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How Significant Is Norway's Fossil Fuel Divestment Announcement? | In stark contrast to Venezuela, Norway is probably the poster child for responsible management of oil wealth. Norway has a long history as an oil and gas producer, and the country used its oil wealth to build the world's largest sovereign wealth fund. Last week this fund -- the Government Pension Fund Global (GPFG) -- made headlines by announcing it would divest certain fossil fuel investments. It's certainly symbolically important, given the size of the fund and the fact that the fund itself is a product of Norway's oil and gas history. But a little context is in order. Although this news was widely reported as "Norway divests fossil fuels", as fellow Forbes contributor Jim Collins pointed out "stocks of major integrated energy companies -- Exxon, Total, Petrobras, Royal Dutch Shell, etc. -- will continue to be included in the GPFG fund." Notably, the fund will keep fossil fuel investments that have renewable energy divisions. At the end of 2018, the GPFG had a total of $633 billion invested in equities. Of that, the fund listed holdings of 341 companies classified as "Oil and Gas" with a total value of just over $37 billion. According to a GPFG press release, a total of 114 oil and natural gas exploration and production companies will be divested "gradually over time." Companies targeted for divestment include major U.S. producers like EOG Resources, Anadarko Petroleum, Apache, Cabot Oil and Gas, Devon Energy, Diamondback Energy, and Occidental Petroleum. Thus, putting things in context, the fund will retain most of its oil and gas investments. The largest holding they will divest appears to be EOG Resources. At year-end the fund held a total of $488 million in EOG shares, which was just under 1% of the overall market capitalization of the company. According to the S&P Global Market Intelligence database, publicly traded energy companies are worth about $5.0 trillion globally. That's 135 times larger than the oil and gas holdings in the GPFG fund (most of which aren't being divested). Among those classified just as oil and gas exploration companies, there are 787 companies with a global value of $832 billion. The largest category by value is integrated oil and gas companies, which is dominated by the supermajors like ExxonMobil and Shell. Globally, there are 51 companies in that category with a value of $2.3 trillion. Most of the U.S. oil and gas companies targeted for divestment sold off following the announcement. That impact was clearly psychological, but there may be a more significant impact for companies in which the fund holds a larger ownership share. There are five oil and gas holdings in which the fund owns at least 3% of the company, but none of those companies are U.S. oil and gas companies. Among those targeted for divestment, the largest ownership share of a U.S. company is the fund's 2.6% ownership share of Delek US Holdings. But in the grand scheme, even such a significant divestment is a tiny drop in the bucket compared to the scope of the world's oil and gas sector. If the world keeps buying fossil fuels, companies are going to make money selling them, and investors are going to make money owning them. | The Government Pension Fund Global (GPFG) announced it would divest certain fossil fuel investments. The divestment is symbolically important, given the size of the fund and the fact that the fund itself is a product of Norway's oil and gas history. | ctrlsum | 1 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/rrapier/2019/03/15/how-significant-is-norways-fossil-fuel-divestment-announcement/ | 0.33633 |
What percentage of Minnesotans spend their entire life here? | Maureen Nelson lives in West St. Paul, just nine miles away from the family home where she grew up in Maplewood. Nelson, 62, has lived her entire life in Minnesota, save a brief stint in Arizona after high school. The same is true for much of her family: Her parents grew up and settled down in the Twin Cities. Her husband is from Minnesota, and their grown daughter lives in an east metro suburb. Nelsons noticed that folks born here tend to be tied here. So Nelson submitted a question to Curious Minnesota, the Star Tribunes new community-driven reporting project, which invites readers into the newsroom to let us know what questions they have on who we are and where we live. She asked: What percentage of Minnesotans are born, raised and live their entire life in a 50-mile radius, and how does that compare to other states? To start, theres a caveat: Theres no way to nail down a firm answer to this, with no data specific enough to know if people have lived their entire lives in a single area. But there is some information that points us in the right direction. A 2008 Pew Research Center survey, found that nearly four-in-ten Americans have never left their hometown; the same was true for nearly half of Midwesterners. However, that data is now a little old. Minnesota does have a relatively high number of Minnesota-born residents living in the state, according to analysis of the most recent U.S. Census Bureau estimates. Around 68 percent of people currently living in Minnesota were born here, marking the 12th highest of any state. The percentages vary, ranging from a high of 87 percent in Morrison County to a low of 33 percent in Houston County, right on the border of La Crosse, Wis. Nationally, an estimated 58 percent of people were born in the state theyre living in. In Louisiana, around 78 percent of the population is native-born, which is highest in the country. Nevada has the lowest nationally, with only 26 percent. Mike Maciag, a data editor for Governing magazine, recently crunched the same census data focusing on adults (those 25 years and older), mapping out every county in the U.S. Maciag said the data shows more residents are moving to the South and West. It also showed an urban-rural divide. Cities tend to be home to more transplants, he said, because their large foreign-born populations and the draw of jobs. While the census data doesnt address whether someone moved away and then came back, Minnesota State Demographer Susan Brower said the data suggests Minnesota is a pretty sticky state for its natives. People who are born here tend to stay here, or if they move away, like a lot of young adults move away, they tend to come back, she said. Jack DeWaard, a University of Minnesota sociology professor, said Minnesotas strong economic performance may have something to do with it. Like other major life decisions, he said people often move based on their checkbook. If its more beneficial to move or its more beneficial to stay economically, than thats what people are going to do, he said. Then theres the influence of family and friends. DeWaard said people tend to move to places where they know people. Connections to family and friends really matter when people are making decisions to migrate, he said. Brower said push and pull factors play an important role in determining if people decide to move and where they decide to move to. You tend to stay put unless something is pushing you away or theres a strong force pulling you, she said. Minnesotas high ranking on a variety of measures, like quality of life, education and health care, means there may not be a lot pushing people away, Brower said. Brower did, however, highlight one factor thats not helping the cause: Minnesotas weather. For some thats a barrier, she said. Its a no-deal once they see what we have here in terms of winter. Austen Macalus is a University of Minnesota student on assignment for the Star Tribune. --- If you'd like to submit a Curious Minnesota question, fill out the form below: | Minnesota does have a relatively high number of Minnesota-born residents living in the state. Around 68 percent of people currently living in Minnesota were born here. | pegasus | 0 | http://www.startribune.com/what-percentage-of-minnesotans-spend-their-entire-life-here/506762921/ | 0.116048 |
What percentage of Minnesotans spend their entire life here? | Maureen Nelson lives in West St. Paul, just nine miles away from the family home where she grew up in Maplewood. Nelson, 62, has lived her entire life in Minnesota, save a brief stint in Arizona after high school. The same is true for much of her family: Her parents grew up and settled down in the Twin Cities. Her husband is from Minnesota, and their grown daughter lives in an east metro suburb. Nelsons noticed that folks born here tend to be tied here. So Nelson submitted a question to Curious Minnesota, the Star Tribunes new community-driven reporting project, which invites readers into the newsroom to let us know what questions they have on who we are and where we live. She asked: What percentage of Minnesotans are born, raised and live their entire life in a 50-mile radius, and how does that compare to other states? To start, theres a caveat: Theres no way to nail down a firm answer to this, with no data specific enough to know if people have lived their entire lives in a single area. But there is some information that points us in the right direction. A 2008 Pew Research Center survey, found that nearly four-in-ten Americans have never left their hometown; the same was true for nearly half of Midwesterners. However, that data is now a little old. Minnesota does have a relatively high number of Minnesota-born residents living in the state, according to analysis of the most recent U.S. Census Bureau estimates. Around 68 percent of people currently living in Minnesota were born here, marking the 12th highest of any state. The percentages vary, ranging from a high of 87 percent in Morrison County to a low of 33 percent in Houston County, right on the border of La Crosse, Wis. Nationally, an estimated 58 percent of people were born in the state theyre living in. In Louisiana, around 78 percent of the population is native-born, which is highest in the country. Nevada has the lowest nationally, with only 26 percent. Mike Maciag, a data editor for Governing magazine, recently crunched the same census data focusing on adults (those 25 years and older), mapping out every county in the U.S. Maciag said the data shows more residents are moving to the South and West. It also showed an urban-rural divide. Cities tend to be home to more transplants, he said, because their large foreign-born populations and the draw of jobs. While the census data doesnt address whether someone moved away and then came back, Minnesota State Demographer Susan Brower said the data suggests Minnesota is a pretty sticky state for its natives. People who are born here tend to stay here, or if they move away, like a lot of young adults move away, they tend to come back, she said. Jack DeWaard, a University of Minnesota sociology professor, said Minnesotas strong economic performance may have something to do with it. Like other major life decisions, he said people often move based on their checkbook. If its more beneficial to move or its more beneficial to stay economically, than thats what people are going to do, he said. Then theres the influence of family and friends. DeWaard said people tend to move to places where they know people. Connections to family and friends really matter when people are making decisions to migrate, he said. Brower said push and pull factors play an important role in determining if people decide to move and where they decide to move to. You tend to stay put unless something is pushing you away or theres a strong force pulling you, she said. Minnesotas high ranking on a variety of measures, like quality of life, education and health care, means there may not be a lot pushing people away, Brower said. Brower did, however, highlight one factor thats not helping the cause: Minnesotas weather. For some thats a barrier, she said. Its a no-deal once they see what we have here in terms of winter. Austen Macalus is a University of Minnesota student on assignment for the Star Tribune. --- If you'd like to submit a Curious Minnesota question, fill out the form below: | Minnesota does have a relatively high number of Minnesota-born residents living in the state. Around 68 percent of people currently living in Minnesota were born here. Nationally, an estimated 58 percent of people were born in the state theyre living in. | pegasus | 2 | http://www.startribune.com/what-percentage-of-minnesotans-spend-their-entire-life-here/506762921/ | 0.138783 |
Which Jonas Brother Had The Most Successful Solo Career? | Just one week after reuniting and releasing their comeback single Sucker, the Jonas Brothers have already managed to hit a new career high with their first chart-topper...and thats saying a lot, considering they accomplished incredible things as a trio in their first stint together, but they also have plenty to show for their solo careers. Its fun to argue whose songs have stuck around the longest or which singles may have been better or worse, but the numbers arent subjective. Heres a look at each of the Jonas Brothers solo careers by the numbers. Nick Jonas Billboard 200 appearances: 3 Hot 100 appearances: 8 When he first ventured out on his own after leaving the Jonas Brothers, Nick decided to front a group that was essentially just a vehicle for his own success called Nick Jonas & the Administration. That band produced just one self-titled album, and while it did debut at No. 3, the record didnt stick around for long...and neither did lead single Who I Am, which did manage to rise to No. 73 on the Hot 100. After that attempt at solo glory, Nick began writing and recording music under his own name, after which things went much better. He sent a pair of albums into the top 10 on the Billboard 200, including the No. 2-peaking Last Year Was Complicated. On the singles front, his previous full-length Nick Jonas performed better, as it produced the top 10 hit Jealous and the No. 13-peaking Chains. Close, the lead single from Last Year Was Complicated, rose to No. 14, also becoming a true hit. As Nick Jonas, the singer-songwriter has also landed a handful of additional appearances on the Hot 100, and hes seen three of his singles go at least platinum, with Jealous earning three such certifications. Joe Jonas Billboard 200 appearances: 3 Hot 100 appearances: 3 When Joe Jonas first ventured out on his own, expectations were high...but sadly, his output didnt meet them. His one solo album under his own name, 2011s Fastlife, only rose as high as No. 15, and its one Hot 100-charting single See No More barely landed on the chart, peaking at No. 92. Four years later, Joe reappeared musically, this time fronting a band called DNCE. The quartet hit it big immediately with their first single Cake By the Ocean, which lifted to No. 9, though they wouldnt be able to snag another smash like that. Follow-up Toothbrush went to No. 44, and subsequent singles failed to place on the Hot 100 entirely. The group did launch an EP (Swaay) and a self-titled full-length, which charted at Nos. 39 and 17, respectively, though things have been fairly quiet for a little while now, and its unclear what the future looks like for Jonas second band. Even if DNCE never releases another song, they can be proud of their quadruple-platinum plaque for Cake, their platinum certification for Toothbrush and the gold award they collected for their full-length LP. It is worth noting that while he was still in the Jonas Brothers, Joe did reach the top 40 on the Hot 100 twice, once under his name and once as a member of the cast of the film Camp Rock, though for the purposes of this article, only the music he released after the band went their separate ways was considered. Kevin Jonas Billboard 200 appearances: 0 Hot 100 appearances: 0 Kevin was the only brother who didnt investigate a solo musical career after the Jo Bros split, so while he doesnt have the chart numbers to show what hes been up to, he has proven himself as a successful entrepreneur, investor and reality TV star. | Nick Jonas and Joe Jonas have both had successful solo careers. Joe Jonas has had more success as a member of DNCE than as a solo artist. | ctrlsum | 0 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/hughmcintyre/2019/03/15/which-jonas-brother-had-the-most-successful-solo-career/ | 0.380315 |
What Does It Mean To Be A People Leader? | Many leaders are considered such by the way they lead a business. When asked what their job is, leaders will typically respond with something along the lines of I lead the financial department, I lead my companys sales strategy or I lead the product division. Leadership can mean many different things to different people, but it often directly ties back to how a persons contributions impact a businesss bottom line: My efforts saved us X amount of money, My strategy resulted in X amount of new clients, I closed a huge sale that brought in X dollars. In my experience, this mindset is pretty typical in the world of startups. In the early stages of a new business, startup founders are solely focused on building and proving the value of a prototype, product or service. Every effort revolves around doing so, because this is what determines if a startup is viable and will be able to grow and succeed. While all of this is important, startup founders in this phase tend to be less concerned with leading people. They are very often serial entrepreneurs who havent been with an established company long enough to witness how seasoned leaders do just that. Traditional Leadership Versus People Leadership The traditional idea of leadership focuses on the outcomes and results a leader is able to achieve their contributions, level of authority and how much respect they garner from their peers. On the other hand, people leaders focus on the team. Similar to servant leaders or Level 5 leaders, people leaders spend time building relationships with colleagues, coaching employees to reach their full potential and aligning teammates toward a common goal. People leaders tend to be more influential in motivating employees to do their best work and feel engaged at work. The Real Cost Of Poor Leadership The value of people leaders cant be overemphasized. According to Gallup, "bad managers cost businesses billions of dollars each year," further illustrating the finding that people dont quit their job, they quit their boss. Many companies promote top performers to management roles based on who contributes directly to business function success. But great employees dont always make great managers. However, there is good news: Almost anyone can be a good manager if given the right tools and guidance. Embracing People Leadership A people leader is not a defined role within an organization. Its not necessarily someone who embodies specific traits or carries with them a long list of accomplishments. Nearly anyone can become a people leader by implementing the following practices. 1. Maintain a team-first mentality. People leaders put their team before themselves because they know an aligned team that feels supported is the most powerful team. When the team succeeds, the credit goes to the team, and if it fails, the leader takes responsibility. 2. Set high standards of excellence, but outline how your teammates can get there and give them the tools and support to do so. 3. Communicate, communicate, communicate. Keep lines of communication open by frequently checking in with teammates on a one-on-one basis. Use this time to discuss the direction of the company and the team, as well as individual accomplishments, goals, professional development and career growth. 4. Be transparent in your communication. Make sure your team has the information they need to be successful in their roles. Additionally, being honest about what you dont know fosters trust. 5. Follow through on commitments. This one is straightforward: Do what you say youre going to do. Its essential that your team can depend on you. Whatever you do, dont cancel one-on-one meetings without rescheduling. 6. Provide feedback in real time. Feedback is often given to employees months after its relevant or useful, especially with the traditional annual performance review cycle. The quicker an issue is brought up, the quicker it can be resolved. Encourage your team to provide upward feedback to you, as well. 7. Give public recognition. Dont underestimate the impact of positive recognition. If a teammate did a great job on a project, recognize them in the moment. Highlighting accomplishments more broadly reinforces positive behaviors and keeps employees motivated. 8. Remove barriers. Look for roadblocks impacting your team and prioritize collaborative problem-solving. If there are simple things you can do to help your teammates achieve their goals, everyone wins. 9. Have tough conversations. Management isnt always easy, and sometimes you have to engage in difficult conversations with employees. Dont shy away from this; instead, view it as a learning opportunity for both parties. 10. Inspire and motivate. Ask what inspires each of your team members and hone in on these motivations to unlock their greatest potential. This is a highly undervalued and extremely effective practice. All of these practices positively impact a businesss bottom line, but maybe not in ways that are as initially obvious as those stemming from traditional leaders. After all, its much more difficult to tie metrics to behavior. But being a true people leader can have incredibly positive effects, including more engaged employees, who drive up productivity, reduce attrition and generate creativity, innovation and excellence in your organization. | Leadership can mean many different things to different people. It often directly ties back to how a persons contributions impact a businesss bottom line. People leaders tend to be more influential in motivating employees to do their best work. | pegasus | 1 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbeshumanresourcescouncil/2019/03/15/what-does-it-mean-to-be-a-people-leader/ | 0.11241 |
What Does It Mean To Be A People Leader? | Many leaders are considered such by the way they lead a business. When asked what their job is, leaders will typically respond with something along the lines of I lead the financial department, I lead my companys sales strategy or I lead the product division. Leadership can mean many different things to different people, but it often directly ties back to how a persons contributions impact a businesss bottom line: My efforts saved us X amount of money, My strategy resulted in X amount of new clients, I closed a huge sale that brought in X dollars. In my experience, this mindset is pretty typical in the world of startups. In the early stages of a new business, startup founders are solely focused on building and proving the value of a prototype, product or service. Every effort revolves around doing so, because this is what determines if a startup is viable and will be able to grow and succeed. While all of this is important, startup founders in this phase tend to be less concerned with leading people. They are very often serial entrepreneurs who havent been with an established company long enough to witness how seasoned leaders do just that. Traditional Leadership Versus People Leadership The traditional idea of leadership focuses on the outcomes and results a leader is able to achieve their contributions, level of authority and how much respect they garner from their peers. On the other hand, people leaders focus on the team. Similar to servant leaders or Level 5 leaders, people leaders spend time building relationships with colleagues, coaching employees to reach their full potential and aligning teammates toward a common goal. People leaders tend to be more influential in motivating employees to do their best work and feel engaged at work. The Real Cost Of Poor Leadership The value of people leaders cant be overemphasized. According to Gallup, "bad managers cost businesses billions of dollars each year," further illustrating the finding that people dont quit their job, they quit their boss. Many companies promote top performers to management roles based on who contributes directly to business function success. But great employees dont always make great managers. However, there is good news: Almost anyone can be a good manager if given the right tools and guidance. Embracing People Leadership A people leader is not a defined role within an organization. Its not necessarily someone who embodies specific traits or carries with them a long list of accomplishments. Nearly anyone can become a people leader by implementing the following practices. 1. Maintain a team-first mentality. People leaders put their team before themselves because they know an aligned team that feels supported is the most powerful team. When the team succeeds, the credit goes to the team, and if it fails, the leader takes responsibility. 2. Set high standards of excellence, but outline how your teammates can get there and give them the tools and support to do so. 3. Communicate, communicate, communicate. Keep lines of communication open by frequently checking in with teammates on a one-on-one basis. Use this time to discuss the direction of the company and the team, as well as individual accomplishments, goals, professional development and career growth. 4. Be transparent in your communication. Make sure your team has the information they need to be successful in their roles. Additionally, being honest about what you dont know fosters trust. 5. Follow through on commitments. This one is straightforward: Do what you say youre going to do. Its essential that your team can depend on you. Whatever you do, dont cancel one-on-one meetings without rescheduling. 6. Provide feedback in real time. Feedback is often given to employees months after its relevant or useful, especially with the traditional annual performance review cycle. The quicker an issue is brought up, the quicker it can be resolved. Encourage your team to provide upward feedback to you, as well. 7. Give public recognition. Dont underestimate the impact of positive recognition. If a teammate did a great job on a project, recognize them in the moment. Highlighting accomplishments more broadly reinforces positive behaviors and keeps employees motivated. 8. Remove barriers. Look for roadblocks impacting your team and prioritize collaborative problem-solving. If there are simple things you can do to help your teammates achieve their goals, everyone wins. 9. Have tough conversations. Management isnt always easy, and sometimes you have to engage in difficult conversations with employees. Dont shy away from this; instead, view it as a learning opportunity for both parties. 10. Inspire and motivate. Ask what inspires each of your team members and hone in on these motivations to unlock their greatest potential. This is a highly undervalued and extremely effective practice. All of these practices positively impact a businesss bottom line, but maybe not in ways that are as initially obvious as those stemming from traditional leaders. After all, its much more difficult to tie metrics to behavior. But being a true people leader can have incredibly positive effects, including more engaged employees, who drive up productivity, reduce attrition and generate creativity, innovation and excellence in your organization. | Many leaders are considered such by the way they lead a business. People leaders focus on the team, not their own goals or accomplishments. A people leader is not necessarily someone who embodies specific traits or carries with them a long list of accomplishments. The value of people leaders cant be overemphasized. | ctrlsum | 2 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbeshumanresourcescouncil/2019/03/15/what-does-it-mean-to-be-a-people-leader/ | 0.112812 |
What's being done to combat Bradford's 'Wild West' driving? | Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Both West Yorkshire Police and Bradford Council have taken steps to combat poor driving in the city Driving in and around Bradford has been described by some as "horrible, dangerous and like the Wild West". As part of the BBC's We are Bradford project we spoke to people about the standard of driving in order find out more about an issue which has prompted the city's police and council to take action. In 2017 figures showed Bradford was the only district in West Yorkshire to see a rise in the number of people killed or seriously injured on its roads with the number rising from 178 the previous year to 192. The figures also showed the district was the only one to see a rise in the number of crashes owing to excessive speed and drinking. The city also featured heavily in a recent list of crash for cash hotspots, with five postcode areas - BD9, BD8, BD3, BD7 and BD5 - featuring in the top 25 worst affected areas, only Birmingham featured more often. Stacy, 41, from Pudsey - a few miles to the east of Bradford - said on Twitter "it's like the rules don't apply". She went on to say: "It's like it's every man for themselves, you have to be twice as alert. "Coming down Leeds Road into Bradford people will just pull out in front of you without any regard, just assuming that you are going to stop for them. "You see people on their phones - that tends to be the younger drivers - you see a lot of cars with a lot of people in - more than there should be - you see children with no seatbelts on. It just seems to be a way of life." Skip Twitter post by @allenz1908 Crash for cash criminal gangs operating, car stereo thieves around every corner having to dodge uninsured Audi A3s and VW golfs on badly designed non existent ring roads. Avoid its awful. Allen Shaw (@allenz1908) March 6, 2019 Report Image caption Perwaiz Rajput said he would "pray" before leaving his house that he will come home safely Perwaiz Rajput, who has been a driving instructor in the city for almost 20 years, said he had noticed standards dropping. "It's gone from being safe and OK to a very dangerous situation in many areas of Bradford," he said. "People do not care how they drive or what they do, especially at peak times and around busy junctions. "I get out the house and I pray that I'm going to get back alive." 'Drivers need re-educating' Shad Miah, a 37-year-old restaurant manager, drops off and collects his children from school each day before driving to work in Wakefield. He said roads such as Manningham Lane, Midland Road and Leeds Road were bad for speeding drivers at times and inconsiderate drivers around schools often left the roads gridlocked. "I sometimes walk to the school because I do not have time to deal with the traffic," he said. "Midland Road can be like a race track. We've asked for speed bumps or speed cameras but we were told there had not been enough deaths. That sounded disgusting to me. "We've got some young drivers on the road that either need re-educating or they need to have their cars taken away." Image copyright West Yorkshire Police Image caption West Yorkshire Police's Operation Steerside tackles dangerous and nuisance drivers The issue has not gone unnoticed by those in authority. West Yorkshire Police's Operation Steerside has a team of 11 officers dedicated to tackling nuisance driving and the "fatal four" offences; drink/drug driving, not wearing a seatbelt, speeding and using a phone at the wheel. Supt Daniel Greenwood said while Bradford has a "bad reputation" for poor driving standards, provisional figures for 2018 suggest the number of people killed or seriously injured is in decline. "Whether it's real or perceived it's impacting on people's behaviour, they're saying 'I won't drive in Bradford' or 'I'm afraid I'm going to die [on the roads] and that's not helpful," he said. "My message to people is really simple, when you press that accelerator a little bit harder, when you go over the speed limit, you have no idea what's round the corner, or going to step out from behind that bus and split seconds can and do change lives for the worse." 'Racing cars' Bradford Council has also taken steps to clampdown on poor driving in the city. On 7 March, councillors sanctioned powers to impose fines on drivers caught making noise, including playing loud music, revving their engines, shouting, swearing or making sexual suggestions. The move came after more than two-thirds of people said they felt "unsafe" on the city's streets due to poor driving. Councillor David Warburton said: "Anti social behaviour of revving loud engines, playing loud music and groups congregating and some times racing cars on inappropriate streets at inappropriate times is clearly wrong. "We want to do everything we can, alongside the police, to combat that and make sure the public are safe at all times." This article was created as part of We Are Bradford - a BBC project with the people of the city to tell the stories which matter to them. You can submit suggestions using the tool below. | West Yorkshire Police and Bradford Council have taken steps to combat poor driving. | ctrlsum | 0 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-47526816 | 0.197472 |
What's being done to combat Bradford's 'Wild West' driving? | Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Both West Yorkshire Police and Bradford Council have taken steps to combat poor driving in the city Driving in and around Bradford has been described by some as "horrible, dangerous and like the Wild West". As part of the BBC's We are Bradford project we spoke to people about the standard of driving in order find out more about an issue which has prompted the city's police and council to take action. In 2017 figures showed Bradford was the only district in West Yorkshire to see a rise in the number of people killed or seriously injured on its roads with the number rising from 178 the previous year to 192. The figures also showed the district was the only one to see a rise in the number of crashes owing to excessive speed and drinking. The city also featured heavily in a recent list of crash for cash hotspots, with five postcode areas - BD9, BD8, BD3, BD7 and BD5 - featuring in the top 25 worst affected areas, only Birmingham featured more often. Stacy, 41, from Pudsey - a few miles to the east of Bradford - said on Twitter "it's like the rules don't apply". She went on to say: "It's like it's every man for themselves, you have to be twice as alert. "Coming down Leeds Road into Bradford people will just pull out in front of you without any regard, just assuming that you are going to stop for them. "You see people on their phones - that tends to be the younger drivers - you see a lot of cars with a lot of people in - more than there should be - you see children with no seatbelts on. It just seems to be a way of life." Skip Twitter post by @allenz1908 Crash for cash criminal gangs operating, car stereo thieves around every corner having to dodge uninsured Audi A3s and VW golfs on badly designed non existent ring roads. Avoid its awful. Allen Shaw (@allenz1908) March 6, 2019 Report Image caption Perwaiz Rajput said he would "pray" before leaving his house that he will come home safely Perwaiz Rajput, who has been a driving instructor in the city for almost 20 years, said he had noticed standards dropping. "It's gone from being safe and OK to a very dangerous situation in many areas of Bradford," he said. "People do not care how they drive or what they do, especially at peak times and around busy junctions. "I get out the house and I pray that I'm going to get back alive." 'Drivers need re-educating' Shad Miah, a 37-year-old restaurant manager, drops off and collects his children from school each day before driving to work in Wakefield. He said roads such as Manningham Lane, Midland Road and Leeds Road were bad for speeding drivers at times and inconsiderate drivers around schools often left the roads gridlocked. "I sometimes walk to the school because I do not have time to deal with the traffic," he said. "Midland Road can be like a race track. We've asked for speed bumps or speed cameras but we were told there had not been enough deaths. That sounded disgusting to me. "We've got some young drivers on the road that either need re-educating or they need to have their cars taken away." Image copyright West Yorkshire Police Image caption West Yorkshire Police's Operation Steerside tackles dangerous and nuisance drivers The issue has not gone unnoticed by those in authority. West Yorkshire Police's Operation Steerside has a team of 11 officers dedicated to tackling nuisance driving and the "fatal four" offences; drink/drug driving, not wearing a seatbelt, speeding and using a phone at the wheel. Supt Daniel Greenwood said while Bradford has a "bad reputation" for poor driving standards, provisional figures for 2018 suggest the number of people killed or seriously injured is in decline. "Whether it's real or perceived it's impacting on people's behaviour, they're saying 'I won't drive in Bradford' or 'I'm afraid I'm going to die [on the roads] and that's not helpful," he said. "My message to people is really simple, when you press that accelerator a little bit harder, when you go over the speed limit, you have no idea what's round the corner, or going to step out from behind that bus and split seconds can and do change lives for the worse." 'Racing cars' Bradford Council has also taken steps to clampdown on poor driving in the city. On 7 March, councillors sanctioned powers to impose fines on drivers caught making noise, including playing loud music, revving their engines, shouting, swearing or making sexual suggestions. The move came after more than two-thirds of people said they felt "unsafe" on the city's streets due to poor driving. Councillor David Warburton said: "Anti social behaviour of revving loud engines, playing loud music and groups congregating and some times racing cars on inappropriate streets at inappropriate times is clearly wrong. "We want to do everything we can, alongside the police, to combat that and make sure the public are safe at all times." This article was created as part of We Are Bradford - a BBC project with the people of the city to tell the stories which matter to them. You can submit suggestions using the tool below. | West Yorkshire Police and Bradford Council have taken steps to combat poor driving. One driver said: "It's like the rules don't apply" Bradford was the only district in West Yorkshire to see a rise in the number of people killed or seriously injured. | ctrlsum | 1 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-47526816 | 0.273186 |
What's being done to combat Bradford's 'Wild West' driving? | Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Both West Yorkshire Police and Bradford Council have taken steps to combat poor driving in the city Driving in and around Bradford has been described by some as "horrible, dangerous and like the Wild West". As part of the BBC's We are Bradford project we spoke to people about the standard of driving in order find out more about an issue which has prompted the city's police and council to take action. In 2017 figures showed Bradford was the only district in West Yorkshire to see a rise in the number of people killed or seriously injured on its roads with the number rising from 178 the previous year to 192. The figures also showed the district was the only one to see a rise in the number of crashes owing to excessive speed and drinking. The city also featured heavily in a recent list of crash for cash hotspots, with five postcode areas - BD9, BD8, BD3, BD7 and BD5 - featuring in the top 25 worst affected areas, only Birmingham featured more often. Stacy, 41, from Pudsey - a few miles to the east of Bradford - said on Twitter "it's like the rules don't apply". She went on to say: "It's like it's every man for themselves, you have to be twice as alert. "Coming down Leeds Road into Bradford people will just pull out in front of you without any regard, just assuming that you are going to stop for them. "You see people on their phones - that tends to be the younger drivers - you see a lot of cars with a lot of people in - more than there should be - you see children with no seatbelts on. It just seems to be a way of life." Skip Twitter post by @allenz1908 Crash for cash criminal gangs operating, car stereo thieves around every corner having to dodge uninsured Audi A3s and VW golfs on badly designed non existent ring roads. Avoid its awful. Allen Shaw (@allenz1908) March 6, 2019 Report Image caption Perwaiz Rajput said he would "pray" before leaving his house that he will come home safely Perwaiz Rajput, who has been a driving instructor in the city for almost 20 years, said he had noticed standards dropping. "It's gone from being safe and OK to a very dangerous situation in many areas of Bradford," he said. "People do not care how they drive or what they do, especially at peak times and around busy junctions. "I get out the house and I pray that I'm going to get back alive." 'Drivers need re-educating' Shad Miah, a 37-year-old restaurant manager, drops off and collects his children from school each day before driving to work in Wakefield. He said roads such as Manningham Lane, Midland Road and Leeds Road were bad for speeding drivers at times and inconsiderate drivers around schools often left the roads gridlocked. "I sometimes walk to the school because I do not have time to deal with the traffic," he said. "Midland Road can be like a race track. We've asked for speed bumps or speed cameras but we were told there had not been enough deaths. That sounded disgusting to me. "We've got some young drivers on the road that either need re-educating or they need to have their cars taken away." Image copyright West Yorkshire Police Image caption West Yorkshire Police's Operation Steerside tackles dangerous and nuisance drivers The issue has not gone unnoticed by those in authority. West Yorkshire Police's Operation Steerside has a team of 11 officers dedicated to tackling nuisance driving and the "fatal four" offences; drink/drug driving, not wearing a seatbelt, speeding and using a phone at the wheel. Supt Daniel Greenwood said while Bradford has a "bad reputation" for poor driving standards, provisional figures for 2018 suggest the number of people killed or seriously injured is in decline. "Whether it's real or perceived it's impacting on people's behaviour, they're saying 'I won't drive in Bradford' or 'I'm afraid I'm going to die [on the roads] and that's not helpful," he said. "My message to people is really simple, when you press that accelerator a little bit harder, when you go over the speed limit, you have no idea what's round the corner, or going to step out from behind that bus and split seconds can and do change lives for the worse." 'Racing cars' Bradford Council has also taken steps to clampdown on poor driving in the city. On 7 March, councillors sanctioned powers to impose fines on drivers caught making noise, including playing loud music, revving their engines, shouting, swearing or making sexual suggestions. The move came after more than two-thirds of people said they felt "unsafe" on the city's streets due to poor driving. Councillor David Warburton said: "Anti social behaviour of revving loud engines, playing loud music and groups congregating and some times racing cars on inappropriate streets at inappropriate times is clearly wrong. "We want to do everything we can, alongside the police, to combat that and make sure the public are safe at all times." This article was created as part of We Are Bradford - a BBC project with the people of the city to tell the stories which matter to them. You can submit suggestions using the tool below. | West Yorkshire Police and Bradford Council have taken steps to combat poor driving. One driver said: "It's like the rules don't apply" Bradford was the only district in West Yorkshire to see a rise in the number of people killed or seriously injured on its roads in 2017. | ctrlsum | 2 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-47526816 | 0.26991 |
Why is Arizona's Alzheimer's rate so high, and what can we do to lower it? | Opinion: No one knows what causes Alzheimers, but culture has a big influence on brain health. The Alzheimers death rate in Arizona is almost 20 percent higher than the U.S. average. (Photo: Nick Oza/The Republic) In the spring of 1997, my husband Peter and I moved to Carefree from Princeton, N.J. Our mission statement: more time together outdoors. We are not the only ones attracted to this sunny climate, especially in spring. Long ago, we learned that March meant spring training, when baseball fans from all over the country descend upon the Valley of the Sun to shake off the winter doldrums and watch their favorite Cactus League teams prepare for a new season. Someday, I hope Arizona will also be a mecca for spring brain training. Arizona's brain health is not so hot Imagine Arizona as the go-to place to celebrate Brain Awareness Week (March 11-18). Imagine our beautiful landscape, from desert in the south to mountains in the north, as the backdrop for a state-of-the-art wellness program, such as a brain camp to take charge of your neuroplasticity (the brains capacity to change and grow) or a workshop to get to know your default network (the brain center affected by Alzheimers and autism). That will take some doing, because Arizonas scorecard in the brain health game is disappointing, based on data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The age-adjusted Alzheimers death rate in Arizona is almost 20 percent higher than the U.S. average and the United States has one of the highest Alzheimers rates in the world. We need to better understand the disparities from state to state and to seek out potential ways forward from some of them, including our friends who host Grapefruit League spring training. Florida has an Alzheimers rate about 30 percent lower than the U.S. average. CLOSE Alzheimer's disease affects one in three seniors, according to the Alzheimer's Association. But that doesn't account for all those impacted by the disease. Cronkite News Over the past three years, my brain training work has also taken me to southern Florida. I have had the opportunity to see first-hand how the lifestyle there for people over 65 differs from what I have observed here in Arizona. Clearly, Florida is just as sports-happy as Arizona. But opportunities to engage in the arts to do, not just to watch and pursue skill-based lifelong learning are much more plentiful there. No one knows what causes Alzheimers, but culture has a big influence on brain health. Indeed, the part of the brain that is first affected by Alzheimers, the temporal lobe, is the music, language and culture center of the brain. When we moved here 22 years ago, if we headed south on Scottsdale Road from Carefree, the first commercial development on the west side of the road was a breakfast eatery at Thunderbird Road! There was no Loop 101. NEWSLETTERS Get the Opinions Newsletter newsletter delivered to your inbox We're sorry, but something went wrong Our best and latest in commentary in daily digest form. Please try again soon, or contact Customer Service at 1-800-332-6733. Delivery: Mon-Fri Invalid email address Thank you! You're almost signed up for Opinions Newsletter Keep an eye out for an email to confirm your newsletter registration. More newsletters Since then, we have seen significant population growth and commercial development in the north Valley, but there is no performing arts center or senior center north of the 101 in the east Valley. Brain-boosting culture requires old-fashioned gathering places, not golf courses or internet chat rooms. Either use your brain or lose it Over the past 20 years, Alzheimers rates have plummeted among some groups in the United States and in some western countries, for example Germany. There is good news about the brain: Use it or lose it works! But we need to understand our brain assets better to help keep them growing. Someday, personal brain trainers will be as common as personal trainers for physical fitness. We could make the Alzheimers rate crash in Arizona too, and that is a challenge worth accepting. We can boost jobs and the economy in the state even as we help people embrace the new and improved American Dream: life, liberty, and the pursuit of neuroplasticity. Phyllis Strupp is the founder of Brain Wealth and the author of Better with Age: The Ultimate Guide to Brain Training. Reach her at phyllis@brainwealth.org. Read or Share this story: https://www.azcentral.com/story/opinion/op-ed/2019/03/15/arizona-alzheimers-rate-too-high-how-can-we-lower-it/3169391002/ | Alzheimer's death rate in Arizona is almost 20 percent higher than the U.S. average. No one knows what causes Alzheimers, but culture has a big influence on brain health. | bart | 1 | https://www.azcentral.com/story/opinion/op-ed/2019/03/15/arizona-alzheimers-rate-too-high-how-can-we-lower-it/3169391002/ | 0.230561 |
Why is Arizona's Alzheimer's rate so high, and what can we do to lower it? | Opinion: No one knows what causes Alzheimers, but culture has a big influence on brain health. The Alzheimers death rate in Arizona is almost 20 percent higher than the U.S. average. (Photo: Nick Oza/The Republic) In the spring of 1997, my husband Peter and I moved to Carefree from Princeton, N.J. Our mission statement: more time together outdoors. We are not the only ones attracted to this sunny climate, especially in spring. Long ago, we learned that March meant spring training, when baseball fans from all over the country descend upon the Valley of the Sun to shake off the winter doldrums and watch their favorite Cactus League teams prepare for a new season. Someday, I hope Arizona will also be a mecca for spring brain training. Arizona's brain health is not so hot Imagine Arizona as the go-to place to celebrate Brain Awareness Week (March 11-18). Imagine our beautiful landscape, from desert in the south to mountains in the north, as the backdrop for a state-of-the-art wellness program, such as a brain camp to take charge of your neuroplasticity (the brains capacity to change and grow) or a workshop to get to know your default network (the brain center affected by Alzheimers and autism). That will take some doing, because Arizonas scorecard in the brain health game is disappointing, based on data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The age-adjusted Alzheimers death rate in Arizona is almost 20 percent higher than the U.S. average and the United States has one of the highest Alzheimers rates in the world. We need to better understand the disparities from state to state and to seek out potential ways forward from some of them, including our friends who host Grapefruit League spring training. Florida has an Alzheimers rate about 30 percent lower than the U.S. average. CLOSE Alzheimer's disease affects one in three seniors, according to the Alzheimer's Association. But that doesn't account for all those impacted by the disease. Cronkite News Over the past three years, my brain training work has also taken me to southern Florida. I have had the opportunity to see first-hand how the lifestyle there for people over 65 differs from what I have observed here in Arizona. Clearly, Florida is just as sports-happy as Arizona. But opportunities to engage in the arts to do, not just to watch and pursue skill-based lifelong learning are much more plentiful there. No one knows what causes Alzheimers, but culture has a big influence on brain health. Indeed, the part of the brain that is first affected by Alzheimers, the temporal lobe, is the music, language and culture center of the brain. When we moved here 22 years ago, if we headed south on Scottsdale Road from Carefree, the first commercial development on the west side of the road was a breakfast eatery at Thunderbird Road! There was no Loop 101. NEWSLETTERS Get the Opinions Newsletter newsletter delivered to your inbox We're sorry, but something went wrong Our best and latest in commentary in daily digest form. Please try again soon, or contact Customer Service at 1-800-332-6733. Delivery: Mon-Fri Invalid email address Thank you! You're almost signed up for Opinions Newsletter Keep an eye out for an email to confirm your newsletter registration. More newsletters Since then, we have seen significant population growth and commercial development in the north Valley, but there is no performing arts center or senior center north of the 101 in the east Valley. Brain-boosting culture requires old-fashioned gathering places, not golf courses or internet chat rooms. Either use your brain or lose it Over the past 20 years, Alzheimers rates have plummeted among some groups in the United States and in some western countries, for example Germany. There is good news about the brain: Use it or lose it works! But we need to understand our brain assets better to help keep them growing. Someday, personal brain trainers will be as common as personal trainers for physical fitness. We could make the Alzheimers rate crash in Arizona too, and that is a challenge worth accepting. We can boost jobs and the economy in the state even as we help people embrace the new and improved American Dream: life, liberty, and the pursuit of neuroplasticity. Phyllis Strupp is the founder of Brain Wealth and the author of Better with Age: The Ultimate Guide to Brain Training. Reach her at phyllis@brainwealth.org. Read or Share this story: https://www.azcentral.com/story/opinion/op-ed/2019/03/15/arizona-alzheimers-rate-too-high-how-can-we-lower-it/3169391002/ | Alzheimer's death rate in Arizona is almost 20 percent higher than the U.S. average. No one knows what causes Alzheimers, but culture has a big influence on brain health. Arizona's scorecard in the brain health game is disappointing. | bart | 2 | https://www.azcentral.com/story/opinion/op-ed/2019/03/15/arizona-alzheimers-rate-too-high-how-can-we-lower-it/3169391002/ | 0.253615 |
Who Is Resecurity, The Firm That Named The Iranian Group Allegedly Behind The Citrix Hack? | Last week, it emerged that Citrix had been hacked, potentially exposing large amounts of customer data. The company had been notified by the FBI on March 6 that international cyber criminals had likely gained access to the internal Citrix network. As more information began to filter through, another, little known company entered the fray: Resecurity. And the cybersecurity firm had some bold claims: Resecurity said the attacks were perpetrated by an Iranian-linked group it calls IRIDIUM, which it claimed has hit more than 200 government agencies, oil and gas firms and technology companies. The firm said it first reached out to Citrix on December 28 2018 to share an early warning notification about a targeted attack and data breach. This was later confirmed by Ctirix, which told tech site The Register that a blog by Stan Black, Citrix CSIO referred to the same incident" described by Resecurity: "We have no further comment at this time, but as promised, we will provide updates when we have what we believe is credible and actionable information." Resecurity also accused IRIDIUM of perpetrating a recent cyber-attack on the Australian parliament, despite the fact that the government itself had blamed China. Indeed, some people have questioned the validity of Resecuritys claims, including the Risky Business cybersecurity podcast. Many in the community were suspicious about the way Resecurity seemingly appeared out of nowhere with bold claims about a major hack. Others criticised a lack of detail, which the firm since added to its blog. Its true the company was suddenly into the limelight. I got in contact with Resecurity to try to understand more about its origins and findings. Charles Yoo, the firms CEO describes how the company was originally founded in 2016, with a focus on threat intelligence, network reconnaissance and risk management. At this point Resecurity focused on investment in research and development around tools and platforms that could help enterprises and law enforcement to identify cybersecurity threats, monitor threat actors and collect pre-emptive intelligence. The firm didnt officially launch until 2018 which explains why people hadnt heard much about them before. According to Yoo, clients include Fortune 500 companies, law enforcement, and government agencies across domestic and international geography. We feel that there is room for new players in this space, says Yoo, who says his firm is competing with well-established companies specializing in cyber threat intelligence such as Symantec, RSA, FireEye, CrowdStrike, AlienVault, Looking Glass, Digital Shadows, and Flashpoint whom we have a lot of respect for pioneering the space. And in fact, says Yoo, the company prefers to have a low profile and focus on high-quality intelligence acquisition for our customers. When asked about the questions surrounding Resecurity, he says: We respect everyones opinion, however we have no additional comments at this time. During 2018, the company participated in several industry events including Amazon re:Invent (USA, Silver Sponsor), GovWare 2018 (Singapore, Gold Sponsor), Internet SecurityConference (ISC) 2018 (China, Gold Sponsor). It will participate in the upcoming 31st Annual FIRST Conference 2019 in Edinburgh as a Diamond Sponsor. Resecurity was confident in its claims that IRIDIUM had perpetrated the Citrix hack as well as other high-profile cyber-attacks. Yoo says the name IRIDIUM was assigned by Resecurity internally. It is an extremely interesting group of threat actors focused on high-value targets such as financial institutions, critical infrastructure - primarily oil and gas - and government resources based in Five Eyes countries and the Middle East. The most active period of their visibility and malicious activity was during winter 2018, when we alerted several large enterprises regarding malicious activity directed by the group, says Yoo. Interestingly, some of their members have been identified as the result of Dark Web monitoring, says Yoo. Members had been caught when they attempted to monetize some of their past victims through the underground marketplaces, which is typical for financially motivated cybercriminals, Yoo adds. Due to specifics of their targets, further analysis of their key members, timeline of the incidents, monitored network intelligence and other previously undisclosed targets, we have a high confidence that a nation-state has direct association with them, or recruited them for conducting cyberespionage activity based on their tasks. He points out that in all observed cases of the groups activity, the end victim has been attacked through password spraying with further attempt to escalate privileges and conduct network intrusion through sign-on (SSO), VPN or other available channels, leading to massive data exfiltration. Password spraying Malicious cyber actors are increasingly using a style of brute force attack known as password spraying against organizations in the United States and abroad, says Yoo. In a traditional brute-force attack, a malicious actor attempts to gain unauthorized access to a single account by guessing the password. This can quickly result in a targeted account becoming locked-out, because commonly used account-lockout policies allow three to five bad attempts during a set period of time. During a password-spray attack - also known as the low-and-slow method - the malicious actor attempts a single password against many accounts before moving on to attempt a second password, and so on. This technique allows the actor to remain undetected by avoiding rapid or frequent account lockouts, Yoo says. Password spray campaigns typically target SSO and cloud-based applications utilizing federated authentication protocols, says Yoo. An actor may target this specific protocol because federated authentication can help mask malicious traffic. Additionally, by targeting SSO applications, malicious actors hope to maximize access to intellectual property during a successful compromise. While some have said attribution to Iran is unlikely many say China and Russia provide a much bigger threat with far vaster cyber offensive capabilities there is some evidence that Iran is a player it its own right. In February 2018, the Department of Justice in the Southern District of New York indicted nine Iranian nationals associated with the Mabna Institute, for computer intrusion offenses. The techniques and activity described, while characteristic of Mabna actors, are not limited solely to use by this group, says Yoo. He points out that some of the uncovered targets identified during IRIDIUM activity investigation had significant overlap with their past victims compromised in 2014-2017 period: before the indictment had been released". This isnt the last well see of Resecurity. Yoo told me the firm is working on several intelligence reports at the moment related to internet of things security, botnet activity, and emerging cybersecurity threats analysis in Asia-Pacific and the Middle East. Resecuritys claims are bold, but the firm is a new company in an already crowded cybersecurity market. And one thing is certain: If you didnt know who Resecurity were a week ago, you definitely do now. | cybersecurity firm Resecurity made bold claims about the Citrix hack. It said the attacks were perpetrated by an Iranian-linked group it calls IRIDIUM. | bart | 1 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/kateoflahertyuk/2019/03/15/who-is-resecurity-the-firm-that-named-the-iranian-group-allegedly-behind-the-citrix-hack/ | 0.181307 |
Who Is Resecurity, The Firm That Named The Iranian Group Allegedly Behind The Citrix Hack? | Last week, it emerged that Citrix had been hacked, potentially exposing large amounts of customer data. The company had been notified by the FBI on March 6 that international cyber criminals had likely gained access to the internal Citrix network. As more information began to filter through, another, little known company entered the fray: Resecurity. And the cybersecurity firm had some bold claims: Resecurity said the attacks were perpetrated by an Iranian-linked group it calls IRIDIUM, which it claimed has hit more than 200 government agencies, oil and gas firms and technology companies. The firm said it first reached out to Citrix on December 28 2018 to share an early warning notification about a targeted attack and data breach. This was later confirmed by Ctirix, which told tech site The Register that a blog by Stan Black, Citrix CSIO referred to the same incident" described by Resecurity: "We have no further comment at this time, but as promised, we will provide updates when we have what we believe is credible and actionable information." Resecurity also accused IRIDIUM of perpetrating a recent cyber-attack on the Australian parliament, despite the fact that the government itself had blamed China. Indeed, some people have questioned the validity of Resecuritys claims, including the Risky Business cybersecurity podcast. Many in the community were suspicious about the way Resecurity seemingly appeared out of nowhere with bold claims about a major hack. Others criticised a lack of detail, which the firm since added to its blog. Its true the company was suddenly into the limelight. I got in contact with Resecurity to try to understand more about its origins and findings. Charles Yoo, the firms CEO describes how the company was originally founded in 2016, with a focus on threat intelligence, network reconnaissance and risk management. At this point Resecurity focused on investment in research and development around tools and platforms that could help enterprises and law enforcement to identify cybersecurity threats, monitor threat actors and collect pre-emptive intelligence. The firm didnt officially launch until 2018 which explains why people hadnt heard much about them before. According to Yoo, clients include Fortune 500 companies, law enforcement, and government agencies across domestic and international geography. We feel that there is room for new players in this space, says Yoo, who says his firm is competing with well-established companies specializing in cyber threat intelligence such as Symantec, RSA, FireEye, CrowdStrike, AlienVault, Looking Glass, Digital Shadows, and Flashpoint whom we have a lot of respect for pioneering the space. And in fact, says Yoo, the company prefers to have a low profile and focus on high-quality intelligence acquisition for our customers. When asked about the questions surrounding Resecurity, he says: We respect everyones opinion, however we have no additional comments at this time. During 2018, the company participated in several industry events including Amazon re:Invent (USA, Silver Sponsor), GovWare 2018 (Singapore, Gold Sponsor), Internet SecurityConference (ISC) 2018 (China, Gold Sponsor). It will participate in the upcoming 31st Annual FIRST Conference 2019 in Edinburgh as a Diamond Sponsor. Resecurity was confident in its claims that IRIDIUM had perpetrated the Citrix hack as well as other high-profile cyber-attacks. Yoo says the name IRIDIUM was assigned by Resecurity internally. It is an extremely interesting group of threat actors focused on high-value targets such as financial institutions, critical infrastructure - primarily oil and gas - and government resources based in Five Eyes countries and the Middle East. The most active period of their visibility and malicious activity was during winter 2018, when we alerted several large enterprises regarding malicious activity directed by the group, says Yoo. Interestingly, some of their members have been identified as the result of Dark Web monitoring, says Yoo. Members had been caught when they attempted to monetize some of their past victims through the underground marketplaces, which is typical for financially motivated cybercriminals, Yoo adds. Due to specifics of their targets, further analysis of their key members, timeline of the incidents, monitored network intelligence and other previously undisclosed targets, we have a high confidence that a nation-state has direct association with them, or recruited them for conducting cyberespionage activity based on their tasks. He points out that in all observed cases of the groups activity, the end victim has been attacked through password spraying with further attempt to escalate privileges and conduct network intrusion through sign-on (SSO), VPN or other available channels, leading to massive data exfiltration. Password spraying Malicious cyber actors are increasingly using a style of brute force attack known as password spraying against organizations in the United States and abroad, says Yoo. In a traditional brute-force attack, a malicious actor attempts to gain unauthorized access to a single account by guessing the password. This can quickly result in a targeted account becoming locked-out, because commonly used account-lockout policies allow three to five bad attempts during a set period of time. During a password-spray attack - also known as the low-and-slow method - the malicious actor attempts a single password against many accounts before moving on to attempt a second password, and so on. This technique allows the actor to remain undetected by avoiding rapid or frequent account lockouts, Yoo says. Password spray campaigns typically target SSO and cloud-based applications utilizing federated authentication protocols, says Yoo. An actor may target this specific protocol because federated authentication can help mask malicious traffic. Additionally, by targeting SSO applications, malicious actors hope to maximize access to intellectual property during a successful compromise. While some have said attribution to Iran is unlikely many say China and Russia provide a much bigger threat with far vaster cyber offensive capabilities there is some evidence that Iran is a player it its own right. In February 2018, the Department of Justice in the Southern District of New York indicted nine Iranian nationals associated with the Mabna Institute, for computer intrusion offenses. The techniques and activity described, while characteristic of Mabna actors, are not limited solely to use by this group, says Yoo. He points out that some of the uncovered targets identified during IRIDIUM activity investigation had significant overlap with their past victims compromised in 2014-2017 period: before the indictment had been released". This isnt the last well see of Resecurity. Yoo told me the firm is working on several intelligence reports at the moment related to internet of things security, botnet activity, and emerging cybersecurity threats analysis in Asia-Pacific and the Middle East. Resecuritys claims are bold, but the firm is a new company in an already crowded cybersecurity market. And one thing is certain: If you didnt know who Resecurity were a week ago, you definitely do now. | cybersecurity firm Resecurity made bold claims about the Citrix hack. It said the attacks were perpetrated by an Iranian-linked group it calls IRIDIUM. The company also accused IRIDium of perpetrating a recent cyber-attack on the Australian parliament. | bart | 2 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/kateoflahertyuk/2019/03/15/who-is-resecurity-the-firm-that-named-the-iranian-group-allegedly-behind-the-citrix-hack/ | 0.25641 |
Is The Founder Of HOTELette The Next Generation of Boutique Hoteliers? | When Allison Crawford visited Los Angeles for Design Week in 2016, she stayed in her first short-term rental. Her less then ideal experience made her ask herself why there wasnt a chic vacation rental brand with multiple locations that you could trust. Crawford tells me, Since Airbnb is now bigger than the worlds top five hotel brands put together, we wanted to be the first to bridge the gap between short term rentals and boutique hotels. In the summer of 2017, I opened the first HOTELette in Nashville and launched HOTELette Austin shortly after in the Fall of 2017. In Fall of 2018, HOTELette Dallas opened and in November of 2018, we launched the HOTELette Shop. When I inquire what her professional background is and how she got into the hospitality business she explains, After graduating from Southern Methodist University with an Advertising degree, I sold radio advertising in Austin. My next job was selling copiers on Wall Street, which taught me the value of being relentless. I moved back to Dallas to take on a Director or Marketing position at an automotive company. I always had my side hustle of flipping houses and renovating properties. In 2015, I dove headfirst into my design firm, Allison Crawford Design, which helped me build a stronger foundation for HOTELette. Crawford had originally planned on naming her brand Casita Collection, but had a last minute change of heart while driving where the name HOTELette popped into her mind and she immediately had her attorney file a trademark for the name (which took a year to establish). Multiple locations have always been part of my vision. I want people to have a vacation rental brand they trust and seek out wherever they go. Im always scouting for new locations and plan to open another HOTELette in 2020. Austin, Marfa, and other top travel destinations are on the shortlist, states Crawford. Ironically, running multiple locations has presented its own set of challenges. Crawford continues, The laws surrounding short-term rentals vary immensely and are constantly changing. The local legislature often determines where we can open our properties, and sometimes if we can keep our doors open. That said, managing short-term rentals across multiple markets has its own set of challenges. Initially, we outsourced property management, but quickly recognized that we needed a closer, more personal connection to our guests. We brought management for all properties in-house at the end of 2018. HOTELette is self-financed through traditional bank mortgages. This has allowed us to maintain complete control over the brand, as well as demonstrate its profitability from day one. Call us old school in retaining total ownership at the expense of a more robust marketing budget, increased salary pool and other luxuries that go hand-in-hand with outside funding. This practice allows us to experiment freely with our systems, create something authentic and grow in a sustainable, intentional way. When youre self-funded, you have to be scrappy. Focus on the essentials and be conservative. To me, this means scrapping the emphasis on an expensive office or lavish holiday parties, and emphasizing creative marketing tactics. In the future, to continue expanding at our current rate, we are entertaining outside investors who are passionate about our company culture and vision. Were looking for someone who recognizes not only the profitability but importance of being hyper-local and supportive of a wide range of female creatives, explains Crawford. On whether she thinks her model is where boutique hospitality is headed Crawford responds, The short term rental market begs for a boutique aspect. Weve already seen that consumers are increasingly interested in renting homes (versus hotels), because of the private, gathering opportunities homes offer. With the growth of services like Airbnb, millennials are being conditioned to seek home shares over hotels, indicating a greater future demand for boutique short term rentals. As millennials prioritize travel over paying student loans or starting families, even more money will be allocated for luxury travel. Although I have not stayed at any of Crawfords properties yet, I am drawn to her design aesthetic, which is similar to my personal style. Crawford tells me, My aesthetic is something I call Modern Vintage, a vibe that leaves our core demographic (females aged 25-54) sharing the HOTELette experience on Instagram. This design-centricity wasnt just an aesthetic choice, however. The girlfriend getaway market brings in over $200 million yearly. And, research on travel indicates the vitality of social media to hospitality. 87% of millennialsthe largest generation to dateuse social media for travel inspiration and planning, and 97% of them will post on social media while traveling. Not only are millennials discovering hospitality brands online, theyre prioritizing and spending more on brands that are hyper-local and instagrammable. To play into this, were leveraging lifestyle influencers and continuing to be hyper-local with tightly curated city guides. For those who want to bring a little HOTELette design inspiration home, you can visit Crawfords online store. The HOTELette Shop is a collection of home goods and decor that my team and I have sourced over our years of travel. As a designer, part of my vision for HOTELette was the opportunity we had to share furniture, art and home goods with my guests in hopes of inspiring them and their respective homes. Now, our guests and admirers are able to purchase quintessential HOTELette goodies like blankets, barware, art and pillows, states Crawford. Crawford continues, As a female creative entrepreneur, its important to me that every piece in our store tells a story and gives greater, international exposure to fellow female creatives. It is my intention to weave supporting fellow female entrepreneurs into every aspect of HOTELette: from the women who staff my team, to the women whove created the art on our walls, to the women whove crafted the amazing homegoods and decor in our shop, explains Crawford. This year, Crawford is launching a signature HOTELette Eau de Toilette and home fragrance and continuing to collaborate with fellow female entrepreneurs on the HOTELette Shop. We continue to be on the forefront of hospitality and travel trends while providing an award winning design experience. | Allison Crawford is the founder of HOTELette, a boutique vacation rental brand with multiple locations. | pegasus | 0 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/meggentaylor/2019/03/15/is-the-founder-of-hotelette-the-next-generation-of-boutique-hoteliers/ | 0.294427 |
Is The Founder Of HOTELette The Next Generation of Boutique Hoteliers? | When Allison Crawford visited Los Angeles for Design Week in 2016, she stayed in her first short-term rental. Her less then ideal experience made her ask herself why there wasnt a chic vacation rental brand with multiple locations that you could trust. Crawford tells me, Since Airbnb is now bigger than the worlds top five hotel brands put together, we wanted to be the first to bridge the gap between short term rentals and boutique hotels. In the summer of 2017, I opened the first HOTELette in Nashville and launched HOTELette Austin shortly after in the Fall of 2017. In Fall of 2018, HOTELette Dallas opened and in November of 2018, we launched the HOTELette Shop. When I inquire what her professional background is and how she got into the hospitality business she explains, After graduating from Southern Methodist University with an Advertising degree, I sold radio advertising in Austin. My next job was selling copiers on Wall Street, which taught me the value of being relentless. I moved back to Dallas to take on a Director or Marketing position at an automotive company. I always had my side hustle of flipping houses and renovating properties. In 2015, I dove headfirst into my design firm, Allison Crawford Design, which helped me build a stronger foundation for HOTELette. Crawford had originally planned on naming her brand Casita Collection, but had a last minute change of heart while driving where the name HOTELette popped into her mind and she immediately had her attorney file a trademark for the name (which took a year to establish). Multiple locations have always been part of my vision. I want people to have a vacation rental brand they trust and seek out wherever they go. Im always scouting for new locations and plan to open another HOTELette in 2020. Austin, Marfa, and other top travel destinations are on the shortlist, states Crawford. Ironically, running multiple locations has presented its own set of challenges. Crawford continues, The laws surrounding short-term rentals vary immensely and are constantly changing. The local legislature often determines where we can open our properties, and sometimes if we can keep our doors open. That said, managing short-term rentals across multiple markets has its own set of challenges. Initially, we outsourced property management, but quickly recognized that we needed a closer, more personal connection to our guests. We brought management for all properties in-house at the end of 2018. HOTELette is self-financed through traditional bank mortgages. This has allowed us to maintain complete control over the brand, as well as demonstrate its profitability from day one. Call us old school in retaining total ownership at the expense of a more robust marketing budget, increased salary pool and other luxuries that go hand-in-hand with outside funding. This practice allows us to experiment freely with our systems, create something authentic and grow in a sustainable, intentional way. When youre self-funded, you have to be scrappy. Focus on the essentials and be conservative. To me, this means scrapping the emphasis on an expensive office or lavish holiday parties, and emphasizing creative marketing tactics. In the future, to continue expanding at our current rate, we are entertaining outside investors who are passionate about our company culture and vision. Were looking for someone who recognizes not only the profitability but importance of being hyper-local and supportive of a wide range of female creatives, explains Crawford. On whether she thinks her model is where boutique hospitality is headed Crawford responds, The short term rental market begs for a boutique aspect. Weve already seen that consumers are increasingly interested in renting homes (versus hotels), because of the private, gathering opportunities homes offer. With the growth of services like Airbnb, millennials are being conditioned to seek home shares over hotels, indicating a greater future demand for boutique short term rentals. As millennials prioritize travel over paying student loans or starting families, even more money will be allocated for luxury travel. Although I have not stayed at any of Crawfords properties yet, I am drawn to her design aesthetic, which is similar to my personal style. Crawford tells me, My aesthetic is something I call Modern Vintage, a vibe that leaves our core demographic (females aged 25-54) sharing the HOTELette experience on Instagram. This design-centricity wasnt just an aesthetic choice, however. The girlfriend getaway market brings in over $200 million yearly. And, research on travel indicates the vitality of social media to hospitality. 87% of millennialsthe largest generation to dateuse social media for travel inspiration and planning, and 97% of them will post on social media while traveling. Not only are millennials discovering hospitality brands online, theyre prioritizing and spending more on brands that are hyper-local and instagrammable. To play into this, were leveraging lifestyle influencers and continuing to be hyper-local with tightly curated city guides. For those who want to bring a little HOTELette design inspiration home, you can visit Crawfords online store. The HOTELette Shop is a collection of home goods and decor that my team and I have sourced over our years of travel. As a designer, part of my vision for HOTELette was the opportunity we had to share furniture, art and home goods with my guests in hopes of inspiring them and their respective homes. Now, our guests and admirers are able to purchase quintessential HOTELette goodies like blankets, barware, art and pillows, states Crawford. Crawford continues, As a female creative entrepreneur, its important to me that every piece in our store tells a story and gives greater, international exposure to fellow female creatives. It is my intention to weave supporting fellow female entrepreneurs into every aspect of HOTELette: from the women who staff my team, to the women whove created the art on our walls, to the women whove crafted the amazing homegoods and decor in our shop, explains Crawford. This year, Crawford is launching a signature HOTELette Eau de Toilette and home fragrance and continuing to collaborate with fellow female entrepreneurs on the HOTELette Shop. We continue to be on the forefront of hospitality and travel trends while providing an award winning design experience. | Allison Crawford is the founder of HOTELette, a boutique vacation rental brand with multiple locations. Crawford plans to open another HOTELette in Austin, Marfa, and other top travel destinations. | pegasus | 1 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/meggentaylor/2019/03/15/is-the-founder-of-hotelette-the-next-generation-of-boutique-hoteliers/ | 0.311092 |
Is The Founder Of HOTELette The Next Generation of Boutique Hoteliers? | When Allison Crawford visited Los Angeles for Design Week in 2016, she stayed in her first short-term rental. Her less then ideal experience made her ask herself why there wasnt a chic vacation rental brand with multiple locations that you could trust. Crawford tells me, Since Airbnb is now bigger than the worlds top five hotel brands put together, we wanted to be the first to bridge the gap between short term rentals and boutique hotels. In the summer of 2017, I opened the first HOTELette in Nashville and launched HOTELette Austin shortly after in the Fall of 2017. In Fall of 2018, HOTELette Dallas opened and in November of 2018, we launched the HOTELette Shop. When I inquire what her professional background is and how she got into the hospitality business she explains, After graduating from Southern Methodist University with an Advertising degree, I sold radio advertising in Austin. My next job was selling copiers on Wall Street, which taught me the value of being relentless. I moved back to Dallas to take on a Director or Marketing position at an automotive company. I always had my side hustle of flipping houses and renovating properties. In 2015, I dove headfirst into my design firm, Allison Crawford Design, which helped me build a stronger foundation for HOTELette. Crawford had originally planned on naming her brand Casita Collection, but had a last minute change of heart while driving where the name HOTELette popped into her mind and she immediately had her attorney file a trademark for the name (which took a year to establish). Multiple locations have always been part of my vision. I want people to have a vacation rental brand they trust and seek out wherever they go. Im always scouting for new locations and plan to open another HOTELette in 2020. Austin, Marfa, and other top travel destinations are on the shortlist, states Crawford. Ironically, running multiple locations has presented its own set of challenges. Crawford continues, The laws surrounding short-term rentals vary immensely and are constantly changing. The local legislature often determines where we can open our properties, and sometimes if we can keep our doors open. That said, managing short-term rentals across multiple markets has its own set of challenges. Initially, we outsourced property management, but quickly recognized that we needed a closer, more personal connection to our guests. We brought management for all properties in-house at the end of 2018. HOTELette is self-financed through traditional bank mortgages. This has allowed us to maintain complete control over the brand, as well as demonstrate its profitability from day one. Call us old school in retaining total ownership at the expense of a more robust marketing budget, increased salary pool and other luxuries that go hand-in-hand with outside funding. This practice allows us to experiment freely with our systems, create something authentic and grow in a sustainable, intentional way. When youre self-funded, you have to be scrappy. Focus on the essentials and be conservative. To me, this means scrapping the emphasis on an expensive office or lavish holiday parties, and emphasizing creative marketing tactics. In the future, to continue expanding at our current rate, we are entertaining outside investors who are passionate about our company culture and vision. Were looking for someone who recognizes not only the profitability but importance of being hyper-local and supportive of a wide range of female creatives, explains Crawford. On whether she thinks her model is where boutique hospitality is headed Crawford responds, The short term rental market begs for a boutique aspect. Weve already seen that consumers are increasingly interested in renting homes (versus hotels), because of the private, gathering opportunities homes offer. With the growth of services like Airbnb, millennials are being conditioned to seek home shares over hotels, indicating a greater future demand for boutique short term rentals. As millennials prioritize travel over paying student loans or starting families, even more money will be allocated for luxury travel. Although I have not stayed at any of Crawfords properties yet, I am drawn to her design aesthetic, which is similar to my personal style. Crawford tells me, My aesthetic is something I call Modern Vintage, a vibe that leaves our core demographic (females aged 25-54) sharing the HOTELette experience on Instagram. This design-centricity wasnt just an aesthetic choice, however. The girlfriend getaway market brings in over $200 million yearly. And, research on travel indicates the vitality of social media to hospitality. 87% of millennialsthe largest generation to dateuse social media for travel inspiration and planning, and 97% of them will post on social media while traveling. Not only are millennials discovering hospitality brands online, theyre prioritizing and spending more on brands that are hyper-local and instagrammable. To play into this, were leveraging lifestyle influencers and continuing to be hyper-local with tightly curated city guides. For those who want to bring a little HOTELette design inspiration home, you can visit Crawfords online store. The HOTELette Shop is a collection of home goods and decor that my team and I have sourced over our years of travel. As a designer, part of my vision for HOTELette was the opportunity we had to share furniture, art and home goods with my guests in hopes of inspiring them and their respective homes. Now, our guests and admirers are able to purchase quintessential HOTELette goodies like blankets, barware, art and pillows, states Crawford. Crawford continues, As a female creative entrepreneur, its important to me that every piece in our store tells a story and gives greater, international exposure to fellow female creatives. It is my intention to weave supporting fellow female entrepreneurs into every aspect of HOTELette: from the women who staff my team, to the women whove created the art on our walls, to the women whove crafted the amazing homegoods and decor in our shop, explains Crawford. This year, Crawford is launching a signature HOTELette Eau de Toilette and home fragrance and continuing to collaborate with fellow female entrepreneurs on the HOTELette Shop. We continue to be on the forefront of hospitality and travel trends while providing an award winning design experience. | Allison Crawford is the founder of HOTELette, a vacation rental brand with multiple locations. Crawford says she wants to be the first to bridge the gap between short term rentals and boutique hotels. Crawford is looking for someone who recognizes the importance of being hyper-local and supportive of a wide range of female creatives. | ctrlsum | 2 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/meggentaylor/2019/03/15/is-the-founder-of-hotelette-the-next-generation-of-boutique-hoteliers/ | 0.388628 |
Does Kareem Hunts suspension make a Duke Johnson trade less likely? | originally appeared on nbcsportsphiladelphia.com The NFL on Friday morning officially suspended Browns running back Kareem Hunt for eight games. Hunt will not appeal. So Cleveland will be without him for half of the 2019 season. And now that they're actually playoff contenders, maybe this means running back Duke Johnson won't be as available as we thought. Scroll to continue with content Ad My guess is it will now be a little harder for the Eagles to trade for Johnson if that's what they want to do. Johnson would make a lot of sense for the Eagles as a trade target this offseason. He is just 25 and has a base salary of just $1.8 million in 2019. He became unhappy with his role last season and that was before the addition of Hunt. Johnson would be a perfect replacement for Darren Sproles as a pass-catching running back in the Eagles' rotation. And trading for a running back wouldn't affect the compensatory pick formula. It seems like that is really important to the Eagles these days. On Thursday, Cleveland.com reported the Browns were shopping Johnson and at least three teams were interested. But that report also said the length of Hunt's suspension would impact their decision. Story continues Sure, we all knew Hunt was going to be suspended. And Hunt's decision to not even appeal makes it seem like this length was expected. But in that Cleveland.com story, it said there was a thought the suspension might not be as long because Hunt missed five games last season after the Chiefs cut him. We don't know if that did affect the length of the suspension, but eight games is significant and without Hunt, the Browns are left with just Nick Chubb and Johnson. In previous years, that wouldn't matter, but the Browns have added a ton of talent and are expected to compete for a playoff spot in 2019. The Eagles haven't added a running back yet this offseason, but there's still time in free agency and the draft in April. Right now, they have Corey Clement, Wendell Smallwood and Josh Adams returning from last year's roster. Click here to download the MyTeams App by NBC Sports! Receive comprehensive coverage of your teams and stream the Flyers, Sixers and Phillies games easily on your device. More on the Eagles | Kareem Hunt was suspended for eight games by the NFL on Friday. He will not appeal the suspension. The Eagles have been linked to running back Duke Johnson. Johnson would be a perfect replacement for Darren Sproles. | bart | 1 | https://sports.yahoo.com/does-kareem-hunt-suspension-duke-145517372.html?src=rss | 0.152748 |
Does Kareem Hunts suspension make a Duke Johnson trade less likely? | originally appeared on nbcsportsphiladelphia.com The NFL on Friday morning officially suspended Browns running back Kareem Hunt for eight games. Hunt will not appeal. So Cleveland will be without him for half of the 2019 season. And now that they're actually playoff contenders, maybe this means running back Duke Johnson won't be as available as we thought. Scroll to continue with content Ad My guess is it will now be a little harder for the Eagles to trade for Johnson if that's what they want to do. Johnson would make a lot of sense for the Eagles as a trade target this offseason. He is just 25 and has a base salary of just $1.8 million in 2019. He became unhappy with his role last season and that was before the addition of Hunt. Johnson would be a perfect replacement for Darren Sproles as a pass-catching running back in the Eagles' rotation. And trading for a running back wouldn't affect the compensatory pick formula. It seems like that is really important to the Eagles these days. On Thursday, Cleveland.com reported the Browns were shopping Johnson and at least three teams were interested. But that report also said the length of Hunt's suspension would impact their decision. Story continues Sure, we all knew Hunt was going to be suspended. And Hunt's decision to not even appeal makes it seem like this length was expected. But in that Cleveland.com story, it said there was a thought the suspension might not be as long because Hunt missed five games last season after the Chiefs cut him. We don't know if that did affect the length of the suspension, but eight games is significant and without Hunt, the Browns are left with just Nick Chubb and Johnson. In previous years, that wouldn't matter, but the Browns have added a ton of talent and are expected to compete for a playoff spot in 2019. The Eagles haven't added a running back yet this offseason, but there's still time in free agency and the draft in April. Right now, they have Corey Clement, Wendell Smallwood and Josh Adams returning from last year's roster. Click here to download the MyTeams App by NBC Sports! Receive comprehensive coverage of your teams and stream the Flyers, Sixers and Phillies games easily on your device. More on the Eagles | The Browns will be without running back Kareem Hunt for half of the 2019 season. Now that they're playoff contenders, maybe this means running back Duke Johnson won't be as available as we thought. Johnson would make a lot of sense for the Eagles as a trade target this offseason. | pegasus | 2 | https://sports.yahoo.com/does-kareem-hunt-suspension-duke-145517372.html?src=rss | 0.250976 |
Which Singer Heated Up the 2019 iHeartRadio Music Awards Red Carpet? | The 2019 iHeartRadio Music Awards have come and gone, but the memories live on. On Thursday, some of music's finest showed up in Los Angeles to attend this year's award show at the Microsoft Theater. It was a celebration unlike any other hosted by T-Pain, who won the inaugural season of The Masked Singer, and featured killer performances by Halseywith Yungblud and Travis Barker as well as Kacey Musgraves and Ariana Grande. While we loved all of the performances and freaked out when Taylor Swift took the stage to accept the Tour of the Year Award, it's the fashion from the night that we are still talking about most. There were a lot of stars who looked good on the carpet this year, but 10 stars stood out to us and therefore they've earned themselves a little shout out. The "New Year's Day" singer looked spectacular in a shimmery romper and butterfly heels. | The 2019 iHeartRadio Music Awards were held on Thursday. Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande and Halsey were among the stars to perform. | bart | 0 | https://www.eonline.com/uk/news/1023954/which-singer-heated-up-the-2019-iheartradio-music-awards-red-carpet?cmpid=rss-000000-rssfeed-365-topstories&utm_source=eonline&utm_medium=rssfeeds&utm_campaign=rss_topstories | 0.182773 |
Which Singer Heated Up the 2019 iHeartRadio Music Awards Red Carpet? | The 2019 iHeartRadio Music Awards have come and gone, but the memories live on. On Thursday, some of music's finest showed up in Los Angeles to attend this year's award show at the Microsoft Theater. It was a celebration unlike any other hosted by T-Pain, who won the inaugural season of The Masked Singer, and featured killer performances by Halseywith Yungblud and Travis Barker as well as Kacey Musgraves and Ariana Grande. While we loved all of the performances and freaked out when Taylor Swift took the stage to accept the Tour of the Year Award, it's the fashion from the night that we are still talking about most. There were a lot of stars who looked good on the carpet this year, but 10 stars stood out to us and therefore they've earned themselves a little shout out. The "New Year's Day" singer looked spectacular in a shimmery romper and butterfly heels. | The 2019 iHeartRadio Music Awards were held on Thursday. Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande and Halsey were among the stars to perform. The fashion on the carpet was also a big hit. | bart | 1 | https://www.eonline.com/uk/news/1023954/which-singer-heated-up-the-2019-iheartradio-music-awards-red-carpet?cmpid=rss-000000-rssfeed-365-topstories&utm_source=eonline&utm_medium=rssfeeds&utm_campaign=rss_topstories | 0.17358 |
Which Singer Heated Up the 2019 iHeartRadio Music Awards Red Carpet? | The 2019 iHeartRadio Music Awards have come and gone, but the memories live on. On Thursday, some of music's finest showed up in Los Angeles to attend this year's award show at the Microsoft Theater. It was a celebration unlike any other hosted by T-Pain, who won the inaugural season of The Masked Singer, and featured killer performances by Halseywith Yungblud and Travis Barker as well as Kacey Musgraves and Ariana Grande. While we loved all of the performances and freaked out when Taylor Swift took the stage to accept the Tour of the Year Award, it's the fashion from the night that we are still talking about most. There were a lot of stars who looked good on the carpet this year, but 10 stars stood out to us and therefore they've earned themselves a little shout out. The "New Year's Day" singer looked spectacular in a shimmery romper and butterfly heels. | The 2019 iHeartRadio Music Awards were held on Thursday. Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande and Halsey were among the stars to perform. The fashion on the carpet was also a big hit. Here are 10 stars who stood out to us on the red carpet. | bart | 2 | https://www.eonline.com/uk/news/1023954/which-singer-heated-up-the-2019-iheartradio-music-awards-red-carpet?cmpid=rss-000000-rssfeed-365-topstories&utm_source=eonline&utm_medium=rssfeeds&utm_campaign=rss_topstories | 0.19946 |
Should sugar be regulated like a drug? | by Jessie Blaeser According to some experts, sugar might be as addictive as cocaine. While daydreams of soda or late-night dessert might get us through the day, some say the danger of Americas dependence on sugary foods is too big of a risk. This camp believes its high-time to regulate sugar, if not ban it outright. Others are of the mind that everyone has the right to put what they want into their bodies, and if that includes sugar, so be it. Theres a reason people tend to reward themselves with sugar; when you eat it, dopamine is released in the brain, making you feel good. Although this sounds logical for birthday cakes and special occasions, sugars infiltration into the average Americans diet makes it all the more dangerous. Healthline points out: Research shows that sugar can be even more addicting than cocaine, says Cassie Bjork, R.D., L.D., founder of Healthy Simple Life. Sugar activates the opiate receptors in our brain and affects the reward center, which leads to compulsive behavior, despite the negative consequences like weight gain, headaches, hormone imbalances, and more. With addiction comes the full package: cravings, binging, withdrawal, and more. The World Health Organization recommends limiting "free sugar," or added sugar, to less than 5 percent of your daily calories, yet for Americans, added sugar accounts for 14 percent of the average daily caloric intake. Without a huge shift in habits, Americans could be facing a chronic health crisis. Regulation would help curb this collective addiction. Everyone has the right to make their own dietary decisions. Ingredients (including added sugars) are readily available on food packaging, and calorie counts are displayed on menus at chain restaurants. There is plenty of information out there for everyone to make informed decisions about their diet, including tips on how to cut down on sugar intake specifically. Theres no question that sugar should be consumed in moderation, but government-mandated regulation is not the answer. America is facing an obesity epidemic. The highest population of obese and overweight people live in the U.S., and the public's addiction to sugar is one of the main culprits. According to Johns Hopkins Medicine: Obesity is a complex problem with multiple causes. But among the likely suspects, sugar is high on the list. As sugar consumption has increased, so too has our national waistline. According to blogger, nutritionist, and self-proclaimed former fast-food junkie, Megan Gilmore, sugar should be regulated just like other addictive substances. Gilmore suggests starting with sugary sodas. She writes on her blog, Detoxinista: I realize that government regulation is a tricky subject, as it could start a domino effect of other regulations, but what I like about this particular idea is that it is NOT proposing a ban on sodas, or even on refined sugar, for that matter. Its only making us reevaluate our concept of portion-control when it comes to this addictive substance. Beyond violating the basic freedom to choose your own diet, regulating sugar just sounds like the government and/or health organizations have turned into your parents telling you not to drink soda before bed. Sugar is fun. Sometimes, you just need that extra boost. Whether or not you overdo it is up to you. The Tylt is focused on debates and conversations around news, current events and pop culture. We provide our community with the opportunity to share their opinions and vote on topics that matter most to them. We actively engage the community and present meaningful data on the debates and conversations as they progress. The Tylt is a place where your opinion counts, literally. The Tylt is an Advance Local Media, LLC property. Join us on Twitter @TheTylt, on Instagram @TheTylt or on Facebook, wed love to hear what you have to say. | Yes, according to some experts, sugar should be regulated just like other addictive substances. There is plenty of information out there for everyone to make informed decisions about their diet, including tips on how to cut down on sugar intake specifically. | ctrlsum | 1 | https://www.oregonlive.com/tylt/2019/03/should-sugar-be-regulated-like-a-drug.html | 0.385904 |
Is sport a means for peace? | Spend five minutes watching children argue over their favourite football player and its difficult to see sport as a unifying force or a means for peace. But continue to watch these children as they leave their bickering behind and start to play for themselves, and the story is very different. In seconds theyve picked teams, agreed makeshift goals, and got the game underway. And everyone plays; from the new kid looking to make friends to the show-boater who gets brought down a peg or two by his peers. Without a referee, they adjudicate on fouls, award goals, and sort out restarts. They share responsibility for managing the game and develop attitudes of respect, tolerance and fair play. These are overarching values that transcend age, gender and/or ethnicity. Theyre cornerstones of decency that shape the kind of people we become and the way we treat others and resolve disagreements in later life. Of course, there are flashpoints and disagreements can flair up quickly, but by and large theyre remedied quickly. Playing the game is more important than settling scores. And its not just in parks and playgrounds where sport makes its mark. The FIFA World Cup attracts entries from 211 countries, culminating in the 32-team finals that are contested every four years in the worlds finest stadiums. Countries in conflict go up against each other. Players of every colour, creed, religion and belief take part. The rules apply to everyone, equally and the world watches. Similarly, The Olympic Games brings together 206 competing nations, and has become a truly global event. Sport at every level creates a platform for shared experience and endeavour. It proves that teammates from different backgrounds can work together towards a common goal. It gives competitors and supporters an identity beyond their religious and/or political beliefs. By bringing people together, sport fosters communication, understanding and interaction. It promotes dialogue, breaks down barriers, and focuses attention on shared pleasures rather than contentious disputes. In the Nigerian Civil War (19671970) a two-day truce was called so both sides could watch Pele and his touring Santos team play. Sport didnt end the war, but it brought about a ceasefire. But many have hijacked sport and the shared platform it creates. Adolf Hitler tried to use the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin as a propaganda vehicle for Aryan supremacy. Jesse Owens proved otherwise by winning four gold medals. In 1969, three World Cup qualifying matches between El Salvador and Honduras stoked an already charged atmosphere between these quarrelling neighbours, culminating in the outbreak of war days after the final match. Sporting events also create targets and terrorists murdered 11 Israelis and one policeman at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich. Two people died and dozens were injured by a bomb at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. In 2009, gunman attacked the Sri Lankan cricket team as they made their way to a match against Pakistan, resulting in eight fatalities and again proving the unwelcome attention sport attracts. Cancel sporting spectacles and lives would be saved. Sed ut perspiciatis unde omnis iste natus error sit voluptatem accusantium doloremque laudantium. Totam rem aperiam, eaque ipsa quae ab illo inventore veritatis et quasi architecto beatae vitae dicta sunt explicabo. | Sport is a unifying force or a means for peace, writes David Walliams. | bart | 0 | https://www.reuters.com/article/idUKWAOA44R5OH01193C | 0.524115 |
Is sport a means for peace? | Spend five minutes watching children argue over their favourite football player and its difficult to see sport as a unifying force or a means for peace. But continue to watch these children as they leave their bickering behind and start to play for themselves, and the story is very different. In seconds theyve picked teams, agreed makeshift goals, and got the game underway. And everyone plays; from the new kid looking to make friends to the show-boater who gets brought down a peg or two by his peers. Without a referee, they adjudicate on fouls, award goals, and sort out restarts. They share responsibility for managing the game and develop attitudes of respect, tolerance and fair play. These are overarching values that transcend age, gender and/or ethnicity. Theyre cornerstones of decency that shape the kind of people we become and the way we treat others and resolve disagreements in later life. Of course, there are flashpoints and disagreements can flair up quickly, but by and large theyre remedied quickly. Playing the game is more important than settling scores. And its not just in parks and playgrounds where sport makes its mark. The FIFA World Cup attracts entries from 211 countries, culminating in the 32-team finals that are contested every four years in the worlds finest stadiums. Countries in conflict go up against each other. Players of every colour, creed, religion and belief take part. The rules apply to everyone, equally and the world watches. Similarly, The Olympic Games brings together 206 competing nations, and has become a truly global event. Sport at every level creates a platform for shared experience and endeavour. It proves that teammates from different backgrounds can work together towards a common goal. It gives competitors and supporters an identity beyond their religious and/or political beliefs. By bringing people together, sport fosters communication, understanding and interaction. It promotes dialogue, breaks down barriers, and focuses attention on shared pleasures rather than contentious disputes. In the Nigerian Civil War (19671970) a two-day truce was called so both sides could watch Pele and his touring Santos team play. Sport didnt end the war, but it brought about a ceasefire. But many have hijacked sport and the shared platform it creates. Adolf Hitler tried to use the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin as a propaganda vehicle for Aryan supremacy. Jesse Owens proved otherwise by winning four gold medals. In 1969, three World Cup qualifying matches between El Salvador and Honduras stoked an already charged atmosphere between these quarrelling neighbours, culminating in the outbreak of war days after the final match. Sporting events also create targets and terrorists murdered 11 Israelis and one policeman at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich. Two people died and dozens were injured by a bomb at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. In 2009, gunman attacked the Sri Lankan cricket team as they made their way to a match against Pakistan, resulting in eight fatalities and again proving the unwelcome attention sport attracts. Cancel sporting spectacles and lives would be saved. Sed ut perspiciatis unde omnis iste natus error sit voluptatem accusantium doloremque laudantium. Totam rem aperiam, eaque ipsa quae ab illo inventore veritatis et quasi architecto beatae vitae dicta sunt explicabo. | Sport is a unifying force or a means for peace, writes David Walliams. The FIFA World Cup attracts entries from 211 countries, culminating in the 32-team finals that are contested every four years in the worlds finest stadiums. | bart | 1 | https://www.reuters.com/article/idUKWAOA44R5OH01193C | 0.562799 |
Is sport a means for peace? | Spend five minutes watching children argue over their favourite football player and its difficult to see sport as a unifying force or a means for peace. But continue to watch these children as they leave their bickering behind and start to play for themselves, and the story is very different. In seconds theyve picked teams, agreed makeshift goals, and got the game underway. And everyone plays; from the new kid looking to make friends to the show-boater who gets brought down a peg or two by his peers. Without a referee, they adjudicate on fouls, award goals, and sort out restarts. They share responsibility for managing the game and develop attitudes of respect, tolerance and fair play. These are overarching values that transcend age, gender and/or ethnicity. Theyre cornerstones of decency that shape the kind of people we become and the way we treat others and resolve disagreements in later life. Of course, there are flashpoints and disagreements can flair up quickly, but by and large theyre remedied quickly. Playing the game is more important than settling scores. And its not just in parks and playgrounds where sport makes its mark. The FIFA World Cup attracts entries from 211 countries, culminating in the 32-team finals that are contested every four years in the worlds finest stadiums. Countries in conflict go up against each other. Players of every colour, creed, religion and belief take part. The rules apply to everyone, equally and the world watches. Similarly, The Olympic Games brings together 206 competing nations, and has become a truly global event. Sport at every level creates a platform for shared experience and endeavour. It proves that teammates from different backgrounds can work together towards a common goal. It gives competitors and supporters an identity beyond their religious and/or political beliefs. By bringing people together, sport fosters communication, understanding and interaction. It promotes dialogue, breaks down barriers, and focuses attention on shared pleasures rather than contentious disputes. In the Nigerian Civil War (19671970) a two-day truce was called so both sides could watch Pele and his touring Santos team play. Sport didnt end the war, but it brought about a ceasefire. But many have hijacked sport and the shared platform it creates. Adolf Hitler tried to use the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin as a propaganda vehicle for Aryan supremacy. Jesse Owens proved otherwise by winning four gold medals. In 1969, three World Cup qualifying matches between El Salvador and Honduras stoked an already charged atmosphere between these quarrelling neighbours, culminating in the outbreak of war days after the final match. Sporting events also create targets and terrorists murdered 11 Israelis and one policeman at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich. Two people died and dozens were injured by a bomb at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. In 2009, gunman attacked the Sri Lankan cricket team as they made their way to a match against Pakistan, resulting in eight fatalities and again proving the unwelcome attention sport attracts. Cancel sporting spectacles and lives would be saved. Sed ut perspiciatis unde omnis iste natus error sit voluptatem accusantium doloremque laudantium. Totam rem aperiam, eaque ipsa quae ab illo inventore veritatis et quasi architecto beatae vitae dicta sunt explicabo. | Sport is a unifying force or a means for peace, writes David Walliams. The FIFA World Cup attracts entries from 211 countries, culminating in the 32-team finals that are contested every four years in the worlds finest stadiums. The Olympic Games brings together 206 competing nations, and has become a truly global event. | bart | 2 | https://www.reuters.com/article/idUKWAOA44R5OH01193C | 0.62976 |
Did missing truck part lead to freak accident that killed college student? | Margaret Maurer (Photo: Tulane University) JACKSON, Miss. A missing part on an 18-wheeler probably led to the death of a college student at a Mississippi rest stop, a Mississippi Department of Transportation official told The New Orleans Advocate. On March 5, Tulane University student Margaret Maurer was at a rest stop with friends in Gautier. Police said a tractor-trailer was traveling westbound on Interstate 10 when two of its wheels came off. The wheels then crossed the eastbound lanes, entering the rest stop. Maurer and two friends were about to get back into their vehicle when the tires hit her and two cars. The absence of a locking ring, a $3 part, was cited as a probable cause of the incident, said Willie Huff, director of the transportation department's office of enforcement. Huff said the metal ring a 3-inch locking washer was missing when inspectors unpacked the outer hub of the wheel assembly. It is one of two rings that are meant to lock in place the large lug nuts holding the wheels in place. Only one ring was found, Huff told The Advocate. The findings are still preliminary, Huff said. March 7: 'Gifted' college student killed by flying tires in freak roadside accident in Mississippi It is not mentioned in a brief report by the Mississippi Department of Transportation on the inspection that was done after the incident. That report, provided to The Advocate by the Gautier (Mississippi) Police Department after a public-records request, found "out of adjustment" brakes where the wheels came off, but blamed the problem on a common failure of newer air-brake systems. Inspectors also found a leaking seal, a violation that prompted state officials to order the trailer taken out of service for repairs. Huff said the leak may have been caused by damage from the loss of the wheels. Neither of those issues would have caused the wheels to come off. Huff said that the missing ring wouldnt have broken off. He thinks it is more likely it was not installed. This Mississippi Department of Transportation photo shows the axle of the 18-wheeler involved in March 5, 2019, accident that killed a Tulane University student. (Photo: MDOT) The truck is owned by Dana Transport Inc. of Avenel, New Jersey. It also is listed under a related company, Suttles Truck Leasing of Demopolis, Alabama. Both companies are in good standing with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, with "satisfactory" ratings and a better-than-average record on crashes and vehicle safety. Huff said the missing ring would not have been detected in the kind of unannounced roadside inspections that are logged into the federal database. David Dorrity, a South Carolina trucking safety expert who frequently testifies in court cases, told The Advocate there are three main reasons that wheels can fly off big-rigs: A wheel seal failure in which grease is lost and the metal overheats An installation error A sheared axle. Dorrity said wheel separations usually occur on the left side of a truck, where the wheels turn against the clockwise torque of the nuts. This Mississippi Department of Transportation photo shows parts after the wheel assembly was unpacked. A locking ring was missing. (Photo: MDOT) Maurer of Minnesota was a senior at Tulane University in New Orleans, where she studied ecology and evolutionary biology, USA TODAY reported. University president Mike Fitts described Maurer as an "extraordinarily gifted student and a leader among her peers" in a written statement. "She was planning to graduate in May to pursue a career in scientific illustration a field that combined her skill as a scientist, her incredible artistic talent and her love of nature," he said. Speaking with Minnesota's KSTP-TV, Maurer's mother said the "freak accident" happened as her daughter and her friends took a restroom break during a spring-break road trip. "It's absolutely a random freaky thing," Tracy Maurer told the station. "It's not right. There's so much that's wrong about this. It's just random. I really want to be angry at somebody, but I can't be." Follow Harold Gater on Twitter: @haroldgater Read or Share this story: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/03/15/flying-tires-missing-part-18-wheeler-tulane-student-death-mississippi/3173765002/ | Tulane University student Margaret Maurer was at a rest stop with friends in Gautier. A missing part on an 18-wheeler probably led to the death of a college student at a Mississippi rest stop , an official says. The truck is owned by Dana Transport Inc. of Avenel, New Jersey. | ctrlsum | 2 | https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/03/15/flying-tires-missing-part-18-wheeler-tulane-student-death-mississippi/3173765002/ | 0.291668 |
Did missing $3 part let truck wheels roll off, kill student? | NEW ORLEANS (AP) A Mississippi transportation official tells a New Orleans newspaper that the absence of a $3 part may have let tires roll off of a tractor trailer, killing a Tulane University student from Minnesota. Office of Enforcement director Willie Huff tells The New Orleans Advocate that a locking washer designed to secure truck wheels was missing from the trailer. Two wheels joined together rolled into a rest stop, killing Margaret Maurer of Forest Lake, Minnesota. Huff says the conclusion blaming the missing metal ring is still preliminary. Dana Transport Inc. of Avenel, New Jersey, owns the truck. Vice president Gene Patten says he can't comment. He did say, "There's always more to the story." Patten referred The Associated Press to an attorney who did not immediately return a call for comment. ___ Information from: The New Orleans Advocate, http://www.neworleansadvocate.com | A $3 part may have let tires roll off of a tractor trailer, killing a Tulane student. | ctrlsum | 0 | https://www.sfchronicle.com/news/education/article/Did-missing-3-part-let-truck-wheels-roll-off-13691732.php | 0.21357 |
Did missing $3 part let truck wheels roll off, kill student? | NEW ORLEANS (AP) A Mississippi transportation official tells a New Orleans newspaper that the absence of a $3 part may have let tires roll off of a tractor trailer, killing a Tulane University student from Minnesota. Office of Enforcement director Willie Huff tells The New Orleans Advocate that a locking washer designed to secure truck wheels was missing from the trailer. Two wheels joined together rolled into a rest stop, killing Margaret Maurer of Forest Lake, Minnesota. Huff says the conclusion blaming the missing metal ring is still preliminary. Dana Transport Inc. of Avenel, New Jersey, owns the truck. Vice president Gene Patten says he can't comment. He did say, "There's always more to the story." Patten referred The Associated Press to an attorney who did not immediately return a call for comment. ___ Information from: The New Orleans Advocate, http://www.neworleansadvocate.com | Mississippi official says absence of $3 part may have let tires roll off. Student Margaret Maurer of Forest Lake, Minnesota, died at rest stop. Dana Transport Inc. of Avenel, New Jersey, owns the truck. | ctrlsum | 1 | https://www.sfchronicle.com/news/education/article/Did-missing-3-part-let-truck-wheels-roll-off-13691732.php | 0.203099 |
Did missing $3 part let truck wheels roll off, kill student? | NEW ORLEANS (AP) A Mississippi transportation official tells a New Orleans newspaper that the absence of a $3 part may have let tires roll off of a tractor trailer, killing a Tulane University student from Minnesota. Office of Enforcement director Willie Huff tells The New Orleans Advocate that a locking washer designed to secure truck wheels was missing from the trailer. Two wheels joined together rolled into a rest stop, killing Margaret Maurer of Forest Lake, Minnesota. Huff says the conclusion blaming the missing metal ring is still preliminary. Dana Transport Inc. of Avenel, New Jersey, owns the truck. Vice president Gene Patten says he can't comment. He did say, "There's always more to the story." Patten referred The Associated Press to an attorney who did not immediately return a call for comment. ___ Information from: The New Orleans Advocate, http://www.neworleansadvocate.com | Mississippi official says absence of $3 part may have let tires roll off. Student Margaret Maurer of Forest Lake, Minnesota, was killed at rest stop. Dana Transport Inc. of Avenel, New Jersey, owns the truck, but has not commented on the case. | ctrlsum | 2 | https://www.sfchronicle.com/news/education/article/Did-missing-3-part-let-truck-wheels-roll-off-13691732.php | 0.21272 |
Could Elon Musks high-speed tunnel in Las Vegas answer nations infrastructure problem? | LAS VEGAS The Boring Company founder Elon Musk and his vision to create high-speed transit tunnels to help solve the nations high infrastructure cost for a fraction of the price might finally come to fruition out in the desert. The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority voted earlier this week to move forward with contract negotiations with Musks Boring Co. to construct a tunnel transportation system connecting the roughly two-mile-long convention center. What if we could create something that the rest of the industry -- in China, in Denver, in Atlanta -- said 'God I wish we had, I wish we wouldve,' Chuck Bowling, who serves on the LVCVA board of directors as well as the president of Mandalay Bay, said during a committee meeting Tuesday on whether to continue talks with The Boring Company. While a majority of the board members were excited about the prospect of being a testing ground for innovation, the idea was not without skepticism including from Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn G. Goodman. The Boring Company does not have any documented successes nor a track record of achievement. It is exploratory at this time, and we are considering handing over the reins of our most important industry, said Goodman, who also serves on the LVCVA board of directors. I would like to have further briefing on this entire project to the inclusive board of the LVCVA. TESLA MODEL Y DEBUTS IN CALIFORNIA WITH $39,000 BASE PRICE Despite having several other proposals/projects in the works in Los Angeles, Chicago as well as Washington D.C. and Maryland, Boring Co. has yet to build more than a two-mile test tunnel in Hawthorne, Calif. Russell Holly, managing editor of Mobile Nations, notes that the Tesla founder has a huge track record of overpromising, but said if the Boring Company is able to follow through in Las Vegas, it could be a huge deal for the company and lead to a lot of other contracts. Tesla is raising prices on all of its cars and the fabled $35,000 model is basically not going to happen, Holly said, in reference to the automotive company announcing it was raising the price on most of its vehicles by 3 percent. So, there's a lot of, you know, overpromising when it comes to Tesla. I don't see any reason to consider that the Boring Company is going to be any different, especially since it's unproven. So, it's hard to say seriously. SEC CHAIR CLAYTON ON ELON MUSK SAGA: 280 CHARACTERS ON TWITTER JUST ARENT ENOUGH AT TIMES What sets Musk apart from other companies is not the tunnel itself, but the extremely low cost at which he claims to be able to build it another concern mentioned during Tuesdays LVCVA committee hearing. The Boring Co.s $35 million to $55 million proposal for the Las Vegas Convention Center would feature Tesla vehicles operating though express tunnels that connect the convention centers main halls with the capability to transport roughly 11,000 passengers per hour. The whole purpose of our company is not to say we invented tunneling, that would be ludicrous it is to say that we can do it faster, and we can do it much less expensive and were willing to put our money where our mouth is by doing all firm-based price and performance-based contracts, Steve Davis, Boring Co. president, said at Tuesdays committee meeting. To put it in perspective, the San Francisco Central Subway cost $920 million per mile while the Seattle U-Link came in at $600 million per mile on the cheaper end, according to data compiled by writer and transportation researcher Alon Levy for CityLab last January. The 2015 subway extension in New York City for Manhattans East Side cost $2.5 billion per mile, while the addition to the No. 7 line cost $1.5 billion, the New York Times pointed out. If Las Vegas does become The Boring Companys first success story, it could help solve the nations infrastructure problem and close the roughly trillion-dollar gap between what we currently spend on infrastructure nationwide and what we need to spend, Michele Nellenbach, director of strategic initiatives at the Bipartisan Policy Center, told Fox News. ELON MUSKS SPACEX PLANS MAY GO UP IN SMOKE AS PENTAGON INVESTIGATION OF POT SMOKING NEARS END We are certainly not without need, and we need some innovative solutions that will hopefully bring down some of the costs -- which to me, was one of the intriguing things about what Musk has proposed is that if the boring technology works as he's predicting, it will it could really bring down the cost of doing some of this underground, she said. President Donald Trumps 2020 budget plan calls for at least $1 trillion in infrastructure spending. As for Las Vegas, chief executive officer of the Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada, Tina Quigley, said the low-cost of what Musk is proposing is definitely intriguing as the city is running out of space. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP We have a geometry problem in some corridors where we just can't fit in more personal private vehicles without eventually having significant congestion, Quigley said, adding there's no way to uncouple technology and transit and transportation moving forward. They are interlinked and, well, they should be because there's a lot of opportunity to get more with less they need to have the space or something. If all goes according to plan, LVCVA president Steve Hill expects the tunnel to be completed in time for the 2021 Consumer Electronics Show and believes it could later be expanded to connect the Vegas strip. | The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority voted to move forward with contract negotiations. The Boring Company founder Elon Musk wants to create high-speed transit tunnels to help solve the nations high infrastructure cost for a fraction of the price. | bart | 1 | https://www.foxnews.com/us/elon-musks-high-speed-tunnel-in-las-vegas-could-answer-nations-infrastructure-problem | 0.397879 |
What is 8chan, and why did the New Zealand shooter use it to announce himself to the world? | The suspected shooter in the terror attack at Christchurchs Al Noor Mosque livestreamed his rampage on Facebook, but gave earlier warning of it via 8chan, a message board known as one of the Internets darkest corners. Well lads, its time to stop shitposting and time to make a real life effort post by the time you read this I should be going live, the 8chan post reads. As the Washington Posts Drew Harwell remarked on Twitter: The New Zealand massacre was livestreamed on Facebook, announced on 8chan, reposted on YouTube, commentated about on Reddit, and mirrored around the world before the tech companies could even react. The New Zealand massacre was livestreamed on Facebook, announced on 8chan, reposted on YouTube, commentated about on Reddit, and mirrored around the world before the tech companies could even react. Drew Harwell (@drewharwell) March 15, 2019 We know the main suspect is a 28-year-old Australian white nationalist who hated immigrants, and sought revenge against Muslims. Threads Based on labyrinthine and anonymous comment threads, 8chan was founded by Fredrick Brennan, a user of similar site 4chan, in the fall of 2013. It is now owned by American Jim Watkins, who is said to be based in the Philippines. Unlike Facebook, Twitter and other platforms, where users who post hate speech are often banned, 4chan and to an even more extreme degree 8chan are very light on moderation. 8chan was spawned by #GamerGate, a long-running episode in which forums were frequently used to dox and harass female video game enthusiasts who were pushing back against sexism in their industry. When sites like 4chan and Reddit belatedly clamped down on such hate-filled forums, Brennan began 8chan as a free speech friendly 4chan alternative, the Washington Post reported in 2015. The site soon became the second biggest imageboard outlet. These site types were originally used to discuss things like Japanese anime, but are now home to video game experts, Internet culture obsessives and the so-called alt-right. As 8chan grew more and more bilious, Brennan eventually partnered with computer expert Watkins after the site kept getting removed from funding sites such as Patreon for violating terms of use. Imageboards are a haven for (terrible things) and thats exactly what makes them such wonderful places. I wouldnt change a thing, Brennan said at the time. It (8chan) became the new digital home for some of the most offensive people on the internet, people who really believe in white supremacy and the inferiority of women, Ethan Chiel wrote for Splinter News in 2016. 8chan was delisted from Googles search results the previous year because users were posting child porn. Manifesto At about 1:30 p.m. New Zealand time on Friday, the anonymous user told 8chans /pol/ Politically Incorrect message board of his impending attack. Approving responses to the post included Nazi images and memes. The user linked to a Facebook page and 74-page manifesto of a person using the Brenton Tarrant name on Twitter. The Twitter account was suspended not long after the shooting, as was the brenton.tarrant.9 Facebook page. The manifesto said the shooter was motivated by white genocide, a term white supremacists use to describe immigration and the growth of minority populations. Its time to stop shitposting and time to make a real life effort he said. Shitposting sees posters deliberately send out online content that is sarcastic and trolling in nature, safe in the knowledge that news consumers who arent aware that the joke is on them will be upset after taking their in-jokes literally. On the investigative site Bellingcat, Robert Evans pointed out that the manifesto, called The Great Replacement, contains views that do actually seem to match the shooters held beliefs. His actions, too, indicate extreme white supremacist views. One of his weapons, for example, was emblazoned with the number 14 this is presumed to refer to the 14 words penned by one infamous neo-Nazi: We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children. In the shootings aftermath, six of the seven top message rooms on 8chan were dominated by the attack, ABC Australia reports. One user posted that finally one of their own had done something. Genuine But the shooter referred to various right-wing figures in his post and not all references appear to have been genuine praise. Evans says the manifesto is a trap itself, laid for journalists searching for the meaning behind this horrific crime. There is truth in there, and valuable clues to the shooters radicalization, but it is buried beneath a great deal of, for lack of a better word, shitposting. For example, in one apparently ironic reference, the shooter talks of far-right figure Candace Owens, saying it was she who first radicalized him as her stunning insights pushed him towards violence. The ultimate goal is to derail productive discussion and distract readers, Evans writes. The Great Replacement is a clear and brutally obvious example of this technique. It is misdirection, he says, used to split left and right and maybe even lead them to violence. Joan Donovan, Director of the Technology and Social Change Research Project at Harvard Kennedys Shorenstein Center, agreed. She posted to Twitter: Journalists must not annotate the NZ murders manifesto. The coded language is not worth your time. Moreover, his social media celebrity call-outs dont mean you need to ask those influencers to speak on this. Those references were strategically placed to create coverage. Journalists must not annotate the NZ murders manifesto. The coded language is not worth your time. Moreover, his social media celebrity call outs dont mean you need to ask those influencers to speak on this. Those references were strategically placed to create coverage. Joan Donovan, PhD (@BostonJoan) March 15, 2019 Violence is being used to cause attention to these ideas. Dont share or decode the manifesto. As for 8chans users, many welcomed the attack as they continued to post their own in-jokes, make references to obscure pop culture, and praise neo-Nazis. Nice shootin Tex one remarked. Another hailed the shooter as the next Breivik a reference to Norwegian white supremacist Anders Breivik, who murdered dozens in a 2011 rampage. | 8chan is a message board known as one of the Internet's darkest corners. | ctrlsum | 0 | https://nationalpost.com/news/world/what-is-8chan-and-why-did-the-new-zealand-shooter-use-it-to-announce-himself-to-the-world | 0.285364 |
What is 8chan, and why did the New Zealand shooter use it to announce himself to the world? | The suspected shooter in the terror attack at Christchurchs Al Noor Mosque livestreamed his rampage on Facebook, but gave earlier warning of it via 8chan, a message board known as one of the Internets darkest corners. Well lads, its time to stop shitposting and time to make a real life effort post by the time you read this I should be going live, the 8chan post reads. As the Washington Posts Drew Harwell remarked on Twitter: The New Zealand massacre was livestreamed on Facebook, announced on 8chan, reposted on YouTube, commentated about on Reddit, and mirrored around the world before the tech companies could even react. The New Zealand massacre was livestreamed on Facebook, announced on 8chan, reposted on YouTube, commentated about on Reddit, and mirrored around the world before the tech companies could even react. Drew Harwell (@drewharwell) March 15, 2019 We know the main suspect is a 28-year-old Australian white nationalist who hated immigrants, and sought revenge against Muslims. Threads Based on labyrinthine and anonymous comment threads, 8chan was founded by Fredrick Brennan, a user of similar site 4chan, in the fall of 2013. It is now owned by American Jim Watkins, who is said to be based in the Philippines. Unlike Facebook, Twitter and other platforms, where users who post hate speech are often banned, 4chan and to an even more extreme degree 8chan are very light on moderation. 8chan was spawned by #GamerGate, a long-running episode in which forums were frequently used to dox and harass female video game enthusiasts who were pushing back against sexism in their industry. When sites like 4chan and Reddit belatedly clamped down on such hate-filled forums, Brennan began 8chan as a free speech friendly 4chan alternative, the Washington Post reported in 2015. The site soon became the second biggest imageboard outlet. These site types were originally used to discuss things like Japanese anime, but are now home to video game experts, Internet culture obsessives and the so-called alt-right. As 8chan grew more and more bilious, Brennan eventually partnered with computer expert Watkins after the site kept getting removed from funding sites such as Patreon for violating terms of use. Imageboards are a haven for (terrible things) and thats exactly what makes them such wonderful places. I wouldnt change a thing, Brennan said at the time. It (8chan) became the new digital home for some of the most offensive people on the internet, people who really believe in white supremacy and the inferiority of women, Ethan Chiel wrote for Splinter News in 2016. 8chan was delisted from Googles search results the previous year because users were posting child porn. Manifesto At about 1:30 p.m. New Zealand time on Friday, the anonymous user told 8chans /pol/ Politically Incorrect message board of his impending attack. Approving responses to the post included Nazi images and memes. The user linked to a Facebook page and 74-page manifesto of a person using the Brenton Tarrant name on Twitter. The Twitter account was suspended not long after the shooting, as was the brenton.tarrant.9 Facebook page. The manifesto said the shooter was motivated by white genocide, a term white supremacists use to describe immigration and the growth of minority populations. Its time to stop shitposting and time to make a real life effort he said. Shitposting sees posters deliberately send out online content that is sarcastic and trolling in nature, safe in the knowledge that news consumers who arent aware that the joke is on them will be upset after taking their in-jokes literally. On the investigative site Bellingcat, Robert Evans pointed out that the manifesto, called The Great Replacement, contains views that do actually seem to match the shooters held beliefs. His actions, too, indicate extreme white supremacist views. One of his weapons, for example, was emblazoned with the number 14 this is presumed to refer to the 14 words penned by one infamous neo-Nazi: We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children. In the shootings aftermath, six of the seven top message rooms on 8chan were dominated by the attack, ABC Australia reports. One user posted that finally one of their own had done something. Genuine But the shooter referred to various right-wing figures in his post and not all references appear to have been genuine praise. Evans says the manifesto is a trap itself, laid for journalists searching for the meaning behind this horrific crime. There is truth in there, and valuable clues to the shooters radicalization, but it is buried beneath a great deal of, for lack of a better word, shitposting. For example, in one apparently ironic reference, the shooter talks of far-right figure Candace Owens, saying it was she who first radicalized him as her stunning insights pushed him towards violence. The ultimate goal is to derail productive discussion and distract readers, Evans writes. The Great Replacement is a clear and brutally obvious example of this technique. It is misdirection, he says, used to split left and right and maybe even lead them to violence. Joan Donovan, Director of the Technology and Social Change Research Project at Harvard Kennedys Shorenstein Center, agreed. She posted to Twitter: Journalists must not annotate the NZ murders manifesto. The coded language is not worth your time. Moreover, his social media celebrity call-outs dont mean you need to ask those influencers to speak on this. Those references were strategically placed to create coverage. Journalists must not annotate the NZ murders manifesto. The coded language is not worth your time. Moreover, his social media celebrity call outs dont mean you need to ask those influencers to speak on this. Those references were strategically placed to create coverage. Joan Donovan, PhD (@BostonJoan) March 15, 2019 Violence is being used to cause attention to these ideas. Dont share or decode the manifesto. As for 8chans users, many welcomed the attack as they continued to post their own in-jokes, make references to obscure pop culture, and praise neo-Nazis. Nice shootin Tex one remarked. Another hailed the shooter as the next Breivik a reference to Norwegian white supremacist Anders Breivik, who murdered dozens in a 2011 rampage. | 8chan is a message board known as one of the Internet's darkest corners. The New Zealand massacre was livestreamed on Facebook, announced on 8chan, reposted on YouTube, commentated about on Reddit. | ctrlsum | 1 | https://nationalpost.com/news/world/what-is-8chan-and-why-did-the-new-zealand-shooter-use-it-to-announce-himself-to-the-world | 0.466556 |
What is 8chan, and why did the New Zealand shooter use it to announce himself to the world? | The suspected shooter in the terror attack at Christchurchs Al Noor Mosque livestreamed his rampage on Facebook, but gave earlier warning of it via 8chan, a message board known as one of the Internets darkest corners. Well lads, its time to stop shitposting and time to make a real life effort post by the time you read this I should be going live, the 8chan post reads. As the Washington Posts Drew Harwell remarked on Twitter: The New Zealand massacre was livestreamed on Facebook, announced on 8chan, reposted on YouTube, commentated about on Reddit, and mirrored around the world before the tech companies could even react. The New Zealand massacre was livestreamed on Facebook, announced on 8chan, reposted on YouTube, commentated about on Reddit, and mirrored around the world before the tech companies could even react. Drew Harwell (@drewharwell) March 15, 2019 We know the main suspect is a 28-year-old Australian white nationalist who hated immigrants, and sought revenge against Muslims. Threads Based on labyrinthine and anonymous comment threads, 8chan was founded by Fredrick Brennan, a user of similar site 4chan, in the fall of 2013. It is now owned by American Jim Watkins, who is said to be based in the Philippines. Unlike Facebook, Twitter and other platforms, where users who post hate speech are often banned, 4chan and to an even more extreme degree 8chan are very light on moderation. 8chan was spawned by #GamerGate, a long-running episode in which forums were frequently used to dox and harass female video game enthusiasts who were pushing back against sexism in their industry. When sites like 4chan and Reddit belatedly clamped down on such hate-filled forums, Brennan began 8chan as a free speech friendly 4chan alternative, the Washington Post reported in 2015. The site soon became the second biggest imageboard outlet. These site types were originally used to discuss things like Japanese anime, but are now home to video game experts, Internet culture obsessives and the so-called alt-right. As 8chan grew more and more bilious, Brennan eventually partnered with computer expert Watkins after the site kept getting removed from funding sites such as Patreon for violating terms of use. Imageboards are a haven for (terrible things) and thats exactly what makes them such wonderful places. I wouldnt change a thing, Brennan said at the time. It (8chan) became the new digital home for some of the most offensive people on the internet, people who really believe in white supremacy and the inferiority of women, Ethan Chiel wrote for Splinter News in 2016. 8chan was delisted from Googles search results the previous year because users were posting child porn. Manifesto At about 1:30 p.m. New Zealand time on Friday, the anonymous user told 8chans /pol/ Politically Incorrect message board of his impending attack. Approving responses to the post included Nazi images and memes. The user linked to a Facebook page and 74-page manifesto of a person using the Brenton Tarrant name on Twitter. The Twitter account was suspended not long after the shooting, as was the brenton.tarrant.9 Facebook page. The manifesto said the shooter was motivated by white genocide, a term white supremacists use to describe immigration and the growth of minority populations. Its time to stop shitposting and time to make a real life effort he said. Shitposting sees posters deliberately send out online content that is sarcastic and trolling in nature, safe in the knowledge that news consumers who arent aware that the joke is on them will be upset after taking their in-jokes literally. On the investigative site Bellingcat, Robert Evans pointed out that the manifesto, called The Great Replacement, contains views that do actually seem to match the shooters held beliefs. His actions, too, indicate extreme white supremacist views. One of his weapons, for example, was emblazoned with the number 14 this is presumed to refer to the 14 words penned by one infamous neo-Nazi: We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children. In the shootings aftermath, six of the seven top message rooms on 8chan were dominated by the attack, ABC Australia reports. One user posted that finally one of their own had done something. Genuine But the shooter referred to various right-wing figures in his post and not all references appear to have been genuine praise. Evans says the manifesto is a trap itself, laid for journalists searching for the meaning behind this horrific crime. There is truth in there, and valuable clues to the shooters radicalization, but it is buried beneath a great deal of, for lack of a better word, shitposting. For example, in one apparently ironic reference, the shooter talks of far-right figure Candace Owens, saying it was she who first radicalized him as her stunning insights pushed him towards violence. The ultimate goal is to derail productive discussion and distract readers, Evans writes. The Great Replacement is a clear and brutally obvious example of this technique. It is misdirection, he says, used to split left and right and maybe even lead them to violence. Joan Donovan, Director of the Technology and Social Change Research Project at Harvard Kennedys Shorenstein Center, agreed. She posted to Twitter: Journalists must not annotate the NZ murders manifesto. The coded language is not worth your time. Moreover, his social media celebrity call-outs dont mean you need to ask those influencers to speak on this. Those references were strategically placed to create coverage. Journalists must not annotate the NZ murders manifesto. The coded language is not worth your time. Moreover, his social media celebrity call outs dont mean you need to ask those influencers to speak on this. Those references were strategically placed to create coverage. Joan Donovan, PhD (@BostonJoan) March 15, 2019 Violence is being used to cause attention to these ideas. Dont share or decode the manifesto. As for 8chans users, many welcomed the attack as they continued to post their own in-jokes, make references to obscure pop culture, and praise neo-Nazis. Nice shootin Tex one remarked. Another hailed the shooter as the next Breivik a reference to Norwegian white supremacist Anders Breivik, who murdered dozens in a 2011 rampage. | 8chan is a message board known as one of the Internet's darkest corners. The New Zealand massacre was livestreamed on Facebook, announced on 8chan, reposted on YouTube, commentated about on Reddit, and mirrored around the world before the tech companies could even react. | ctrlsum | 2 | https://nationalpost.com/news/world/what-is-8chan-and-why-did-the-new-zealand-shooter-use-it-to-announce-himself-to-the-world | 0.536583 |
Can 'Fantastic Beasts' Can Survive 'Crimes Of Grindelwald'? | Come what may, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald really was the X-Men: Apocalypse of the franchise. Like the 2016 Bryan Singer sequel, the second David Yates-directed installment in the allegedly five-part prequel saga introduced new and interesting characters and then sidelined them for folks we either already knew or didn't know or care about. Like a number of pretenders to the Harry Potter throne, it emphasized plot, worldbuilding and continuity tie-ins to the prior movie over making sure that audiences actually enjoyed the time they spent with the likes of Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne), Jacob Kowalski (Dan Fogler), Tina Goldstein (Katherine Waterston), Queenie Goldstein (Alison Sudol) and a younger Albus Dumbledore (Jude Law). Unlike the Harry Potter films, which emphasized characters and chemistry over plot and action, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald was all about table-setting and continuity. The film spent much of its 135-minute running time setting up the threat allegedly posed by Grindelwald (Johnny Depp, giving a full-bodied villainous turn again showing that he never really phones it in) and establishing a climactic character reveal/plot twist that landed with an epic thud. As the film arrives on VOD/DVD/etc. this week, I wanted to take a moment to discuss what should or shouldn't happen next. Yes, the third film has been delayed, and WB has slotted Denis Villeneuve's Dune on the weekend (November 20, 2020) where we all expected Fantastic Beasts 3 to land. Now the question becomes what becomes of the next movie and the whole franchise. Not unlike Batman v Superman once upon a time, Fantastic Beasts 2 earned otherwise decent box office results ($653m worldwide) but marked a much-needed course correction. The fear is that Fantastic Beasts 3 will act like Divergent Series: Allegiant and send the series to a premature grave. If folks showed up in November of 2016 because they were curious and interested in the next chapter of the J.K. Rowling wizarding world, they, in turn, didn't show up quite as much for the sequel. That in itself is not a dealbreaker, as the first chapter of the saga (and the first "new" J.K. Rowling movie in five years) was always going to rope in the die-hard fans and the casually curious. That the film earned decent reviews and legged it like a champ ($232 million from a $74.4m debut weekend) was itself promising, to say nothing of the $819m global cume on a $180m budget. While the hope was that Fantastic Beast and Where to Find Them was the Batman Begins of the franchise, it turned out to be the Amazing Spider-Man of the saga. Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes Of Grindelwald opened with $62 million domestic, which frankly was enough of a hold from the first film to inspire some cautious optimism. But it crashed like a rock, playing almost identically to X-Men: Apocalypse (which earned $155m domestic) and ending its domestic run with $159.555m, or just over the $159.3m cume of Blumhouse's $10m-budgeted Halloween. Like Amazing Spider-Man 2, it held up halfway decently overseas ($494m, or -15% from FB1's $585m overseas cume) but fell harder (-32%) in North America. That in itself isn't a death sentence, as Fate of the Furious and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom took similar drops from their overperforming predecessors. But that the film got lousy reviews, was received comparatively poorly by fans and must carry on not for one more movie but for three more movies complicates things. Like the 2016 DC Films flicks (Dawn of Justice and Suicide Squad), Warner Bros. is in a weird position of having to course-correct after one of the biggest grossers of their respective year. The film did gross $653 million worldwide on a $200m budget, and if they can maintain that number for at least the next two films then this is all mere trivia. But the fear, a rational one I would argue, is that general audiences will look at the saga and see not one more movie but three more movies and decide to jump ship on the threequel. That's the difference between Peter Jackson's Hobbit trilogy, George Lucas' Star Wars prequels and the likes of Fantastic Beasts and Divergent. Having sat through 40% of a series instead of 66% means that sunk-cost-fallacy may not apply. Stopping now is not an option, both for the franchise's lasting value in the post-theatrical afterlife (an unfinished five-part saga doesn't really work as a binge) and for WB's relationship with J.K. Rowling. They could produce all five films and hope that the bottom doesn't fall out before the fourth one. I would advise crafting a mostly stand-alone Fantastic Beasts adventure that focuses almost exclusively on character and leaves the mythology for Fantastic Beasts 4. It gives Rowling, Yates and the producers (David Heyman, Steve Kloves and Lionel Wigram) a chance to craft a movie during which audiences can "fall for" these new characters yet again. Grand mythology is useless if folks don't want to hang out with these wizards. Harry Potter fans became fans not because of the grand plots but because they loved the characters, full stop. In a skewed way, this would be like the third episode of the original five-part series premiere of Gargoyles. Fans of that mid-1990s Disney afternoon toon will recall that the third episode was 99% just Goliath (Keith David) meeting and palling around with Elisa Maza (Salli Richardson), sans much in the way of plot or even action. They got back to business in the fourth episode, but that glorified intermission made sure that audiences were onboard with what would be the show's defining relationship. A glorified intermission movie, where our heroes recover from their Crimes of Grindelwald defeats by licking their wounds and bonding with each other would allow us to see these folks doing something other than running around Europe trying to piece together the century's least exciting plot twist. Also of note, it would allow for a fail-safe should the third movie flop. As tempting as it is to say "Hey, Crimes of Grindelwald stunk so you better wrap it up in a trilogy," we don't yet know if the series has suffered a mortal wound. Maybe I'm wrong and the fans will show up again and keep those grosses over $550 million global. If that's the case, then maybe we do get five movies. But if the third stand-alone movie bombs or shows additional signs of viewership indifference, then you can just use the fourth movie to dive back into the mythology and wrap the whole thing up in four movies. Plan B should be a way that allows this saga to end in four films instead of five. Sure, you might argue that represents a defeat, but it's better than crawling to the finish line with no fans left by the end of the saga. That WB has delayed the production date for the third movie means they know that they may be looking at a Divergent-level drop (from $288 million worldwide for Divergent 2 to $117m worldwide for Divergent 3) for the threequel and a serious problem with three more movies left to go. Since the key flaw of Crmes of Grindelwald is that it didn't bother to endear us to any of the returning characters (instead highlighting a new villain, a resurrected baddie from the last movie, and a new supporting character who was killed off at the end anyway) and tripled-down on continuity, the solution is to go the opposite route for Fantastic Beast 3. It'll allow us to hopefully enjoy these characters, it'll give us a break from the worldbuilding and it'll allow WB to, if necessary, merely be on the hook for one more movie worth of mythology and plot threads. We'll see what transpires in the Wizarding World of J.K. Rowling. Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald may have been a fatal wound to this chapter of the Harry Potter saga, but hope springs eternal especially when there's magic involved. So whether they cap it at three movies, drag it out to five moves, or go with my modest proposal that caps it at four (with only one more movie worth of plot), it's going to be an interesting progression. And to think, I'm old enough to remember when the J.K. Rowling franchise and the LEGO franchise were Warner Bros.' sturdy and stable IP while the DC Films universe was causing the non-stop headaches. If WB can indeed "save" the DC Films franshise, then there is perhaps enough magic in the water tower to salvage the Fantastic Beasts saga as well. | "Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes Of Grindelwald" opened with $62 million domestic. The film earned $232 million from a $74.4m debut weekend. The fear is that Fantastic Beasts 3 will act like Divergent Series: Allegiant and send the series to a premature grave. | ctrlsum | 2 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/scottmendelson/2019/03/15/box-office-fantastic-beasts-crimes-of-grindelwald-jk-rowling-harry-potter-johnny-depp-movies/ | 0.1702 |
What Is The Single Most Important Skill A Programmer Needs? | originally appeared on Quora: the place to gain and share knowledge, empowering people to learn from others and better understand the world. Answer by Tikhon Jelvis, programmer, on Quora: A programmer needs, above all, tastean intuitive capability and desire to do things cleanly, aligning to the needs and context of a project and not to absolute rules or universal principles. Yes, this is a vague quality. It's hard to pin down exactly, just like it's hard to pin down why consistently successful programmers are consistently successful. Youve probably worked with somebody like that beforesomebody who makes things work despite constraints, who avoids pitfalls others would fall into and who, when problems do arise, fixes them faster and more decisively than youd expect. They know which corners you cant cut, which ones you can and even which ones you should. I hope youre lucky enough to work with people like this. I have been and its fascinating. You watch them, but you cant really tell how they do it, just that they do. People call this experienceand experience is the only sure way to develop tastebut this is misleading. Ive seen people with years and years of experience in different companies and contexts who never get there, and people with seemingly sparse backgrounds who do. If you ask one of these effective programmer for advice, they'll give you a satisfactory answer, an answer you would do well to heed. But then, when you watch them carefully, theyll go against their own advice soon enough, and be correct in that too. This is not hypocrisy or contradiction in terms, it isnt a matter of do what I say, not what I do, it isnt even a reason not to follow their adviceits an example of the adaptability that taste provides. Adaptability is key. Programming, at heart, is a field dominated by uncertainty. To succeed consistently, you have to keep your options open, ready to react to inevitable changes in circumstances. Taste is knowing how to do this effectively, within the context and goals of a project and despite limited time, resources and information. From a high level, the technical side of a project is not that different from the business side of a project, and both are dominated by the same key concerns. The difficulty, of course, is that until youve developed solid taste on your own, you can overdo or underdo anything. You can even be too adaptable or, at least, you can put too much effort into being adaptable. You need to understand enough of the situation to thread the needlewhich may or may not always be the middle path. And that, perhaps, is exactly what taste amounts to: taking everything to the right extent. This doesnt mean always choosing the moderate option or treating everything as a balanced tradeoff that requires compromisesometimes a compromise is worse than either extremebut it does mean making all these decisions carefully, with a thorough understanding of both the business and technical context and a strong intuitive idea of what actions will lead to what outcomes. This is no easy task. But then, nobody ever said programming had to be easy! This question originally appeared on Quora - the place to gain and share knowledge, empowering people to learn from others and better understand the world. You can follow Quora on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+. More questions: | Tikhon Jelvis: A programmer needs an intuitive capability and desire to do things cleanly. | bart | 0 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2019/03/15/what-is-the-single-most-important-skill-a-programmer-needs/ | 0.201732 |
What Is The Single Most Important Skill A Programmer Needs? | originally appeared on Quora: the place to gain and share knowledge, empowering people to learn from others and better understand the world. Answer by Tikhon Jelvis, programmer, on Quora: A programmer needs, above all, tastean intuitive capability and desire to do things cleanly, aligning to the needs and context of a project and not to absolute rules or universal principles. Yes, this is a vague quality. It's hard to pin down exactly, just like it's hard to pin down why consistently successful programmers are consistently successful. Youve probably worked with somebody like that beforesomebody who makes things work despite constraints, who avoids pitfalls others would fall into and who, when problems do arise, fixes them faster and more decisively than youd expect. They know which corners you cant cut, which ones you can and even which ones you should. I hope youre lucky enough to work with people like this. I have been and its fascinating. You watch them, but you cant really tell how they do it, just that they do. People call this experienceand experience is the only sure way to develop tastebut this is misleading. Ive seen people with years and years of experience in different companies and contexts who never get there, and people with seemingly sparse backgrounds who do. If you ask one of these effective programmer for advice, they'll give you a satisfactory answer, an answer you would do well to heed. But then, when you watch them carefully, theyll go against their own advice soon enough, and be correct in that too. This is not hypocrisy or contradiction in terms, it isnt a matter of do what I say, not what I do, it isnt even a reason not to follow their adviceits an example of the adaptability that taste provides. Adaptability is key. Programming, at heart, is a field dominated by uncertainty. To succeed consistently, you have to keep your options open, ready to react to inevitable changes in circumstances. Taste is knowing how to do this effectively, within the context and goals of a project and despite limited time, resources and information. From a high level, the technical side of a project is not that different from the business side of a project, and both are dominated by the same key concerns. The difficulty, of course, is that until youve developed solid taste on your own, you can overdo or underdo anything. You can even be too adaptable or, at least, you can put too much effort into being adaptable. You need to understand enough of the situation to thread the needlewhich may or may not always be the middle path. And that, perhaps, is exactly what taste amounts to: taking everything to the right extent. This doesnt mean always choosing the moderate option or treating everything as a balanced tradeoff that requires compromisesometimes a compromise is worse than either extremebut it does mean making all these decisions carefully, with a thorough understanding of both the business and technical context and a strong intuitive idea of what actions will lead to what outcomes. This is no easy task. But then, nobody ever said programming had to be easy! This question originally appeared on Quora - the place to gain and share knowledge, empowering people to learn from others and better understand the world. You can follow Quora on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+. More questions: | Tikhon Jelvis: A programmer needs an intuitive capability and desire to do things cleanly. He says it's hard to pin down exactly why consistently successful programmers are consistently successful. | bart | 1 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2019/03/15/what-is-the-single-most-important-skill-a-programmer-needs/ | 0.266512 |
What Is The Single Most Important Skill A Programmer Needs? | originally appeared on Quora: the place to gain and share knowledge, empowering people to learn from others and better understand the world. Answer by Tikhon Jelvis, programmer, on Quora: A programmer needs, above all, tastean intuitive capability and desire to do things cleanly, aligning to the needs and context of a project and not to absolute rules or universal principles. Yes, this is a vague quality. It's hard to pin down exactly, just like it's hard to pin down why consistently successful programmers are consistently successful. Youve probably worked with somebody like that beforesomebody who makes things work despite constraints, who avoids pitfalls others would fall into and who, when problems do arise, fixes them faster and more decisively than youd expect. They know which corners you cant cut, which ones you can and even which ones you should. I hope youre lucky enough to work with people like this. I have been and its fascinating. You watch them, but you cant really tell how they do it, just that they do. People call this experienceand experience is the only sure way to develop tastebut this is misleading. Ive seen people with years and years of experience in different companies and contexts who never get there, and people with seemingly sparse backgrounds who do. If you ask one of these effective programmer for advice, they'll give you a satisfactory answer, an answer you would do well to heed. But then, when you watch them carefully, theyll go against their own advice soon enough, and be correct in that too. This is not hypocrisy or contradiction in terms, it isnt a matter of do what I say, not what I do, it isnt even a reason not to follow their adviceits an example of the adaptability that taste provides. Adaptability is key. Programming, at heart, is a field dominated by uncertainty. To succeed consistently, you have to keep your options open, ready to react to inevitable changes in circumstances. Taste is knowing how to do this effectively, within the context and goals of a project and despite limited time, resources and information. From a high level, the technical side of a project is not that different from the business side of a project, and both are dominated by the same key concerns. The difficulty, of course, is that until youve developed solid taste on your own, you can overdo or underdo anything. You can even be too adaptable or, at least, you can put too much effort into being adaptable. You need to understand enough of the situation to thread the needlewhich may or may not always be the middle path. And that, perhaps, is exactly what taste amounts to: taking everything to the right extent. This doesnt mean always choosing the moderate option or treating everything as a balanced tradeoff that requires compromisesometimes a compromise is worse than either extremebut it does mean making all these decisions carefully, with a thorough understanding of both the business and technical context and a strong intuitive idea of what actions will lead to what outcomes. This is no easy task. But then, nobody ever said programming had to be easy! This question originally appeared on Quora - the place to gain and share knowledge, empowering people to learn from others and better understand the world. You can follow Quora on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+. More questions: | Tikhon Jelvis: A programmer needs an intuitive capability and desire to do things cleanly. He says it's hard to pin down exactly why consistently successful programmers are consistently successful. Adaptability is key in programming, at heart, is a field dominated by uncertainty, he says. | bart | 2 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2019/03/15/what-is-the-single-most-important-skill-a-programmer-needs/ | 0.267986 |
What Can Leaders Learn From Theresa May's Brexit Management? | Whether you agree with her handling of Brexit or not, one thing you can't ignore is Theresa Mays resilience, one of several qualities that have come to define the Prime Minister's leadership. May kept a relatively low profile compared to David Cameron or Boris Johnson despite once famously referring to her colleagues as the nasty party and her penchant for leopard print kitten heels. It was this enigmatic quality that allowed her to shift from Home Secretary to snatch the premiership of the U.K. in 2016. It has also made the last three years something of a revelation. She has been seen to work as hard as the Prime Minister as she did back at the Home Office. We have also witnessed a range of new behaviors quite out of character from holding hands with President Trump at the White House to entering the platform at a recent party conference dancing to Abbas Dancing Queen. But it is, of course, the delivery of Brexit that has thrust her into the limelight - her handling of the crisis offering lessons business leaders can learn from. Authenticity Back in 2016, May campaigned to remain in the EU. On becoming Prime Minister, she accepted the result of the vote and pledged to deliver the U.K.s departure. From Mays relentless drive to achieve the deal Ive been clear Brexit means Brexit - matched to her famous red lines, it is difficult to remember that she had ever been anything other than a Leaver. Its not uncommon to be in a similar position in a corporate. Strategic decisions are taken at group level that change the direction of a company against which a leader might well have fought. But the more senior the leader, the more important it is to be seen to be on board and to persuade reluctant colleagues to do the same. Teamwork Mays government stated that Parliament will vote on the final Brexit deal. MPs had a chance to turn that intention into a meaningful vote, during the European Withdrawal Acts year-long passage through Parliament, Mays problems immediately became a whole lot harder. The Conservative Party, like any other political party, represents a range of political opinions out of which a compromise must be achieved. But, following the general election of 2017, May lost her majority. It meant that forming alliances both within her party and across Parliament was important than ever to deliver a majority in a meaningful vote. May utterly failed to reach out across Parliament. A tiny group of advisors and May appeared to work with the EU to negotiate a deal finished to an extraordinary level of detail. Only at that point was the deal shown to the Cabinet - famously on a very hot day in Chequers, the Prime Ministers country retreat, which led to squabbles and ministerial resignations - let alone to MPs both in her party and without, all key stakeholders to getting her deal through Parliament. It is like a CEO recognising that their business model was under threat, hiring one of the Big Five global consultancies to refashion the company, announcing it to colleagues, customers and partners before promptly enacting the transformation. If youve worked in a company where that happened, you know what happens next. Little if no buy-in, demotivated teams and departure of the talent. Resilience Mays dogged determination to get her deal through has been both revered as perseverance over adversity she even addressed Parliament this week barely able to talk - and reviled as being beyond all reason. Business leaders who gave up as soon as the going got tough would have as short careers as the ones who defied logic. Listening Whether May has done so is difficult to gauge. Shes got all the classic signs of introversion lack of small talk, not a regular networker in Parliaments bars and keeping information to herself but a rare example of one making it to the top. The only other introvert leader who comes to mind is Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor. Her premiership should be studied by all ambitious introverts to see how too often they come across within our majority-extrovert culture. Keeping cool Certainly, the introversion has enabled her language and intonation to appear calm and polite despite the coarsening of political discourse over the last three years. Only last autumn, it was reported that an anonymous but senior Conservative MP told her to bring her own noose to a meeting. Her stoicism has no doubt gone some way to slow the rising panic felt by many if the U.K. were to leave without a deal. It is at the moment of most stress that too many leaders use emotion to win an argument and, in the process, reveal the very depth of the crisis they were hoping to avoid. The vision thing It will take a least a generation to determine whether May was a visionary or blind-sided. But then leadership, whether in politics or business, is a lonely role in which the destination and verdict of history are often out of our control. | Theresa May's resilience is one of several qualities that have come to define her leadership. On becoming Prime Minister, May accepted the result of the vote and pledged to deliver the U.K.s departure. | pegasus | 1 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnwelsheurope/2019/03/15/what-can-leaders-learn-from-theresa-mays-brexit-management/ | 0.101793 |
Who Is Resecurity, The Mysterious Firm That Named The Group Allegedly Behind The Citrix Hack? | Last week, it emerged that Citrix had been hacked, potentially exposing large amounts of customer data. The company had been notified by the FBI on March 6 that international cyber criminals had likely gained access to the internal Citrix network. As more information began to filter through, another, little known company entered the fray: Resecurity. And the cybersecurity firm had some bold claims: Resecurity said the attacks were perpetrated by an Iranian-linked group it calls IRIDIUM, which it claimed has hit more than 200 government agencies, oil and gas firms and technology companies. The firm said it first reached out to Citrix on December 28 2018 to share an early warning notification about a targeted attack and data breach. This was later confirmed by Ctirix, which told tech site The Register that a blog by Stan Black, Citrix CSIO referred to the same incident" described by Resecurity: "We have no further comment at this time, but as promised, we will provide updates when we have what we believe is credible and actionable information." Resecurity also accused IRIDIUM of perpetrating a recent cyber-attack on the Australian parliament, despite the fact that the government itself had blamed China. Indeed, some people have questioned the validity of Resecuritys claims, including the Risky Business cybersecurity podcast. Many in the community were suspicious about the way Resecurity seemingly appeared out of nowhere with bold claims about a major hack. Others criticised a lack of detail, which the firm since added to its blog. Its true the company was suddenly thrust into the limelight. I got in contact with Resecurity to try to understand more about its origins and findings. Charles Yoo, the firms CEO describes how the company was originally founded in 2016, with a focus on threat intelligence, network reconnaissance and risk management. At this point Resecurity focused on investment in research and development around tools and platforms that could help enterprises and law enforcement to identify cybersecurity threats, monitor threat actors and collect pre-emptive intelligence. The firm didnt officially launch until 2018 which explains why people hadnt heard much about them before. According to Yoo, clients include Fortune 500 companies, law enforcement, and government agencies across domestic and international geography. We feel that there is room for new players in this space, says Yoo, who says his firm is competing with well-established companies specializing in cyber threat intelligence such as Symantec, RSA, FireEye, CrowdStrike, AlienVault, Looking Glass, Digital Shadows, and Flashpoint whom we have a lot of respect for pioneering the space. And in fact, says Yoo, the company prefers to have a low profile and focus on high-quality intelligence acquisition for our customers. When asked about the questions surrounding Resecurity, he says: We respect everyones opinion, however we have no additional comments at this time. During 2018, the company participated in several industry events including Amazon re:Invent (USA, Silver Sponsor), GovWare 2018 (Singapore, Gold Sponsor), Internet SecurityConference (ISC) 2018 (China, Gold Sponsor). It will participate in the upcoming 31st Annual FIRST Conference 2019 in Edinburgh as a Diamond Sponsor. Resecurity was confident in its claims that IRIDIUM had perpetrated the Citrix hack as well as other high-profile cyber-attacks. Yoo says the name IRIDIUM was assigned by Resecurity internally. It is an extremely interesting group of threat actors focused on high-value targets such as financial institutions, critical infrastructure - primarily oil and gas - and government resources based in Five Eyes countries and the Middle East. The most active period of their visibility and malicious activity was during winter 2018, when we alerted several large enterprises regarding malicious activity directed by the group, says Yoo. Interestingly, some of their members have been identified as the result of Dark Web monitoring, says Yoo. Members had been caught when they attempted to monetize some of their past victims through the underground marketplaces, which is typical for financially motivated cybercriminals, Yoo adds. Due to specifics of their targets, further analysis of their key members, timeline of the incidents, monitored network intelligence and other previously undisclosed targets, we have a high confidence that a nation-state has direct association with them, or recruited them for conducting cyberespionage activity based on their tasks. He points out that in all observed cases of the groups activity, the end victim has been attacked through password spraying with further attempt to escalate privileges and conduct network intrusion through sign-on (SSO), VPN or other available channels, leading to massive data exfiltration. Password spraying Malicious cyber actors are increasingly using a style of brute force attack known as password spraying against organizations in the United States and abroad, says Yoo. In a traditional brute-force attack, a malicious actor attempts to gain unauthorized access to a single account by guessing the password. This can quickly result in a targeted account becoming locked-out, because commonly used account-lockout policies allow three to five bad attempts during a set period of time. During a password-spray attack - also known as the low-and-slow method - the malicious actor attempts a single password against many accounts before moving on to attempt a second password, and so on. This technique allows the actor to remain undetected by avoiding rapid or frequent account lockouts, Yoo says. Password spray campaigns typically target SSO and cloud-based applications utilizing federated authentication protocols, says Yoo. An actor may target this specific protocol because federated authentication can help mask malicious traffic. Additionally, by targeting SSO applications, malicious actors hope to maximize access to intellectual property during a successful compromise. While some have said attribution to Iran is unlikely many say China and Russia provide a much bigger threat with far vaster cyber offensive capabilities there is some evidence that Iran is a player it its own right. In February 2018, the Department of Justice in the Southern District of New York indicted nine Iranian nationals associated with the Mabna Institute, for computer intrusion offenses. The techniques and activity described, while characteristic of Mabna actors, are not limited solely to use by this group, says Yoo. He points out that some of the uncovered targets identified during IRIDIUM activity investigation had significant overlap with their past victims compromised in 2014-2017 period: before the indictment had been released". This isnt the last well see of Resecurity. Yoo told me the firm is working on several intelligence reports at the moment related to internet of things security, botnet activity, and emerging cybersecurity threats analysis in Asia-Pacific and the Middle East. Resecuritys claims are bold, but the firm is a new company in an already crowded cybersecurity market. And one thing is certain: If you didnt know who Resecurity were a week ago, you definitely do now. | cybersecurity firm Resecurity made bold claims about Citrix hack. It said attacks were perpetrated by an Iranian-linked group it calls IRIDIUM. | bart | 1 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/kateoflahertyuk/2019/03/15/who-is-resecurity-the-mysterious-firm-that-named-the-group-allegedly-behind-the-citrix-hack/ | 0.172933 |
Who Is Resecurity, The Mysterious Firm That Named The Group Allegedly Behind The Citrix Hack? | Last week, it emerged that Citrix had been hacked, potentially exposing large amounts of customer data. The company had been notified by the FBI on March 6 that international cyber criminals had likely gained access to the internal Citrix network. As more information began to filter through, another, little known company entered the fray: Resecurity. And the cybersecurity firm had some bold claims: Resecurity said the attacks were perpetrated by an Iranian-linked group it calls IRIDIUM, which it claimed has hit more than 200 government agencies, oil and gas firms and technology companies. The firm said it first reached out to Citrix on December 28 2018 to share an early warning notification about a targeted attack and data breach. This was later confirmed by Ctirix, which told tech site The Register that a blog by Stan Black, Citrix CSIO referred to the same incident" described by Resecurity: "We have no further comment at this time, but as promised, we will provide updates when we have what we believe is credible and actionable information." Resecurity also accused IRIDIUM of perpetrating a recent cyber-attack on the Australian parliament, despite the fact that the government itself had blamed China. Indeed, some people have questioned the validity of Resecuritys claims, including the Risky Business cybersecurity podcast. Many in the community were suspicious about the way Resecurity seemingly appeared out of nowhere with bold claims about a major hack. Others criticised a lack of detail, which the firm since added to its blog. Its true the company was suddenly thrust into the limelight. I got in contact with Resecurity to try to understand more about its origins and findings. Charles Yoo, the firms CEO describes how the company was originally founded in 2016, with a focus on threat intelligence, network reconnaissance and risk management. At this point Resecurity focused on investment in research and development around tools and platforms that could help enterprises and law enforcement to identify cybersecurity threats, monitor threat actors and collect pre-emptive intelligence. The firm didnt officially launch until 2018 which explains why people hadnt heard much about them before. According to Yoo, clients include Fortune 500 companies, law enforcement, and government agencies across domestic and international geography. We feel that there is room for new players in this space, says Yoo, who says his firm is competing with well-established companies specializing in cyber threat intelligence such as Symantec, RSA, FireEye, CrowdStrike, AlienVault, Looking Glass, Digital Shadows, and Flashpoint whom we have a lot of respect for pioneering the space. And in fact, says Yoo, the company prefers to have a low profile and focus on high-quality intelligence acquisition for our customers. When asked about the questions surrounding Resecurity, he says: We respect everyones opinion, however we have no additional comments at this time. During 2018, the company participated in several industry events including Amazon re:Invent (USA, Silver Sponsor), GovWare 2018 (Singapore, Gold Sponsor), Internet SecurityConference (ISC) 2018 (China, Gold Sponsor). It will participate in the upcoming 31st Annual FIRST Conference 2019 in Edinburgh as a Diamond Sponsor. Resecurity was confident in its claims that IRIDIUM had perpetrated the Citrix hack as well as other high-profile cyber-attacks. Yoo says the name IRIDIUM was assigned by Resecurity internally. It is an extremely interesting group of threat actors focused on high-value targets such as financial institutions, critical infrastructure - primarily oil and gas - and government resources based in Five Eyes countries and the Middle East. The most active period of their visibility and malicious activity was during winter 2018, when we alerted several large enterprises regarding malicious activity directed by the group, says Yoo. Interestingly, some of their members have been identified as the result of Dark Web monitoring, says Yoo. Members had been caught when they attempted to monetize some of their past victims through the underground marketplaces, which is typical for financially motivated cybercriminals, Yoo adds. Due to specifics of their targets, further analysis of their key members, timeline of the incidents, monitored network intelligence and other previously undisclosed targets, we have a high confidence that a nation-state has direct association with them, or recruited them for conducting cyberespionage activity based on their tasks. He points out that in all observed cases of the groups activity, the end victim has been attacked through password spraying with further attempt to escalate privileges and conduct network intrusion through sign-on (SSO), VPN or other available channels, leading to massive data exfiltration. Password spraying Malicious cyber actors are increasingly using a style of brute force attack known as password spraying against organizations in the United States and abroad, says Yoo. In a traditional brute-force attack, a malicious actor attempts to gain unauthorized access to a single account by guessing the password. This can quickly result in a targeted account becoming locked-out, because commonly used account-lockout policies allow three to five bad attempts during a set period of time. During a password-spray attack - also known as the low-and-slow method - the malicious actor attempts a single password against many accounts before moving on to attempt a second password, and so on. This technique allows the actor to remain undetected by avoiding rapid or frequent account lockouts, Yoo says. Password spray campaigns typically target SSO and cloud-based applications utilizing federated authentication protocols, says Yoo. An actor may target this specific protocol because federated authentication can help mask malicious traffic. Additionally, by targeting SSO applications, malicious actors hope to maximize access to intellectual property during a successful compromise. While some have said attribution to Iran is unlikely many say China and Russia provide a much bigger threat with far vaster cyber offensive capabilities there is some evidence that Iran is a player it its own right. In February 2018, the Department of Justice in the Southern District of New York indicted nine Iranian nationals associated with the Mabna Institute, for computer intrusion offenses. The techniques and activity described, while characteristic of Mabna actors, are not limited solely to use by this group, says Yoo. He points out that some of the uncovered targets identified during IRIDIUM activity investigation had significant overlap with their past victims compromised in 2014-2017 period: before the indictment had been released". This isnt the last well see of Resecurity. Yoo told me the firm is working on several intelligence reports at the moment related to internet of things security, botnet activity, and emerging cybersecurity threats analysis in Asia-Pacific and the Middle East. Resecuritys claims are bold, but the firm is a new company in an already crowded cybersecurity market. And one thing is certain: If you didnt know who Resecurity were a week ago, you definitely do now. | cybersecurity firm Resecurity made bold claims about Citrix hack. It said attacks were perpetrated by an Iranian-linked group it calls IRIDIUM. The group is said to have hit more than 200 government agencies, oil and gas firms and technology companies. Some people have questioned the validity of the firm's claims. | bart | 2 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/kateoflahertyuk/2019/03/15/who-is-resecurity-the-mysterious-firm-that-named-the-group-allegedly-behind-the-citrix-hack/ | 0.239772 |
Why Is It So Hard for Our President to Condemn White Supremacy and Islamophobia? | Sign up for Take Action Now and get three actions in your inbox every week. You will receive occasional promotional offers for programs that support The Nations journalism. You can read our Privacy Policy here. Sign up for Take Action Now and get three actions in your inbox every week. Thank you for signing up. For more from The Nation, check out our latest issue Subscribe now for as little as $2 a month! Support Progressive Journalism The Nation is reader supported: Chip in $10 or more to help us continue to write about the issues that matter. The Nation is reader supported: Chip in $10 or more to help us continue to write about the issues that matter. Fight Back! Sign up for Take Action Now and well send you three meaningful actions you can take each week. You will receive occasional promotional offers for programs that support The Nations journalism. You can read our Privacy Policy here. Sign up for Take Action Now and well send you three meaningful actions you can take each week. Thank you for signing up. For more from The Nation, check out our latest issue Travel With The Nation Be the first to hear about Nation Travels destinations, and explore the world with kindred spirits. Be the first to hear about Nation Travels destinations, and explore the world with kindred spirits. Sign up for our Wine Club today. Donald Trump had a chance to boldly condemn white supremacy and Islamophobia on Friday morning. Instead, after issuing a muffled statement of sympathy for the victims of murderous attacks on mosques in New Zealand, the president of the United States went back to complaining, in great and extended detail, that special counsel Robert Mueller should never have been appointed and there should be no Mueller Report. Ad Policy On one of the darkest days in history for Muslims worldwide, the presidents initial response to the New Zealand killings failed to mention Muslims, Islam, Islamophobia, white supremacy, racism, bigotry or violent hatred that targets people based on their religion. Trump will, hopefully, come around to more explicitly and effectively condemning the latest acts of mass violence directed at places of worship by white supremacists. But his every action reminds us that we have a president whose priorities are so warped that he cannot bring himself to lead in the moment when leadership is most needed. Even the presidents supporters, who make excuses for what they tell us are his lapses, and who so ardently reject any suggestion that he encourages or tolerates bigotry, have to recognize that Trump is failing miserably as a leader. The United States is a powerful, influential country. But the measures of American leadership on the global stage are fluid. They depend on the quality of the individuals who occupy positions of public trust and authority. Yet, whenever the moment demands more, Trump offers less. After the killing of at least 49 people in mass shootings at two mosques in the New Zealand city of Christchurch, it was immediately clear that this was what New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern identified it as: a terrorist attack committed by people who I would describe as having extremist views that have absolutely no place in New Zealand and in fact have no place in the world. By Friday morning in the United States, Jonathan Greenblatt of the Anti-Defamation League was telling NPR that the Christchurch attack clearly was motivated by white supremacy. Weve got a big problem on our hands and we need to recognize that social media allows white supremacy, much like other forms of hate, to travel across borders, and weve got to recognize it for the global terror threat that it really is, warned Greenblatt, who noted that the killer in Christchurch had referenced white supremacists and white nationalists who had engaged in mass murder in the United States and other countries. Current Issue View our current issue The right response to a big problem is to identify it, and bluntly call it out, as German Chancellor Angela Merkel did when she reacted with grief and horror to the fact that, once again, citizens who were attacked and murdered out of racist hatred. And as Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan did when he condemned those those who collectively and deliberately choose to demonize Muslims, and warned that I blame these increasing terror attacks on the current Islamophobia. There is no point in mincing words about the threat posed by white supremacy and Islamophobia. Indeed, mincing words sends precisely the wrong signal. Yet President Trumps response on Friday morning, delivered long after details of the killers white supremacist and Islamophobic sentiments were broadcast around the world, was a muted tweet that read: My warmest sympathy and best wishes goes out to the people of New Zealand after the horrible massacre in the Mosques. 49 innocent people have so senselessly died, with so many more seriously injured. The U.S. stands by New Zealand for anything we can do. God bless all! Warm sympathy is all fine and good. But, according to news reports, the Australian-born suspect in the mass shooting wrote a 74-page manifesto that described the American president as a symbol of renewed white identity and common purpose. Trump, who invited an international outcry with his suggestion that there were very fine people among white supremacists and white nationalists who mounted violent protests in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017, should have recognized the need to respond in a dramatically better way this time. This was an opportunity for the president to lead. Instead, he went off on another tangent, griping about the Mueller inquiry in an extended Twitter rant that concluded with an all-caps declaration that THIS SHOULD NEVER HAPPEN TO A PRESIDENT AGAIN! The language of Never Again! should have been employed on Friday morning. But not with regard to a legitimate investigation into political and presidential wrongdoing. It should have been employed to condemn racist hatred and violence that has targeted churches, synagogues, and mosques. But Trump could not get there. Instead, he literally repeating his attacks on the woman who won 2.9 million more votes than he did in the 2016 presidential election. Yes, Trump found time on Friday morning to attack Crooked Hillary, but no time to attack white supremacy or Islamophobia. My heart breaks for New Zealand & the global Muslim community. We must continue to fight the perpetuation and normalization of Islamophobia and racism in all its forms, wrote Clinton. White supremacist terrorists must be condemned by leaders everywhere. Their murderous hatred must be stopped. That is how a president of the United States is supposed to respond in a moment of horror that demands clarityand leadership. | Frida Ghitis: Why is it so hard for our President to condemn white supremacy and Islamophobia? She says whenever the moment demands more, Trump offers less. She says the U.S. is a powerful, influential country, but the measures of American leadership on the global stage are fluid. | ctrlsum | 2 | https://www.thenation.com/article/new-zealand-mosque-shooting-trump-islamophobia-white-supremacy/ | 0.297196 |
How much do California speeding tickets cost? | Thats the finding of a study from car insurance website GoCompare, which looked at the penalty in all 50 states for a first-time offense driving 13 mph above the speed limit. But, as is often the case, the reality is more complicated. At $35, California is the sixth best state in the nation to get busted with a lead foot, GoCompare found. Taking the top five are Oklahoma and Alabama (tied at $20), New Mexico ($30), Delaware ($33) and Idaho ($33.50). Sign Up and Save Get six months of free digital access to The Sacramento Bee However, that $35 ticket in California is just the beginning. Add in all additional surcharges and penalty assessments and and that $35 ticket could look a lot more like a $237 ticket depending on where you get pulled over, according legal help website DrivingLaws.org. As for Nevada, which GoCompare listed as having the worst speeding ticket in the country, fines can rise up to $1,000. Speeding is a misdemeanor in Nevada, which does carry a fine of up to $1,000 but in reality the fine varies by jurisdiction and usually costs a few hundred dollars, according to Nevada traffic attorneys. Of course, speeding can extract a much heavier price. Traffic collisions as a result of speeding killed 1,056 people in California in 2016, according to a study sponsored by the California Office of Traffic Safety. Nearly a third of all motor vehicle fatalities in the state were speeding related. Nationwide, speeding killed more than 9,700 people in 2017, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Thats more than a quarter of all traffic fatalities for the year. | At $35, California is the sixth best state in the nation to get busted with a lead foot. But that $35 ticket could look a lot more like a $237 ticket depending on where you get pulled over. In Nevada, which GoCompare listed as having the worst speeding ticket in the country, fines can rise up to $1,000. | pegasus | 2 | https://www.sacbee.com/news/state/california/article227461789.html | 0.185147 |
Who Is Resecurity, The Mysterious Firm That Blamed Iran For The Citrix Hack? | Last week, it emerged that Citrix had been hacked, potentially exposing large amounts of customer data. The company had been notified by the FBI on March 6 that international cyber criminals had likely gained access to the internal Citrix network. As more information began to filter through, another, little known company entered the fray: Resecurity. And the cybersecurity firm had some bold claims: Resecurity said the attacks were perpetrated by an Iranian-linked group it calls IRIDIUM, which it claimed has hit more than 200 government agencies, oil and gas firms and technology companies. The firm said it first reached out to Citrix on December 28 2018 to share an early warning notification about a targeted attack and data breach. This was later confirmed by Ctirix, which told tech site The Register that a blog by Stan Black, Citrix CSIO referred to the same incident" described by Resecurity: "We have no further comment at this time, but as promised, we will provide updates when we have what we believe is credible and actionable information." Resecurity also accused IRIDIUM of perpetrating a recent cyber-attack on the Australian parliament, despite the fact that the government itself had blamed China. Indeed, some people have questioned the validity of Resecuritys claims, including the Risky Business cybersecurity podcast. Many in the community were suspicious about the way Resecurity seemingly appeared out of nowhere with bold claims about a major hack. Others criticised a lack of detail, which the firm since added to its blog. Its true the company was suddenly thrust into the limelight. I got in contact with Resecurity to try to understand more about its origins and findings. Charles Yoo, the firms CEO describes how the company was originally founded in 2016, with a focus on threat intelligence, network reconnaissance and risk management. At this point Resecurity focused on investment in research and development around tools and platforms that could help enterprises and law enforcement to identify cybersecurity threats, monitor threat actors and collect pre-emptive intelligence. The firm didnt officially launch until 2018 which explains why people hadnt heard much about them before. According to Yoo, clients include Fortune 500 companies, law enforcement, and government agencies across domestic and international geography. We feel that there is room for new players in this space, says Yoo, who says his firm is competing with well-established companies specializing in cyber threat intelligence such as Symantec, RSA, FireEye, CrowdStrike, AlienVault, Looking Glass, Digital Shadows, and Flashpoint whom we have a lot of respect for pioneering the space. And in fact, says Yoo, the company prefers to have a low profile and focus on high-quality intelligence acquisition for our customers. When asked about the questions surrounding Resecurity, he says: We respect everyones opinion, however we have no additional comments at this time. During 2018, the company participated in several industry events including Amazon re:Invent (USA, Silver Sponsor), GovWare 2018 (Singapore, Gold Sponsor), Internet SecurityConference (ISC) 2018 (China, Gold Sponsor). It will participate in the upcoming 31st Annual FIRST Conference 2019 in Edinburgh as a Diamond Sponsor. Resecurity was confident in its claims that IRIDIUM had perpetrated the Citrix hack as well as other high-profile cyber-attacks. Yoo says the name IRIDIUM was assigned by Resecurity internally. It is an extremely interesting group of threat actors focused on high-value targets such as financial institutions, critical infrastructure - primarily oil and gas - and government resources based in Five Eyes countries and the Middle East. The most active period of their visibility and malicious activity was during winter 2018, when we alerted several large enterprises regarding malicious activity directed by the group, says Yoo. Interestingly, some of their members have been identified as the result of Dark Web monitoring, says Yoo. Members had been caught when they attempted to monetize some of their past victims through the underground marketplaces, which is typical for financially motivated cybercriminals, Yoo adds. Due to specifics of their targets, further analysis of their key members, timeline of the incidents, monitored network intelligence and other previously undisclosed targets, we have a high confidence that a nation-state has direct association with them, or recruited them for conducting cyberespionage activity based on their tasks. He points out that in all observed cases of the groups activity, the end victim has been attacked through password spraying with further attempt to escalate privileges and conduct network intrusion through sign-on (SSO), VPN or other available channels, leading to massive data exfiltration. Password spraying Malicious cyber actors are increasingly using a style of brute force attack known as password spraying against organizations in the United States and abroad, says Yoo. In a traditional brute-force attack, a malicious actor attempts to gain unauthorized access to a single account by guessing the password. This can quickly result in a targeted account becoming locked-out, because commonly used account-lockout policies allow three to five bad attempts during a set period of time. During a password-spray attack - also known as the low-and-slow method - the malicious actor attempts a single password against many accounts before moving on to attempt a second password, and so on. This technique allows the actor to remain undetected by avoiding rapid or frequent account lockouts, Yoo says. Password spray campaigns typically target SSO and cloud-based applications utilizing federated authentication protocols, says Yoo. An actor may target this specific protocol because federated authentication can help mask malicious traffic. Additionally, by targeting SSO applications, malicious actors hope to maximize access to intellectual property during a successful compromise. While some have said attribution to Iran is unlikely many say China and Russia provide a much bigger threat with far vaster cyber offensive capabilities there is some evidence that Iran is a player it its own right. In February 2018, the Department of Justice in the Southern District of New York indicted nine Iranian nationals associated with the Mabna Institute, for computer intrusion offenses. The techniques and activity described, while characteristic of Mabna actors, are not limited solely to use by this group, says Yoo. He points out that some of the uncovered targets identified during IRIDIUM activity investigation had significant overlap with their past victims compromised in 2014-2017 period: before the indictment had been released". This isnt the last well see of Resecurity. Yoo told me the firm is working on several intelligence reports at the moment related to internet of things security, botnet activity, and emerging cybersecurity threats analysis in Asia-Pacific and the Middle East. Resecuritys claims are bold, but the firm is a new company in an already crowded cybersecurity market. And one thing is certain: If you didnt know who Resecurity were a week ago, you definitely do now. | cybersecurity firm Resecurity made bold claims about Citrix hack. It said attacks were perpetrated by an Iranian-linked group it calls IRIDIUM. | bart | 1 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/kateoflahertyuk/2019/03/15/who-is-resecurity-the-mysterious-firm-that-blamed-iran-for-the-citrix-hack/ | 0.132585 |
Who Is Resecurity, The Mysterious Firm That Blamed Iran For The Citrix Hack? | Last week, it emerged that Citrix had been hacked, potentially exposing large amounts of customer data. The company had been notified by the FBI on March 6 that international cyber criminals had likely gained access to the internal Citrix network. As more information began to filter through, another, little known company entered the fray: Resecurity. And the cybersecurity firm had some bold claims: Resecurity said the attacks were perpetrated by an Iranian-linked group it calls IRIDIUM, which it claimed has hit more than 200 government agencies, oil and gas firms and technology companies. The firm said it first reached out to Citrix on December 28 2018 to share an early warning notification about a targeted attack and data breach. This was later confirmed by Ctirix, which told tech site The Register that a blog by Stan Black, Citrix CSIO referred to the same incident" described by Resecurity: "We have no further comment at this time, but as promised, we will provide updates when we have what we believe is credible and actionable information." Resecurity also accused IRIDIUM of perpetrating a recent cyber-attack on the Australian parliament, despite the fact that the government itself had blamed China. Indeed, some people have questioned the validity of Resecuritys claims, including the Risky Business cybersecurity podcast. Many in the community were suspicious about the way Resecurity seemingly appeared out of nowhere with bold claims about a major hack. Others criticised a lack of detail, which the firm since added to its blog. Its true the company was suddenly thrust into the limelight. I got in contact with Resecurity to try to understand more about its origins and findings. Charles Yoo, the firms CEO describes how the company was originally founded in 2016, with a focus on threat intelligence, network reconnaissance and risk management. At this point Resecurity focused on investment in research and development around tools and platforms that could help enterprises and law enforcement to identify cybersecurity threats, monitor threat actors and collect pre-emptive intelligence. The firm didnt officially launch until 2018 which explains why people hadnt heard much about them before. According to Yoo, clients include Fortune 500 companies, law enforcement, and government agencies across domestic and international geography. We feel that there is room for new players in this space, says Yoo, who says his firm is competing with well-established companies specializing in cyber threat intelligence such as Symantec, RSA, FireEye, CrowdStrike, AlienVault, Looking Glass, Digital Shadows, and Flashpoint whom we have a lot of respect for pioneering the space. And in fact, says Yoo, the company prefers to have a low profile and focus on high-quality intelligence acquisition for our customers. When asked about the questions surrounding Resecurity, he says: We respect everyones opinion, however we have no additional comments at this time. During 2018, the company participated in several industry events including Amazon re:Invent (USA, Silver Sponsor), GovWare 2018 (Singapore, Gold Sponsor), Internet SecurityConference (ISC) 2018 (China, Gold Sponsor). It will participate in the upcoming 31st Annual FIRST Conference 2019 in Edinburgh as a Diamond Sponsor. Resecurity was confident in its claims that IRIDIUM had perpetrated the Citrix hack as well as other high-profile cyber-attacks. Yoo says the name IRIDIUM was assigned by Resecurity internally. It is an extremely interesting group of threat actors focused on high-value targets such as financial institutions, critical infrastructure - primarily oil and gas - and government resources based in Five Eyes countries and the Middle East. The most active period of their visibility and malicious activity was during winter 2018, when we alerted several large enterprises regarding malicious activity directed by the group, says Yoo. Interestingly, some of their members have been identified as the result of Dark Web monitoring, says Yoo. Members had been caught when they attempted to monetize some of their past victims through the underground marketplaces, which is typical for financially motivated cybercriminals, Yoo adds. Due to specifics of their targets, further analysis of their key members, timeline of the incidents, monitored network intelligence and other previously undisclosed targets, we have a high confidence that a nation-state has direct association with them, or recruited them for conducting cyberespionage activity based on their tasks. He points out that in all observed cases of the groups activity, the end victim has been attacked through password spraying with further attempt to escalate privileges and conduct network intrusion through sign-on (SSO), VPN or other available channels, leading to massive data exfiltration. Password spraying Malicious cyber actors are increasingly using a style of brute force attack known as password spraying against organizations in the United States and abroad, says Yoo. In a traditional brute-force attack, a malicious actor attempts to gain unauthorized access to a single account by guessing the password. This can quickly result in a targeted account becoming locked-out, because commonly used account-lockout policies allow three to five bad attempts during a set period of time. During a password-spray attack - also known as the low-and-slow method - the malicious actor attempts a single password against many accounts before moving on to attempt a second password, and so on. This technique allows the actor to remain undetected by avoiding rapid or frequent account lockouts, Yoo says. Password spray campaigns typically target SSO and cloud-based applications utilizing federated authentication protocols, says Yoo. An actor may target this specific protocol because federated authentication can help mask malicious traffic. Additionally, by targeting SSO applications, malicious actors hope to maximize access to intellectual property during a successful compromise. While some have said attribution to Iran is unlikely many say China and Russia provide a much bigger threat with far vaster cyber offensive capabilities there is some evidence that Iran is a player it its own right. In February 2018, the Department of Justice in the Southern District of New York indicted nine Iranian nationals associated with the Mabna Institute, for computer intrusion offenses. The techniques and activity described, while characteristic of Mabna actors, are not limited solely to use by this group, says Yoo. He points out that some of the uncovered targets identified during IRIDIUM activity investigation had significant overlap with their past victims compromised in 2014-2017 period: before the indictment had been released". This isnt the last well see of Resecurity. Yoo told me the firm is working on several intelligence reports at the moment related to internet of things security, botnet activity, and emerging cybersecurity threats analysis in Asia-Pacific and the Middle East. Resecuritys claims are bold, but the firm is a new company in an already crowded cybersecurity market. And one thing is certain: If you didnt know who Resecurity were a week ago, you definitely do now. | cybersecurity firm Resecurity made bold claims about Citrix hack. It said attacks were perpetrated by an Iranian-linked group it calls IRIDIUM. The group is said to have hit more than 200 government agencies, oil and gas firms and technology companies. Some people have questioned the validity of the firm's claims. | bart | 2 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/kateoflahertyuk/2019/03/15/who-is-resecurity-the-mysterious-firm-that-blamed-iran-for-the-citrix-hack/ | 0.197853 |
Could Lori Loughlin, Felicity Huffman Face Jail Time For College Cheating Scandal? | Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin, along with over 40 other wealthy parents, face potential prison time after allegedly participating in a massive college cheating scheme to have their children admitted to elite universities. It is clear that the charges are not to be taken lightly, given that a federal judge set bail for Huffman and Loughlin at $250,000 and $1 million, respectively. Additionally, Loughlin has already been hit with professional repercussions as a result of the charges against her, with recent reports claiming that she has since been dropped by both the Hallmark Channel and Netflixs Fuller House. According to the charges, Huffman paid $15,000 in order for her eldest daughter to obtain a better score on the SATs, and Loughlin paid $500,000 in bribes to ensure that her two daughters would be labeled as crew recruits in order to gain admission to USC. These actions fall under mail fraud, one of the most common felonies and typically punishable by up to five years of prison time an individual and/or a fine of up to $250,000. While stringent punishment is always a possibility in federal cases, if Huffman and Loughlin continue to cooperate with authorities and show contrition for their alleged crimes, then in all likelihood the pair will walk away with a hefty fine and perhaps probation. The issues of wealth and privilege in this country have also taken center stage in the scandal, and the Justice Department certainly wants to send a message that deep pockets do not mean a person is above the law. According to Andrew Lelling, U.S. attorney for the District of Massachusetts of the charges, the parents involved in the conspiracy were able to give their children every legitimate advantage but chose to corrupt and illegally manipulate the system for their benefit. He then added: There will not be a separate admissions system for the wealthy. And there will not be a separate criminal justice system either. Loughlin and Huffman wont be let off with a simple slap on the wrist, but given that this was a nonviolent crime and that the pair do not have criminal histories, odds are that neither of them will see in the inside of a prison cell. And considering the staggering amount of evidence against the conspiring parents -- in the form of documents, emails and wiretapped calls Loughlin and Huffman would be wise to come clean in order to try avoiding a heftier sentence. | Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin face potential prison time after allegedly participating in a massive college cheating scheme. | bart | 0 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/legalentertainment/2019/03/15/could-lori-loughlin-felicity-huffman-face-jail-time-for-college-cheating-scandal/ | 0.269656 |
Could Lori Loughlin, Felicity Huffman Face Jail Time For College Cheating Scandal? | Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin, along with over 40 other wealthy parents, face potential prison time after allegedly participating in a massive college cheating scheme to have their children admitted to elite universities. It is clear that the charges are not to be taken lightly, given that a federal judge set bail for Huffman and Loughlin at $250,000 and $1 million, respectively. Additionally, Loughlin has already been hit with professional repercussions as a result of the charges against her, with recent reports claiming that she has since been dropped by both the Hallmark Channel and Netflixs Fuller House. According to the charges, Huffman paid $15,000 in order for her eldest daughter to obtain a better score on the SATs, and Loughlin paid $500,000 in bribes to ensure that her two daughters would be labeled as crew recruits in order to gain admission to USC. These actions fall under mail fraud, one of the most common felonies and typically punishable by up to five years of prison time an individual and/or a fine of up to $250,000. While stringent punishment is always a possibility in federal cases, if Huffman and Loughlin continue to cooperate with authorities and show contrition for their alleged crimes, then in all likelihood the pair will walk away with a hefty fine and perhaps probation. The issues of wealth and privilege in this country have also taken center stage in the scandal, and the Justice Department certainly wants to send a message that deep pockets do not mean a person is above the law. According to Andrew Lelling, U.S. attorney for the District of Massachusetts of the charges, the parents involved in the conspiracy were able to give their children every legitimate advantage but chose to corrupt and illegally manipulate the system for their benefit. He then added: There will not be a separate admissions system for the wealthy. And there will not be a separate criminal justice system either. Loughlin and Huffman wont be let off with a simple slap on the wrist, but given that this was a nonviolent crime and that the pair do not have criminal histories, odds are that neither of them will see in the inside of a prison cell. And considering the staggering amount of evidence against the conspiring parents -- in the form of documents, emails and wiretapped calls Loughlin and Huffman would be wise to come clean in order to try avoiding a heftier sentence. | Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin face potential prison time after allegedly participating in a massive college cheating scheme to have their children admitted to elite universities. The pair could face up to five years in prison. | ctrlsum | 1 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/legalentertainment/2019/03/15/could-lori-loughlin-felicity-huffman-face-jail-time-for-college-cheating-scandal/ | 0.389758 |
Could Lori Loughlin, Felicity Huffman Face Jail Time For College Cheating Scandal? | Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin, along with over 40 other wealthy parents, face potential prison time after allegedly participating in a massive college cheating scheme to have their children admitted to elite universities. It is clear that the charges are not to be taken lightly, given that a federal judge set bail for Huffman and Loughlin at $250,000 and $1 million, respectively. Additionally, Loughlin has already been hit with professional repercussions as a result of the charges against her, with recent reports claiming that she has since been dropped by both the Hallmark Channel and Netflixs Fuller House. According to the charges, Huffman paid $15,000 in order for her eldest daughter to obtain a better score on the SATs, and Loughlin paid $500,000 in bribes to ensure that her two daughters would be labeled as crew recruits in order to gain admission to USC. These actions fall under mail fraud, one of the most common felonies and typically punishable by up to five years of prison time an individual and/or a fine of up to $250,000. While stringent punishment is always a possibility in federal cases, if Huffman and Loughlin continue to cooperate with authorities and show contrition for their alleged crimes, then in all likelihood the pair will walk away with a hefty fine and perhaps probation. The issues of wealth and privilege in this country have also taken center stage in the scandal, and the Justice Department certainly wants to send a message that deep pockets do not mean a person is above the law. According to Andrew Lelling, U.S. attorney for the District of Massachusetts of the charges, the parents involved in the conspiracy were able to give their children every legitimate advantage but chose to corrupt and illegally manipulate the system for their benefit. He then added: There will not be a separate admissions system for the wealthy. And there will not be a separate criminal justice system either. Loughlin and Huffman wont be let off with a simple slap on the wrist, but given that this was a nonviolent crime and that the pair do not have criminal histories, odds are that neither of them will see in the inside of a prison cell. And considering the staggering amount of evidence against the conspiring parents -- in the form of documents, emails and wiretapped calls Loughlin and Huffman would be wise to come clean in order to try avoiding a heftier sentence. | Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin face potential prison time after allegedly participating in a massive college cheating scheme to have their children admitted to elite universities. The pair could face up to five years of prison time an individual and/or a fine of up to $250,000. | ctrlsum | 2 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/legalentertainment/2019/03/15/could-lori-loughlin-felicity-huffman-face-jail-time-for-college-cheating-scandal/ | 0.411969 |
Has online shopping saved us any money? | The rise of online shopping has defined an entire epoch of American retail, yet we know little about what boost, if any, it has given to consumers and to the economy as a whole. Because of how federal data have been collected, it's easier to answer questions about the price of butter or industrial spraying equipment than questions about what we buy over the Internet. A team of economists from Stanford University and Visa hopes to fill in the gaps. The Stanford team negotiated with Visa for secure access to about 400 billion anonymous debit and credit transactions between 2007 and 2017, a stockpile that represents US$21.2 trillion ($30.9t) in economic activity. To put that in perspective, consider the entire economic output of the United States in 2017 was about US$19.5t. Researchers compared online transactions to their bricks-and-mortar equivalents and found the typical household gained about US$1,150 in terms of convenience and expanded choice by shopping online in 2017, when the Internet accounted for about 8 per cent of all consumer spending. Their analysis was laid out in a recent working paper circulated by the National Bureau of Economic Research. Advertisement Stanford economist Peter Klenow said the team was surprised by the size of the online economy. "If it continues to grow like this, then it should be on our radar," he said, because it could distort major indicators such as inflation and economic growth. The rise of online shopping has also exacerbated income inequality, the researchers found. Higher-income households enjoy about three times the gains of lower-income ones, relative to their spending. Households with annual incomes above US$50,000 do about 9.7 per cent of their spending online. For lower-income households, the figure is around 3.4 per cent. MIT Sloan economist Catherine Tucker, who recently proposed a framework for evaluating the gains from digital commerce, in the Journal of Economic Literature, said the Stanford team's measurements were a valuable complement to government statistics. Tucker has worked with Stanford's Liran Einav, an author on the paper, but was not involved in this project. Einav said Visa's data was "one of the few options" for measuring online activity across sectors and creating broad, economywide measures. The economists estimated how much customers valued time and convenience by measuring how far someone was willing to drive before they would break down and shop at the same merchant online. When the company offers online and offline options and the bricks-and-mortar option is a mile away, a customer will choose online about 12 per cent of the time. The customer will take the online option more than half of the time. Yet, contrary to expectations, Americans in remote locations did not rely more on online shopping. Instead, the researchers found people in more densely populated areas were more likely to do their shopping online, though that may also be tied to education levels and access to Internet connections and banking services. There's no formal definition of e-commerce. In this case, researchers chose to include online purchases of travel and hotels, but excluded recurring payments and bills. The challenge of measuring the impact of timesaving search engines or mapping apps has been widely discussed. Less attention has been paid to what Klenow called the "unmeasured GDP growth" created by providing online access to goods. "It's a significant component of growth that's occurring but isn't emphasised in the standard measurement," Klenow said. In a separate 2018 working paper, Klenow used prices from Adobe Analytics to show online inflation lagging overall inflation by about 1.3 percentage points each year. If online commerce isn't properly weighted, official measurements of price growth, and thus of real economic growth, could be off. Poor measurement of the online economy isn't merely an academic issue. It may make the economy appear smaller or faster-growing than it is. That misperception could lead policymakers to take unnecessary action, such as cooling an economy that isn't overheating or stimulating one that's already hot. | Economists from Stanford University and Visa hope to fill in the gaps. The typical household gained about US$1,150 in terms of convenience and expanded choice by shopping online in 2017. | bart | 1 | https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12213361&ref=rss | 0.126915 |
Who will UNLV hire as its next basketball coach? | UNLV Rebels head coach Marvin Menzies speaks after his team's loss to San Diego State in the Mountain West men's basketball tournament at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas on Thursday, March 14, 2019. Menzies was fired on Friday. (Chase Stevens/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @csstevensphoto These coaches could be considered for the UNLV mens basketball job: Nathan Davis, Bucknell Made the NCAA Tournament the past two seasons. Won Patriot League Coach of the Year in back-to-back seasons. Fred Hoiberg Went 115-56 in five seasons at Iowa State before taking over the Chicago Bulls, who fired him in December. Is the leading candidate at Nebraska. Frank Martin The South Carolina coach long has been enamored with UNLV and Las Vegas. He participates in Coaches vs. Cancer events in Las Vegas every year. Thad Matta Took Ohio State to two Final Fours and five Big Ten Conference championships in 13 years. Tim Miles Job is on the line at Nebraska. Coached in the Mountain West at Colorado State, leading the Rams to the 2012 NCAA Tournament. Wes Miller, UNC Greensboro Led Greensboro last season to its first NCAA Tournament since 2001, and at 28-6 this season is a bubble team. Mike Rhoades, Virginia Commonwealth Named Atlantic 10 Conference Coach of the Year and is 25-7. Shaka Smart Questions about his job status at Texas have been raised, but a story in the Austin American-Statesman said he will return for a fifth season. If he doesnt, Smart is owed a $12.9 million buyout. He took Virginia Commonwealth to five NCAA Tournaments, including the 2011 Final Four. Craig Smith, Utah State Mountain West Coach of the Year after taking a team picked ninth to a share of the regular-season conference championship. Mike Young, Wofford Three-time Southern Conference Coach of the Year who is taking the program to the NCAA Tournament for the fifth time since 2010. More Rebels: Follow at reviewj ournal.com/Rebels and @RJ_ Sports on Twitter. Contact Mark Anderson at manderson@reviewjournal.com. Follow @markanderson65 on Twitter. | UNLV fired Marvin Menzies on Friday. Several coaches could be considered for the UNLV mens basketball job. They include Nathan Davis, Bucknell, Fred Hoiberg and Shaka Smart. | ctrlsum | 1 | https://www.reviewjournal.com/sports/unlv/unlv-basketball/whos-next-at-unlv-1619489/ | 0.152382 |
Who will UNLV hire as its next basketball coach? | UNLV Rebels head coach Marvin Menzies speaks after his team's loss to San Diego State in the Mountain West men's basketball tournament at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas on Thursday, March 14, 2019. Menzies was fired on Friday. (Chase Stevens/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @csstevensphoto These coaches could be considered for the UNLV mens basketball job: Nathan Davis, Bucknell Made the NCAA Tournament the past two seasons. Won Patriot League Coach of the Year in back-to-back seasons. Fred Hoiberg Went 115-56 in five seasons at Iowa State before taking over the Chicago Bulls, who fired him in December. Is the leading candidate at Nebraska. Frank Martin The South Carolina coach long has been enamored with UNLV and Las Vegas. He participates in Coaches vs. Cancer events in Las Vegas every year. Thad Matta Took Ohio State to two Final Fours and five Big Ten Conference championships in 13 years. Tim Miles Job is on the line at Nebraska. Coached in the Mountain West at Colorado State, leading the Rams to the 2012 NCAA Tournament. Wes Miller, UNC Greensboro Led Greensboro last season to its first NCAA Tournament since 2001, and at 28-6 this season is a bubble team. Mike Rhoades, Virginia Commonwealth Named Atlantic 10 Conference Coach of the Year and is 25-7. Shaka Smart Questions about his job status at Texas have been raised, but a story in the Austin American-Statesman said he will return for a fifth season. If he doesnt, Smart is owed a $12.9 million buyout. He took Virginia Commonwealth to five NCAA Tournaments, including the 2011 Final Four. Craig Smith, Utah State Mountain West Coach of the Year after taking a team picked ninth to a share of the regular-season conference championship. Mike Young, Wofford Three-time Southern Conference Coach of the Year who is taking the program to the NCAA Tournament for the fifth time since 2010. More Rebels: Follow at reviewj ournal.com/Rebels and @RJ_ Sports on Twitter. Contact Mark Anderson at manderson@reviewjournal.com. Follow @markanderson65 on Twitter. | UNLV fired Marvin Menzies on Friday. Several coaches could be considered for the UNLV mens basketball job. They include Nathan Davis, Bucknell, Fred Hoiberg, Shaka Smart, Craig Smith, Mike Rhoades, Mike Young, Wofford. | ctrlsum | 2 | https://www.reviewjournal.com/sports/unlv/unlv-basketball/whos-next-at-unlv-1619489/ | 0.154473 |
What will happen to Neverland ranch after documentary allegations? | It was touted as a children's paradise, named after a fictional island where Peter Pan lives. But instead Michael Jackson's Neverland ranch was allegedly the site of countless instances of child sex abuse, according to claims made by the singer's former staff and in the documentary Leaving Neverland. The sprawling estate was Jackson's home for 15 years before the singer fled the property over allegations of child molestation, vowing never to return to his dream home, reports news.com.au. After Jackson left Neverland, it fell into disrepair and has now been for sale since 2015 with no prospective buyers despite the price being repeatedly slashed. Advertisement 'COWBOY COUNTRY' In 1977, real estate developer William Bone began building Sycamore Valley Ranch, a sprawling Tudor-style home in "cowboy country", otherwise known as California's Santa Ynez Valley, Architectural Digest reported. Bronze statues line the drive leading to the front of the main house at Neverland. Photo / AP On the 1093-hectare property Mr Bone constructed a 3900sq m main house, as well as outbuildings and extensive gardens complete with a 1.6-hectare lake featuring a stone bridge and waterfall. A decade after Mr Bone purchased the property he sold it to Jackson for a reported $AU27.62 million ($28.54m) Jackson swiftly renamed the ranch Neverland, a tribute to beloved children's tale Peter Pan and a character Jackson would only become more obsessed with in the years that followed. At the height of his fame following the release of his seventh album Bad, Jackson found it hard to go out in public without being mobbed by adoring fans, making the secluded Neverland both a necessary purchase and welcome respite for the singer. Lisa Marie Presley and then husband Michael Jackson go to greet children at his Neverland ranch in 1995. Photo / Getty Images Besides renaming the property, Jackson also set about turning Neverland into a children's paradise. He built tennis and basketball courts, a zoo and a private amusement park featuring a ferris wheel, bumper cars, games arcade and rollercoaster. The singer also added statues of children around the property and built a train station with two steam locomotives modelled after the famous attraction at Disneyland. With Neverland's transformation complete, Jackson invited his first guests to the ranch; James Safechuck and his family. In Leaving Neverland, Mr Safechuck recounts in harrowing detail the locations around the ranch where he alleges he was abused by Jackson. Michael Jackson and James Safechuck. Photo / Supplied "There was a castle in the theme park and upstairs there was a bedroom. You could see if somebody was coming. It had just a small bed. Up there, we would have sex," he recalled. Mr Safechuck, now 40, claimed Jackson would also molest him in an "Indian fort with teepees", a games room with a secret bedroom upstairs, a room in a movie theatre and a secluded guesthouse filled with memorabilia. Safechuck alleges some of the sexual relations took place in these Indian teepees at Neverland. Photo / Leaving Neverland In addition, Jackson allegedly continued the abuse in his main bedroom overnight while Mr Safechuck's mother Stephanie slept away from the main house in a guest property. "The routine was, we would get a blanket and lay it down on the floor inside of the closet next to his main bed so we could close the doors and have several doors people had to get through," he explained. "There was just a hall that leads to his room, there were bells so you could have a moment of hearing them trip and at least it alarmed him to when people are coming." Jackson would host a steady stream of boys and their families at Neverland, with his behaviour arousing the suspicion of those who worked for him. One of the amusement park attractions at his Neverland ranch. Photo / Getty Images Former Neverland ranch managers Mariano and Faye Quindoy, who managed the property from 1988 to 1990 before leaving due to a pay dispute, claimed they had "reason to believe" abuse was happening there. Details of the married couple's 1993 interview with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, released after Jackson's 2009 death, reveal Mr Quindoy alleged he "saw the singer fondle young boys on at least two occasions". More fairground attractions at the Ranch. Photo / Getty Images FBI agents travelled to the Philippines to interview Jackson's former employees as part of an investigation into sex abuse allegations made by Jordan Chandler. "He and his wife said they had 'reason to believe' the 13-year-old's allegations against Jackson," the file notes read, according to The Daily Beast. Jackson was never prosecuted over Jordan's allegations and later settled a civil suit for a rumoured $20 million with the Chandler family. James Safechuck pictured swimming in one of Neverland's pools as shown in the Leaving Neverland documentary. Photo / Leaving Neverland Meanwhile, Adrian McManus, who worked as Jackson's maid from 1990 to 1994, told 60 Minutes last month she felt uneasy cleaning up after the pop star at Neverland. Ms McManus, whose eyewitness account was disputed by other staff during Jackson's 2005 child sex abuse trial, claimed she would often find little boys' underwear either "on the floor with Michael's, or they were in the jacuzzi", as well as "a lot of vaseline" around Neverland. 'IT'S NOT A HOME ANYMORE' Jackson's fantasy world came crashing down in November 2003 when it was raided by law enforcement as part of a fresh inquiry into sex abuse allegations levelled at the singer. During the raid on the ranch a large amount of adult heterosexual pornography was found along with books containing erotica, however no child pornography was found. A room with a double sided mirror looking onto Neverland's cinema. Photo / Leaving Neverland While Jackson was later acquitted of all child molestation charges, he claimed the raid had ruined Neverland for him. "I won't live there ever again," he told US current affairs show 60 Minutes in December 2003. "I'll visit Neverland. It's a house now, it's not a home anymore." The singer made good on his promise, living overseas in Bahrain as a guest of the Gulf nation's crown prince and briefly in Ireland. He later returned to the US to live as a recluse in much smaller properties in Las Vegas and Los Angeles, where he died of an accidental overdose in 2009. But bad memories weren't the only thing that kept Jackson away from Neverland, with the singer struggling to maintain the property that reportedly fell into disrepair because of spiralling debts. One of the rooms at Neverland Ranch. Photo / Leaving Neverland In 2008, Jackson narrowly avoided a foreclosure auction of Neverland when investment company Colony Capital LLC bought the multimillion-dollar outstanding loan he had on the property. Court documents revealed the singer was spending a staggering $AU42 million more than he was earning, the Los Angeles Times reported. NEVERLAND NO MORE Neverland's future became even more uncertain when Jackson died, with reports claiming the singer had agreed to a series of London concerts in order to earn enough money to buy Neverland back. The property had a train station modelled after Disneyland. Photo / Getty Images Following his funeral, Jackson's family was rumoured to be divided on plans to lay his body to rest in a state-sanctioned cemetery at Neverland that his fans could visit in a "Graceland-type arrangement", E News reported at the time. Ultimately, plans to turn Neverland into a place of pilgrimage never materialised, with the ranch instead put up for sale in 2015 by Colony Capital for $AU141 million ($145.9m) Interestingly, the property wasn't advertised as a Jackson shrine, with realtors instead referring to the home's original name Sycamore Valley Ranch. It was discounted to $AU95 million ($98.3m) in 2017 and last month the price was slashed again, coinciding with the release of Leaving Neverland. The property is now listed for 70 per cent of its original asking price at $AU43 million ($44.5m) But given the skeletons in Neverland's closet, it seems unlikely a buyer will be willing to shell out millions on the property anytime soon. | Michael Jackson's Neverland ranch was allegedly the site of countless instances of child sex abuse. The sprawling estate was Jackson's home for 15 years before the singer fled the property over allegations of child molestation. After Jackson left Neverland, it fell into disrepair and has now been for sale since 2015 with no prospective buyers despite the price being repeatedly slashed. | bart | 2 | https://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/news/article.cfm?c_id=1501119&objectid=12213350&ref=rss | 0.275939 |
Who are the people Wilson-Raybould named in her testimony on the SNC-Lavalin affair? | Former attorney general Jody Wilson-Raybould kicked off nearly four hours of damning testimony at the House of Commons justice committee by revealing that 11 people were involved in a consistent and sustained effort to politically interfere in the decision to prosecute SNC-Lavalin on corruption charges. Some of the names, like Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Finance Minister Bill Morneau, are easily recognizable, but others are advisers that stay behind the scenes and avoid the glare of TV camera lights at all costs. Of the 11 people, nine are directly named in Wilson-Rayboulds testimony. 1. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau At a one-on-one meeting with Trudeau, Wilson-Raybould says he asked her to find a solution for SNC-Lavalin. Trudeau stressed to Wilson-Raybould that there was an election coming up in Quebec and I am an MP in Quebec. The former attorney general said she looked Trudeau in the eye and asked: are you politically interfering with my role. Trudeau said he wasnt. 2. Privy Council Clerk Michael Wernick At the Sept. 17 meeting, Wilson-Raybould said she was surprised to hear Wernick mention the Quebec election and the potential for SNC-Lavalin to move its headquarters to England if the prosecution proceeded. On Dec. 19, after months of pressure from PMO officials, Wernick called Wilson-Raybould and told her that Trudeau is gonna find a way to get it done one way or another. She testified that it reminded her of the Saturday Night Massacre, where former U.S. President Richard Nixon fired his attorney general for not following orders to sack a special prosecutor. 3. Finance Minister Bill Morneau During a conversation in the House of Commons on Sept. 19, Morneau stressed to Wilson-Raybould the need to save jobs. Wilson-Raybould told the finance minister that engagements from his office were inappropriate and had to stop. They did not stop, she testified. 4. Ben Chin, chief of staff to Morneau One of the first communications to Wilson-Rayboulds office about the decision to prosecute SNC-Lavalin came from Morneaus chief of staff Ben Chin, a former anchor for The National on CBC. Chin raised the spectre of SNC-Lavalin leaving Montreal if they went to trial on corruption charges and noted that the Quebec election was looming, so we cant have that happen, Wilson-Raybould says he told her. 5. Justin To, deputy chief of staff to Morneau The day after Wilson-Raybould told Morneau that the calls from his office were inappropriate, Chin and deputy chief of staff Justin To called Wilson-Rayboulds chief of staff to talk about the SNC-Lavalin decision. 6. Gerald Butts, principal secretary to Trudeau On Dec. 18, Wilson-Rayboulds chief of staff Jessica Prince reported back to her boss about a conversation with Trudeaus principal secretary Gerald Butts and chief of staff Katie Telford. Prince told the PMO staffers that they were inappropriately interfering with the decision. There is no solution here that doesnt involve some interference, Prince said Butts told her. 7. Katie Telford, chief of staff to Trudeau At the same Dec. 18 meeting, Prince said Telford told her that we dont want to debate legalities anymore and that they could provide cover for an unpopular decision by arranging for op-ed articles saying that what she is doing is proper. 8. Mathieu Bouchard, senior adviser in the PMO Prince met with PMO adviser Mathieu Bouchard and reported back to Wilson-Raybould that Bouchard had told her that if SNC-Lavalin were to announce that it is moving its headquarters out of Canada six months before the election that is bad. Prince said Bouchard told her that we can have the best policy in the world, but we need to be re-elected. 9. Elder Marques, senior adviser in the PMO On Nov. 22, Wilson-Raybould was summoned to a meeting with Bouchard and PMO adviser Elder Marques that lasted an hour and a half and that irritated her. Bouchard did most of the speaking at that meeting. Marques was also involved in a Sept. 16 phone call with Prince and Bouchard where the PMO advisers urged her to seek outside advice on the SNC-Lavalin decision and raised the Quebec election. Email: sxthomson@postmedia.com | Twitter: stuartxthomson | Jody Wilson-Raybould named nine people in her testimony on the SNC-Lavalin affair. Some of the names, like Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Finance Minister Bill Morneau, are easily recognizable, but others are advisers that stay behind the scenes. | ctrlsum | 2 | https://nationalpost.com/news/politics/who-are-the-people-wilson-raybould-named-in-her-testimony-on-the-snc-lavalin-affair | 0.72022 |
Could 'climate delayer' become the political epithet of our times? | Already we argue over whether to call them climate deniers, skeptics or doubters. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez might have hit on a more devastating attack Its a fantastic time for verbal abuse in American politics. Donald Trump loves a schoolyard nickname, insulting everyone from Crazy Bernie Sanders to Little Marco Rubio. In turn, the presidents opponents, and sometimes his allies, have called him a moron, a motherfucker and mocked his tiny hands. But is there a way of using name-calling, not just to insult, but to introduce a new political idea. It seemed like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was doing that this week when she used the term climate delayer to call out those dragging their feet on climate change. Ocasio-Cortez used the term to describe Senator Dianne Feinstein, who was filmed telling a bunch of children that when it comes to the looming apocalypse, she knows better than they do, because she has spent a long time in the Senate not fixing the problem. While they called for immediate action on the Green New Deal, she argued that change wasnt going to come anytime soon. After all, when it comes to averting a global catastrophe on an unprecedented scale, endangering hundreds of millions and fundamentally altering the human experience, you dont want to rush into things. Play Video 3:18 Dianne Feinstein rebuffs young climate activists' calls for Green New Deal video The clip went viral. In the ensuing days, Ocasio-Cortez warned on Instagram and Twitter of the threat of climate delayers: people who appear to accept that something needs to be done about climate change, but dont seem to grasp its urgency. These people, she pointed out, arent much better than people who deny climate change exists. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) Climate delayers arent much better than climate deniers. With either one if they get their way, were toast. https://t.co/Do0WJRfG56 The term isnt entirely new. Global warming delayer appeared on sites like ThinkProgress more than a decade ago; it appeared in the Guardian at least as far back as 2011. And out of context, it sounds like a badge of honor. But thats getting into the weeds: we should celebrate the phrases emergencein mainstream political debate. Trumps political success has proven that a label can be as effective a thousand nuanced arguments. Sure, Delayin Feinstein might not have quite the same ring as Lyin Ted, but its getting there. And given the scale of the issue, we badly need an arsenal of labels for people standing in the way of climate progress. : How Ocasio-Cortez beat everyone at Twitter in nine tweets Read more Labels for people who reject the scientific evidence of climate change have a tortured history. A debate has raged as to whether climate denier or climate skeptic should be used to describe such people, the latter term aiming to soothe the egos of officials who just arent quite sure they can believe basically every scientist. Scientists who consider themselves genuine skeptics in the sense of seeking scientific inquiry, critical investigation and the use of reason in examining controversial and extraordinary claims didnt like the term skeptics for people who rejected expertise; they wanted to call them deniers, according to the Associated Press, purveyors of one of journalisms leading style guides. But those deniers, understandably, didnt like the languages resemblance to Holocaust denial. So in 2015, the AP put forward another option, climate doubters, advising writers to ditch deniers and skeptics entirely. The Guardians own style guide takes a different view: The OED defines a sceptic as a seeker of the truth; an inquirer who has not yet arrived at definite conclusions. Most so-called climate change sceptics, in the face of overwhelming scientific evidence, deny that climate change is happening, or is caused by human activity, so denier is a more accurate term. On top of all that, there are climate contrarians, who make it their business to fight the scientific consensus often with substantial financial support from fossil fuels industry organizations and conservative thinktanks, as summarized in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Global warming should be called global heating, says key scientist Read more And yet none of these labels have managed to target a fundamental obstacle to climate change action: powerful people who profess to understand climate change, yet are curiously immobile on the issue. Perhaps the popularization of delayer will finally put the pressure on. When it comes to politically productive name-calling, its a lot snappier to dismiss someone as a climate delayer than to chastise them as a person who apparently believes the science but is unwilling to acknowledge the urgency of the situation. Its worth noting in all this that the very phrase climate change is mired in labelling warfare. As anyone who has seen the movie Vice knows, the Republican pollster Frank Luntz encouraged the George W Bush administration to use the phrase climate change rather than global warming. Yale researchers recount a secret memo in which he pointed out that a focus group participant felt climate change sounds like youre going from Pittsburgh to Fort Lauderdale, whereas global warming has catastrophic connotations. Perhaps if wed all stuck with global warming or even tried global heating concern would have grown faster. Luntz knows messaging: he turned the estate tax into the death tax and health reform into a government takeover of healthcare. Fortunately in Ocasio-Cortez, it seems the left has a messaging expert of its own. And whether denier or delayer, she points out, if they get their way, were toast. | Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez used the term 'climate delayer' to call out those dragging their feet on climate change. | pegasus | 0 | https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/mar/01/could-climate-delayer-become-the-political-epithet-of-our-times | 0.117775 |
Could 'climate delayer' become the political epithet of our times? | Already we argue over whether to call them climate deniers, skeptics or doubters. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez might have hit on a more devastating attack Its a fantastic time for verbal abuse in American politics. Donald Trump loves a schoolyard nickname, insulting everyone from Crazy Bernie Sanders to Little Marco Rubio. In turn, the presidents opponents, and sometimes his allies, have called him a moron, a motherfucker and mocked his tiny hands. But is there a way of using name-calling, not just to insult, but to introduce a new political idea. It seemed like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was doing that this week when she used the term climate delayer to call out those dragging their feet on climate change. Ocasio-Cortez used the term to describe Senator Dianne Feinstein, who was filmed telling a bunch of children that when it comes to the looming apocalypse, she knows better than they do, because she has spent a long time in the Senate not fixing the problem. While they called for immediate action on the Green New Deal, she argued that change wasnt going to come anytime soon. After all, when it comes to averting a global catastrophe on an unprecedented scale, endangering hundreds of millions and fundamentally altering the human experience, you dont want to rush into things. Play Video 3:18 Dianne Feinstein rebuffs young climate activists' calls for Green New Deal video The clip went viral. In the ensuing days, Ocasio-Cortez warned on Instagram and Twitter of the threat of climate delayers: people who appear to accept that something needs to be done about climate change, but dont seem to grasp its urgency. These people, she pointed out, arent much better than people who deny climate change exists. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) Climate delayers arent much better than climate deniers. With either one if they get their way, were toast. https://t.co/Do0WJRfG56 The term isnt entirely new. Global warming delayer appeared on sites like ThinkProgress more than a decade ago; it appeared in the Guardian at least as far back as 2011. And out of context, it sounds like a badge of honor. But thats getting into the weeds: we should celebrate the phrases emergencein mainstream political debate. Trumps political success has proven that a label can be as effective a thousand nuanced arguments. Sure, Delayin Feinstein might not have quite the same ring as Lyin Ted, but its getting there. And given the scale of the issue, we badly need an arsenal of labels for people standing in the way of climate progress. : How Ocasio-Cortez beat everyone at Twitter in nine tweets Read more Labels for people who reject the scientific evidence of climate change have a tortured history. A debate has raged as to whether climate denier or climate skeptic should be used to describe such people, the latter term aiming to soothe the egos of officials who just arent quite sure they can believe basically every scientist. Scientists who consider themselves genuine skeptics in the sense of seeking scientific inquiry, critical investigation and the use of reason in examining controversial and extraordinary claims didnt like the term skeptics for people who rejected expertise; they wanted to call them deniers, according to the Associated Press, purveyors of one of journalisms leading style guides. But those deniers, understandably, didnt like the languages resemblance to Holocaust denial. So in 2015, the AP put forward another option, climate doubters, advising writers to ditch deniers and skeptics entirely. The Guardians own style guide takes a different view: The OED defines a sceptic as a seeker of the truth; an inquirer who has not yet arrived at definite conclusions. Most so-called climate change sceptics, in the face of overwhelming scientific evidence, deny that climate change is happening, or is caused by human activity, so denier is a more accurate term. On top of all that, there are climate contrarians, who make it their business to fight the scientific consensus often with substantial financial support from fossil fuels industry organizations and conservative thinktanks, as summarized in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Global warming should be called global heating, says key scientist Read more And yet none of these labels have managed to target a fundamental obstacle to climate change action: powerful people who profess to understand climate change, yet are curiously immobile on the issue. Perhaps the popularization of delayer will finally put the pressure on. When it comes to politically productive name-calling, its a lot snappier to dismiss someone as a climate delayer than to chastise them as a person who apparently believes the science but is unwilling to acknowledge the urgency of the situation. Its worth noting in all this that the very phrase climate change is mired in labelling warfare. As anyone who has seen the movie Vice knows, the Republican pollster Frank Luntz encouraged the George W Bush administration to use the phrase climate change rather than global warming. Yale researchers recount a secret memo in which he pointed out that a focus group participant felt climate change sounds like youre going from Pittsburgh to Fort Lauderdale, whereas global warming has catastrophic connotations. Perhaps if wed all stuck with global warming or even tried global heating concern would have grown faster. Luntz knows messaging: he turned the estate tax into the death tax and health reform into a government takeover of healthcare. Fortunately in Ocasio-Cortez, it seems the left has a messaging expert of its own. And whether denier or delayer, she points out, if they get their way, were toast. | Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez used the term climate delayer to call out those dragging their feet on climate change. | ctrlsum | 1 | https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/mar/01/could-climate-delayer-become-the-political-epithet-of-our-times | 0.121538 |
Could 'climate delayer' become the political epithet of our times? | Already we argue over whether to call them climate deniers, skeptics or doubters. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez might have hit on a more devastating attack Its a fantastic time for verbal abuse in American politics. Donald Trump loves a schoolyard nickname, insulting everyone from Crazy Bernie Sanders to Little Marco Rubio. In turn, the presidents opponents, and sometimes his allies, have called him a moron, a motherfucker and mocked his tiny hands. But is there a way of using name-calling, not just to insult, but to introduce a new political idea. It seemed like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was doing that this week when she used the term climate delayer to call out those dragging their feet on climate change. Ocasio-Cortez used the term to describe Senator Dianne Feinstein, who was filmed telling a bunch of children that when it comes to the looming apocalypse, she knows better than they do, because she has spent a long time in the Senate not fixing the problem. While they called for immediate action on the Green New Deal, she argued that change wasnt going to come anytime soon. After all, when it comes to averting a global catastrophe on an unprecedented scale, endangering hundreds of millions and fundamentally altering the human experience, you dont want to rush into things. Play Video 3:18 Dianne Feinstein rebuffs young climate activists' calls for Green New Deal video The clip went viral. In the ensuing days, Ocasio-Cortez warned on Instagram and Twitter of the threat of climate delayers: people who appear to accept that something needs to be done about climate change, but dont seem to grasp its urgency. These people, she pointed out, arent much better than people who deny climate change exists. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) Climate delayers arent much better than climate deniers. With either one if they get their way, were toast. https://t.co/Do0WJRfG56 The term isnt entirely new. Global warming delayer appeared on sites like ThinkProgress more than a decade ago; it appeared in the Guardian at least as far back as 2011. And out of context, it sounds like a badge of honor. But thats getting into the weeds: we should celebrate the phrases emergencein mainstream political debate. Trumps political success has proven that a label can be as effective a thousand nuanced arguments. Sure, Delayin Feinstein might not have quite the same ring as Lyin Ted, but its getting there. And given the scale of the issue, we badly need an arsenal of labels for people standing in the way of climate progress. : How Ocasio-Cortez beat everyone at Twitter in nine tweets Read more Labels for people who reject the scientific evidence of climate change have a tortured history. A debate has raged as to whether climate denier or climate skeptic should be used to describe such people, the latter term aiming to soothe the egos of officials who just arent quite sure they can believe basically every scientist. Scientists who consider themselves genuine skeptics in the sense of seeking scientific inquiry, critical investigation and the use of reason in examining controversial and extraordinary claims didnt like the term skeptics for people who rejected expertise; they wanted to call them deniers, according to the Associated Press, purveyors of one of journalisms leading style guides. But those deniers, understandably, didnt like the languages resemblance to Holocaust denial. So in 2015, the AP put forward another option, climate doubters, advising writers to ditch deniers and skeptics entirely. The Guardians own style guide takes a different view: The OED defines a sceptic as a seeker of the truth; an inquirer who has not yet arrived at definite conclusions. Most so-called climate change sceptics, in the face of overwhelming scientific evidence, deny that climate change is happening, or is caused by human activity, so denier is a more accurate term. On top of all that, there are climate contrarians, who make it their business to fight the scientific consensus often with substantial financial support from fossil fuels industry organizations and conservative thinktanks, as summarized in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Global warming should be called global heating, says key scientist Read more And yet none of these labels have managed to target a fundamental obstacle to climate change action: powerful people who profess to understand climate change, yet are curiously immobile on the issue. Perhaps the popularization of delayer will finally put the pressure on. When it comes to politically productive name-calling, its a lot snappier to dismiss someone as a climate delayer than to chastise them as a person who apparently believes the science but is unwilling to acknowledge the urgency of the situation. Its worth noting in all this that the very phrase climate change is mired in labelling warfare. As anyone who has seen the movie Vice knows, the Republican pollster Frank Luntz encouraged the George W Bush administration to use the phrase climate change rather than global warming. Yale researchers recount a secret memo in which he pointed out that a focus group participant felt climate change sounds like youre going from Pittsburgh to Fort Lauderdale, whereas global warming has catastrophic connotations. Perhaps if wed all stuck with global warming or even tried global heating concern would have grown faster. Luntz knows messaging: he turned the estate tax into the death tax and health reform into a government takeover of healthcare. Fortunately in Ocasio-Cortez, it seems the left has a messaging expert of its own. And whether denier or delayer, she points out, if they get their way, were toast. | Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez used the term 'climate delayer' to call out those dragging their feet on climate change. Already we argue over whether to call them climate deniers, skeptics or doubters. And given the scale of the issue, we badly need an arsenal of labels for people standing in the way of climate progress. | pegasus | 2 | https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/mar/01/could-climate-delayer-become-the-political-epithet-of-our-times | 0.158115 |
Do prosecutors working with AG Dave Yosts office on Cuyahoga County corruption investigation have conflicts? | CLEVELAND, Ohio Two legal experts told cleveland.com that they have seen no evidence of a conflict of interest with two assistant Cuyahoga County prosecutors working for Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost on a growing public corruption investigation into county government. The experts, who are both professors at Case Western Reserve Universitys law school, said that the assistant prosecutors who have worked on the investigation for nearly 18 months would not be barred from continuing work on the case just because County Prosecutor Michael OMalley recused himself from the case in January. Professors Cassandra Burke Robinson and Michael Benza said County Executive Armond Budishs lawyers will need to present a judge with evidence to back up their claims that prosecutors have a conflict. They cant rely solely on the fact that OMalleys office was both running a criminal probe into county government and preparing a defense of the county in a civil lawsuit filed over jail conditions. Clearing that bar will be high, and both professors said they have not seen such evidence. While it's always possible that other facts could change things, I don't see an immediate problem in this case, Robertson, director of the schools Center for Professional Ethics, said. Budish attacks after raids Yost agreed to take oversight of the criminal investigation from OMalley in a deal that allowed two assistant prosecutors, Matthew Meyer and Paul Soucie, as well as investigator Robert DeSimone to remain on the case. The three now work out of the Attorney Generals Cleveland office, instead of the Cuyahoga County Justice Center, and report to supervisors in Yosts office instead of OMalley. Two weeks after Yosts office took the case, investigators carried out a Feb. 14 raid at the countys downtown headquarters and seized Budishs cellphone, two computers and several boxes of documents. Budish, who had up to that point said he was directing his administration to fully cooperate with the investigation, attacked the probe within hours of the raid. He and his lawyers former U.S. Attorney Steve Dettelbach and criminal defense lawyer Larry Zukerman -- made statements to media and recorded videos in which he said the raid was being carried out by his political enemies and accused investigators of raiding the office to embarrass him. Budish, Dettelbach and Cuyahoga County Chief Communications Office Eliza Wing, who previously served as president and CEO of cleveland.com from 1998 to 2010, met with cleveland.com reporters and editors Feb. 18 to again criticize the investigation. Dettelbach said he spoke with OMalley and raised concerns about OMalleys assistant prosecutors remaining on the case. Dettelbach said they have a conflict of interest, and the investigation should begin anew with independent eyes. He also said he believes Yost has an even bigger conflict than OMalley, citing their dogfight of a campaign for Attorney General that ended in Yosts election in November. Two days later, investigators served a second search warrant and seized Wings notebooks and unedited copies of video-recorded statements Budish made about the investigation. Yost responds Yost requested his own sit-down with cleveland.com reporters and editors and, in that meeting, said his office conducted a review and found no reason to dismiss Meyer and Soucie from the investigation. Yost said the review examined computer files and documents and interviewed members of the prosecutors office. It found that the two prosecutors were not exposed to any documents or information gathered by assistants in OMalleys office working on the defense against the civil lawsuit. Yost said his office did not go back further than the December filling of the lawsuit because he felt that was the moment OMalley became conflicted. He said he would carry out another review if presented with evidence that would warrant it. Yost was also dismissive of Dettelbachs claim of a conflict because the two ran against each other, saying that defense attorneys frequently run for judgeships and county prosecutors offices across the state and they are not barred from arguing cases against former political rivals. If the identity of defense counsel were sufficient to create a conflict, every defendant could stymie a prosecution by hiring the right lawyer, Yost told cleveland.com previously. Robertson, who noted she was not fully briefed on the details of the investigation, said the two assistant prosecutors would not automatically need to step aside because their boss did. Conflicts of interest usually arise when one lawyer is asked to carry out two conflicting roles, or wear two hats, she said. Ohios rules of professional conduct say that, in a private a law firm, one lawyers conflict of interest can be passed onto the whole firm, Robertson said. Government agencies are different. In OMalleys case, a conflict arose when the prisoners from the jail filed their lawsuit. By law, OMalley is required to defend the Budish Administration in such a civil claim, so he very well could not participate in a criminal investigation into someone he has to defend. The rule says that it is still prudent to screen any government lawyers found to have a conflict, but that one lawyers conflict does not taint the entire office, Robertson said. Having Meyer and Soucie work out of the Attorney Generals office and away from the assistant prosecutors working on the civil side, seems like a good way to keep their roles clear, Robertson said. Benza said it appears that Yosts review is enough to show that there is no conflict with the assistant prosecutors staying on the criminal probe, based on publicly available information. And it will be up to Dettelbach and Budish to either bring Yost evidence that more than just the appearance of a conflict if they are to succeed in getting Meyer and Soucie removed from the case, but they dont need to go as far as producing evidence that Meyer or Soucie directly gave Budish legal advice and then turned around and used the information to guide their probe, Benza said. The burden on the challenger is going to be higher than simply saying this looks bad, Benza said. Its got be this looks bad and something else. Benza said he expects a judge will eventually determine the issue. This is why lawyers get paid lots of money," he joked. To make those subtle distinctions between two relatively indistinguishable concepts." Previous cases A review of two previous cases that featured defendants accusing prosecutors of having a conflict of interest, one in Cleveland and one in Cincinnati, underscores the burden that Budish and his lawyers will have to meet. Lawyers for disgraced Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court Judge Lance Mason unsuccessfully argued in his 2014 assault and domestic abuse case that then-Prosecutor Timothy J. McGintys office had a conflict because McGinty served on the bench as a judge alongside Mason for several years before he was elected prosecutor, and that it was McGintys job as prosecutor to act as the civil lawyer for all judges in their professional capacity, including Mason. "(McGinty) can't prosecute his own client, one of Masons lawyers, Fernando Mack, argued. The judge overseeing the case, Patricia Cosgrove, refused to kick McGinty off the case. Mason ultimately pleaded guilty and Cosgrove sent him to prison. Cosgrove is also the judge overseeing the criminal cases against the three people already indicted in the county corruption probe. A 2002 appellate court ruling in a Cincinnati case cemented the need for more than just the appearance of a conflict of interest to exist to kick a prosecutor off a case. In that case, the Hamilton County Prosecutors Office indicted a photographer for photographing bodies in the county morgue two weeks after a lawsuit was filed against the photographer, the county coroners office and its employees for letting him take the pictures. The photographer unsuccessfully argued in court that the prosecutors office had a clear conflict in pursuing an indictment against him when he was a co-defendant in a lawsuit against county officials who were being represented civilly by the same prosecutor. The 1st District Court of Appeals later upheld the decision because the mere appearance of impropriety in a government office is not sufficient in and of itself to warrant vicarious disqualification, according to the opinion. | Cuyahoga County prosecutor recused himself from the case in January. Two assistant prosecutors working for AG Dave Yost's office remain on the case. Experts say they have seen no evidence of a conflict of interest. | ctrlsum | 1 | https://www.cleveland.com/crime/2019/03/do-prosecutors-working-with-ag-dave-yosts-office-on-cuyahoga-county-corruption-investigation-have-conflicts.html | 0.437465 |
Do prosecutors working with AG Dave Yosts office on Cuyahoga County corruption investigation have conflicts? | CLEVELAND, Ohio Two legal experts told cleveland.com that they have seen no evidence of a conflict of interest with two assistant Cuyahoga County prosecutors working for Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost on a growing public corruption investigation into county government. The experts, who are both professors at Case Western Reserve Universitys law school, said that the assistant prosecutors who have worked on the investigation for nearly 18 months would not be barred from continuing work on the case just because County Prosecutor Michael OMalley recused himself from the case in January. Professors Cassandra Burke Robinson and Michael Benza said County Executive Armond Budishs lawyers will need to present a judge with evidence to back up their claims that prosecutors have a conflict. They cant rely solely on the fact that OMalleys office was both running a criminal probe into county government and preparing a defense of the county in a civil lawsuit filed over jail conditions. Clearing that bar will be high, and both professors said they have not seen such evidence. While it's always possible that other facts could change things, I don't see an immediate problem in this case, Robertson, director of the schools Center for Professional Ethics, said. Budish attacks after raids Yost agreed to take oversight of the criminal investigation from OMalley in a deal that allowed two assistant prosecutors, Matthew Meyer and Paul Soucie, as well as investigator Robert DeSimone to remain on the case. The three now work out of the Attorney Generals Cleveland office, instead of the Cuyahoga County Justice Center, and report to supervisors in Yosts office instead of OMalley. Two weeks after Yosts office took the case, investigators carried out a Feb. 14 raid at the countys downtown headquarters and seized Budishs cellphone, two computers and several boxes of documents. Budish, who had up to that point said he was directing his administration to fully cooperate with the investigation, attacked the probe within hours of the raid. He and his lawyers former U.S. Attorney Steve Dettelbach and criminal defense lawyer Larry Zukerman -- made statements to media and recorded videos in which he said the raid was being carried out by his political enemies and accused investigators of raiding the office to embarrass him. Budish, Dettelbach and Cuyahoga County Chief Communications Office Eliza Wing, who previously served as president and CEO of cleveland.com from 1998 to 2010, met with cleveland.com reporters and editors Feb. 18 to again criticize the investigation. Dettelbach said he spoke with OMalley and raised concerns about OMalleys assistant prosecutors remaining on the case. Dettelbach said they have a conflict of interest, and the investigation should begin anew with independent eyes. He also said he believes Yost has an even bigger conflict than OMalley, citing their dogfight of a campaign for Attorney General that ended in Yosts election in November. Two days later, investigators served a second search warrant and seized Wings notebooks and unedited copies of video-recorded statements Budish made about the investigation. Yost responds Yost requested his own sit-down with cleveland.com reporters and editors and, in that meeting, said his office conducted a review and found no reason to dismiss Meyer and Soucie from the investigation. Yost said the review examined computer files and documents and interviewed members of the prosecutors office. It found that the two prosecutors were not exposed to any documents or information gathered by assistants in OMalleys office working on the defense against the civil lawsuit. Yost said his office did not go back further than the December filling of the lawsuit because he felt that was the moment OMalley became conflicted. He said he would carry out another review if presented with evidence that would warrant it. Yost was also dismissive of Dettelbachs claim of a conflict because the two ran against each other, saying that defense attorneys frequently run for judgeships and county prosecutors offices across the state and they are not barred from arguing cases against former political rivals. If the identity of defense counsel were sufficient to create a conflict, every defendant could stymie a prosecution by hiring the right lawyer, Yost told cleveland.com previously. Robertson, who noted she was not fully briefed on the details of the investigation, said the two assistant prosecutors would not automatically need to step aside because their boss did. Conflicts of interest usually arise when one lawyer is asked to carry out two conflicting roles, or wear two hats, she said. Ohios rules of professional conduct say that, in a private a law firm, one lawyers conflict of interest can be passed onto the whole firm, Robertson said. Government agencies are different. In OMalleys case, a conflict arose when the prisoners from the jail filed their lawsuit. By law, OMalley is required to defend the Budish Administration in such a civil claim, so he very well could not participate in a criminal investigation into someone he has to defend. The rule says that it is still prudent to screen any government lawyers found to have a conflict, but that one lawyers conflict does not taint the entire office, Robertson said. Having Meyer and Soucie work out of the Attorney Generals office and away from the assistant prosecutors working on the civil side, seems like a good way to keep their roles clear, Robertson said. Benza said it appears that Yosts review is enough to show that there is no conflict with the assistant prosecutors staying on the criminal probe, based on publicly available information. And it will be up to Dettelbach and Budish to either bring Yost evidence that more than just the appearance of a conflict if they are to succeed in getting Meyer and Soucie removed from the case, but they dont need to go as far as producing evidence that Meyer or Soucie directly gave Budish legal advice and then turned around and used the information to guide their probe, Benza said. The burden on the challenger is going to be higher than simply saying this looks bad, Benza said. Its got be this looks bad and something else. Benza said he expects a judge will eventually determine the issue. This is why lawyers get paid lots of money," he joked. To make those subtle distinctions between two relatively indistinguishable concepts." Previous cases A review of two previous cases that featured defendants accusing prosecutors of having a conflict of interest, one in Cleveland and one in Cincinnati, underscores the burden that Budish and his lawyers will have to meet. Lawyers for disgraced Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court Judge Lance Mason unsuccessfully argued in his 2014 assault and domestic abuse case that then-Prosecutor Timothy J. McGintys office had a conflict because McGinty served on the bench as a judge alongside Mason for several years before he was elected prosecutor, and that it was McGintys job as prosecutor to act as the civil lawyer for all judges in their professional capacity, including Mason. "(McGinty) can't prosecute his own client, one of Masons lawyers, Fernando Mack, argued. The judge overseeing the case, Patricia Cosgrove, refused to kick McGinty off the case. Mason ultimately pleaded guilty and Cosgrove sent him to prison. Cosgrove is also the judge overseeing the criminal cases against the three people already indicted in the county corruption probe. A 2002 appellate court ruling in a Cincinnati case cemented the need for more than just the appearance of a conflict of interest to exist to kick a prosecutor off a case. In that case, the Hamilton County Prosecutors Office indicted a photographer for photographing bodies in the county morgue two weeks after a lawsuit was filed against the photographer, the county coroners office and its employees for letting him take the pictures. The photographer unsuccessfully argued in court that the prosecutors office had a clear conflict in pursuing an indictment against him when he was a co-defendant in a lawsuit against county officials who were being represented civilly by the same prosecutor. The 1st District Court of Appeals later upheld the decision because the mere appearance of impropriety in a government office is not sufficient in and of itself to warrant vicarious disqualification, according to the opinion. | Cuyahoga County prosecutor recused himself from the case in January. Two assistant prosecutors working for AG Dave Yost's office remain on the case. Experts say they have seen no evidence of a conflict of interest with the prosecutors. Yost says his office conducted a review of the case and found no reason to dismiss them. | ctrlsum | 2 | https://www.cleveland.com/crime/2019/03/do-prosecutors-working-with-ag-dave-yosts-office-on-cuyahoga-county-corruption-investigation-have-conflicts.html | 0.605932 |
Can Qatar's low-carbon city show a greener Middle East future? | DOHA (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - During Dohas sweltering summers, when temperatures can hit 45 degrees Celsius and steamy humidity makes the air feel even hotter, museum manager Fahad Al-Turky tends to drive a lot and stay mainly indoors. But staying cool is getting easier in Msheireb Downtown Doha - an under-construction district of the capital where he works. Developers of the 76-acre regeneration zone, which aims to become one of the largest sustainable cities in the world, are outfitting it with green features, from rainwater harvesting to shady overhangs that make walking outside cooler. To be able to walk to get coffee outside or to a restaurant - it is a different kind of experience, said Al-Turkey, 30. Around Dohas traditional office towers, he said, there really isnt much shade. Many of the more than 100 buildings in Msheireb - apartments, offices, hotels, a shopping mall and a primary school - are fitted with solar panels, solar water heaters and overhangs designed to shade the surrounding sidewalks. The mixed-use district - eight years in construction and preparing for its first residents this spring - also has hidden features, such as underground waste collection stations, and will connect to planned public transport in the city. As well, there are systems that recover rainwater and air conditioning condensation into basement tanks, where the water is reused for irrigation and to flush toilets. In Msheireb we are taking the responsibility of building a sustainable city and looking after our environment here, and looking to lower carbon dioxide emissions, said Ali Saleh Al-Yafei, the project manager at Msheireb Properties, which is developing the district. Gas-rich Qatar emits more carbon dioxide per person than any country in the world, a problem as the world tries to rein in climate change and avoid challenges ranging from more extreme weather to sea level rise. Across the oil-producing Gulf, officials are eager to demonstrate that their countries can be as effective stewards of the environment as other nations. But that effort faces many challenges. Fossil fuel-produced electricity and water, for instance, are provided so cheaply in many countries that incentives to use less are limited for consumers. Rising temperatures in an already blisteringly hot region, however, are a reminder that the Gulf, too, will face powerful impacts of climate change. Msheireb developers hope their project could show how Qatar - and the rest of the Middle East - could cut emissions to help hold the line on climate change, in part by using fewer fossil fuels and less water. This is the way forward in the region, and many developments are thinking about sustainability and green buildings to help the climate not to get hotter, Al-Yafei told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. Karim Elgendy, a sustainability consultant and founder of Carboun, an initiative to promote sustainable cities in the Middle East, calls Msheireb Downtown Doha the best example of urban regeneration Ive seen in the region in a while. Msheireb is a genuine effort to fix the city center, he said. MIDDLE EAST IMPACT The 20 billion Qatari riyals ($5.5 billion) Msheireb Downtown Doha project is a venture by Msheireb Properties, a subsidiary of the Qatar Foundation, an education and research organization founded by the ruling emirs father. The project is part of a wider mission to meet Qatars National Vision 2030 plan, which aims - among other goals - to reduce energy consumption and the nations carbon footprint. Qatar, which will host the 2022 football World Cup, also is looking at ways to reduce emissions around that event, and in cities beyond the capital. In Lusail, a new city being built 23 km (14 miles) north of Doha and the planned home of one of the World Cup stadiums, a light rail system and water-saving irrigation systems are being put in place. The city is also being designed with plenty of trees and green spaces, to help keep a nation that swelters in summer heat and humidity cooler, said Radhouane Ben Hamadou, head of biological and environmental sciences at Qatar university. Qatars World Cup will be held in November and December, Qatars winter season. But all the World Cup stadiums will have cooling technology installed, officials say, to encourage their year-round use after the tournament. Ben Hamadou said he thinks each city in Qatar will need its own individual path to reducing emissions, though new cities can draw lessons from Lusail. That includes the need for parks, open spaces and community facilities to create a functional and complete city. The Msheireb Downtown Doha project can provide some guiding principles of sustainability in Qatar, he said, but it is not just by itself a unit that can be just replicated, he said. The project, for instance, lacks enough green roofs to help keep buildings cool, and does not provide many green park areas, he said. He warned, as well, that carbon-cutting green changes in Qatar and other Middle East countries will not, by themselves, be enough to cool rising temperatures. Because climate change is a global problem, action by many countries across the world will be needed to successfully address the problem, he said. The climate system is not defined by the emissions of one country or another, he said. The climate will not change because of Msheireb. Other countries in the region, however, also are taking early steps toward cutting carbon emissions and building cities that are more liveable in hotter conditions. In Muscat, the sweltering capital of Oman where summer temperatures sometimes dont drop below 42 degrees Celsius (107 Fahrenheit) even at night, a city extension based on the Msheireb Downtown Doha project is being planned. Allies and Morrison, the British firm that designed Msheireb Downtown Doha is designing the Madinat Al-Irfan project in Muscat as well. When it comes to creating greener and cooler housing in the region, everybody wants to do it. Actually doing it is harder, Elgendy said. A NEW LIVEABLE At Msheireb Downtown Doha, streets have been designed as tunnels for air to channel breezes through the area, and taller buildings have been purposely placed to best throw shade on other buildings, Al-Yafei said. The compact district, designed to make walking easier and more comfortable, also aims to get people out of the cars. With the first apartments in the district opening this spring, Ben Hamadou thinks the district can help change ideas of what a liveable neighborhood should look like. Raising the awareness of young people mainly here in Qatar and the region, and (awareness) of how we can save our resources - Msheireb will be a very good demonstration of that, he said. Al-Turky has already adopted some of the ideas hes seen used in the green district where he works for his own new home in a suburb of Qatar. His house has recessed windows to reduce sunlight coming in, for instance, and window tinting. Its a reminder and a challenge to oneself that you might want to take some of these experiences and maybe implement them at home, he said. ($1 = 3.6400 Qatar riyals) | Msheireb Downtown Doha aims to become one of the largest sustainable cities in the world. Developers hope their project could show how Qatar - and the rest of the Middle East - could cut emissions. | ctrlsum | 1 | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-doha-climatechange-city/can-qatars-low-carbon-city-show-a-greener-middle-east-future-idUSKCN1QI477 | 0.174123 |
Can Qatar's low-carbon city show a greener Middle East future? | DOHA (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - During Dohas sweltering summers, when temperatures can hit 45 degrees Celsius and steamy humidity makes the air feel even hotter, museum manager Fahad Al-Turky tends to drive a lot and stay mainly indoors. But staying cool is getting easier in Msheireb Downtown Doha - an under-construction district of the capital where he works. Developers of the 76-acre regeneration zone, which aims to become one of the largest sustainable cities in the world, are outfitting it with green features, from rainwater harvesting to shady overhangs that make walking outside cooler. To be able to walk to get coffee outside or to a restaurant - it is a different kind of experience, said Al-Turkey, 30. Around Dohas traditional office towers, he said, there really isnt much shade. Many of the more than 100 buildings in Msheireb - apartments, offices, hotels, a shopping mall and a primary school - are fitted with solar panels, solar water heaters and overhangs designed to shade the surrounding sidewalks. The mixed-use district - eight years in construction and preparing for its first residents this spring - also has hidden features, such as underground waste collection stations, and will connect to planned public transport in the city. As well, there are systems that recover rainwater and air conditioning condensation into basement tanks, where the water is reused for irrigation and to flush toilets. In Msheireb we are taking the responsibility of building a sustainable city and looking after our environment here, and looking to lower carbon dioxide emissions, said Ali Saleh Al-Yafei, the project manager at Msheireb Properties, which is developing the district. Gas-rich Qatar emits more carbon dioxide per person than any country in the world, a problem as the world tries to rein in climate change and avoid challenges ranging from more extreme weather to sea level rise. Across the oil-producing Gulf, officials are eager to demonstrate that their countries can be as effective stewards of the environment as other nations. But that effort faces many challenges. Fossil fuel-produced electricity and water, for instance, are provided so cheaply in many countries that incentives to use less are limited for consumers. Rising temperatures in an already blisteringly hot region, however, are a reminder that the Gulf, too, will face powerful impacts of climate change. Msheireb developers hope their project could show how Qatar - and the rest of the Middle East - could cut emissions to help hold the line on climate change, in part by using fewer fossil fuels and less water. This is the way forward in the region, and many developments are thinking about sustainability and green buildings to help the climate not to get hotter, Al-Yafei told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. Karim Elgendy, a sustainability consultant and founder of Carboun, an initiative to promote sustainable cities in the Middle East, calls Msheireb Downtown Doha the best example of urban regeneration Ive seen in the region in a while. Msheireb is a genuine effort to fix the city center, he said. MIDDLE EAST IMPACT The 20 billion Qatari riyals ($5.5 billion) Msheireb Downtown Doha project is a venture by Msheireb Properties, a subsidiary of the Qatar Foundation, an education and research organization founded by the ruling emirs father. The project is part of a wider mission to meet Qatars National Vision 2030 plan, which aims - among other goals - to reduce energy consumption and the nations carbon footprint. Qatar, which will host the 2022 football World Cup, also is looking at ways to reduce emissions around that event, and in cities beyond the capital. In Lusail, a new city being built 23 km (14 miles) north of Doha and the planned home of one of the World Cup stadiums, a light rail system and water-saving irrigation systems are being put in place. The city is also being designed with plenty of trees and green spaces, to help keep a nation that swelters in summer heat and humidity cooler, said Radhouane Ben Hamadou, head of biological and environmental sciences at Qatar university. Qatars World Cup will be held in November and December, Qatars winter season. But all the World Cup stadiums will have cooling technology installed, officials say, to encourage their year-round use after the tournament. Ben Hamadou said he thinks each city in Qatar will need its own individual path to reducing emissions, though new cities can draw lessons from Lusail. That includes the need for parks, open spaces and community facilities to create a functional and complete city. The Msheireb Downtown Doha project can provide some guiding principles of sustainability in Qatar, he said, but it is not just by itself a unit that can be just replicated, he said. The project, for instance, lacks enough green roofs to help keep buildings cool, and does not provide many green park areas, he said. He warned, as well, that carbon-cutting green changes in Qatar and other Middle East countries will not, by themselves, be enough to cool rising temperatures. Because climate change is a global problem, action by many countries across the world will be needed to successfully address the problem, he said. The climate system is not defined by the emissions of one country or another, he said. The climate will not change because of Msheireb. Other countries in the region, however, also are taking early steps toward cutting carbon emissions and building cities that are more liveable in hotter conditions. In Muscat, the sweltering capital of Oman where summer temperatures sometimes dont drop below 42 degrees Celsius (107 Fahrenheit) even at night, a city extension based on the Msheireb Downtown Doha project is being planned. Allies and Morrison, the British firm that designed Msheireb Downtown Doha is designing the Madinat Al-Irfan project in Muscat as well. When it comes to creating greener and cooler housing in the region, everybody wants to do it. Actually doing it is harder, Elgendy said. A NEW LIVEABLE At Msheireb Downtown Doha, streets have been designed as tunnels for air to channel breezes through the area, and taller buildings have been purposely placed to best throw shade on other buildings, Al-Yafei said. The compact district, designed to make walking easier and more comfortable, also aims to get people out of the cars. With the first apartments in the district opening this spring, Ben Hamadou thinks the district can help change ideas of what a liveable neighborhood should look like. Raising the awareness of young people mainly here in Qatar and the region, and (awareness) of how we can save our resources - Msheireb will be a very good demonstration of that, he said. Al-Turky has already adopted some of the ideas hes seen used in the green district where he works for his own new home in a suburb of Qatar. His house has recessed windows to reduce sunlight coming in, for instance, and window tinting. Its a reminder and a challenge to oneself that you might want to take some of these experiences and maybe implement them at home, he said. ($1 = 3.6400 Qatar riyals) | Msheireb Downtown Doha aims to become one of the largest sustainable cities in the world. Developers hope their project could show how Qatar - and the rest of the Middle East - could cut emissions to help hold the line on climate change, in part by using fewer fossil fuels. | ctrlsum | 2 | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-doha-climatechange-city/can-qatars-low-carbon-city-show-a-greener-middle-east-future-idUSKCN1QI477 | 0.21979 |
What could happen to food prices after Brexit? | Image copyright Getty Images As 29 March approaches with no Brexit deal yet agreed on by Parliament, questions are circulating around how leaving without a deal will affect people's daily lives, including the cost of food. At the moment, the UK imports about 30% of its food from the EU and another 10% from the rest of the world. If there's no deal, the question of what will happen to food crossing the border will have to be faced immediately. If Theresa May's plan goes through, there will be a 21-month transition period during which nothing will change while the UK and the EU try to work out a future trade agreement. There are lots of things that determine food prices, including the weather. But there are three main things that might affect UK food prices as a direct result of Brexit: The taxes on imported goods, known as tariffs Changes to the value of the pound Things that might slow down goods crossing borders, like extra checks 1. Tariffs A tariff is the tax that businesses pay on goods imported from other countries. Different rates of tax apply to different products. But countries have to charge the same rates on the same products to each country unless they have a trade deal. As a member of the European Union, at the moment the UK doesn't pay tariffs on goods - including food products - coming in from other EU countries. Let's say a supermarket wants to import beef from Ireland. Currently it wouldn't have to pay a tax on this but if after Brexit beef started to be taxed at 40%, which is the tariff the EU places on beef coming in from the rest of the world, that's a 40% extra cost to the importer. The UK Trade Policy Observatory at the University of Sussex calculated that an average tariff of 44.6% on dairy could translate to a price rise of 8.1%. Meat could rise in price by 5.8%, oils and fats by 7.8% and vegetables by 4% on average. Businesses want to charge their customers competitive prices, so they may well absorb some of the costs themselves. But past a certain point, they may well have to pass on that extra cost to make a profit - and that could translate to more expensive food in the shops. The UK could choose to lower tariffs - or scrap them altogether - and that could, in theory, lead to lower prices for consumers. The University of Sussex researchers also assessed the impact of zero tariffs on food imports and said this may only reduce food prices by an average of 1%. That's because the goods which are currently subject to the highest rates of tariffs are food items mainly produced in the UK or imported from Europe without any tariffs, like meat and dairy. And products like tea which the UK mostly imports from outside the EU already attract low tariffs - for tea it's 0.86% - so getting rid of those wouldn't contribute as much to falls in food prices. Businesses could choose to import more products like meat and dairy from outside the EU if that became more competitive. The idea of lowering tariffs on imported goods which the UK also produces has worried farmers, who fear a flood of cheap imported food putting them out of business. In response, the government has said it will not impose zero-rate tariffs on food imports. It will have to balance the interests of consumers, who want to see their food prices kept low, with those of farmers and growers, when setting the tariff rates. Image copyright Getty Images Faced with more expensive imported beef for example, shoppers could decide to buy British. But they might not have that choice when it comes to fresh fruit and vegetables. In March, when a lot of UK produce is out of season, it imports 90% of its lettuce, 80% of its tomatoes and 70% of its soft fruit from the European Union, according to the British Retail Consortium, which represents shopkeepers. A no-deal document published by the government said: "At the time of year we will be leaving the EU, the UK is particularly reliant on the short channel crossings for fresh fruit and vegetables. "In the absence of other action from government, some food prices are likely to increase, and there is a risk that consumer behaviour could exacerbate, or create, shortages in this scenario." But it added that less than 1 in 10 food items is expected to be affected. 2. Exchange rates When the value of the pound decreases compared with other currencies, it becomes more expensive to buy things from abroad - a pound that's worth less buys less stuff. That will "directly affect the cost of getting imported food products onto supermarket shelves," the Institute for Financial Studies says. It gave the comparison of what happened in 2007-08 around the time of the global financial crisis. Sterling depreciated in value by 21% and food prices rose by 8.7% relative to other goods. There were other things going on at the time though, apart from currency exchange rates - there were sharp rises in world prices for things like petroleum and fertiliser. But other countries which did not experience currency depreciations did not experience food price rises as "large nor as persistent" as in the UK, the IFS says, suggesting "exchange rates played an important role in driving higher food prices in the UK". The pound has fallen in value since the referendum and that is thought to have contributed to a small rise in food prices, according to a study by the London School of Economics. Image copyright Getty Images 3. Non-tariff barriers Another thing which could affect the prices of food for retailers is the cost of having to do extra checks at ports - what's known as "non-tariff barriers". The House of Lords' European Union committee in a report on food prices after Brexit said: "As well as causing delays and shortening the shelf-life of products, non-tariff barriers are an additional cost for businesses". It quoted a report by consultancy firm KPMG which calculated that "one day of delay for a lorry will easily cost a business 600 to 1,000 euros" (500-850). The government has set out steps which businesses should take to minimise disruption at borders. In its recent no-deal document it said it was putting procedures in place to make it easier for traders importing from the EU to comply with customs requirements immediately after Brexit, to ease the effects of those non-tariff barriers. It is set to publish a schedule of the tariffs it plans to impose on goods imported from the EU in the event of a no-deal Brexit shortly. Get in touch Read more from Reality Check Follow us on Twitter | There are three main things that might affect UK food prices as a direct result of Brexit. The taxes on imported goods, known as tariffs Changes to the value of the pound. The UK Trade Policy Observatory at the University of Sussex calculated that an average tariff of 44.6% on dairy could translate to a price rise of 8.1%. | pegasus | 2 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-47401160 | 0.29299 |
Is Bryce Harper worth $330 million? | By Daniel Tran Bryce Harpers free agency has reportedly ended, signing a 13-year, $330-million contract from the Philadelphia Phillies. Based on his star power, and the numbers he has produced so far, many feel he is worth the investment. Others look at his playoff record and dont think hes worth the money. Harper is one of the biggest stars in the league with his marketability and must-watch talent. When he's in the zone, he's one of the most electrifying players in the league. The six-time All-Star managed to drive in 100 RBIs despite being walked 130 times by opponents. And at age 25, he hasnt even hit his peak yet. The former MVP will bring in way more than what any team ends up paying him. Hes worth the money. Harper is talented, but he's not as automatic as everyone likes to think he is. Injuries have slowed his career and dependability is a huge factor in receiving that kind of money. After his MVP season, Harper has only topped 4.0 WAR once. Hes a good player, but $330 million is too much for a player who couldnt top 1.5 WAR two of the last three seasons. But not a 330 million player. Bryce is good, but this is a ridiculous overpay i miss jason smith (@JasonKiddBurner) February 28, 2019 The Tylt is focused on debates and conversations around news, current events and pop culture. We provide our community with the opportunity to share their opinions and vote on topics that matter most to them. We actively engage the community and present meaningful data on the debates and conversations as they progress. The Tylt is a place where your opinion counts, literally. The Tylt is an Advance Local Media, LLC property. Join us on Twitter @TheTylt, on Instagram @TheTylt or on Facebook, wed love to hear what you have to say. | Bryce Harper has reportedly signed a 13-year, $330-million contract with the Philadelphia Phillies. | pegasus | 0 | https://www.cleveland.com/sports/2019/03/is-bryce-harper-worth-330-million.html | 0.268959 |
Is Bryce Harper worth $330 million? | By Daniel Tran Bryce Harpers free agency has reportedly ended, signing a 13-year, $330-million contract from the Philadelphia Phillies. Based on his star power, and the numbers he has produced so far, many feel he is worth the investment. Others look at his playoff record and dont think hes worth the money. Harper is one of the biggest stars in the league with his marketability and must-watch talent. When he's in the zone, he's one of the most electrifying players in the league. The six-time All-Star managed to drive in 100 RBIs despite being walked 130 times by opponents. And at age 25, he hasnt even hit his peak yet. The former MVP will bring in way more than what any team ends up paying him. Hes worth the money. Harper is talented, but he's not as automatic as everyone likes to think he is. Injuries have slowed his career and dependability is a huge factor in receiving that kind of money. After his MVP season, Harper has only topped 4.0 WAR once. Hes a good player, but $330 million is too much for a player who couldnt top 1.5 WAR two of the last three seasons. But not a 330 million player. Bryce is good, but this is a ridiculous overpay i miss jason smith (@JasonKiddBurner) February 28, 2019 The Tylt is focused on debates and conversations around news, current events and pop culture. We provide our community with the opportunity to share their opinions and vote on topics that matter most to them. We actively engage the community and present meaningful data on the debates and conversations as they progress. The Tylt is a place where your opinion counts, literally. The Tylt is an Advance Local Media, LLC property. Join us on Twitter @TheTylt, on Instagram @TheTylt or on Facebook, wed love to hear what you have to say. | Bryce Harper has reportedly signed a 13-year, $330-million contract with the Philadelphia Phillies. Harper is one of the biggest stars in the league with his marketability and must-watch talent. After his MVP season, Harper has only topped 4.0 WAR once. | pegasus | 2 | https://www.cleveland.com/sports/2019/03/is-bryce-harper-worth-330-million.html | 0.372754 |
What Is Blockchain Technology And How Can The Entertainment Industry Use It? | When people hear blockchain, they think Bitcoin or crypto. But that is a limited view of blockchain technologys true potential, which can be developed in a swath of industries with vast use. Blockchain is already in use in the entertainment industry and its potential to change the way industry players do business is staggering. At its core, blockchain technology is a decentralized and transparent way of exchanging information. Each block is a recorded transaction, which is shared on a peer-to-peer network consisting of nodes. A node is a device, such as a computer, that contains a history of all transactions for a particular blockchain, i.e. all the blocks in that chain. In order for a new block to be added to the chain, all the nodes in its network must verify it. Once added to the chain, information cannot be modified or removed, ideally creating a trustworthy, transparent record of transactional information. Blockchain and The Industry The entertainment and media sectors are just beginning to test out blockchain and uncover its amazing potential to solve some of the industrys key problems. This process is known as chain-of-title and it has to be understood for the project to have any value or be distributed. With blockchain, these chain-of-title questions can easily and quickly be answered due to the transparent record of each transaction relating to an entertainment projects intellectual property (IP) rights. Through blockchain, these intellectual property rights can be tracked, and digital rights management companies can access the full record of transactions to find the exact timestamped block when any project rights were first transferred and people made contributions to that project. Blockchain is also being explored for the alternative to traditional contracts called smart contracts. These smart contracts are blockchain-powered autonomous programs that can facilitate many exchanges of data such as payment processing, licensing, and exclusive distribution agreements. Having a comprehensive, public, and unalterable ledger of transactions is a powerful way to monitor and restrict IP usage and distribution, as well as payment information. As the contributions of anyone involved in the creative process would be explicitly accounted for, blockchain could significantly streamline the process of keeping track of royalties and residuals, and consequently free up budgets. Blockchains practical use can be found in the accounting process of profit participants and investors. It is often the case that various profit participants or investors are paid at different points from the flow of money depending on cash break points and recoupment rights. This has been termed the waterfall and is often administered through a collection account, but the transparency of the blockchain in such a situation would be extraordinarily beneficial. The Catch: Fundraising While blockchain technology itself is promising, and already being used by some production and distribution companies for the purposes discussed above, its association with cryptocurrency troubles its reputation. Cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, do not figure directly into the scheme of how blockchain technology actually works. Rather, they are speculative assets that are offered by blockchain startups to investors as an initial coin offering (ICO). Ideally, these currencies can be redeemed by investors down the line for goods and services provided by the blockchain company. However, this is a notoriously unregulated process. Some disreputable startups have taken advantage of this speculative crowdfunding by selling relatively worthless currencies to overzealous investors. Although there are core entertainment industry functions that can benefit from blockchain technology, it will take time before the industry fully adopts it. As with anything that can revolutionize an industry, the future remains uncertain and it will be a long road before blockchain technology becomes a staple. Bryan M. Sullivan, Partner at Early Sullivan Wright Gizer & McRae, advises and represents his clients as a legal strategist in all their business affairs. He has significant experience on the litigation and appeals side of the practice, as well as with entertainment and intellectual property contracts, investment and financing agreements, and corporate structure documents on the dealmaking side. | Blockchain technology is a decentralized and transparent way of exchanging information. | bart | 0 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/legalentertainment/2019/03/01/what-is-blockchain-technology-and-how-can-the-entertainment-industry-use-it/ | 0.32986 |
What Is Blockchain Technology And How Can The Entertainment Industry Use It? | When people hear blockchain, they think Bitcoin or crypto. But that is a limited view of blockchain technologys true potential, which can be developed in a swath of industries with vast use. Blockchain is already in use in the entertainment industry and its potential to change the way industry players do business is staggering. At its core, blockchain technology is a decentralized and transparent way of exchanging information. Each block is a recorded transaction, which is shared on a peer-to-peer network consisting of nodes. A node is a device, such as a computer, that contains a history of all transactions for a particular blockchain, i.e. all the blocks in that chain. In order for a new block to be added to the chain, all the nodes in its network must verify it. Once added to the chain, information cannot be modified or removed, ideally creating a trustworthy, transparent record of transactional information. Blockchain and The Industry The entertainment and media sectors are just beginning to test out blockchain and uncover its amazing potential to solve some of the industrys key problems. This process is known as chain-of-title and it has to be understood for the project to have any value or be distributed. With blockchain, these chain-of-title questions can easily and quickly be answered due to the transparent record of each transaction relating to an entertainment projects intellectual property (IP) rights. Through blockchain, these intellectual property rights can be tracked, and digital rights management companies can access the full record of transactions to find the exact timestamped block when any project rights were first transferred and people made contributions to that project. Blockchain is also being explored for the alternative to traditional contracts called smart contracts. These smart contracts are blockchain-powered autonomous programs that can facilitate many exchanges of data such as payment processing, licensing, and exclusive distribution agreements. Having a comprehensive, public, and unalterable ledger of transactions is a powerful way to monitor and restrict IP usage and distribution, as well as payment information. As the contributions of anyone involved in the creative process would be explicitly accounted for, blockchain could significantly streamline the process of keeping track of royalties and residuals, and consequently free up budgets. Blockchains practical use can be found in the accounting process of profit participants and investors. It is often the case that various profit participants or investors are paid at different points from the flow of money depending on cash break points and recoupment rights. This has been termed the waterfall and is often administered through a collection account, but the transparency of the blockchain in such a situation would be extraordinarily beneficial. The Catch: Fundraising While blockchain technology itself is promising, and already being used by some production and distribution companies for the purposes discussed above, its association with cryptocurrency troubles its reputation. Cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, do not figure directly into the scheme of how blockchain technology actually works. Rather, they are speculative assets that are offered by blockchain startups to investors as an initial coin offering (ICO). Ideally, these currencies can be redeemed by investors down the line for goods and services provided by the blockchain company. However, this is a notoriously unregulated process. Some disreputable startups have taken advantage of this speculative crowdfunding by selling relatively worthless currencies to overzealous investors. Although there are core entertainment industry functions that can benefit from blockchain technology, it will take time before the industry fully adopts it. As with anything that can revolutionize an industry, the future remains uncertain and it will be a long road before blockchain technology becomes a staple. Bryan M. Sullivan, Partner at Early Sullivan Wright Gizer & McRae, advises and represents his clients as a legal strategist in all their business affairs. He has significant experience on the litigation and appeals side of the practice, as well as with entertainment and intellectual property contracts, investment and financing agreements, and corporate structure documents on the dealmaking side. | The entertainment and media sectors are just beginning to test out blockchain and uncover its amazing potential to solve some of the industrys key problems. The technology can be used to streamline the process of keeping track of royalties and residuals. | ctrlsum | 1 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/legalentertainment/2019/03/01/what-is-blockchain-technology-and-how-can-the-entertainment-industry-use-it/ | 0.393615 |
What Is Blockchain Technology And How Can The Entertainment Industry Use It? | When people hear blockchain, they think Bitcoin or crypto. But that is a limited view of blockchain technologys true potential, which can be developed in a swath of industries with vast use. Blockchain is already in use in the entertainment industry and its potential to change the way industry players do business is staggering. At its core, blockchain technology is a decentralized and transparent way of exchanging information. Each block is a recorded transaction, which is shared on a peer-to-peer network consisting of nodes. A node is a device, such as a computer, that contains a history of all transactions for a particular blockchain, i.e. all the blocks in that chain. In order for a new block to be added to the chain, all the nodes in its network must verify it. Once added to the chain, information cannot be modified or removed, ideally creating a trustworthy, transparent record of transactional information. Blockchain and The Industry The entertainment and media sectors are just beginning to test out blockchain and uncover its amazing potential to solve some of the industrys key problems. This process is known as chain-of-title and it has to be understood for the project to have any value or be distributed. With blockchain, these chain-of-title questions can easily and quickly be answered due to the transparent record of each transaction relating to an entertainment projects intellectual property (IP) rights. Through blockchain, these intellectual property rights can be tracked, and digital rights management companies can access the full record of transactions to find the exact timestamped block when any project rights were first transferred and people made contributions to that project. Blockchain is also being explored for the alternative to traditional contracts called smart contracts. These smart contracts are blockchain-powered autonomous programs that can facilitate many exchanges of data such as payment processing, licensing, and exclusive distribution agreements. Having a comprehensive, public, and unalterable ledger of transactions is a powerful way to monitor and restrict IP usage and distribution, as well as payment information. As the contributions of anyone involved in the creative process would be explicitly accounted for, blockchain could significantly streamline the process of keeping track of royalties and residuals, and consequently free up budgets. Blockchains practical use can be found in the accounting process of profit participants and investors. It is often the case that various profit participants or investors are paid at different points from the flow of money depending on cash break points and recoupment rights. This has been termed the waterfall and is often administered through a collection account, but the transparency of the blockchain in such a situation would be extraordinarily beneficial. The Catch: Fundraising While blockchain technology itself is promising, and already being used by some production and distribution companies for the purposes discussed above, its association with cryptocurrency troubles its reputation. Cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, do not figure directly into the scheme of how blockchain technology actually works. Rather, they are speculative assets that are offered by blockchain startups to investors as an initial coin offering (ICO). Ideally, these currencies can be redeemed by investors down the line for goods and services provided by the blockchain company. However, this is a notoriously unregulated process. Some disreputable startups have taken advantage of this speculative crowdfunding by selling relatively worthless currencies to overzealous investors. Although there are core entertainment industry functions that can benefit from blockchain technology, it will take time before the industry fully adopts it. As with anything that can revolutionize an industry, the future remains uncertain and it will be a long road before blockchain technology becomes a staple. Bryan M. Sullivan, Partner at Early Sullivan Wright Gizer & McRae, advises and represents his clients as a legal strategist in all their business affairs. He has significant experience on the litigation and appeals side of the practice, as well as with entertainment and intellectual property contracts, investment and financing agreements, and corporate structure documents on the dealmaking side. | Blockchain technology is a decentralized and transparent way of exchanging information. Each block is a recorded transaction, which is shared on a peer-to-peer network. The entertainment and media sectors are just beginning to test out blockchain. It will be a long road before blockchain technology becomes a staple. | bart | 2 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/legalentertainment/2019/03/01/what-is-blockchain-technology-and-how-can-the-entertainment-industry-use-it/ | 0.606412 |
Can A Coal Lobbyist Confirmed To Head EPA Be Trusted To Safeguard The Public's Interest? | Its Rip Van Winkle revisited just waking from a two-decade sleep only to find that life is the same when it really should be much different. Welcome to Donald Trumps America, where the president is trying to revert the New Energy Economy and to replay the Industrial Revolutions Greatest Hits. The latest such chapter in the tale is the U.S. Senates confirmation yesterday of Andrew Wheeler to be Trumps Environmental Protection Agency administrator. The problem is that Wheeler, a fine man who worked as a coal industry rep, isnt well suited to be a regulator and a protector of public health. He is, after all, a lobbyist on a mission to rollback environmental progress and to return coal to its former place atop the energy pyramid a spot it held for decades. Now, thats not likely to happen given that the market forces are already at play that the utilities that burn coal have been retiring their coal plants and replacing them with natural gas and renewable energy. But Trump and Wheeler can try to block those changes, which could have the practical effect of allowing older coal-fired plants to remain operational a bit longer and thus create even more greenhouse gas emissions. Case in point is the administrations effort to box-out the Obama administrations Clean Power Plan and to replace it with the Affordable Clean Energy Rule. Under the Clean Power Plan, the country would have to reduce its CO2 releases by 32% by 2030. It would do so by changing out coal plants for those that run on cleaner energies a movement that has already taken root. It would also permit companies that comply to earn credits and then sell those chits to those that need help. The goal is to make green technologies cheaper than buying credits. The Affordable Clean Energy Rule, by contrast, would give the states more leeway to decide the rules even to forego them altogether, resulting obviously in increased emissions. The goal here would be to get utilities to improve their efficiencies to install technologies that allow them to burn less coal to make more energy. Its not a bad idea except that most power companies have already assessed their coal plants and have found that it has been cheaper to retire older facilities rather than to retrofit them with pollution controls. That includes American Electric Power, Duke Energy and Southern Company. Wheeler stated during his confirmation hearings that he does not believe that climate change is a national emergency remarks that lead some to label him as a denialist. Wheelers job now is to safeguard the public interest, not the coal industry. A former fossil fuel lobbyist, Wheeler has consistently worked against the public interest to advance an anti-environmental agenda, Senator Diane Feinstein, D-Calif., said in a press statement. Throughout his career, Andrew Wheeler has shown a clear disregard for the EPAs mission to protect the public and environment. The Senate, generally, voted along party lines to confirm Wheeler. Wheelers confirmation as the top environmental regulator comes within days of news reports stating that Trump plans to create a climate commission to combat his own administrations own findings the ones that conclude manmade CO2 is a threat to the environment and to the economy. The panel would be composed of a whos-who of climate change denialists. Critics say that the panelists are considered outside the mainstream by the globes mostly highly-regarded scientists. To be clear, this writer hears routinely from many energy professionals who have concerns about the prevailing climate science not that they deny the existence of human-induced climate change but that they question various nuances. But the studies that this analyst references are those that have been peer-reviewed and thus have survived the scrutiny of other climate scientists. Thats opposed to those studies that have been funded by specific interests that have paid to achieve a certain outcome. And they are not open to critique by independent experts. Fake Panel In the case of Trumps proposed climate panel, it would fall under the oversight of the National Security Council and not the proper regulatory bodies such as the EPA. As a result, the proposed commissions findings would avoid the kind of inspection that earlier studies have endured: That includes the recently released National Climate Assessment. It also encompasses reports from the Pentagon dating back to 2003, which say that climate change imperils the U.S. military and its potential response in certain parts of the world. Indeed, Katharine Hayhoe, who is a climate scientist at Texas Tech and an author of the former report, said via a tweet that everyone had a chance to review those findings, multiple chances. The risk to the Earth system associated with increasing levels of CO2s are almost universally agreed by climate scientists , adds a letter by the faculty of MIT Program in Atmospheres, Oceans and Climates one written to refute their own colleague, Richard Lindzen, who denies such science and who has been asked to be on Trumps make-shift group. No, both entities are moving forward with carbon-friendly policies, because markets are demanding action and the planet requires them to do so. Several hundred companies are trying to cut their CO2 releases and to increase their use of renewable energy, including those in energy and finance: Schneider Electric and CitiGroup, to name two. Meantime, 225 investors with $26 trillion in assets under management have combined their financial might under the banner of Climate Action 100+. Their message: Companies that focus on the so-called triple bottom line economics, environment and social are outperforming the broader indices and are indelibly branding themselves among customers. Its no longer the dawn of the industrial era. It's now mid morning during the digital day. Its time to wake up to realize that the national economy and the associated jobs are tied closely to cleaner fuels that are less carbon intensive. Given their ages and their inclinations, Messieurs Trump and Wheeler are unlikely to make that leap. But future leaders wont have a choice a job made even tougher because of todays unenlightened leadership. | Andrew Wheeler was confirmed yesterday to be the Environmental Protection Agency administrator. The problem is that Wheeler, a fine man who worked as a coal industry rep, isnt well suited to be a regulator and a protector of public health. | pegasus | 1 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/kensilverstein/2019/03/01/can-a-coal-lobbyist-confirmed-to-head-epa-be-trusted-to-safeguard-the-publics-interest/ | 0.368357 |
Can A Coal Lobbyist Confirmed To Head EPA Be Trusted To Safeguard The Public's Interest? | Its Rip Van Winkle revisited just waking from a two-decade sleep only to find that life is the same when it really should be much different. Welcome to Donald Trumps America, where the president is trying to revert the New Energy Economy and to replay the Industrial Revolutions Greatest Hits. The latest such chapter in the tale is the U.S. Senates confirmation yesterday of Andrew Wheeler to be Trumps Environmental Protection Agency administrator. The problem is that Wheeler, a fine man who worked as a coal industry rep, isnt well suited to be a regulator and a protector of public health. He is, after all, a lobbyist on a mission to rollback environmental progress and to return coal to its former place atop the energy pyramid a spot it held for decades. Now, thats not likely to happen given that the market forces are already at play that the utilities that burn coal have been retiring their coal plants and replacing them with natural gas and renewable energy. But Trump and Wheeler can try to block those changes, which could have the practical effect of allowing older coal-fired plants to remain operational a bit longer and thus create even more greenhouse gas emissions. Case in point is the administrations effort to box-out the Obama administrations Clean Power Plan and to replace it with the Affordable Clean Energy Rule. Under the Clean Power Plan, the country would have to reduce its CO2 releases by 32% by 2030. It would do so by changing out coal plants for those that run on cleaner energies a movement that has already taken root. It would also permit companies that comply to earn credits and then sell those chits to those that need help. The goal is to make green technologies cheaper than buying credits. The Affordable Clean Energy Rule, by contrast, would give the states more leeway to decide the rules even to forego them altogether, resulting obviously in increased emissions. The goal here would be to get utilities to improve their efficiencies to install technologies that allow them to burn less coal to make more energy. Its not a bad idea except that most power companies have already assessed their coal plants and have found that it has been cheaper to retire older facilities rather than to retrofit them with pollution controls. That includes American Electric Power, Duke Energy and Southern Company. Wheeler stated during his confirmation hearings that he does not believe that climate change is a national emergency remarks that lead some to label him as a denialist. Wheelers job now is to safeguard the public interest, not the coal industry. A former fossil fuel lobbyist, Wheeler has consistently worked against the public interest to advance an anti-environmental agenda, Senator Diane Feinstein, D-Calif., said in a press statement. Throughout his career, Andrew Wheeler has shown a clear disregard for the EPAs mission to protect the public and environment. The Senate, generally, voted along party lines to confirm Wheeler. Wheelers confirmation as the top environmental regulator comes within days of news reports stating that Trump plans to create a climate commission to combat his own administrations own findings the ones that conclude manmade CO2 is a threat to the environment and to the economy. The panel would be composed of a whos-who of climate change denialists. Critics say that the panelists are considered outside the mainstream by the globes mostly highly-regarded scientists. To be clear, this writer hears routinely from many energy professionals who have concerns about the prevailing climate science not that they deny the existence of human-induced climate change but that they question various nuances. But the studies that this analyst references are those that have been peer-reviewed and thus have survived the scrutiny of other climate scientists. Thats opposed to those studies that have been funded by specific interests that have paid to achieve a certain outcome. And they are not open to critique by independent experts. Fake Panel In the case of Trumps proposed climate panel, it would fall under the oversight of the National Security Council and not the proper regulatory bodies such as the EPA. As a result, the proposed commissions findings would avoid the kind of inspection that earlier studies have endured: That includes the recently released National Climate Assessment. It also encompasses reports from the Pentagon dating back to 2003, which say that climate change imperils the U.S. military and its potential response in certain parts of the world. Indeed, Katharine Hayhoe, who is a climate scientist at Texas Tech and an author of the former report, said via a tweet that everyone had a chance to review those findings, multiple chances. The risk to the Earth system associated with increasing levels of CO2s are almost universally agreed by climate scientists , adds a letter by the faculty of MIT Program in Atmospheres, Oceans and Climates one written to refute their own colleague, Richard Lindzen, who denies such science and who has been asked to be on Trumps make-shift group. No, both entities are moving forward with carbon-friendly policies, because markets are demanding action and the planet requires them to do so. Several hundred companies are trying to cut their CO2 releases and to increase their use of renewable energy, including those in energy and finance: Schneider Electric and CitiGroup, to name two. Meantime, 225 investors with $26 trillion in assets under management have combined their financial might under the banner of Climate Action 100+. Their message: Companies that focus on the so-called triple bottom line economics, environment and social are outperforming the broader indices and are indelibly branding themselves among customers. Its no longer the dawn of the industrial era. It's now mid morning during the digital day. Its time to wake up to realize that the national economy and the associated jobs are tied closely to cleaner fuels that are less carbon intensive. Given their ages and their inclinations, Messieurs Trump and Wheeler are unlikely to make that leap. But future leaders wont have a choice a job made even tougher because of todays unenlightened leadership. | Andrew Wheeler, a former coal industry rep, was confirmed as EPA chief. Wheeler is on a mission to rollback environmental progress, writes Julian Zelizer. Zelizer: Wheelers job now is to safeguard the public interest, not the coal industry. | bart | 2 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/kensilverstein/2019/03/01/can-a-coal-lobbyist-confirmed-to-head-epa-be-trusted-to-safeguard-the-publics-interest/ | 0.422892 |
Is Ottawa's pro soccer future with the Canadian Premier League? | John Herdman calls the Canadian Premier League the missing piece of the jigsaw for developing the countrys male professional soccer players. You speak to any Canadian that has lived in this country and been part of the football ecosystem, says the national team head coach, who previously guided Canadian women to a Pan Am Games gold medal in 2011 and Olympic bronze in 2012 and 2016. CPL commissioner David Clanachan evidently doesnt think so even though he and everyone else has known since last summer that Ottawa Fury FC planned to remain in the U.S.-based United Soccer League through at least 2019. Its franchise agreement allows Ottawa Sports & Entertainment Group to shift Fury FC to a Canadian league without penalty, but only with one years advance notice to USL, and the deadline for 2020 has passed, too. Everybody should benefit. Everybody has to row in the same direction. Thats what we have to do, Clanachan says, adding his immediate priority is launching CPL with seven teams and fielding a great product that finds favour with Canadian fans. Then, if things change and Ottawa wants to be part of it, thats great. If not, at one point well have to decide what we want to do about Ottawa. I started off by saying the people of Ottawa deserve to have a team in the Canadian Premier League. Its Canadas professional league. I cant I dont see a world where a team from Ottawa is not playing in that league. Do you? OSEGs stance on CPL is wait and see, and chief executive officer Mark Goudie says the door remains open to discussions at a later date. There is a sense of nationalistic pride around this new league that is joining, and thats great, Goudie says. We endorse it and support it and love it and we want it to be successful, and there is a segment of our supporter base that, if it was their decision, would have chosen for us to be in the CPL in 2019. And I think theres another segment that says, We trust OSEG and we trust the Fury and, if they say (USL) is better for us for now, well go with that I think in market it was overwhelmingly positive. It changes when you get across Canada. I think there were teams that were looking forward in Canada to having an established franchise as part of their new league. Previous attempts to sustain pro soccer leagues in Canada have failed. In Clanachans words, however, That was then, this is now, and he offers a list of supporting claims: access to pro soccer broadcasts from around the world, not just single weekly telecasts shown in ethnic social clubs long ago; new ways of consuming soccer, including online, to fit younger viewing habits; soccers appeal to both genders, including what Clanachan argues is a nearly 50-50 split in Canada; less risk of concussion than sports such as football and hockey; easier grassroots access because of lower equipment costs; a gaming mentality that opens soccer to everyone, as exemplified by EA Sports successful FIFA line; Canadian population growth driven by newcomers who identify more with soccer than with football, hockey or basketball. When youre coming in on the ground floor of something, its very different. Theres inherent risk in that, Clanachan says. Theres inherent risk in operating a team in the USL, too. Im not questioning (OSEGs) decision, but I will say to you that, when you look at that, theres also an advantage in coming in on the ground floor versus what theyre dealing with there. General manager Julian de Guzman says Fury FC is, happy to be in the USL. For us, its a league that has evolved and has flourished and has been successful for a couple of years now. Were seeing the re-branding of the league and what theyre implementing now with 36 teams in total to compete for a title. Thats massive when you have two conferences of 18 each. You dont find that in any league in the world right now. To be a part of that, and the only existing Canadian team, that definitely keeps involved in some of the best competitions you could be involved with for North America, and thats important for our development, thats important for our success for the Fury and also thats important for the future of the game in Canada. gholder@postmedia.com Twitter.com/HolderGord | Ottawa Fury FC will remain in the U.S.-based United Soccer League through at least 2019. Franchise agreement allows Ottawa Sports & Entertainment Group to shift Fury FC to a Canadian league without penalty. | pegasus | 1 | https://ottawacitizen.com/sports/soccer/is-ottawas-pro-soccer-future-with-the-canadian-premier-league | 0.151075 |
Is Ottawa's pro soccer future with the Canadian Premier League? | John Herdman calls the Canadian Premier League the missing piece of the jigsaw for developing the countrys male professional soccer players. You speak to any Canadian that has lived in this country and been part of the football ecosystem, says the national team head coach, who previously guided Canadian women to a Pan Am Games gold medal in 2011 and Olympic bronze in 2012 and 2016. CPL commissioner David Clanachan evidently doesnt think so even though he and everyone else has known since last summer that Ottawa Fury FC planned to remain in the U.S.-based United Soccer League through at least 2019. Its franchise agreement allows Ottawa Sports & Entertainment Group to shift Fury FC to a Canadian league without penalty, but only with one years advance notice to USL, and the deadline for 2020 has passed, too. Everybody should benefit. Everybody has to row in the same direction. Thats what we have to do, Clanachan says, adding his immediate priority is launching CPL with seven teams and fielding a great product that finds favour with Canadian fans. Then, if things change and Ottawa wants to be part of it, thats great. If not, at one point well have to decide what we want to do about Ottawa. I started off by saying the people of Ottawa deserve to have a team in the Canadian Premier League. Its Canadas professional league. I cant I dont see a world where a team from Ottawa is not playing in that league. Do you? OSEGs stance on CPL is wait and see, and chief executive officer Mark Goudie says the door remains open to discussions at a later date. There is a sense of nationalistic pride around this new league that is joining, and thats great, Goudie says. We endorse it and support it and love it and we want it to be successful, and there is a segment of our supporter base that, if it was their decision, would have chosen for us to be in the CPL in 2019. And I think theres another segment that says, We trust OSEG and we trust the Fury and, if they say (USL) is better for us for now, well go with that I think in market it was overwhelmingly positive. It changes when you get across Canada. I think there were teams that were looking forward in Canada to having an established franchise as part of their new league. Previous attempts to sustain pro soccer leagues in Canada have failed. In Clanachans words, however, That was then, this is now, and he offers a list of supporting claims: access to pro soccer broadcasts from around the world, not just single weekly telecasts shown in ethnic social clubs long ago; new ways of consuming soccer, including online, to fit younger viewing habits; soccers appeal to both genders, including what Clanachan argues is a nearly 50-50 split in Canada; less risk of concussion than sports such as football and hockey; easier grassroots access because of lower equipment costs; a gaming mentality that opens soccer to everyone, as exemplified by EA Sports successful FIFA line; Canadian population growth driven by newcomers who identify more with soccer than with football, hockey or basketball. When youre coming in on the ground floor of something, its very different. Theres inherent risk in that, Clanachan says. Theres inherent risk in operating a team in the USL, too. Im not questioning (OSEGs) decision, but I will say to you that, when you look at that, theres also an advantage in coming in on the ground floor versus what theyre dealing with there. General manager Julian de Guzman says Fury FC is, happy to be in the USL. For us, its a league that has evolved and has flourished and has been successful for a couple of years now. Were seeing the re-branding of the league and what theyre implementing now with 36 teams in total to compete for a title. Thats massive when you have two conferences of 18 each. You dont find that in any league in the world right now. To be a part of that, and the only existing Canadian team, that definitely keeps involved in some of the best competitions you could be involved with for North America, and thats important for our development, thats important for our success for the Fury and also thats important for the future of the game in Canada. gholder@postmedia.com Twitter.com/HolderGord | Ottawa Fury FC will remain in the U.S.-based United Soccer League through at least 2019. Franchise agreement allows Ottawa Sports & Entertainment Group to shift Fury FC to a Canadian league without penalty. Clachan says his immediate priority is launching with seven teams and fielding a great product that finds favour with Canadian fans. | pegasus | 2 | https://ottawacitizen.com/sports/soccer/is-ottawas-pro-soccer-future-with-the-canadian-premier-league | 0.153306 |
Does Clay Buchholz Have Enough Left In Tank To Help The Toronto Blue Jays? | Clay Buchholz, a two-time World Series champion, has another chance to prove there's more left in the tank. He and another established pitcher, Bud Norris, have agreed to terms with the Toronto Blue Jays, who have been searching for more pitching depth with low risk, but high upside. MLB Network insider Jon Heyman reports that the Buchholz deal is believed to be worth about $3 million plus $3 million in incentives, pending a physical. Norris, according to Robert Murray of The Athletic, has a minor-league deal worth $3 million in salary plus $1.2 million in incentives if he makes the big-league club. Norris, 33, a closer who saved 28 games for the St. Louis Cardinals last season, is expected to compete for the set-up role. He averaged over 10 strikeouts per nine innings last year with a 3.59 earned-run average. He was a starter for the first seven years of his career before he moved to the bullpen. Only Ken Giles, Ryan Tepera, Tim Mayza and David Phelps have been assured of bullpen positions come Opening Day, and according to Sportsnet's Ben Nicholson-Smith, Norris could be used as a trading chip this summer when Toronto is expected to listen to offers on players who aren't under long-term control. Buchholz, a right-hander, is joining his fourth Major League team after time spent with the Boston Red Sox, Philadelphia Phillies and Arizona Diamondbacks. The two-time all-star, who spent most of his playing time with the Red Sox from 2007-2016, posted a 7-2 record with a 2.01 earned-run average in 16 starts last season with the Diamondbacks, which were sold numbers in a terrific bounce-back year before he was shut down last September for a right elbow flexor strain. Buchholz was optimistic despite the elbow injury because, unlike the injury to the same elbow in 2017, this one did not require surgery. If he is fully recovered, the Blue Jays will be looking for the 34-year-old to provide some depth and veteran experience to a pitching staff that goes into the season with some major question marks. Injuries have plagued Buchholz's career after he burst on the scene in 2007, throwing a no-hitter in his second major league start. His list of ailments included shoulder fatigue, pulled hamstring, lower back stress fracture, right shoulder bursitis and a knee injury, along with the elbow surgery, which caused him to miss almost the entire 2017 season with the Phillies. Buchholz began 2018 with the Kansas City Royals, but after spending time in the minors last April, he exercised an opt-out clause to become a free agent. Soon after, he attracted the interest of the Diamondbacks and became a solid addition to the starting rotation. Buchholz could be used as a starter as the fifth man in a five-man rotation or as a reliever. The Blue Jays have the first four starting pitchers locked down with Marcus Stroman, Aaron Sanchez, Matt Shoemaker and Clayton Richard. The fifth spot appears up for grabs with Ryan Borucki competing against Sean Reid-Foley and others. Borucki, who made 17 starts as a rookie last season after coming up from Triple A, could be the odd man out after a couple of shaky starts in Spring Training. Buchholz does not get batters out with his velocity as much anymore, and statistics bear this out. According to BrooksBaseball, Buchholz has lost velocity on all of his pitches from his career highs, with his four-seam fastball, which was once clocked at 95 miles per hour, falling to just over 90 mph last season. Buchholz has not thrown a slider since 2010, instead relying on a four-seam fastball, sinker, change-up, curve and cutter. On the positive side, Buchholz has been lights out in Toronto's home park through his career. According to Sportsnet Stats, his opponents' .286 slugging percentage is the lowest in history among starting pitchers at the Rogers Centre. But there's another field where the sense of anticipation should be the highest: When Buchholz returns to Boston and pitches at Fenway Park. | Clay Buchholz and Bud Norris have agreed to terms with the Toronto Blue Jays. The 34-year-old right-hander is expected to compete for a set-up role with the team. The two-time all-star has lost velocity on all of his pitches from his career highs. | ctrlsum | 2 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/curtisrush/2019/03/01/does-clay-buchholz-have-enough-left-in-tank-to-help-the-toronto-blue-jays/ | 0.104214 |
Is Robotic Process Automation Really A Driver For Digital Transformation? | One of the areas of greatest interest in the technology industry in 2019 is robotic process automation (RPA). This is an industry that is growing at lightning speed. Leading industry analysts believe the market will be worth at least $4.3 billion by 2022. Already in 2018, it was worth $1.7 billion. Companies offering RPA software, such as Blue Prism and UiPath, now have valuations in the billions of dollars. Meanwhile, major software vendors such as SAP have recently announced they will be building their own RPA capabilities and embedding them into their traditional software suites of products. According to research conducted by Deloitte in 2017, 53% of organizations have already started their RPA journeys. The research firm expects this to increase to 72% next year and believes we will achieve near-universal adoption by 2022. However, despite this level of widespread adoption, the study highlights that few organizations have yet been able to scale their RPA initiatives, with the majority having just built pilots or proofs of concept. The vast majority of organizations have implemented less than 50 robots. This is todays challenge for organizations -- how to turn the clear potential of RPA into enterprisewide change. This brings me into the heart of this article, which is to explore to what extent RPA is a driver for digital transformation. I see two sides to this debate: 1. RPA drives process digitalization, which forms the basis of an organizations digital transformation. It provides the perfect opportunity to rethink how an organization has been conducting business and how it can realign to the digital world and deliver better results to customers. This approach is what we typically see in the case studies of RPA -- how organizations first improve, and then digitize core business processes. 2. RPA provides the basis for improving efficiency but doesnt play a fundamental role in an organizations digital transformation. The reason here is that all too often, organizations use it to optimize a particular process as is, and thus it becomes harder to transform and integrate processes in the long run. With automation, the business has the appearance of being a digital organization but is ultimately tied to legacy systems and approaches, thus its digital initiatives are built on an outdated and shaky foundation. I want to take a look at both perspectives in more detail. RPA As The Driver For Digitizing An Enterprises Processes For proponents of RPA, the change it drives in an organization is not just about optimizing processes or becoming more efficient; rather, it is the driver of an organizations digital transformation. While digital transformation is often considered to just be a buzzword, in reality, it gets to the fundamental transformation of an organization -- and this can only be achieved by digitizing and integrating underlying processes. And its here that RPA becomes key. Digitizing these underlying processes using RPA is what can be truly transformational. As HFS analyst Phil Fersht wrote in a widely cited blog post a couple of months ago, "Firms have the chance to make fundamental changes to how they design workflows, instead of persisting with doing things the same old way, but with lower cost people and more efficient delivery models." It's this potential to make transformative changes to business processes that is a core part of the value of RPA and what will be needed for companies to build on its full potential. RPA As The Basis For Efficiency Gains In a digital transformation, the core goal is to change what you are doing and how you are doing it. But in many cases, enterprises that seek to achieve transformation need to bring processes together and get out of the siloed structure that they have been used to. For example, this might include integrating billing systems and processes with the front-end mobile application or creating a complete view of the customer and their interactions with the business -- something that is often the case in large banks, where one part of the bank is unaware of what the other is doing. Creating these new digital experiences that customers want means generating a fundamental transformation. The challenge with RPA is that it is typically used to optimize processes as they are as opposed to improving the integration between different systems. In many cases, as the Harvard Business Review points out, its better to first work on improving the process before trying to automate it. Authors Thomas H. Davenport and David Brain note that for many companies, RPA implementations support the as-is process, with no improvement or examination of the current process steps that are automated. As a result, they may achieve modest savings, but in many cases they will miss out on opportunities to dramatically improve process outcomes, quality, costs, and cycle times. In addition, its worth highlighting that RPA can be set up quickly because it doesn't require coding or complex integration. It doesnt impact the underlying business logic. That doesn't mean it's easy. But it does mean it's quite easy to test and pilot the technology, at least at a small scale. This can mean that organizations will find that various lines of business are all experimenting with their own RPA pilots, with limited input from the CIO or IT department. Again, such initiatives will help drive efficiency initially but have limited scope and lack the full potential that RPA can ultimately provide. Conclusion RPA is an incredibly powerful technology, and its only improving with the advances were currently seeing in artificial intelligence. Thats why there is so much focus on it. However, simply automating a process isnt enough for organizations to achieve success in the digital world. | Robotic process automation (RPA) is an industry that is growing at lightning speed. This article explores what extent RPA is a driver for digital transformation. RPA drives process digitalization, which forms the basis of an organizations digital transformation. | pegasus | 2 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2019/03/01/is-robotic-process-automation-really-a-driver-for-digital-transformation/ | 0.454705 |
Is Washington State About To Okay Public Long-Term Care Insurance? | Washington State may soon approve the nations first publicly-funded long-term care insurance program. The measure, called the Long-Term Care Trust Act, would provide a maximum benefit of $36,500 for people who need assistance with at least three activities of daily living (ADLs) such as bathing, toileting, transferring, dressing, or eating. It would be funded with a payroll tax (or what supporters call a premium) of 0.58 percent of wages starting in 2022. The money would go into a trust fund so it could not be spent on other programs. State residents would be eligible for benefits if they have worked at least part-time over the past 10 years without interruption of five or more consecutive years, or worked three out of the past six years. The state would begin paying benefits in 2025. The state House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed the measure last week. A companion bill is pending in the Democratically-controlled Senate, where no vote has yet been scheduled. Democratic Governor Jay Inslee backs the measure. A similar bill died in the legislature last year after it was opposed by among others, AARP. While this years bill has changed only modestly from the earlier version, AARP now supports it. Universal public insurance For the most part, the state would pay benefits directly to service providers such as certified home care aides, assisted living facilities, adult day centers, or nursing homes. It also would pay qualified family caregivers who take state-mandated training. Universal public long-term care insurance is widely available throughout the developed world. The US, however, finances long-term care mainly only through Medicaid--for those who are impoverished and have limited incomes. Public long-term care insurance models are built on one of two chassis. Catastrophic or back-end coverage would require consumers to pay for their own care for a period of timesay 1 to 3 years--but provide a lifetime benefit after that. Front-end coverage, which Washington is considering, pays benefits once someone meets a functional limitation test but limits support to a fixed amount of time or money. Limitations Similarly, some public programs around the world pay beneficiaries cash to purchase services. Others pay service providers directly, and some allow beneficiaries a choice of benefits. Washington primarily would provide a service benefit. The Washington program would have a number of limitations. The benefit would cover only a fraction of the need of someone who needs a high level of care. It effectively would provide $100-a-day for a year, though the benefit could increase by up to 3 percent annually to reflect inflation. However, a senior with high support needs will spend a lifetime average of $147,000 out-of-pocket on long-term care. In Washington, someone could not receive benefits until they need assistance with three ADLs. Thats more restrictive than private long-term care insurance that generally requires assistance with only two ADLs. First of its kind Also, unlike private long-term care insurance, the program would not cover someone with severe cognitive impairment unless they meet the three ADL test. Finally, its requirement that people work and pay the payroll tax before becoming eligible would exclude older adults who already are retired and younger people with severe disabilities who are unable to work. Still, the Washington program would be the first of its kind in the US. Hawaiis Kupuna Caregivers Program provides a modest voucher that working family caregivers of older adults can use to purchase some supports and services for loved ones living at home. Other states, including Minnesota, are considering their own alternatives. Last year, voters in Maine overwhelmingly rejected a ballot initiative aimed at supporting those who need home care. In Congress, Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ) proposed a public catastrophic long-care insurance program last year. Pallone, who now chairs the House Energy and Commerce Committee, is in a strong position to push his measure, However, it appears to be taking a back seat to broader health insurance and drug pricing issues. Increasingly, state and federal policymakers are aware of the need for a public program to help families cope with the huge expense of long-term care. The roadblock: The unwillingness of lawmakers and voters to raise taxes to pay for a public program. Now, Washington State may be about to take the leap. We are about to learn whether the publiceven in a blue state-- will support a tax hike to finance modest long-term supports and services. And if the plan becomes law we will gather valuable evidence about how a Washington-like front-end model works. | Washington State may soon approve the nation's first publicly-funded long-term care insurance program. | ctrlsum | 0 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/howardgleckman/2019/03/01/is-washington-state-about-to-ok-public-long-term-care-insurance/ | 0.416847 |
Is Washington State About To Okay Public Long-Term Care Insurance? | Washington State may soon approve the nations first publicly-funded long-term care insurance program. The measure, called the Long-Term Care Trust Act, would provide a maximum benefit of $36,500 for people who need assistance with at least three activities of daily living (ADLs) such as bathing, toileting, transferring, dressing, or eating. It would be funded with a payroll tax (or what supporters call a premium) of 0.58 percent of wages starting in 2022. The money would go into a trust fund so it could not be spent on other programs. State residents would be eligible for benefits if they have worked at least part-time over the past 10 years without interruption of five or more consecutive years, or worked three out of the past six years. The state would begin paying benefits in 2025. The state House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed the measure last week. A companion bill is pending in the Democratically-controlled Senate, where no vote has yet been scheduled. Democratic Governor Jay Inslee backs the measure. A similar bill died in the legislature last year after it was opposed by among others, AARP. While this years bill has changed only modestly from the earlier version, AARP now supports it. Universal public insurance For the most part, the state would pay benefits directly to service providers such as certified home care aides, assisted living facilities, adult day centers, or nursing homes. It also would pay qualified family caregivers who take state-mandated training. Universal public long-term care insurance is widely available throughout the developed world. The US, however, finances long-term care mainly only through Medicaid--for those who are impoverished and have limited incomes. Public long-term care insurance models are built on one of two chassis. Catastrophic or back-end coverage would require consumers to pay for their own care for a period of timesay 1 to 3 years--but provide a lifetime benefit after that. Front-end coverage, which Washington is considering, pays benefits once someone meets a functional limitation test but limits support to a fixed amount of time or money. Limitations Similarly, some public programs around the world pay beneficiaries cash to purchase services. Others pay service providers directly, and some allow beneficiaries a choice of benefits. Washington primarily would provide a service benefit. The Washington program would have a number of limitations. The benefit would cover only a fraction of the need of someone who needs a high level of care. It effectively would provide $100-a-day for a year, though the benefit could increase by up to 3 percent annually to reflect inflation. However, a senior with high support needs will spend a lifetime average of $147,000 out-of-pocket on long-term care. In Washington, someone could not receive benefits until they need assistance with three ADLs. Thats more restrictive than private long-term care insurance that generally requires assistance with only two ADLs. First of its kind Also, unlike private long-term care insurance, the program would not cover someone with severe cognitive impairment unless they meet the three ADL test. Finally, its requirement that people work and pay the payroll tax before becoming eligible would exclude older adults who already are retired and younger people with severe disabilities who are unable to work. Still, the Washington program would be the first of its kind in the US. Hawaiis Kupuna Caregivers Program provides a modest voucher that working family caregivers of older adults can use to purchase some supports and services for loved ones living at home. Other states, including Minnesota, are considering their own alternatives. Last year, voters in Maine overwhelmingly rejected a ballot initiative aimed at supporting those who need home care. In Congress, Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ) proposed a public catastrophic long-care insurance program last year. Pallone, who now chairs the House Energy and Commerce Committee, is in a strong position to push his measure, However, it appears to be taking a back seat to broader health insurance and drug pricing issues. Increasingly, state and federal policymakers are aware of the need for a public program to help families cope with the huge expense of long-term care. The roadblock: The unwillingness of lawmakers and voters to raise taxes to pay for a public program. Now, Washington State may be about to take the leap. We are about to learn whether the publiceven in a blue state-- will support a tax hike to finance modest long-term supports and services. And if the plan becomes law we will gather valuable evidence about how a Washington-like front-end model works. | Washington State may soon approve the nation's first publicly-funded long-term care insurance program. The state House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed the measure last week, and a companion bill is pending in the Democratically-controlled Senate. | ctrlsum | 1 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/howardgleckman/2019/03/01/is-washington-state-about-to-ok-public-long-term-care-insurance/ | 0.409727 |
Is Washington State About To Okay Public Long-Term Care Insurance? | Washington State may soon approve the nations first publicly-funded long-term care insurance program. The measure, called the Long-Term Care Trust Act, would provide a maximum benefit of $36,500 for people who need assistance with at least three activities of daily living (ADLs) such as bathing, toileting, transferring, dressing, or eating. It would be funded with a payroll tax (or what supporters call a premium) of 0.58 percent of wages starting in 2022. The money would go into a trust fund so it could not be spent on other programs. State residents would be eligible for benefits if they have worked at least part-time over the past 10 years without interruption of five or more consecutive years, or worked three out of the past six years. The state would begin paying benefits in 2025. The state House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed the measure last week. A companion bill is pending in the Democratically-controlled Senate, where no vote has yet been scheduled. Democratic Governor Jay Inslee backs the measure. A similar bill died in the legislature last year after it was opposed by among others, AARP. While this years bill has changed only modestly from the earlier version, AARP now supports it. Universal public insurance For the most part, the state would pay benefits directly to service providers such as certified home care aides, assisted living facilities, adult day centers, or nursing homes. It also would pay qualified family caregivers who take state-mandated training. Universal public long-term care insurance is widely available throughout the developed world. The US, however, finances long-term care mainly only through Medicaid--for those who are impoverished and have limited incomes. Public long-term care insurance models are built on one of two chassis. Catastrophic or back-end coverage would require consumers to pay for their own care for a period of timesay 1 to 3 years--but provide a lifetime benefit after that. Front-end coverage, which Washington is considering, pays benefits once someone meets a functional limitation test but limits support to a fixed amount of time or money. Limitations Similarly, some public programs around the world pay beneficiaries cash to purchase services. Others pay service providers directly, and some allow beneficiaries a choice of benefits. Washington primarily would provide a service benefit. The Washington program would have a number of limitations. The benefit would cover only a fraction of the need of someone who needs a high level of care. It effectively would provide $100-a-day for a year, though the benefit could increase by up to 3 percent annually to reflect inflation. However, a senior with high support needs will spend a lifetime average of $147,000 out-of-pocket on long-term care. In Washington, someone could not receive benefits until they need assistance with three ADLs. Thats more restrictive than private long-term care insurance that generally requires assistance with only two ADLs. First of its kind Also, unlike private long-term care insurance, the program would not cover someone with severe cognitive impairment unless they meet the three ADL test. Finally, its requirement that people work and pay the payroll tax before becoming eligible would exclude older adults who already are retired and younger people with severe disabilities who are unable to work. Still, the Washington program would be the first of its kind in the US. Hawaiis Kupuna Caregivers Program provides a modest voucher that working family caregivers of older adults can use to purchase some supports and services for loved ones living at home. Other states, including Minnesota, are considering their own alternatives. Last year, voters in Maine overwhelmingly rejected a ballot initiative aimed at supporting those who need home care. In Congress, Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ) proposed a public catastrophic long-care insurance program last year. Pallone, who now chairs the House Energy and Commerce Committee, is in a strong position to push his measure, However, it appears to be taking a back seat to broader health insurance and drug pricing issues. Increasingly, state and federal policymakers are aware of the need for a public program to help families cope with the huge expense of long-term care. The roadblock: The unwillingness of lawmakers and voters to raise taxes to pay for a public program. Now, Washington State may be about to take the leap. We are about to learn whether the publiceven in a blue state-- will support a tax hike to finance modest long-term supports and services. And if the plan becomes law we will gather valuable evidence about how a Washington-like front-end model works. | Washington State may soon approve the nations first publicly-funded long-term care insurance program. The measure would provide a maximum benefit of $36,500 for people who need assistance with at least three activities of daily living. It would be funded with a payroll tax of 0.58 percent of wages starting in 2022. | bart | 2 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/howardgleckman/2019/03/01/is-washington-state-about-to-ok-public-long-term-care-insurance/ | 0.544813 |
Are Congressional hearings useless? | By Cait Bladt Congress has been on a run of high drama hearings. From the emotional testimony during the Brett Kavanaugh confirmation hearing to Matthew Whitakers unrelenting sass in front of the House Judiciary Committee, congressional hearings have been must-watch events. However, despite all the pomp, these hearings rarely affect any real change. Kavanaugh was eventually confirmed. Whitaker was replaced. Michael Cohen is still going to prison. Donald Trump is still president. In 2016, Washington Post assistant editor Robert Gebelhoff argued in favor of continuing to have congressional hearings. Gebelhoff acknowledged they are frequently just opportunities for politicians to grandstand, but they're still one of the few venues that have the power to shape public opinion. This is a fascinating power that lawmakers have: Despite all the talk about people hating Congress and dismissing it as broken and gridlocked, it still retains enough respect to levy mass shame. We still eagerly denounced Pharma bro Martin Shkreli as he made faces and repetitively pleaded the Fifth before the House Oversight Committee. We dont watch these events for new information; rather, theyre a form of political theater. Congressional hearings or at least, those that get media attention or make an appearance in our Facebook feeds are no longer seen as tools to develop legislation. They are political tools to influence public opinion. During the Cohen hearings in front of the House Oversight Committee, many reporters were shocked at the information that was gleaned when lawmakers stopped putting on a show and started asking straightforward questions. How about that: Republican Rep. Justin Amash (Mich.) is actually asking Cohen about the substance of his allegations and trying to get information out of him! Aaron Blake (@AaronBlake) February 27, 2019 The Cohen hearings were not, however, without their share of over-the-top stunts. Imagine someone thinking this was a good idea. pic.twitter.com/1NdHoURxO8 Allana (@AllanaHarkin) February 27, 2019 Five key takeaways from the Michael Cohen hearing Michael Cohen's date with the House Oversight Committee began with a big bang. His opening statement contained most of the day's major revelations. One of the most shallow and ridiculous moments in the recent history of congressional hearings came during the Kavanaugh hearing. The Washington Post reports Sen. Cory Booker took it upon himself to make a grand statement in front of the gathered public. A grand statement that was ultimately completely empty. Lest the immensity of the moment be lost on spectators, Booker sprang for the enduring image: This is about the closest Ill probably ever have in my life to an I am Spartacus moment, he said with a straight face. He was referring to the 1960 movie Spartacus, about a failed slave revolt led by the title character (Kirk Douglas) against the Roman Republic. When the rulers warned that all the slaves would be crucified unless Spartacus identified himself, he stood up. Then all the other slaves did the same, saying, I am Spartacus. Alas, the Kavanaugh documents technically were not confidential, having been released the night before by Bill Burck, the George W. Bush attorney charged with reviewing Kavanaughs records from his time as a lawyer in the White House. The documents also did not support Bookers claim about profiling. But truth is no lingerer in the repositories of Bookers revelations. On the flip side, much of Cohens testimony proved insightful and interesting. The New York Times reports while he may not have a wealth of knowledge on the Trump administrations ties with Russia, Cohen did offer a great deal of insight on the organizations financial workings. Mr. Cohens testimony did not provide conclusive proof that incriminates the president on possible collusion with Russia. On another matter, though one that is the province of federal prosecutors in New York and not that of the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III Mr. Cohens testimony and documents could prove far more damaging. Mr. Cohen said the president had firsthand knowledge of the payment made to Ms. Daniels, just before Election Day in 2016, that were part of an effort to silence her from talking about a sexual encounter she said she had with Mr. Trump. Acting at the presidents direction, he said he procured a home-equity loan to pay Ms. Daniels $130,000. But Mr. Cohen also gave the committee documentary evidence: a copy of a check dated Aug. 1, 2017, for $35,000 from Mr. Trumps personal bank account that bore Mr. Trumps signature. Mr. Cohen said the check was one of 11 installments that the president made to reimburse him. Wild hearing. We probably wont remember any of it in 2 weeks. Igor Bobic (@igorbobic) February 27, 2019 The Tylt is focused on debates and conversations around news, current events and pop culture. We provide our community with the opportunity to share their opinions and vote on topics that matter most to them. We actively engage the community and present meaningful data on the debates and conversations as they progress. The Tylt is a place where your opinion counts, literally. The Tylt is an Advance Local Media, LLC property. Join us on Twitter @TheTylt, on Instagram @TheTylt or on Facebook, wed love to hear what you have to say. | Despite all the pomp, congressional hearings rarely affect any real change. | pegasus | 0 | https://www.nola.com/tylt/2019/02/are-congressional-hearings-useless.html | 0.1705 |
Are Congressional hearings useless? | By Cait Bladt Congress has been on a run of high drama hearings. From the emotional testimony during the Brett Kavanaugh confirmation hearing to Matthew Whitakers unrelenting sass in front of the House Judiciary Committee, congressional hearings have been must-watch events. However, despite all the pomp, these hearings rarely affect any real change. Kavanaugh was eventually confirmed. Whitaker was replaced. Michael Cohen is still going to prison. Donald Trump is still president. In 2016, Washington Post assistant editor Robert Gebelhoff argued in favor of continuing to have congressional hearings. Gebelhoff acknowledged they are frequently just opportunities for politicians to grandstand, but they're still one of the few venues that have the power to shape public opinion. This is a fascinating power that lawmakers have: Despite all the talk about people hating Congress and dismissing it as broken and gridlocked, it still retains enough respect to levy mass shame. We still eagerly denounced Pharma bro Martin Shkreli as he made faces and repetitively pleaded the Fifth before the House Oversight Committee. We dont watch these events for new information; rather, theyre a form of political theater. Congressional hearings or at least, those that get media attention or make an appearance in our Facebook feeds are no longer seen as tools to develop legislation. They are political tools to influence public opinion. During the Cohen hearings in front of the House Oversight Committee, many reporters were shocked at the information that was gleaned when lawmakers stopped putting on a show and started asking straightforward questions. How about that: Republican Rep. Justin Amash (Mich.) is actually asking Cohen about the substance of his allegations and trying to get information out of him! Aaron Blake (@AaronBlake) February 27, 2019 The Cohen hearings were not, however, without their share of over-the-top stunts. Imagine someone thinking this was a good idea. pic.twitter.com/1NdHoURxO8 Allana (@AllanaHarkin) February 27, 2019 Five key takeaways from the Michael Cohen hearing Michael Cohen's date with the House Oversight Committee began with a big bang. His opening statement contained most of the day's major revelations. One of the most shallow and ridiculous moments in the recent history of congressional hearings came during the Kavanaugh hearing. The Washington Post reports Sen. Cory Booker took it upon himself to make a grand statement in front of the gathered public. A grand statement that was ultimately completely empty. Lest the immensity of the moment be lost on spectators, Booker sprang for the enduring image: This is about the closest Ill probably ever have in my life to an I am Spartacus moment, he said with a straight face. He was referring to the 1960 movie Spartacus, about a failed slave revolt led by the title character (Kirk Douglas) against the Roman Republic. When the rulers warned that all the slaves would be crucified unless Spartacus identified himself, he stood up. Then all the other slaves did the same, saying, I am Spartacus. Alas, the Kavanaugh documents technically were not confidential, having been released the night before by Bill Burck, the George W. Bush attorney charged with reviewing Kavanaughs records from his time as a lawyer in the White House. The documents also did not support Bookers claim about profiling. But truth is no lingerer in the repositories of Bookers revelations. On the flip side, much of Cohens testimony proved insightful and interesting. The New York Times reports while he may not have a wealth of knowledge on the Trump administrations ties with Russia, Cohen did offer a great deal of insight on the organizations financial workings. Mr. Cohens testimony did not provide conclusive proof that incriminates the president on possible collusion with Russia. On another matter, though one that is the province of federal prosecutors in New York and not that of the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III Mr. Cohens testimony and documents could prove far more damaging. Mr. Cohen said the president had firsthand knowledge of the payment made to Ms. Daniels, just before Election Day in 2016, that were part of an effort to silence her from talking about a sexual encounter she said she had with Mr. Trump. Acting at the presidents direction, he said he procured a home-equity loan to pay Ms. Daniels $130,000. But Mr. Cohen also gave the committee documentary evidence: a copy of a check dated Aug. 1, 2017, for $35,000 from Mr. Trumps personal bank account that bore Mr. Trumps signature. Mr. Cohen said the check was one of 11 installments that the president made to reimburse him. Wild hearing. We probably wont remember any of it in 2 weeks. Igor Bobic (@igorbobic) February 27, 2019 The Tylt is focused on debates and conversations around news, current events and pop culture. We provide our community with the opportunity to share their opinions and vote on topics that matter most to them. We actively engage the community and present meaningful data on the debates and conversations as they progress. The Tylt is a place where your opinion counts, literally. The Tylt is an Advance Local Media, LLC property. Join us on Twitter @TheTylt, on Instagram @TheTylt or on Facebook, wed love to hear what you have to say. | Despite all the pomp, congressional hearings rarely affect any real change. We dont watch these events for new information; rather, theyre a form of political theater. | pegasus | 1 | https://www.nola.com/tylt/2019/02/are-congressional-hearings-useless.html | 0.232332 |
Are Congressional hearings useless? | By Cait Bladt Congress has been on a run of high drama hearings. From the emotional testimony during the Brett Kavanaugh confirmation hearing to Matthew Whitakers unrelenting sass in front of the House Judiciary Committee, congressional hearings have been must-watch events. However, despite all the pomp, these hearings rarely affect any real change. Kavanaugh was eventually confirmed. Whitaker was replaced. Michael Cohen is still going to prison. Donald Trump is still president. In 2016, Washington Post assistant editor Robert Gebelhoff argued in favor of continuing to have congressional hearings. Gebelhoff acknowledged they are frequently just opportunities for politicians to grandstand, but they're still one of the few venues that have the power to shape public opinion. This is a fascinating power that lawmakers have: Despite all the talk about people hating Congress and dismissing it as broken and gridlocked, it still retains enough respect to levy mass shame. We still eagerly denounced Pharma bro Martin Shkreli as he made faces and repetitively pleaded the Fifth before the House Oversight Committee. We dont watch these events for new information; rather, theyre a form of political theater. Congressional hearings or at least, those that get media attention or make an appearance in our Facebook feeds are no longer seen as tools to develop legislation. They are political tools to influence public opinion. During the Cohen hearings in front of the House Oversight Committee, many reporters were shocked at the information that was gleaned when lawmakers stopped putting on a show and started asking straightforward questions. How about that: Republican Rep. Justin Amash (Mich.) is actually asking Cohen about the substance of his allegations and trying to get information out of him! Aaron Blake (@AaronBlake) February 27, 2019 The Cohen hearings were not, however, without their share of over-the-top stunts. Imagine someone thinking this was a good idea. pic.twitter.com/1NdHoURxO8 Allana (@AllanaHarkin) February 27, 2019 Five key takeaways from the Michael Cohen hearing Michael Cohen's date with the House Oversight Committee began with a big bang. His opening statement contained most of the day's major revelations. One of the most shallow and ridiculous moments in the recent history of congressional hearings came during the Kavanaugh hearing. The Washington Post reports Sen. Cory Booker took it upon himself to make a grand statement in front of the gathered public. A grand statement that was ultimately completely empty. Lest the immensity of the moment be lost on spectators, Booker sprang for the enduring image: This is about the closest Ill probably ever have in my life to an I am Spartacus moment, he said with a straight face. He was referring to the 1960 movie Spartacus, about a failed slave revolt led by the title character (Kirk Douglas) against the Roman Republic. When the rulers warned that all the slaves would be crucified unless Spartacus identified himself, he stood up. Then all the other slaves did the same, saying, I am Spartacus. Alas, the Kavanaugh documents technically were not confidential, having been released the night before by Bill Burck, the George W. Bush attorney charged with reviewing Kavanaughs records from his time as a lawyer in the White House. The documents also did not support Bookers claim about profiling. But truth is no lingerer in the repositories of Bookers revelations. On the flip side, much of Cohens testimony proved insightful and interesting. The New York Times reports while he may not have a wealth of knowledge on the Trump administrations ties with Russia, Cohen did offer a great deal of insight on the organizations financial workings. Mr. Cohens testimony did not provide conclusive proof that incriminates the president on possible collusion with Russia. On another matter, though one that is the province of federal prosecutors in New York and not that of the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III Mr. Cohens testimony and documents could prove far more damaging. Mr. Cohen said the president had firsthand knowledge of the payment made to Ms. Daniels, just before Election Day in 2016, that were part of an effort to silence her from talking about a sexual encounter she said she had with Mr. Trump. Acting at the presidents direction, he said he procured a home-equity loan to pay Ms. Daniels $130,000. But Mr. Cohen also gave the committee documentary evidence: a copy of a check dated Aug. 1, 2017, for $35,000 from Mr. Trumps personal bank account that bore Mr. Trumps signature. Mr. Cohen said the check was one of 11 installments that the president made to reimburse him. Wild hearing. We probably wont remember any of it in 2 weeks. Igor Bobic (@igorbobic) February 27, 2019 The Tylt is focused on debates and conversations around news, current events and pop culture. We provide our community with the opportunity to share their opinions and vote on topics that matter most to them. We actively engage the community and present meaningful data on the debates and conversations as they progress. The Tylt is a place where your opinion counts, literally. The Tylt is an Advance Local Media, LLC property. Join us on Twitter @TheTylt, on Instagram @TheTylt or on Facebook, wed love to hear what you have to say. | Despite all the pomp, congressional hearings rarely affect any real change. We dont watch these events for new information; rather, theyre a form of political theater. One of the most shallow and ridiculous moments in the recent history of congressional hearings came during the Kavanaugh hearing. | pegasus | 2 | https://www.nola.com/tylt/2019/02/are-congressional-hearings-useless.html | 0.279428 |
How Did Best Buy Fare In Q4, And What Can We Expect In Fiscal 2020? | Best Buy announced solid fourth quarter results recently, as both its revenue and earnings per share came in ahead of market expectations. In Q4, Best Buys comparable sales were up 3% during the quarter, which topped the consensus estimates of 1.8%. The retailers online sales grew 9.3% on a comparable basis, primarily due to higher conversion and increased traffic. However, the companys revenue declined 4% year-over-year (y-o-y) to around $14.8 billion, largely driven by the lapping of the prior years extra week and the loss of revenue from 257 Best Buy Mobile and 12 large format store closures in the past year. The company benefited from stronger consumer demand across the gaming and wearables categories, partially offset by lower than expected sales in mobile phones. Best Buy also reported non-GAAP EPS of $2.72 for the quarter, up 12% y-o-y, primarily driven by a lower effective tax rate and higher operating income. Our $73 price estimate for Best Buys stock is almost 10% ahead of the current market price. We have created an interactive dashboard on How Did Best Buy Fare In Q4, And What Can We Expect In Fiscal 2020?, which outlines our forecasts for the company. You can modify our forecasts to see the impact any changes would have on the companys earnings and valuation, and see all Trefis Consumer Discretionary company data here. Best Buy is executing on its strategy to cut costs, optimize square footage, grow online sales and stabilize its revenues. As a result, the companys fourth quarter marked its fifth consecutive comps and EPS beat. Going forward, Best Buy expects its top line to range between $9.05 billion and $9.15 billion in the fiscal first quarter. In addition, the retailer also expects non-GAAP EPS of $0.83 to $0.88. Further, Best Buy expects its enterprise comparable sales growth of flat to 1%. Fiscal 2020 Outlook For full-year fiscal 2020, Best Buy expects revenues of $42.9 billion to $43.9 billion. The retailer is also calling for same-store sales to climb as much as 0.5% to 2.5%. Best Buys gross profit margin is expected to remain flat relative to fiscal 2019, as continued investments in supply chain and higher transportation costs could be offset by the higher marginal rate of GreatCall. Further, the retailers SG&A expenses are expected to grow in low-single-digits, driven by continued investments in technology and wages. The retailers investments in specialty labor, supply chain and increased depreciation related to strategic capital investments, as well as ongoing pressures in the business, will be partially offset by a combination of returns from new initiatives and ongoing cost reductions and efficiencies. | Best Buy announced solid fourth quarter results recently, as both its revenue and earnings per share came in ahead of market expectations. | bart | 0 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2019/03/01/how-did-best-buy-fare-in-q4-and-what-can-we-expect-in-fiscal-2020/ | 0.279314 |
How Did Best Buy Fare In Q4, And What Can We Expect In Fiscal 2020? | Best Buy announced solid fourth quarter results recently, as both its revenue and earnings per share came in ahead of market expectations. In Q4, Best Buys comparable sales were up 3% during the quarter, which topped the consensus estimates of 1.8%. The retailers online sales grew 9.3% on a comparable basis, primarily due to higher conversion and increased traffic. However, the companys revenue declined 4% year-over-year (y-o-y) to around $14.8 billion, largely driven by the lapping of the prior years extra week and the loss of revenue from 257 Best Buy Mobile and 12 large format store closures in the past year. The company benefited from stronger consumer demand across the gaming and wearables categories, partially offset by lower than expected sales in mobile phones. Best Buy also reported non-GAAP EPS of $2.72 for the quarter, up 12% y-o-y, primarily driven by a lower effective tax rate and higher operating income. Our $73 price estimate for Best Buys stock is almost 10% ahead of the current market price. We have created an interactive dashboard on How Did Best Buy Fare In Q4, And What Can We Expect In Fiscal 2020?, which outlines our forecasts for the company. You can modify our forecasts to see the impact any changes would have on the companys earnings and valuation, and see all Trefis Consumer Discretionary company data here. Best Buy is executing on its strategy to cut costs, optimize square footage, grow online sales and stabilize its revenues. As a result, the companys fourth quarter marked its fifth consecutive comps and EPS beat. Going forward, Best Buy expects its top line to range between $9.05 billion and $9.15 billion in the fiscal first quarter. In addition, the retailer also expects non-GAAP EPS of $0.83 to $0.88. Further, Best Buy expects its enterprise comparable sales growth of flat to 1%. Fiscal 2020 Outlook For full-year fiscal 2020, Best Buy expects revenues of $42.9 billion to $43.9 billion. The retailer is also calling for same-store sales to climb as much as 0.5% to 2.5%. Best Buys gross profit margin is expected to remain flat relative to fiscal 2019, as continued investments in supply chain and higher transportation costs could be offset by the higher marginal rate of GreatCall. Further, the retailers SG&A expenses are expected to grow in low-single-digits, driven by continued investments in technology and wages. The retailers investments in specialty labor, supply chain and increased depreciation related to strategic capital investments, as well as ongoing pressures in the business, will be partially offset by a combination of returns from new initiatives and ongoing cost reductions and efficiencies. | Best Buy announced solid fourth quarter results recently, as both its revenue and earnings per share came in ahead of market expectations. Best Buy is executing on its strategy to cut costs, optimize square footage, grow online sales and stabilize its revenues. Our $73 price estimate for Best Buys stock is almost 10% ahead of the current market price. | bart | 2 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2019/03/01/how-did-best-buy-fare-in-q4-and-what-can-we-expect-in-fiscal-2020/ | 0.494322 |
Why dont we ever hear the details of how white people evolve on racial issues? | A larger truth suggested but ignored in Green Book is that racism has distorted the outlook and behavior of whites not just in the South, but in the whole nation as well. Whites are not heroes or villains so much as they are the beneficiaries of an oppressive system created by fellow whites. The degree to which they acquiesce to that system, whether in 1962 or now, is the great untold story of the color line that rarely is examined. True, we dont have a lot of models for such a story; America never really integrated, which means white people can often remain oblivious to racial divisions. They have few reasons to grapple with their own racial attitudes, to disassemble them and see where they fall on the spectrum. How alarming it would be to discover that even if youre not a bona fide racist, your incremental evolution still leaves plenty of room for racist behavior a far more common state, I suspect, than being either villain or hero. | Racism has distorted the outlook and behavior of whites not just in the South, but in the whole nation as well. Whites are not heroes or villains so much as they are the beneficiaries of an oppressive system created by fellow whites. | pegasus | 1 | https://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-kaplan-race-green-book-20190301-story.html | 0.140791 |
Why dont we ever hear the details of how white people evolve on racial issues? | A larger truth suggested but ignored in Green Book is that racism has distorted the outlook and behavior of whites not just in the South, but in the whole nation as well. Whites are not heroes or villains so much as they are the beneficiaries of an oppressive system created by fellow whites. The degree to which they acquiesce to that system, whether in 1962 or now, is the great untold story of the color line that rarely is examined. True, we dont have a lot of models for such a story; America never really integrated, which means white people can often remain oblivious to racial divisions. They have few reasons to grapple with their own racial attitudes, to disassemble them and see where they fall on the spectrum. How alarming it would be to discover that even if youre not a bona fide racist, your incremental evolution still leaves plenty of room for racist behavior a far more common state, I suspect, than being either villain or hero. | A larger truth suggested but ignored in Green Book is that racism has distorted the outlook and behavior of whites. Whites are not heroes or villains so much as they are the beneficiaries of an oppressive system created by fellow whites. The degree to which they acquiesce to that system is the great untold story of the color line. | bart | 2 | https://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-kaplan-race-green-book-20190301-story.html | 0.162513 |
What now for Karl Lagerfelds beloved cat Choupette? | Shes got the whole world in her paws. After the death last week of Karl Lagerfeld the restless German couturier who dominated fashion for decades and made Chanel a powerhouse my thoughts, like many, immediately turned to his fabulous white Birman kitty. ,Images of a feline answer to a post-Ren Celine Dion rushed to my head. Karl Lagerfeld is seen standing in front of an image of Choupette, his cat, taken from his photo calendar Corsa Karl and Choupette in Berlin, Germany in 2015. For the calendar, the late designer took photos of his cat Choupette in and beside an Opel car. ( picture alliance / picture alliance via Getty Images ) All of this was buttressed, furthermore, by reports that she would be inheriting a good chunk of her masters fortune (really!). Naturally, my memory also turned to the time Choupette probably the most famous cat to ever visit Canada arrived with the designer in Toronto, back in 2015. Not since Paris Hiltons dog Tinkerbell in the early aughts has there been a pet of such renown in the culture when Choupette made it here ensconced, as I revealed then, at the Four Seasons on Bay, full-time nanny in tow. And when, during a sit-down with the designer, I asked Lagerfeld about the bank that his model pet was earning a reported three million euros in one year for advertisements ranging from cars to beauty products the designer told me point-blank that Choupette could actually make way more! But she wont do food commercials, he deadpanned. Article Continued Below As the story goes, Choupette came into Lagerfelds life as a matter of pure serendipity, and became a signature part of latter-Lagerfeld lore (replacing the fan he always carried when he was in his fat phase!). It all started when he agreed to cat-sit for a model friend over the Christmas holidays in 2011, but when he returned to Paris two weeks later, Lagerfeld couldnt bear to part with her. And he didnt! I refused to give her back, Lagerfeld told Womens Wear Daily in June 2012. He was in love, the cat now the becoming mirror animal of a famously elusive designer (who beyond all the bon mots was a workaholic loner, after all). Read more: An icon and an iconoclast at the same time: Chanel designer Karl Lagerfeld dies at 85 Canadian fashion players remember Karl Lagerfeld Since then, Choupette has earned the kind of publicity even Kris Jenner might marvel at! An icon on social media, her movements are generously covered in the press we have learned, for instance, that she can do without opera but does enjoy Latin music. A fresh water cocktail, a special blend of five varieties of mineral water. Tossing Lagerfelds pencils off the desk while hes trying to work. Two ladies-in-waiting. A bodyguard. A private medical consultant. Three silver Goyard dishes, from which she ate. Her own iPad. A Dyson dryer. The deets about her kitty charmed life kept coming. First among social-media-friendly celebrity pets and, yes, this includes Jennifer Garners many, many homegrown chickens (one of which she named Hennifer!) Choupette even once inspired both a book, as well as a set of emoticons (emotiKarls, plunging into her many mercurial moods!). Article Continued Below In the continuum of cats and their famous masters, though, Karl would hardly be the first to fall so hard and so fast for a feline. Think: Abraham Lincoln, a first-rate president and emancipator of great renown but also, as it happens, a pretty serious cat buff. Famously, first lady Mary Todd said cats were her husbands only hobby. He took in strays and had several cats in the White House, once even feeding one of his faves Tabby! from underneath the table at a state dinner (a detail that Spielberg sadly missed including in his biopic of the man!). Likewise, Catherine the Great of Russia is said to have had two full-fledged cat colonies in the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg. Her personal pets were elegant Russian Blues, a breed she favoured above all, giving them to ambassadors as gifts for other sovereigns. The basement, on the other hand, was populated with unpedigreed working cats keeping the rodent population at bay. The eminently quotable Mark Twain may well have been one of the craziest cat people of all time. Preferring felines to the company of people, he had up to 19 at one time, and once said If man could be crossed with the cat, it would improve man, but it would deteriorate the cat. Twain was also a champ at giving his whiskered friends names, ranging from Beelzebub and Buffalo Bill to Satan, Sour Mash, Soapy Sal, Pestilence and Bambino. Meow. Though the culture today is rife with stereotypes about cat ladies, it has often been men who have been most partial, as explored in the book Men and Cats: An Illustrated History, showcasing such cat lovers as French writer Jean Cocteau. Similarly, in Artists and their Cats by Alison Nastasi, photographs put the focus on about 50 artist-cat bonds, in particular see: Muppet master Jim Henson and painter Henry Matisse. Researchers have long speculated that creative individuals share common attributes which mirror those of cats, Nastasi points out in the book. One study, examining the personalities of more than 4,000 volunteers who self-identified as cat people or dog people, concluded that the cat people were more neurotic, less agreeable, and more introverted than their canine-fancying counterparts, but also displayed more openness. Discuss! Certainly, in the annals of fashion, no cat has as much fashion cred as Holly Golightlys unnamed companion in Breakfast at Tiffanys, a fluffy orange sweetheart who, like most cats, observes everything around him with a sort of passive disapproval, as Entertainment Weekly once put it. Not until Choupette, of course. She could go quietly into the night living in the lap of luxury to which she is accustomed but somehow I think there is another chapter in her. Ashley Tschudin, creator of the wildly popular Choupettes Diary blog and social accounts that date to 2012, announced this week that Choupette will ultimately come back as a new woman, branding herself outside of being just Karl Lagerfelds pampered puss. Shinan Govani is a freelance columnist based in Toronto covering culture and society. Follow him on Twitter: @shinangovani | The late Karl Lagerfeld's cat Choupette became a signature part of latter-Lagerfeld lore. The Birman cat arrived in Toronto in 2015 and has since earned the kind of publicity even Kris Jenner might marvel at. Choupettes has earned a reported three million euros in one year for advertisements ranging from cars to beauty products. | ctrlsum | 2 | https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/opinion/2019/03/01/what-now-for-karl-lagerfelds-beloved-cat-choupette.html | 0.187947 |
Is it more dangerous to let Islamic State foreign fighters from the West return or prevent them from coming back? | (The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.) Many of the men and women who left their homes in the West to join the Islamic State group or similar terrorist organizations in Syria and Iraq as fighters or supporters now want to come home. Their desire to return has coincided with the defeats suffered by IS in the diminishing territory under its control. The U.S. government argues that countries should take back their foreign fighters and prosecute them rather than allow them to be free to act on the world stage. But other countries are more concerned with the threat of returnees committing domestic terrorism. And, despite its arguments, the U.S. has recently moved to keep at least one American-born ISIS member from returning. Determining which approach makes Western countries safest requires examining the facts about foreign fighters. Inconsistent US stance Only about 250 to 300 Americans are said to have left the country to join the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq. The numbers who left Europe are much greater, 5,000 to 6,000, according to a 2018 report from the Program on Extremism at George Washington University. The United States and its allies recently split over the Trump administrations insistence that other governments bring home their citizens who joined the Islamic State. Syrian rebel groups have detained hundreds of ISIS-affiliated Westerners, but have threatened to release over 3,000 them if the United States withdraws its forces from the region. The Free Syrian Army has already released at least one British foreign fighter, and his whereabouts are now unknown. But American officials have undercut their position by declaring that Hoda Muthana, a young mother who left the United States to join IS, should not be permitted to return either, illustrating the inconsistency of the American approach to this issue. Range of national policies The U.S. was actually the first country in the world to outlaw foreign fighting. Congress passed the initial legislation while George Washington was still president, despite the role of foreign volunteers in the American Revolution. Under U.S. law, individuals can lose their citizenship for joining a foreign army or armed group as an officer, or for joining forces hostile to the United States. However, prosecutions have been rare. American foreign fighters through history have been charged instead with violations that are easier to demonstrate in court than fighting on foreign soil (which would require witnesses and testimony from abroad), such as handling weapons of mass destruction and providing material support for terrorist organizations. Unlike some allies, the U.S. has not attempted to prevent foreign fighters from returning by removing their citizenship. Part of the disagreement between the U.S. and its allies over foreign fighters stems from the fact that every country has different policies concerning such returnees. France and Russia are among the countries in the process of taking some or all of their citizens back to face charges at home. Canada, which has been divided by internal partisan debates, has switched approaches, from stripping citizenship to allowing foreign fighters to return and potentially face criminal charges. But the Canadian public safety minister dismissed the American call to reclaim its citizens as a mere suggestion. The U.K. has passed laws stripping citizenship from individuals who travel to join terror groups. In its own case of a young mother being held by rebels, it has argued that because her father was an immigrant from Bangladesh, she is eligible for citizenship from that country and her U.K. citizenship can be removed. The U.S. has taken this approach in the Muthana case as well. Its argument is that her fathers employment as a foreign diplomat means that she is not a citizen, despite having been born in America. Fears vs. facts One American response to the rise of IS was to push for passage of two United Nations Security Council resolutions that require every country in the world to try to stop their citizens from becoming foreign terrorist fighters and to track and prosecute them. These resolutions are why some countries like Australia are eager to remove their foreign fighters citizenship status: If a foreign fighter can be stripped of citizenship retroactively, it is no longer an obligation for that country to return or prosecute them. National responses have varied and are driven by domestic homeland security politics. Denmark has a successful reintegration program that provides social services to help some returnees deradicalize and disengage. But opponents of this policy mounted challenges and won court rulings ensuring that Denmark can strip citizenship as well. Since relatively few Americans have gone to Syria and only a handful have returned, there has not been a national debate about returnees until the recent Muthana case. Many national responses have been prompted by fear of domestic terrorism. The U.K. relied upon one 2013 study indicating that, in theory, as many as 10 percent of returnees could become terrorists. However, the same researcher found in 2015 that the rate was actually .002 percent, and hundreds of returnees have already been back for years with no sign of terror activity. The local IS network behind the Paris and Brussels attacks included some returnees. But otherwise foreign fighters have not produced a wave of domestic terrorism in the West. My own research indicates that most domestic terror plots by returnees, including successful attacks, occur only within the first few months and that there is no evidence of any long-term threats by returnee sleeper cells. Foreign fighters who have been barred from their home countries have fanned the flames of terrorism and insurgency when left unchecked. Osama bin Laden was the most prominent of hundreds of such militants who created far more havoc than any returnees. And in the social media era, they do not even need to return home to reach domestic audiences. The American government should weigh this evidence carefully as it moves to address the risks of ISIS returnees. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article here: http://theconversation.com/is-it-more-dangerous-to-let-islamic-state-foreign-fighters-from-the-west-return-or-prevent-them-from-coming-back-112588. | U.S. argues that countries should take back their foreign fighters and prosecute them. Other countries are more concerned with the threat of returnees committing domestic terrorism. U.S. has not attempted to prevent foreign fighters from returning by removing their citizenship. | pegasus | 1 | https://www.seattlepi.com/news/article/Is-it-more-dangerous-to-let-Islamic-State-foreign-13654856.php | 0.136525 |
Is it more dangerous to let Islamic State foreign fighters from the West return or prevent them from coming back? | (The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.) Many of the men and women who left their homes in the West to join the Islamic State group or similar terrorist organizations in Syria and Iraq as fighters or supporters now want to come home. Their desire to return has coincided with the defeats suffered by IS in the diminishing territory under its control. The U.S. government argues that countries should take back their foreign fighters and prosecute them rather than allow them to be free to act on the world stage. But other countries are more concerned with the threat of returnees committing domestic terrorism. And, despite its arguments, the U.S. has recently moved to keep at least one American-born ISIS member from returning. Determining which approach makes Western countries safest requires examining the facts about foreign fighters. Inconsistent US stance Only about 250 to 300 Americans are said to have left the country to join the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq. The numbers who left Europe are much greater, 5,000 to 6,000, according to a 2018 report from the Program on Extremism at George Washington University. The United States and its allies recently split over the Trump administrations insistence that other governments bring home their citizens who joined the Islamic State. Syrian rebel groups have detained hundreds of ISIS-affiliated Westerners, but have threatened to release over 3,000 them if the United States withdraws its forces from the region. The Free Syrian Army has already released at least one British foreign fighter, and his whereabouts are now unknown. But American officials have undercut their position by declaring that Hoda Muthana, a young mother who left the United States to join IS, should not be permitted to return either, illustrating the inconsistency of the American approach to this issue. Range of national policies The U.S. was actually the first country in the world to outlaw foreign fighting. Congress passed the initial legislation while George Washington was still president, despite the role of foreign volunteers in the American Revolution. Under U.S. law, individuals can lose their citizenship for joining a foreign army or armed group as an officer, or for joining forces hostile to the United States. However, prosecutions have been rare. American foreign fighters through history have been charged instead with violations that are easier to demonstrate in court than fighting on foreign soil (which would require witnesses and testimony from abroad), such as handling weapons of mass destruction and providing material support for terrorist organizations. Unlike some allies, the U.S. has not attempted to prevent foreign fighters from returning by removing their citizenship. Part of the disagreement between the U.S. and its allies over foreign fighters stems from the fact that every country has different policies concerning such returnees. France and Russia are among the countries in the process of taking some or all of their citizens back to face charges at home. Canada, which has been divided by internal partisan debates, has switched approaches, from stripping citizenship to allowing foreign fighters to return and potentially face criminal charges. But the Canadian public safety minister dismissed the American call to reclaim its citizens as a mere suggestion. The U.K. has passed laws stripping citizenship from individuals who travel to join terror groups. In its own case of a young mother being held by rebels, it has argued that because her father was an immigrant from Bangladesh, she is eligible for citizenship from that country and her U.K. citizenship can be removed. The U.S. has taken this approach in the Muthana case as well. Its argument is that her fathers employment as a foreign diplomat means that she is not a citizen, despite having been born in America. Fears vs. facts One American response to the rise of IS was to push for passage of two United Nations Security Council resolutions that require every country in the world to try to stop their citizens from becoming foreign terrorist fighters and to track and prosecute them. These resolutions are why some countries like Australia are eager to remove their foreign fighters citizenship status: If a foreign fighter can be stripped of citizenship retroactively, it is no longer an obligation for that country to return or prosecute them. National responses have varied and are driven by domestic homeland security politics. Denmark has a successful reintegration program that provides social services to help some returnees deradicalize and disengage. But opponents of this policy mounted challenges and won court rulings ensuring that Denmark can strip citizenship as well. Since relatively few Americans have gone to Syria and only a handful have returned, there has not been a national debate about returnees until the recent Muthana case. Many national responses have been prompted by fear of domestic terrorism. The U.K. relied upon one 2013 study indicating that, in theory, as many as 10 percent of returnees could become terrorists. However, the same researcher found in 2015 that the rate was actually .002 percent, and hundreds of returnees have already been back for years with no sign of terror activity. The local IS network behind the Paris and Brussels attacks included some returnees. But otherwise foreign fighters have not produced a wave of domestic terrorism in the West. My own research indicates that most domestic terror plots by returnees, including successful attacks, occur only within the first few months and that there is no evidence of any long-term threats by returnee sleeper cells. Foreign fighters who have been barred from their home countries have fanned the flames of terrorism and insurgency when left unchecked. Osama bin Laden was the most prominent of hundreds of such militants who created far more havoc than any returnees. And in the social media era, they do not even need to return home to reach domestic audiences. The American government should weigh this evidence carefully as it moves to address the risks of ISIS returnees. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article here: http://theconversation.com/is-it-more-dangerous-to-let-islamic-state-foreign-fighters-from-the-west-return-or-prevent-them-from-coming-back-112588. | Peter Bergen: U.S. has been inconsistent in its approach to foreign fighters from the West. He says other countries are more concerned with the threat of returnees committing domestic terrorism. Bergen says it's difficult to determine which approach makes Western countries safest. The United States has been the first country in the world to outlaw foreign fighting, he says. | ctrlsum | 2 | https://www.seattlepi.com/news/article/Is-it-more-dangerous-to-let-Islamic-State-foreign-13654856.php | 0.116143 |
Do Venezuelans Actually Want U.S. Help? | In every high school and every college in Latin America you learn about these interventions, said Alan McPherson, a Temple University history professor who focuses on U.S. relations with Latin America. They are fresh in the mind of the public whenever theres any intervention of any kind or whenever a politician wants to sort of exploit this public memory. Theres another reason many remember prior interventions so clearly: the effects persist to this day. The 2002 coup attempt against then Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, later found to have been sanctioned by the Bush administration, is still used by Maduro in the present to discredit his opposition, accusing the Trump administration of both assassination and coup attempts. Donald Trump gave the order to kill me, Maduro said in January, told the Colombian government, the Colombian mafia to kill me. If something happens to me, Donald Trump and Colombian President Ivn Duque will be responsible. That troubled legacy of American intervention is most striking in Central America: Around 200,000 people were killed and another 45,000 forcibly disappeared during Guatemalas armed conflict, with more than 90 percent of the genocide estimated to have been committed by the United States-backed military. In El Salvadors dirty war in the 1980s, the UN now believes 85 percent of atrocities were perpetrated by U.S.-supported government forces. In both of these countries, as well as in Honduras, U.S. actions have markedly contributed to the instability migrants are now fleeing when they head to the United States border. The roots of whats going on now in most countries go back to what happened at the end of the Cold War, said Cecilia Menjvar, a UCLA researcher studying Central America and migration. And the interventions were rarely clean and precise, said Menjvar. Rather, they had a ripple effect, each coup and cascade of violence blending into the next, with instability frequently spilling over into other countries. That spillover potential worries Favia Noricta, a 50-year-old Colombian living on the border, a region thats already been eclipsed by the more than three million people leaving their country, nearly half landing in Colombia. We want the exit of Maduro. Only that, he said. An intervention, thats not something we want. It cant happen because many people will die. More dead, more misery. But that isnt to say those in the region object to the humanitarian aid. With skyrocketing hyperinflation, its near impossible at present to get basic food or medicine in Venezuela. Violent clashes have spurted up country-wide and millions have fled. So while Maduro and some foreign figures have accused U.S. humanitarian aid of being a deliberate provocation and pretext for intervention, those on the ground dont necessarily agree. People say its like that, but, honestly, we believe its a help, said Jordes Sira, a 39-year-old Venezuelan who traveled to the border to help pass the aid across the border. Its help and were the ones who have to live through whats happening. And to some, the situation is desperate enough to outweigh the serious risks that come with U.S. involvement. Carlos Cangroiz, a Venezuelan migrant who fled to Colombia in October with his wife and children, told me he wants other countries to intervene in Venezuela. It would be a chance to end the starvation and shortages, the hyperinflation, and state violence his country has suffered from for years. I left the country for the situation were living through, he said. Where we dont have medicine, where we dont have food, where our relatives are dying for lack of nutrition or health. Cangroiz isnt under any illusions about what intervention would involve. I have always said Venezuela is going to see blood, Cangroiz said. In Venezuela, its already beginning because he doesnt want to let go of his power. And the guard continues to defend Maduro. The guard continues to defend this man. | The legacy of U.S. intervention in Latin America is still fresh in the public's memory. Some Venezuelans see the aid as a help, while others see it as a provocation. | ctrlsum | 1 | https://newrepublic.com/article/153194/venezuelans-actually-want-us-help | 0.264732 |
Do Venezuelans Actually Want U.S. Help? | In every high school and every college in Latin America you learn about these interventions, said Alan McPherson, a Temple University history professor who focuses on U.S. relations with Latin America. They are fresh in the mind of the public whenever theres any intervention of any kind or whenever a politician wants to sort of exploit this public memory. Theres another reason many remember prior interventions so clearly: the effects persist to this day. The 2002 coup attempt against then Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, later found to have been sanctioned by the Bush administration, is still used by Maduro in the present to discredit his opposition, accusing the Trump administration of both assassination and coup attempts. Donald Trump gave the order to kill me, Maduro said in January, told the Colombian government, the Colombian mafia to kill me. If something happens to me, Donald Trump and Colombian President Ivn Duque will be responsible. That troubled legacy of American intervention is most striking in Central America: Around 200,000 people were killed and another 45,000 forcibly disappeared during Guatemalas armed conflict, with more than 90 percent of the genocide estimated to have been committed by the United States-backed military. In El Salvadors dirty war in the 1980s, the UN now believes 85 percent of atrocities were perpetrated by U.S.-supported government forces. In both of these countries, as well as in Honduras, U.S. actions have markedly contributed to the instability migrants are now fleeing when they head to the United States border. The roots of whats going on now in most countries go back to what happened at the end of the Cold War, said Cecilia Menjvar, a UCLA researcher studying Central America and migration. And the interventions were rarely clean and precise, said Menjvar. Rather, they had a ripple effect, each coup and cascade of violence blending into the next, with instability frequently spilling over into other countries. That spillover potential worries Favia Noricta, a 50-year-old Colombian living on the border, a region thats already been eclipsed by the more than three million people leaving their country, nearly half landing in Colombia. We want the exit of Maduro. Only that, he said. An intervention, thats not something we want. It cant happen because many people will die. More dead, more misery. But that isnt to say those in the region object to the humanitarian aid. With skyrocketing hyperinflation, its near impossible at present to get basic food or medicine in Venezuela. Violent clashes have spurted up country-wide and millions have fled. So while Maduro and some foreign figures have accused U.S. humanitarian aid of being a deliberate provocation and pretext for intervention, those on the ground dont necessarily agree. People say its like that, but, honestly, we believe its a help, said Jordes Sira, a 39-year-old Venezuelan who traveled to the border to help pass the aid across the border. Its help and were the ones who have to live through whats happening. And to some, the situation is desperate enough to outweigh the serious risks that come with U.S. involvement. Carlos Cangroiz, a Venezuelan migrant who fled to Colombia in October with his wife and children, told me he wants other countries to intervene in Venezuela. It would be a chance to end the starvation and shortages, the hyperinflation, and state violence his country has suffered from for years. I left the country for the situation were living through, he said. Where we dont have medicine, where we dont have food, where our relatives are dying for lack of nutrition or health. Cangroiz isnt under any illusions about what intervention would involve. I have always said Venezuela is going to see blood, Cangroiz said. In Venezuela, its already beginning because he doesnt want to let go of his power. And the guard continues to defend Maduro. The guard continues to defend this man. | The legacy of U.S. intervention in Latin America is still fresh in the public's memory. Some Venezuelans see the aid as a help, while others see it as a provocation and pretext for intervention. Some say they want Maduro out of office, but others fear the spillover potential. | ctrlsum | 2 | https://newrepublic.com/article/153194/venezuelans-actually-want-us-help | 0.356843 |
Can Trump Save Netanyahu? | The Israeli prime minister is in dire legal and political peril. His friend in the White House is going to try to bail him out. Aaron David Miller is vice president for new initiatives and a distinguished scholar at the Wilson Center, and the author of The End of Greatness: Why America Cant Have (and Doesnt Want) Another Great President. Asked recently by CNNs Jake Tapper whether the Trump administration had any reaction to Benjamin Netanyahus effort to court the racist party Jewish Power amid his reelection bida divisive move that has earned the Israeli prime minister widespread condemnation in the United StatesSecretary of State Mike Pompeo said: Were not about to get involved in, to interfere in the election of a democracy. Elections campaigns are tough. Well allow the Israeli people to sort this out. Pompeos response was as balanced and reasonable as American as apple pie and baseball. And he might actually have believed it. But you shouldnt. One of the more fantastical myths about the U.S.-Israeli relationship is that they dont intervene in our politics and we dont intervene in theirs. Story Continued Below As we approach what could prove to be momentous Israeli elections on April 9with the prime minister facing, for the first time in a decade, the credible prospect of defeatit would be well to remember the not-so-golden rule of supposed U.S. nonintervention in Israeli elections. Im betting the answer to both questions is yes. From Trumps perspective, helping Bibi fend off his challengers is great politics, especially looking toward 2020. Lets be clear: American presidents have been mucking around in Israeli politics for decades. So if Trump did get involved, he would have plenty of historical company. As a U.S. official working the Arab-Israeli negotiations for more than two decades, I can recall at least three occasions in which American administrations played favorites in order to support their preferred candidates. The first, during George H.W. Bushs presidency, didnt take place in the run-up to an Israeli election but would come to have significant impact on an electoral outcome. Relations between Bush and then-Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir were strained to say the leastlargely over the issue of Israeli settlement activity and Bushs conviction during their first meeting that Shamir had promised that hed stop them, an unlikely commitment given his hard-line views. Shamir was primed to distrust the president, whom he saw as an unsentimental practitioner of realpolitik evincing no special attachment to Israel. Before leaving for Washington for the March 1989 meeting, Foreign Minister Moshe Arens had advised Shamir that Bush would cut your balls off and he wasnt wrong. When the Israelis sought $10 billion in housing loan guarantees to absorb Soviet Jews in 1991, both Bush and Secretary of State James Baker said no, secured congressional support to postpone the issue, and imposed conditions Shamir would not accept. And that stall continued during the 1992 election which pitted Shamir against Bush and Bakers favorite, the moderate ex-general Yitzhak Rabin. Two months after his election, Rabin received the loan guarantees. Bush and Baker wanted Rabin as a partner because they believed he would be more malleable in pursuing a peace deal; and theres little doubt that one of the big reasons Shamir lost was the (correct) perception that hed mismanaged the U.S.-Israeli relationship. The second intervention was more blatant and occurred in the spring of 1996. Shimon Peresthen a caretaker prime minister in the wake of Rabins assassinationfaced a close election against Netanyahu, then a rising star in the Likud Party who was never one of President Bill Clintons favorites (Whos the fucking superpower here? Clinton would vent after their first meeting). Four Hamas bombs in nine days that killed scores of Israelis had dealt a severe blow to both what remained of the peace process and to Peres chances against Netanyahu. So Clinton sought to help Peres. He persuaded Egypts Hosni Mubarak to convene a Summit of the Peace Makers that brought Peres into the same photo-op with Arab leaders. Weeks before the election, Clinton hosted Peres at the White Housean unsubtle move that all but screamed Vote for Shimon. (Clinton all but admitted in a 2018 interview that he worked to help Peres get reelected because it would be good for the peace process.) This time, the U.S. meddling didnt work. Peres ran a bad campaign and Netanyahu, who never forgot Clintons interference, became prime minister. The third intervention came in December 2000. This time, it was driven by Clintons desire to help pro-peace Prime Minister Ehud Barak against Ariel Sharon, another hard-liner, in elections scheduled for February 2001. Shortly before Christmas, the president had laid out his parameters to guide Israeli-Palestinian negotiations on the core issues. And Clinton was prepared to fly to Israel even during a presidential transition to try to broker a historic, eleventh-hour accord between Barak and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. The idea was a true Hail Marynever realistic or well thought-out; in the end, Clinton didnt travel, and Barak would go on to lose to Sharon in the largest political defeat in Israeli history. U.S. meddling failed again. Fast forward to Trump, whose strong preferences are on display. Asked this week for his reaction to the possibility of an imminent Netanyahu indictment, the president made it clear he has his allys back. Netanyahu, the president said, has done a great job as prime minister. Hes tough, smart, strong. I wouldnt underestimate Trumps willingness to jettison Netanyahu in a heartbeat if there were a compelling reason to do so. In fact, given Trumps desire for an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal, his goals might be better served by a new government along the lines of the more centrist Gantz-Lapid coalition squaring off against Bibi. Still, its far from certain that a more centrist government would be more likely to achieve peace. And after all, the peace plan Trumps son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner is shopping in Arab capitals this week was designed with Netanyahu very much in mind. But the road to a conviction for Netanyahu, who is in legal jeopardy over charges of bribery, fraud and breaches of trust, could be months away. Israeli public opinion is fickle and theres no legal requirement for an indicted prime minister to step down until a conviction, Netanyahu is by no means dead. Right now, he probably has an easier path to forming a government than his opponents. And from Trumps point of view, there are reasons to stand by him. Netanyahua charismatic native English speaker who is revered on the American right for his fervent opposition to Barack Obama and his nuclear deal with Iranis all too willing to be a political asset for Trump. And making the Republican Party the champion of Israel, particularly given the divisions among the Democrats, is smart politics. Then theres the personal factor. Trump doubtless identifies with Netanyahus legal predicament, and vice versa; both have used identical language to combat their adversaries: witch hunt, leftist plot and so on. Between now and April 9, were likely to see the Washington chapter of the Reelect Bibi campaign ramp up. Netanyahu will be here for the March meeting of AIPAC, the chief pro-Israel lobbying group, only two weeks before the Israeli elections. A White House meeting is virtually guaranteed. Theres no way to know. But one thing is certain: Another U.S. president is about to try his hand at playing favorites in Israeli politics. | Aaron David Miller: Can Trump save Netanyahu? He says the answer is yes. Miller: U.S. presidents have been mucking around in Israeli politics for decades. | ctrlsum | 1 | https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2019/03/01/donald-trump-benjamin-netanyahu-israel-elections-225512 | 0.197347 |
Can Trump Save Netanyahu? | The Israeli prime minister is in dire legal and political peril. His friend in the White House is going to try to bail him out. Aaron David Miller is vice president for new initiatives and a distinguished scholar at the Wilson Center, and the author of The End of Greatness: Why America Cant Have (and Doesnt Want) Another Great President. Asked recently by CNNs Jake Tapper whether the Trump administration had any reaction to Benjamin Netanyahus effort to court the racist party Jewish Power amid his reelection bida divisive move that has earned the Israeli prime minister widespread condemnation in the United StatesSecretary of State Mike Pompeo said: Were not about to get involved in, to interfere in the election of a democracy. Elections campaigns are tough. Well allow the Israeli people to sort this out. Pompeos response was as balanced and reasonable as American as apple pie and baseball. And he might actually have believed it. But you shouldnt. One of the more fantastical myths about the U.S.-Israeli relationship is that they dont intervene in our politics and we dont intervene in theirs. Story Continued Below As we approach what could prove to be momentous Israeli elections on April 9with the prime minister facing, for the first time in a decade, the credible prospect of defeatit would be well to remember the not-so-golden rule of supposed U.S. nonintervention in Israeli elections. Im betting the answer to both questions is yes. From Trumps perspective, helping Bibi fend off his challengers is great politics, especially looking toward 2020. Lets be clear: American presidents have been mucking around in Israeli politics for decades. So if Trump did get involved, he would have plenty of historical company. As a U.S. official working the Arab-Israeli negotiations for more than two decades, I can recall at least three occasions in which American administrations played favorites in order to support their preferred candidates. The first, during George H.W. Bushs presidency, didnt take place in the run-up to an Israeli election but would come to have significant impact on an electoral outcome. Relations between Bush and then-Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir were strained to say the leastlargely over the issue of Israeli settlement activity and Bushs conviction during their first meeting that Shamir had promised that hed stop them, an unlikely commitment given his hard-line views. Shamir was primed to distrust the president, whom he saw as an unsentimental practitioner of realpolitik evincing no special attachment to Israel. Before leaving for Washington for the March 1989 meeting, Foreign Minister Moshe Arens had advised Shamir that Bush would cut your balls off and he wasnt wrong. When the Israelis sought $10 billion in housing loan guarantees to absorb Soviet Jews in 1991, both Bush and Secretary of State James Baker said no, secured congressional support to postpone the issue, and imposed conditions Shamir would not accept. And that stall continued during the 1992 election which pitted Shamir against Bush and Bakers favorite, the moderate ex-general Yitzhak Rabin. Two months after his election, Rabin received the loan guarantees. Bush and Baker wanted Rabin as a partner because they believed he would be more malleable in pursuing a peace deal; and theres little doubt that one of the big reasons Shamir lost was the (correct) perception that hed mismanaged the U.S.-Israeli relationship. The second intervention was more blatant and occurred in the spring of 1996. Shimon Peresthen a caretaker prime minister in the wake of Rabins assassinationfaced a close election against Netanyahu, then a rising star in the Likud Party who was never one of President Bill Clintons favorites (Whos the fucking superpower here? Clinton would vent after their first meeting). Four Hamas bombs in nine days that killed scores of Israelis had dealt a severe blow to both what remained of the peace process and to Peres chances against Netanyahu. So Clinton sought to help Peres. He persuaded Egypts Hosni Mubarak to convene a Summit of the Peace Makers that brought Peres into the same photo-op with Arab leaders. Weeks before the election, Clinton hosted Peres at the White Housean unsubtle move that all but screamed Vote for Shimon. (Clinton all but admitted in a 2018 interview that he worked to help Peres get reelected because it would be good for the peace process.) This time, the U.S. meddling didnt work. Peres ran a bad campaign and Netanyahu, who never forgot Clintons interference, became prime minister. The third intervention came in December 2000. This time, it was driven by Clintons desire to help pro-peace Prime Minister Ehud Barak against Ariel Sharon, another hard-liner, in elections scheduled for February 2001. Shortly before Christmas, the president had laid out his parameters to guide Israeli-Palestinian negotiations on the core issues. And Clinton was prepared to fly to Israel even during a presidential transition to try to broker a historic, eleventh-hour accord between Barak and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. The idea was a true Hail Marynever realistic or well thought-out; in the end, Clinton didnt travel, and Barak would go on to lose to Sharon in the largest political defeat in Israeli history. U.S. meddling failed again. Fast forward to Trump, whose strong preferences are on display. Asked this week for his reaction to the possibility of an imminent Netanyahu indictment, the president made it clear he has his allys back. Netanyahu, the president said, has done a great job as prime minister. Hes tough, smart, strong. I wouldnt underestimate Trumps willingness to jettison Netanyahu in a heartbeat if there were a compelling reason to do so. In fact, given Trumps desire for an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal, his goals might be better served by a new government along the lines of the more centrist Gantz-Lapid coalition squaring off against Bibi. Still, its far from certain that a more centrist government would be more likely to achieve peace. And after all, the peace plan Trumps son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner is shopping in Arab capitals this week was designed with Netanyahu very much in mind. But the road to a conviction for Netanyahu, who is in legal jeopardy over charges of bribery, fraud and breaches of trust, could be months away. Israeli public opinion is fickle and theres no legal requirement for an indicted prime minister to step down until a conviction, Netanyahu is by no means dead. Right now, he probably has an easier path to forming a government than his opponents. And from Trumps point of view, there are reasons to stand by him. Netanyahua charismatic native English speaker who is revered on the American right for his fervent opposition to Barack Obama and his nuclear deal with Iranis all too willing to be a political asset for Trump. And making the Republican Party the champion of Israel, particularly given the divisions among the Democrats, is smart politics. Then theres the personal factor. Trump doubtless identifies with Netanyahus legal predicament, and vice versa; both have used identical language to combat their adversaries: witch hunt, leftist plot and so on. Between now and April 9, were likely to see the Washington chapter of the Reelect Bibi campaign ramp up. Netanyahu will be here for the March meeting of AIPAC, the chief pro-Israel lobbying group, only two weeks before the Israeli elections. A White House meeting is virtually guaranteed. Theres no way to know. But one thing is certain: Another U.S. president is about to try his hand at playing favorites in Israeli politics. | Aaron David Miller: Can Trump save Netanyahu? He says the answer is yes. Miller: U.S. presidents have been mucking around in Israeli politics for decades. He says if Trump helps Bibi fend off his challengers, it will be great politics for him. | ctrlsum | 2 | https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2019/03/01/donald-trump-benjamin-netanyahu-israel-elections-225512 | 0.304162 |
Who is Jessica Prince, Jody Wilson-Raybould's former chief of staff? | OTTAWA It is a truth universally acknowledged, at least in Ottawa, that a cabinet minister responsible for a tricky file must be in want of a loyal chief of staff. After a handful of prospects went through the revolving doors of her office in her first few years as minister of justice and attorney general, Jody Wilson-Raybould seemed finally to have found such a person in Jessica Prince, whose name is suddenly widely known after her former bosss dramatic testimony at a House of Commons justice committee hearing Wednesday. Wilson-Raybould exhaustively described what she termed a consistent and sustained effort by many people within the government to seek to politically interfere in the exercise of prosecutorial discretion in my role as the attorney general of Canada. And at every turn, there was her chief of staff: an Oxford-educated lawyer who had taken the job last April having joined the ministers office as a policy advisor two years earlier. A longtime Liberal volunteer from Victoria, B.C., she studied political science at McGill before attending law school in the UK. After being called to the bar in Canada she worked for five years on Bay Street first at Thornton Grout Finnigan LLP, which specializes in bankruptcy and commercial law, then at Polley Faith LLP. With that firm she appeared before the Supreme Court of Canada in the landmark medical assistance in dying case in 2015 on behalf of intervenors the Canadian Medical Association a file she would work on for Wilson-Raybould in 2016, after joining the Department of Justice. Working there was like Disneyland for lawyers, Prince quipped in a spring 2018 Q&A with litigator and blogger Erin Cowling, her role at Justice seeing her serve as the departments point person on cannabis legalization and assist with sexual assault law reform. Within months, however, she would become one of the key players at the heart of a national question about the Liberal governments respect for the rule of law itself. By September of last year Wilson-Raybould had made up her mind that engineering firm SNC-Lavalin should not be offered a remediation agreement so it could avoid criminal prosecution on corruption charges. Over the course of the next four months Prince stood by the ministers decision, according to the testimony, and seems to have risked her job to do so. It was often she who bore the brunt of pressure from Prime Minister Justin Trudeaus closest advisors, who demanded a change of course, and relayed to her minister, in writing and in detail, conversations that have now been brought to public light. The two had a necessary closeness, as Wilson-Raybould described it. In January Wilson-Raybould was shuffled out of her role as attorney general after an escalation in what she called veiled threats from Prime Minister Justin Trudeaus proxies. The Conservative Party is asking the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to investigate whether officials including Trudeau, top civil servant Michael Wernick, Trudeaus principal secretary Gerald Butts, who resigned last week, and Trudeaus chief of staff Katie Telford broke the law by provoking fear in the attorney general, an offence in the criminal code. Prince followed Wilson-Raybould into the lower-profile veterans affairs ministry, something she was under no obligation to do, but not before learning from the deputy minister of justice that Trudeau expected a new minister to quickly be ready to discuss SNC-Lavalin. Wilson-Raybould resigned from cabinet earlier this month. Prince is now on leave, having revealed on Twitter last month she was expecting a baby, but remains in her role at Veterans Affairs. She did not respond to a request for an interview. She retains the loyalty of some who stayed and now serve the new justice minister, David Lametti. I think the world of Jess Prince. She was a terrific boss, said director of communications David Taylor. Lisa Raitt, a former Conservative minister, said in an interview Thursday that in Ottawa, the kind of loyalty Prince had to have to follow her minister to a new portfolio is worth its weight in gold. In focusing a line of questioning on Prince during the committee Wednesday, Raitt said she tried to establish that Prince spoke for Wilson-Raybould much the same way that Butts and Telford spoke for Trudeau. Its not enough to defend yourself by saying, I was only talking to staff, its only staff. No, no, no when youre talking to Jessica Prince, youre talking to Jody Wilson-Raybould, period. And people would know that, she said. Adding to the potential pressure Prince couldve felt, chiefs of staff for ministers typically serve at the pleasure of the PMO, Raitt said, and report to the prime ministers chief of staff. Telford or Butts could have said to Prince, Were not going to need your services anymore if you cant convince your minister to do this for us, she said. In the committee, Wilson-Raybould told Raitt she couldnt speak to her former chiefs level of fear, but said Prince, an extraordinary human being and an extraordinary lawyer, had been quite upset after a particular meeting with Butts and Telford in December. According to text messages from Prince Wilson-Raybould read out to the committee, Butts told her chief of staff there is no solution here that does not involve some interference, and Telford told her, we dont want to debate legalities anymore. Much has been made of Wilson-Rayboulds fortitude despite a whisper campaign in Ottawa, after her demotion, about how difficult she had been to work with. There is evidence aplenty that Prince, whose resume is chock-full of awards, scholarships, pro-bono work and public speaking, was not going to be a shrinking violet in the face of external pressure, either. As a young lawyer on Bay Street, Prince had been a rising legal star and a vocal feminist. In an August 2015 article for Canadian Lawyer headlined Call out the bullies, Prince wrote about the sexism and intimidation that young women often face in the legal profession. I resent, she wrote, that so much energy and emphasis is being put on what we can do as the victims of bad behaviour to cope with it, and not on what can be done to stop the behaviour itself. She vowed to do her best to stand up to bullying behaviour in the future. Email: mdsmith@postmedia.com | Twitter: mariedanielles | Jessica Prince is a longtime Liberal volunteer from Victoria, B.C. She studied political science at McGill before attending law school in the UK. | pegasus | 0 | https://nationalpost.com/news/politics/who-is-jessica-prince-jody-wilson-rayboulds-former-chief-of-staff | 0.114652 |
Who is Jessica Prince, Jody Wilson-Raybould's former chief of staff? | OTTAWA It is a truth universally acknowledged, at least in Ottawa, that a cabinet minister responsible for a tricky file must be in want of a loyal chief of staff. After a handful of prospects went through the revolving doors of her office in her first few years as minister of justice and attorney general, Jody Wilson-Raybould seemed finally to have found such a person in Jessica Prince, whose name is suddenly widely known after her former bosss dramatic testimony at a House of Commons justice committee hearing Wednesday. Wilson-Raybould exhaustively described what she termed a consistent and sustained effort by many people within the government to seek to politically interfere in the exercise of prosecutorial discretion in my role as the attorney general of Canada. And at every turn, there was her chief of staff: an Oxford-educated lawyer who had taken the job last April having joined the ministers office as a policy advisor two years earlier. A longtime Liberal volunteer from Victoria, B.C., she studied political science at McGill before attending law school in the UK. After being called to the bar in Canada she worked for five years on Bay Street first at Thornton Grout Finnigan LLP, which specializes in bankruptcy and commercial law, then at Polley Faith LLP. With that firm she appeared before the Supreme Court of Canada in the landmark medical assistance in dying case in 2015 on behalf of intervenors the Canadian Medical Association a file she would work on for Wilson-Raybould in 2016, after joining the Department of Justice. Working there was like Disneyland for lawyers, Prince quipped in a spring 2018 Q&A with litigator and blogger Erin Cowling, her role at Justice seeing her serve as the departments point person on cannabis legalization and assist with sexual assault law reform. Within months, however, she would become one of the key players at the heart of a national question about the Liberal governments respect for the rule of law itself. By September of last year Wilson-Raybould had made up her mind that engineering firm SNC-Lavalin should not be offered a remediation agreement so it could avoid criminal prosecution on corruption charges. Over the course of the next four months Prince stood by the ministers decision, according to the testimony, and seems to have risked her job to do so. It was often she who bore the brunt of pressure from Prime Minister Justin Trudeaus closest advisors, who demanded a change of course, and relayed to her minister, in writing and in detail, conversations that have now been brought to public light. The two had a necessary closeness, as Wilson-Raybould described it. In January Wilson-Raybould was shuffled out of her role as attorney general after an escalation in what she called veiled threats from Prime Minister Justin Trudeaus proxies. The Conservative Party is asking the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to investigate whether officials including Trudeau, top civil servant Michael Wernick, Trudeaus principal secretary Gerald Butts, who resigned last week, and Trudeaus chief of staff Katie Telford broke the law by provoking fear in the attorney general, an offence in the criminal code. Prince followed Wilson-Raybould into the lower-profile veterans affairs ministry, something she was under no obligation to do, but not before learning from the deputy minister of justice that Trudeau expected a new minister to quickly be ready to discuss SNC-Lavalin. Wilson-Raybould resigned from cabinet earlier this month. Prince is now on leave, having revealed on Twitter last month she was expecting a baby, but remains in her role at Veterans Affairs. She did not respond to a request for an interview. She retains the loyalty of some who stayed and now serve the new justice minister, David Lametti. I think the world of Jess Prince. She was a terrific boss, said director of communications David Taylor. Lisa Raitt, a former Conservative minister, said in an interview Thursday that in Ottawa, the kind of loyalty Prince had to have to follow her minister to a new portfolio is worth its weight in gold. In focusing a line of questioning on Prince during the committee Wednesday, Raitt said she tried to establish that Prince spoke for Wilson-Raybould much the same way that Butts and Telford spoke for Trudeau. Its not enough to defend yourself by saying, I was only talking to staff, its only staff. No, no, no when youre talking to Jessica Prince, youre talking to Jody Wilson-Raybould, period. And people would know that, she said. Adding to the potential pressure Prince couldve felt, chiefs of staff for ministers typically serve at the pleasure of the PMO, Raitt said, and report to the prime ministers chief of staff. Telford or Butts could have said to Prince, Were not going to need your services anymore if you cant convince your minister to do this for us, she said. In the committee, Wilson-Raybould told Raitt she couldnt speak to her former chiefs level of fear, but said Prince, an extraordinary human being and an extraordinary lawyer, had been quite upset after a particular meeting with Butts and Telford in December. According to text messages from Prince Wilson-Raybould read out to the committee, Butts told her chief of staff there is no solution here that does not involve some interference, and Telford told her, we dont want to debate legalities anymore. Much has been made of Wilson-Rayboulds fortitude despite a whisper campaign in Ottawa, after her demotion, about how difficult she had been to work with. There is evidence aplenty that Prince, whose resume is chock-full of awards, scholarships, pro-bono work and public speaking, was not going to be a shrinking violet in the face of external pressure, either. As a young lawyer on Bay Street, Prince had been a rising legal star and a vocal feminist. In an August 2015 article for Canadian Lawyer headlined Call out the bullies, Prince wrote about the sexism and intimidation that young women often face in the legal profession. I resent, she wrote, that so much energy and emphasis is being put on what we can do as the victims of bad behaviour to cope with it, and not on what can be done to stop the behaviour itself. She vowed to do her best to stand up to bullying behaviour in the future. Email: mdsmith@postmedia.com | Twitter: mariedanielles | Jessica Prince is a longtime Liberal volunteer from Victoria, B.C. She studied political science at McGill before attending law school in the UK. Prince followed Wilson-Raybould into the lower-profile veterans affairs ministry. | pegasus | 1 | https://nationalpost.com/news/politics/who-is-jessica-prince-jody-wilson-rayboulds-former-chief-of-staff | 0.208735 |
Who is Jessica Prince, Jody Wilson-Raybould's former chief of staff? | OTTAWA It is a truth universally acknowledged, at least in Ottawa, that a cabinet minister responsible for a tricky file must be in want of a loyal chief of staff. After a handful of prospects went through the revolving doors of her office in her first few years as minister of justice and attorney general, Jody Wilson-Raybould seemed finally to have found such a person in Jessica Prince, whose name is suddenly widely known after her former bosss dramatic testimony at a House of Commons justice committee hearing Wednesday. Wilson-Raybould exhaustively described what she termed a consistent and sustained effort by many people within the government to seek to politically interfere in the exercise of prosecutorial discretion in my role as the attorney general of Canada. And at every turn, there was her chief of staff: an Oxford-educated lawyer who had taken the job last April having joined the ministers office as a policy advisor two years earlier. A longtime Liberal volunteer from Victoria, B.C., she studied political science at McGill before attending law school in the UK. After being called to the bar in Canada she worked for five years on Bay Street first at Thornton Grout Finnigan LLP, which specializes in bankruptcy and commercial law, then at Polley Faith LLP. With that firm she appeared before the Supreme Court of Canada in the landmark medical assistance in dying case in 2015 on behalf of intervenors the Canadian Medical Association a file she would work on for Wilson-Raybould in 2016, after joining the Department of Justice. Working there was like Disneyland for lawyers, Prince quipped in a spring 2018 Q&A with litigator and blogger Erin Cowling, her role at Justice seeing her serve as the departments point person on cannabis legalization and assist with sexual assault law reform. Within months, however, she would become one of the key players at the heart of a national question about the Liberal governments respect for the rule of law itself. By September of last year Wilson-Raybould had made up her mind that engineering firm SNC-Lavalin should not be offered a remediation agreement so it could avoid criminal prosecution on corruption charges. Over the course of the next four months Prince stood by the ministers decision, according to the testimony, and seems to have risked her job to do so. It was often she who bore the brunt of pressure from Prime Minister Justin Trudeaus closest advisors, who demanded a change of course, and relayed to her minister, in writing and in detail, conversations that have now been brought to public light. The two had a necessary closeness, as Wilson-Raybould described it. In January Wilson-Raybould was shuffled out of her role as attorney general after an escalation in what she called veiled threats from Prime Minister Justin Trudeaus proxies. The Conservative Party is asking the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to investigate whether officials including Trudeau, top civil servant Michael Wernick, Trudeaus principal secretary Gerald Butts, who resigned last week, and Trudeaus chief of staff Katie Telford broke the law by provoking fear in the attorney general, an offence in the criminal code. Prince followed Wilson-Raybould into the lower-profile veterans affairs ministry, something she was under no obligation to do, but not before learning from the deputy minister of justice that Trudeau expected a new minister to quickly be ready to discuss SNC-Lavalin. Wilson-Raybould resigned from cabinet earlier this month. Prince is now on leave, having revealed on Twitter last month she was expecting a baby, but remains in her role at Veterans Affairs. She did not respond to a request for an interview. She retains the loyalty of some who stayed and now serve the new justice minister, David Lametti. I think the world of Jess Prince. She was a terrific boss, said director of communications David Taylor. Lisa Raitt, a former Conservative minister, said in an interview Thursday that in Ottawa, the kind of loyalty Prince had to have to follow her minister to a new portfolio is worth its weight in gold. In focusing a line of questioning on Prince during the committee Wednesday, Raitt said she tried to establish that Prince spoke for Wilson-Raybould much the same way that Butts and Telford spoke for Trudeau. Its not enough to defend yourself by saying, I was only talking to staff, its only staff. No, no, no when youre talking to Jessica Prince, youre talking to Jody Wilson-Raybould, period. And people would know that, she said. Adding to the potential pressure Prince couldve felt, chiefs of staff for ministers typically serve at the pleasure of the PMO, Raitt said, and report to the prime ministers chief of staff. Telford or Butts could have said to Prince, Were not going to need your services anymore if you cant convince your minister to do this for us, she said. In the committee, Wilson-Raybould told Raitt she couldnt speak to her former chiefs level of fear, but said Prince, an extraordinary human being and an extraordinary lawyer, had been quite upset after a particular meeting with Butts and Telford in December. According to text messages from Prince Wilson-Raybould read out to the committee, Butts told her chief of staff there is no solution here that does not involve some interference, and Telford told her, we dont want to debate legalities anymore. Much has been made of Wilson-Rayboulds fortitude despite a whisper campaign in Ottawa, after her demotion, about how difficult she had been to work with. There is evidence aplenty that Prince, whose resume is chock-full of awards, scholarships, pro-bono work and public speaking, was not going to be a shrinking violet in the face of external pressure, either. As a young lawyer on Bay Street, Prince had been a rising legal star and a vocal feminist. In an August 2015 article for Canadian Lawyer headlined Call out the bullies, Prince wrote about the sexism and intimidation that young women often face in the legal profession. I resent, she wrote, that so much energy and emphasis is being put on what we can do as the victims of bad behaviour to cope with it, and not on what can be done to stop the behaviour itself. She vowed to do her best to stand up to bullying behaviour in the future. Email: mdsmith@postmedia.com | Twitter: mariedanielles | Jessica Prince, Jody Wilson-Raybould's former chief of staff, is now on the lam. Prince stood by Wilson- Raybould as she faced pressure to change course on SNC-Lavalin. Prince is an Oxford-educated lawyer who worked for five years on Bay Street. | ctrlsum | 2 | https://nationalpost.com/news/politics/who-is-jessica-prince-jody-wilson-rayboulds-former-chief-of-staff | 0.2803 |
Why don't all retailers accept Visa, American Express, Discover, Mastercard credit cards? | CLOSE Kroger is considering expanding the Visa ban to other stores. Wochit Grocery giant Kroger recently decided to stop accepting Visa credit cards at its subsidiaries Foods Co. and Smith's Food and Drug, a move designed to pressure the credit card giant into lowering its interchange fees, or "swipe" fees. The nation's largest grocery said Friday while the majority of its stores still accept Visa credit cards, it "continues to explore options" to reduce "swipe" fees paid to credit card companies. Kroger isn't the only retailer that takes issue with certain types of credit cards. In fact, millions of retailers don't accept one or more of the four major credit card types for one reason or another. American Express and Discover have done a great job of building up their acceptance rates in recent years, but they still don't enjoy the near-universal acceptance of Visa or Mastercard. Like Kroger's issue with Visa, it comes down to fees. American Express is notorious for charging higher swipe fees than the competition. While the credit card companies are tight-lipped about the specifics of their fees, American Express' swipe fees are roughly 1 percent higher than those of the other major issuers, according to several reports. A Kroger store in Houston. (Photo: David J. Phillip, AP) To be fair, American Express does have a highly desirable cardmember base. Amex cardholders have higher average income and spending than the average Visa or Mastercard user, so in many cases, it's in the merchant's best interest to accept the higher fees. However, many merchants still feel it's not worth it, thus "Sorry, we don't take American Express" is still a common refrain. Discover is generally not as expensive as American Express for merchants to accept, but it still generally charges more than Visa or Mastercard, which is why Discover is No. 3 in terms of acceptance. Plus, Discover doesn't offer the benefit of an affluent cardholder base. Another common reason for 'selective' credit card acceptance Swipe fees are the No. 1 reason retailers choose to accept some types of credit cards but not others. Another common reason is for partnership purposes. Costco is by far the biggest example of this, accepting Visa credit cards exclusively. Costco is expected to generate more than $150 billion in revenue during its current fiscal year, which gives it tremendous power to negotiate with the major payment processors especially if it's willing to give all of that business to just one company (in this case Visa). The standard swipe fee a merchant pays is in the 2 percent-3 percent range, but reports have put Costco's swipe fees to Visa at around 0.4 percent. Doing the math, this saves Costco billions per year compared to what average retailers pay. Some businesses don't take credit cards at all In general, paying with cash is becoming less and less convenient, especially as companies like Square make it easier than ever for small businesses to accept credit cards. However, there are some holdouts that remain cash-only businesses. This is especially common among independent restaurants. For example, the famous Peter Luger Steak House in Brooklyn, New York, only accepts, cash, checks, debit cards (which have generally lower swipe fees than credit cards) and their own Peter Luger card. Laundromats, vending machines and nail salons are other types of businesses you're likely to encounter that don't take credit cards of any kind. To sum it up, there are two main reasons businesses might choose not to accept a particular type of credit card, or none at all fees and partnerships. Swipe fees can take a big bite out of a merchants profits, especially in businesses with tight profit margins like restaurants and every percentage point counts. And, by using an exclusive partnership structure, like Costco does, a retailer can potentially cut its acceptance costs even further. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. The Motley Fool is a USA TODAY content partner offering financial news, analysis and commentary designed to help people take control of their financial lives. Its content is produced independently of USA TODAY. Offer from the Motley Fool: Offer from The Motley Fool: The 10 best stocks to buy now Motley Fool co-founders Tom and David Gardner have spent more than a decade beating the market. In fact, the newsletter they run, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has quadrupled the S&P 500! * Tom and David just revealed their ten top stock picks for investors to buy right now. Click here to get access to the full list! *Stock Advisor returns as of Jan. 31, 2019. Read or Share this story: https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2019/03/01/kroger-not-accepting-visa-why-retailers-wont-take-all-credit-cards/3029699002/ | Millions of retailers don't accept one or more of the four major credit card types. American Express is notorious for charging higher swipe fees than the competition. Costco is by far the biggest example of this, accepting Visa credit cards exclusively. | pegasus | 1 | https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2019/03/01/kroger-not-accepting-visa-why-retailers-wont-take-all-credit-cards/3029699002/ | 0.229341 |
Why don't all retailers accept Visa, American Express, Discover, Mastercard credit cards? | CLOSE Kroger is considering expanding the Visa ban to other stores. Wochit Grocery giant Kroger recently decided to stop accepting Visa credit cards at its subsidiaries Foods Co. and Smith's Food and Drug, a move designed to pressure the credit card giant into lowering its interchange fees, or "swipe" fees. The nation's largest grocery said Friday while the majority of its stores still accept Visa credit cards, it "continues to explore options" to reduce "swipe" fees paid to credit card companies. Kroger isn't the only retailer that takes issue with certain types of credit cards. In fact, millions of retailers don't accept one or more of the four major credit card types for one reason or another. American Express and Discover have done a great job of building up their acceptance rates in recent years, but they still don't enjoy the near-universal acceptance of Visa or Mastercard. Like Kroger's issue with Visa, it comes down to fees. American Express is notorious for charging higher swipe fees than the competition. While the credit card companies are tight-lipped about the specifics of their fees, American Express' swipe fees are roughly 1 percent higher than those of the other major issuers, according to several reports. A Kroger store in Houston. (Photo: David J. Phillip, AP) To be fair, American Express does have a highly desirable cardmember base. Amex cardholders have higher average income and spending than the average Visa or Mastercard user, so in many cases, it's in the merchant's best interest to accept the higher fees. However, many merchants still feel it's not worth it, thus "Sorry, we don't take American Express" is still a common refrain. Discover is generally not as expensive as American Express for merchants to accept, but it still generally charges more than Visa or Mastercard, which is why Discover is No. 3 in terms of acceptance. Plus, Discover doesn't offer the benefit of an affluent cardholder base. Another common reason for 'selective' credit card acceptance Swipe fees are the No. 1 reason retailers choose to accept some types of credit cards but not others. Another common reason is for partnership purposes. Costco is by far the biggest example of this, accepting Visa credit cards exclusively. Costco is expected to generate more than $150 billion in revenue during its current fiscal year, which gives it tremendous power to negotiate with the major payment processors especially if it's willing to give all of that business to just one company (in this case Visa). The standard swipe fee a merchant pays is in the 2 percent-3 percent range, but reports have put Costco's swipe fees to Visa at around 0.4 percent. Doing the math, this saves Costco billions per year compared to what average retailers pay. Some businesses don't take credit cards at all In general, paying with cash is becoming less and less convenient, especially as companies like Square make it easier than ever for small businesses to accept credit cards. However, there are some holdouts that remain cash-only businesses. This is especially common among independent restaurants. For example, the famous Peter Luger Steak House in Brooklyn, New York, only accepts, cash, checks, debit cards (which have generally lower swipe fees than credit cards) and their own Peter Luger card. Laundromats, vending machines and nail salons are other types of businesses you're likely to encounter that don't take credit cards of any kind. To sum it up, there are two main reasons businesses might choose not to accept a particular type of credit card, or none at all fees and partnerships. Swipe fees can take a big bite out of a merchants profits, especially in businesses with tight profit margins like restaurants and every percentage point counts. And, by using an exclusive partnership structure, like Costco does, a retailer can potentially cut its acceptance costs even further. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. The Motley Fool is a USA TODAY content partner offering financial news, analysis and commentary designed to help people take control of their financial lives. Its content is produced independently of USA TODAY. Offer from the Motley Fool: Offer from The Motley Fool: The 10 best stocks to buy now Motley Fool co-founders Tom and David Gardner have spent more than a decade beating the market. In fact, the newsletter they run, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has quadrupled the S&P 500! * Tom and David just revealed their ten top stock picks for investors to buy right now. Click here to get access to the full list! *Stock Advisor returns as of Jan. 31, 2019. Read or Share this story: https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2019/03/01/kroger-not-accepting-visa-why-retailers-wont-take-all-credit-cards/3029699002/ | Millions of retailers don't accept one or more of the four major credit card types. Swipe fees are the No. 1 reason retailers choose to accept some types of credit cards but not others. Some businesses don't take credit cards at all, such as Peter Luger Steak House. | ctrlsum | 2 | https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2019/03/01/kroger-not-accepting-visa-why-retailers-wont-take-all-credit-cards/3029699002/ | 0.258549 |
Should the Boston City Council have to let Satanists lead an opening prayer? | The $100,000 Baphomet statue depicts Satan as a winged, goat-headed figure. (Photo: The Satanic Temple via AP) BOSTON Like most city councils, the one in Boston begins weekly meetings with an invocation before getting down to business. Recent individuals brought in to lead the ritual, typically a spoken prayer, have included a Catholic sister, a Methodist preacher and a Presbyterian minister. Now The Satanic Temple, an international Satanist group headquartered in nearby Salem, wants its turn. But after having requests to deliver an upcoming invocation denied, the group of Satanists is now accusing the Boston City Council of religious discrimination in a complaint filed in October with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination. The commission agreed to launch an investigation into the matter in December. "We're very communally active," said Malcolm Jarry, co-founder of the The Satanic Temple. "This is something that should be open to all faiths to participate. We just want to be respected and treated like members of the community that we are." Followers of The Satanic Temple, which has chapters in 17 cities, are atheist and do not subscribe to supernatural beliefs. The group's principles include encouraging benevolence and empathy among all people, rejecting tyrannical authority and advocating for "practical common sense and justice." More: Phoenix council favors silence over Satanists- for now Jarry said The Satanic Temple in October emailed Boston City Council President Andrea Campbell asking that a member of the organization be able to speak during the invocation. But the council's attorney, according to the complaint, responded by telling the group that the body does not accept requests to deliver invocations, has no formal policy regarding invocations and simply allows individual council members to choose who leads them. "The very definition of discrimination is preferential treatment of different groups or individuals," Jarry said. "Because they are the ones who are solely making the decisions, it can't help but be discriminatory." In the complaint, first reported by the Boston Herald last month, The Satanic Temple has accused the 13-member council of violating the establishment clause of the First Amendment among other laws. Campbell, the council's president, declined to comment on the complaint through a spokeswoman. Christine O'Donnell, the council's legislative director and attorney, did not respond to messages from USA TODAY seeking the council's legal position. Satanists have been allowed to give council invocations in other cities including Pensacola, Florida, and the Kenai Peninsula Borough in Alaska. In Pensacola, the Satanist-led invocation was met with vocal protests by a large group of Christians in the council gallery. But after they were escorted away, the Satanist, wearing a black hooded robe, was able to speak for several minutes and conclude the invocation without interruption. "The bowels of hell didn't open up, or whatever," Jarry said. But councils in other cities have clashed with The Satanic Temple over invocations. In Phoenix, followers of the Satanic Temple were scheduled to give an invocation at a meeting in 2016. But rather than letting the Satanists speak, the Phoenix City Council voted 5-4 to cease holding spoken prayers altogether and shift to moments of silences, ending the body's 65-year practice and avoiding the threat of a lawsuit. In Boston, a timeline on the The Satanic Temple's complaint is unclear. H Harrison, an assistant with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination, said he could not discuss the status of the complaint, citing the agency's policy for all cases. Reach Joey Garrison at jgarrison@usatoday.com and on Twitter @joeygarrison. Read or Share this story: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/03/01/satanists-urge-boston-city-council-allow-them-give-invocation/3026358002/ | The Satanic Temple has filed a complaint with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination. The group says it was denied an opportunity to deliver an invocation at a Boston City Council meeting. Satanists have been allowed to give invocations in other cities including Pensacola, Florida, and the Kenai Peninsula Borough in Alaska. | ctrlsum | 2 | https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/03/01/satanists-urge-boston-city-council-allow-them-give-invocation/3026358002/ | 0.229676 |
Should Adebayo continue to start in place of Whiteside? | The weekly Miami Herald Heat mailbag is here to answer your questions. If you werent able to ask one this time, send your questions for future mailbags via Twitter (@Anthony_Chiang). You can also email me at achiang@miamiherald.com. Anthony Chiang: Im going to assume youre referencing the past two games, when Bam Adebayo replaced the injured Hassan Whiteside in the Heats starting lineup. Adebayo, 21, has averaged an impressive stat line of 10.5 points, 6.5 rebounds, 4.5 assists and two blocks in 30.5 minutes during this short stretch as a starter. In eight starts this season, Adebayo is averaging 13.8 points, 9.4 rebounds, 3.8 assists, 1.6 steals and 1.8 blocks per 36 minutes. Those are solid numbers, and theres an argument to be made that featuring Adebayo in a bigger role will only help his growth moving forward. But lets not forget the impact Whiteside makes when hes engaged, as hes averaging 18.3 points, 17.4 rebounds and 2.9 blocks per 36 minutes this season. Anyway, starting is overrated. Whats more important is who finishes the game, and Adebayo has played more fourth-quarter minutes than Whiteside this season. Adebayo has played in 60 of the 61 fourth quarters he has been available for, compared to Whiteside getting in just 27 of the 53 fourth quarters he has been available for. Whiteside will likely get his starting job back once he returns from a strained hip, but Adebayo will also probably continue to finish most games. I want to know the chances of entering the lottery. Anthony: The computer models dont give the Heat much of a chance at making the playoffs. Entering Friday, the Heat had just a 20 percent chance of making the playoffs and was projected to finish with a 36-46 record, according to FiveThirtyEight.coms playoff predictions. ESPNs Basketball Power Index has the Heat with a 26.9 percent chance of making the playoffs, while finishing with a 36-46 record. As for my opinion, its going to be tough for the Heat to make the playoffs. Its obviously still very possible, with Miami entering Friday just one game behind the eighth and final playoff spot occupied by the Magic. But the Heat has to take advantage of the next eight games, which includes seven at home. Because after this upcoming eight-game stretch, Miami closes with nine of its final 13 regular-season games on the road. If the Heat cant start stringing together wins at home over the next two weeks, any hope of making the playoffs will disappear. | Bam Adebayo has started the past two games in place of Hassan Whiteside. | ctrlsum | 0 | https://www.miamiherald.com/sports/nba/miami-heat/article226969479.html | 0.300054 |
Should Adebayo continue to start in place of Whiteside? | The weekly Miami Herald Heat mailbag is here to answer your questions. If you werent able to ask one this time, send your questions for future mailbags via Twitter (@Anthony_Chiang). You can also email me at achiang@miamiherald.com. Anthony Chiang: Im going to assume youre referencing the past two games, when Bam Adebayo replaced the injured Hassan Whiteside in the Heats starting lineup. Adebayo, 21, has averaged an impressive stat line of 10.5 points, 6.5 rebounds, 4.5 assists and two blocks in 30.5 minutes during this short stretch as a starter. In eight starts this season, Adebayo is averaging 13.8 points, 9.4 rebounds, 3.8 assists, 1.6 steals and 1.8 blocks per 36 minutes. Those are solid numbers, and theres an argument to be made that featuring Adebayo in a bigger role will only help his growth moving forward. But lets not forget the impact Whiteside makes when hes engaged, as hes averaging 18.3 points, 17.4 rebounds and 2.9 blocks per 36 minutes this season. Anyway, starting is overrated. Whats more important is who finishes the game, and Adebayo has played more fourth-quarter minutes than Whiteside this season. Adebayo has played in 60 of the 61 fourth quarters he has been available for, compared to Whiteside getting in just 27 of the 53 fourth quarters he has been available for. Whiteside will likely get his starting job back once he returns from a strained hip, but Adebayo will also probably continue to finish most games. I want to know the chances of entering the lottery. Anthony: The computer models dont give the Heat much of a chance at making the playoffs. Entering Friday, the Heat had just a 20 percent chance of making the playoffs and was projected to finish with a 36-46 record, according to FiveThirtyEight.coms playoff predictions. ESPNs Basketball Power Index has the Heat with a 26.9 percent chance of making the playoffs, while finishing with a 36-46 record. As for my opinion, its going to be tough for the Heat to make the playoffs. Its obviously still very possible, with Miami entering Friday just one game behind the eighth and final playoff spot occupied by the Magic. But the Heat has to take advantage of the next eight games, which includes seven at home. Because after this upcoming eight-game stretch, Miami closes with nine of its final 13 regular-season games on the road. If the Heat cant start stringing together wins at home over the next two weeks, any hope of making the playoffs will disappear. | Bam Adebayo has played more fourth-quarter minutes than Hassan Whiteside this season. Whiteside will likely get his starting job back once he returns from a strained hip. | pegasus | 1 | https://www.miamiherald.com/sports/nba/miami-heat/article226969479.html | 0.170508 |
Should Adebayo continue to start in place of Whiteside? | The weekly Miami Herald Heat mailbag is here to answer your questions. If you werent able to ask one this time, send your questions for future mailbags via Twitter (@Anthony_Chiang). You can also email me at achiang@miamiherald.com. Anthony Chiang: Im going to assume youre referencing the past two games, when Bam Adebayo replaced the injured Hassan Whiteside in the Heats starting lineup. Adebayo, 21, has averaged an impressive stat line of 10.5 points, 6.5 rebounds, 4.5 assists and two blocks in 30.5 minutes during this short stretch as a starter. In eight starts this season, Adebayo is averaging 13.8 points, 9.4 rebounds, 3.8 assists, 1.6 steals and 1.8 blocks per 36 minutes. Those are solid numbers, and theres an argument to be made that featuring Adebayo in a bigger role will only help his growth moving forward. But lets not forget the impact Whiteside makes when hes engaged, as hes averaging 18.3 points, 17.4 rebounds and 2.9 blocks per 36 minutes this season. Anyway, starting is overrated. Whats more important is who finishes the game, and Adebayo has played more fourth-quarter minutes than Whiteside this season. Adebayo has played in 60 of the 61 fourth quarters he has been available for, compared to Whiteside getting in just 27 of the 53 fourth quarters he has been available for. Whiteside will likely get his starting job back once he returns from a strained hip, but Adebayo will also probably continue to finish most games. I want to know the chances of entering the lottery. Anthony: The computer models dont give the Heat much of a chance at making the playoffs. Entering Friday, the Heat had just a 20 percent chance of making the playoffs and was projected to finish with a 36-46 record, according to FiveThirtyEight.coms playoff predictions. ESPNs Basketball Power Index has the Heat with a 26.9 percent chance of making the playoffs, while finishing with a 36-46 record. As for my opinion, its going to be tough for the Heat to make the playoffs. Its obviously still very possible, with Miami entering Friday just one game behind the eighth and final playoff spot occupied by the Magic. But the Heat has to take advantage of the next eight games, which includes seven at home. Because after this upcoming eight-game stretch, Miami closes with nine of its final 13 regular-season games on the road. If the Heat cant start stringing together wins at home over the next two weeks, any hope of making the playoffs will disappear. | Bam Adebayo has played more fourth-quarter minutes than Hassan Whiteside this season. Whiteside will likely get his starting job back once he returns from a strained hip. Miami closes with nine of its final 13 regular-season games on the road. | pegasus | 2 | https://www.miamiherald.com/sports/nba/miami-heat/article226969479.html | 0.195519 |
Will CRM Continue To Push Salesforce.com's Growth for Q4? | Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM) is going to publish its results on March 4, 2019 and will also conduct an investor call. The consensus estimates expect the company to post revenues around $13.2 billion, up 26% from the previous fiscal year with an earnings estimate of around $2.60, nearly twice than the last fiscal year. We currently have a $130 price estimate for the company. View our interactive dashboard Our Outlook for Salesforce.com for FY 2019 and modify the key assumptions to arrive at a price estimate of your own. In addition, here is more Information Technology Data. The company posted very strong Q3 results with revenue up 26% year on year. Operating Cash flow was also up 14% YOY. The company has also revised its earnings to $1.07 from $1.06 due to the strong results and expected strong Q4. The company recorded a revenue growth across geographies with EMEA growing the most with a 31% YOY increase in revenue, followed by APAC which grew at 26% YOY, and Americas at 25% YOY. As per IDC forecast Salesforce.com is expected to touch 20.3% in Market Share of CRM applications which is nearly 3 times that of the next company, i.e. Oracle at 7.3%. We expect Salesforce.com to continue with this high growth in the 4th quarter, too. The company aims to achieve total revenue of $23 billion by fiscal year 2022 and is driven by technological revolution including demand for artificial intelligence and machine learning. To achieve this, the company has introduced the next generation of its AI platform, Einstein, to unlock deeper customer insights and deliver a transformational customer experience. The platform now provides over 3 billion predictions and insights to Salesforces customers daily. We expect the AI platform to augment the companys growth in the coming years and enable it to achieve the revenue target on or ahead of plan. Salesforce.com has extended its strategic alliance with Google to deepen the integration between the companys Marketing Cloud and Google Analytics 360. The initiative has been witnessing positive feedback from customers. Further, Salesforce Commerce Cloud continues to be the fastest growing enterprise commerce solution and is delivering solid results. The company recently acquired CloudCraze, the leader in B2B commerce, to offer a single platform that can be used for both B2B and B2C experiences by Salesforces clients. All these initiatives are likely to boost the companys top-line as well as valuation in the near term. Explore example interactive dashboards and create your own. | The company posted very strong Q3 results with revenue up 26% year on year. We expect Salesforce.com to continue with this high growth in the 4th quarter, too. | ctrlsum | 1 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2019/03/01/will-crm-continue-to-push-salesforce-coms-growth-for-q4/ | 0.143137 |
Do Democrats want to take away Americans' hamburgers? | Democrats want to take away hamburgers from the American people, an ex-Trump aide has warned. The wild claim about a supposed plot to ban the national food came from onetime White House aide Sebastian Gorka at a conservative political jamboree. The humble ground-beef patty has become ammunition in a US cultural food fight since a Democrat argued Americans should eat fewer of the sandwiches. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has been touting a climate change plan. Railing against Democrats, Mr Gorka told the Conservative Political Action Conference in Maryland on Thursday: "They want to take your pickup truck. "They want to rebuild your home. They want to take away your hamburgers." Perhaps even more dubiously, he added: "This is what Stalin dreamt about but never achieved." Ms Ocasio-Cortez provoked conservative scorn this month when she along with Senator Ed Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat, unveiled the Green New Deal. Their policy paper proposed to overhaul the US economy to tackle climate change. But it was a reference to "farting cows" in a since-retracted accompanying document that invited the ridicule of eager critics. "We set a goal to get to net-zero, rather than zero, emissions in 10 years because we aren't sure that we'll be able to fully get rid of farting cows and airplanes that fast," the offending section said. There is no reference to banning cows in the text of the Green New Deal itself. But Republicans seized on it as evidence of a radical far-left agenda within the Democratic party. President Donald Trump suggested at a rally in El Paso, Texas, that "you're not allowed to own cows anymore". Republican members of the House Natural Resources Committee took to eating hamburgers on Capitol Hill to protest against the Green New Deal. The issue was quickly taken up on social media by conservatives, who shared photos of themselves cooking and eating beef. Addressing the controversy, Ms Ocasio-Cortez told a late-night talk show that nobody would be forced to "go vegan", but that "we've got to address factory farming". "Maybe we shouldn't be eating a hamburger for breakfast, lunch, and dinner," added the New York City congresswoman, a self-described democratic socialist. While bovine flatulence is often connected to climate change, a cow releases more greenhouse gasses through burping (around 600 litres of methane a day). Some suggested that even if the Green New Deal did call for a ban on burgers, it would be worth it to "save Earth". Skip Twitter post by @DerekTNG The Green New Deal doesn't ban hamburgers, obviously. But if it did, I'd give up burgers to save Earth. Derek Newton (@DerekTNG) February 28, 2019 Report Hamburger-gate raged on this week after Ms Ocasio-Cortez was photographed having dinner at a Washington restaurant with a colleague, who was caught eating the now-controversial meal. The photograph went viral, with some suggesting the congresswoman was a hypocrite. Ms Ocasio-Cortez's chief of staff, Saikat Chakrabarti, joked that the photo proved a "vast conspiracy" to allow Americans to eat burgers. Americans eat nearly 50bn hamburgers a year, according to the Center for Investigative Reporting. | Ex-White House aide Sebastian Gorka said Democrats want to ban hamburgers. | pegasus | 0 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-47394484 | 0.364007 |
Do Democrats want to take away Americans' hamburgers? | Democrats want to take away hamburgers from the American people, an ex-Trump aide has warned. The wild claim about a supposed plot to ban the national food came from onetime White House aide Sebastian Gorka at a conservative political jamboree. The humble ground-beef patty has become ammunition in a US cultural food fight since a Democrat argued Americans should eat fewer of the sandwiches. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has been touting a climate change plan. Railing against Democrats, Mr Gorka told the Conservative Political Action Conference in Maryland on Thursday: "They want to take your pickup truck. "They want to rebuild your home. They want to take away your hamburgers." Perhaps even more dubiously, he added: "This is what Stalin dreamt about but never achieved." Ms Ocasio-Cortez provoked conservative scorn this month when she along with Senator Ed Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat, unveiled the Green New Deal. Their policy paper proposed to overhaul the US economy to tackle climate change. But it was a reference to "farting cows" in a since-retracted accompanying document that invited the ridicule of eager critics. "We set a goal to get to net-zero, rather than zero, emissions in 10 years because we aren't sure that we'll be able to fully get rid of farting cows and airplanes that fast," the offending section said. There is no reference to banning cows in the text of the Green New Deal itself. But Republicans seized on it as evidence of a radical far-left agenda within the Democratic party. President Donald Trump suggested at a rally in El Paso, Texas, that "you're not allowed to own cows anymore". Republican members of the House Natural Resources Committee took to eating hamburgers on Capitol Hill to protest against the Green New Deal. The issue was quickly taken up on social media by conservatives, who shared photos of themselves cooking and eating beef. Addressing the controversy, Ms Ocasio-Cortez told a late-night talk show that nobody would be forced to "go vegan", but that "we've got to address factory farming". "Maybe we shouldn't be eating a hamburger for breakfast, lunch, and dinner," added the New York City congresswoman, a self-described democratic socialist. While bovine flatulence is often connected to climate change, a cow releases more greenhouse gasses through burping (around 600 litres of methane a day). Some suggested that even if the Green New Deal did call for a ban on burgers, it would be worth it to "save Earth". Skip Twitter post by @DerekTNG The Green New Deal doesn't ban hamburgers, obviously. But if it did, I'd give up burgers to save Earth. Derek Newton (@DerekTNG) February 28, 2019 Report Hamburger-gate raged on this week after Ms Ocasio-Cortez was photographed having dinner at a Washington restaurant with a colleague, who was caught eating the now-controversial meal. The photograph went viral, with some suggesting the congresswoman was a hypocrite. Ms Ocasio-Cortez's chief of staff, Saikat Chakrabarti, joked that the photo proved a "vast conspiracy" to allow Americans to eat burgers. Americans eat nearly 50bn hamburgers a year, according to the Center for Investigative Reporting. | Ex-White House aide Sebastian Gorka said Democrats want to ban hamburgers. He said: "They want to take away your hamburgers" Comes after Democrat argued Americans should eat fewer hamburgers. | pegasus | 1 | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-47394484 | 0.362286 |
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