House Passes Budget Pact and Military Abuse Protections, but Not Farm Bill

Abstract: WASHINGTON — The House on Thursday approved a bipartisan budget accord and a Pentagon policy bill that would strengthen protections for victims of sexual assault. But as it wrapped up its business for the year, it left unfinished a major piece of domestic policy — the farm bill — making it likely that Congress will not deal with it until January. Republicans and Democrats hope the budget pact, which passed 332 to 94, will act as a truce in the spending battles that have paralyzed Congress for nearly three years, and leaders in both parties sought to marginalize hard-line conservatives opposed to any compromise. The defense measure would, in addition to strengthening protections for military victims of sexual assault, leave open the prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, over President Obama’s objections. The provisions to stem the growing number of sexual assault cases in the military are the most expansive in years. They would include new rules to prevent commanding officers from overturning sexual assault verdicts. But an agreement remained elusive on the farm bill, the subject of continuing disagreements between Republicans and Democrats over spending for food stamps and expanding crop insurance for farmers, among other issues. All the House could pass on Thursday was a simple one-month extension of the current law, which Senate Democrats oppose because they think it will distract from the completion of a new bill. Earlier, with bipartisan support in hand for the budget deal, Speaker John A. Boehner of Ohio declared war on the outside conservative groups that tried to scuttle it. For the second day in a row, he accused groups like the Club for Growth, Heritage Action and Americans for Prosperity of reflexively opposing a reasonable plan to try to raise their profiles and improve their fund-raising. He said the groups had devised the strategy of linking further government spending to the repeal of Mr. Obama’s health care law, then pressing their members and House Republicans to go along, even though they knew it would shut down the government and ultimately fail. “Are you kidding me?” the speaker shouted, denouncing opposition to the budget accord. “There comes a point where some people step over the line. When you criticize something and you have no idea what you’re criticizing, it undermines your credibility.” Yet when the Senate takes up the bill, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader, is likely to vote against it, as are virtually all of the Republican senators who are contending with Tea Party challenges next year or are wooing conservatives for a potential presidential bid. Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama, the ranking Republican on the Senate Budget Committee, has already declared his opposition. “Much of the spending increase in this deal has been justified by increased fees and new revenue,” Mr. Sessions said. “In other words, it’s a fee increase to fuel a spending increase — rather than reducing deficits.” Video The agreement would raise military and domestic spending over the next two years but prevent another government shutdown. Credit Credit J. Scott Applewhite/Associated Press By most analyses, the budget deal, struck by Representative Paul D. Ryan, Republican of Wisconsin, and Senator Patty Murray, Democrat of Washington, is a modest plan to soften the blow of the across-the-board spending cuts, known as sequestration, that went into effect in March, and to slightly lower the budget deficit over the next decade. The legislation would also extend current Medicare payment rates for three months, staving off a cut of more than 20 percent to health care providers. That would allow lawmakers to try to find a more permanent “doctors’ fix” to avoid a deficit reduction measure that neither party has been able to stomach for more than a decade. The budget fight has turned into a donnybrook between congressional leaders and the groups and lawmakers aligned with the Tea Party. It pits the House Republican leadership against the Tea Party wing; one potential Republican presidential candidate, Mr. Ryan, against two others who oppose his deal, Senators Marco Rubio of Florida and Rand Paul of Kentucky; and a congressional majority against outside pressure groups, both liberal and conservative. “It is clear that the conservative movement has come under attack on Capitol Hill,” 50 conservative activists wrote in a letter to congressional Republicans. Democratic leaders took heart in what they saw as a turning point in their battle with uncompromising conservatives and as a moment when a cooperative attitude in Washington might return. “The benefits of this agreement will go far beyond the actual agreement itself,” said Senator Charles E. Schumer of New York, the No. 3 Democrat in Congress. “What we have seen in the Senate over the last several months, and now in the House, led by the courage of Congressman Ryan, is mainstream conservatives standing up to the hard right and saying: ‘This is no good for America. This is no good for the Republican Party. We’re not going to follow the Tea Party, like Thelma and Louise, over a cliff.’ ” Conservative activists and their congressional allies said they would not surrender despite the vote on Thursday. The budget deal “exposes the true colors of several in the G.O.P. establishment when it comes to protecting conservative principles,” said Jenny Beth Martin, the national coordinator of the Tea Party Patriots. The budget deal would reverse many of the across-the-board sequestration cuts that were set to deepen next month. Spending on military and domestic programs would rise to $1.012 trillion from the $967 billion expected this fiscal year, then inch up to $1.014 trillion in the fiscal year that begins in October. But over 10 years, deficits would drop slightly, because of higher airline ticket fees, larger worker contributions to federal retirement plans, slower growth in military pensions, and a two-year extension in the next decade of a 2 percent cut to Medicare provider payments. Mr. Boehner said the legislation “takes giant steps in the right direction.” “We feel very good about where we are with our members,” Mr. Ryan said. Some conservatives feel betrayed, as they often have since the Republicans took control of the House in 2011. Representative Jim Jordan, Republican of Ohio, said the House Republican conference agreed in the spring that spending levels exacted by the sequestration cuts would not change unless Congress and the White House could strike an accord to control the long-term causes of the rising costs of the federal debt, Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. Representative Tim Huelskamp, Republican of Kansas, said most of the deficit reduction in the Ryan-Murray legislation “could be in Hillary’s second term,” a nod to Hillary Rodham Clinton’s expected presidential bid and a measure of the conservatives’ demoralization. The deal does not address the statutory debt limit, which Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew has said would have to be lifted by March for the government to avoid a devastating default. But Representative Raúl R. Labrador, Republican of Idaho, said Republicans “should just cave” on that, too, “because that’s what Republicans do.”

Farm Bill
Congress
Patty Murray
Legislation
US Politics
Federal Budget
House of Representatives
US Military
Rape
Paul D Ryan Jr


East Village Church Awaits Restoration

Abstract: THE hole in the back of St. Brigid’s Roman Catholic Church in the East Village, big enough to walk through, is nailed over with blue plywood now. The tall arched window frames along the side, where construction workers smashed the old painted-glass windows on a day almost two years ago when it seemed the whole building would be razed, are covered in plexiglass. Some of those window coverings are broken, too, so a visitor standing in just the right place on the sidewalk can look up and see the peeling white paint on the ceiling inside, or the birds roosting in the rafters above where the altar used to be. Those birds have been among the only living visitors to the 160-year-old church since the Archdiocese of New York closed it in 2001 for financial and demographic reasons. The demolition was forestalled, first by prolonged legal appeals by neighbors and parishioners, and more recently by an anonymous donor who last month pledged $20 million for the church’s restoration, its continued upkeep and an endowment for an adjoining Catholic school. That means the church should reopen one day, but a walk around the building and a peek through the fencing and scaffolding that surround it show just how far the money will have to go.  Joseph Zwilling, a spokesman for the archdiocese, said last week that architects had been hired, but plans had to be finalized, building permits secured and firms engaged before work could begin. Moreover, because the Trinitarian order that used to provide staff to the church is no longer there, the archdiocese will have to find a new pastor to oversee construction. There is no timetable for the work, Mr. Zwilling said, adding, “You don’t, overnight, just put a church back together.” Some of what must be undone is the archdiocese’s own demolition work, undertaken during the years when the plan was to use the land under the church for some other form of ministry. “Had they been permitted to continue, the church would have been rubble,” said Roland Legiardi-Laura, who lives across the street from the church on East Eighth Street. “That was their intention at that point.” Mr. Zwilling, who maintains that the archdiocese had the right to demolish the church, said far more damage had stemmed from a crack near one of the church’s rear corners that led to the church’s closing in the first place. There is a several-inch-wide gap between where the rear wall is and where it used to be, he said, a gap that has caused damage to the wall, ceiling, floor and foundation. “We were told by construction engineers that the building could collapse at any point,” Mr. Zwilling said. In its current condition, he added, it still could.  For Mr. Legiardi-Laura, who said the church provided comfort during the 1970s and 1980s, among the neighborhood’s most difficult years, the anonymous donation seems like an opportunity for the archdiocese to raise even more money, to return the building to its former glory, including a restoration of twin spires that were removed decades ago. The work that remains is not just physical. The congregation will also have to be restored. Edwin Torres, chairman of the nonprofit Committee to Save St. Brigid’s, said only three parishioners remained on the committee’s 12-member board and he and his wife, Migdalia, were two. But Mr. Torres does not blame those who drifted away. “As years went by, they just got tired, and they said, ‘Oh, we’re not going to win this,’ ” he said. “They kind of lost faith.” Over the years, Mr. Torres has declined an invitation to sit on another church’s board, citing loyalty to St. Brigid’s, and he still donates to the archdiocese’s fund drives. In the weeks since the donation was announced, he has heard from several St. Brigid’s parishioners who are interested in coming back. Some had drifted to Mary Help of Christians Church on East 12th Street, but that church has closed now, too. As for St. Brigid’s, it has been a rough period, Mr. Torres said, but the end is in sight. “As you can see, she’s still standing,” he said. “She’s weathered several winters exposed to the elements, and she hasn’t come down.”

Roman Catholic Church
Buildings (Structures)
East Village (NYC)
Mooney Jake


Fashion Sketches and Cartwheel Practice With Betsey Johnson

Abstract: When Betsey Johnson, the celebrated fashion designer who, at 71, still does cartwheels on the runway, has a show in the works, as she does on Feb. 12 for Fashion Week 2014 at Lincoln Center, her Sundays are overwhelmed by casting calls for models and by the sudden need for decorative detail like, say, gold lamé rose petals. “I’m in a total panic, with adrenaline and excitement,” said Ms. Johnson, who filed for bankruptcy in 2012 and was later bought out by her friend and fellow designer Steve Madden. On a more typical Sunday — “my day of nothing” — she is happy to do little more than kick around her neighborhood, the Upper East Side, or look after her granddaughters, Layla, 7, and Ella, 5, who live in her apartment building with Ms. Johnson’s daughter, Lulu. EARLY START My grandkids live downstairs with my daughter, Lulu, so I get up when the girls get up — about 7 a.m. But I take it slowly and leave time for myself. I’ll have two or three cups of coffee and sit and watch Turner Classic Movies or read The Times. CAREFUL BREAKFAST Breakfast is my favorite meal of the day, but it’s dangerous. It’s a very fattening meal zone. I’ll usually flip one egg over onto a rice cracker. Image At a go-see. Credit Dave Sanders for The New York Times CARTWHEEL REHEARSAL Before showtime I’m always convinced I have to lose three to five pounds for the runway, and I have to practice my cartwheel. So lately I’ve been clearing the coffee table away and practicing. But it’s too much. It hurts to do three cartwheels in the morning. QUIET INTERVAL Now, about 9 or so, I go downstairs. But I don’t talk about work. I have rules. I’m careful to be smooth and quiet with my daughter and her kids. I go with the flow and try not to disturb things. They’re usually still in bed with Mommy, watching reality shows or “Saturday Night Live” reruns. They do that for hours. It’s a real siesta. FIRST SHOWING I get into the movie mode on Sunday with a new good movie. I want to be at the first showing because I don’t want to stand in line. So I usually go at sometime around 11 to the theater at 86th and Lexington. AT THE SKETCH PAD If I don’t have a movie, I like a day where I can just draw. I’ve been drawing words a lot lately. There’s a Betsey Johnson computer font that I have to work on — it just doesn’t look right — and we just added stationery to our product line. I have to draw fashion sketches of the new stuff coming up and, of course, I’m always sketching out the collection. Image Shopping for a Super Bowl party. Credit Dave Sanders for The New York Times REGULAR TABLE Then I have to go have my smoked salmon at Café Boulud . I have a special bad table so I don’t have to make a reservation. It’s near a column and the service station where all the workers come and go from. I love it. It’s like my own little private Idaho zone. And I love the restaurant even though it’s a very un-me kind of place. It’s very elegant. The lighting is bright. Everybody’s quite formal. It’s like going to church. DOUBLE FEATURE, MAYBE After that, I might go to another movie. I don’t want to do any business. I don’t want to do my research. I don’t want to see clothes or go to a museum. I guess it would be different if I had a boyfriend. GRANDMOTHERING I’m also a big babysitter. I have a lot of arts supplies, and the girls, they’re so creative. The other day, they made clothes and shoes and umbrellas for their two teddy bears. And Ella was in a little pink dress, with red and black striped tights and a red daddy’s necktie. I really do think that kids are the creative germ of life. SHOW PREP Last Sunday we did go-sees. The models go up and down the studio so that we can see them. We play the show music really loud and sort through our accessories. A lot of it is troubleshooting: We need a zipper pull but the factory is closed for Chinese New Year, or the hair-and-makeup team showed up but we forgot to book a model. I’ve done two shows a year for 45 years, but I still don’t sleep. DINNER AND BEDTIME Then it’s basically dinner at one of the restaurants in the neighborhood I like with my branzino and a glass of wine. And after that, I’m in bed by 9 or 10. If things are right, I can go all night, but otherwise? Eh. Wait until you turn 71.

Fashion
Betsey Johnson
Upper East Side Manhattan
The arts


Small Business Is Latest Focus in Health Fight

Abstract: As the number of people without health insurance continues to rise, many states and Congress have begun to focus on one of the biggest causes: the growing number of small business owners and their workers who are unable to afford coverage. The states are taking a variety of approaches. To help ease the burden of insurance premiums that have roughly doubled since 2000, some, like Arizona , are extending tax credits to small employers that provide medical coverage. Others, including New Mexico and Montana , are exploring ways to let small businesses band together to amass the purchasing power of big employers. Massachusetts plans to let small businesses benefit from its state-supervised insurance program. And some states, like Colorado , have passed tougher laws governing what insurers can charge small companies. “States are being aggressive experimenters, and those lessons learned are going to be invaluable to us in looking at national health reform,” said Michelle Dimarob, manager of legislative affairs for the National Federation of Independent Business. Congress, meanwhile, is considering legislation that, among other steps, would make it significantly easier for small businesses to organize insurance-buying pools. Despite bipartisan backing in both the House and Senate, it is uncertain whether the bills can be passed in this, an election year. But proponents say the legislation would almost certainly be reintroduced next term. Because smaller businesses cannot spread the costs and risks of an individual’s high medical bills over a large work force the way a big company can, they often must settle for less-generous coverage that leaves workers with substantial out-of-pocket medical expenses. Many small employers simply choose not to provide health benefits, which can cost more than $12,000 a year for a family of four. Of the 47 million uninsured people in this country, at least 20 million are employed by small businesses or work for themselves — a figure that has increased by an average of more than 500,000 a year since 2000. That is why, even as the presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama are floating ideas for making insurance easier to obtain by individuals, there are also efforts under way to address the needs of small businesses. “Half of the uninsured people in our state are working for small business,” said Nancy Wyman, the state comptroller for Connecticut . Despite broad interest in the issue, though, making significant changes at the state level can be difficult, politically and practically, as Connecticut’s recent experience shows. In June, the state’s Republican governor, M. Jodi Rell , vetoed a measure passed by the Democratic-led legislature that was meant to help small employers by letting them join a state-run insurance-purchasing pool. Big insurers lobbied heavily against the move, arguing that it would do nothing to stem the rising health costs that are reflected in high premiums. “This debate continues to focus on the premiums rather than health care costs,” said David R. Fusco, the president of Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Connecticut, the state’s largest insurer for small businesses. “We have to look at the issue of the underlying cost.” Connecticut Democratic legislators have vowed to try again next year. Massachusetts, in its widely watched effort to overhaul health insurance, has focused so far on making affordable coverage available to individuals. But later this year the state plans to expand the program to small employers, letting them participate in the state-supervised marketplace set up to give individuals group purchasing power. Nationally, the percentage of businesses with fewer than 200 employees that offer insurance fell to 59 percent last year, down from 66 percent as recently as 2002, according to the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. And less than half of the smallest companies, those with under 10 employees, were providing coverage last year. Not only does the cost of insurance tend to be a bigger burden for a smaller business, but Jon R. Gabel, a health policy researcher at the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago , estimates that small firms pay 18 percent more for the same insurance than big companies. And employers that do continue to provide health benefits are tending to ask workers to pay more of the overall premiums. So even when small business owners offer coverage, their employees may not be able to afford to sign up. Louis Lista runs the Pond House Cafe in Hartford , where he employs about 50 people, depending on the time of year. Some of his workers are dishwashers, making just $10 or $11 an hour. Although Mr. Lista pays half of the cost of coverage, his employees must nonetheless come up with as much as $150 a month for their share of health insurance. Some choose to go without. “When they’re sick, they go to the emergency room,” Mr. Lista said. One of his waitresses who has chosen not to take insurance, for example, recently ran up $15,000 in medical bills from an emergency room visit. “She doesn’t have the money to pay for it,” he added. In Connecticut, Governor Rell has said that despite her veto she wants to work with legislators to address the concerns of small business. Legislators had sought a way for small businesses to join with the state’s 200,000 employees to spread their risks and take advantage of the state’s negotiating clout with insurers. Even before the governor’s recent veto, Connecticut had already taken significant steps meant to help small employers provide affordable health coverage. It was among the first, for example, to pass laws intended to limit the large annual jumps in premiums that tend to plague small businesses. “Connecticut was one of the first states to do it right,” said Gary Claxton, who researches health insurance for the Kaiser Family Foundation. But even Connecticut has yet to find a way to reduce the potential risk to a small company or insurer if even a single employee develops a serious illness and runs up tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical bills. And small businesses in Connecticut and elsewhere still complain of the shock of sharply higher rates when, for example, they replace a 25-year-old man with a 35-year-old woman — insurers know that women tend to go to the doctor more frequently — or when a worker celebrates a milestone birthday. In Virginia , a florist shop in Culpeper that covers three people had its premiums raised by more than 50 percent last year, after the owner turned 60. The business, which pays the full premium for employees, now spends nearly $1,800 a month on health insurance, up from $1,100, and it elected not to seek a reduction in rates by cutting benefits. Cutting benefits is “not fair to your employees,” said Carol Inskeep, the shop’s manager. Many small business owners say it is hard to understand how their insurers are pricing the premiums. “The last few years have been puzzling,” said Thomas Massingham, a florist in Dover, N.H., who employs three people and pays half of the cost of their coverage. Mr. Massingham has seen premiums go up by about 50 percent in some years, only to fall drastically after New Hampshire in 2006 began forbidding insurers from using the health of a company’s employees to set premiums and put stricter limits on rate increases. Even so, this year he was faced with a rate jump of nearly 40 percent, to about $600 an employee a month, to keep the same coverage. By switching the type of plan and raising everyone’s annual maximum out-of-pocket expenses to $2,000, up from $1,500 last year, he limited the premium increase to 15 percent. He and his employees will split the $500 monthly premium per person. State laws now typically make it impossible for businesses to cross state lines to create their own purchasing pools, and small companies have had little success to date in being able to band together in sufficient numbers within state borders. But the federal legislation would let businesses form such purchasing pools more easily, even across state lines. The legislation would also prevent insurers in any state from basing their premiums on the health status of employees — a prohibition now on the books in only a minority of states. The legislation would also offer tax credits to businesses that provide coverage insurance to their employees. The Senate version of the bill, introduced in April and supported by Democrats Dick Durbin of Illinois and Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas and Republicans Olympia J. Snowe of Maine and Norm Coleman of Minnesota , would give states the ability to regulate the insurance plans offered through the pools, to prevent them from being abused. A similar House version was introduced this month. The bipartisan legislation is supported by a number of small business groups, including the National Federation of Independent Business, as well as consumer groups. The states, meanwhile, will continue experimenting with their own efforts, according to Richard Cauchi, who follows state health initiatives for the National Conference of State Legislatures. “There’s certainly momentum and growing interest on the state level,” he said. In Connecticut, Ms. Wyman, a Democrat who supported the measure the governor recently vetoed, continues to push for creation of some sort of state-directed purchasing pool. But she recognizes the challenges ahead. “This is not an easy problem to solve,” she said. “We know it.”

Small business
Health Insurance
Legislation
US states


Falcons Rout Giants, Ensuring a Bumpy Playoff Path

Abstract: ATLANTA — All week, Giants players said this year could be different. They had lived through the stress that came with spending the final month of last season with their tiptoes on the precipice and, after they walloped the New Orleans Saints a week ago, it seemed reasonable to think that this time, they really might make the finish a little less dramatic. Maybe, just maybe, they said, they could make it easier on their fans, their coaches and themselves. Instead, it was only the Atlanta Falcons who showed Sunday that they are worthy of a new perspective. Often seen as pretenders among the N.F.L.’s elite because of poor postseason performances, the Falcons routed the Giants, 34-0, further establishing their dominance in the N.F.C. and dooming the Giants to the same old story of a white-knuckle endgame. The Giants no longer hold a home playoff game in their hands. For at the same time the Giants were being shut out in the regular season for the first time since 1996, the Washington Redskins — without quarterback Robert Griffin III — beat the Cleveland Browns to move into a first-place tie with the Giants in the N.F.C. East. Later in the day, the Dallas Cowboys beat Pittsburgh in overtime to also improve to 8-6. Washington has a slightly superior division record (3-1) over the Cowboys (3-2), which gives the Redskins the first tiebreaker edge over Dallas and the Giants (2-3). For the third straight season, the Giants lost in Week 15 to hamper their postseason hopes, and they will travel to Baltimore next week with the division title, and even a playoff berth, in doubt. “After today’s performance, we’ve got a lot of questions to answer,” Justin Tuck said. “I wish I had some red shoes and I could wish myself right to next Sunday.” Coach Tom Coughlin was even more basic. “Atlanta was very, very good, and we were very, very bad,” he said to open his postgame news conference. He answered a few more questions but then hopped off the makeshift stage; in many ways, there was little else to say. It was a startling — though not altogether stunning — turn for the Giants, who have appeared to be a serious Super Bowl contender for most of the season but have been undercut by some horrendous performances. Sunday’s showing, in which they were never competitive against the Falcons, will go up against their meltdown in Cincinnati last month as the most disappointing of the season. Simply put, the Giants struggled in every phase: their offense, which was so effective against the Saints a week ago, never fired; their pass rush rarely ventured into Atlanta quarterback Matt Ryan’s peripheral vision, let alone his personal space; and their secondary, which was hampered by injuries to cornerback Prince Amukamara and safety Kenny Phillips, was punctured repeatedly for big plays down the field. Kicker Lawrence Tynes missed his third field-goal attempt in December after missing only three attempts in the previous three months combined. The demolition was comprehensive. Ryan passed for 270 yards and 3 touchdowns; eight players caught passes for Atlanta; and running back Michael Turner recorded 52 rushing yards and a score. Defensive tackle Chris Canty looked pained afterward — by the result and by a neck injury that seemed to limit movement in his right arm — and he did not hesitate to call the game an embarrassment. Jason Pierre-Paul used the same word. Linebacker Mathias Kiwanuka said the Giants’ performance was “unacceptable by any standard.” Of course, this has been a pattern for the Giants. In Week 3, they routed Carolina, then lost the next week to Philadelphia. After losing to the Bengals in Week 10, they dominated Green Bay following a bye only to fizzle against Washington. The one-step-forward, one-step-back routine then continued with the rout against New Orleans and this blowout loss to the Falcons. “Two steps back,” defensive end Osi Umenyiora said, correcting a reporter. “It’s very frustrating. Obviously, nothing we did worked.” The list of Giants players who struggled was lengthy. Eli Manning might have felt as if Falcons defenders actually touched his passes more often than this own receivers, as he finished only 13 of 25 for 161 yards and 2 interceptions. David Wilson, playing in place of the injured running back Ahmad Bradshaw, was inconsistent in his first N.F.L. start, totaling 55 rushing yards but missing some blocking assignments and failing to provide any kind of spark on kickoff returns. Last season, it was the Giants who capitalized on two fourth-down stops of the Falcons, but this time, they were the ones bemoaning poor execution when it mattered most. Trailing by 17-0 late in the first half, and with the offense hoping to just get points on the scoreboard before halftime, Coughlin twice eschewed field-goal tries to attempt short-yardage fourth-down plays. On the first, Wilson was stuffed well short with about six minutes remaining. On the second, with the Giants in range for a chip-shot kick at the Atlanta 11, Kregg Lumpkin was stopped on third-and-1, and Manning’s fourth-down pass intended for Victor Cruz was batted away as the crowd roared. “We really have no room for error right now,” Umenyiora said. “They dominated us. We got beat down.” The game was played against the sobering backdrop of the shooting at a Newtown, Conn., school on Friday, and Coughlin began his traditional Saturday night team meeting with a moment of silence. The Giants’ helmets also had the letters S.H.E.S. written on them to serve as a reminder of the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Coughlin’s hat was similarly inscribed. Several players created additional tributes. Cruz reached out to the parents of one of the victims, Jack Pinto, a 6-year-old who was a fan of the Giants and Cruz. Cruz wrote Jack’s name and “My Hero” on his cleats (and put a similar message on his gloves), and said that he was told by Jack’s parents that they were considering burying Jack in a No. 80 Giants jersey. He said after the game that he hoped to visit Jack’s family this week, “even if it’s just for an hour.” He added that he planned to bring the shoes and gloves with him as gifts.

Atlanta Falcons
New York Giants
Manning Eli
Football
Ryan Matt (1985- )


A Tribute to Veterans at Attack Site in Ottawa

Abstract: OTTAWA — Tens of thousands of Canadians streamed toward the National War Memorial on Tuesday, just three weeks after a gunman shot a soldier guarding it and rampaged through the Parliament building, plunging the capital into panic and fear. The fatal shooting of the soldier, Cpl. Nathan Cirillo, elevated the significance of Canada ’s annual Remembrance Day service. While a larger crowd than usual had been expected this year, the 100th anniversary of Canada’s entry into World War I, the killing of Corporal Cirillo, as well as the death of another soldier in Quebec in an intentional hit-and-run last month , brought out numbers of people not seen in decades. As the crowd filled outward from the square surrounding the monument, many people paid their respects beyond the audible range of loudspeakers and had, at best, partial views of giant television screens well in the distance. Their largely silent experience was broken only by the distant sound of gun salutes, a military jet flyby and the faint drone of bagpipes. Katharine Gillis, one of those on the fringes, said she came every year to the ceremony, which is held on the date of the armistice ending World War I but has come to honor all Canadian soldiers killed while in service. “It was more important for me to come this year than any other year,” she said moments before the police stopped nearby traffic for a minute of silence at 11 a.m., the hour at which World War I officially ended. “You can’t let threats dominate your freedom and sense of freedom.” Unable to see over the crowd, Sarah Harvey sat on a retaining wall, her dog, Lilly, at her feet, waiting for the start of the service. Like many people, she had come for the first time because of last month’s events. “People were a little thrown by it,” Ms. Harvey said. “There’s a sense of solidarity after events like this.” Along with the unusually large crowd came an exceptional amount of security. Out of sight of the monument, a heavily armored police vehicle that had been racing through the streets after last month’s shooting stood by. Members of a tactical squad carrying automatic weapons were at its doors. Police snipers looked down from rooftops neighboring the memorial. As is normally the case, the service involved prayers, hymns and the laying of wreaths by dignitaries, who this year included Princess Anne, Queen Elizabeth’s daughter. She attended to rededicate the monument , which was dedicated 75 years ago by her maternal grandfather, King George VI, less than four months before Canadian troops began fighting in World War ll. Because of last month’s events, Prime Minister Stephen Harper left the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Beijing early to attend the ceremony.

Ottawa
Nathan Cirillo
Canada
World War I
Military
Terrorism


Science Tools Anyone Can Afford

Abstract: STANFORD, CALIF. — Manu Prakash keeps a map on his bedroom wall that imagines what the world would look like if it were configured according to the scientific research that each region produces. Judged this way, he said, “Africa just disappears, India is small, and China is only a little bigger.” To combat that inequity, Dr. Prakash has proposed the creation of a “frugal science.” He believes that by distributing powerful yet inexpensive laboratory instruments he can play the role of a scientific Johnny Appleseed , spreading science and medical opportunity around the globe. “Today people look at these extraordinary labs and forget that in the 1800s they could still do the exact same science,” he said, referring to major research laboratories and the work accomplished in far more modest settings. Dr. Prakash , 34, a biophysicist and an assistant professor at Stanford University, is designing laboratory tools that are significantly cheaper and in some cases more powerful than existing professional equipment. Last month he received widespread attention for his Foldscope , a 3D-printed microscope assembled from origami-folded paper. The microscope will make it possible for schoolchildren, laboratory technicians and even the world’s best scientists to have the imaging power of a desktop instrument worth several thousand dollars at the cost of less than a dollar. He said he hopes to put paper microscopes in the hands of every child in the developing world, providing them with the ability to see for themselves such things as whether their drinking water is clean. “I want to explore what happens to society when microscopes are a common day-to-day term,” he said recently in an interview in his laboratory at the James H. Clark Center at Stanford. The microscope is part of Dr. Prakash’s larger vision of providing “science laboratories for the rest of us.” And that goal was further advanced earlier this month when he and a graduate student, George Korir , were awarded the $50,000 first prize in the Moore Foundation Science Play and Research Kit Competition , a challenge to reimagine the ubiquitous chemistry set of an earlier era that could capture the imagination of a new generation of young scientists. The researchers produced a prototype of a chemistry “lab on a chip,” which they based on a technology known as microfluidics that involves etching and depositing pipes, valves and pumps onto a silicon chip. Dr. Prakash has been a pioneer in using microfluids rather than electric current to both act as computer logic and simultaneously manipulate materials to create chemical reactions. The potential for these kinds of tools became evident after the Moore Foundation , established by Gordon Moore, a pioneering semiconductor engineer who was a founder of Intel, announced that it had awarded Dr. Prakash’s laboratory $757,000 to manufacture 10,000 Foldscopes, to be distributed to people who submit a question they would like to use the instrument to help answer. In the two weeks after the March 11 announcement, more than 8,000 applications had been received. They included: ■ A farmer in Mongolia who asked for a Foldscope to help him persuade other farmers in his community that they should either boil or pasteurize their milk. Few people in his rural community thought that something called “bacteria” existed, and the farmer believed that proving it to them would change their behavior. ■ The Tanzania Albinism Society , which requested microscopes to better understand the risks of skin cancer. ■ A rural beekeeper in the United States, who wants to help catalog the micro-organisms that cause diseases in bees. ■ A researcher for the Canadian Space Agency who plans to launch micro-organisms into orbit aboard a minisatellite. He needs a microscope that weighs less than 10 grams, and the Foldscope is just 8 grams. Dr. Prakash’s interest in science goes back to his childhood in India, where he and his brother were regular science-fair winners. He was 9 years old when the Exxon Valdez oil tanker accident occurred. Seeking to dramatize the need for a better way to control oil spills, he built a model tanker, filled it with oil, and then exploded it in a demonstration pool. Unfortunately, the judges, who were standing next to the pool to get a closer view, were singed in the ensuing oil fire. Dr. Prakash came to study in the United States after he buttonholed the physicist Neil Gershenfeld of M.I.T. during his visit to the Indian Institute of Technology in Kanpur. Dr. Gershenfeld recalled that after his lecture a student “who wouldn’t shut up” descended upon him. “There were all these serious students, and then there was Manu,” he said. “He had 10 different projects and 10 different ideas, and none of them made sense, and all were interesting.” Dr. Prakash obtained a Ph.D. from the M.I.T. Media Laboratory in 2008. With Dr. Gershenfeld, he pioneered microfluidic bubble logic , a technology that combines computing and chemistry. Information is represented by microbubbles that can move through channels that branch and switch. Unlike bits in electronic circuits, however, the bubbles can not only represent ones and zeroes but can also carry a chemical payload, making it possible to simultaneously manipulate information and materials. The inexpensive science tools may turn out to be Dr. Prakash’s greatest claim to fame. In February at the annual meeting for the Pew Charitable Trusts programs in biomedical sciences, in Herradura, Costa Rica, Dr. Prakash demonstrated his microscope to a roomful of scientists, including two Nobel laureates. It is made from die-cut paper, can be assembled in several minutes and can have a resolution that approaches 700 nanometers. That makes it a potential medical instrument for imaging and diagnosing deadly bacterial diseases, including tuberculosis, malaria, African sleeping sickness , leishmaniasis and giardiasis . It also can achieve magnification above 2,000 times using standard laboratory slide samples, weighs less than two nickels, requires no external power, can project a high-resolution image on a wall, and fits in a pocket. Dr. Prakash, who likes to emphasize its ruggedness, said that it could survive a drop from a three-story building, and he demonstrated its strength by stomping on it. Michael B. Eisen , an associate professor in molecular biology at the University of California, Berkeley, noted that the audience members reacted like children with new toys. “You had a roomful of scientists, including two Nobel Prize winners, staring at this with wonder,” he recalled. “There is something magical about doing things like this.”

Stanford
Manu Prakash
Labs
Microscope
Third World
3-D Printers


Stenson Gains an Edge From Losing a Big Lead

Abstract: ATLANTA — Henrik Stenson relished the sight of a clear sky when he peeked outside his window Sunday morning. In the first two and a half rounds of the Tour Championship, contested under dry conditions, he was 14 under par. Over the next nine holes, when he kept swapping out golf clubs for an umbrella, Stenson was three over. On Sunday, Stenson resumed his impeccable fair-weather play. A two-under-par 68 took him to minus 13 over all, good for a three-stroke victory and the FedEx Cup points championship. Stenson had given back five strokes of a nine-shot lead on the back nine Saturday. On Sunday, Jordan Spieth made four straight birdies beginning at No. 13 that crashed Stenson’s comfort zone, briefly reducing the spread to one. Spieth bogeyed No. 17 as Stenson birdied the 15th. Spieth tied for second with Steve Stricker. Stenson called his smaller lead a blessing. “It really made me focus, go out there and play my game to hold the guys off,” he said. But he acknowledged a dip in confidence, saying, “It can turn around very quickly in this game.” Stenson’s combined earnings of $11.14 million might soothe some financial wounds left by a disastrous investment with his former sponsor, Stanford Financial Group. The firm was shut down by federal authorities for operating a suspected Ponzi scheme, and no money has been returned to clients. “At this stage of my career, I’m playing for these,” he said, tapping the crystal tournament trophy. “Whatever will happen with the Stanford issue, I’m in a good place financially.” The 20-year-old Spieth was not well known at the start of the season, when he was ranked 809th and playing on the Web.com Tour. Aware of his two United States Junior Amateur titles and his N.C.A.A. championship in his only try, golf insiders predicted success for him, just not so soon. Spieth had always exuded maturity, even if quitting football as a starting quarterback might be considered crazy by his fellow Texans. He was outrageously competitive at any venture, even fishing. “I just had to readjust goals a couple different times this year,” Spieth said. One goal he achieve was to secure a guaranteed PGA Tour slot in 2014. Spieth has risen, unofficially, to No. 21 in the world, becoming the youngest PGA Tour event winner since 1931. Spieth has wearied of news media references to his youth. But he must deal with it for two more weeks, because he was chosen for the Presidents Cup, where his American teammates range from age 27 to 46. “There’s no need to let everything sink in now,” he said, already looking toward the competition, which begins Oct. 1. “I’ve got to stay focused.” Spieth remained focused for a 10-hole stretch starting at No. 7, with seven birdies and three pars. Stenson said, “It was definitely game on.” On the par-4 17th, Spieth miscalculated his approach shot and missed the green. A bogey finished him off, and he was caught by Stricker, who eagled the 15th. “The kid’s played great,” Stricker said. “He’s a good kid.” Even with $43 million in tournament purse and the Cup bonus money at stake, there were moments of levity. After Keegan Bradley one-hopped a fairway blast on the par-4 seventh hole into the cup for an eagle, he dropped to the ground and mimicked a slumped-over pose known as Dufnering, a nod to Jason Dufner, who first made the move, widely seen in a video online. “It was the highlight of the year for me,” said Bradley, who said he was plotting the gesture all season, awaiting an opportunity that finally came. Dufner joked that he did not expect Bradley’s version to draw nearly as many views online. Dufner said, “He’s not that popular.”

Henrik Stenson
Golf
Fedex
Jordan Spieth
Steve Stricker


For Pornographers, Internet’s Virtues Turn to Vices

Abstract: The Internet was supposed to be a tremendous boon for the pornography industry, creating a global market of images and videos accessible from the privacy of a home computer. For a time it worked, with wider distribution and social acceptance driving a steady increase in sales. But now the established pornography business is in decline — and the Internet is being held responsible. The online availability of free or low-cost photos and videos has begun to take a fierce toll on sales of X-rated DVDs. Inexpensive digital technology has paved the way for aspiring amateur pornographers, who are flooding the market, while everyone in the industry is giving away more material to lure paying customers. And unlike consumers looking for music and other media, viewers of pornography do not seem to mind giving up brand-name producers and performers for anonymous ones, or a well-lighted movie set for a ratty couch at an amateur videographer’s house. After years of essentially steady increases, sales and rentals of pornographic videos were $3.62 billion in 2006, down from $4.28 billion in 2005, according to estimates by AVN, an industry trade publication. If the situation does not change, the overall $13 billion sex-related entertainment market may shrink this year, said Paul Fishbein, president of AVN Media Network, the magazine’s publisher. The industry’s online revenue is substantial but is not growing quickly enough to make up for the drop in video income. Older companies in the industry are responding with better production values and more sophisticated Web offerings. But to their chagrin, making and distributing pornography have become a lot easier. “People are making movies in their houses and dragging and dropping them” onto free Web sites, said Harvey Kaplan, a former maker of pornographic movies and now chief executive of GoGoBill.com, which processes payments for pornographic Web sites. “It’s killing the marketplace.” It is an unusual twist on the Internet-transforms-industry story. The Internet quickly presented a challenge to some businesses, like recorded music and newspapers. But initially, the digital age led to a kind of mainstreaming of pornography by providing easy and anonymous access online. The spread of high-speed Internet access promised even further growth. Instead, faster connections have simply allowed people to download free movies more quickly, and allowed amateur moviemakers to upload their creations easily. Perhaps counterintuitively, the market continues to be flooded with new video releases, both online and on disc. Mr. Fishbein said that this year he expected to see more than 1,000 X-rated DVDs a month produced for retail sale, a figure driven in part by the new spate of low-budget filmmakers. “The barrier to get into the industry is so low: you need a video camera and a couple of people who will have sex,” Mr. Fishbein said. Some companies say they have had success with selling subscriptions to their Web sites, and in offering movies for download or watching online. But Internet revenue, while growing modestly, is not compensating for the drop in video sales and rentals. In 2006, revenue from online subscriptions and sales was $2.8 billion, up from $2.5 billion in 2005, according to estimates from AVN — an increase but nothing near the e-commerce growth enjoyed by many industries. The more traditional pornographic film companies are not giving up, of course. They say they have an answer to the new competition: quality. They are seeking to differentiate themselves from makers of inexpensive films by selling with fancier packaging in stores or through slicker Web sites, and by using better cameras and more experienced directors and performers. They are banking that viewers will be discerning when it comes to sex. “We use good-quality lighting and very good sound,” said David Joseph, president of Red Light District, a production company in Los Angeles that has made films like “Obscene Behavior.” Mr. Joseph said his company did not waste its time, or that of the viewers, on unnecessary plot lines. “There’s not a whole lot of story — it’s basically right to the sex, but we’re consistent with the quality,” he said, noting that the company is also careful to pick interesting backdrops. “We use different locations, rooms and couches.” Red Light’s sales have dropped more than 30 percent in the last two years. To counter the trend, Mr. Joseph says the company plans to start giving film buyers an extra promotional DVD with more scenes from its movies, which typically cost $20. He also plans to improve the packaging of his DVDs. A similar tactic is planned by Sean Logan, chief of Nectar Entertainment, which has made movies like “Exxxtasy Island.” Business is down 25 percent in the last year, Mr. Logan said, and, because his movies cost $50,000 to $80,000 to make, he cannot afford to compete with some DVD competitors who are dropping their prices as low as a few dollars a film to maintain their volume of sales. But Mr. Logan said he could improve his packaging for retail shelves. He has begun adding a sleeve around his box covers that includes a foil logo and metallic sheen to bring out the images, as was done on “Brazilian Island Trilogy.” He said he was sticking to his plan to shoot his movies in exotic locations like Brazil or simulating them with elaborate sets. For the movie “Mystified,” Nectar built an elaborate set that included a waterfall in a warehouse in Canoga Park, Calif. It is not your everyday backdrop for hard-core sex, Mr. Logan noted: “It looks like ‘Lord of the Rings.’ ” Nectar, like Red Light, recently introduced a redesigned Web site to compete better online. Nectar charges $29.95 a month for access, which allows members to look at thousands of still photos and stream 35 movies from its library. But this is a far cry from the price and the volume of free X-rated content available on some sites. One site operated by Adult Entertainment Broadcast Network has 200,000 videos, many of them submitted by amateur videographers, said Scott Coffman, the company’s president. “We get input from all over the world — Japan, Germany, Brazil,” Mr. Coffman said, noting that even he was surprised by the number of contributors. “It’s the same thing as YouTube, where you’re wondering, How many people out there have cameras and are filming this stuff?” Mr. Coffman said he was not in the business of giving away content. About half the videos submitted to the site, he said, are from pornographic movie companies looking to get viewers interested and persuade them to pay for a longer download or DVD. Some companies pay to have their clips displayed on the site, and some give it a cut of the revenue if a visitor turns into a customer. In fact, many of the free video clips circulating online are distributed by companies using them as marketing tools. Mr. Kaplan of GoGoBill.com said he thought that was a failed strategy. “They think that if they give people enough of a free sample, they’ll come back and pay, but that’s not true,” he said. The reality, he said, is that people are surfing for free material, getting what they want and then leaving. But some in the industry disagree. Manny Ulele, the founder of a Las Vegas-based video production company and Web site, said the use of these teaser videos was turning the online pornography business into something of a science. (That is not his real name, but one he uses for business purposes.) Mr. Ulele said his company could pay $500 to $600 a day to get its short clips listed prominently on popular video clearinghouses. He said that fee could be justified by the rates at which people follow through: 1 in 1,000 viewers of the free content click onto his site, he said, and 1 in 600 of those might buy something — a subscription, DVD or other product. Over all, he said, his Web site has around 10,000 customers paying $30 a month to download or stream video clips. “The perception of the consumer is that there is free porn,” Mr. Ulele said. “But most of it nowadays is controlled.” He added that he and other operators understood what length of video clip, and what kind of clip, would hook viewers. “We’ve been fine-tuning it for years,” he said. “We’re able to determine exactly what works and what doesn’t.”

Sales
Computers and the Internet
Pornography and Obscenity
Recordings and Downloads (Video)
Motion Pictures
DVD (Digital Versatile Disk)


Two-Thirds of Americans Want U.S. to Join Climate Change Pact

Abstract: A solid majority of Americans say the United States should join an international treaty to limit the impact of global warming , but on this and other climate-related questions, opinion divides sharply along partisan lines, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll . Two-thirds of Americans support the United States joining a binding international agreement to curb growth of greenhouse gas emissions, but a slim majority of Republicans remain opposed, the poll found. Sixty-three percent of Americans — including a bare majority of Republicans — said they would support domestic policy limiting carbon emissions from power plants. Full Results of New York Times/CBS News Poll on the Environment Two-thirds of Americans think the United States should join a binding international agreement to curb growth of greenhouse gas emissions, but a slim majority of Republicans remains opposed, the poll found. Public support for international and domestic measures to address climate change may provide a lift for American negotiators attending the major United Nations climate change conference that began in Paris on Monday. But the stark partisan divide on climate policy will still make it difficult for President Obama and his successors to put in place the energy and climate policies that will be needed to support a robust international agreement, the goal of the Paris talks. Republicans in Congress and many Republican governors oppose Mr. Obama’s proposal to limit emissions from power plants, for example, complicating his ability to meet targets he has set to comply with United Nations climate goals. And the Obama administration has made it clear that any agreement it would sign in Paris would not take the form of an internationally enforced treaty that would require Senate ratification. Still, the shift in public opinion has many advocates of strong climate change measures hopeful that the Paris talks could provide a turning point. Video World leaders met in Paris to discuss plans to combat global climate change. Meanwhile, air pollution levels in Beijing and New Delhi were much higher than acceptable. Credit Credit Pool photo by Jacky Naegelen “If you just look over the past five or six years since Copenhagen, there’s been a shift,” said David Waskow, director of the International Climate Initiative at the World Resources Institute, referring to the largely inconclusive global summit meeting that took place in Denmark in 2009. “There’s much more awareness of issues like sea level rise, water scarcity and climate instability.” Seventy-five percent of Americans polled said that global warming was already having a serious environmental impact or would in the future. Nine in 10 Democrats agreed, compared with 58 percent of Republicans. One-third of Republicans said they believed it would never have much of an impact on the environment. Thinking about policies to reduce carbon emissions, Americans generally favor regulating business activity more than taxing consumers. The poll found broad support for capping power plant emissions. Half of all Americans said they thought the government should take steps to restrict drilling, logging and mining on public lands, compared with 45 percent who opposed such restrictions. Support for limiting mineral extraction on public lands rose to 58 percent among Democrats. Image An aerial view of the recessed shoreline along Folsom Lake in California, which is currently at 29 percent of its capacity. Credit Damon Winter/The New York Times But just one in five Americans favored increasing taxes on electricity as a way to fight global warming; six in 10 were strongly opposed, including 49 percent of Democrats. And support was not much higher for increasing gasoline taxes, at 36 percent over all. On Monday, the United Nations began its climate change conference , bringing together representatives from 195 countries and the European Union in an effort to reach a binding agreement to address the warming of the planet. This is the 21st gathering of nations who belong to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change , but the first since Copenhagen to elicit high hopes for a global commitment. At the third such meeting, in 1997, the parties agreed to the Kyoto Protocol, acknowledging the existence of man-made global warming and setting goals for worldwide emissions reductions. But that year the United States Senate voted 95-0 to adopt a measure rejecting any international agreement that “would result in serious harm to the economy of the United States.” The United States never joined the Kyoto treaty. Short Answers to Hard Questions About Climate Change The issue can be overwhelming. The science is complicated. We get it. This is your cheat sheet. In advance of this week’s summit meeting, Mr. Obama made the case that addressing climate change is an economic imperative. “We have to do something about climate change,” he said at a meeting with business leaders last month. “Because not only is it going to have an impact on our children and our grandchildren, and we have a moral obligation to leave them a planet that is as wonderful as the one that we inherited from our forebears, but it’s really important for America’s bottom line and economic growth.” While it is true that young Americans tend to be slightly more concerned about global warming than their elders, their views are not as environmentally proactive as those of some other demographic groups. Fifty-one percent of respondents to the new poll said they worried about global warming a great deal or a fair amount. Among adults under 30, the number was 54 percent; for Democrats, it climbed to 60 percent. And while 68 percent of respondents under 30 supported taxing companies’ carbon emissions, that was just five points higher than the overall number — and lower than the nearly three-quarters of Democrats who professed support. During the darkest days of the recent recession, concern about climate change became subsumed by economic anxieties. But concern about the environment is now back to pre-recession levels. Most respondents to the recent poll said that in situations where a sacrifice must be made, protecting the environment was more important than stimulating the economy — by 54 percent to 34 percent. This is nearly identical to the national numbers in spring 2007, just before the Great Recession, when 52 percent took the side of protecting the environment and 34 percent said the economy was more important. In 2009, at the depths of the recession, people favored stimulating the economy by more than two to one. The nationwide telephone poll was conducted Nov. 18 to 22 among 1,030 adults. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus four percentage points.

Climate Change
Global Warming
Polls
Greenhouse gas
Republicans
Democrats
US Politics
UN
Barack Obama
UNFCCC


Corzine, Ex-Chief of Goldman, to Lead MF Global

Abstract: Jon S. Corzine , who spent more than three decades at Goldman Sachs and later used his vast fortune to start a career in politics as a New Jersey senator and governor, is returning to Wall Street. Mr. Corzine lost his bid for a second term as governor last November. He has been appointed chief executive of MF Global , an international brokerage firm that specializes in futures, options and derivatives trading. He will also become a partner at J. C. Flowers & Company, a buyout firm that was founded by a fellow former Goldman executive and owns just under 10 percent of MF Global ’s voting shares. “I like working,” Mr. Corzine, 63, said. “Wall Street is a world I enjoyed in the first 30 years I was involved and I hope I have another 30 years.” Mr. Corzine worked for Goldman Sachs from 1975 to 1999, rising from a position as a bond trader to become chief executive in 1994 of what was then a tight-knit partnership. He guided the firm during its transformation into a public company, but was forced out as Goldman prepared to go public in 1999. Mr. Corzine was elected to the Senate from New Jersey in 2000 after spending more than $60 million of his own fortune in the campaign. Mr. Corzine’s political experience — as well as his Wall Street prowess — will come in handy. The financial services industry is at the center of reform efforts on Capitol Hill and firms are scrambling to adapt to the new landscape. In particular, derivatives trading would face greater regulation, with trading shifting from the over-the-counter market to exchanges and clearinghouses, a move that would benefit MF Global, Mr. Corzine said. As a brokerage firm, MF Global has a strong position in exchange trading but is weaker in the over-the-counter market. For MF Global, Mr. Corzine’s arrival follows a difficult two-year stretch. Shares of MF Global have struggled; the company barely broke even for the last few quarters as trading volumes shrank and interest rates dipped. In 2008, the company’s share price fell sharply after a rogue broker lost $141 million on unauthorized trades. Mr. Corzine said MF Global had “a clean balance sheet and got through a very difficult time in the industry,” but was poised to recover as trading volumes rise and short-term interest rates move higher. A large portion of the company’s profit comes from interest on short-term loans. “This is a company with a global footprint,” he said. “We’re in a premier position in a number of markets.” MF Global said Tuesday that Mr. Corzine would take over immediately from Bernard W. Dan, who resigned from MF Global as chief for “personal reasons.” Mr. Dan will remain with MF Global through May 16 to help with Mr. Corzine’s transition. Mr. Corzine had been talking with J. C. Flowers since shortly after his defeat at the polls, and was tapped by the firm to lead MF Global after Mr. Dan resigned last week, according to one senior executive. “We know he is very excited by MF Global and its potential for further growth,” a J. C. Flowers spokesman said in a statement. “We are also very proud to have played a role in bringing Mr. Corzine back to the financial services arena.” Separately, Princeton said Mr. Corzine would serve as a visiting professor for the 2010-11 year. He will lead a series of lectures on financial market regulation and also teach a graduate course on state policy.

Corzine Jon S
MF Global Ltd
Appointments and Executive Changes
Flowers J C & Co


Twitter Renews Efforts to Court Advertisers

Abstract: Jack Dorsey, Twitter’s co-founder and newly reappointed chief executive, has talked a lot recently about how the company’s social network is too difficult for many people to use. But he has said little about the part of the company that actually pays the bills: the advertising. On Thursday, Mr. Dorsey addressed marketers for the first time at an event in New York to show off Twitter’s array of video advertising products — and only vaguely alluded to what Twitter could mean for them. “Today, Twitter can show everything that is happening in the world 10 to 15 minutes faster than any other service,” Mr. Dorsey said. “And that’s not just global events. That’s not just local events. That’s with people. That’s with a brand. That’s with your customers.” Mr. Dorsey’s emphasis on Twitter’s real-time nature highlights the service’s biggest advantage for advertisers: It is still the public square where people gather to discuss live events like presidential debates and the MTV Video Music Awards. But some advertisers say that over all — particularly in the area of video advertising and targeting — Twitter has fallen behind competitors like Google and Facebook, which have aggressively introduced new products and offer ever more sophisticated ways for marketers to target their messages. Matthew Wurst, general manager of social media at 360i, a digital ad agency, said that Twitter had put significant limits on advertisers that want to run ads on video clips of live events like football games. In particular, the ads can be only six seconds long, so advertisers can’t use existing 15- or 30-second spots. “We have to go back and create something new,” he said. “Over all, there are bigger barriers to entry to working with Twitter than there are for Facebook and YouTube.” Last week, during one of the ad industry’s largest annual gatherings, Advertising Week in New York, both Google and Facebook announced new products intended to wrest more ad dollars away from television, and top executives of those companies, like Sheryl Sandberg of Facebook and Susan Wojcicki of Google’s YouTube, were there to woo advertisers. Twitter was largely absent from the conference. Twitter did make one major announcement at Thursday’s event: It will now allow scores of professional video publishers and creators to check a box to allow marketers to run short advertisements before their clips. The publisher will keep 70 percent of the ad revenue, with 30 percent going to Twitter. The program is a major expansion of Twitter’s Amplify program, an early effort that allowed advertisers to sponsor clips around live events such as the United States Open tennis tournament. Mr. Dorsey, wearing jeans and a black shirt, was joined at the video event by a host of Twitter ad executives, including Adam Bain, Twitter’s longtime ad chief, who was promoted to chief operating officer this week when Mr. Dorsey was made chief. As the audience trickled out after the event for cocktails, Twitter executives expressed surprise that so many marketers had attended. In an interview before the event, Mr. Bain said that Twitter wasn’t standing still. He said the company had been churning out new ad features all summer, including the ability to target ads around live events such as holidays or big games. “When you touch Twitter, you get in this mode of what’s hot, what’s new, what’s happening,” Mr. Bain said. “That is unique to Twitter.” Some Wall Street analysts worry that Twitter is already reaching the limit of ads that users will tolerate. In a recent report, Mark May of Citi Research concluded that Twitter would need to see large increases in both ad prices and user engagement to meet investors’ expectations for revenue growth — a scenario that he considered unlikely to occur. Denise Karkos, chief marketing officer of the TD Ameritrade brokerage firm, said that she used Twitter to run short ads before National Football League clips. The company also plans to use Periscope, Twitter’s live-streaming app, to feature some of its experts giving live commentary on the market. But when it comes to targeting specific groups of people with traditional ads, she said, Facebook is often more effective. She added that TD Ameritrade puts “less of a sales effort in Twitter” because consumers do not want their feeds interrupted by marketing pitches. Adam Simon, director of strategy at IPG Media Lab, a unit within the Interpublic Group of advertising agencies that looks at new technology for marketing, said that Twitter’s stream of tweets was not the best place for marketers to get someone’s attention. But he said he sees potential in Twitter’s new Moments feature , which collects tweets on various topics and presents them as a narrative package. Twitter will soon begin selling Promoted Moments, which will allow brands to put together their own packages of tweets and have them displayed at the top of the Moments section of the Twitter app. Twitter hopes to charge as much as several hundred thousand dollars for each day’s Promoted Moment slot — a premium ad slot that would be more expensive than sponsoring a trending topic on the main feed. Ultimately, advertisers say they are looking for platforms that work. If Twitter can deliver better results than competitors, they will use it. “As long as the platform listens and provides service, the C.E.O. doesn’t matter to me,” Mr. Wurst said.

Jack Dorsey
Social Media
advertising,marketing
Online advertising
Mobile Commerce


Third Pick Gives Jets an Unofficial Coach

Abstract: FLORHAM PARK, N.J. — The play that ruined Dexter McDougle’s senior season at Maryland did not ruin his life. It dislocated his right shoulder and fractured his scapula and ended his collegiate career and, for a few hours, sent his world tumbling down, as he put it. But he did not pout, and he did not sulk, and he did not withdraw from his teammates, who needed him as much he needed them. The Jets decided to select McDougle, a cornerback, in the third round of the N.F.L. draft for several reasons — his speed, his ball skills, his versatility — but also, in part, because of the events set in motion by that play, a diving tackle last Sept. 14 at Connecticut. They praised his instincts, how at the snap of the ball, McDougle knew to abandon his receiver and zip toward the right flat, where he upended the tight end for a minimal gain. Terry Bradway, the senior director of college scouting, said that McDougle rated the smartest among the cornerbacks who visited the team before the draft. The Jets also admired McDougle’s reaction to the aftermath, how he spent the next three and a half months, his arm in a sling, acting as a player-coach. He attended every practice, where he would demonstrate proper technique to his replacements. He attended every film session, where he would offer tips to his fellow defensive backs. He attended every game, where he would sit in the coaches’ booth, wearing a headset and with binoculars at the ready, to chart plays and relay observations to the sideline. “He was still playing every play in the games,” Maryland Coach Randy Edsall said in a telephone interview. “He just wasn’t out there physically doing it.” To McDougle, doing anything else felt unnatural, and wrong. Since his freshman year at Stafford High School in Falmouth, Va., he had been policing teammates, demanding excellence and accountability, and acting otherwise would have been insincere. If they complained about doing wind sprints, he would admonish them — and then finish first every time, backing up his words. In the weight room, he would chide anyone sitting down. Those who blew a coverage, or showed up tardy, or dared not work as hard, and for as long, risked a rebuke from McDougle. “We’re here to work,” McDougle said Friday, when the Jets opened their rookie minicamp. “I’ve never had any other mind-set.” Image McDougle sustained a season-ending injury in Maryland’s third game of 2013. Credit Patrick Semansky/Associated Press One day at Maryland, after some teammates failed to make it through a conditioning session, he addressed them. “You want to win the A.C.C.?” he said to them. “How do you expect to be champions if you can’t finish a workout?” He expected so much, of his teammates and of himself, because he knew what it felt like not to play, and he hated it. A hand injury cut short McDougle’s junior season at Stafford, limiting the game film that prospective colleges could view. He played cornerback and safety, running back and receiver, even quarterback in the Wildcat formation, and then, all of a sudden, he could play none. Many programs stopped chasing him, but others maintained their pursuit. South Carolina and Virginia Tech viewed him as a slot receiver, and every now and then, McDougle said he wished he still played on offense, only because he loves running with the ball so much. A former teammate of his at Stafford, Christian Woelfel-Monsivais, said McDougle was as elusive on the field as he was in the gym, where on Thursdays, they played what their coach, Chad Lewis, called trash-can football. The objective for each side was to toss the ball in a can without being tagged by an opponent. It got physical, heated, nasty. “He wasn’t the one who checked people,” Woelfel-Monsivais said. “He was the one who got away from everybody, like a little rabbit.” Only one college, though, recruited him as a cornerback, McDougle said: Maryland. As a redshirt freshman, he missed the Terrapins’ bowl game after breaking his clavicle in a motor-scooter accident. By his senior year, he was thriving again, intercepting three passes in his first three games, returning one 49 yards for a touchdown at Connecticut . On the next series, McDougle lay writhing at the Maryland 37. Edsall said to himself, “Things like this shouldn’t happen to a guy like that.” For the rest of the season, McDougle was perhaps the most vocal member of the team. Because, he said, he did not want his teammates to think he felt deflated, or to feel bad for him. In 15 years as a head coach, Edsall had never seen a player of his act so selflessly, and so he wanted to honor him. But how? On the night of the football banquet last December, only Edsall and the program’s director of operations, Fran Foley, knew how that honor would be bestowed. As the awards were presented, McDougle was a little disappointed because there were a few he thought he deserved. And then Edsall, without mentioning the name of the recipient, started speaking about a player who devoted himself to his team and his teammates. Edsall started to cry. So did McDougle. The crowd — players, coaches, family members, about 350 people in all — rose as one. The crowd stood to applaud the winner of the inaugural Dexter McDougle Ultimate Team Player Award.

Jets
Dexter McDougle
Football
University of Maryland


The Grown-Up Division of Football

Abstract: Three weeks from now, two National Football League teams will meet in Super Bowl XLIII to play for the Lombardi Trophy. The winning team will have survived a rigorous playoff system based on the survival of the fittest. Most of us — even the cynics — will come away from this weekend’s N.F.L. playoff games satisfied that the best teams advanced and will play for their respective conference championships next week. Fans leaving Raymond James Stadium on Feb. 1 may be disappointed in the final result but will be content in the knowledge that the best teams played and the best team won. N.F.L. playoffs leave little to the imagination. By contrast, the system in major college football, the Bowl Championship Series, is a figment of the imagination. Outside of Florida fans, no one who follows college football and is honest with themselves can come away from last Thursday’s national championship game convinced that Florida is the nation’s best college football team. Not if you are being honest with yourself. If you watched U.S.C. annihilate Penn State or undefeated Utah dismantle Alabama, you are infuriated. The B.C.S. final left you with a hunger for a college Super Bowl between Florida and Southern California. Bowl officials like the ambiguity of the current system — they say the debate keeps interest high. On the contrary. With each successive season it becomes apparent that the B.C.S. is scheme perpetrated on the public by an alliance of conference commissioners, college presidents and bowl executives determined to keep the lion’s share of revenue for themselves. The N.F.L., as violent as it is, is at least an honest game. The N.F.L. is built on a bargain that carries a high price for the athlete: your body in exchange for a fat paycheck. College is built on an agreement: your body in exchange for a scholarship, an education you may be too exhausted, or uninterested in — to make the most of. N.F.L. players are routinely carted off the field with injuries, just like college players. But on Monday the pro football player goes to work and receives treatment from a cadre of therapists and trainers. The college football player will receive treatment, but he is also obligated to go to class. The college athlete is enticed by a long-shot dream: if they play ball with the university they will get their chance to make money at the so-called next level. Just in case they are not mesmerized, there are rules in place to ensure that college football players stay in their place — at least for three college seasons. The university makes its money and the coaches make theirs before football players can try to make an N.F.L. team. Will this ever end? It will probably take an act of congress. Florida, the national champion. Thank goodness for the N.F.L. playoffs. The pro game is brutal, but at least it’s honest.

Football
National Football League
Playoff Games
Bowl Championship Series


A Window Opens for Stock Issues

Abstract: The window for companies to sell stock seems to be creaking open, and corporations that need capital should leap through it while they have the chance. Confidence for such a move has been heightened by HSBC ’s recent $18 billion rights issue. When stock markets sank to their recent lows last month, this mammoth capital-raising looked like it was in trouble. But the recent equity rally helped the bank garner 97 percent support for the issue. The fear was that HSBC’s large call for capital would drain capacity. But its success may actually persuade other issuers that equity markets can accommodate further share sales. Meanwhile, two recent Chinese listings attracted strong interest, in spite of quirks. And even Rio Tinto , the Anglo-Australian miner, is apparently considering selling billions in new shares to investors. Some recent new issues look a bit too opportunistic. Shares of Changyou, a Chinese video-game operator, rose 50 percent on their opening in New York last week. The company depends on a single game that it doesn’t even own. The retail portion of Silver Base, a Chinese cigarette and liquor distributor trading in Hong Kong, was 44 times oversubscribed. Yet its main supplier, which accounts for 95 percent of its revenues, failed to deliver last year, knocking 70 percent off profits. Indexes in New York, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Tokyo have all risen sharply from March lows. Rousing rhetoric from world leaders partly explains the fillip. Expectations of inflation caused by stimulus plans, against which stocks offer a long-term hedge, might be another. But it’s too soon to say that markets are enjoying a sustained rally. Evidence that earnings are close to bottoming is scarce. Even HSBC admits that it has little visibility for how the worsening economy will affect its business. Issuers would be wise to seize the moment. By the same token, investors need to exercise caution. Convertible Bonds The convertible bond market has returned to life. After several quiet months, companies are rushing to sell the bonds, which can eventually be converted into common stock. Of the $3.3 billion sold in the first quarter, the vast majority occurred in March — nearly a third in its final week, according to Dealogic. This trend has room to run as long as balance sheets are stretched, stock prices keep swinging, and investors think share prices are low. One reason for the sudden thaw in the market is that time has cured some old troubles. Before the crisis, perhaps 70 percent of demand came from practitioners of convertible arbitrage, who aimed to profit from the interplay of the debtlike and equitylike characteristics of the securities. But then falling debt values, investor redemptions and the ban on short-selling stocks killed or wounded many of these specialist funds. Some dumped their holdings. Furthermore, as stocks cratered, convertibles lost their appeal for issuers. Many small technology companies issued them in the boom years at low interest rates because investors had the kicker of conversion into stock they hoped would appreciate. But when it came time to refinance in a bear market, the cost was too high. Today, volatility has made the stock option embedded in convertible securities valuable, giving issuers relatively low interest rates while giving investors upside potential. Attractive prices on new issues and rising equity markets have also greased demand. Alcoa sold $575 million of convertibles on March 18 with a 5.25 percent coupon and a conversion price of 23 percent above the price at which it also sold new shares that same day. Alcoa’s stock blew past the strike price within two days. But the company also benefited as the coupon it is paying was a lot lower than the double-digit rate it would likely have had to pay on straight debt. There is still a danger that this bull market could skid to a halt. The recent optimism in stocks could evaporate. Or, less likely, credit could come flooding back, making old-fashioned debt more cost-effective. But barring that, the convertibles rush is on. JOHN FOLEY and ROBERT CYRAN

Credit
Stocks and Bonds
Prices (Fares Fees and Rates)
HSBC Holdings PLC
Rio Tinto PLC


Michael Flynn, Anti-Islamist Ex-General, Offered Security Post, Trump Aide Says

Abstract: WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald J. Trump has offered the post of national security adviser to Lt. Gen. Michael T. Flynn, potentially putting a retired intelligence officer who believes Islamist militancy poses an existential threat in one of the most powerful roles in shaping military and foreign policy, according to a top official on Mr. Trump’s transition team. General Flynn, 57, a registered Democrat, was Mr. Trump’s main national security adviser during his campaign. If he accepts Mr. Trump’s offer, as expected, he will be a critical gatekeeper for a president with little experience in military or foreign policy issues. Mr. Trump and General Flynn both see themselves as brash outsiders who hustled their way to the big time. They both post on Twitter often about their own successes, and they have both at times crossed the line into outright Islamophobia. They also both exhibit a loose relationship with facts: General Flynn, for instance, has said that Shariah, or Islamic law, is spreading in the United States (it is not). His dubious assertions are so common that when he ran the Defense Intelligence Agency, subordinates came up with a name for the phenomenon: They called them “Flynn facts.” As an adviser, General Flynn has already proved to be a powerful influence on Mr. Trump, convincing the president-elect that the United States is in a “world war” with Islamist militants and must work with any willing allies in the fight, including President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia. During the transition, General Flynn has been present when Mr. Trump has received his daily intelligence briefing. As national security adviser, he would have the last word on how the president should respond to crises such as a showdown with China over the South China Sea or an international health crisis like the Ebola epidemic. But, like Mr. Trump, he would enter the White House with significant baggage. The Flynn Intel Group, a consulting firm he founded after he was fired by President Obama as head of the Defense Intelligence Agency, has hazy business ties to Middle Eastern countries and has appeared to lobby for the Turkish government. General Flynn also took a paid speaking engagement last year with Russia Today, a television network funded by the Kremlin, and attended the network’s lavish anniversary party in Moscow, where he sat at Mr. Putin’s elbow. Those potential conflicts of interest had led Mr. Trump’s transition team to worry that General Flynn might have difficulty winning confirmation for any post that, unlike the national security adviser role, requires congressional approval, such as director of the C.I.A. But for Mr. Trump, he has one overriding virtue: He was an early and ardent supporter in a campaign during which most of the Washington national security establishment openly called Mr. Trump unfit to lead. General Flynn did not respond to repeated interview requests. Yet in numerous speeches and interviews before the election, and in a book published in August, he laid out a view of the world that sees the United States as facing a singular, overarching threat that can be described in only one way: “radical Islamic terrorism.” All else is secondary for General Flynn, and any other description of the threat is “the worst kind of political correctness,” he said in an interview three weeks before the election. Islamist militancy poses an existential threat on a global scale, and the Muslim faith itself is the source of the problem, he said, describing it as a political ideology, not a religion. He has even at times gone so far as to call it a political ideology that has “metastasized” into a “malignant cancer.” For General Flynn, the election of Mr. Trump represents an astounding career turnaround. Once counted among the most respected military officers of his generation, General Flynn was fired after serving only two years as chief of the Defense Intelligence Agency. He then re-emerged as a vociferous critic of a Washington elite that he contended could not even properly identify the real enemy — radical Islam, that is — never mind figure out how to defeat it. Donald Trump’s Cabinet Is Complete. Here’s the Full List. A list of appointees and nominees for top posts in the new administration. In Mr. Trump, General Flynn found someone who was more than willing to listen. He readily signed on to the campaign, and quickly emerged as the angry voice of the national security establishment, leading chants of “lock her up” against Hillary Clinton at rallies and the Republican convention. And now, after months of the two men talking to each other, it can be hard to tell where Mr. Trump’s views end and General Flynn’s begin. They both believe that the United States needs to start working with Mr. Putin to defeat Islamist militants and stop worrying about his suppression of critics at home, his attempt to dismember Ukraine or the Russian military’s indiscriminate bombing of Syrian cities. The same goes for President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt, who took power in a coup and who was the first world leader to speak with Mr. Trump after the election. Mr. Trump “looks at people and leaders of countries and says: ‘Can I work with this guy? Do we have a common threat that we can focus on?’” Mr. Flynn said in the interview before the election. “He knows that when it comes to Russia or any other country, the common enemy that we all have is radical Islam.” General Flynn and Mr. Trump also agree that the United States needs to sharply curtail immigration from predominantly Muslim countries, and possibly even force American Muslims to register with the government. The similarities run beyond political views. Like the boy from Queens who made it in Manhattan, General Flynn came into the military without a West Point pedigree — he graduated from the Army’s Reserve Officer Training Program at the University of Rhode Island — and earned a reputation as outspoken and unconventional as he climbed the ranks to the top of military intelligence. Yet General Flynn still nurses the grudge of an outsider, believing he never quite got the respect he deserves. For example, he has attributed his dismissal from the Defense Intelligence Agency to a pair of consummate insiders: James R. Clapper Jr., the director of national intelligence, and Michael Vickers, the undersecretary of defense intelligence. His response, like that of his new boss, has been to buck the establishment. In his view, both the Republican and the Democratic luminaries who have shaped American defense and foreign policy through two presidencies have “gotten us into mess after mess for the wrong reasons.” “I would argue with that crowd all day long,” he said before the election. Among the hard-line Republicans who now dominate the party, General Flynn has become something of a cult figure for what they see as his brave stand against the Obama administration’s perfidy. General Flynn insists that he was fired from the intelligence agency because he refused to toe the administration’s line that Islamist militants were in retreat. (He was right, in all fairness.) “He’s an analyst who can get deep into the weeds on the issues and a lot of this stuff and then is very good at playing three-dimensional chess,” said Representative Devin Nunes, the California Republican who is chairman of the House Intelligence Committee and a close confidant to Mr. Flynn. “He was the one who called out the administration for being wrong on Al Qaeda.” But many of those who worked with General Flynn attribute his firing to management problems, saying his attempts to overhaul the sprawling agency had left it a chaotic, backbiting mess. They also question whether his tactical acumen — he was especially good at unraveling militant networks in Afghanistan and Iraq — can translate into the kind of strategic thinking needed at the White House. “He is a very talented information gatherer,” said Sarah Chayes of the Carnegie Endowment in Washington, who worked with General Flynn when he ran military intelligence in Afghanistan from 2009 to 2011. “But his thinking process is not sufficiently analytical to test some streams against others and make sense of it, or draw consistent conclusions,” she said. “If you listen to him, in 10 minutes you’ll hear him contradict himself two or three times.” Take his views on Islam. In the interview before the election, he characterized Islam as intolerant. Then he said that he had many Muslim friends, and that the United States needed to do a better job of understanding Islamic culture and fostering its tolerant side.

Michael Flynn
Islam
Terrorism
Donald Trump
US Politics
Appointments and Executive Changes
US Military
US Foreign Policy


Brooklyn Debate Takeaways: Sarcasm, Snideness and Smackdowns

Abstract: The Democratic debate on Thursday night played out as a magnified version of the primary race. The personal clashes between Hillary Clinton and Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont were harsher. Their policy differences gaped wider. And the stakes, for both candidates, were as high as they have ever been. The debate unfolded in an atmosphere of obvious tension, as the candidates’ policy disputes and personal resentments flared and the raucous New York crowd goaded them on. Some of the most revealing takeaways: This rivalry has curdled Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Sanders displayed new flashes of impatience and even contempt toward each other. They raised their voices early and often, talking over and past each other. Mr. Sanders, especially, turned sarcastic. When Mrs. Clinton boasted of having stood up to Wall Street banks, he noted that the banks subsequently paid her handsomely for speaking engagements. “They must have been very, very upset by what you did,” he said mockingly . Later in the evening, Mrs. Clinton vented frustration with Mr. Sanders. Any time he disagrees with someone, she said, “then you are a member of the establishment.” Both candidates say they are committed to party unity in a general election, but they are not doing anything to make an eventual healing easier. Sanders defies traditional view on Israel Perhaps the most striking exchange of the night came on the issue of Israel, when Mr. Sanders repeatedly challenged Mrs. Clinton to be more critical of Israel’s past military actions in Gaza and insistently argued that the United States must take a more “evenhanded” approach to Israel and the Palestinians. “We are going to have to treat the Palestinian people with respect and dignity,” Mr. Sanders said, adding, “We are going to have to say that Netanyahu is not right all of the time.” The last time New York had a competitive Democratic primary, in 1992, this kind of message might have been suicidal. Jewish voters play an influential role in New York primaries, and top-to-bottom support for Israel has long been considered essential here. Mrs. Clinton took such a conventional position on Thursday night, declining to deliver any specific critique of Israel’s conduct. Mrs. Clinton’s position is probably the safer one. But Democrats — including many Jewish Democrats — have moved left on Middle East policy in recent years. And with Mr. Sanders’s core admirers, his unapologetic opposition may draw an enthusiastic response. Clinton struggles to be straightforward Even this late in the race, Mrs. Clinton has not figured out how to address Mr. Sanders’s most familiar lines of attack — and the moderators’ most predictable angles of scrutiny. Pressed on Thursday to release transcripts of her paid speeches, Mrs. Clinton tried to change the subject, demanding that Mr. Sanders release his tax returns. Asked to share any regrets about the 1994 crime bill she helped champion, Mrs. Clinton offered an awkwardly constructed apology “for the consequences that were unintended.” On the minimum wage, Mrs. Clinton walked an exceedingly careful line, saying that, as president, she would sign a federal law setting a $15 threshold, even though she has endorsed a lower wage level on the campaign trail. Mr. Sanders, as an unabashed man of the left, does not deal in ambiguity. As Mrs. Clinton wrestled with the minimum wage question, he said dryly, “I think the secretary has confused a lot of people.” Sanders, once again, is routed on guns Mrs. Clinton used Mr. Sanders’s record on the Second Amendment forcefully against him, detailing his support for giving gun makers immunity from lawsuits and highlighting his sometimes-friendly relationship with the National Rifle Association in Vermont. For Mr. Sanders, the subject is a political cul-de-sac. He sought to explain his gun liability vote as a measure to protect rural firearms merchants. But even that position places him at odds with Mrs. Clinton, and with the majority of New York Democrats who support the most restrictive forms of gun control. Mrs. Clinton played up the moment with an emotionally charged evocation of gun violence in the state. “I have spent more time than I care to remember,” she said, “being with people who have lost their loved ones.” It’s still realism vs. revolution The overarching split between the candidates was — and has long been — about their theories of political action. Mr. Sanders is promising a root-and-branch overhaul of the American political system. Mrs. Clinton is promising a dogged pursuit of mainstream liberal goals. On Thursday night, the candidates articulated this difference in their bluntest language to date. Mrs. Clinton persistently cast her opponent as a kind of activist heckler. Seemingly exasperated by her rival’s criticism of a climate accord she helped broker, she jabbed: “It’s easy to diagnose the problem. It’s harder to do something about the problem.” Mr. Sanders was unrelenting in his demand for more drastic policy change. Facing an environmental “crisis of historical consequence,” Mr. Sanders said, “incrementalism, and those little steps, are not enough.” This philosophical rift among the Democrats has rarely been stated more clearly.

Brooklyn
Democrats
Primaries
Hillary Clinton
2016 Presidential Election
Political Debates
Bernard Sanders,Bernie Sanders
US


Swiss Re Posts Unexpected Loss of $258 Million

Abstract: ZURICH (AP) — The Swiss Reinsurance Company posted an unexpected third-quarter loss on Tuesday as a result of hurricane damage, losses at its life and health business and markdowns on assets from the global financial turmoil. The company said it lost 304 million Swiss francs ($258 million), or 0.93 francs (79 cents) a share, in the period, reversing a profit of $1.47 billion, or 4.20 francs ($3.62) a share, a year earlier. Analysts had expected the company to record a profit of about 340 million francs ($289 million). Swiss Re said it would suspend its share buyback program, but said it believed it could still complete the repurchase at a cost of 7.75 billion francs by April 2010 if global financial conditions improved. The company, based here, said it lost 76 million francs ($65 million) on bad investments during the quarter. That is in contrast to a profit of 1.75 billion francs ($1.5 billion) during the third quarter of 2007. In its core businesses, Swiss Re took in 3.61 billion francs ($3.07 billion) in premiums from property and casualty insurance, and 2.92 billion francs ($2.49 billion) from life and health insurance, down from 4.78 billion francs ($4.1 billion) and 3.04 billion francs ($2.6 billion). Operating income from property and casualty was 99 million francs ($84 million), while the life and health business recorded an operating loss of 614 million francs ($524 million). Swiss Re said it estimated total claims for Hurricanes Ike and Gustav at about $365 million. Shares in Swiss Re, which is based in Zurich, rose 5.7 Swiss francs, or 11.2 percent, to 56.45 francs ($48.61).

Swiss Reinsurance Co
Company Reports
Health Insurance and Managed Care
Hurricanes and Tropical Storms