reserve housing. Ontario's Indigenous Services Minister Greg Rickford sent a letter to his federal counterparts demanding housing help for the Cat Lake community. But there are things that Rickford could do, Tanya Talaga writes. ( Frank Gunn / THE CANADIAN PRESS ) Last week, Cat Lake Chief Matthew Keewaykapow declared a state of emergency in his northern Ontario community of 800 people, linking woefully poor housing to a variety of illnesses that are causing people to be airlifted to hospitals in urban centres. A recent report found that more than half the homes in Cat Lake 87 houses out of about 125 need to be demolished because they are unfit to live in. Imagine trying to survive in minus 40C weather in living conditions that make you sick. One answer might be as simple as a sawmill. Rickfords letter aligns with the classic pass-the-buck response of Canadian governments when dealing with Indigenous issues. We see it all the time. The finger of blame begins to wave, each level of government accusing the other of inaction concerning responsibilities outlined under their own colonial laws dont make me go on again about the 1876 Indian Act and unfulfilled treaty obligations. Article Continued Below But this letter from Rickford, sent Jan. 22 to Seamus ORegan, the federal minister of Indigenous services, and Carolyn Bennett, minister of Crown-Indigenous relations is especially eyebrow-raising. Rickford was a member of former prime minister Stephen Harpers government from 2008 to 2015 many of those years in the inner-circle around the cabinet table. He even served as parliamentary secretary of the department that was then called Indian affairs. The deplorable state of housing on reserves in Canada is not new. Substandard housing is a consistent and reoccurring problem that has existed since the reserves were first created in order to clear Indigenous peoples off the land to make way for settlers. Access to safe housing is an important pillar needed to grow healthy children, as is access to an education, clean water, nutritious food and health care. Yet many First Nations and Inuit communities across Canada go without many of these basic human rights. The state of dilapidated, mould-filled homes would be intolerable in mainstream society, according to Nishnawbe Aski Nation Grand Chief Alvin Fiddler. Cat Lake is one of NANs 49 First Nations in northern Ontario, which are spread over two-thirds of the province. Cat Lakes Gladys Nayanookeesic says the most homelessness she has ever seen in Canada is on reserves. Youve got 14 people living in a house because they dont have anywhere else to live. Young couples with kids and no home, she says. Nayanookeesic was recently forced to move her 95-year-old grandma Margaret out of her mould- and bed-bug-filled home. Article Continued Below Instead of passing the buck, there are things Rickford can do. For starters, he can pick up the phone and call Mike McKay, NANs director of housing. McKay wants to see legislative changes at the federal and provincial levels that will allow communities to have lumber mills so they can access wood resources on the land and people can build their own homes. He points out housing standards demanded for homes in cities and the suburbs, such as those concerning energy efficiency, dont really cut it in northern communities. We need to build our own houses. We used to do that. We built our own homes with saw mills that were in the community, he says. But that stopped when modern building codes were introduced. Now the lumber used to construct homes has to meet certain criteria it has to be dried and tested. We cant access all the wood surrounding us. We need to buy it and bring it into the community, he says. Since most NAN First Nations are fly-in, communities have to wait for winter roads in order to transport in large-scale goods. When McKay was a building inspector, he used to write up work orders for improvements such as new exterior stairs. However, the stairs would have to be ordered and shipped from Winnipeg or other cities, at a cost of nearly $3,000. It all comes from the outside, he says. Rickfords letter finished with these thoughts: These houses lack basic services such as clean drinking water, and adequate heating, ventilation and insulation. These houses pose a significant health and safety risk to Indigenous families and are in desperate need of retrofit, replacement and even demolition for the sake of peoples health. The people of Cat Lake, and so many others are depending on your response to this crisis. Ontario stands ready to assist the federal government in meeting its responsibilities, the letter said. Just a suggestion, Minister Rickford, call Mike McKay. Tanya Talaga is a Toronto-based columnist covering Indigenous issues. Follow her on Twitter: @tanyatalaga

https://www.thestar.com/politics/political-opinion/2019/01/24/could-a-sawmill-help-stem-the-housing-crisis-faced-by-indigenous-communities.html

Are Trump's Make America Great Again hats patriotic or racist?

The White House Gift Shop sells this red Make America Great Again baseball cap for $37.95. (Photo: White House Gift Shop) They're red and white and debated all over. The baseball caps embroidered with the campaign slogan "Make America Great Again" are synonymous with President Donald Trump's administration, and have become a hot-button topic, especially in the wake of a racially charged confrontation last week near Washington, D.C.'s Lincoln Memorial. Many, including actress and activist Alyssa Milano, now are calling the baseball caps the modern-day white hoods of the Ku Klux Klan, representing a white nationalist ideology pushed by the president. The standoff involved a group of students from Covington Catholic School, an all-boys high school in Kentucky, who were wearing MAGA hats when they got into a confrontation with a Native American man from Michigan. The Native American elder, Nathan Phillips of Ypsilanti, said he was trying to defuse the tension between the mostly white students and four members of the fringe religious group the Black Hebrew Israelites, who hurled insults at the students. Videos of the incident posted to social media whipped up fierce debate about who was right and who was wrong and the role the MAGA hats may have played in the whole ordeal. John Pavlovitz, an author, pastor, and activist from North Carolina, said the boys might not have fully understood the loaded meaning those hats carry for some people. "To be present at that gathering is one thing, but to be present in those hats is a completely different statement," Pavlovitz said. "Theres no sense of compassion in those hats to most people, so that hat becomes a threat. "They are no longer a neutral symbol. Whenever those hats are worn, theyre going to make a statement that brings with it many assumptions a resistance to diversity, a resistance to equality. Theres homophobia in the image of those hats that comes automatically when we see them. John Pavlovitz, an author, progressive church pastor and blogger from North Carolina. (Photo: Helen Hill Photography) "What we see is that all the presidents ideals are now sort of wrapped up in that one wearable symbol. No matter what one does, they have to understand that to historically repressed communities or vulnerable communities who now feel more under duress when they see those images," said Pavlovitz, who has drawn millions of readers to his blog, "Stuff that Needs to be Said." His latest book, "Hope and Other Superpowers" ($20, Simon & Schuster), was published in November. Rise of the red cap The hats became a staple at Trump rallies and events during his 2016 presidential campaign; they're still sold online through the White House Gift Shop and on donaldjtrump.com, where the slogan "Make America Great Again" is printed on everything from baseball caps to swimsuits, banners, playing cards, megaphones and even beer can koozies. Proceeds benefit his campaign. The MAGA cap became so well known and synonymous with Trump's 2016 campaign that it was dubbed Symbol of the Year by affiliates of the Stanford Symbolic Systems Program, which according to its website, focuses on systems and symbols in communication. FILE - In this May 7, 2016 file photo, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks at a rally in Lynden, Wash. (Photo: Elaine Thompson, AP) A Stanford News Service story about the MAGA hat said it "defined a positional narrative: America was great, is not any more, but could be again," and noted Ronald Reagan first used the "Make America Great Again" slogan during his 1980 campaign for president. Bill Clinton also used the phrase in 1991 in announcing his campaign for president. Todd Davies, program associate director, told the Stanford News Service, Lots of things can be symbols but relatively few things actually are. Being a symbol is an acquired status that gets established through use. Symbols can obviously become notable because the things they represent are notable. Davies told the Free Press that what the MAGA hats represent has changed in the last three years. "I do think the cultural meaning of MAGA hats has evolved since 2016, and that many people (though not all) see the hat at least partly as a symbol of white nationalism in the U.S.," he said in an email. Related content at Freep.com: Catholic student: Our group was not hateful in Washington D.C. incident Native activist offers to meet Covington Catholic students Native American leader of Michigan: 'Mob mentality' in students was 'scary' The Rev. Wendell Anthony, who is pastor of Detroits Fellowship Chapel, a trustee on the national NAACP Board of Directors, and president of the Detroit Branch of the NAACP, said the MAGA hats send a message that is unquestionably divisive for people of color. Buy Photo The Rev. Wendell Anthony, president of the Detroit Branch of the NAACP. (Photo: Detroit Free Press file photo) "The caps that the young men were wearing, it is their right of course, to wear them, but when one says make America great again, what are you talking about?" he said. "Because in order to make America great again, one has to go backwards. You have to go back to a time period in which America as viewed through the prism of many people was not so great. Its confusing, and we dont understand that." The people who wear those hats, Anthony said, are suggesting knowingly or unknowingly that they support all of Trump's policies and his behaviors. "Do you embrace division?" Anthony asked, adding in part, "... in order to wear that hat, you cant just select a part of the man that hat has come to embody. You cannot compartmentalize yourself and say, 'Im going to embrace the part of him that appears to be strong and tells people where to get off,' without embracing all the other hate and racism and division and derision, and the government shutdown that he proudly owns. "When you wear that, youre saying thats what you support. So when I see that hat, thats what I see. I see America at its worst, I do not see America at its best." The conservative view Buy Photo Crowd cheer for President Donald J. Trump during Make America Great Again rally at Total Sports Park in Washington Township, Saturday, April 28, 2018. (Photo: Junfu Han, Detroit Free Press) Laura Ingraham called Milano "a dope" on her podcast Tuesday for characterizing the MAGA hat as the modern-day white KKK hood. Oh, OK sweetheart. That would actually be closer to the truth, right? said Ingraham, who also is a Fox News host. Planned Parenthood is boasting that they had 11,000 more abortions last year and, disproportionately, abortions affect the lives of minorities around the United States, who are, frankly, treated woefully by the Planned Parenthood machine." ... "That actually would be more accurate that the Planned Parenthood cap might as well be the KKK, but not a kid whos wearing a Make America Great Again hat. Former secret service agent Dan Boningo, an author and frequent Fox News commentator, agreed with Ingraham. Are you serious?" he said. Political commentator Laura Ingraham, speaks during the 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland (Photo: Robert Deutsch/USA TODAY) "So Donald Trump who gives you back more of your money, fought for school choice, has black unemployment at the lowest in modern American history if hes a racist, then hes the worst racist in American history. Eric Castiglia, 49, a Republican from Sterling Heights, said Milano's comments were terrible and that in no way should the MAGA hats ever be compared to KKK hoods. "Absolutely not," said Castiglia, who is Catholic. "There are so many people in this country that wear that hat, that look to it for inspiration for a fixing a broken system. "It's not a white hat or a hood over somebody's face.That was the Democratic Party that had a historical connection to the KKK, never the Republican Party affiliated with that group. We are the party of Lincoln." Many on the left have become so vicious, so vocal when it comes to the conservative viewpoint, Castiglia said, that it's stifled the voices of Trump supporters and Christians. "You can't support our president in public," Castiglia said. "People will chastise you, ridicule you and lump you into something that you're not just because you believe in some of his policy issues." As the parent of children who attend Catholic schools, Castiglia explained that Catholic schoolchildren are taught not to talk back to adults, not to cause a scene or be aggressive. "So they stood there smiling because what else were they supposed to do?" Castiglio said. "They stood calm. They didn't do anything wrong. ... If that was my son, I would have been proud of him that he didn't push the drum away, that he didn't say a nasty thing, that he just stood there, smiling. I would have been proud of him. They stood strong, peacefully, and they shouldn't' have had to back down." Buy Photo Crowd cheer for President Donald J. Trump during Make America Great Again rally at Total Sports Park in Washington Township, Saturday, April 28, 2018. (Photo: Junfu Han, Detroit Free Press) StilPavlovitz said it is possible the Covington boys didn't fully understand how politically charged the hats have become. "Young people when they wear those hats, they might not be aware of how weighted they are," he said. "So for instance, these high school students might see it as an expression of solidarity with the president or some statement of pride in their country and be unaware of the legacy of hatred in our country, the legacy of white supremacy. "And really, I think that is a product of their privilege in this case. These are young men who might be largely unaware of the countrys past and even of the presidents policies, quite honestly." A youth pastor for 23 years, Pavlovitz said what was most unsettling for him was seeing in the videos how poorly the chaperones handled the situation. CLOSE View the tense situation through multiple lenses and perspectives, as Christian students, Black Hebrew Israelites and Native Americans get entangled on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. USA TODAY "Students must understand the context of the world in which they're growing up in, and I think thats where you see a failure in this situation," he said. "These adults understand exactly what that symbolism is and therefore, in a way, they are almost weaponizing the young people in their care, theyre almost using them to take a brunt of the message that they want to perpetuate." Native American advocate Nathan Phillips, of Ypsilanti, Mich., sits for a portrait in Ypsilanti on May 2, 2015. Phillips gained national attention following a standoff between Phillips and a group of Catholic high school students went viral on Friday, January 18, 2019 in Washington, D.C. (Photo: Chris Stranad, Chris Stranad) Trump weighs in on Covington Although Trump hasn't commented on the shifting perceptions of what his red MAGA hats have come to mean for many Americans, he said in a tweet that he supports the Covington Catholic School boys, and the 16-year-old junior at the forefront of the controversy, Nicholas Sandmann. He tweeted: "Looking like Nick Sandman (sic) & Covington Catholic students were treated unfairly with early judgements (sic) proving out to be false - smeared by media. Not good, but making big comeback! 'New footage shows that media was wrong about teens encounter with Native American' @TuckerCarlson" Covington Catholic High School was closed Tuesday, the first school day scheduled after an incident in Washington D.C. when students were filmed in an altercation with a Native American man. (Photo: Albert Cesare / The Enquirer) White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders condemned the press for its coverage of the confrontation, telling Fox News host Sean Hannity: "I've never seen people so happy to destroy a kid's life when that becomes the norm in the media in America simply because they're associated with this president. That is disgraceful and that should never have happened. Let's hope that this is a lesson to all of the media, to everyone. Let's focus on getting things right not getting them first." CLOSE Citing the "rude" media coverage, President Trump tweets that he instructed White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders to stop holding press briefings. Veuer's Justin Kircher has the details. Buzz60 For his part in the standoff, Sandmann told NBC's Today Show Wednesday that he did nothing wrong. As far as standing there, I had every right to do so. My position is that I was not disrespectful to Mr. Philips," Sandmann told NBC's Savannah Guthrie." I respect him. Id like to talk to him. I mean in hindsight, I wish we could have walked away and avoided the whole thing, but I cant say that Im sorry for listening to him and standing there. Sandmann said he felt threatened during the confrontation, and said none of the students shouted "build the wall," threats or racial slurs. In hindsight, I wish we had just found another spot to wait for our buses, but at the time being positive seemed better than letting them slander us with all of these things. So, I wish we could have walked away. Phillips said he heard the students shouting "build the wall" as they chanted their school spirit songs. Video shows many of them waving their arms as if using tomahawks, which is considered derogatory. He also told the Free Press he would like to travel to northern Kentucky to talk to the students about cultural appropriation, racism and respecting diverse cultures. The Rev. Anthony said if anything positive comes from this, it's that it's driving a national conversation about an uncomfortable issue. "People of good will black, white, red, yellow have to take the bull by the horns. We have to seize upon the moment. We have to preach from our churches, our synagogues, our mosques, our temples. "We have to say to each other that we all have a significant purpose here and that we must respect our brothers and sisters for our differences because diversity is a good thing. Our nations strength is in its diversity, not in its uniformity." Anthony commended Phillips for offering to meet with students from Covington Catholic. "I think thats powerful," he said. When asked whether the MAGA hats have a role in America in 2019, Anthony said, simply: "I think the hat has a place. The place for it is in a museum." Contact Kristen Jordan Shamus: 313-222-5997 or kshamus@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @kristenshamus. CLOSE azcentral media critic tries to make sense of the social media outrage over Savannah Guthrie's interview on NBC with student Nick Sandmann. Post your thoughts below and we will include a few reader comments in the Sunday Free Press. Read or Share this story: https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2019/01/24/maga-hats-racism-donald-trump/2659479002/

https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2019/01/24/maga-hats-racism-donald-trump/2659479002/

Can Allergan (AGN) Keep the Earnings Streak Alive in Q4?

We expect Allergan plc AGN to beat expectations when it reports fourth-quarter and full-year 2018 results on Jan 29, before market open. In the last reported quarter, the company delivered a positive earnings surprise of 5.99%. Allergans share price has declined 13.8% in the past year compared with the industrys decline of 21.8%. Allergans earnings performance has been strong, with the company beating expectations in each of the past four quarters. The average positive earnings surprise over the last four quarters is 6.66%. Amgen Inc. Price and EPS Surprise Amgen Inc. Price and EPS Surprise | Amgen Inc. Quote Lets see how things are shaping up for this announcement. Factors to Consider We believe that Allergans key products like Botox, Juvderm collection of fillers, Vraylar, Alloderm, Linzess and Lo Loestrin are likely to support sales growth in the quarter. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Botox is $937 million. On the third-quarter call, the company had said that Botox demand was strong despite the launch of Amgens CGRP antibody, Aimovig. However, the company did mention that it expects the growth rate for Botox Therapeutic to moderate due to competition from CGRPs. Other than Aimovig, Tevas and Lillys CGRPs were also approved in September. Botoxs sales growth rate is expected to be in mid- to high-single digits. At the same time, the company said that that the introduction of the CGRPs should expand the migraine market and that Botox and the CGRPs can coexist in the larger market. An update is expected on the fourth-quarter conference call. However, revenues in the fourth quarter are expected to be hurt by recall of Ozurdex in international markets in October, currency translation and lost revenues due to the sale of medical dermatology assets in September 2018. Meanwhile, lower sales of Namenda XR and Estrace cream due to generic competition are expected to continue to hurt Allergans revenues in the fourth quarter. While a generic version of Alzheimers treatment Namenda XR was launched by India based company, Lupin in February 2018 that of Estrace cream was launched by Mylan MYL in January 2018. A generic version of Delzicol is also expected to be launched soon. However, no generic version of Restasis, Allergans second best-selling drug, has been launched yet. On the third-quarter conference call, management had said that a generic version of Restasis is now expected to be launched between Nov 1, 2018 and Jan 1, 2019. The delay in launch of Restasis generics may add to the top line in the fourth quarter.

https://news.yahoo.com/allergan-agn-keep-earnings-streak-002912112.html